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 Wall Street Journal [5/8/2025 1:47 PM, Michelle Hackman and Tarini Parti, 646K] reports Cameron Hamilton, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been ousted from his position by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—a day after he told lawmakers in a hearing that he didn’t support eliminating his agency. David Richardson, a senior official at DHS, will be taking over the agency as administrator, said Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for DHS, when asked about Hamilton’s departure. In response to concerns on Capitol Hill about President Trump’s efforts to dismantle FEMA, Hamilton responded in a hearing Wednesday: “I do not believe it is in the best interests of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Hamilton also acknowledged in the hearing that the agency’s future wasn’t up to him. Trump and Noem have been critical of FEMA, with the secretary pushing for eliminating the agency and having states take on more responsibility for disaster-relief efforts. In his second term, Trump has denied federal disaster assistance to both GOP and Democratic-led states, including Washington and Arkansas. During a trip to North Carolina and California in January, Trump said: “I think, frankly, FEMA is not good. FEMA has turned out to be a disaster…I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away.” He signed an executive order calling for a “full-scale review” of FEMA by a newly established council. The New York Times [5/8/2025 3:10 PM, Christopher Flavelle, 153395K] reports that the agency, which coordinates the federal response to natural disasters, confirmed in a statement that Mr. Hamilton was no longer serving as acting administrator. Many other senior leaders have been fired or decided to leave as the agency has faced an uncertain future. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency includes FEMA, testified before lawmakers that FEMA should be eliminated. Mr. Hamilton, appearing before Congress on Wednesday, said instead that FEMA “must return to its roots,” helping state and local governments respond to disasters. “Communities look to FEMA in their greatest times of need,” Mr. Hamilton told lawmakers, “and it’s imperative that we remain ready to respond to those challenges.” Mr. Hamilton added, “I do not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Even so, he said, that was “a conversation that should be had between the president of the United States and this governing body.” The debate over whether FEMA should survive dates back to the early days of the administration, when Mr. Trump visited North Carolina last fall, after parts of the state were devastated by Hurricane Helene last fall. Mr. Trump said that FEMA had failed to do enough to help hurricane survivors. “I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away,” Mr. Trump said. FEMA said Mr. Hamilton had been replaced as acting administrator by David Richardson, the assistant secretary at the Homeland Security Department’s office for countering weapons of mass destruction. Mr. Richardson will face a difficult job. As of Thursday morning, FEMA had about half as many staff members trained to respond to disasters as it did at this point last year, according to agency documents. That follows months of downsizing at FEMA, with many workers accepting early resignation offers or being terminated. Politico [5/8/2025 4:54 PM, Thomas Frank, 2100K] reports Cameron Hamilton, FEMA’s acting administrator, was summoned to Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, where he was terminated by Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Troy Edgar and Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to President Donald Trump, according to a person with direct knowledge of the events. Hamilton returned to FEMA headquarters a few miles away, collected his belongings and left. His biography was removed from FEMA’s website and his official X account was archived. The Washington Post [5/8/2025 4:08 PM, Jake Spring and Brady Dennis, 31735K] reports that a spokesperson for DHS, which oversees FEMA, did not confirm Hamilton’s removal but said in a statement that David Richardson will be performing the administrator’s duties. Richardson, a Marine Corps veteran, has been in charge since January of the homeland security office that seeks to curb weapons of mass destruction. CNN [5/8/2025 1:47 PM, Gabe Cohen, 908K] reports “It’s at the discretion of (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem) to have the personnel she prefers,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told CNN, confirming that DHS official David Richardson will take over for Hamilton effective immediately. McLaughlin declined to explain why Hamilton was removed from the post. “As the senior advisor to the President on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told the committee Wednesday. “Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.” For months, both Trump and Noem, whose Department of Homeland Security oversees FEMA, have called for the agency to be “eliminated.” On Tuesday, Noem reaffirmed that stance when she took questions from the same House committee. “President Trump has been very clear since the beginning that he believes that FEMA and its response in many, many circumstances has failed the American people, and that FEMA, as it exists today, should be eliminated in empowering states to respond to disasters with federal government support.” Noem told the committee. Hamilton struck a starkly different tone in his testimony. He repeatedly praised FEMA’s staff – calling them “one of the greatest workforces in the entire federal government” – stressing that his goal is to cut bureaucratic red tape and refocus the agency and its budget on its core mission of delivering assistance to survivors after only the most devastating natural disasters, shifting responsibility for smaller disasters onto the states. “The (FEMA) workforce is tremendous and amazing, and they do a lot of great work, but there’s also systems and processes that are completely antiquated and have to be improved.” Hamilton said. “FEMA is all too often used by states and public officials as a financial backstop for routine issues that frankly should be handled locally. This misalignment has fostered a culture of dependency, waste, inefficiency, while also delaying crucial aid to Americans who are in genuine need.” Trump and Noem have repeatedly criticized FEMA as partisan, inefficient, and unnecessary. The administration has claimed FEMA uses “woke” ideologies to appropriate funds.

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Roll Call [5/8/2025 4:46 PM, Chris Johnson, 503K] reports Republican lawmakers expressed concerns Thursday over the Trump administration’s proposal to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calling into question moves that would roll back the traditional bulwark to assist states with disaster relief. At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that she was “concerned about the FEMA issue,” citing her own experience in a small state she said often faces natural disasters like flooding. “My experience with FEMA, has it been flawless? Has it been, you know, a smooth road? No,” Capito said. “But I think it’s a vital function, and I am concerned, if we turn it all over to the states, the capacity for the state to really handle this is something that — so I would ask you to tread lightly.” Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., queried Noem about the Trump administration’s plans, pointing out her state has been affected by hurricanes and tornadoes and said FEMA “has been a part of my life ever since I have been in the public office.” Noem responded by invoking President Donald Trump’s stated vision for restructuring FEMA, outlining a plan that would give resources to states for disaster relief responses. “President Trump has been very clear that he believes that the way that FEMA exists today should not continue,” Noem said. “It needs to be reformed. It needs to empower states to build in the structure that they need to best respond to disasters.” Noem said Trump has “seen the failures over the years of FEMA,” asserting it has made choices for relief based on political party and has claims that haven’t been paid for 15 to 20 years. “So his goal is to redo this agency in a way that empowers our states, recognizing that every state’s not at the same level of response today, that it’s going to take some effort to get them all ready to really, truly, take over the emergency management processes of their state,” Noem said.

Politico [5/8/2025 9:48 AM, Thomas Frank, 11599K] reports a bipartisan group of House members is drafting a sweeping bill to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and in some cases expand its services — in an effort to head off President Donald Trump’s threats to shrink or abolish the agency. Under the bill, FEMA could pay for major repairs to homes damaged in disasters, instead of only temporary fixes. The agency would be able to penalize states that don’t try to mitigate disasters, according to a detailed summary obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. The bill also would remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security and make it an independent agency reporting directly to the president. The measure, which is described as a discussion draft, was written by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves, Republican of Missouri, and Washington Rep. Rick Larsen, the panel’s top Democrat. Committee staffers explained the bill Wednesday in a private virtual conference with about 100 experts. E&E News listened in. Committee Republicans and Democrats expect to publicly release the discussion draft Thursday. “The administration has talked about finding a better way to support states taking the lead” in disaster response, Johanna Hardy, a subcommittee Republican staff director, said at the conference. The draft legislation by the committee “will help achieve those goals.” Making FEMA a Cabinet-level agency “will better enable FEMA to support states and local governments,” Hardy said. The bill could become Congress’ principal effort to try to influence the future of FEMA, which Trump has started cutting and intends to further weaken or abolish. “The fact that the committee is moving on this is promising,” Manann Donoghoe, a senior research associate at Brookings Metro, said in an interview after listening to the virtual conference.

Roll Call [5/8/2025 4:46 PM, Chris Johnson, 503K] reports Republican lawmakers expressed concerns Thursday over the Trump administration’s proposal to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calling into question moves that would roll back the traditional bulwark to assist states with disaster relief. At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., told Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that she was "concerned about the FEMA issue," citing her own experience in a small state she said often faces natural disasters like flooding. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., queried Noem about the Trump administration’s plans, pointing out her state has been affected by hurricanes and tornadoes and said FEMA "has been a part of my life ever since I have been in the public office." Noem responded by invoking President Donald Trump’s stated vision for restructuring FEMA, outlining a plan that would give resources to states for disaster relief responses. Noem sought to defend a decrease of $646 million non-disaster grant programs for the FEMA that the White House put in its initial budget proposal for fiscal 2026. Noem added the Department of Homeland Security has also evaluated FEMA grants to ensure they are "not being abused to facilitate illegal immigration," and are being used for "helping building dams and infrastructure, culverts that are the right size, instead of using them for bike paths and shade trees, like the Biden administration does." Noem in her opening statement also referenced FEMA Review Council, which she said she would co-chair with the Defense secretary in an effort at fixing "a broken system that’s returning power to state emergency management directors and making America safe." After the hearing, DHS confirmed that Cameron Hamilton, the Trump administration’s top political official at FEMA, was out of the job. The reported departure comes a day after Hamilton appeared to diverge from the Trump administration during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing. David Richardson, who comes from the DHS office for countering weapons of mass destruction, will be the senior official performing the duties of the administrator, a DHS spokesperson said Thursday.

The Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 9:31 AM, Jack Birle, 2296K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is testifying before a subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee about President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2026 budget request. The hearing on Capitol Hill is expected to begin at 10 a.m. Earlier this week, Noem testified before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee about the president’s budget request. She also oversaw the deadline for Real ID enactment on Wednesday, nearly 20 years after the law authorizing the ID standard was approved. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] HSToday [5/8/2025 8:05 AM, Matt Seldon, 38K] reports U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security on May 6, 2025, offering a update on the agency’s operational posture, budgetary needs, and strategic priorities for Fiscal Year 2026. In her opening remarks, Noem emphasized a renewed commitment to securing the homeland under President Trump’s administration, stating that “the Department has established the most secure border in our nation’s history.” She also reinforced the administration’s stance on aggressive immigration enforcement, repatriation efforts, and national preparedness in the face of natural disasters, cyber threats, and terrorism.

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UPI [5/8/2025 2:22 PM, Ashley N. Soriano, 3973K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration’s deportations Thursday as Democratic senators accused the president of illegally sending U.S. citizens and legal residents to other countries. The confrontation over deportations took center stage as Noem testified before the Senate Homeland Security Subcommittee about the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed $175 billion budget. In a tense back-and-forth with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Noem said that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in mid-March would "never return." Abrego Garcia, an El Salvadoran native, "should have never been in the U.S," Noem said, calling him a "wife beater." Breitbart [5/8/2025 5:02 PM, John Binder, 2923K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is making clear to Senate Democrats that "there is no scenario" where deported illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an accused MS-13 gang member, domestic abuser, and human smuggler, is returned to the United States. During a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing on Thursday Noem told Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) that under no circumstances will Abrego Garcia be flown back to the United States. Noem said Abrego Garcia is in his home country and repeated that DHS would deport him for a second time if he were to return to the U.S. Aside from his alleged MS-13 gang membership, Abrego Garcia has twice been accused by his wife in Maryland of domestic violence. Likewise, this week, new details have come to light regarding Abrego Garcia’s ties to an illegal alien human smuggling operation. A convicted felon, accused of operating a human smuggling ring that imported illegal aliens to the U.S. interior, told Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents that he hired Abrego Garcia to smuggle such illegal aliens. The DOJ is now investigating the alleged human smuggling incident involving Abrego Garcia.

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The Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 3:16 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 2296K] reports a Senate oversight hearing of the Department of Homeland Security became heated as Democrats pushed Secretary Kristi Noem to explain why the Trump administration had not followed through with a Supreme Court order to bring illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador. Two lawmakers, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), went up against Noem during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security hearing Thursday, and grew frustrated with the Trump official’s refusal to address their "simple" questions about events that have occurred since the Salvadoran man’s deportation on March 15. "There is no scenario where Abrego Garcia will be in the United States again. If he were to come back, we would immediately deport him again," Noem said. Noem responded that the Trump administration "is complying with all court orders and judges orders" and was a part of conversations inside the administration about the Supreme Court’s order. Murphy retorted that there was no "discussion" to be had. ABC News [5/8/2025 1:53 PM, Luke Barr, 34586K] reports Senate Democrats sparred with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday over whether Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be returned to the United States, as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s spending. During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia, asked if the Trump administration would comply with the Supreme Court’s decision that the U.S. government must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, Noem replied that the government is following the law but didn’t say yes or no. "What I would tell you is that we are following court order," Noem shot back. "Your advocacy for a known terrorist is alarming." Van Hollen said he isn’t "vouching for the man" but rather due process. "I suggest that rather than make these statements here, that you and the Trump administration make them in court under oath," he added. Van Hollen then accused Noem of a political speech, and Noem said she would suggest Van Hollen is an "advocate" for victims of illegal crime.

CBS News [5/8/2025 4:45 PM, Nicole Sganga, JT Moodee Lockman, 52225K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland demanded answers Thursday from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem about how the Trump Administration is facilitating Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. after his mistaken deportation. The heated exchange occurred as Noem was testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Van Hollen has been advocating for the return of Abrego Garcia after the Maryland man was deported in March to a prison in his native country of El Salvador. Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, but obtained a withholding of removal order in 2019 that should have prevented his deportation to El Salvador. The Trump administration admitted Abrego Garcia’s deportation was due to an administrative error and oversight, though they have yet to comply with orders from a federal judge and the Supreme Court to facilitate his return. When Van Hollen pushed for answers about what DHS is doing to aid in Abrego Garcia’s return, Noem responded that the administration is "following and complying with all federal court items." "This is the president’s prerogative, to facilitate conversations with the president of El Salvador," Noem said. Van Hollen repeated his question several times, at one point asking if Noem and DHS "are taking any action to facilitate the nine-to-nothing Supreme Court decision, to facilitate [Abrego Garcia’s] return." Noem fired back, alleging that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist. The Trump administration has alleged Abrego Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13, which it has sought to designate as a terrorist organization. Abrego Garcia’s wife and attorneys have denied that he is a member of MS-13. "What I would argue is that we are following court orders, that your advocacy for a known terrorist is alarming," Noem said. "He’s a terrorist. And he’s not a U.S. citizen," Noem continued about Abrego Garcia. "He’s a citizen of El Salvador, and he’s home. If he were to come back here, we would take him immediately."

NewsMax [5/8/2025 11:36 AM, James Morley III, 4998K] reports attorneys for deported illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia have requested that Judge Paula Xinis authorize three additional depositions in order determine the government’s efforts to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the U.S. The motion filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland has asked for three additional oral depositions of representatives from the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and the Department of Justice. The plaintiff’s motion notes that it requested all three government agencies, as the administration has acknowledged that "this is a case that involves three different Cabinet positions.” The motion says the government can chose its own representatives without having to burden the heads of the respective departments to testify. On Wednesday, the Trump administration invoked state secrets privilege to withhold information on Abrego Garcia’s deportation case. It was the second time the administration has used state secrets privilege in as many weeks in response to requests for documentation. In March, Abrego Garcia was arrested in Maryland and deported from the United States following what critics say was an administrative error associating him with the violent MS-13 gang. In April, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" the return of Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who is married to an American citizen. Last week, Xinis had ordered an expedited discovery schedule to begin on May 9 and approved depositions from four administration officials: Michael G. Kozak, a senior State Department official; Robert L. Cerna II, an acting field office director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Joseph N. Mazzara, acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and Evan C. Katz, an assistant director at ICE.

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ABC News [5/8/2025 12:50 PM, Laura Romero and James Hill, 34586K] reports attorneys for wrongly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia said in a court filing Thursday that after conducting three depositions, they are "still in the dark about the Government’s efforts to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody and return to the United States." U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, seeking to determine how the government has failed to return Abrego Garcia after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, last month ordered expedited discovery in the case which included the depositions of the four government officials who submitted status updates on Abrego Garcia to the court. In their filing on Thursday, attorneys for Abrego Garcia asked Judge Xinis to authorize three additional depositions of officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of State, and the Department of Justice. "As the Court stated in that Order, "discovery is necessary in light of Defendants’ uniform refusal to disclose ‘what it can’ regarding their facilitation of Abrego Garcia’s release and return to the status quo ante," the lawyers wrote.

AP [5/8/2025 11:25 AM, Staff, 48304K] reports the Trump administration is invoking the “ state secrets privilege “ in an apparent attempt to avoid answering a judge’s questions about its mistaken deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis disclosed the government’s position in a two-page order on Wednesday. She set a Monday deadline for attorneys to file briefs on the issue and how it could affect Abrego Garcia’s case. Xinis also scheduled a May 16 hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, to address the matter. The Republican administration previously invoked the same legal authority to cut off a judge’s inquiry into whether it defied an order to turn around planes deporting Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia, 29, has been imprisoned in his native El Salvador for nearly two months. His mistaken deportation has become a flash point for President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and his increasing friction with the U.S. courts. Trump has said he could call El Salvador’s president and have Abrego Garcia, who was living in Maryland, returned to the United States. Instead, Trump has doubled down on his claims that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang.

NBC News [5/8/2025 1:45 PM, Lawrence Hurley and Gary Grumbach, 44742K] reports the Trump administration on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to revoke temporary legal status to more than 500,000 immigrants that had been granted it by the Biden administration. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is seeking to end the Biden program that allowed 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to live and work in the United States for up to two years. Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled the administration could not sweep away each person’s status without an individualized determination. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a court filing that the judge had "nullified one of the administration’s most consequential immigration policy decisions." Sauer also argued that Talwani and other federal judges have no authority to rule on the issue under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act. CBS News [5/8/2025 2:42 PM, Melissa Quinn, 51661K] reports that a federal district court judge halted the secretary’s March notice, finding that the Immigration and Nationality Act did not give Noem the discretion to terminate parole en masse for the 532,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans. Instead, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that there had to be individualized decisions to end parole. A federal appeals court declined to allow Noem to move forward with the termination of the CHNV program, and the Trump administration has now filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court. In its request, Solicitor General D. John Sauer said that the district court did not have jurisdiction to enter its order because federal immigration law leaves parole-termination decisions to the discretion of the Homeland Security secretary. Sauer said the district court lacked the authority to "usurp the Executive Branch’s control of foreign policy and immigration." Reuters [5/8/2025 2:03 PM, Andrew Chung and John Kruzel, 41523K] reports that in their filing to the Supreme Court, Justice Department lawyers argued that Talwani’s order had upended "critical immigration policies that are carefully calibrated to deter illegal entry," effectively "undoing democratically approved policies that featured heavily in the November election" that returned Trump to the presidency. The Supreme Court directed the plaintiffs who had challenged the parole termination to respond to the administration’s request by May 15. Immigration parole is a form of temporary permission under American law to be in the United States for "urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." In a bid to reduce illegal crossings at the U.S. border with Mexico, Biden starting in 2022 allowed Venezuelans who entered the United States by air to request a two-year parole if they passed security checks and had a U.S. financial sponsor. Biden, a Democrat, later expanded that process to Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. About 530,000 people were paroled through the policy, allowing them to live and work in the United States, before Trump returned to the presidency in January. Trump, a Republican, called for the end of these programs in an executive order signed on January 20, his first day back in office. The Department of Homeland Security moved to terminate the programs in March, including cutting short the two-year parole grants for about 400,000 people. The New York Times [5/8/2025 3:26 PM, Abbie VanSickle, 145325K] reports that in an emergency application to the justices, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to lift a block imposed by a lower court on its effort to reverse a Biden administration program that had allowed migrants from certain countries to fly into the United States and remain temporarily. On March 25, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily paused the administration’s revocation of the program. The court determined that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked authority to categorically revoke parole for all 532,000 people without providing individualized, case-by-case reviews. On May 5, a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the lower court’s temporary block, finding that Ms. Noem had not made a “strong showing” that her “categorical termination” of humanitarian parole for all migrants was likely to survive a court challenge. The justices have requested a response from the challengers by 4 p.m. on May 15.

