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 AP [11/19/2025 10:19 PM, Gary D. Robertson, 19051K]federal agents have now arrested more than 250 people during a North Carolina immigration crackdown centered around Charlotte, the state’s largest city, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. The operation that began over the weekend is the latest phase of Republican President Donald Trump’s aggressive mass deportation efforts that have sent the military and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities — from Chicago to Los Angeles. Immigration officials have blanketed the country since January, pushing detention counts to all-time highs above 60,000. Big cities and small towns across the country are targeted daily amid higher-profile pushes in places such as Portland, Oregon, where more than 560 immigration arrests were made in October. Smaller bursts of enforcement have popped up elsewhere. The push to carry out arrests in North Carolina expanded to areas around the state capital of Raleigh on Tuesday, spreading fear in at least one immigrant-heavy suburb. The number of arrests around Charlotte and beyond during what the government has dubbed " Operation Charlotte’s Web " was about double the total announced by DHS officials earlier this week. The department said in a statement that agencies "continue to target some of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens." DHS has declined to comment on the operation. "For the safety and security of law enforcement, we’re not going to telegraph potential operations," spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. Axios [11/19/2025 3:19 PM, Alexandria Sands, 12972K] reports that in an earlier update, the agency said 44 of the roughly 130 arrests made during the first two days were "criminal illegal aliens." That leaves between 86 and 206 people whose criminal backgrounds or immigration statuses are unclear. Of the 44, DHS identified only a handful, whom it described as the "worst of the worst" criminals. The list included two people whom DHS describes as known gang members. Other crimes ranged from larceny to aggravated assault to driving while intoxicated. One of the featured individuals had only a bench warrant and "illegal entry" listed as their crime. Axios is awaiting a response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the full names and criminal backgrounds of those apprehended in Charlotte during "Operation Charlotte’s Web," which launched Nov. 15. USA Today [11/19/2025 12:31 PM, Christopher Cann, 67103K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security said it launched "Operation Charlotte’s Web" to "target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to the Tar Heel State because they knew sanctuary politicians would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets." But Charlotte is not considered a sanctuary city, and the state has some of the strictest immigration provisions in the country, experts said, including a mandate passed last year requiring local jails to hold arrested immigrants for a limited time so they can be picked up by federal authorities. Over the weekend, federal agents arrested over 130 undocumented immigrants in Charlotte, including several dozen with previous charges ranging from driving under the influence to aggravated assault, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). USA TODAY is unable to independently verify those figures as the agency has not released the names of those arrested, or their exact charges. After the weekend raids, North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein criticized the operation as inducing "widespread fear" and said it is "not about public safety." "Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. "We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed."

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NewsNation [11/19/2025 5:29 PM, Anna Kutz, Brooke Shafer, Ali Bradley, 8017K] Video: HERE reports Border Patrol agents began operating in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Tuesday, marking the state’s second city now under stepped-up federal immigration action. The duration of the Raleigh operation is unknown, but the first day of action saw hundreds of demonstrators protesting downtown. Federal agents were also operating in nearby Charlotte, where the Department of Homeland Security said more than 250 people have been arrested since Saturday. Yet, the presence of federal agents around North Carolina continues to draw mixed reactions as anti-ICE protesters have gathered in both Charlotte and Raleigh, opposing the ongoing federal immigration enforcement effort. Federal officials said the crackdowns are needed to target criminals, but local leaders in both cities have argued crime is down and the aggressive enforcement has sparked only protests, fear and anger. Witnesses said U.S. Border Patrol agents aimed guns at and arrested an American citizen in a Charlotte parking lot Monday. The citizen had reportedly volunteered to alert people in the area when agents were nearby. “I don’t know how people go to sleep at night right now, knowing that the people that live next to them and the people in their neighborhoods, are scared for their lives, scared for their children, scared for their parents, scared for their siblings,” Charlotte resident Miriam Guzzardi told NewsNation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Axios [11/19/2025 4:12 PM, Laura Barrero, 12972K] reports Border Patrol agents’ enforcement in Charlotte, called "Operation Charlotte’s Web," is drawing community criticism about intimidation tactics and concerns that U.S. citizens are being detained. The crackdown highlights the tension between immigration enforcement and protecting citizens’ rights to monitor law enforcement. Border Patrol agents in these instances allege that volunteers are interfering with their ongoing investigations in Charlotte. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says agents are focused on people with criminal records. But officials haven’t provided details on how they’re identifying them, and there are widespread reports of racial profiling — and of U.S. citizens being detained. In a statement, the agency told WBTV that it is concerned about a "dangerous trend" of violence against its agents. Breitbart [11/19/2025 7:13 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports Charlotte, N.C., is now the focus of immigration enforcement, and it’s causing chaos in the city, as well as other parts of the state. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began enforcement of federal immigration laws in Charlotte on Saturday. On Monday, a press release said it had rounded up 130 "illegal aliens" in its raids, which it has dubbed "Charlotte’s Web.” "Illegal aliens with criminal histories and warrants don’t hang out in front of big box hardware stores? Well, then, how did we find this illegal alien from Honduras there?" Greg Bovino, commander-at-large of the agency, said on social media. Federal agents smashed the window of a truck and pulled the driver — a U.S. citizen — to the ground, thousands of public school students are staying home from school and businesses are closing, USA Today reported. The raids are in response to Charlotte’s refusal to cooperate with the federal government on immigration, CBP said. "Sanctuary policies prevented nearly 1,400 detainers from being honored, putting criminal illegal aliens back on Charlotte’s streets," a press release from Saturday said. But Charlotte is not a sanctuary city, USA Today reported. North Carolina has strict immigration laws. "No cities in the state have sanctuary policies; if they did they would be violating state law," Rick Su, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina, told USA Today. He specializes in immigration and local government. No city in North Carolina was on the Justice Department’s list of sanctuary jurisdictions. "There is absolutely no excuse to continue allowing criminal illegal aliens to terrorize our American communities," said a DHS spokesperson, who wasn’t named, in a press release. "These are violent assailants, gang members and repeat offenders who have zero regard for the rule of law in our country. They are here illegally and should never have been here in the first place. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we are REMOVING the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from our communities once and for all.”

NewsMax [11/19/2025 11:14 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports that a Civil Emergency Order has been issued in Broadview, Illinois, after anti-ICE rioting, bomb threats, and a death threat against the mayor triggered a major law enforcement response, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. DHS officials said the declaration underscores how extreme the threats have become after weeks of escalating violence around the local ICE processing facility. DHS directly blamed the unrest on misinformation pushed by sanctuary-area politicians and activist groups. "For well over a month, rioters have attacked the Broadview field office and Illinois streets," said a senior DHS official. The official said the agitators "have created serious public safety and officer safety threats: assaulting law enforcement, attacking law enforcement with vehicles, throwing tear gas cans, slashing tires, getting arrested with firearms in their possession, blocking the entrance of the building, and trespassing on private property." DHS said the wave of escalating violence reached a breaking point this past weekend. "Now, local officials were forced to declare a ‘Civil Emergency’ given police injuries, a death threat, and a bomb threat," the senior official said. DHS added, "All this garbage about ICE facilities is contributing to our officers facing an 8000% increase in death threats against them.” The department defended ICE’s mission and the work being done at Broadview. "As ICE arrests and removes criminal illegal aliens and public safety threats from the U.S., the agency has worked diligently to obtain greater necessary detention space while avoiding overcrowding," the official said.

Washington Examiner [11/19/2025 8:28 AM, Emily Hallas, 1394K] reports a senior Border Patrol official warned North Carolina’s Democratic governor on Tuesday to refrain from spouting “lies” against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, warning it is provoking violence against federal law enforcement carrying out operations in the state. The warning to Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) was issued by Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol’s chief of the El Centro, California, region and commander of ICE operations in Los Angeles and Chicago, who is also leading Border Patrol’s efforts to help ICE arrest illegal immigrants in Charlotte and other North Carolina cities. It comes as ICE faces a 1,300% increase in vehicular attacks, and CBP faces a 58% increase, according to DHS. Bovino posted a video of a woman waving around a screwdriver and threatening to stab any federal officers who pull her over “in your neck, b****.” The CBP chief alleged that Stein is responsible for stirring up such incidents due to the governor’s public criticism of federal agents. “Governor Stein, you caused this. Let me say this again, Governor. When you spout lies about a lawful law enforcement operation, you spark something in weaker-minded people like this who may act upon your directions. You need to check yourself,” Bovino wrote.

FOX News [11/19/2025 2:22 PM, Brooke Singman, 40621K] reports that Sen. Ashley Moody is rolling out a measure that would punish anyone who threatens a federal immigration officer while doing their job, Fox News Digital has learned. Moody, R-Fla., is introducing the Halo Act, which would make it illegal for anyone, after being told to stay back, to knowingly come within 25 feet of federal immigration officers who are doing their job. The act would make it illegal for an individual to get in the way or interfere with the officer’s work, threaten the officer with physical harm or harass the officer. Breaking the possible law would hold a prison sentence of up to five years, a fine, or both. "As the wife of a law enforcement officer, former attorney general, and now United States senator, I have always supported and fought for the selfless individuals who protect and serve our nation," Moody told Fox News Digital. "I am appalled at the news reports of people harassing and targeting federal officers while they are simply trying to do their jobs, and this must end.” She added: "I’m introducing the Halo Act to enact criminal penalties for those that threaten or impede these federal officers while they are faithfully executing their duties." "Our ICE law enforcement is now facing an 8,000% increase in death threats against them while they risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence and threats against them and their families."

FOX News [11/19/2025 9:20 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino says he is concerned by violence against I.C.E. agents but says his team is undeterred on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [11/19/2025 3:12 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports Border Patrol operations in North Carolina have sparked a wave of fear among families, especially Hispanic families, who this week left thousands of students at home in the cities of Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, and Cary. That was evident this week when absence numbers spiked: in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools alone, more than 30,000 students were absent on Monday, and in Wake County, more than 19,000 absences were reported on Tuesday, November 18. Faced with this uncertainty, these school districts have reiterated that schools do not collaborate with immigration operations, do not collect information on immigration status, and have strict protocols in place to handle any visits from federal authorities.

FOX News [11/19/2025 9:13 AM, Lindsay Kornick Fox, 40621K] reports North Carolina’s largest school district released a notice on Tuesday to help support student absences in light of recent immigration raids in the state. Wake County Public Schools Superintendent Robert P. Taylor wrote a message titled, "Supporting staff and families amid recent federal immigration orders," to address the "anxiety" felt by members of the community over federal immigration orders. At the bottom of the message was a section on "supporting student absences" during the "challenging times." North Carolina’s capital city of Raleigh is Wake’s county seat. "If a student needs to be absent, we encourage families to communicate directly with their child’s teacher and school," the note read. "Sharing the reason for the absence - whether it’s illness, a family matter, or simply feeling worried - helps us understand how to best support your child." It continued, "Teachers are ready to work with families to make sure learning can continue. If your child is absent, their teacher can provide classwork or learning activities that can be completed from home. Staying in communication helps us ensure students don’t fall behind and continue to feel part of their classroom community."

CBS News [11/19/2025 6:49 PM, Skyler Henry and Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports the Department of Homeland Security says more than 250 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally have been arrested in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area. Meanwhile, DHS plans to target New Orleans for its next immigration crackdown operation as early as next month. (B) CBS Mornings [11/19/2025 10:11 AM, Staff] reports communities in North Carolina are on edge as the federal immigration crackdown spreads from Charlotte to Raleigh. The Department of Homeland Security says Border Patrol agents have made dozens of arrests in what the agency is calling Operation Charlotte’s Web. The next city targeted for an enforcement operation is New Orleans. DHS says more than 200 people have been arrested. There has been pushback against the raids statewide. [Editorial note: consult videos at source links]

New York Times [11/19/2025 10:25 AM, Eduardo Medina, 153395K] reports the city of Charlotte was just maturing into a glossy, multiethnic metropolis when Dora Martinez moved here from Mexico nearly three decades ago. She watched as the city’s banking industry, the country’s second-largest behind New York, created a boom for construction workers, many of them undocumented, and transformed Charlotte into a haven for immigrants, especially from Latin America. Now she looked out at her sliver of East Charlotte, a walkable immigrant enclave, and saw it devoid of foot traffic. She had seen the masked men in paramilitary uniforms zooming past her house in black S.U.V.s and had decided not to venture out for groceries or for shifts at a nearby laundromat. But she allowed herself a few moments of fresh air at dusk to hide from agents of “la migra” — slang for the Border Patrol — searching for undocumented people like her. Resting on Sunday evening on a plastic chair, Ms. Martinez wondered when the agents would leave the city that now felt more like home than Mexico. “Why here?” she asked. “Why us?”

Daily Wire [11/19/2025 5:22 AM, Hank Berrien, 2494K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security issued an unusually sharp and highly public rebuke of U.S. Senate candidate and former North Carolina Democratic Governor Roy Cooper after he criticized federal immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte. Cooper wrote on social media that while he supports using federal resources to deport violent offenders, he opposes "randomly sweeping up people based on what they look like," warning that such tactics could leave dangerous criminals at large while harming families and the economy. DHS immediately fired back, using its official X account to highlight the case of Jordan Renato Castillo-Chavez, a Costa Rican national whom North Carolina authorities had previously declined to transfer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). DHS described Castillo-Chavez as a "criminal illegal alien" with a record that includes indecent liberties with a child, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, and solicitation of a child via computer. The agency’s message to Cooper was pointed: "North Carolina refused to hand him over to ICE." Homeland Security broadened its criticism, arguing that Charlotte has become a hub for human trafficking and that "sanctuary politicians" in the state have enabled violent offenders to roam free. DHS asserted that terrorist groups and gangs exploit the region’s geography and highway networks, implicitly linking Cooper’s policies to increased vulnerability for residents. Top DHS officials amplified the response. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused Cooper of refusing to turn over more than 1,400 violent criminal non-citizens to ICE during his governorship and rejected his claim of racial profiling as "absurd and devoid of fact." She argued that releasing such offenders inevitably leads to further victimization.

CNN [11/20/2025 3:00 AM, Dalia Faheid, Andy Buck, Dianne Gallagher, 18595K] reports the pews of the Charlotte church were packed as onlookers watched a man restrain a woman while a group in bright vests furiously blew their whistles and filmed the interaction, chanting, "La migra esta aqui.” Another group loudly sang, "This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.” Clapping then erupted from the crowd. The scene was among several role-play scenarios hundreds watched Wednesday evening at Dilworth United Methodist Church as part of a training on how to respond to the expanding federal immigration enforcement operation that has gripped the Charlotte area and left residents on high alert. "Let’s practice our whistling language," Rev. Joel Simpson, a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Taylorsville, said before a dissonant symphony of whistles filled the church. "We’re going to report active operations that are happening in our city, alert people nearby and offer reminders of our rights," Simpson, who led the training, told the crowd. "We’re going to document and record unlawful practices, and we’re going to deter violence by getting as many people as possible to join quickly as an organized presence.” The plan is simple: Volunteers sign up for shifts and receive instructions from a "patrol dispatch team" on specific zones in Charlotte they will drive around in and alert people when they see immigration enforcement activity. They’re advised to do it in pairs, keep a safe distance from agents and to never try to physically impede law enforcement. The initiative is just one of many launched by Charlotte residents to help immigrant neighbors as the Trump administration touts over 250 arrests in the area since the aggressive immigration crackdown began over the weekend. Parents are banding together to guard school entrances or carpool students to class, and business owners across the city are patrolling their neighborhoods and closing their doors to protect their customers. People throughout Charlotte have been using many of the same tactics employed in Chicago – including watching for raids, blowing warning whistles and carrying signs advising people of their rights. Flags from Honduras, Colombia and Mexico were seen adorning cars and hanging from homes and businesses. Still, the fear throughout the city is palpable: families are keeping their children home from school and taking off from work, worrying they’ll be targeted by federal immigration agents. Immigrant worker group Siembra NC organized Wednesday’s event at the church to train volunteers to help immigrants safely get to school and work and guard against constitutional violations during immigration enforcement activities, according to the organization.

AP [11/19/2025 1:02 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that Protesters in Charlotte urge Home Depot to keep immigration officers off its property. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsNation [11/19/2025 1:09 PM, David Schuman, 8017K] reports that the immigration enforcement operations in Charlotte are having a visible impact on the city’s economy. "Everybody’s closed," said Jorge Perez, a contractor who also owns the tree removal service, Tree Amigos. "Nobody’s working. Everybody’s called out for even the whole week. Everybody’s in fear of ‘what if?’" Perez is trying to keep his remodeling jobs on schedule, but he says it’s virtually impossible this week. "It is going to hurt us a lot as the city of Charlotte, the economy," Perez said. "It’s going to hurt us." Several immigrant-owned businesses have decided to close while Border Patrol is in town, including Manolo’s Bakery and the Mexican restaurants El Taco Veloz and Como en Mexico. Other neighboring business owners that remain open told Queen City News they’re also being impacted. Tremel says he’s at risk of missing project deadlines, yet that’s taking a backseat to his workers’ well-being. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 130 people this weekend who were in Charlotte illegally, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson. In a statement, the spokesperson said, "Criminal records of those arrested include known gang membership, aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, simple assault, hit and run, possession of stolen goods, shoplifting, DUI, DWI, and illegal re-entry after prior deportation, a felony." The spokesperson wouldn’t specify how many of the 130+ arrested had criminal records.