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Reuters [5/8/2025 3:04 PM, Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali, 41523K] reports a top Democratic lawmaker has asked the Pentagon’s Inspector General’s office to investigate whether the U.S. military broke the law when it deported 17 migrants to El Salvador at the end of March without any U.S. government civilians on board. President Donald Trump’s use of the military to carry out deportations of migrants, in support of the Department of Homeland Security, has previously come under intense scrutiny from Congress and from courts. But a flight on March 30 from a U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to El Salvador was different because of disclosures that no DHS personnel participated in the flight. At the time, the Pentagon declared it a "counter-terrorism" mission, a move that appears to be its justification for conducting the flight without any civilian personnel aboard. In a letter to the Department of Defense acting Inspector General Steven Stebbins, Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was unaware of any counter-terrorism authorities that would allow for such a flight. "This clearly would have been in violation of various immigration laws and policies," Reed said in a speech on the Senate floor. The Inspector General’s office doesn’t typically comment on what investigations it has granted but officials say such requests are taken seriously, particularly when they come from such a senior lawmaker. Reed, in the letter seen by Reuters on Thursday, asked that the investigation look into the military chain of command authorizing the flight, any internal legal review, and "whether this flight complied with federal law." In a legal filing on April 23, a senior DHS official submitted written testimony that the flight to El Salvador had "no DHS personnel onboard." DHS also declined to take responsibility for the flight, deferring to the Department of Defense. Trump, a Republican who made immigration a priority during his election campaign, has moved aggressively on the issue since taking office, sending more troops to the southern border and pledging to deport millions of immigrants in the United States illegally.

Washington Post [5/9/2025 5:00 AM, Maria Sacchetti, 31735K] reports the Trump administration has hired the United Nations agency for migration to help implement its “self-deportation” program, placing an international organization that has advocated for migrant safety globally at the center of one of the president’s most publicized efforts to curtail illegal migration. International Organization for Migration (IOM) officials said in a statement that the institution will assist in making sure the process is safe and dignified and emphasized that it will help with “assisted voluntary returns,” not deportations. President Donald Trump is offering unauthorized immigrants $1,000 apiece to leave the United States voluntarily and has threatened them with hefty fines and prison time if they do not. Nearly 1,000 immigrants have signed up for information, the initial stage of the process, a person with direct knowledge of the program said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Trump officials have called the initiative a historic opportunity for unauthorized immigrants to leave with a stipend and the possibility of returning legally, but immigration lawyers say the administration is pressuring people to depart by threatening them with increasingly violent and unorthodox enforcement tactics. IOM has helped more than 1.5 million people around the world return to their homelands over the past few decades, including to Syria and Georgia. But this is the first time the agency has implemented a program for immigrants to voluntarily depart from the United States, which as of February was the organization’s largest donor. The contract with IOM has not been previously reported. "In the United States, many migrants face a challenging reality — navigating complex systems with limited options and resources," IOM said in a statement. "This initiative provides support to those who choose to return, helping them make a life-changing decision with care and clarity.” The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the organization’s involvement, calling it an "implementing partner." The State Department, which hired IOM for the effort, did not respond to requests for comment or about how much the agency will be paid. The Trump administration is trying to make repatriation a central component of its push to dramatically reduce the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the country. On his first day in office, Trump ordered DHS and other agencies to encourage undocumented immigrants to leave the United States voluntarily "as soon as possible." In his order, he wrote that the program should have "adequate safeguards.”

New York Times [5/9/2025 3:43 AM, Alan Feuer, 330K] reports a federal judge on Wednesday night expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s reasons to avoid seeking the return of scores of Venezuelan immigrants who had been expelled to El Salvador in March, saying he was inclined to order officials to provide more information on the arrangement between the American and Salvadoran governments. The questions raised by the judge, James E. Boasberg, came at a hearing in Federal District Court in Washington, where lawyers for the deported men claimed that because the administration had sent them to a prison in El Salvador under an apparent agreement with the Salvadoran government, it should be responsible for facilitating their return to U.S. soil. Over the past several weeks, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union have secured orders from judges in several courts across the country stopping the Trump administration from using the Alien Enemies Act, an 18th-century wartime law, to summarily deport Venezuelans accused of being gang members to a terrorism prison in El Salvador. But at least so far, the lawyers have not been able to protect about 140 Venezuelan migrants who are already in Salvadoran custody after the United States sent them on charter flights under the act on March 15. The hearing in Washington on Wednesday night was held in part to debate two crucial issues: what role the Trump administration played in having the men detained in the Salvadoran prison in the first place, and whether officials could be held accountable for bringing them back to the United States. The plight of the 137 Venezuelans being held in the notorious terrorism prison in El Salvador known as CECOT is significant for several reasons. Lawyers for the A.C.L.U. have claimed that the men were sent there in the middle of night without due process. They have also argued that Mr. Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to remove them from the country was unlawful and improperly stretched the meaning of the law — a view that a ruling from a Trump-appointed federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, supported last week. The Justice Department, acting on behalf of the White House, has argued that once the Venezuelan men were sent to El Salvador, they were beyond the reach of the U.S. court system. Lawyers for the department have also taken an expansive view that federal judges have no authority to tell the executive branch how to handle immigration issues or matters of foreign policy, including national security.

AP [5/8/2025 6:31 PM, Valerie Gonzalez] reports two advocacy groups for migrants filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane. The lawsuit was filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in federal court in the District of Columbia. It names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security along with the federal Health and Human Services agency and its Office of Refugee Resettlement and seeks a return to prior reunification procedures. Critics note the government data shows the average time that the children are held in custody before release by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to their sponsors grew from 37 days in January to over 112 days by March. In February, the Trump administration changed the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody, whether parents or relatives of the minors -- or others. More changes followed in March and April when the government started to require identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire. Advocates for the families affected are asking a judge to declare the changes unlawful and return the agency to the policies in place before that. Attorneys said they had heard from families who were moments away from receiving their children back when the rules were abruptly changed. Now, many say they are left waiting indefinitely.

FOX News [5/8/2025 7:00 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 46189K] reports a House Republican is seeking to ensure illegal immigrants who commit murder in the U.S. are eligible for the death penalty in all 50 states. Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, is introducing a bill on Thursday called the Justice for Victims of Illegal Alien Murder Act, which would establish a new class of federal criminal offenses specifically directed at convicted murderers who are in the country illegally. It would make those criminals eligible for life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder. Such a bill would strengthen federal prosecutors’ claims of jurisdiction over such crimes, even in states where the death penalty is abolished. "We can hold those individuals accountable at the federal level because they’re here illegally. And here we are with that legislation," Luttrell told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. He said part of the impetus for the legislation was a case in his home state of Texas in 2023 when a man who had been deported multiple times was arrested for killing five people in the U.S. "That guy shouldn’t have been here as well. He had been deported a couple times, snuck back across the border, and now this happened. It’s time for us to step in and do this," Luttrell said. It’s also spurred partially by President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in January mandating the death penalty for illegal immigrants who commit "all crimes of a severity demanding its use" and for people who murder police officers. Luttrell said he’s hopeful at least some Democrats will support the bill as well. "I do not run away from those conversations at all, because I think it’s necessary. That shows the American people that we’re working together on this. The American public voted for this administration because of the border," he said. Luttrell’s bill is backed by seven House Republican co-sponsors, including Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger, R-Texas.

Breitbart [5/8/2025 10:49 AM, Joshua Klein, 2923K] reports "Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation," Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated while announcing that the United States is reviewing the visa status of individuals involved in the recent occupation of Columbia University’s Butler Library. On Wednesday, nearly 80 protesters were arrested after storming Columbia University’s Butler Library in New York City. The demonstrators, many of whom were masked and wearing kaffiyehs, disrupted students preparing for exams, defaced property, and declared the library a "liberated zone" in support of Palestinian activism. In response to the incident, Secretary Rubio posted on X: "We are reviewing the visa status of the trespassers and vandals who took over Columbia University’s library. Pro-Hamas thugs are no longer welcome in our great nation.” Secretary Rubio’s proposal aligns with the Trump administration’s broader effort to confront violent and radical forces operating under the banner of political activism. Following President Trump’s January executive order titled "Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism," the administration has been reviewing the visa statuses of students who participated in such demonstrations. Columbia University President Claire Shipman condemned the "outrageous" actions and violence of the demonstrators, noting the injuries of two public safety officers and the presence of individuals unaffiliated with the university. The NYPD was called to restore order and ensure campus safety. The matter comes amid growing concerns over the radicalization of student-led campus protests, many of which have turned violent, disrupted academic life, and echoed rhetoric associated with foreign terrorist movements. These developments reflect a deeper ideological convergence between far-left anti-capitalist activism and militant anti-Israel networks.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [5/8/2025 3:03 PM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12829K]
CBS New York [5/8/2025 8:33 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE
NewsMax [5/8/2025 11:08 AM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4998K]
Daily Wire [5/8/2025 7:03 AM, Kassy Akiva, 4672K]
Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 11:21 AM, Emily Hallas, 2296K]

Politico [5/8/2025 3:00 PM, Sophia Cai, Myah Ward and Tim Röhn] reports President Donald Trump’s zeal to preside over one of the world’s leading sports events is about to collide with the more aggressive version of an America First foreign policy that is defining his second term. Trump is ramping up preparations to co-host the 2026 World Cup next summer — a month-long showcase of global spirit — alongside Canada and Mexico. The early months of his second term have featured fresh tariffs against both countries, relentless taunts about turning the northern neighbor into the 51st state and a crackdown on immigration that has spurred fears about how the Trump administration will handle the millions of fans traveling to the U.S. to watch their teams. Not to worry, Trump said this week, when asked about the strained relations during the FIFA task force meeting at the White House on Tuesday. Just a day after Trump announced he was tapping Andrew Giuliani, the former mayor’s son and one-time New York gubernatorial candidate, to lead his FIFA task force, Giuliani went to DHS on Wednesday to meet with senior Homeland Security officials and about 10 host city executives, according to two people familiar with the meeting. Phil Hegseth, brother of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth who is serving as senior adviser to the secretary for DHS and liaison officer to the Department of Defense, and the Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Kevin Lunday were also in attendance at the meeting, according to one of the people. "Through this Task Force, we will partner with law enforcement to give the tools necessary to ensure the safety of fans and cities during the games, while showcasing American greatness on the world stage," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

Axios [5/8/2025 9:25 AM, Avery Lotz, 13163K] reports dozens have been arrested across the country as campus demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war have reignited again. The protests — reminiscent of the wave of demonstrations on college campuses last spring — come as the Trump administration has cracked down on universities for incidents of alleged antisemitism and targeted individual protesters. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said the administration would review the visas of demonstrators at Columbia University — the epicenter of last year’s campus protests. Dozens of universities were put on notice earlier this year that they’re being investigated over allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination. The warnings came shortly after Trump threatened to yank federal funds from any schools or university that allows "illegal protests." Israel approved a plan earlier this week to flatten all of Gaza and occupy it indefinitely if a hostage and ceasefire deal is not reached by May 15. The plan would cause massive displacement amid an already dire humanitarian crisis. Israel’s military operations in Gaza have killed at least 52,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-led Gaza. At least 80 people were detained on May 7 after the university called in the police over a crowd of demonstrators who had occupied part of Columbia’s Butler Library, multiple outlets reported. Around 30 people were arrested after a group of demonstrators "temporarily occupied and vandalized" a building on UW’s Seattle campus on May 5, the university said. Hundreds of protesters gathered the night of April 23 to condemn a visit to a private society at the university from Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, multiple outlets reported.

AP [5/8/2025 3:07 PM, Holly Ramer and Amanda Swinhart, 48304K] reports a Palestinian student arrested during an interview about finalizing his U.S. citizenship helped launch a $1 million fundraising campaign to strengthen the legal safety net for immigrants in Vermont on Thursday, a week after a federal judge freed him from custody. Mohsen Mahdawi, 34, who led protests against Israel’s war in Gaza at Columbia University, spent 16 days in a state prison before a judge ordered him released on April 30. The Trump administration has said Mahdawi should be deported because his activism threatens its foreign policy goals, but the judge ruled that he has raised a “substantial claim” that the government arrested him to stifle speech with which it disagrees. Immigration authorities have detained college students from around the country since the first days of the Trump administration. Many of them participated in campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. Mahdawi was among the first to win his freedom after challenging his arrest. “This is a message of hope and light, that our humanity is much larger than what divides us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws,” he said at a Statehouse news conference. “And this is also a message to the rest of the world. It starts from Vermont.”

Reported similarly:
CBS News [5/8/2025 2:12 PM, Staff, 51661K]

Breitbart [5/8/2025 3:35 PM, Amy Furr, 2923K] reports an MS-13 gangbanger has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for the brutal 2017 killings of four young men in a New York park, according to officials. The defendant is identified as Omar Antonio Villalta, who also goes by the name "Anticristo," the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Easter District of New York announced in a press release on Wednesday, noting he pleaded guilty in the case. Authorities said Villalta was involved in the April 11, 2017, murders of four victims. They were identified as Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre, and Jefferson Villalobos. Villalta was also involved in the murder of another man in Charlottesville, Virginia, a few months after the April killings.

FOX News [5/8/2025 6:26 AM, Elizabeth Pritchett, 46189K] reports the acting president of Columbia University strongly denounced the occupation of the campus library on Wednesday after more than 100 anti-Israel agitators stormed it, resulting in dozens arrested and two university officers injured. Claire Shipman issued a statement to the campus community on Wednesday night addressing the hours-long incident at Butler Library, which she described as "utterly unacceptable.” A mob of protesters showed up at the library Wednesday afternoon, as students were studying for finals, reportedly to rally support for detained Mahmoud Khalil, the accused ringleader of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia. They also continued to demand the university divest from Israel. Two groups caused "substantial chaos" and damaged the campus building while occupying one of the library’s main reading rooms and breaching the building’s front door, Shipman said, adding that the disruption left the university with "no choice" but to call the NYPD for assistance. "These actions not only represented a violation of University policies, but they also posed a serious risk to our students and campus safety," Shipman said, in part. Columbia’s acting president said she went to the library "as the events were unfolding" and was disappointed with what she saw, including one Columbia public safety officer being wheeled out on a gurney and another being treated for injuries. Shipman also said the reading room at the library was "defaced and damaged in disturbing ways and with disturbing slogans.” "Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library—none of that has any place on our campus. These aren’t Columbia’s values," she said. Shipman, who took over in March following the resignation of the former president and the stepping down of the subsequent interim president, said this behavior will not be tolerated at Columbia. "Let me be clear: Columbia unequivocally rejects antisemitism and all other forms of harassment and discrimination. And we certainly reject a group of students—and we don’t yet know whether there were outsiders involved—closing down a library in the middle of the week before finals and forcing 900 students out of their study spaces, many leaving belongings behind," she said. She also praised the response from professors, campus police and NYPD officers, describing their attempts to defuse the situation as "orderly, professional, and extremely limited, with a focus on the students who refused to leave the reading room.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News that the agency was monitoring arrests made at the protest and said all suspects were to be fingerprinted to determine if any are noncitizens. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [5/8/2025 4:24 PM, Sharon Otterman, 145325K] reports a year ago, when masked pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, the sole public safety officer who was present left the scene after notifying her supervisor. On Wednesday, demonstrators who swarmed into the main library on campus were met with a far different response. The roughly four-hour standoff at Butler Library showed how much has changed about the way Columbia, and schools across the nation, are dealing with disruptive pro-Palestinian protests. This time, unlike during the occupation a year earlier, Columbia’s public safety officers, who are unarmed, intervened aggressively, pushing some demonstrators to the ground, as they worked to keep the occupation under control and end it, video posted on social media showed. The officers blocked dozens of protesters from leaving one room at the library and locked the front doors of the imposing building with handcuffs to keep others from shoving their way in. Using powers newly granted to them, they arrested several demonstrators before the New York police arrived to finish the arrests. But it wasn’t only Columbia officials who had adopted a tougher posture. The group at the heart of demonstrations during the past year, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, has grown smaller but more hard-line in its rhetoric. The university’s newly assertive response satisfied many of those who were harshly critical of Columbia’s management of last year’s protests, including the Trump administration’s antisemitism task force, which has cut more than $400 million in research funding from Columbia, citing what it called the university’s failure to protect Jewish students. Columbia is negotiating with the task force in hopes of having the federal dollars restored. The task force said it was “encouraged” by the way Claire Shipman, who has been Columbia’s acting president for less than two months, handled the occupation and called in the police, a rare occurrence on the campus before city police officers were summoned to end pro-Palestinian encampments and the Hamilton Hall occupation. “She has stepped in to lead Columbia at a critical juncture and has met the moment with fortitude and conviction,” the task force wrote.

Wall Street Journal [5/8/2025 8:32 PM, Douglas Belkin and Joseph Pisani, 646K] reports locked in negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of their university, Columbia’s leaders needed to show they had changed since letting protests overwhelm the campus last year. On Wednesday, they got their chance. Five hours after a group of about 100 masked protesters forced their way past security guards and pushed through turnstiles into the school’s main library, they had their hands zip-tied behind their backs and were being marched out the door by police. “Violence and vandalism, hijacking a library—none of that has any place on our campus,” said acting Columbia University President Claire Shipman. “What happened today, what I witnessed, was utterly unacceptable.” The show of force came as the school is engaged in high-stakes negotiations with the Trump administration over the future of its federal funding—and autonomy. The government has presented Columbia with a proposal for a consent decree, a form of federal oversight that would give a judge responsibility for ensuring Columbia complies with the agreement, according to people familiar with the matter. Back in March, the administration canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts over antisemitism concerns, and said the university needed to meet demands to regain access to federal funds. The Trump administration praised Columbia’s “strong and resolute” response to the protesters, saying the school’s acting president “has met the moment with fortitude and conviction.”

NewsMax [5/8/2025 8:03 PM, Michael Katz, 4998K] reports President Donald Trump announced Thursday that former judge and prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, a host on Fox News, will be the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. "I am pleased to announce that Judge Jeanine Pirro will be appointed interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "Jeanine was Assistant District Attorney for Westchester County, New York, and then went on to serve as County Judge, and District Attorney, where she was the first woman ever to be elected to those positions. "During her time in office, Jeanine was a powerful crusader for victims of crime. Her establishment of the Domestic Violence Bureau in her Prosecutor’s Office was the first in the Nation. She excelled in all ways. In addition to her Legal career, Jeanine previously hosted her own Fox News Show, Justice with Judge Jeanine, for 10 years, and is currently Co-Host of The Five. ... Jeanine is incredibly well-qualified for this position and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the History of the State of New York. She is in a class by herself. Congratulations Jeanine!". Ed Martin had been the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., but his nomination was facing stiff resistance in the Senate, especially among some Republicans, because of his defense of Americans who were charged with participating in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, at the U.S. Capitol. The Senate had to confirm Martin by May 20, when his 120-day tenure in the interim role was set to expire. Otherwise, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg would have been able to select a temporary replacement to lead the office. Boasberg has sparred with the Trump administration by placing an injunction over the deportations of alleged illegal immigrant gang members to El Salvador.

Reported similarly:
CNN [5/8/2025 9:03 PM, Alayna Treene and Kaitlan Collins, 908K]

FOX News [5/8/2025 3:25 PM, Danamarie McNicholl, 46189K] reports the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is now enforcing federal immigration laws on state roads, and Fox News got an exclusive look inside the groundbreaking effort. Gov. Ron DeSantis has hailed the initiative as a model for the rest of the nation, saying that Florida is building a system that can be replicated nationwide. The state has become the first to train and deploy troopers under the federal 287(g) agreement, which authorizes designated state officers to enforce immigration law in partnership with federal agents. This new enforcement authority is a dramatic shift from past limitations. DeSantis says the initiative is already delivering results and believes it could serve as a blueprint for other states seeking to take immigration enforcement into their own hands.

AP [5/8/2025 1:56 PM, Joshua Goodman and Jim Mustian, 24727K] reports a federal judge sentenced a former Colombian customs worker on Thursday to more than 12 years in prison for taking more than $1 million in bribes in a money laundering conspiracy involving a corrupt U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent. Omar Ambuila, 64, pleaded guilty on the second day of a trial this year that had been expected to shed new light on a misconduct scandal in which more than a dozen U.S. federal agents were quietly disciplined or ousted from their jobs. Among the would-be witnesses was José Irizarry, a DEA agent now serving a 12-year prison sentence for skimming millions of dollars from money laundering stings to fund a decade’s worth of luxury overseas travel, fine dining, top seats at sporting events and frat house-style debauchery. Prosecutors said Ambuila deserved a harsh sentence for abusing his trust as one of the highest-ranking officials at the Colombian port of Buenaventura, a major transit point for U.S.-bound cocaine. At one point, prosecutors said, Ambuila held himself out as a retired soccer player while buying a Lamborghini to conceal "the corrupt nature" of his wealth. Prosecutor Joseph Palazzo told a judge in Tampa federal court that Ambuila had made a series of "particularly obscene purchases" in Miami, including the luxury vehicle and rental waterfront properties. "This is not about someone from extremely deprived or humble beginnings going down a wayward path reluctantly," Palazzo said. "This was a calculated crime.” U.S. District Court Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington called the corruption "heartbreaking.” "This is a person who was a public official engaged in very serious misconduct," she said. The Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Homeland Security first suspected Ambuila after his daughter posted photos of herself carrying designer handbags, taking luxury vacations to Paris and driving a $330,000 red Lamborghini. That lavish lifestyle didn’t match the 20-something University of Miami graduate’s modest income as a social media influencer or that of her father, who earned about $2,000 a month. A chunk of the funds used to pay for the Lamborghini Huracan Spyder originated in an account controlled by Jhon Marín, whom an IRS criminal investigator described at trial as the Florida-based nephew of a "known contraband smuggler in Colombia.”

FOX News [5/8/2025 9:39 AM, Staff, 46189K] Video: HERE reports Border czar Tom Homan discusses his reaction to Secretary Noem and Angel families protesting Gov. Pritzker’s sanctuary policies, spiraling migrant crime in NYC and receiving the National Police Defense Foundation’s ‘Man of the Year’ award.

FOX News [5/8/2025 1:41 PM, Bailee Hil, 46189K] reports Border czar Tom Homan slammed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for the state’s sanctuary policies protecting illegal immigrants, arguing he has lied on the issue after Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem protested alongside Angel families demanding change. Homan accused Pritzker of lying about the state’s policies addressing illegal immigration during "Fox & Friends," alleging officials in Chicago – a migrant hotbed – refuse to work with federal officials to get dangerous criminals off the streets. "He continues to lie about sanctuary city status in the state, in Chicago especially," Homan told Lawrence Jones on Thursday. "One of the first places I went to after President Trump took the oath of office was Chicago. And the first day, we arrested like nine TdA members." "We arrested two illegal aliens that were convicted of murder, that were walking the streets," he added. "We arrested, I think, six or seven child predators, child rapists in Chicago, and these people are all walking the street because… Cook County jail, one of the biggest jails in the nation, won’t accept ICE detainers. They won’t work with ICE." Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem led a press conference alongside Angel families on Wednesday near the governor’s mansion to spotlight the sanctuary status of the state, and to call on the potential presidential candidate to "abandon" the "dangerous" approach. She held the presser at the site where Emma Shafer, 24, was stabbed to death by Grabriel Calixto Pichardo, 25, an illegal migrant who is wanted on three first-degree murder charges and an aggravated domestic battery charge. Pichardo was reportedly dating Shafer at the time of the murder. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Politico [5/8/2025 8:13 AM, Shia Kapos, 2100K] reports Kristi Noem created a firestorm in Springfield on Wednesday by invoking the name of Emma Shafer to criticize the Pritzker administration on the issue of immigration. The attention-grabbing event backfired when the parents of Shafer, who was stabbed to death in her home, condemned the Department of Homeland Security secretary for advancing “a cruel and heartless political agenda,” according to a statement sent via the governor’s office. Standing with Noem were Republican legislators, members of the Illinois Freedom Caucus and families of victims of crimes allegedly committed by noncitizens. The point of the media event was to criticize Gov. JB Pritzker for following Illinois’ sanctuary status law that limits local law enforcement’s ability to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement officials. The law doesn’t stop federal officials from doing their job. “Where’s the compassion for Emma who died on this street and her killer is still roaming free,” Noem said, criticizing that the suspect is still on the run for her murder. “For two years, JB Pritzker has protected individuals like that so that he can stand up and say that he’s a sanctuary city in a sanctuary state,” Noem said. Here’s the video Pritzker responded, calling Noem’s visit a “Trump-Noem publicity stunt,” according to a statement. Noem’s visit also drew scrutiny from Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, who wrote a letter to Noem requesting “a full accounting” of her “taxpayer funded travel” for the 26-minute media event.

FOX News [5/8/2025 9:00 AM, Cameron Arcand, 46189K] reports Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., criticized Colorado leaders, as the state and the city of Denver are currently being sued by the Department of Justice over their immigration policies, and shared how Congress can step in. "[Denver] Mayor Mike Johnston was unwilling to change policies that don’t even allow his city employees to coordinate with ICE agents. And that also is a coupling with Colorado state laws as well. And unfortunately, Gov. Jared Polis has not budged on those either. In fact, the Democrats who run our state legislature have gone even further. They want to expedite and make driver’s licenses immediately available for those who are in our state illegally," Boebert told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday. 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. Colorado has become a national focal point, as it was revealed to be a hotbed for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. "The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters," the lawsuit reads. ICE enforces federal immigration laws across the country but regularly needs additional 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.

Blaze [5/8/2025 1:10 PM, Julio Rosas, 1668K] reports the University of Washington stated it has suspended and banned 21 students who were allegedly part of this week’s takeover and vandalism of the Interdisciplinary Engineering Building in an effort to force the college to end its partnership with Boeing. "Thirty-four individuals were arrested and are subject to criminal prosecution and university disciplinary processes. The 21 students who were arrested have been suspended and banned from all UW campuses. Non-student participants will be banned from the UW’s Seattle campus," UW said. The punishments come after the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism had initiated a review of federal grants and contracts at UW. While anti-Israel and anti-U.S. protesters on college campuses had greater freedom to carry out their attacks with little consequences under the Biden-Harris administration, that appears to be at an end under President Donald Trump. UW pledged that the school’s personnel will "cooperate with the Task Force’s review and are confident that an evaluation will find we are in compliance with federal civil rights laws." "The University of Washington condemns anti-Semitism, harassment, and discrimination. Throughout the May 5th incident, the UW was in contact with campus and Seattle Jewish community leaders. We value these partnerships and understand their deep concern. The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle issued a public statement noting the University’s swift response and clear denunciation of anti-Semitism," UW added.

FOX News [5/7/2025 8:00 PM, Kylie Michael, 46189K] reports Mexican leadership has long maintained the country is doing its part and whatever it can to fight the drug cartels deeply embedded on its turf. Well, that seems pretty hard to believe given Mexico’s current president Claudia Sheinbaum has REJECTED President Trump’s VERY generous offer to send US troops to Mexico to help combat the cartels. President Trump’s theory on this is likely spot on, he believes President Sheinbaum is terrified of cartel retribution if she were to accept help from the USA to wipe them out. Trump added that she is a "lovely woman" but is too afraid to "think straight.” That is a generous interpretation. Under Trump’s leadership, the US military has already increased its presence along our southern border with Mexico as well as increased manned surveillance flights to monitor fentanyl trafficking.

Breitbart [5/8/2025 12:51 PM, John Hayward, 2923K] reports the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security held a hearing on Tuesday to investigate reports that China is constructing four powerful signals intelligence (SIGINT) facilities in Cuba to spy on Americans. China’s plans to build new spy stations in Cuba were first reported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in 2023. The report, denied by the Biden White House but quickly confirmed by other media organizations, said Beijing offered Havana "several billion" dollars to build the first of its "listening outposts" within 100 miles of the Florida coast. The installation would give China the ability to monitor emails, phone calls, and satellite transmissions across the southeastern U.S., potentially including military communications. Subsequent reports citing anonymous American intelligence officials indicated that China is expanding its espionage operations in Cuba and had been present and operating there for at least 30 years. In addition to its surveillance capabilities, the Chinese listening post had symbolic value as a direct challenge to America’s sphere of influence. The Chinese had long complained about U.S. intelligence-gathering operations near its borders and relished the opportunity to turn the tables by building spy stations so close to the U.S. mainland. A few days after the reports broke, the Biden White House dispatched its National Security Council (NSC) spokesman, John Kirby, to admit the administration knew about the Chinese spy bases all along, but felt it was "absolutely not beneficial" for the American public to know about the threat while intelligence was still being developed. Kirby went on to insist his comments should not be interpreted as a "walk-back" of the Biden administration’s previous position, insisted the WSJ report was "inaccurate" without explaining how, and railed against the media for "shamefully" injecting incomplete information into the "public bloodstream.” Despite the Biden administration’s claim to know nothing about China’s plans, the spy station story never went away. On Tuesday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published a report that found "new construction underway" at the SIGINT site near Havana, plus activity at three more sites. One of these locations was an old Cuban facility near the town of Bejucal that appeared to have received substantial upgrades, including a new circularly disposed antenna array (CDAA), an advanced technology that can monitor radio signals over very long distances. China has a penchant for building CDAA facilities on the militarized reefs it occupies in the South China Sea. "Since the end of the Cold War, Bejucal has been widely rumored to be part of China’s intelligence-gathering ambitions on the island. U.S. congressional testimony and unclassified government documents have suggested the site has ties to China, and reporting in English and Spanish-language outlets has also linked it to China," the report noted. The House Homeland Security Committee and House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Tuesday to request a formal threat assessment on Chinese SIGINT activities in Cuba. "If left unchecked, the PRC’s activities in Cuba could establish a forward operating base for electronic warfare, enable intelligence collection, and influence operations that directly undermine U.S. national security interests," the letter warned.

NewsMax [5/8/2025 11:29 AM, A. Craig Copetas, 4998K] reports the then-president of the United States had received word that his daring gambit to deploy 1st Lt. Andrew Rowan on a cloak-and-dagger mission to deliver a message to "General Calixto Garcia, a leader of the Cuba insurgents somewhere in the mountain fastness of Cuba" has been a success. According to reports, President Donald Trump’s Oval Office predecessor, William McKinley, described Rowan’s flair and ability to seize the initiative when carrying out an otherwise impossible assignment behind enemy lines during the Spanish-American War as the whole drama of American civilization, the apotheosis of the spirit required to make America great again. "Cuba ought to be free and independent," McKinley tub-thumped. "The government should be turned over to the Cuban people. The mission of the U.S. is benevolent assimilation.” Six score and seven years ago, "A Message to Garcia" — Elbert Hubbard’s explosively popular essay explaining the value of executing a task without questioning — had the edge of an autographed Trump Administration executive order and was harder to score than a ticket to Ali-Frazier I. Hubbard’s essay has aged well. It remains required reading at Russia’s Combined Arms Academy, West Point, and the U.S. Naval Academy. The rip-roaring 17-page yarn embroidered McKinley’s heroics so deeply into American mythology that Thomas Edison in 1916 and 20th Century Fox in 1936, respectively, produced major motion pictures marqueed "A Message to Garcia.” Then, last week, a long-time dependable contact with a wicked sense of humor in the Russian government shattered my patriotic confidence in the message. Then, last week, a senior Russian government official who this reporter has known for decades and comes with a wicked sense of humor and a keen knowledge of American movies shattered my patriotic confidence in the message.

FOX News [5/8/2025 9:18 AM, Danielle Wallace, 46189K] reports a federal judge said Wednesday that any potential deportation flights to Libya or Saudi Arabia would violate a court order if the Trump administration does not provide advanced notification to the impacted illegal immigrants and their attorneys first. The administration has not confirmed planned deportation flights to either country, but a group of attorneys representing illegal immigrants from nations including Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines claimed in court documents that their clients were told by immigration enforcement agents that they would soon be sent to Libya or Saudi Arabia. Immigration lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy – who was nominated by former President Joe Biden – for a temporary restraining order Wednesday "to prevent non-citizen removals to third countries, including but not limited to Libya and Saudia Arabia, without prior written notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise fear-based claims.” Murphy agreed with the immigration lawyers that the motion should not be required because deporting the illegal immigrants to Libya without a chance to claim convention against torture (CAT) protection would violate his prior court order. "The April 18, 2025 Preliminary Injunction requires all third-country removals to be preceded, inter alia, by written notice to both the non-citizen and the non-citizen’s counsel in a language the non-citizen can understand as well as a meaningful opportunity for the non-citizen to raise a fear-based claim for CAT protection," Murphy wrote Wednesday. "The April 30, 2025 Amendment to the Preliminary Injunction further clarifies that the Department of Homeland Security may not evade this injunction by ceding control over non-citizens or the enforcement of its immigration responsibilities to any other agency, including but not limited to the Department of Defense.” "If there is any doubt—the Court sees none—the allegedly imminent removals, as reported by news agencies and as Plaintiffs seek to corroborate with class-member accounts and public information, would clearly violate this Court’s Order.” In their request seeking Murphy’s intervention, the immigration attorneys cited "alarming reports" late Tuesday and Wednesday morning from "class members’ counsel and from the press" announcing "the imminent removal" of Laotian, Vietnamese, and Philippine illegal immigrants "being prepared for removal to Libya, a [country] notorious for its human rights violations, especially with respect to migrant residents.” "Class members were being scheduled for removal despite not receiving the required notice and opportunity to apply for CAT protection," they wrote. President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed questions to the Department of Homeland Security(DHS), according to the AP. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a news conference in Illinois that she "can’t confirm" media reports of plans to send people to Libya. The State Department told the AP it does not "discuss the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.” The Trump administration has said it’s exploring other third countries for deportations. In addition to the Venezuelans sent to El Salvador, the administration has deported people to Panama and Costa Rica who were not citizens of those countries.

Reported similarly:
(B) The Situation Room [5/8/2025 10:11 AM, Staff]

AP [5/8/2025 4:49 PM, Renata Brito and Fatma Khaled, 24727K] reports reports of plans to deport migrants from the U.S. to Libya, a country with a documented history of serious human rights violations and abuse of migrants, have spotlighted the difficulties they face in the lawless North African nation. Migrants in Libya are routinely arbitrarily detained and placed in squalid detention centers where they are subjected to extortion, abuse, rape and killings. A U.N.-backed, independent fact-finding mission found evidence that crimes against humanity had been committed against migrants in Libya. Victims were subjected to enslavement, forced disappearance, torture and murder, among other crimes, the investigators found. Dead migrants have been found in mass graves across the country, while tens of thousands of others have drowned trying to escape Libya on smugglers’ boats. "It’s hell on earth for migrants," said Tarek Megerisi, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "All they will have are different forms of abuse — if they are lucky enough, they will end up on a rickety boat in the Mediterranean," added Megerisi, who is Libyan. Libya plunged into chaos after a 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The country split, with rival administrations in the east and west backed by a web of rogue militias. "Their main business model is smuggling, and people smuggling is a major part of that," Megerisi said. Both the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and its rival administration in eastern Libya controlled by military commander Khalifa Hifter have denied signing a deportation deal with the Trump administration.

NBC News [5/8/2025 6:37 PM, Kimmy Yam and Laura Strickler, 44742K] reports a Filipino immigrant detained in Texas described being woken up at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday by armed guards in tactical gear, being told he was being sent to Libya, and then waiting for hours on a bus at a military base outside a military plane, his lawyer said. The flight never took off and he was sent back to solitary confinement in the Texas facility along with the other 12 detainees, mostly from Asian countries, the immigrant’s lawyer, Johnny Sinodis, told NBC News. The immigrant requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation. The immigrants, including people from the Philippines, Vietnam, Laos and Mexico, would later learn that their attorneys filed an emergency motion after reports that the Trump administration had planned to send a group of immigrants to Libya. A federal judge then enforced a previous order Wednesday afternoon, halting deportations to third countries. Tin Nguyen, another immigration attorney whose client was aboard the bus, said that though the deportation was halted, many continue to be on edge over the possibility of being sent to a country that is unfamiliar to them and has been criticized for major human rights abuses. "Libya or El Salvador or Rwanda … it’s very scary for people," Nguyen, who’s based in North Carolina, said. "People don’t know anything about these countries, and what they have heard about them is very terrifying.” Last week, a judge granted a preliminary injunction, ruling that prior to removing any noncitizen to a third country, the Trump administration must take several steps to ensure they receive adequate due process. Sinodis said that his client had been told earlier this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that he was being sent to Libya. Days later, the detainees were given a few minutes to gather their belongings before being processed out of the facility, shackled and shuffled onto a bus, the attorney said. The detainees were eventually taken back to the facility and released to the facility’s general population by the next morning. Sinodis criticized the process as both legally concerning and inefficient. Sending an immigrant from Mexico across the world, for example, makes little sense, he said.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo [5/8/2025 11:50 PM, Kimmy Yam and Laura Strickler, 2454K]

CNN [5/9/2025 5:00 AM, Priscilla Alvarez and Natasha Bertrand, 22131K] reports that, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, a group of detained migrants were bused from a facility in Texas to a base where a military aircraft awaited them – at least one of them had been told he was destined for Libya, according to an account shared with his attorney. Johnny Sinodis, an attorney based in San Francisco, told CNN his Filipino client, who he didn’t name due to privacy concerns, had been told Monday evening that he would be deported to Libya, raising alarm and leading him to try to understand why a migrant from the Philippines would be removed to a country in North Africa. Sinodis said his client had a removal order to the Philippines and anticipated being deported there in late April. That same month, he was moved to two detention facilities in Texas, ultimately being held at the South Texas ICE Processing Center and expecting to be removed to his native country. But early Wednesday, that appeared to take a turn. Sinodis’ client, along with 12 other detainees, were loaded onto a big white bus, according to the account shared with Sinodis. They were taken to what his client described as a military plane and waited on the bus for hours. Eventually, the bus started rolling back to the detention facility, without explanation. Sinodis told CNN he’s since been in touch with his client and tried to reach Immigration and Customs Enforcement for explanation. The military plane that was scheduled to bring migrants to Libya on Wednesday never departed, according to flight trackers and a defense official. Instead, the plane flew to Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, the defense official said. It held only military personnel being repositioned to the island after the Libya flight was canceled. The Trump administration appeared to be moving forward with plans Wednesday to send migrants to Libya, though the White House declined to comment on the flight plans. CNN first reported the administration was communicating with Libya to have the country take migrants from the United States. The episode reveals new details about how preparations unfolded for the migrants believed to be destined for Libya, including the lead up and abrupt fallout, as told by a migrant to his attorney moments after.

New York Times [5/8/2025 5:00 AM, Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, Nina Agrawal and Jessica Silver-Greenberg, 145325K] reports a man lay on a New York City sidewalk with a gun shot wound, clutching his side. Emily Borghard, a social worker who hands out supplies to the homeless through her nonprofit, found him and pulled out her phone, preparing to dial 911. But the man begged her not to make the call, she said. “No, no, no,” he said, telling her in Spanish that he would be deported. Ms. Borghard tried to explain that federal law required hospitals to treat him, regardless of his immigration status, but he was terrified. “He said, ‘If I go to the emergency department, that will put me on their radar,’” she recalled in an interview recounting the incident. Across the country, doctors, nurses and social workers are increasingly concerned that people with serious medical conditions, including injuries, chronic illnesses and high-risk pregnancies, are forgoing medical care out of fear of being apprehended by immigration officials. Since the Trump administration announced plans for mass deportations and rescinded a Biden-era policy that protected spaces like hospitals, medical clinics and churches from immigration enforcement, doctors said they have seen sharp increases in patient anxiety and appointment no-show rates. If the trend continues, health care officials say, the list of consequences could be long: Infectious diseases circulating unnecessarily; worsening health care costs because of untreated chronic illnesses; and dangerous birth complications for women who wait too long to seek help, among others. In a survey conducted by KFF, a health policy research organization, 31 percent of immigrants said that worries about immigration status — their own or that of a family member — was negatively affecting their health. About 20 percent of all immigrants surveyed said they were struggling with their eating and sleeping; 31 percent reported worsened stress and anxiety. A White House spokesman did not respond to messages seeking comment. When the administration announced that it was ending protections at hospitals on Jan. 21, a statement from the Department of Homeland Security said the new policy was intended “to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens.”

Yahoo! News [5/8/2025 6:52 PM, Paul Feely, 52868K] reports a former assistant track coach at Portsmouth High School is facing charges he attempted to pay cash for sex with a 14-year-old female who was an undercover federal agent last month at a Maine hotel. Joseph Auger, 27, of Portsmouth, was charged April 25 with one count of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, alleging he "knowingly" attempted to "entice, obtain, patronize and solicit by any means a 14-year-old girl ... to engage in a commercial sex act.” According to court documents, Auger allegedly gave $150 in cash to federal agents at a Best Western hotel in South Portland, Maine, according to a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Maine by HSI Special Agent Abby Mathieu. No minors were involved in the sting operation, the affidavit states. Portsmouth schools Superintendent Zach McLaughlin notified the high school community that Auger had been fired from coaching job on April 30, the same day a federal agent notified school officials of their investigation. Auger is a former athlete at Portsmouth High School, where he ran track. "Effective immediately, Joseph Auger, an assistant coach from our track team, has been removed from his position due to a legal matter that has come to our attention," McLaughlin’s message said. "While we understand that news like this can be concerning, I want to assure you that the current legal investigation is not directly connected to the coach’s work with our students or athletic program. We are committed to maintaining a safe and supportive environment for all students.” According to the affidavit, on or around April 24, law enforcement agents posted an advertisement on a website commonly used to advertise commercial sex acts, containing images of what appeared to be two young females who were "Ready 2 have some fun," among other sexually-charged phrases. Agents monitoring the line pretended to be the sister of a 14-year-old girl available to perform sex acts for money. The affidavit claims Auger went to the Best Western Hotel in South Portland after he was given the address by agents pretending to be the sister of the 14-year-old.