FOX News [11/19/2025 7:46 AM, Rachel Wolf Fox, 40621K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is preparing to send 250 border agents to New Orleans for a two-month immigration crackdown operation called "Swamp Sweep," according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and three people familiar with the matter. "Swamp Sweep," which is expected to begin on Dec. 1, is reportedly aimed at arresting approximately 5,000 people across southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi. The reported operation marks the latest in a series of DHS illegal immigration crackdowns in cities across the country, including Chicago and Los Angeles. In response to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations." Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican who is closely aligned with President Donald Trump, recently discussed the possibility of federal agents working in his state during an appearance on "America Reports." He noted that his state was "working closely with our federal partners" on immigration and crime crackdowns. "We do know that New Orleans is a place under which we’ve had illegal criminal activity, alien activity, in and around that city. Chief Conley, who is the chief of police from Kenner, has consistently had problems with illegal aliens conducting very violent crime in and around the city, in his city, and has been consistently working with the feds to try to crack that down," Landry told Fox News’ Sandra Smith on Monday. "Look, people around Louisiana want their communities to be safe, irrespective of whether it’s criminal or illegal. Aliens conducting violence or American citizens or Louisiana citizens. If you go out there and break the law, we’re gonna put you in jail," Landry later added. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [11/19/2025 7:27 PM, Staff, 10085K] reports Kenner Police Department Chief Keith Conley weighs in on Operation ‘Swamp Sweep,’ a DHS operation, on ‘The Bottom Line.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [11/20/2025 12:04 AM, Jack Brook and Sara Cline, 31753K] Video: HERE reports New Orleans, the laid-back city known as the Big Easy and the birthplace of jazz, where lavish parades, bead-throwing debauchery and Creole cuisine attract tourists from around the globe, is about to become the next staging ground for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. Operation “Swamp Sweep,” an expansive, monthslong immigration crackdown, is expected to launch in southeast Louisiana Dec. 1, but Democrat-run New Orleans is anticipating the arrival of as many as 250 federal troops as soon as Friday, all with the backing of the state’s Republican governor. Governor Jeff Landry has sought to align New Orleans with federal immigration enforcement efforts through legislation and legal challenges, and the Border Patrol deployment is just the latest drive to ramp up that pressure. And with the New Orleans Police Department being released from a federal reform pact Wednesday, its officers will lose a legal mechanism that has long-shielded them from having to participate in immigration enforcement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation will be led by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has already overseen aggressive campaigns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Daily Caller [11/19/2025 5:12 PM, Caden Olson, 835K] reports the House of Representatives passed two bills targeting drug trafficking by South American cartels, including infamous Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), on Wednesday. One bill, sponsored by Republican Mississippi Rep. Michael Guest, increases the capacity of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel to collaborate with foreign governments in combating drug and human trafficking. The other piece of legislation, sponsored by Republican North Carolina Rep. Brad Knott, targets TdA and orders a comprehensive Department of Homeland Security (DHS) analysis of the cartel’s activity within 180 days and a strategic plan within one year of the analysis. Both bills passed the House of Representatives by a voice vote on Wednesday afternoon.

Washington Post [11/19/2025 3:58 PM, Salvador Rizzo, 24149K] reports a federal judge’s inquiry to determine which Trump administration officials violated a court order that barred deportation flights to El Salvador is back on after a seven-month pause for appeals. The order, issued in March by Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia, would have lasted for two weeks. Instead, it touched off one of the biggest clashes between President Donald Trump and the judiciary this year. Trump has made mass deportations a cornerstone of his second-term agenda. Judges across the country have found that many migrants are being wrongly deported or being denied the right to contest their removals in court. Trump called for Boasberg’s impeachment after the order, calling the judge a “troublemaker and agitator.” Other administration officials responded with “willful disregard,” Boasberg said, and continued to fly migrants to El Salvador. At a hearing Wednesday, Boasberg said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made clear in a series of opinions issued last week that his contempt inquiry could proceed. The appeals court had previously halted the proceedings in April. “The bottom line is the court of appeals has permitted me to go forward with my inquiry,” Boasberg said. “My inquiry is not to determine whether to hold the government in contempt, but rather to find whether there is sufficient information to make a contempt referral.” Boasberg launched the criminal contempt inquiry in April, a month after issuing the temporary restraining order. That order barred authorities from transporting a group of Venezuelan migrants to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador under a wartime statute, the Alien Enemies Act, to give the migrants a chance to contest their removals in court. Two flights with migrants were in the air when Boasberg first ruled orally from the bench on March 15, and they were not recalled. Two more flights departed the next day, Boasberg said, hours after he had issued the temporary restraining order in writing. A Justice Department attorney, Tiberius Davis, told the judge at Wednesday’s hearing that the government continued to object to the contempt proceedings. Boasberg said that a majority of judges on the appeals court had given him the green light to continue them and that he intended to get witness statements from at least two people: a Justice Department whistleblower who was fired, Erez Reuveni, and Drew Ensign, a Justice Department attorney whom Reuveni accused of misleading the court about the migrant flights. According to Reuveni, the Justice Department official who told subordinates to disregard Boasberg’s oral ruling on March 15 was Emil Bove, a former personal lawyer for Trump who is now a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. “If you want to provide me full declarations from people explaining exactly what happened, that might obviate the need to call people as witnesses,” Boasberg told Davis. “But I certainly intend to find out what happened that day, and the government can assist me to whatever degree it wishes.” The Supreme Court ultimately voided the temporary restraining order, and the migrants were eventually transported from El Salvador to Venezuela. But a contempt inquiry was warranted, Boasberg said, because administration officials defied his order before the Supreme Court issued its ruling, and “such disobedience is punishable as contempt, notwithstanding any later-revealed deficiencies.” His opinion in April said Trump administration officials could avoid the contempt proceedings by giving the Venezuelan migrants an opportunity to challenge their deportations in court. Otherwise, the judge said, he would require that the officials who flouted the court order be identified. The judge said he could also seek sworn witness statements and “refer the matter for prosecution.” And if the Justice Department declined to prosecute the contempt of court, Boasberg said, he would appoint a lawyer to do it.

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Daily Wire [11/19/2025 11:10 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports an illegal immigrant who was given a trucking license by New York State allegedly caused a multi-car collision that killed an Indiana National Guardsman while behind the wheel of an 18-wheeler, The Daily Wire has learned. Georgian national Goderdzi Gujabidze, 56, was driving a truck towing a trailer carrying multiple cars when he swerved and caused a military Humvee to swerve off the road. Indiana National Guardsman Terry Frye died at the scene, and three other victims were hospitalized. The illegal immigrant trucker received a non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s License in New York after he was waved across the border in San Luis, Arizona, by the Biden administration in 2022, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. The Trump administration said the blame is on the sanctuary state of New York for allowing him to drive the heavy truck. "Another senseless and avoidable tragedy on America’s roads at the hands of an illegal alien driving a commercial vehicle. Sanctuary states are recklessly providing commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens who should not be operating 18-wheeler and trucks on America’s highways," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement shared with The Daily Wire. "Thanks to the cooperation from Boone County Sheriff’s Office, this illegal will never again be allowed to terrorize American roads again. We pray for the family of Terry Frye as they mourn the loss of their son and thank him for his service to this nation," McLaughlin added.