Washington Post [5/8/2025 6:00 AM, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, 31735K] reports that, for more than two years, Badar Khan Suri was a little-known postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University trying to land a book project, colleagues and family say. The Indian national, who was on a J-1 visa for academic and exchange visitors, spent much of his time researching minority rights in his home country, visiting the campus mosque with his wife and three young children, and teaching a class on his research, they say. But earlier this year, two groups that oppose campus antisemitism published articles about Suri and his wife’s support for Palestinians and their family ties to Hamas: His father-in-law was an adviser to the group’s former political leader, Ismail Haniyeh. The Department of Homeland Security detained Suri soon after, alleging that his presence in the U.S. could have "adverse foreign policy consequences." A DHS spokesperson accused him of spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism, and pointed to his "close connections to a known or suspected terrorist." Suri hasn’t been charged with any crime, nor has his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, and the government has not released any evidence in the case. After more than a month in a detention facility in Texas, Suri had an initial immigration hearing this week as the government seeks to deport him. The Trump administration has detained several international students and researchers who have spoken out against the Gaza war, a move that has been criticized by immigration attorneys as unlawful and unprecedented. Immigration experts say the targeting of Suri possibly because of his family connection to Hamas makes his case exceptional. Unlike other noncitizen scholars detained by the Trump administration, he did not participate in the Gaza war protests that swept campuses last spring, his lawyers and colleagues say. He has, though, vocally supported Palestinians on social media, questioned some of the facts around the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, alleged that Israel was committing war crimes and defended the rights of Palestinians to fight back. Such comments on social media and family ties like his are not typically grounds for deportation, his attorneys and other immigration lawyers said. "The Trump administration’s clampdown on free speech by offensively and shamelessly using antisemitism should concern all Americans," said Hassan Ahmad, one of Suri’s attorneys.

New Jersey Online [5/8/2025 7:55 PM, Steve Strunsky, 7900K] reports a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official sharply criticized Newark’s mayor on Thursday over his opposition to an immigrant detention center in his city, accusing him of “political antics” that the official said endanger ICE officers and detainees. “The sanctuary mayor of Newark and his political antics are endangering ICE personnel, the security of the facility, and ultimately the detainees housed there,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Communications Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to NJ Advance Media on Thursday. McLaughlin was referring to Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, who is among six Democrats running in the June 10 primary for governor. The mayor appeared at the gate of the facility on Tuesday and Wednesday. Civilian security guards had been stationed at the gate on Tuesday, but on Wednesday, Baraka was met by half a dozen armed ICE officers dressed in combat fatigues. The scene remained peaceful and cooperative, but Baraka said the officers’ presence was a show of federal might meant to intimidate city inspectors. McLaughlin said assaults on ICE officers were up by more than 400% since this time last year, and that “we will not tolerate any activity that compromises the safety of our officers and employees.” “The Mayor has been informed that he is more than welcome to enter the facility, as long as he follows security protocols like everyone else,” McLaughlin added. “He keeps refusing to do so, presumably in an effort to stage press opportunities to help him in his bid for governor.” McLaughlin did not specify what protocols she was referring to or explain how the mayor’s appearances this week at the facility, Delaney Hall, posed a danger. Baraka responded to McLaughlin’s criticism in a statement Thursday night, insisting that his appearance never put the ICE officers or anyone else in danger.

AP [5/8/2025 3:51 PM, Ashraf Khalil, Jacquelyn Martin and Nathan Ellgren] reports early Tuesday morning, dozens of concerned parents and staff members gathered outside of Mundo Verde, one of Washington’s most prominent bilingual schools, bracing for a crackdown. A flurry of rumors and unconfirmed media reports had fueled fears that agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement would be descending on area schools that were known to have large Hispanic immigrant populations. The reports of a crackdown on bilingual schools in the District turned out to be a false alarm that day — but only partially false. While the schools were on high alert, ICE agents reportedly raided several local restaurants, including Millie’s in northwest Washington. The ambient fear among Washington’s robust Hispanic community, though, remains. It is exacerbated by concerns that the city government will not help them. But Mayor Muriel Bowser has publicly distanced herself from that status ever since Trump was elected to a second term.

Telemundo Washington DC [5/8/2025 3:13 PM, Rosbelis Quiñonez, 38K] reports a Northern Virginia mother said she felt fear and frustration after authorities released the man accused of trying to kidnap her 4-year-old daughter. However, the mother said her fear has turned to relief after her detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Authorities say this was not the first time he had been accused of a crime against a minor, and he had previously been convicted of robbery. When asked why the charges were dropped, a spokeswoman for the state’s attorney issued a statement saying, "The allegations in this case are deeply troubling. Unfortunately, serious evidentiary issues compelled prosecutors to seek accountability through a plea agreement. We are disappointed in the judge’s decision to reject what we consider the best possible outcome." Natalie, the girl’s surrogate grandmother, attended the hearing on behalf of the family. She knew Baquedano Rodríguez could be wanted by ICE. So, after the hearing, she called. When Baquedano Rodríguez left the Fairfax County jail on Friday, ICE agents were waiting and arrested him. ICE says he received a deportation order and is now in their custody at a detention center.

NewsNation [5/8/2025 10:19 AM, Brittney Baird, 6866K] reports counsel for the city of Nashville has released a timeline after traffic stops and detainments across the city last weekend by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to Metropolitan Government for Nashville Director of Law Wally Dietz, the coordinated effort of the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) with ICE caught "everyone at Metro by surprise.” The city of Nashville insists the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) played no role and was not involved in any way in the joint operation. Thursday May 1, 2025 at 11:47 am: A man identifying himself as "Inspector Jackson Sanders" from the Federal Protective Service of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (the entity that safeguards federal buildings) telephoned the Department of Emergency Communications to request extra police patrol at Nashville’s ICE facility on Sunday. Sanders told the call taker that there would be operations throughout the weekend and there was a concern of backlash by families coming to the ICE Facility on Sunday. Overnight Saturday, May 3 and early hours on Sunday, May 4: THP and ICE conduct a joint operation in Nashville resulting in approximately 150 traffic stops and "a few" arrests. There was no involvement by MNPD. After reviewing the calls, talking with the departments involved, and reviewing publicly released information from the THP and ICE, there is no evidence to suggest MNPD involvement in the joint operation. MNPD routinely receives requests for extra patrols for a variety of reasons and responds to the extent resources are available. Moreover, the names of those detained and the reason for their detainment are not known by Metro. [Dietz] sent a letter to THP requesting the names of people arrested and the charges against them. THP has replied stating that [Dietz needs] to complete an Open Records request. Late Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claimed to have made arrests in conjunction with criminal activity but have provided no information to identify an alleged perpetrator or their charges. An estimated 150 traffic stops were performed throughout the city and an unknown number of people were detained and taken away in charter buses. According to a THP press release, the agency’s role in the joint operation is to observe driving behavior and conduct lawful stops based on violations of Tennessee traffic laws. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

New York Post [5/8/2025 6:38 AM, Nicholas McEntyre, 54903K] reports a Georgia college student faces deportation after she ran a red light, and authorities discovered her entire family has been illegally living in the US for nearly 15 years. Mexican-national Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was pulled over by police in Dalton, Ga. on May 5 when she failed to adhere to a "no turn on red" sign. Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a Dalton State Community College student, was driving without a driver’s license but told officers she had an international driver’s license, according to WTVC, citing the arrest report. She admitted that she didn’t have the foreign document when Dalton police officers asked her to show it, claiming that her mother had taken it away from her and said she was not supposed to be driving. In 2010, Arias-Cristobal was brought into the US illegally by her parents when she was only 4 years old during the family’s move from Mexico City to the Dalton area — over 30 miles from the Tennessee and Georgia border. Because of her non-citizen status, Arias-Cristobal was paying out-of-state tuition for school despite living in the area. The officer who pulled her over attempted to speak to the teen’s mom and the owner of the car, but neither of them spoke English, according to the report. Arias-Cristobal was arrested and charged with driving without a valid license and failure to obey traffic control devices. She was transported to the Whitfield County Jail, a partner of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(G) program, used to identify illegal aliens in the country. "This program operates based on a series of reviews and background checks completed only after an inmate is already arrested for an Offense under Georgia Law," the jail’s operation guide said. Arias-Cristobal was processed through the federal database, which confirmed she wasn’t a US citizen. She was brought to ICE’s Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga., where her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, is also being held. Arias-Tovar was arrested last month when he was pulled over for driving 19 miles over the speed limit, the outlet reported. The father, who owns his own company, was denied proper paperwork to remain in the US. It was not known if he ever applied for citizenship. "My dad has his own company, and they called a lawyer to see if they could get a job permit or a visa, and they said that they hadn’t hit that status to get one yet," Arias-Cristobal’s younger sister told WTVC. Arias-Cristobal was not eligible for the DACA program, having been brought into the country a year after the program ended, according to Hannah Jones, the woman the teen babysat for in the past.

Breitbart [5/8/2025 11:43 PM, Neil Munro, 2923K] reports ICE officials detained an illegal migrant in Georgia after she was caught violating multiple driving laws — but she is a good-looking college student with an illegal migrant family, so she is getting extra doses of media sympathy. The Daily Mail’s headline announced: "Glamorous college student made an illegal turn at a red light and landed in an ICE detention facility.” The New York Post wrote: "Georgia college student faces deportation after running red light — police discover her entire family has been living illegally in US for years.” Mexican-national Ximena Arias-Cristobal, 19, was pulled over by police in Dalton, Ga. on May 5 when she failed to adhere to a "no turn on red" sign … a Dalton State Community College student, [she] was driving without a driver’s license but told officers she had an international driver’s license, according to WTVC, citing the arrest report. She admitted that she didn’t have the foreign document when Dalton police officers asked her to show it, claiming that her mother had taken it away from her and said she was not supposed to be driving. In 2010, Arias-Cristobal was brought into the US illegally by her parents when she was only 4 years old during the family’s move from Mexico City to the Dalton area — over 30 miles from the Tennessee and Georgia border. The Daily Mail revealed that her dad had already been detained for deportation after being caught speeding: In a cruel twist of fate, Arias-Cristobal is being held in the same facility as her father, Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar who was detained in Tunnel Hill two weeks ago for speeding. Attorney Terry Olsen said that it’s likely Arias-Cristobal’s mother will be ‘arrested or detained within a month or so.’. On a GoFundMe for the teen, Hannah Jones said Arias-Cristobal had babysat her children for years, and added: ‘We adore her.’ Jones told the news outlet that the teenager is ‘the most precious human’ and believed her international license allowed her to drive legally. "My cousin’s dearest friend, Ximena Arias-Cristobal, is facing an unthinkable situation," says the GoFundMe site. "After a traffic stop for turning right on a red light in Dalton [GA] on Monday, a 19-year-old Dalton State student is now facing possible deportation.” The episode still leaves President Donald Trump’s ICE agency with roughly 15 million more deportations to accomplish amid a deliberately tangled, slow-moving legal deportation process.

FOX News [5/9/2025 3:08 AM, Elizabeth Pritchett, 46189K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is defending the detainment of a Georgia college student who is in the U.S. illegally after she was pulled over for traffic violations and arrested. Ximena Arias-Cristobal, a 19-year-old Mexican national, was arrested by police in Dalton, Georgia, on May 5 after illegally turning right on red and driving without a license, according to an arrest report obtained by WTVC in Chattanooga. The report states that Arias-Cristobal does not have a driver’s license, but she does have an international license, which her mother had taken from her. She was arrested by the officer and taken to the Whitfield County Jail before being transferred to the Stewart Detention Center – a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility – in Southwest Georgia. Arias-Cristobal admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and does not have an application pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, according to DHS. A GoFundMe set up to raise money for bond and an immigration attorney says the girl came to the U.S. with her parents in 2010 when she was 4 years old. The fundraiser, which was set up by a woman who Arias-Cristobal babysits for, says she did not qualify for DACA. "She has babysat for my kids for years. We adore her. Ximena is my close friend and my children’s favorite babysitter," Hannah Jones wrote in the description. Arias-Cristobal’s father, 43-year-old Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar, is also at the same ICE facility after he was arrested for speeding and driving without a license. DHS said he also admitted to being in the U.S. illegally. "The family will be able to return to Mexico together. Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law," DHS said. The agency reiterated that many people in the U.S. illegally are being given the chance to self-deport via the Customs and Border Protection Home app, which would allow them to return to America in the future through legal avenues. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Yahoo News [5/8/2025 6:58 PM, Alex Woodward, 59943K6] reports that her father Jose Francisco Arias-Tovar was recently arrested after going 19 miles over the speed limit and is inside the same ICE detention center, according to online records. "The family will be able to return to Mexico together,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Independent. “Mr. Tovar had ample opportunity to seek a legal pathway to citizenship. He chose not to. We are not ignoring the rule of law,” she added. The Trump administration’s CBP Home app “is giving parents illegally in the country a chance to take full control of their departure and self-deport, with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream,” McLaughlin said.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 12:37 PM, Luke Gentile, 2296K]

AP [5/8/2025 10:18 PM, Safiyah Riddle, 908K] reports an Iranian mechanical engineering student at the University of Alabama has decided to self-deport after six weeks in a Louisiana detention center despite the government dropping a charge behind his initial arrest, his lawyer and fiancee said. Alireza Doroudi was detained by immigration officials in March as part of President Donald Trump’s widespread immigration crackdown and has been held at a facility in Jena, Louisiana, over 300 miles (480 kilometers) from where he lived with his fiancee in Alabama. At the time the State Department said Doroudi posed “significant national security concerns.” Doroudi’s lawyer, David Rozas, said the government has not offered any evidence to support that claim, however. Doroudi’s visa was revoked in June 2023. Officials did not give a reason and ignored numerous inquiries from him that year, according to his fiancee, Sama Ebrahimi Bajgani. Back then the University of Alabama advised Doroudi that he was legally allowed to stay but would not be allowed to re-enter if he left, Bajgani added. This spring the government filed two charges against Doroudi to justify deporting him, saying his visa was revoked and he was not “in status” as a student, Rozas said. On Thursday a U.S. government attorney withdrew the first of those and said the visa revocation was “prudential,” meaning it would not go into effect until after he leaves the country — in line with what the university told Doroudi earlier. Rozas said he has submitted evidence disputing the remaining accusation, that he is not an active student. A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on the case, including Rozas’ characterization of the initial arrest as an error. The judge in the case, Maithe Gonzalez, gave both sides until the end of May to refile motions and denied Doroudi’s request to redetermine eligibility for bond. Doroudi decided to give up rather than continue to fight deportation. “He told me that if they let him to go out, there was a good chance that he would have fought his case for the sake of other students and for the sake of himself,” Bajgani said afterward by phone. “They just want to make him tired so he can deport himself.”

CBS Miami [5/8/2025 5:22 PM, Mauricio Maldonado, 51661K] reports a Colombian national illegally residing in the United States faces up to life in prison after authorities discovered over 30 kilograms of cocaine in his vehicle, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. According to the complaint affidavit, officers of the South Florida Crimes Strike Force observed Giovanni Cardona Parra, 44, driving a black BMW erratically before parking in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant. When officers approached Parra and asked him for identification, Parra allegedly showed them a New York State learner’s permit that stated it was "not for federal purposes.” Authorities said a canine alerted to the presence of a controlled substance in the vehicle and when they conducted a search, officers discovered the cocaine in the trunk. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents later determined that Parra was residing illegally in the U.S. HSI agents arrested Parra on federal drug trafficking charges and placed an immigration detainer on him.

Blaze [5/8/2025 7:17 PM, Staff, 1668K] reports an illegal alien trying to escape arrest by federal officials climbed a tree and hid for 8 hours before getting captured, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. ICE said 29-year-old Raul Ical was wanted for warrants related to entering the country illegally and was found by federal agents and state troopers during a traffic stop on April 29. They said he was a passenger in the car and ran off when they tried to apprehend him. Texas residents of a neighborhood on the west side of San Antonio said they were surprised to see a man scale a ladder, scramble onto a roof, and then climb into a tree at a home near Ceralvo and South Navidad streets. Ical stayed in the tree until officers persuaded him to come down and face arrest. He is originally from Guatemala and had been removed in 2013 but returned to the U.S. illegally. One woman told KSAT-TV that she returned from running an errand to find officers all over her neighborhood. "I just stayed here looking at all the excitement [wondering] when he was going to come and get down," said the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous. "This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything here around my neighborhood.” Mike Howell, who works at a nearby business, credited Ical for his clever attempt at evasion. "They walked around and didn’t see him and then looked up and went, ‘Oh!’ There he was in the tree," the man said. "I got to give it to the guy for climbing a tree really quick. That was pretty good thinking.”

Telemundo [5/8/2025 3:34 PM, Staff, 2454K] reports a Hispanic woman and her three minor children, two of whom are Americans, were deported to Mexico after being detained on May 1 during a traffic stop in Austin, Texas, a relative confirmed to Noticias Telemundo. Denisse Parra, her husband, and their three children—ages 4, 5, and 9—were stopped in front of Dobie Middle School because their vehicle had expired Nevada license plates and were immediately questioned about their immigration status. Days later, Parra and the minors arrived for an appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in Pflugerville, after authorities promised her asylum and even a work permit.

90.5 FM Austin [8/25/2025 6:20 PM, Maya Fawaz, 247K] reports a mother and her three children were deported from the Austin area Tuesday, the family’s lawyer said. Daniel Hatoum, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Denisse Parra Vargas is from Mexico and is undocumented. Her attorneys and advocates working with the family said she entered the U.S. in 2016, fleeing an abusive former partner. She has three kids — aged 8, 5 and 4 — two of whom are U.S. citizens. Hatoum learned about the case from advocates at Grassroots Leadership. The nonprofit organization got involved after Vargas was stopped in North Austin on Thursday for driving with expired tags. She and her partner were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Hatoum said Vargas was released later that day with an ankle monitor; her partner remained in ICE custody. Vargas was told to report to a processing center in Pflugerville on Tuesday. Her attorney and advocates with Grassroots Leadership said she thought she was going for a routine check-in. "They seem to have convinced her that her going was for the benefit of her partner as well," Hatoum said. " So she went with her three children, and ICE decided to arrest them all." The Department of Homeland Security released a statement Thursday saying Vargas chose to bring her children with her to Mexico. “The narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in the statement. "Rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates." The family’s attorneys said, however, that ICE did not allow Vargas to communicate with relatives nearby who were willing to keep the children in the U.S. Newsweek [5/8/2025 4:19 PM, Mandy Taheri, 52220K] reports Grassroots Leadership, Texas Civil Rights Project, and Immigrant Legal Resource Center said in a joint statement sent to Newsweek. The statement continued, "ICE was informed by the family and legal advocates that the children were U.S. citizens and ICE knowingly deported them anyway in violation of their own policies and laws. ICE has no authority to detain or deport U.S. citizens regardless of the status of their parents." The three legal groups said, "Denisse entered the U.S. in 2016 seeking protection fearing further violence from her abusive former partner." DHS said on X that she "failed to appear before her immigration judge and was issued a final order of removal in 2019." Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek regarding a different deportation case: "Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with someone the parent designates...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."

NewsNation [5/8/2025 10:33 AM, Josh Hinkle and Kelly Wiley, 6866K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a mother and her three children, two of whom are U.S. citizens, following a traffic stop last week near Dobie Middle School in north Austin, according to multiple sources, including the Texas Civil Rights Project and Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Both groups told KXAN they have since provided legal support to the family. ILRC’s senior staff attorney, Cori Hash, said the Texas Department of Public Safety pulled the family’s vehicle over for having expired tags outside the school. ICE and DPS have not responded to KXAN’s request for comment. We will update this if we receive statements from either agency. Austin’s Mexican Consulate Carlos Enrique González Echevarría said details he obtained from ICE indicate the family’s truck had expired Nevada plates. The father was detained at that time and sent to a nearby ICE facility, according to ILRC. "DPS then found out about [the family’s] immigration condition and proceeded to call DHS (Department of Homeland Security), who later arrived and transferred [him] to the ICE processing center," González Echevarría said. He added that the father has since been deported to Mexico but that his colleague spoke with him at the facility last week, where "he was in good health.” The Austin Independent School District confirmed that a parent was detained near the school. District officials said they do not have additional details since the incident occurred off campus.

New York Times [5/8/2025 5:00 AM, Tim Arango, Hamed Aleaziz, and Miriam Jordan, 153395K] reports as President Trump pushes forward on his pledge to carry out mass deportations, U.S. immigration agents are detaining and deporting criminal defendants before their cases can move through the courts, frustrating local law enforcement officials and stirring fear among some crime victims. Snatching up defendants in the middle of their cases denies justice to communities and especially the victims, prosecutors say. They worry that defendants who are deported before their criminal cases are resolved could return to the United States and commit more crimes. “There is no level of accountability when someone is deported,” said Ryan Brackley, the assistant district attorney in Arapahoe County, Colo., which includes the city of Aurora. “We want our victims to get the justice they deserve. When we have crimes of violence and there are victims of record we want to be able to hold their offenders accountable.” Across the country, defendants out on bail have dropped off the radar, failing to appear in court. Only later do prosecutors learn that the immigrants have been picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and won’t be back for trial. Thomas Homan, President Trump’s border czar, said that I.C.E. officials would be willing to work with local prosecutors who wanted to take back into custody an individual for a criminal case. Local prosecutors, he said in an interview, can file a request with the regional I.C.E. office seeking to take into custody a defendant who is in immigration detention. However, he said, I.C.E. will look to pick people up who may be out on bond awaiting trial, as in the case of Mr. Garcia-Quintero. “If somebody wants to put him on bond, and he’s a significant public safety threat, we’re picking him up,” Mr. Homan said. “If they want to take him back into custody, they can, but we’re not going to allow him to walk the street.” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the agency was “going to make thoughtful decisions in each case and do whatever is most likely to keep the American people safe.” She said that D.H.S. supported holding defendants accountable in American criminal courts. But if people are out on bail — a standard mechanism for ensuring those charged with crimes make their court appearances — “we will choose deportation,” she said. “We think victims would rather their assailants not roam America’s streets.”

CBS Colorado [5/8/2025 8:22 PM, Staff, 51661K] Video: HERE reports ICE has released an update on a raid at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs. They said of the 104 people they arrested, who were in the country illegally, 18 are set to be deported.

Newsweek [5/8/2025 4:22 PM, Mandy Taheri, 52220K] reports Cliona Ward, a 54-year-old green card holder who first came to the U.S. when she was 12 years old, was released Wednesday from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Washington after spending more than two weeks in custody. Newsweek has reached out to Ward’s sister, Orla Holladay, for comment via email on Thursday. Ward’s detention on April 21 came amid an immigration crackdown under the Trump administration, during which people with valid documentation—including green cards or visas—have been detained and face legal jeopardy. "Cliona is finally in her own bed and we are all ready for some quiet and reflection," Holladay wrote in a Thursday update on her sister’s GoFundMe page. The update comes after Ward spent over two weeks in ICE detention following her recent trip to Ireland, where she is originally from. Her sister, Holladay, previously told Newsweek that Ward went on the trip to help "assist our stepmother to go back to Ireland, where my father is currently dying." Upon return to the U.S. she was held at the airport for three days, her sister told Newsweek, noting that the conditions were particularly bad. Officials then released her so she could retrieve necessary documentation proving that her criminal records had been expunged and then to deliver them to the Customs office at San Francisco International Airport. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously told Newsweek: "The Trump administration is enforcing immigration laws—something the previous administration failed to do. Those who violate these laws will be processed, detained and removed as required."

Los Angeles Times [5/8/2025 4:08 PM, Nathan Solis, 13342K] reports a 64-year-old grandmother in the U.S. without documentation is facing deportation after she mistakenly took the wrong exit on her way home from work. Ana Camero’s family says she’s currently being held at Otay Mesa Detention Center more than a month after she made the unexpected detour and ended up at the entrance to a U.S. Marines facility in San Diego. Camero has lived in the United States for more than 20 years. Born in Mexico, she does not have a California driver’s license or any other form of identification, according to her family. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed Camero is in custody and currently being processed for deportation back to Mexico. Hernández said her mother is diabetic and has a vascular condition, but is not receiving any medical care or medication while in the detention facility. Camero was provided an attorney during a recent court appearance at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. According to her family, she intends to fight the deportation order.

Reported similarly:
San Diego Union Tribune [5/8/2025 8:03 AM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1682K] re

Univision [5/8/2025 8:32 PM, Staff, 5325K] reports relatives are asking for help to prevent the deportation of Ana Camero, a Mexican grandmother who was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), after taking a wrong turn while driving home, and ending up at a military base. According to her daughter, Melissa Hernandez, the incident occurred on April 7, after the 64-year-old woman tried to resume her route after loading gasoline, and mistakenly took an exit that took her directly to the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot. U.S. in San Diego. Since she was unable to present a valid identification or legal documentation, she was immediately handed over to ICE agents, since then, she has been in custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Center while her deportation process is under way, which concerns her family especially about her health. My mom’s in a very delicate health situation. He suffers from diabetes and a serious vascular condition that affects the blood circulation in his foot. She has already undergone two vascular surgeries to open her arteries and avoid major complications. "It depends on daily medication," his daughter said.

SFGate [5/8/2025 8:11 PM, Olivia Hebert, 12335K] reports a longtime Santa Cruz County resident has finally returned home after being detained by U.S Customs and Border Protection at San Francisco International Airport and then sent to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Washington state. Cliona Ward, a 54-year-old green-card holder, was taken into custody on April 21 when returning from Ireland, where she had accompanied her stepmother to reunite with her ailing father, who has dementia. After following CBP instructions to attend what was described as an administrative meeting, Ward was taken into custody, her sister Orla Holladay wrote on a GoFundMe page titled "Cliona’s Hope: A Mother’s Fight for Freedom.” Ward was later transferred to an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, ahead of a scheduled court date on May 7. But on Wednesday, she was released from immigration detention after a weekslong legal battle and community effort to halt her deportation. The day of her release, Holladay confirmed Ward was safely home in Santa Cruz. "Cliona is finally in her own bed and we are all ready for some quiet and reflection," she wrote. "Each of you have literally helped to save Cliona’s life as she knows it.” Ward’s detention was tied to a decades-old conviction that had been expunged. It came amid sweeping immigration policy changes implemented under President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14159, signed on Jan. 20. The "Protecting the American People Against Invasion" order revoked Obama-era guidelines that had prioritized the deportation of individuals posing national security threats or with serious criminal convictions, instead directing the Department of Homeland Security to enforce removal of all "inadmissible and removable" individuals, regardless of their circumstances or rehabilitation. Ward had lived in California for nearly 30 years, where she attended UC Santa Cruz, worked steadily, paid taxes and raised a family. Despite having "built a life here," her family said she was detained and shackled "like a hardened criminal" upon arrival in Tacoma. "She was mortified, shamed and demoralized," Holladay wrote in a GoFundMe update on April 27. "Her biggest consolation today was that her lawyer was able to bring her a pen.”

Spectrum News 1 [5/8/2025 7:46 PM, Cassie Semyon, 889K] reports “Packing their stuff, it almost feels like they died.” Stephanie Gonzalez became emotional Thursday talking about her parents, Gladys and Nelson — who are very much alive — but are thousands of miles away from their three daughters, son-in-law, and grandson. The couple, who lived in California for over 30 years, were deported in March to their native Colombia after a routine check-in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the end of February. “If I’m being honest, we weren’t really nervous, despite [President Donald] Trump just having taken office. Our family was very confident at peace that the appointment would go well like it always has,” said Gonzalez. The couple arrived in the U.S. in 1989 and attempted to declare asylum in 1992. But bad legal advice from multiple lawyers, including one who was later disbarred, resulted in multiple failed attempts to successfully obtain the necessary paperwork. During that time, Nelson and Gladys continued doing routine check-ins with ICE and neither have a criminal record. While the Department of Homeland Security corroborated Stephanie’s story of her parents’ legal attempts to seek asylum, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Spectrum News in a statement “illegal aliens do not have a right to roam freely in our country, nor do they have a right to elude federal authorities.” Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., who represents Laguna Niguel, refutes the fact the couple were eluding authorities.

Bloomberg [5/8/2025 3:52 PM, Jim Wyss, 16228K] reports an immigration raid on a luxury Puerto Rico hotel partially owned by billionaire investor John Paulson led the US Department of Homeland Security to arrest dozens of construction workers from the Dominican Republic. Some 53 workers, all presumed to be undocumented, were working at the La Concha Resort in San Juan, but weren’t hotel employees, Special Agent Rebecca Gonzalez-Ramos told reporters Thursday in San Juan. Puerto Rico, a US Commonwealth, has long depended on manual labor from the neighboring Dominican Republic, particularly for the construction and agriculture sectors. Commercial, family and cultural ties run deep between the two. But Puerto Rico has been implementing orders from Trump’s administration to crack down on illegal immigration. So far this year some 364 people have been arrested, Gonzalez-Ramos said. The vast majority of those detained have been from the Dominican Republic, but agents have also arrested Haitians, Venezuelans, Mexicans and Brazilians, she said. Asked how many undocumented migrants there may be on the island of 3.2 million people, Gonzalez-Ramos said there was no clear data.

Telemundo [5/8/2025 11:46 PM, Alexis Boentes, 171K] reports on Thursday, the eight Cuban women who were released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) - after several weeks in detention - met with Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, who facilitated her departure from the detention centers where these women were. Beatriz Monteagudo, one of the 8 Cuban women with I-220A who were released, says: "They put shackles on our waistbands. As if we had committed a huge crime. I know it’s the procedure, but for me the most traumatic thing was that. For many of them, what appeared to be a routine appointment at ICE offices ended in an arrest and the possible deportation that was always dormant. Monteagudo remembers that he was with 18 more people who looked at each other and we didn’t know what was going on, they just told us they were going to decide if they didn’t put a shackle or they were going to let us out. All women with document I-220A had pending cases in court. For two months they passed through several migrant centers until Tuesday, Beatriz Monteagudo, 25, was the last to be released. Beatrix didn’t have a criminal record, she hadn’t gotten her work permit, she had applied for her asylum, in the time allowed, explains immigration lawyer Liudmila A. Marcelo. I said, "Oh, my God, if your idea is that I’m in detention, be in this country, but not in Cuba. If I go back to that country, I would soon fall prey, the truth is that, the Cuban one points out.

Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 10:00 AM, Simon Hankinson, 2296K] reports the State Department had revoked about 1,500 visas throughout the United States as of late April, Inside Higher Ed estimates. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has investigated some of them, and some will be asked to leave or be deported if they have broken the conditions of their student status per U.S. immigration law. A small number may be deported if the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, deems their presence detrimental to U.S. foreign policy. Two professors at Cornell and Yale claimed in the Washington Post that "our foreign students are terrified, and they’re right to be." Please. No foreign student who is obeying the conditions of his visa and staying focused on his studies has anything to worry about. Here’s who should be terrified: any Jewish student who heard Cornell history professor Russell Rickford say he was "exhilarated" at the news that Hamas terrorists had attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 1,000 and kidnapping 245. A year later, he was back on campus. Who else should worry? Yale professors such as Erika and Nicholas Christakis, who treat students as adults, only to then deal with tantrums and Ivy League cancel culture. A decade ago, the Christakis’s were hounded by students for telling them that a Halloween costume probably wasn’t an intentional hate crime. Don’t think Yale has gotten more tolerant since then. Students from Yalies4Palestine recently tried to build an encampment and reportedly blocked Jewish students from going to class. The New York Times also claims that "losing international students could devastate many colleges." They cite Xiaofeng Wan, a "private consultant to international students" whose gravy train is drying up and worries that Chinese parents may not want to send their children to a country that sees "China as a hostile competitor.” But China is indeed a hostile competitor. They’ve been spying on us, sending international students to sneak out university research secrets, and stealing our intellectual property for decades. Maybe a slight reduction in Chinese students isn’t such a disaster.

Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 9:00 AM, Ken Cuccinelli, 2296K] reports the Temporary Protected Status program, established under the Immigration Act of 1990, was designed as a humanitarian mechanism to provide temporary refuge for nationals of countries facing extraordinary conditions, such as armed conflict or natural disasters, that prevent safe return. The statute, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1254a, grants the Secretary of Homeland Security sole discretion to designate, extend, or terminate TPS for specific countries, with a critical provision: these decisions are explicitly shielded from judicial review. Yet, recent court interventions, such as in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, reveal a troubling trend of judicial overreach that undermines congressional intent, erodes executive authority, and destabilizes the rule of law. The TPS statute is unambiguous. Section 1254a(b)(5)(A) states that "there is no judicial review of any determination of the [Secretary] with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection." This language reflects Congress’s deliberate choice to vest the executive branch with unreviewable authority over TPS decisions, recognizing that such determinations involve complex foreign policy and national security considerations best left to the political branches. The executive’s discretion is not absolute — it must comply with statutory criteria — but Congress clearly intended to insulate these decisions from courtroom second-guessing. Despite this, courts have repeatedly asserted jurisdiction over TPS cases, often at the urging of advocacy groups challenging terminations. In Ramos v. Nielsen, a district court issued a preliminary injunction that blocked the first Trump administration’s attempt to end TPS for Sudan, Haiti, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, citing alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act and claims of discriminatory animus. More recently, in National TPS Alliance v. Noem, Judge Edward Chen halted the termination of TPS for Venezuelans, arguing that Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision was "arbitrary and capricious" and potentially motivated by unconstitutional bias. These rulings hinge on creative legal theories that sidestep the statutory bar on judicial review, such as framing TPS terminations as subject to APA scrutiny or invoking constitutional claims to bypass the statute’s clear language. This judicial activism has profound implications. First, it subverts the separation of powers. By design, TPS decisions are entrusted to the executive, who is accountable to the electorate and equipped to weigh sensitive geopolitical factors. In fact, President Donald Trump campaigned on ending TPS; thus, his administration’s efforts to effectuate that represent a form of accountability. This is part of what America voted for. Courts, lacking expertise in foreign affairs and insulated from democratic accountability, are ill-suited to override these judgments. When judges substitute their policy preferences for those of the secretary, they encroach on executive prerogative and disrupt the balance of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 6:00 AM, Jessica Vaughan, 2296K] reports that, each year, the United States approves more than a million immigrants for permanent residency or green cards. For decades, more than half of immigration to our country has been chain migration — immigrants sponsored by a family member who came earlier, most often a new spouse, a grown son or daughter, or a sibling. In contrast, only about 15% of annual immigration is based on skills or sponsorship by an employer, with the remainder based on a green card lottery or humanitarian programs. Studies show that, aside from nuclear family members who are admitted at the same time, new immigrants sponsor an average of 3.45 additional family members who come later. Immigrants from some top-sending countries, such as Mexico, India, the Philippines, and China, tend to produce even more chain migration, with a multiplier of more than five additional sponsored immigrants per newcomer. Chain migration and periodic amnesties that award huge numbers of green cards outside the regular system have fueled near-constant growth in legal immigration for decades. This is because two of the largest chain migration categories, spouses and parents of naturalized citizens, are not numerically capped. In particular, the number of parents admitted has grown by more than 15% since 2016, with more than 208,000 new green cards issued to parents of prior immigrants in 2023. When most immigrants are chosen by family members who came earlier, there is no guarantee that immigration will help our country. As it turns out, our chain migration system is very expensive for taxpayers. Census data show that more than half of all immigrant-headed households are accessing at least one welfare program, compared to about 40% of native U.S.-born households, at a cost of $42 billion per year. President Donald Trump’s recent statements have revealed his interest in reforming the legal immigration system to give greater priority to those who graduate from U.S. colleges and would purchase a $5 million "gold card" as a path to citizenship. In his first term, he backed legislation to reduce chain migration and eliminate the green card lottery in favor of a new points-based system that would greatly favor more highly educated immigrants who can speak English. Additionally, Trump has said he would like to have an amnesty for the 600,000 "Dreamers" who arrived illegally as children, have work authorization, and are protected from deportation. Eliminating most chain migration in favor of an emphasis on a new skills-oriented program would greatly modernize our immigration system, deliver a flow of global talent for employers, and likely bring in immigrants from a greater range of countries who are more likely to be self-sufficient and less likely to depend on welfare programs. It would also reduce the multiplier effect of allowing extended family immigration.

NPR [5/8/2025 10:22 PM, Kate Bartlett, 29983K] reports the U.S. government has officially granted 54 Afrikaans South Africans, white descendants of mainly Dutch colonizers, refugee status and they are expected to land in the U.S. on Monday May 12, three sources with knowledge of the matter have told NPR. The sources did not want to be named because they work for the U.S. government and fear for their careers. U.S. authorities on Thursday were trying to arrange a charter flight that would bring the South Africans to Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, but it’s not clear if they will be allowed to land there. If that is not possible then they will be sent on commercial flights, according to the sources. NPR has also seen an email confirming the plan, and that the new arrivals will then be sent on to their final destinations in various states across the country. The group are the first group of Afrikaners to be accepted by the U.S. after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February offering them possible resettlement. "The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall take appropriate steps, consistent with law, to prioritize humanitarian relief, including admission and resettlement through the United States Refugee Admissions Program, for Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination," the order, signed February 7, said. It also cut aid to South Africa. The sources said a press conference was planned for the group’s arrival at Dulles airport, which would be attended by high level officials from the Departments of State and Homeland Security. States that have agreed to take in the South Africans include: Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, West Virgina, California, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, and New York, one source said. Several of the people granted refugee status have family ties in the U.S., they said. The source noted it is unusual for refugees to be welcomed at the airport by U.S. dignitaries, and said the process of interviewing them in South Africa and granting them refugee status has been unusually quick.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [5/9/2025 12:00 AM, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Hamed Aleaziz and John Eligon, 145325K]
Reuters [5/9/2025 12:44 AM, Harshita Meenaktshi, 24727K]

Washington Times [5/8/2025 5:52 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1814K] reports as many as 600,000 migrants who had been heading for the U.S. turned around when they realized President Trump had closed the border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told senators on Thursday, citing information from Mexican officials. Mr. Noem said the turn backs were a yardstick for Mr. Trump’s success at the border, and came with praise from Latin American leaders who say they can sense the difference in the flows of people. She was testifying to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she pleaded for more money to keep things going, saying Mr. Trump has bigger plans yet for firming up U.S. borders. Ms. Noem said they are close to achieving operational control at the boundary, having convinced people not to even attempt the journey anymore. "They got the message clearly," she said. "When they were on the way, they heard that and they went back home.” Democrats, though, signaled opposition to Ms. Noem’s agenda, saying the improved border security has come only through draconian measures. "The primary reason those encounters are down is you are brazenly violating the law every hour of every day," said Sen. Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat. Mr. Murphy was one of the negotiators on last year’s big Senate border deal, which President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had said was necessary to fix the previous three years of border chaos. Mr. Noem said Mr. Trump’s success proves they were wrong and no bill was needed. Rather, she said, it took the commitment of a president to use tools already at his disposal. The number of illegal border crossers detected has dropped 95% compared to last year, Ms. Noem said. And data from Mexico backs that up.

Federalist [5/8/2025 7:29 AM, Jay Town, 1033K] reports that, in his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump has ended the crisis at our southern border. Customs and Border Protection declared in March that we now have "the most secure border in history." As Trump famously quipped at the State of the Union, it turns out we didn’t need new legislation, we just needed a new president. Why, then, would any president want millions of unvetted illegal immigrants to enter freely into the United States? Why would an entire political party defend, and deny the perils of, the porous border presided over by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris? The only explanation is the advantages this gives Democrats in the decennial census. It’s not sexy, but it’s the entire point. The core constitutional purpose of the decennial census is to arrive at the "actual enumeration" of the people of each state so the inhabitants of each state are fairly and adequately represented in Congress and the Electoral College. When Democrat-run sanctuary states and cities induce population growth of illegal immigrants — who can currently be counted in the census — they understand the census will apportion in their favor. As the population of illegal immigrants in a sanctuary state swells, so too does that state’s congressional delegation and its Electoral College effect. The more people in the state, the more seats in Congress and the Electoral College. This means more spending, more representation, and more power for that state. Conversely, this means less of all three for the rest of us living in law-abiding states. The census is essentially a cascade of delegation from the U.S. Constitution (Section 2 of Article I and the 14th Amendment), to Congress (Census Act), to the executive branch (Census Bureau), to the secretary of commerce (report to the president), to the president’s report to Congress. So do we have to count illegal immigrants for census apportionment? No, we do not. Illegal immigrants enjoy many rights and privileges while unlawfully in the United States. But being counted for apportionment should not be one of them. The 14th Amendment requires, "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state." It was not until the 1980s that illegal immigration became a significant issue in the United States. In response, Congress asked the Department of Justice for an opinion letter on two bills seeking to exclude illegal aliens from census apportionment. The opinion letter was written by Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Thomas Boyd ("Boyd Letter"). Unfortunately, Boyd’s response to Congress declared both laws would likely be unconstitutional.