FOX News [11/19/2025 9:05 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports Border Patrol agents stopped a commercial truck at an inland checkpoint near Blythe, California, where they discovered the driver – a 25-year-old Indian national with a valid New York commercial license – was in the U.S. illegally. "Blythe Station agents arrested a commercial truck driver at an immigration checkpoint after discovering he was unlawfully present in the U.S.," the chief patrol agent at the Yuma Sector wrote in a post on X. "The truck driver, a 25-year-old national of India, was in possession of a New York state-issued commercial driver’s license. He was arrested for alien inadmissibility under 8 USC 1182 and will be processed for deportation.” The arrest comes amid a court battle over the Department of Transportation’s restrictions on illegal immigrants obtaining commercial driver’s licenses. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blasted a court ruling Monday that denied the Trump administration’s request to block illegal immigrants from obtaining CDLs. "We’re not going to take this lying down," Duffy said on "The Ingraham Angle." "We are going to do all we can to protect the American people.” His comments came after a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled last Thursday that the Department of Transportation’s restrictions could not be enforced. Such restrictions were announced in September, after illegal immigrant truck driver Harjinder Singh was accused of causing a crash involving a tractor-trailer that killed three people in Fort Pierce, Florida. The judges said the federal government failed to follow proper procedure or explain how the rule would promote safety. The court also noted that Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data shows about 5% of all commercial driver’s licenses belong to immigrants, though they account for just 0.2% of fatal crashes. Duffy attributed much of the blame to the Biden administration, which he said allowed millions of illegal immigrants to enter, granted them work authorizations and then let them seek CDLs. "People are dying," he said. "And we thought it was appropriate to protect Americans and we should have an emergency rule, not to go through the month-long process. We did that. The court has rolled us back and said, ‘Well, we’re not quite sure this is an emergency. We want to see more data.’ And I’m like… ‘Watch any show on television, and you’ll see the risk to the American people.’" [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [11/19/2025 6:53 PM, Caleb Lunetta, 1538K] reports a man has been charged with assault after he allegedly struck and injured a federal officer with a vehicle during an immigration arrest in National City last week, prosecutors said Tuesday. Roberto Carlos Galeana-Guatemala, 20, pleaded not guilty to multiple counts, including assault on a federal officer, attempted assault on a federal officer and being a deported alien found in the U.S., according to the complaint filed last week. According to federal court documents, Galeana-Guatemala, a Mexican national, was wanted on a federal arrest warrant regarding his immigration status. Investigators said he had been previously removed from the country last year. The complaint says that on Nov. 12, agents with the Homeland Security Task Force attempted to arrest him outside an apartment complex in National City around 4:25 a.m. The officers tried to follow Galeana-Guatemala’s Honda Accord, but he used unspecified "counter surveillance" maneuvers, the complaint reads. The agents reportedly caught up to Galeana-Guatemala near Coolidge Avenue and 15th Street. Federal agents pulled up in front of Galeana-Guatemala’s stopped car, front bumper to front bumper, in an unmarked vehicle. According to the complaint, the agents yelled "Police!" as they exited their vehicle, and had identifying badges and patches. Galeana-Guatemala began driving his vehicle in reverse away from the agents, investigators said. As other law enforcement vehicles arrived, Galeana-Guatemala then allegedly tried to maneuver around the agents, according to the complaint. He drove about 200 feet from the initial parked location before coming to a complete stop, the complaint states. According to the complaint, agents approached the driver’s side window and shouted "Police, don’t move!" multiple times. Galeana-Guatemala momentarily paused before accelerating toward them, the complaint states. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations officer at the scene was unable to get out of the way of the sedan and was struck, authorities said. The sedan then struck a law enforcement vehicle, and Galeana-Guatemala ran away, the complaint says. The officer was taken to a hospital after suffering contusions and a possible sternum fracture, investigators said. A few hours later, he was found in an alley near another vehicle on Fairmount Avenue near Wightman Street and arrested after a brief foot chase, according to the complaint.

Federalist [11/19/2025 10:13 AM, Beth Brelje, 785K] reports that during Thanksgiving week, some 73 million people will take to the roads for the busiest travel season of the year (heaviest travel Tuesday-Monday according to AAA) and drivers will share the highways with an untold number of illegal aliens operating semi-tractor trailers. We can extrapolate that, from several recent arrests of truck-driving illegal aliens found holding non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL) and the fact that California has admitted to illegally issuing 17,000 non-domiciled CDLs to foreign drivers who may not be able to read road signs or who previously drove in more chaotic driving cultures. In a nationwide non-domiciled CDL audit, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has also identified Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington as states with licensing patterns inconsistent with federal regulations. Now, ICE has arrested an accused terrorist driving a big rig in Kansas. Illegal alien Akhror Bozorov of Uzbekistan, was arrested by ICE on Nov. 9, while he was illegally working as a commercial truck driver. Bozorov, 31, is wanted in Uzbekistan for belonging to a terrorist organization, according to an ICE statement. "Uzbekistan authorities issued an arrest warrant for Bozorov in 2022 for being a member of a terrorist organization. He is accused of distributing terrorist propaganda, calling for jihad online, and recruiting terrorists to join the jihad movement," the statement said.

WSOC-TV 9 [11/19/25 4:19 PM, Eli Brand] reports vehicle attacks against border patrol agents have surged by 58% this year, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In Charlotte, three separate incidents this week have resulted in felony assault charges against individuals accused of using their vehicles to endanger Border Patrol agents. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, stated that both U.S. citizens and illegal aliens are using vehicles as weapons against ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The first incident involved Miguel Martinez, who was charged with felony assault after allegedly driving a white van erratically around border patrol agents. Court documents allege that Martinez admitted to tracking the agents’ locations via an invitation-only Instagram chat before allegedly driving at officers. McLaughlin said, “Still, the brave men and women of DHS will not be deterred and will continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.” The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that more than 250 people have been detained during the Charlotte operation.

FOX News [11/19/2025 8:00 AM, Stepheny Price Fox, 40621K] reports Florida Congressman Byron Donalds is calling for a federal crackdown on sanctuary-state policies that allow illegal immigrants to obtain commercial drivers licenses after a joint ICE and Oklahoma Highway Patrol operation arrested 70 illegal immigrants, including 34 accused of driving big rigs while in the U.S. unlawfully. "You have blue states that do not care about the nation’s laws. They want to be sanctuaries, they want to house illegals, and then who pays the price are citizens in red states who actually do not want these sanctuary policies," Donalds, a Republican, told Fox News Digital. Donalds said the incident in Oklahoma underscores a growing national safety risk – foreign nationals who "cannot read our road signs" yet are "gaming the system" to obtain commercial licenses in states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. "You have the American people, they’re doing the right thing, and now they’re subject to losing their lives or being in an auto accident with a CDL driver who cannot read our signs, who doesn’t know our laws," he said. "These commercial driver’s license operators [are] driving rigs that are 80,000 pounds. That’s insane." Donalds said legislation he has introduced, the WEIGH Act, would give the federal government new tools to stop states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants and to punish those that do.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 5:19 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry told Newsmax on Wednesday he welcomes the Trump administration’s expected deployment of federal border agents to New Orleans for Operation Swamp Sweep, calling the two-month crackdown "commonsense" public safety, not a political stunt. Roughly 250 agents from the Department of Homeland Security reportedly will begin staging in New Orleans ahead of a Dec. 1 launch, then fan out across southeast Louisiana and into Mississippi with a goal of arresting about 5,000 people over two months. Landry said the focus is on people with serious criminal records. Landry has already ordered state and local police to align more closely with federal immigration enforcement through an initiative he dubbed Operation GEAUX, pushing agencies into 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The New York Times [11/19/2025 5:47 PM, Mitch Smith, 153395K] reports a federal appeals court on Wednesday blocked a ruling that limited how federal immigration agents could use force in Illinois. The appellate judges described restrictions imposed by a lower-court judge as “overbroad” and “too prescriptive,” giving at least a temporary victory to Trump administration officials. The three-judge appellate panel, made up of Republican appointees, said Judge Sara L. Ellis had erred this month when she granted a wide-ranging preliminary injunction requiring agents to wear body cameras, to give warnings before using riot control weapons, including tear gas, and to use those weapons only in dire circumstances. The case was brought by media organizations, protesters and clergy members who accused federal agents of “a pattern of extreme brutality” intended to “silence the press and civilians” during the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration in the Chicago area. That crackdown, which led to thousands of arrests and repeated clashes between federal agents and demonstrators since early September, appears to have slowed in recent days as federal officials began carrying out new immigration operations in North Carolina. Judge Ellis, of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, had expressed alarm about how masked federal agents were using tear gas and physical force as they arrested people and contended with angry residents in Chicago neighborhoods. She said “the use of force shocks the conscience.” Reuters [11/19/2025 6:11 PM, Diana Novak Jones, 19051K] reports in a brief opinion, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the government’s emergency request to pause the order, which required federal immigration agents to give warnings before deploying tear gas and other weapons. The order had also barred agents from arresting or dispersing journalists and required agents to wear body cameras and clear identification. The court agreed with the government that the judge’s order impermissibly micromanaged federal law enforcement in Chicago, saying its "practical effect is to enjoin all law enforcement officers within the Executive Branch." An attorney for the plaintiffs, a group of protesters, journalists and clergy members, declined to comment. In a statement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the ruling was "a win for the rule of law and for the safety of every law enforcement officer." U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in Chicago issued the order on November 6 after siding with the plaintiffs, who claimed they were being specifically targeted for violence in violation of their rights to free speech, free assembly and religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution. Ellis made the ruling after hearing hours of testimony from protesters, journalists and clergy members who spoke about violence they experienced during protests outside an immigration detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, and on residential streets in Chicago. Multiple people testified that agents had aimed guns at their heads after they filmed their activity, and a pastor spoke about being shot in the face with a pepper ball while praying. Ellis also heard from federal immigration agents about what they said was uncontrolled violence directed at federal agents at the protests. In making her ruling, Ellis said the government’s assertions about violent protesters were not credible. She cited multiple examples where she said federal agents lied about protesters’ conduct. The three-judge panel from the appeals court said Wednesday that while they found Ellis’ order infringed on the separation of powers, they were not suggesting that the plaintiffs hadn’t made their case. An order more tailored to the constitutional violations the parties alleged might be more appropriate, the panel said. Trump, a Republican, has made Chicago a focus of his administration’s expanded immigration enforcement and deportation efforts since early September. As part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” federal agents have used tear gas in residential areas and forcibly subdued protesters while attempting to arrest people suspected of being in the country illegally. Trump sent National Guard troops to Chicago in September, but a federal court blocked their deployment on October 16. The U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing that ruling. Defense officials told Reuters on Sunday the Pentagon is withdrawing some National Guard troops from Chicago and Portland, weeks after Trump deployed them to combat what he described as increased crime. Ellis’ order, which was intended to last until the end of the lawsuit, followed a similar temporary restraining order she issued last month.