FOX News [5/8/2025 10:24 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 46189K] reports after President Donald Trump cracked down on illegal immigrant crossings at the U.S. southern border with Mexico, Border Patrol agents in the North are facing a flurry of attempted crossings. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Houlton, Maine said on May 2 that in the previous 10 days, it had conducted targeted enforcement operations that netted 39 illegal immigrant captures, according to a news release. Foreign nationals from Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Dominican Republic and China were arrested during the recent operations. According to the immigration officials, the agency has already captured more illegal immigrants in Maine this year than it did in all of 2024. "The United States Border Patrol will continue ongoing operations to target criminal aliens for arrest, prosecution, and removal proceedings as appropriate." Houlton Sector Acting Chief Patrol Agent Craig Shepley said in a statement. "All of these efforts are for the safety and security for the State of Maine and the U.S. as a whole.” Some of the arrestees have prior criminal records, including crimes like assault and battery on a family member, criminal possession of a weapon and theft, officials said. One of the illegal immigrants was charged with illegal re-entry into the United States, a felony that carries up to two years in prison and possible enhancements if the suspect was previously removed after criminal convictions, according to the Department of Justice. CBP warned of consequences for other illegal immigrants who might be considering crossing from the north.

USA Today [5/8/2025 7:43 PM, Trevor Hughes, 75858K] reports federal prosecutors have signaled they’re planning to bring additional charges against a woman detained in Vermont following the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent. Theresa Youngblut has been jailed since the Jan. 20 death of agent David Maland, and already faces charges of using a firearm during the confrontation in which Maland and Youngblut’s companion Ophelia Bauckholt were killed near the Canadian border. The current charges don’t directly accuse Youngblut of firing the shots that killed Maland. Federal investigators have declined to discuss details of the case. A USA TODAY investigation earlier this year indicated that the violent confrontation is connected to multiple other homicides around the country that some legal experts have tied to the influence of a California-based cultlike group known as the Zizians. In a May 8 court filing, Youngblut’s public defenders asked a judge to give them more preparation time before her next court appearance because they expect new charges and "voluminous" new evidence disclosures from prosecutors. "Additional time is also needed to conduct any necessary investigation and discuss with the government any potential non-trial resolutions in this case," federal public defender Steven Barth said. "Time is needed to determine whether additional charges will be filed and whether such charges, if filed, will materially alter the trajectory of the case.” Named after their purported leader, Jack "Ziz" LaSota, 34, the group is connected to at least six deaths nationwide, according to police, interviews with people who know group members, the FBI and court records. LaSota was assigned male at birth but uses female pronouns. Federal and state court records refer to LaSota as a man. Experts and people who know them say the group is led by LaSota, who in online postings discussed the nature of consciousness and rational decision making. Many of the group members are vegan, and either have degrees in computer science or have studied related fields. Some members of the group are transgender, or have rejected binary sexuality.

FOX News [5/8/2025 8:02 AM, Stephen Sorace, 46189K] reports a suspected member of the notorious Tren de Aragua (TdA) gang was among five people arrested during a human smuggling bust in Texas, authorities said Wednesday. The three suspects accused of human smuggling have been "circumventing Border Patrol checkpoints" and using known human smuggling routes to bring up to 15 people per week into the U.S., Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters. He said two other individuals present during their arrests were accused of drug possession. The three suspects charged with human smuggling were identified as 24-year-old Jose Francisco Barriento Vega of Mexico, 49-year-old Mary Lou Tula and 44-year-old Alexis Segundo Olivo Fernandez of Venezuela. Vega is in the U.S. without documentation, Salazar said, while Tula is believed to be a U.S. citizen. Fernandez is suspected of belonging to TdA, Salazar said, noting that certain tattoos and his ties to alleged human smuggling led to the suspicions. Two other men, identified as 25-year-old Brandon Suarez and 19-year-old Bryan Suarez, happened to be present at the scene of an arrest and were arrested for drug possession, the sheriff said. Both men are U.S. citizens.

Breitbart [5/8/2025 3:01 PM, Randy Clark, 2923K] reports the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department Organized Crime Unit executed two search warrants on residences in San Antonio, leading to the arrest of five suspects due to a long-running investigation into human smuggling. Sheriff Javier Salazar told reporters one suspect is believed to be a member of the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Salazar briefed reporters after the warrants were executed on Wednesday, highlighting the joint law enforcement investigation between his office’s organized crime unit and the Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector intelligence branch. According to the Sheriff, the investigation into the human smuggling operation based in Mexico began in 2023 and involves smugglers who circumvent Border Patrol highway checkpoints to reach the interior of the United States. The five suspects arrested with the two search warrants on Wednesday are being held at the Bexar County Jail. The sixth detainee has been turned over to the Border Patrol. The case remains under investigation.

CBS Austin [5/8/2025 4:34 PM, Stephanie Becerra, 602K] reports Governor Greg Abbott met with Chihuahua Governor María Eugenia Campos Galván at the Governor’s Mansion on Wednesday to discuss border security coordination and economic opportunities between Texas and Chihuahua. Governor Abbott praised Texas law enforcement for their collaboration with the Trump Administration in arresting, jailing, and deporting illegal immigrants, human and drug smugglers, and criminals. He highlighted the success of the Trump Administration’s border policies, stating that border crossings have decreased by 99.99% since President Donald J. Trump took office. Governor Campos emphasized the shared values of Texas and Chihuahua in ensuring public safety and implementing strong border security measures to curb illegal immigration. The governors also discussed ways to protect their citizens from what they described as the former Biden Administration’s "reckless open border policies.”

FOX News [5/8/2025 11:00 AM, Emma Colton Fox, 46189K] reports many travelers preparing for their flights at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport told Fox News Digital that the government effectively notified Americans about the REAL ID law that took effect on May 7, with many adding that the new requirement bolsters safety. "I think they did a great job of letting people know… and I think it’s important, because we need to make sure that everyone’s got correct identification," said one man who spoke to Fox News Digital from the terminal. "I think that the government did a really good job of informing the public that it’s needed. I see it everywhere," another man said. The REAL ID laws took effect on May 7, though the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced ahead of Wednesday that Americans who lack the new ID will still be able to travel but would face additional screening. REAL ID is a federally-compliant driver’s license or other identification that meets higher standards than state-issued driver’s licenses. Only legal U.S. citizens or residents can obtain a REAL ID. Valid U.S. passports can also still be used instead of a REAL ID for domestic air travel, the DHS explains on its website. "I think the government did a great job preparing for folks, and especially in the state of Georgia. They’ve had this in process for a long time," said another traveler.

FOX News [5/8/2025 9:41 AM, Alec Schemmel, 46189K] reports despite fears of first-day chaos over the new REAL ID requirement, airports reported smooth sailing Wednesday, with no major disruptions tied to the rollout, according to security officials. "We didn’t see long lines," one passenger arriving at South Carolina’s Greenville-Spartanburg Airport from Washington-Dulles told a local reporter. "It was a walk in the park." TSA spokesperson Lorie Dankers said in April that about 20% of the public still lacks REAL ID compliance. When asked whether this could affect travel times starting Wednesday, she said it’s "reasonable" to expect travelers may need to arrive early. "We are pleased to share that the TSA lines are moving efficiently," Nashville International Airport said Wednesday. "Smooth operations this morning," Baltimore-Washington International Airport reported. "Smooth" operations were reported by airports and security officials alike. There was an increased presence of Homeland Security officials at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, but no complaints were reported to Fox News reporters on the ground there from passengers.

Breitbart [5/8/2025 8:37 AM, Bob Price, 2923K] reports beginning on May 7, illegal aliens can no longer fly without a “REAL ID,” according to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Noem. The exception to the new flight identification standard is for those who are self-deporting. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents began enforcing the REAL ID Act at airports across the United States on Wednesday. Congress passed the REAL ID Act about 20 years ago following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In a REAL ID ad posted on social media by DHS Secretary Noem, she reported, “Illegal aliens should not be allowed to fly in the U.S. UNLESS SELF DEPORTING.” During the Biden era, the TSA set up special screening lines at airports for illegal aliens to fly without photo IDs, Breitbart’s Randy Clark reported in December 2023. Many were allowed to fly with no identification at all.

The Hill [5/8/2025 7:29 AM, Sean Noone, 12829K] reports that, after a 20-year waiting game, REAL ID requirements for Americans flying within the U.S. took effect Wednesday. Travelers without REAL ID-compliant identification can still fly, but they should anticipate longer wait times in airport security, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The TSA has advised travelers without a REAL ID to arrive at the airport at least three hours ahead of their flight and to be prepared for advanced screenings. Clint Henderson, managing editor of travel website "The Points Guy," told NewsNation that there is two years of "wiggle room built into" the rollout. But, he added, those traveling domestically will "eventually" need a REAL ID. "We’ve been kicking the can down the road for some time on this," Henderson continued. "I’m actually glad to see it’s going into effect.” "Apparently, they’re not turning many people away who don’t have a REAL ID," he added.

FOX News [5/8/2025 1:32 PM, Brooke Singman, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump touted his administration’s efforts to rebuild and modernize U.S. air traffic control, as the Department of Transportation rolled out its three-year plan to build a brand-new, "state-of-the-art" system to address critical safety needs, while blasting former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having "no clue." Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday unveiled the proposal, which would replace the current, antiquated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system and "enhance safety in the sky, reduce delays and unlock the future of air travel." "Under President Trump, America is building again," Duffy said Thursday, upon rolling out the new proposal for a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a brand new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system." "Decades of neglect have left us with an outdated system that is showing its age," Duffy said, noting that building the new system "is an economic and national security necessity, and the time to fix it is now." Under the new air traffic control system proposal, the FAA would replace infrastructure, including radar, software, hardware and telecommunications networks, to manage modern travel. Officials say the current system was built "for the past," but the new proposal is to build a system "for the future." The plan would ensure facilities are equipped with better technologies to reduce outages, improve efficiency and reinforce safety. "We’re going to be buying a brand-new, state of the art system that will cover the entire world," Trump said earlier Thursday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [5/8/2025 6:21 PM, Derek VanBuskirk, 1082K] reports U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy announced a plan to revitalize the nation’s air traffic control infrastructure Thursday. The Department of Transportation (DOT) said the purpose of the plan is to address vital safety requirements and built a “state-of-the-art air traffic control system” in a Thursday press release. Its core aims are improving the safety of aircraft in the skies, cutting down on delays and pushing air travel forward. The DOT listed several critical areas the project will address, including the installation of modern fiber, wireless and satellite equipment at more than 4,600 locations. The department also called for the acquisition of 25,000 new radios and 475 new voice switches and the replacement 618 old radars. While announcing his new project, Duffy said the plan aims to move away from the “patchwork” fixes of decades-old technology and instead advocate for revitalizing the “outdated” system. “We’ve had years of neglect, decades of neglect. It’s been a patchwork of fixes, partial funding,” he said, adding that the U.S. is wasting money using copper instead of fiber. “We use radar from the 1970s … This technology is 50 years old that our controllers use to scan the skies and keep airplanes separated from one another,” Duffy added, noting the recent blackout at Newark Liberty International Airport, an event he said lasted from 30 to 90 seconds. “All new hardware, all new software is going to be built into this brand new air traffic control system,” he continued. President Donald Trump joined the conference via phone and mentioned other specifics of the project. He said the project would lead to the construction of six air traffic control coordination centers and the installation of “4,000 new high-speed network connections using fiber optic cables, satellites, and wireless technologies.”

Washington Post [5/8/2025 9:16 AM, Will Oremus, 31735K] reports it’s becoming standard practice at a growing number of U.S. airports: When you reach the front of the security line, an agent asks you to step up to a machine that scans your face to check whether it matches the face on your identification card. Travelers have the right to opt out of the face scan and have the agent do a visual check instead — but many don’t realize that’s an option. Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and John Neely Kennedy (R-Louisiana) think it should be the other way around. They plan to introduce a bipartisan bill that would make human ID checks the default, among other restrictions on how the Transportation Security Administration can use facial recognition technology. The Traveler Privacy Protection Act, shared with the Tech Brief on Wednesday ahead of its introduction, is a narrower version of a 2023 bill by the same name that would have banned the TSA’s use of face recognition altogether. This one would allow the agency to continue scanning travelers’ faces but only if they opt in and bar the technology’s use for any purpose other than verifying people’s identities. It would also require the agency to immediately delete the scans of general boarding passengers once the check is complete. “Facial recognition is incredibly powerful, and it is being used as an instrument of oppression around the world to track dissidents whose opinion governments don’t like,” Merkley said in a phone interview Wednesday, citing China’s use of the technology on the country’s Uyghur minority. “It really creates a surveillance state,” he went on. “That is a massive threat to freedom and privacy here in America, and I don’t think we should trust any government with that power.”

AP [5/8/2025 3:25 PM, Alexa St. John, 48304K] reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will no longer track the cost of climate change-fueled weather disasters, including floods, heat waves, wildfires and more. It is the latest example of changes to the agency and the Trump administration limiting federal government resources on climate change. NOAA falls under the U.S. Department of Commerce and is tasked with daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring. It is also parent to the National Weather Service. The agency said its National Centers for Environmental Information would no longer update its Billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database beyond 2024, and that its information — going as far back as 1980 — would be archived. For decades, it has tracked hundreds of major events across the country, including destructive hurricanes, hail storms, droughts and freezes that have totaled trillions of dollars in damage. The database uniquely pulls information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance data, insurance organizations, state agencies and more to estimate overall losses from individual disasters.

Daily Wire [5/8/2025 2:23 PM, Leif Le Mahieu, 4672K] reports a new bipartisan proposal would significantly overhaul FEMA and ensure that there is no political discrimination in the distribution of emergency aid. The proposal, from Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO) and Rep. Rick Larson (D-WA), would make FEMA an independent agency that directly reports to the president, transfer significant responsibility to the states for handling natural disaster responses, and officially prohibit political discrimination. Graves, the chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, released a draft of the bill on Thursday. "We have clearly seen that FEMA is not working as it should for Americans who’ve been impacted by disasters. Congress has passed FEMA reforms over the years, but it simply hasn’t been enough," Graves said. "This draft bill includes substantive changes that will transform FEMA and our emergency programs to be much more state and locally driven – not micro-managed into ineffectiveness by the federal government.” One of the key components of the draft legislation is that it would add "political affiliation" as a protected status under current federal law. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) previously introduced legislation in the Senate that would do the same thing. This proposal comes after The Daily Wire reported in November that FEMA supervisor Marn’i Washington ordered relief workers in Lake Placid, Florida, to skip the homes of people "advertising Trump." Washington and three other FEMA employees were fired over the instructions, which caused over 20 homes to be skipped by FEMA workers. On Thursday, Acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton was fired and replaced with Department of Homeland Security official David Richardson. Hamilton’s ouster comes one day after he said that he personally didn’t think that it would be a good idea to get rid of FEMA.

FOX Weather [5/8/2025 1:03 PM, Andrew Wulfeck and Julian Atienza, 3500K] reports the weather pattern that soaked parts of Texas and Louisiana earlier this week will shift to the east before stalling, setting up days of severe weather and a prolonged flash flood threat through early next week. According to the FOX Forecast Center, a broad area across the South and mid-Atlantic will face an increasing threat of thunderstorms beginning Thursday afternoon when a cluster of storms will develop across Middle Tennessee and move east into northern Alabama, North Georgia and western North Carolina, an area that is still recovering from Hurricane Helene. Storms will track along a stalled cold front through the weekend with a widespread 3-5 inches of rain expected from Florida through the Carolinas, with some tallies reaching a foot and possibly more.

(B) Fox 40 Morning News [5/8/2025 8:13 AM, Staff] reports Mississippi Representative Michael Guest spoke with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem this week about the disaster aid for those affected by March’s storms. It has been over a month now since Mississippi sent its federal declaration to President Trump. Mississippi suffered more than $18 million in damages from the storms.

Detroit Free Press [5/8/2025 11:47 AM, Jackie Charniga, 4124K] reports courtesy of General Motors, agents training to one day protect the president of the United States and other top officials will learn how to drive stick-shift vehicles. The U.S. Secret Service promoted its relationship with General Motors after the company delivered 10 vehicles May 7 to the agency’s James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland. Two of those vehicles have manual transmissions, according to one of the trainers. In a minute-long video posted to social media site X April 6, the entity charged with protecting the nation’s leaders, financial system and cybersecurity said in a statement that GM supplies some of the Secret Service’s most "visible protective vehicles." In addition to the presidential parade limousine, the Detroit automaker also provides armored SUVs in motorcades, the agency said. GM would not confirm if it had previously sent the Secret Service testing vehicles. "GM is committed to ensuring that the brave men and women who protect our national security and our government institutions have the best equipment to improve their training and to execute their critical mission," Steve duMont, GM Defense president, said in a statement emailed to the Detroit Free Press. "We have always been honored to support our government and are proud to continue to be trusted with this mission.” GM has one of the broadest portfolios of vehicles of any U.S. automaker among its four brands, the company also noted, and was uniquely capable of delivering testing vehicles from manual transmissions to the latest high-performance features among a range of sedans, trucks, SUVs and police pursuit vehicles. GM provided two Cadillac CT4 sedans, two Cadillac CT5 sedans, two Corvettes, a Cadillac Escalade SUV, a Chevrolet Colorado pickup, a Chevrolet Tahoe with a police package and a Chevrolet Suburban SUV. Constantine Gerukos, a Secret Service driving instructor for the past 13 years, said in the statement that he was eager to "push these vehicles to their limit," particularly the donated vehicles of models most likely to be used by the uniformed division officers and special agents in the field.

NBC Connecticut [5/8/2025 2:27 PM, Staff] reports U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will be the keynote speaker at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, the Coast Guard announced Thursday. The 144th Coast Guard Academy Commencement Exercises are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. on May 21. Noem, the former Governor of South Dakota, was nominated to be Homeland Security Secretary by President Donald Trump. “It will be an honor to speak at the United States Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony and celebrate the class of 2025,” Noem said in a release. “We will be welcoming these new officers at a critical moment in the history of the branch and our country."

NewsNation [5/8/2025 6:08 AM, Salvador Rivera, 6866K] reports Coast Guard Station San Diego’s motto is "Guardians of the Southwest," but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says it doesn’t have the proper amount of resources to properly guard the maritime border with Mexico. Noem made those comments Tuesday morning during a congressional appropriations meeting calling for $21 billion to help the Coast Guard fulfill its mission. "The Coast Guard has been neglected for many, many years," Noem told the committee. She testified the agency needs the money for technology, equipment and personnel to be able to interdict drugs and undocumented migrants coming into the U.S. via the water. "The Coast Guard is seeing much more traffic, they’re also seeing the cartel activity out there trafficking of drugs and human beings and the technology they’re having a difficult time keeping up with — we can’t neglect the fact that we have needs there and we don’t have the airframe and we don’t have the cutters to keep up and even to manage and maintain the horsepower to catch and interdict some of the smuggling activities that are going on.” Noem stated the Coast Guard, for fiscal year 2025, has already surpassed 2024 in terms of interdictions for drugs and migrant search and rescues on the water. "The U.S. Coast Guard is a central pillar of American national security and power projection. As a military service and law enforcement organization, the Coast Guard faces a unique set of operational challenges and opportunities, necessitating a unique posture for rapid response to a variety of evolving missions with a modernized fleet that supports these requirements.”

Federal News Network [5/8/2025 1:11 PM, Michele Sandiford, 1089K] reports lawmakers are calling on the Trump administration to prioritize funding for more recruiting at the Coast Guard. Last year, the Coast Guard exceeded its recruiting goals for the first time since 2017. But the service is still 3,000 members short of its targeted enlisted goal. Lawmakers say the 2026 budget should seek to fill those gaps and return the Coast Guard to its full operational capacity. The Trump administration is seeking increases for the Department of Homeland Security in 2026 but it has yet to release specific details on its proposed Coast Guard budget.

FOX News [5/8/2025 10:45 AM, Elizabeth Elkind and Deirdre Heavey, 46189K] reports the House of Representatives voted 211-206 to make President Donald Trump’s name change for the Gulf of America permanent on Thursday morning. No Democrats voted for the bill, as was expected. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., was the only Republican to vote against the bill. The legislation was led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a vocal ally of Trump’s in Congress. "This is such an important thing to do for the American people. The American people deserve pride in their country, and they deserve pride in the waters that we own, that we protect with our military and our Coast Guard and all of the businesses that prosper along these waters," Greene said during debate on the bill. "But Democrats today are outraged. They’re outraged because they love the cartels more than any other people in the world, more than the American people.” Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, panned the legislation as a waste of time. "Republicans think this juvenile legislation is the best use of this House’s time. This is the only work we’re doing today, folks," Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said in his rebuttal to Greene. "What a sick joke this is. Republicans worry about 400-year-old words on a map. I worry about families and every community in America that’s struggling to get by.” The vast majority of Republicans supported the bill, with several arguing the name change would help boost tourism and a sense of patriotism in the region. However, earlier this week, Fox News Digital was told that several GOP lawmakers privately expressed frustration at what they saw as a largely symbolic bill taking up their time instead of more meaningful legislation to move Trump’s agenda along. Roll Call [5/8/2025 11:04 AM, Justin Papp, 503K] reports Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska was the lone Republican to break ranks and vote against the bill, which aims to codify a January executive order from President Donald Trump. The final tally was 211-206. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it faces long odds. Democrats were united in opposing what Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., said “may be the dumbest bill brought to the floor during the six years I’ve served in Congress.” “With all of the important work this Congress should be tackling, the speaker and House Republicans have chosen to indulge the president in a whim that the American public does not support,” Scanlon said from the House floor earlier this week. The bill was introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., an outspoken Trump ally. It would require federal agencies to update federal documents and maps within 180 days of enactment, with the chairman of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names overseeing the process. “The American people deserve pride in their country and they deserve pride in the waters that we own, that we protect with our military and our Coast Guard,” Greene said of her bill on the House floor Thursday. The body of water borders not just the United States, but also Mexico and Cuba, all of which have jurisdictions there in various zones.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [5/8/2025 10:10 AM, Annie Karni, 145325K]
CNN [5/8/2025 10:59 AM, Veronica Stracqualursi and Sarah Ferris, 908K]

Reuters [5/8/2025 12:34 PM, Jonathan Saul and Jarrett Renshaw, 41523K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration is considering a proposal to create an international shipping registry in the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of efforts to enlarge the tiny commercial shipping fleet flying the American flag, according to four sources familiar with the matter. Increasing the number of U.S.-flagged vessels is important for Trump’s administration because it would enhance the ability of the U.S. commercial shipping fleet to provide logistical support for the military in time of war, and ease Washington’s dependence on foreign ships to transport supplies and equipment across sea lanes. The U.S.-flagged fleet currently numbers around 187 vessels, of which only 80 are involved in international trade. This contrasts with at least 5,500 of vessels under China’s control, according to industry estimates and assessments from U.S. lawmakers. The U.S. flag registry has struggled to attract ship owners for decades due to higher costs, a bigger tax burden and multiple requirements such as having a crew of U.S. citizens. China has become the world’s top shipbuilding and shipping nation with 230 times more shipbuilding capacity than the U.S., a congressional report, showed last year. Using the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) could be the most efficient way to "strengthen American maritime posture" because the island territory could provide a U.S.-controlled flag without the costly restrictions associated with a straight U.S. flag registration, according to Eric Dawicki, president of the Center for Ocean Policy and Economics (COPE) research body, which submitted the proposal to U.S. officials. All commercial ships must be registered, or flagged, with a particular country or jurisdiction to comply with safety and environmental rules. A U.S. official said the proposal had been submitted to the National Security Council, adding it was unclear on the status. Another U.S. official confirmed that the National Security Council was aware of the proposal. Unlike with the U.S.-flag, which is vetted by the U.S. Coast Guard, the USVI authority would administer and regulate an international registry that imposes fewer requirements, according to COPE. The vessels, for example, could be foreign built and crewed by non-U.S. nationals, it said.

AP [5/8/2025 1:43 PM, Staff, 48304K] reports a Texas man associated with a neo-Nazi group was convicted on Wednesday of posting threats to lynch and kill Nashville District Attorney General Glenn Funk after another group member was charged with attacking a downtown bar worker. David Aaron Bloyed, 60, of Frost, Texas, was found guilty by a federal jury in Nashville of one count of communicating a threat in interstate commerce, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. He faces up to five years in prison at sentencing. Bloyed was found to have posted a photograph of Funk with the caption, “Getting the rope,” and an emoji finger pointed towards Funk’s image. A second post included a drawing of a person hanging by the neck from a gallows, with the phrase, “The ‘Rope List’ grew by a few more Nashville jews today.” Both included swastika symbols. Funk was targeted after a group of white supremacist, antisemitic and neo-Nazi provocateurs came to Nashville last summer and began livestreaming antics for shock value — waving swastika flags through crowded streets, singing hate songs on the downtown courthouse steps, and even briefly disrupting a Metro Council meeting.

Miami Herald [5/8/2025 11:07 AM, Staff, 3973K] reports May 9 marks the anniversary of when part of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapsed into Tampa Bay after it was struck by a freighter during a storm. The crash sent seven vehicles and a Greyhound bus into the water, killing 35 people. Audio recordings of the U.S. Coast Guard transmissions following the initial distress call capture the terror of that day. At 7:33 a.m. on May 9, 1980, the 606-foot Summit Venture crashed into the western span of the bridge during a blinding storm. A mayday call from the pilot of the Summit Venture reporting the collapse can be heard in— audio recordings from the marine VHF radio emergency frequency and radar traffic that followed that day. The pilot, John Lerro, came on the frequency, "Mayday, mayday, mayday, Coast Guard. Mayday, mayday, mayday.” "Get all emergency equipment out to the Skyway Bridge. A vessel just hit the Skyway Bridge. The Skyway Bridge is down," the pilot was heard shouting. "Get all emergency equipment out to the Skyway Bridge. The Skyway Bridge is down. This is a mayday.” Hornbuckle saw the lights of the Greyhound bus blink in his rear view mirror as it passed him. It seemed to disappear in the storm. The bridge collapsed at 7:38 a.m. The bus fell 150 feet into the water. On board were 23 people.

SFGate [5/8/2025 2:48 PM, Andrew Chamings, 12335K] reports a deadly human smuggling attempt off the coast of Del Mar in Southern California left at least three people dead, including a 14-year-old boy from India, and prompted charges against five individuals, federal prosecutors said. At dawn on Monday, witnesses at Torrey Pines State Beach spotted an overturned beaten-up panga boat in the surf near Del Mar. Bystanders, lifeguards and rescue crews attempted to save those in the water and on the beach, but three people died. Among the dead was a 14-year-old boy from India. His 10-year-old sister remains missing at sea and is presumed dead. Their mother was rescued and hospitalized, and their father is reportedly in a coma. Federal prosecutors have now charged five individuals — Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, Jesus Juan Rodriguez Leyva, Melissa Jenelle Cota, Gustavo Lara and Sergio Rojas-Fregoso — in connection with the alleged smuggling operation. All are Mexican nationals. Luna and Leyva were arrested at the beach Monday and are accused of bringing people into the country resulting in their death and bringing people into the country for financial gain. That evening, U.S. Border Patrol agents in Chula Vista identified vehicles tied to the smuggling attempt, prosecutors say. One driver allegedly fled, but agents apprehended Cota, Lara and Rojas-Fregoso in two other cars believed to be transporting migrants who survived the capsizing. Eight of the nine missing migrants were located, with the ninth being the 10-year-old girl.

CyberScoop [5/8/2025 3:56 PM, Tim Starks] reports another top appropriations Democrat criticized budget cuts affecting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, saying the Trump administration has “illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity.” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, made his remarks Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing on the administration’s fiscal 2026 budget. He said the CISA funding cuts were paying for the administration’s focus on the border, and violated congressional mandates on how to spend appropriated dollars. “As we speak, Russian and Chinese hackers are having a field day hacking our nation,” Murphy said. CISA has already forced out some personnel under Trump and more cuts may be looming even before the proposed fiscal 2026 $491 million funding reduction. It follows similar criticism from House appropriations Democrats on Tuesday. At another hearing on CISA’s budget proposal Thursday, one of those House members, Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois — the top Democrat on the House counterpart to Murphy’s subcommittee — was harsher in renewing that criticism. “That’s not cutting fat,” she said. “That’s a death blow. Why is this administration so determined to degrade the cyber defenses that keep this country safe?” Noem has been arguing the case that she’ll be returning CISA to its core mission of critical infrastructure protection, contending that the agency has been focused on defining misinformation and disinformation in playing the role of “Ministry of Truth.”

Newsbusters [5/8/2025 6:04 PM, Tom Olohan, 148K] reports a Democratic representative mourned a huge change to a government agency responsible for massive censorship. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put him in his place. Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) went after Noem during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, criticizing President Donald Trump’s proposed $491 million funding cut for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). In response, Noem told Case that the DHS would stop wasting money and funding censorship.

Bank Info Security [5/8/2025 1:12 PM, Chris Riotta] reports the top official at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency defended budget cuts and controversial remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday, as lawmakers voiced concerns over how reductions could weaken national cyber defenses. Bridget Bean, a senior official currently serving as acting director of CISA while President Donald Trump’s nominee awaits Senate confirmation, told the House Appropriations subcommittee the agency is "eliminating duplication and increasing efficiency." Her testimony follows warnings from current and former staff that proposed budget cuts of up to $500 million and a potential one-third workforce reduction have thrown internal operations into turmoil. Lawmakers pressed Bean on how the agency can counter threats from foreign adversaries like China - which she confirmed have infiltrated U.S. critical infrastructure systems - amid budget cuts to the nation’s cyber defense programs. Those concerns were bipartisan, including from Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev., chairman of the House Appropriations Homeland Security subcommittee. Amodei requested details on how the agency plans to strengthen cybersecurity with fewer resources and reduced staffing in its fiscal year 2026 request. "More money is not automatically the answer, but I’m not talking about more money," Amodei said. It’s "going to be a problem" for the committee to handle appropriations without more information from the agency on its restructuring plans, he said. "The question is: Why shouldn’t I be worried about where we’re sitting in terms of all the issues that you’ve talked about as a result of those cuts?" Bean also supported Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem following her April 30 keynote speech at the RSAC Conference in San Francisco, in which she derided CISA as the "Ministry of Truth" over its past efforts to combat misinformation. Noem also testified before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Wednesday, during which she teased a "grand cyber plan" and suggested CISA was unable to defend against Chinese cyberattacks under the previous administration.

DefenseScoop [5/8/2025 5:58 PM, Brandi Vincent, 150K] reports the full consequences of the Trump administration’s “Signalgate” affair remain unseen — but in response, personnel inside the Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer are moving to accelerate government and military leaders’ access to trustworthy and protected options for transmitting instant communications about sensitive, real-time information. “This is something that, when they say ‘incidents happen,’ it innovates us and urges us to make the requirement, and make the devices, and make the technology available. So, this is something that we are taking as a priority,” Katie Arrington, the senior official performing the duties of Pentagon CIO, told lawmakers Thursday. She shed new light on those and other near-term plans during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing about the DOD’s current IT and AI posture. Reports first emerged in March that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared high-stakes military operational plans in a group chat — via the encrypted but unclassified texting app Signal — with several of his counterparts in the Trump administration and an American journalist (who unveiled the ordeal after he was accidentally added to the group chat). Cybersecurity advocates, former military officials and members of Congress immediately raised concerns about the messages and warned that sharing classified or sensitive information on non-government platforms about planned military operations could put servicemembers’ lives at risk. With support from President Donald Trump, Hegseth repeatedly pushed back on criticism about his Signal use — and news reports have since surfaced that the SecDef has texted in multiple other chats on the app, where Pentagon business was discussed.

FOX News [5/8/2025 10:00 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 46189K] reports cybercriminals aren’t just going after big targets anymore. They’re going after everyone, and they’re doing it with infostealer malware. These small, sneaky programs are quietly stealing passwords, browser data and login tokens from everyday devices. A new report shows just how out of control the problem has become, with infostealer activity jumping 500% in just one year, harvesting more than 1.7 billion fresh credentials. In 2024, cybersecurity researchers at Fortinet observed a staggering surge in stolen login data being traded on the dark web. Over 1.7 billion credentials were harvested not from old breaches but through active infections on users’ devices. At the heart of this epidemic is a class of malware called infostealers, which are programs designed specifically to extract sensitive information like usernames, passwords, browser cookies, email logins, crypto wallets and session tokens. Unlike large-scale data breaches that target centralized databases, infostealers operate on individual machines. They don’t break into a company’s servers; they compromise the end user, often without the victim ever noticing. These logs are then aggregated and sold by initial access brokers, intermediaries who sell compromised credentials and access tokens to other cybercriminal groups, including ransomware operators. The market has matured to the point where access to a corporate VPN, an admin dashboard or even a personal bank account can be purchased at scale, with verified functionality and region-specific pricing.

AP [5/8/2025 4:43 PM, Scott Bauer and Todd Richmond, 48304K] reports Wisconsin prosecutors on Thursday charged the father of a teenage girl who killed a teacher and fellow student in a school shooting last year with allowing her access to the semiautomatic pistols she used in the attack. The criminal complaint against 42-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow of Madison is packed with details about how his daughter, 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, expressed a hatred of humanity following her parents’ divorce and how he hoped he could bond with her through guns. It also says the girl meticulously planned the attack, including building a cardboard model of the school and scheduling the shooting to end with her suicide. Jeffrey Rupnow was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon. Online court records did not list an attorney for him on Thursday. He did not respond to a message The Associated Press left on his Facebook page, and no one returned voicemails left at possible telephone listings for him and his ex-wife, Melissa Rupnow.

Houston Chronicle [5/8/2025 4:06 PM, John Wayne Ferguson, 1769K] reports a man who caused an active shooter scare at a Katy Walmart earlier this year may avoid prison after pleading guilty to deadly conduct and being sentenced to deferred adjudication. Armando Soto, 22, of Katy, pleaded guilty to a charge of deadly conduct discharge firearm, according to court records. Soto was originally charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. In January, he was arrested and accused of firing a gun in a Walmart parking lot as he was being escorted from the building. Harris County sheriff Ed Gonzalez at the time described Soto as a disgruntled former employee. No one was injured, but the gunshots caused deputies to rush to the scene believing there was an active shooter. Soto was arrested by deputies after being pulled over near the scene, Gonzalez said. Court records show that prosecutors recommended the charge be reduced, but that Soto refused to agree to prosecutors’ recommendation that he be sentenced to two years in prison. Deadly conduct is a third-degree felony that is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Instead, the punishment was left up to District Judge Colleen Gaido, who sentenced Soto to five years of community supervision, according to court records.

USA Today [5/8/2025 3:49 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, 75858K] reports authorities are searching for a woman accused of calling in a bomb threat at a Houston airport to allegedly frame her ex-lover, according to court documents. Trekalon Price, 25, is being sought for felony reporting a false alarm or reporting an emergency in connection with an incident at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, the charging document obtained by USA TODAY says. A Houston police officer wrote in the document that an unknown woman, later identified as Price, called in to report a "bomb threat" at the airport on Jan. 4, 2025. While making the report, the caller refused to give any identifying information about herself, the document states. Price told the 911 operator that the individual allegedly with the bomb had just flown into Bush Intercontinental Airport on a Delta flight, and he would be flying out later that day at an unknown time and on an unknown airline to Cedar Rapids Airport in Iowa, according to the charging document. During the 911 call, Price also alleged that the individual told her that he was going to bomb Bush Airport and Cedar Rapids Airport, the court document states. Price then told the operator to "hurry up and notify law enforcement," before giving them identifying information about the alleged bomber. Ex-lover told police girl he was ‘messing around with’ likely made 911 calls. When Houston police contacted authorities in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, they said they received the same call from an unidentified woman, the charging document says. Cedar Rapids Airport Police confirmed that the man identified by Price had already landed, and they were actively searching for him, the document continued. According to the charging document, Price also spoke to a patrol officer at Cedar Rapids Airport and told him that the alleged bomber had a firearm in his bag, and that she learned the information about this bomb threat from a person she refused to identify. When police finally spoke with the man Price identified, he told them he was unaware of any accusations, including about him bombing the airports and "shooting up the place," the court document states. Police then asked the man if he knew of anyone who would accuse him of this, to which he responded, "Yeah, the girl he was ‘messing around with.’". The man also said Price got him fired from his last job due to her repeatedly calling the Houston golf cart shop where he worked, according to the court filing. He then identified Price and said he didn’t recognize the number she called 911 with, but stated she "likes to use phone apps to make calls with different numbers.”

Reuters [5/8/2025 5:01 PM, Sarah Morland and Harold Isaac, 41523K] reports the designation of Haiti’s major gangs as terrorists by Washington could risk further entrenching their power by limiting financial and humanitarian aid, NGOs focused on organized crime and human rights have warned. The United States last week designated Viv Ansanm, the armed alliance that controls most of capital Port-au-Prince, and Gran Grif, which operates in the breadbasket Artibonite region, as terrorist groups, following similar measures made recently for Latin American drug cartels. The designation is intended to isolate the groups, denying them access to financing from U.S. people or companies. Analysts at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime said on Thursday that the designation could, however, "inadvertently worsen the situation on the ground." It said the move could threaten the activities of some NGOs who engage with gangs to deliver aid to communities under gang control - potentially cutting off aid and making populations even more dependent on the armed groups. International businesses could also leave Haiti to avoid the risk of falling foul of U.S. law, it added. Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research for Human Rights earlier this week raised similar doubts, saying the move could hurt NGOs working with Haiti’s most vulnerable in gang-controlled areas, already hit by frozen U.S. aid funding.

FOX News [5/8/2025 1:59 PM, Bonny Chu and Pilar Arias, 46189K] reports FBI Director Kash Patel is warning that the bureau will not be able to fulfill its missions if a White House budget cut proposal released last week is implemented. The proposal, introduced last Friday, would cut the FBI’s budget by $545 million as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to slash government spending by $163 billion. "We cannot cover down on the mission at the levels that we would have to go to, which would be the 2011 levels, should all the budget cuts you just outlined be implemented," Patel said during testimony on Wednesday before the House Appropriations Committee. Patel also urged the panel to approve an $11.1 billion budget for the bureau - an increase of $1 billion over the proposed figure - to combat what he described as increased levels of crime and terrorism across the country. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Reuters [5/8/2025 11:27 AM, Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch, 41523K] reports Patel told the Senate appropriations committee on Thursday that he would "make the mission work on whatever budget we’re given.” "My view is that we will make and agree with this budget as it stands, and make it work for the operational necessity of the FBI," Patel said. "As the head of the FBI, I was simply asking for more funds because I can do more with more money.” Trump’s administration has called for a $545 million cut to the FBI as part of a plan to shrink the federal budget by $163 billion. Patel told the Wednesday House hearing that he was working to explain to both the White House and Congress "why we need more than what has been proposed in that budget.” The proposed cuts to the FBI attracted bipartisan concern from senators, who said they feared cuts would impact the bureau’s ability to counter violent crime and national security threats. "I’m concerned that the scale of the proposed reduction could force the FBI to eliminate vacant positions and leave positions unfilled," Republican U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, of Kansas, said. The budget proposal, released last week, includes few details about what would be cut at the FBI, but cites diversity policies, "pet projects" of former Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration and what it calls duplicative intelligence activities. The proposal repeats allegations that the FBI had been "weaponized" against Trump and his supporters. Trump and his allies, including Patel, have repeatedly made such claims over FBI probes of Russian election interference, the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and other issues.

Blaze [5/8/2025 9:44 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1668K] reports Vice President JD Vance and Democratic strategist James Carville both blasted Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.) this week over her apparent racial animus. Whereas Vance characterized the Minnesota congresswoman as a "disgrace," Carville suggested she was a political liability whose supporters "are more trouble than they’re worth.” Omar was asked in a February 2018 interview about President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13780 — the so-called "Muslim travel ban" that placed restrictions on entry to the U.S. by nationals from terrorist hotbeds such as Syria and Omar’s native country of Somalia. "Do you think President Trump doesn’t want people like you in the country? Because he says it’s not personal; it’s national security," Mehdi Hasan, a liberal talking head known for his "anti-Israel agitprop," asked Omar in the interview. "If we were really being honest about what could be masqueraded as a national security issue, we know that no one from any of these countries has ever posed a threat within this country," said Omar. Hasan noted later in a portion of the interview that has repeatedly gone viral that "a lot of conservatives in particular would say that the rise of Islamophobia is the result not of hate but of fear — a legitimate fear, they say, of ‘jihadist terrorism,’ whether it’s Fort Hood or San Bernardino or the recent truck attack in New York. What do you say to them?". Omar — who previously summarized the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as "some people did something" and whose community saw dozens of young men, including the first known American Islamist suicide bomber, return to Somalia to fight for Islamic terrorist groups — appeared keen to downplay the relative threat of Islamic terrorism. "I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," said the Democratic congresswoman. "And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe, Americans safe inside of this country, we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men.” Vice President JD Vance commented on the excerpt, which had over 17.5 million views at the time of publication, writing, "This isn’t just sick; it’s actually genocidal language.” "What a disgrace this person is," added Vance, who previously suggested that Ilhan Omar would be "living in a craphole" if the U.S. hadn’t welcomed her.