Reported similarly:
AP [11/19/2025 6:44 PM, Sophia Tareen]
CNN [11/19/2025 7:21 PM, Elizabeth Wolfe, 18595K]
Chicago Tribune [11/19/2025 6:15 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K]
Washington Examiner [11/19/2025 5:30 PM, Jack Birle, 1394K]
Univision [11/19/2025 7:16 PM, Staff, 5004K]

Washington Examiner [11/19/2025 5:05 PM, Pedro Rodriguez, 1394K] reports a civil emergency order was declared in the village of Broadview, Illinois, on Wednesday after attacks on law enforcement and city officials over the weekend resulted in bomb and death threats and assaults. Broadview is home to a key Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility, which has been under attack in the past month, as stated by the Department of Homeland Security. The department celebrated the order but blamed "sanctuary politicians" for creating a hostile environment against enforcers of President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, alleging that rioters posed "serious public and officer safety threats." DHS cited an "8000% increase" in death threats against officers, which it attributed to the "sanctuary politicians." The village’s order ties into a greater trend of violence against immigration law enforcement across the United States. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration held a hearing against "the radical left’s crusade on immigration enforcement," which featured the expert testimony of Washington Examiner Investigative Reporter Mia Cathell, Sheriff Roy Boyd of Goliad County, Texas, and Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter Williams. The hearing attempted to identify the key players behind the messaging campaign that sparked the violence toward DHS officers.

Washington Examiner [11/19/2025 4:47 PM, Pedro Rodriguez, 1394K] reports a Chicago judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release 442 people who have been taken into custody since Wednesday amid a lawsuit against the agency for warrantless arrests. The decision comes after U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ordered the Department of Homeland Security last week to hand over a list of 617 people who are being held by ICE between June and October. The judge ordered the release of everyone on the list on a $1,500 bond, except detainees who had previous arrests or were deemed a public safety risk by the law enforcement agency. They must be released by Friday. DHS attempted to block or delay the release in a request to take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, but the request was denied by Cummings, who stated that ICE would not win the case on appeal. Out of the 610 detainees, 52 were deemed a "high public safety risk," 87 medium, and 473 low, based on ICE’s Risk Clarification Assessment, which evaluates a detainee’s criminal record, immigration history, and community ties. DHS initially identified 16 people on the list to remain in custody after receiving a "high public safety risk" designation from ICE and expanded its list Friday to include 39 additional people it labeled as posing a high public safety risk, the judge said, which, according to the list, were arrested for criminal charges that range from driving under the influence to assault with a gun.

AP [11/20/2025 12:04 AM, Sarah Raza, 31753K] reports that, for nearly two months, federal agents have been carrying out surprise raids in Chicago in pursuit of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, emerging from unmarked vehicles in neighborhoods throughout the city to confront and detain stunned members of the public. The arrests have been aggressive and even violent, with agents striking restrained people, deploying tear gas outside of schools, and pointing pepper spray at brazen onlookers who inevitably gather to decry what’s happening. A culture of fear has taken hold, with some people too scared to leave home, especially in the city’s predominantly Latino communities. In social media posts and interviews, many have expressed shock at the agents’ use of force. Since it began in early September, “Operation Midway Blitz” has resulted in more than 3,300 arrests, according to attorneys for detainees. In addition to people who were in the country illegally, many U.S. citizens have been swept up in the crackdown. The operations have been dizzyingly random. Agents have targeted both high- and low-income neighborhoods. They’ve made stops at schools, workplaces and grocery stores. Even Millennium Park, the site of Cloud Gate — the sculpture lovingly known as “The Bean” — has seen arrests. The crackdown has galvanized Chicagoans, who have banded together to protect their neighbors. They have borne witness the best way they could: by pulling out their phones to document what was happening. The Associated Press has gathered some of these videos. For this story, some of the details of the people involved in the arrests, including their names, ages and immigration statuses, were gleaned from interviews, local news reports and court records. The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t respond to emails sent Friday seeking further information and comment about the actions taken by agents seen in the footage. But Trump administration officials have previously routinely defended agents’ actions. On Oct. 14 in the East Side neighborhood on Chicago’s far South Side, Jose Aguilar had just heard from family that federal agents were in the area when he spotted four in uniform following two people into a nearby pharmacy. “That guy just ran inside a Walgreens,” Aguilar said while shooting cellphone video from his car. “Here comes the other one.” “God, please protect our people,” he said. Seconds later, an agent chased a Black teen coming out of the store and tackled him to the ground as onlookers gathered and began yelling at the agents. “What is wrong with you? He’s a citizen!” one girl yelled. “You don’t know what’s going on, so get the f—- back!” the agent barked as he sat atop the teenager. He was detained for hours before his eventual release, according to local news reports.

NPR [11/19/2025 5:20 PM, Odette Yousef, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports Chicago is no longer the main focus of the federal immigration crackdown. For one neighborhood group, the intense enforcement activity was a test of resistance tactics they developed eight years ago. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

NPR [11/19/2025 6:26 PM, Staff, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports activists in Chicago have been tracking federal immigration enforcement agents’ movements, following their cars and alerting neighbors with whistles. This resistance sprang into action in response to Trump’s Operation Midway Blitz, but it’s nearly a decade in the making. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

CBS Chicago [11/19/2025 5:25 PM, Sabrina Franza, 39474K] reports hundreds of people detained by ICE and Border Patrol agents in the Chicago area could be released on bond by Friday under a federal judge’s order being appealed by the Trump administration. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has a short time to rule on the federal government’s request to pause that order while they appeal the judge’s ruling to release hundreds of detainees by Friday, after he determined their arrests might have been improper. Among those awaiting potential release on Friday is Omar Enrique Bautista Carvajal. His wife, Jasbleidys Hernandez, said they’ve been together for 20 years, but she’s been without him for more than a month since his arrest. The government admits he is a low public safety risk, and his wife and kids at home are hoping he will be back home for Thanksgiving. Bautista Carvajal was arrested by federal agents on Oct. 4. "He was caught going on his way to his English class," said his neighbor, Anthony Calderon Lopez. When his name appeared on a list of more than 600 immigrants whose arrests might have violated a court order limiting arrests without a prior warrant or probable cause, Hernandez said she was overjoyed. She hoped her husband would be on his way home to their three kids. She said she still hasn’t told their youngest child why Bautista Carvajal has been gone, in Michigan, at the North Lake ICE facility, rather than with them. Hernandez spoke briefly on the phone with her husband during an interview with CBS News Chicago, telling him a tearful goodbye at the end of their call. Meantime, the Trump administration has challenged the judge’s ruling to release those like Bautista Carvajal on a $1,500 bond as their immigration cases remain pending. Hernandez said she hasn’t been told how to post bond for her husband, and neither of them knows if he’ll actually be released as the case is being appealed. The 7th Circuit is considering briefs that have been filed by both sides of the case, but has yet to issue a ruling. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Roll Call [11/19/2025 5:47 PM, Chris Johnson, 548K] reports House Democrats held a forum Wednesday to call attention to harms from President Donald Trump’s tough-on-immigration enforcement push, highlighting stories of individuals who interacted with immigration agents. Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the event was necessary to push back on Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions and the Trump administration’s policies. "Democrats are doing what Republicans won’t, sounding the alarm on what Border Patrol and ICE are doing to American citizens and communities across the country under the Trump administration," Thompson said. Witnesses included Rev. David Black, a Chicago-based pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, who told of his story of immigration agents firing upon him with pepper balls while he was protesting at the Broadview ICE Detention Center. James Brown, a military veteran, told the story about his wife Donna Hughes Brown, an Irish national whom he said legal permanent U.S. resident with a green card. He said she is currently in immigration detention based on misdemeanor bad check charges from more than a decade ago that were valued at $60. Brown questioned why the Trump administration would seek to detain his wife for the misdemeanor and seek to deport her while Trump issues pardons in million-dollar fraud cases. Naureen Shah, director of policy and government affairs on immigration at the American Civil Liberties Union, told the forum the Trump administration policies were not about immigration enforcement but "consolidating power." The forum took place as a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee concurrently held a separate hearing titled, "ICE Under Fire: The Radical Left’s Crusade Against Immigration Enforcement," which a different perspective on immigration enforcement and hostility toward officials as the problem.