FOX News [5/8/2025 12:09 PM, Brooke Singman, 46189K] reports the Trump administration on Thursday targeted Iranian oil with a new slate of sanctions – a move that increases pressure on the Islamic Republic amid talks between U.S. and Iranian officials to make a deal to prevent nuclear proliferation, Fox News Digital has learned. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control increased pressure on Iran’s export of oil Thursday, designating the "teapot" refinery Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group Co., Ltd., and three port terminal operators in Shandong province, China, for their role in purchasing or facilitating the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil. The "teapot" refineries purchase the majority of Iranian crude oil exports, according to the Treasury Department. The Treasury Department on Thursday is also imposing sanctions on several companies, vessels and captains they say are responsible for facilitating Iranian oil shipments as part of Iran’s so-called "shadow fleet." The companies and vessels are all China-based. "As part of President Trump’s broad and aggressive maximum pressure campaign, Treasury today is targeting another teapot refinery that imported Iranian oil," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. "The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran’s oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilizing agenda.” The sanctions come following President Donald Trump’s executive order, which targets Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors – as well as another executive order targeting those that provide support to the National Iranian Oil Company. Thursday’s sanctions are the latest round targeting Iranian oil sales since the president, in early February, issued a national security memorandum that instituted a campaign of "maximum economic pressure on Iran.” As for Iran’s "shadow fleet," Tehran relies on obscure ship management companies to manage its fleet of tankers that "mask" Iran’s petroleum shipments to China using ship-to-ship transfers with sanctioned vessels. The Treasury Department on Thursday took action to increase pressure on that "shadow fleet" of actors by designating ships as "blocked property.” Any violation of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. or foreign persons, the Treasury Department said. The imposition of sanctions comes as the United States and Iran prepare for a fourth round of nuclear talks. U.S. and Iranian officials are set for the next round of talks to take place in Oman in the coming days.

NewsMax [5/8/2025 8:27 PM, Michael Katz, 4998K] reports Democrats are introducing legislation that will require retailers to disclose any price increases related to the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Thursday they will introduce the "Truth in Tariffs Act," which would require large retailers to clearly display the portion of an item’s price attributable to tariffs. With Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, the bill is unlikely to pass, and Trump most likely would veto it. "President Trump has thrust our economy into turmoil, hiking up costs, roiling markets and leaving consumers and businesses reeling from the uncertainty and havoc wrought by his reckless Trump Tariffs," Raskin said in a statement. "President Trump’s universal tariffs constitute an effective national sales tax, which hurts working families the most. "If the President and his government of billionaires are going to force American families to pay a lot more money for fewer available goods, the people have a right to know just how much of this new price burden stems directly from the President’s actions.” Trump last month enacted reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners, but issued a 90-day pause while leaving a baseline of 10% tariffs intact. China, Canada, and Mexico are facing separate tariffs on most imports as leverage for them to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. There are also 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, as well as automobiles and selected parts. The idea to disclose price increases was floated at Amazon before ultimately being scrapped when it became public, after which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it a "hostile and political act" in an April 29 briefing. Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday that the legislation is about "transparency.” "It is about being straight with consumers," he said. "It is about informing the consumers how Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the family budget. And retailers should like it because these increases in prices are not their fault. It’s Trump’s fault, with his tariffs.

New York Times [5/9/2025 3:43 AM, Jeanna Smialek, 330K] reports the European Union on Thursday announced a plan to ramp up the pressure on the United States, hours before President Trump called the bloc’s top leader “fantastic” and said that America would work with it toward a trade deal. Mr. Trump’s tone was a marked shift from the one he has often struck toward the European Union, which he has said was formed to “screw” the United States. The change did not seem to be linked to the bloc’s announcement, but the pace of events underscored that Mr. Trump’s trade war is rapidly evolving and highly unpredictable. The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, on Thursday morning announced two new steps that it could take to hit back at America if trade negotiations fail. Officials laid out 95 billion euros, or $107 billion, worth of goods that they could target with higher tariffs in retaliation to the duties that the United States has announced or imposed. They also said that the bloc would start a World Trade Organization dispute against the United States on Mr. Trump’s across-the-board tariffs, as well on duties levied on cars and car parts. The European Union’s proposed retaliatory tariffs — which member states will consult on and edit over the next month — could include products such as soybeans, meats and bourbon, as well as manufactured goods like sewing machines, airplane parts and car parts. If implemented, the measures could hit big American companies like Boeing, a senior European official said. The goal is both to pressure America to reach a deal and to ensure that the European Union is prepared if negotiations fail and higher tariffs become a lasting feature of the trade relationship. “We believe there are good deals to be made for the benefit of consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said in a statement announcing the plan. “At the same time, we continue preparing for all possibilities, and the consultation launched today will help guide us in this necessary work.”

AP [5/8/2025 6:49 PM, Staff, 48304K] reports Panama President José Raúl Mulino said Thursday that he will not renegotiate an agreement with the United States to give U.S. troops access to Panamanian facilities, despite protests charging that he compromised the country’s sovereignty. On Tuesday, thousands of Panamanians marched in the capital in the largest protest yet against an agreement signed during last month’s visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The U.S. embassy followed with a statement Wednesday saying that the agreement did not allow for establishing military bases in Panama. A U.S. military presence in Panama is sensitive, since people still remember the U.S. invasion in 1989 and U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested that the U.S. take back control of the Panama Canal. “Panama’s sovereignty is not at stake, it’s not handed over, it’s not given,” Mulino said during his weekly press conference. He insisted the agreement would not lead to U.S. bases in Panama. Later Thursday, the new U.S. ambassador to Panama, Kevin Marino Carbera, said in a news conference that “the memorandum (of understanding) is going to strengthen our cooperation against drug trafficking and protect the (Panama) canal and we know that’s the responsibility of both countries according to the (canal) treaty.”

Breitbart [5/8/2025 2:08 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2923K] reports Venezuelan Interior Minister and wanted drug lord Diosdado Cabello on Wednesday denied that the five Venezuelan dissidents trapped in the shut-down Argentine embassy in Caracas were rescued and instead claimed they were released as part of a “negotiation” with opposition leader María Corina Machado. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday that a “precise operation” led to the rescue and arrival on U.S. soil of five persecuted Venezuelan dissidents, part of opposition leader María Corina Machado’s team. Although Secretary Rubio did not publicly disclose details of the rescue operation, “unobjectionable sources” confirmed to the Argentine outlet Infobae that “it was a military operation commanded from the United States.” Cabello, during the latest episode of his weekly talk show Hitting with the Mallet, accused Secretary Rubio of “sabotaging” purported “talks” between the United States and Venezuela and claimed that the White House “does not back Rubio’s actions.” Cabello also denied that there was a rescue operation in Caracas as announced by Rubio.

New York Times [5/8/2025 1:15 PM, Jeffrey Gettleman and Maya Tekeli, 153395K] reports the Danish government summoned the American ambassador to express its displeasure after a report that the Trump administration was escalating its spying on Greenland. The Danish foreign ministry said that Jennifer Hall Godfrey, the acting U.S. ambassador to Denmark, had been called for a meeting after the Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration had ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to step up their surveillance on Greenland, an overseas territory of Denmark. A representative from Greenland’s government was also at the meeting. Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister, said the purpose was to make “absolutely clear” that Denmark was unhappy, and he emphasized that any efforts to “drive wedges into the unity of the kingdom” would not be tolerated. He declined to discuss the substance of the conversation at the meeting. President Trump has talked about acquiring Greenland since his first term in office. In a recent interview with NBC News, Mr. Trump reiterated that the United States “needs” Greenland for national security purposes — and refused to rule out the use of military force to obtain it. “I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything,” he said. He promised that Greenland’s 56,000 residents would be “taken care of and cherished.” Greenlanders, however, are not buying it. A recent opinion poll showed that the vast majority did not want to join the United States. A visit in March by Vice President JD Vance and his wife seemed to backfire and turned even more Greenlanders off.

NewsMax [5/8/2025 8:38 AM, Staff, 4998K] reports Israel and the United States have held discussions over the possibility of the U.S. setting up a provisional government in the Gaza Strip following the completion of Israeli military operations there, according to a report in Reuters. The report said that the provisional government would remain in authority in Gaza until the enclave had been “demilitarized and stabilized, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged.” The sources who spoke with Reuters said the authority would have “no fixed timeline,” with its duration dependent on the situation in the Strip. The sources also said that both the U.S. and Israel have discussed inviting other nations to participate in the governing authority, which would invite Palestinian technocrats with no known ties to militant groups like Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. Israeli officials have consistently rejected any Israeli role in governing the Gaza Strip after the war, while also insisting that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority has any role due to their support for terrorism against Israelis. In the meantime, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel that several Arab countries are pushing Hamas to accept a hostage-ceasefire deal to avert Israel’s planned offensive in Gaza, which Israel has titled “Gideon’s Chariots.” “There is now a lot of pressure, including from Jordan,” the official said. “The entire region is pressuring them for some sort of deal.”

Breitbart [5/8/2025 8:26 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 2923K] reports that a report in Israel’s Israel Hayom says that President Donald Trump is “disappointed” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has decided to make his next moves in the Middle East without him. The report, published in Hebrew and citing two sources close to Trump, would seem to corroborate the observation that Trump has cut Netanyahu out of his decision-making process on major policy steps. Last month, Trump surprised Netanyahu by announcing that the U.S. would begin “direct” talks with the Iranian regime over a new nuclear deal. And this week, he surprised Israel again by announcing that the U.S. had reached a separate ceasefire with the Houthi rebels in Yemen — who said they would still attack Israel. Israel is quietly growing worried that Trump, despite his pro-Israel record, is about to sign a deal with Iran that repeats many of the mistakes of the deal announced in 2015 by President Barack Obama. There is a fear that Trump is so eager for a political “win” that he is prepared to sacrifice Israel’s security for a bad deal.

NewsMax [5/8/2025 8:29 AM, Staff, 4998K] reports the Biden administration considered ways to "get rid" of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he wouldn’t go along with their plans for the Gaza Strip, Channel 13’s weekly investigative news show HaMakor ("The Source") revealed on April 27. "The White House got tired of Netanyahu and started to roll around a revolutionary idea: how to get rid of Netanyahu," said Raviv Drucker, who hosts the hour-long Sunday show. The April 27 broadcast, titled "All the President’s Men," involved in-depth interviews with nine members of former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan, former White House national security communications adviser John Kirby, former senior adviser for energy Amos Hochstein, and former senior Biden aide Ilan Goldenberg. Drucker is a long-time critic of Netanyahu. The episode criticized the prime minister throughout, portraying him as ungrateful, as torpedoing potential hostage deals for political reasons, and missing a chance to sign a normalization agreement with Saudi Arabia, among other missteps. According to the program, the Biden administration became aggravated by Netanyahu’s refusal to discuss the end goal of Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, specifically, who would take charge of the Gaza Strip after Hamas had been ousted. The Biden team proposed handing security to a foreign force, which would then turn Gaza over to Palestinian control, Goldenberg told HaMakor.

Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 7:32 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 2296K] reports TRUMP: ‘THERE’S A LOT OF BRAVERY THERE’: Relishing what he believes is a victory over the Houthi rebels in Yemen, President Donald Trump lavished praise yesterday on the group that just two months ago his administration designated a foreign terrorist organization. “You know, we hit them very hard. They had a great capacity to withstand punishment,” Trump said, referring to the more than 50 consecutive days of bombing carried out by U.S. forces. “They took tremendous punishment. And, you know, you could say there’s a lot of bravery there, that it was amazing what they took.” Trump said Tuesday that the Houthis had "capitulated," announcing "they don’t want to fight anymore." However, since then, neither the White House, the State Department, nor the U.S. Central Command has released any formal statement outlining the precise terms of the agreement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s only public comment to date was to repost Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi’s statement that, "In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping.” "The objective from Day One: ‘ensuring freedom of navigation,’" Hegsteth said. "PEACE THRU STRENGTH in action."

Axios [5/8/2025 10:32 AM, Ben Berkowitz, 13163K] reports the Treasury Department on Thursday said it was imposing sanctions on a Chinese refinery and the operators of a Chinese port over shipments of Iranian crude oil. The sanctions follow President Trump’s threat last week to punish anyone that bought Iranian oil, which was seen as mostly affecting China and Chinese companies. "The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran’s oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilizing agenda," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. The sanctions affect refiner Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group Co., Ltd., as well as three companies operating a terminal in Dongying Port in China. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said it was also targeting a half-dozen "shadow fleet" ships involved in the transport of Iranian oil, as well as two ship captains. Thursday’s sanctions follow similar actions Treasury and the State Department took in March against a Chinese refiner and others.

FOX News [5/8/2025 10:05 AM, Caitlin McFall, 46189K] reports President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement this week that the U.S., after weeks of intense strikes, will halt all bombing campaigns on the Houthis in Yemen – but experts have warned the Iran-backed group will not sit idle. In Trump’s Tuesday announcement from the Oval Office, he claimed the Houthis "just don’t want to fight…and we will honor that. We will stop the bombings." The president would not say who provided him with this confirmation by the terrorist network, which for years has attacked U.S. and allied ships in the Red Sea in a major threat to freedom of navigation, but in a laugh following the question, he replied that it came from a "very good source." Less than two hours later, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, the foreign minister of Oman, took to X to say, "Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides." "In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping," he added. The post suggests that Oman, which has also played an intermediary in the U.S.-Iran nuclear talks, was heavily involved in securing the ceasefire. However, a new report obtained by Fox News Digital ahead of the president’s surprise announcement warns that the Trump administration must remain vigilant against major security threats posed by the Houthis and the international actors supporting the terrorist network.

Reuters [5/8/2025 1:25 PM, Simon Lewis and Ismail Shakil, 41523K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged de-escalation and expressed support for direct dialogue in separate calls with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said. Fears have grown that the worst confrontation in two decades in the conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors could escalate after India on Wednesday struck what it said was "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir in retaliation for a deadly attack in Indian Kashmir on April 22 that New Delhi has blamed on Islamabad. New blasts rang out across the city of Jammu in Indian Kashmir late on Thursday during what Indian military sources said they suspected was a Pakistani drone attack. Rubio, in both phone calls that took place before the latest blasts, "emphasized the need for immediate de-escalation," Bruce said in readouts of the calls.

"He expressed U.S. support for direct dialogue between India and Pakistan and encouraged continued efforts to improve communications," Bruce said. President Donald Trump has said he hopes the tit-for-tat strikes will stop and said he was willing to help, but Washington has not offered to formally mediate to quell the tensions.

Washington Examiner [5/8/2025 8:38 PM, Brady Knox, 2296K] reports Vice President JD Vance urged India and Pakistan to deescalate tensions as both countries launched mass drone attacks against each other, but the U.S. leader declined to intervene. The burgeoning conflict between India and Pakistan escalated significantly on Thursday, with both countries accusing each other of launching mass kamikaze drone strikes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with senior figures in India and Pakistan in the aftermath, urging them to deescalate as the conflict rapidly approaches the worst violence between the two since the 1999 Kargil War. In a Thursday interview with Fox News, Vance also urged de-escalation but ardently declared the conflict outside of U.S. interests. "What we can do is try to encourage these folks to deescalate a little bit, but we’re not going to get involved in the middle of a war that’s fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America’s ability to control it," he said. Rubio spoke on the phone with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday. The State Department readouts on both calls were nearly identical, saying Rubio called for "immediate de-escalation" and expressed support for direct dialogue between New Delhi and Islamabad. The statements slightly differed in the added message, which appeared to slightly favor India. The readout for the call with Jaishankar said Rubio "reiterated his condolences for the horrific terrorist attack in Pahalgam and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to work with India in the fight against terrorism," while that with Shehbaz said he "expressed sorrow for the reported loss of civilian lives in the current conflict. He reiterated his calls for Pakistan to take concrete steps to end any support for terrorist groups.” On Thursday, Pakistani Inter Services Public Relations Lt. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said his country had neutralized 25 Israeli-made Harop drones that attacked military sites throughout the country, including in Karachi and Lahore. The Harop drone is among roughly $2.9 billion of weapons imported from Israel over the past decade, according to Dawn newspaper. The kamikaze drone is vaunted for its performance in the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War by Azerbaijan, which used them to decimate Armenia’s military and quickly gain air supremacy. The Harop and Turkish Bayraktar drones are widely credited with being the decisive factor in deciding the war in Azerbaijan’s favor.

Reuters [5/8/2025 7:52 AM, Bernadette Hogg, 41523K] reports China has granted tariff exemptions on select pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines from its 125% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods imposed after President Donald Trump unleashed his tariffs in April. It has created a so-called "whitelist" of U.S.-made products that would be exempted from its tariffs, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, and some companies have said they have been able to import to China without paying the duties. Below are some companies that have said their imports have been free of China’s retaliatory tariffs: SIEMENS HEALTHINEERS (SHLG.DE): CEO Bernd Montag said on May 7 that some of the German medical technology group’s products, such as the so-called reagents in its diagnostics business, had been exempted from Chinese tariffs. If reagents, substances that cause chemical reactions, were imported with the newly imposed tariffs, their costs would more than double, Montag said in a press call. DIASORIN (DIAS.MI): The Italian diagnostics firm said on May 6 that more often than not, tariffs were not being applied to its goods when they pass customs in China. Pharmaceutical companies have reported that they had been able to import some drugs with tariff exemptions, the Beijing-based American Chamber of Commerce said on April 25. A source at a memory chip design firm said on April 25 that the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) had informed it of waivers on imports of eight types of microchips, with analogue chips exempted but not memory chips. SAFRAN (SAF.PA): The head of the French engine maker said on April 25 that China had decided to grant exemptions for some aircraft parts, including jet engines. China has waived the tariff on ethane imports, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on April 29.

CBS Austin [5/8/2025 3:13 PM, Staff, 602K] reports the House of Representatives took a significant step on Wednesday to curb China’s influence in the U.S. education system by passing a bill that prohibits Department of Homeland Security funding from going to universities with Confucius Institutes or any ties to concerning Chinese entities. "This is good legislation. This is necessary because when American institutions are working with Chinese researchers it raises questions about potential intellectual property theft There’s also that concern that China is influencing American elections and the American way of life," said Rachel O’Brien, deputy public policy director at Open the Books. U.S. lawmakers have long expressed concerns over these Chinese government-funded programs. Back in 2019, now-former Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah questioned, "I wonder if these Confucius institutes are part of an influence campaign by the Chinese government to shape the attitudes and the minds of American children.” At one point, more than 100 Confucius Institutes were operating at U.S. colleges. Amid backlash and national security concerns, nearly all have closed in recent years. These programs also ran at K-12 schools.

FOX News [5/8/2025 7:42 AM, Greg Norman, 46189K] reports North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles into its eastern sea Thursday in what South Korea is calling a "clear act of provocation.” Lee Sung Joon, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the launches were possibly intended to test the performance of weapons that North Korea plans to export as it continues to send military equipment and troops to fuel Russia’s warfighting against Ukraine. The agency said multiple missiles were launched from an area around North Korea’s eastern port city of Wonsan from about 8:10 to 9:20 a.m. local time Thursday, with the farthest traveling about 497 miles. Lee said the tests likely involved a short-range ballistic missile system launched from vehicles — possibly modeled after Russia’s Iskander missile -- and also large-caliber rocket artillery systems. The Joint Chiefs said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities detected the launch preparations in advance and tracked the missiles after they were launched. It issued a statement denouncing the launches as a "clear act of provocation" that threatens peace and stability in the region, according to the Associated Press. South Korean military officials are now analyzing whether the tests were linked to the North’s weapons exports to Russia. In early March, North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea just hours after South Korea and the United States kicked off their first major joint military exercise of President Donald Trump’s second term. "We are aware of the DPRK’s multiple ballistic missile launches and are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea and Japan, as well as other regional allies and partners. The United States condemns these actions and calls on the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful and destabilizing acts," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement at the time. Those launches come after South Korean and U.S. forces began their annual Freedom Shield exercise.

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