DailySignal [11/19/2025 11:16 AM, Virginia Allen, 549K] reports that Republicans are firing back after a group of six Democrat lawmakers created a video telling U.S. military members and the intelligence community they do not need to follow "illegal orders.” "Like us, you all swore an oath to protect and defend this Constitution. Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad, but from right here at home," the Democrats say in the video message. "Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. … You must refuse illegal orders." Michigan Democrat Sen. Elissa Slotkin shared the video, which appears to be in reference to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations, on X Tuesday, telling the military and intelligence community, the "American people need you to stand up for our laws and our Constitution. Don’t give up the ship." In addition to Slotkin, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., also appears in the video alongside Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio of Pennsylvania, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire. All six Democrats formerly served in the U.S. military or in the intelligence community. "No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our Constitution," the elected leaders say. "We know this is hard and that it’s a difficult time to be a public servant. But whether you’re serving in the CIA, the Army, our Navy, the Air Force—your vigilance is critical, and know that we have your back because now, more than ever, the American people need you."

New York Times [11/19/2025 12:53 PM, Miriam Jordan and Ruth Igielnik, 135475K] reports in Ana Luna’s home, an image of an American flag adorns the kitchen wall. On her iPhone, the wallpaper is a picture of her eldest daughter, in her dress blue U.S. Marine uniform. And tucked in folders are years of tax returns, a paper trail of working lives that helped Ms. Luna, 47, and her husband rent their three-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles where they have lived for almost two decades. “We’re upstanding people who love this country,” Ms. Luna said. She is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. So is her husband. For a family of modest means, life in Southern California has been defined by simple pleasures, like going to the park, the mall or services at the church that they made their spiritual home. Now those joys have been colored by a fear that has swept through immigrant communities of the United States since the Trump administration launched its mass deportation campaign in January. About one-third of noncitizen immigrants now say they are avoiding aspects of everyday life, according to a new national survey of immigrants from The New York Times and KFF, a nonprofit that conducts polling and research about health policy. Among undocumented immigrants, that share rises to 59 percent. “With the way things are now, we feel afraid and insecure,” said Ms. Luna, who said she and her husband were speaking to The Times on the record because they were proud of their family’s contributions to the United States. Large shares of undocumented immigrants like Ms. Luna describe changes to their daily life. Most say they or someone in their family now regularly avoid travel, nearly half have avoided seeking medical care, and 40 percent say they or someone in their family has avoided going to work.

New York Times [11/19/2025 10:31 AM, Ruth Igielnik, Caroline Soler, and Christine Zhang, 153395K] reports since 2015, Americans have consistently named immigration as one of the most important issues facing the country. For several months during the 2024 presidential campaign, it reached the top of the list, surpassing worries about the economy, according to polling by Gallup, as the issue became central to Donald J. Trump’s campaign. The issue is often presented as an intensely partisan one. But when looking more deeply at attitudes on immigration, sentiment can vary widely based on the details included in specific poll questions, reflecting the complexity of the issue. Here is what a New York Times review of recent polls of the general public — which primarily measure attitudes among U.S.-born citizens but include representative shares of immigrants — have found about how Americans feel about immigration and immigrants. Increases in the share of Americans who cite immigration as the nation’s most important problem have followed increased focus on immigration in politics and the media. Often, that attention has focused on attempts to illegally cross the southern border, such as when caravans of migrants marched toward the U.S. This concern is largely driven by Republicans, who are more likely than Democrats to cite immigration as a major problem. Ahead of the 2024 election, concern about immigration reached its highest-ever point since Gallup began asking the question 25 years ago. Mr. Trump was more widely trusted to handle immigration than President Joseph R. Biden or Kamala Harris, the eventual Democratic nominee. Americans’ approval of Mr. Trump’s “handling of immigration” stands at about 45 percent. That is a bit higher than his overall job approval rating, which has been hovering in the low 40s. But when polls mention “border security,” approval tends to be higher. In a Marquette Law School poll taken this month, more than half of Americans — 54 percent — said they approved of Mr. Trump’s handling of “border security” — nine percentage points higher than the share who approved of him on “immigration.”

New York Times [11/19/2025 11:06 AM, Ruth Igielnik and Hamed Aleaziz, 153395K] reports most immigrants in the United States, 60 percent, support President Trump’s efforts at the southern border, where illegal crossings have slowed to a trickle, according to a new survey of immigrants from The New York Times and KFF, a nonprofit that conducts polling and research about health policy. At the same time, the survey found, fewer immigrants approve of the tactics used to carry out raids beyond the border. The share who think enforcement has been too tough has nearly doubled in the last two years. The survey, conducted from August to October of this year, provides a rare comprehensive look at how America’s foreign-born population — citizens and noncitizens — views the state of immigration enforcement as the Trump administration continues efforts to ramp up detentions and deportations on a mass scale. Mr. Trump’s actions at the U.S.-Mexico border — where his administration has limited the ability to claim asylum and has brought down the number of migrants crossing illegally — are largely popular with immigrants. Among the notable findings in the survey, 39 percent of immigrants who disapprove of Mr. Trump’s job performance nevertheless said they support his efforts on border security. But just 28 percent of all immigrants approve of officers in masks and plainclothes, and 16 percent approve of deporting people to countries where they are not from, according to the survey. Even immigrants who otherwise approve of Mr. Trump’s deportation campaign feel his approach has gone too far. “Not everyone who comes to the country is bad, but not everyone who comes to the country is good, either,” said Eulalia Lena, who was born in Ecuador but has lived in the United States for 21 years and said she had recently become a U.S. citizen. “Trump is trying to keep the bad ones out. And that’s good for all of us.” Ms. Lena added: “Unfortunately, he’s not just keeping the bad ones out. He’s also been targeting good, hardworking people.”

New York Times [11/19/2025 7:09 AM, Sam Sifton, 153395K] reports roughly 52 million people in the United States are immigrants. A little over half of them are naturalized citizens. The rest are a combination of those who are here legally and those who are not. President Trump wants to remake the immigration system and deport as many people who are here illegally as he can. He has sent people to countries they are not from. He has ended paths for immigrants to claim asylum. He has deployed border agents near schools and hospitals, to courthouses and Home Depot parking lots, searching for people to detain and remove. (Here’s how the immigration crackdown is playing out in each city where federal forces have intervened.) So it’s no surprise that about half of all the immigrants in the survey say they feel less safe in the United States since Trump took office. Regardless of immigration status, they’re increasingly worried that they or their family members could be bundled into a van or put on an airplane bound for parts unknown. That’s one takeaway from the poll, then: Immigrants are scared. Here’s a second: They’re still glad to be here. Roughly 70 percent said they would still make the choice to migrate to the United States — a percentage that is largely unchanged from before Trump’s election and push for mass deportations. They believe their own future, and their children’s future, to be bright, my colleagues write.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 10:25 AM, Theodore Bunker, 4109K] reports that Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, on Thursday praised President Donald Trump’s renewed economic partnership with Saudi Arabia, saying on Newsmax that the relationship is bringing significant investments to the United States and helping revive diplomatic efforts in the Middle East. Gonzales, a member of the House Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, said on Newsmax’s "National Report" that Trump’s engagement with Saudi leaders has produced "hundreds of billions of dollars" in commitments. He said the president’s upcoming remarks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Washington reflect a broader effort to strengthen alliances through action rather than rhetoric. "Saudi Arabia is a key ally economically and in making sure the Abraham Accords get restarted," Gonzales said, adding that Trump’s recent trips abroad have restored American credibility with global partners. Gonzales also promoted legislation he plans to introduce Thursday known as the Providing Emotional Assistance with Relief and Love Act, or PEARL Act. The bill would establish a pilot program allowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to adopt trained dogs as a mental health resource.

National Review [11/19/2025 10:30 AM, Staff, 109K] reports just this September, the Trump administration announced what promised to be a sweeping reform to the H-1B guest worker visa program. The idea was that employers would be charged $100,000 for each new H-1B visa recipient, creating an incentive for the participants in the program to only use it for what it was intended for — attracting world-class talent to the United States. Our major criticism of this reform was that it was too easy for employers to evade the fee and that most H-1B petitions involve aliens already here, who would be exempt from it. Whatever its ultimate utility, the reform and the presidential proclamation accompanying it acknowledged that H-1B visas are used as a loophole to bring in semi-skilled labor at below-market wages. Firms abuse the program in multiple ways, filing duplicate applications, misclassifying jobs to hide the skill level, and hiding job listings from American applicants by blocking American IP addresses from accessing them. The reform smoked out the Chamber of Commerce. In a court filing arguing that the $100,000 payment trespassed against the underlying statute, the chamber abandoned the argle-bargle about bringing the “best and brightest” into the U.S. It turns out that employers “need not show their [H-1B] workers are the best of the best, but merely highly skilled.”

New York Times [11/19/2025 5:03 AM, Jamelle Bouie, 153395K] reports here is a small selection of stories concerning either the president, a member of his family or a member of his cabinet. This week, President Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia with a lavish reception at the White House. Part of the president’s relationship with Prince Mohammed includes lucrative ties between the Trump Organization and Saudi firms, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. It is for this reason, perhaps, that the president angrily dismissed the idea, evidence of which U.S. intelligence long ago gathered, that Prince Mohammed ordered the killing and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018. The crown prince denies it. “Things happen,” Trump said. Earlier this month, top Swiss business leaders arrived at the White House bearing lavish gifts fit for a king. The chief executive of Rolex gave President Trump a gold-plated desk clock. Not to be outdone, the chief executive of a gold-refining company presented him with a 2-pound gold bar engraved with 45 and 47, in honor of his two presidencies. A week later, the president rewarded Switzerland with a favorable break on tariffs, reducing them from 39 percent to 15 percent. This summer, The New Yorker reported that the Trump family had earned $3.4 billion through deals it had arranged since Trump entered the White House in 2017. The Trump Organization is also expanding its operations around the world, developing more than 22 properties in at least 10 countries, whose leaders have every incentive to flatter the president with gifts and handouts. And ProPublica reports that Kristi Noem, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, directed more than $220 million worth of funding for an ad campaign to a consulting firm with “longstanding personal and business ties to Noem and her senior aides at D.H.S.” In any other administration, at any other time in American history, this level of corruption would be a political disaster — a scandal that could bring down the administration. For the Trump administration, it is a Tuesday. If Trump’s first term was marked by a level of graft and self-dealing that would have embarrassed a Tammany stalwart, then his second term seems to be an explicit effort to outpace his previous record and set a new high-water mark for political corruption in the United States.

Los Angeles Times [11/19/2025 6:00 AM, Raul A. Reyes, 14862K] reports Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to work in Chicago last month when she drove onto a street where an immigration enforcement action was in progress. As she attempted to drive around the chaos, an unmarked vehicle collided with her car. Masked men jumped out of the vehicle, guns drawn and dragged Figueroa from her car by her legs. She was thrown into a minivan, taken away and held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for hours. Dayanne Figueroa is an American citizen. Figueroa’s arrest, captured in a now-viral video, illustrates the growing number of U.S. citizens caught up in federal immigration actions. These arrests and detentions violate ICE guidelines as well as the Constitution. Figueroa’s case is not an isolated incident. The nonprofit newsroom ProPublica has documented more than 170 cases of U.S. citizens, mostly Latinos, being detained at raids and protests since January. Americans have been tackled, tased, beaten and shot by immigration authorities. Some citizens have been held without access to counsel or the ability to call their loved ones. They include a 79-year-old man who was body-slammed to the ground by agents in Van Nuys, an Army veteran in Camarillo who was tear-gassed before being thrown in detention for three days, and a Cal Poly Pomona grad who was knocked down by agents and spent two nights in jail. There are likely many more cases of U.S. citizens held by immigration authorities that have not come to light. The actual numbers are unknown because the government does not release statistics about such encounters. The government denies that these episodes are happening. "There’s no American citizens that have been arrested or detained," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in October. "We focus on those that are here illegally." Any evidence to the contrary, she asserted, was "simply not true." Noem’s claim was rated "Pants on Fire!" by the website Politifact. It also is contradicted by Homeland Security press releases explaining why some citizens have been arrested or detained.

Bloomberg [11/19/2025 6:00 AM, Noah Feldman, 18207K] reports “Why is no one doing anything about ICE?” is the question I’m most frequently asked when people find out I’m a constitutional law professor. They’re not wrong to ask. In the 10 months of President Donald Trump’s administration running roughshod over the Constitution and federal law, nothing has been more upsetting to our collective understanding of how America works than masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers roaming the streets and grabbing people on suspicion that they are undocumented. Operating without warrants or identification and prepared to arrest bystanders whom they deem to be interfering, ICE personnel have brought into reality a scenario that until now would have been dismissed as fantasy — or at least as something that could never happen here. Standard ICE procedures aren’t just frightening people of Latino origin or people who look as if they might be Latino. They are terrifying many of us, including women in particular, who wonder what they are supposed to do if armed men in an SUV were to abduct them at gunpoint in broad daylight. Even the FBI has recognized the potential for problems, issuing an alert to state and federal law enforcement agencies that warned criminals impersonating ICE agents had committed kidnappings and sexual assaults, according to Wired. The memo urged agents to identify themselves clearly, the publication reported. The ICE question can be answered in three different ways. Each one highlights the failings of a different part of our system of constitutional government.

New York Times [11/19/2025 3:22 PM, David Wallace-Wells, 135475K] reports the border is now, essentially, shut. In the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration, the Census Bureau calculated that between 2023 and 2024, roughly 2.8 million more people migrated into the United States than left. This year, the net figure could be close to zero, even negative. That is quite a drop, and everyone already seems to know the potted political morality tale it implies: Biden recklessly opened the border, after a half-decade of progressive drift on immigration, and Trump closed it off, tight as a tourniquet. Is that story right, though? The Biden administration was slow to move, particularly on asylum policy, as its veterans and defenders now routinely admit. But Biden tripled interior detentions and increased border detentions 12-fold. He deported more than three million border crossers, and by the end of his term, border apprehensions had fallen more than 80 percent from their peak; the Trump decline has been much smaller. And that Biden-era surge? In the United States, the number of encounters with federal agents along the Mexican border more than tripled between 2020 and 2021, a wave that so overwhelmed immigration enforcement, the existing asylum system and the cities to which new arrivals were cruelly bused that many Americans decided a liberal regime could never again be trusted on immigration. But total migration to Canada nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023. Net migration surged, roughly tripling in Britain, despite post-Brexit limitations on immigration from Europe. Across the European Union, net migration quadrupled in a single year. If American policy choices explain the migration crisis of 2021 and 2022, why did the same thing happen in so many other places, where Joe Biden wasn’t president and politicians weren’t unwinding MAGA border policies and signaling a principled shift toward a more humane and welcoming future? In each case, there is a just-so story with which local nativists and moderate accommodationists can explain the surge. In Britain, for instance, the blame has fallen on a bungled redesign of the immigration system, post-Brexit, which effectively closed the door on migrants from Europe, but opened it to the rest of the world. Across Europe, the invasion of Ukraine was a major driver. But the wider pattern suggests a fact that experts have always known but that citizens of the world’s rich countries — often balanced on the knife’s edge between neurotic xenophobia and border-police nationalism — sometimes refuse to acknowledge: that contemporary migration is a global story rather than a domestic one, shaped to some degree by policy and enforcement, yes, but primarily powered by larger and harder-to-control forces that lie beyond the reach of national politics. My colleague Lydia Polgreen has called it a “great migration”; Gaia Vince calls it a “nomad century.” Much of this movement arises from what would have once been hailed as global progress: increasing international interconnectedness, expanding internet access, new wealth affording new opportunities to many millions who might have been kept home by poverty in the past. Political instability has played a major role, too — when Mr. Biden took office, a flood of Venezuelan refugees had already produced what the Brookings Institution has called the largest displacement of people in the history of the Western Hemisphere. Climate change, as well — on the eve of the COP30 climate conference in Brazil, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that weather disasters alone had forced 250 million people to flee their homes over the past decade.

USA Today [11/20/2025 5:10 AM, Dave Petri and William Baumgartner, 75552K] reports when the United States began sinking boats on suspicion of drug trafficking – with no warning, no arrests and no evidence recovered – we crossed a line. These so-called narco-terrorist strikes may be politically popular, but they are legally indefensible. Now, reports indicate that the British government has stopped sharing intelligence with Washington, DC, over fears that the U.S. operations violate international law. If true, one of America’s oldest allies is signaling what many of us who served in uniform already know: Justice and lasting security cannot be achieved through lawlessness. For more than two decades, the U.S. Coast Guard’s HITRON program has proved that there’s a better way. Helicopter-based marksmen disable engines on fleeing drug boats, allowing suspects to be arrested, evidence recovered and intelligence exploited. More than 1,000 vessels have been stopped this way, without deliberate loss of life. It is effective, lawful and consistent with both our national values and our obligations under the law of the sea. The only flaw is that we have not assigned enough ships and aircraft to this effort. This new approach – destroying boats outright and killing the occupants – abandons that model and the principles behind it. In addition, it sets a frightening example for other nations throughout the world

San Diego Union Tribune [11/19/2025 9:30 AM, Pedro Rios, 1538K] reports in late October, rumblings about a major reorganization within the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement agencies pointed to the U.S. Border Patrol usurping top command posts in the leadership of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Anonymous sources told NBC News a "growing frustration with the pace of daily arrests" among President Donald Trump’s top aids has prompted the internal shakeup. Once complete, Border Patrol’s power grab of its sister agency will likely mark a dramatic shift in how immigration agents conduct enforcement operations. Don’t expect improvements. People who live in California’s southern borderlands have experienced decades of the Border Patrol’s unaccountable antics. Californians should be concerned that this culture of impunity and wide scale fascination with cruelty will drive a new phase of immigration raids. Los Angeles and surrounding Southern California counties have endured a relentless onslaught of Border Patrol raids. Agents have indiscriminately targeted working people at car washes, home improvement store parking lots and bus stops, where arrest warrants are not required. Community members are documenting daily incidents on social media of pervasive violations of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. But Border Patrol agents leading the most egregious enforcement actions often are misidentified as ICE officials. Both ICE and Border Patrol immigration raids have been ruthless. Though not always the case, ICE officials rely on investigations to target people for arrest. They have warrants guiding their operations.

New York Post [11/19/2025 6:19 PM, Enia Krivine and Richard Goldberg, 42219K] reports when the UN Security Council approved President Donald Trump’s plan to establish a board of peace overseeing Gaza’s transformation from Hamas terror base to calm Palestinian enclave, it was a diplomatic coup. In Monday’s nearly unanimous vote — with China and Russia abstaining rather than wielding their veto — global powers, along with both Israel and the Arab world, effectively handed Trump the right to demilitarize and deradicalize the Gaza Strip, while defining Hamas as the threat to peace. Now comes the even harder part: Implementing a plan that Hamas and the UN are plotting to undermine. Leading the charge to upend Trump’s vision will be the UN agency responsible for radicalizing Palestinian society, the UN Relief and Works Agency, which the General Assembly voted to maintain Wednesday over American objections. To succeed, Trump will need to shutter this organization by imposing anti-terrorism sanctions on it — a move fully justified by UNRWA’s complicity in empowering Hamas.

FOX News [11/19/2025 3:15 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Acting I.C.E. Director Todd Lyons discusses amped-up rhetoric that is putting law enforcement officers in danger on ‘America Reports.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [11/19/2025 3:41 PM, Joshua Goodman and Tim Sullivan, 31753K] reports the government lawyer knew what was coming as she stood inside a courtroom and texted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent waiting in a corridor a few feet away. "I can’t do this," the lawyer said in a text message as she looked at her docket of cases. "This is a new emotional load." "I understand," the agent responded. "Hopefully we meet again in a better situation." Nearby, a Cuban man who had lived in the United States for years stepped from an elevator and into the courtroom where the government lawyer was waiting for what the man thought was a routine hearing. The man was doing what the law required, and brought along his wife, a legal resident, and their 7-month-old infant. Then the lawyer quickly moved to have the man’s asylum claim dismissed and a judge agreed, making the man eligible for "expedited removal." As he left the courtroom, the man was swarmed by plainclothes immigration agents who had been surveilling him. A struggle ensued and the wife’s shouts could be heard from the hallway as the lawyer moved on to the next case. Similar scenes of courthouse arrests, part of a makeover of the immigration courts under President Donald Trump, are playing out across the United States as his call for mass deportations of migrants is executed with unusually aggressive tactics. The administration has pushed back against criticism it is co-opting the courts to accelerate its deportation goals. In a statement, Justice Department spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre said DHS decides whether to arrest migrants and that most judges consider it an "honor rather than an insult" to be called an inferior officer empowered by the Constitution and serving at the will of the attorney general. Baldassarre likened a record surge of asylum seekers during the Biden administration to an "improper conspiracy between DHS and the Immigration Courts to effectuate an unlawful amnesty for hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens." The Justice Department, she said, had "restored the integrity, impartiality, and independence of the Courts.”

CBS News [11/19/2025 9:05 AM, Skyler Henry, 39474K] reports the federal immigration crackdown in North Carolina has spread from Charlotte to Raleigh, and Department of Homeland Security sources say operations could begin in New Orleans as soon as Dec. 1. A woman who became a U.S. citizen in March told CBS News that despite her citizenship, she’s still living in fear. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [11/19/2025 11:13 PM, Carlos De Loera, 14862K] reports the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids could have major economic effects on the U.S. economy as Latino workers have gone into hiding across the country, according to a data brief released Wednesday by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute. Researchers analyzed how Latino immigrants affect the economies of 10 states with some of the largest Latino populations. The study was split evenly between states that tend to vote in line with the Democratic Party and those that align with the Republican Party. The states examined were: California (Democratic), Texas (Republican), Florida (Republican), New York (Democratic), New Jersey (Democratic), Illinois (Democratic), Arizona (Republican), Georgia (Republican), North Carolina (Republican) and Virginia (Democratic). Using data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2023, researchers found that there are 5.7 million Latino immigrants in the workforce of politically blue states and more than 5 million in politically red states. In the three most populous states in the country, Latino immigrants make up a significantly larger percentage of the labor force. In California and Florida, they make up 16% of the state’s entire labor force and 14% in Texas. In every state but Florida, the majority of Latino immigrant workers were noncitizens. In Texas, Georgia and North Carolina, noncitizens make up over two-thirds of the Latino workforce. "Latino immigrants are indispensable to the U.S. economy, because they support industries that are difficult to automate or outsource," wrote Arturo Vargas Bustamante, one of the authors of the findings in a news release. "Noncitizens, who we found include the majority of Latino immigrant labor, are a flexible labor force that adapts to the business cycle, particularly during economic growth periods when additional labor is needed. Recent escalation in immigration enforcement puts economies at risk of losing large shares of this workforce, which contributes trillions of dollars to the U.S. GDP.”

Federalist [11/19/2025 3:29 PM, Breccan F. Thies, 785K] reports the Trump administration has done an admirable job of stopping border crossings by illegals since taking control of the executive branch in January, but as many Americans who voted for President Donald Trump know, stopping those people is only half the battle. The other half is efficient and effective mass deportations to the tune of 1 million per month. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced in late October that more than 2 million illegals had left the country, most of whom self-deported, while DHS forcibly removed 500,000. DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the Trump administration was on pace to deport 600,000 by the end of Trump’s first year back in office. Nearly three-quarters of those arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were "charged with or convicted of a crime in the U.S." Illegal aliens who have committed other crimes on top of being in the country illegally have been the primary focus for deportations thus far. Those numbers are historic, as the Trump administration says. They are a good start, but the unfortunate reality is that they really only scratch the surface of the real problem. There are untold millions of illegals inside our borders. ICE has been dramatically understaffed (probably on purpose) for years, and border czar Tom Homan has said 10,000 more DHS agents are set to come online, enabling deportations to ramp up. But the current pace cannot persist for too much longer.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 10:17 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports that the Biden administration’s release of so many criminal illegal aliens throughout the United States during its four years in office makes operations, such as the one currently taking place in Charlotte, North Carolina, vital to securing safer communities, U.S. Customs and Border Protection senior adviser Ron Vitiello said on Newsmax Wednesday. Vitiello told "National Report," "This is affecting every single city and town in the United States. Vitiello said, "Having this enforcement action, which the president [Donald Trump] ran on during the election campaign, is particularly effective while at the same time we are securing the border and making it very difficult to cross." Vitiello reiterated that this is something that the American people "asked for and is now underway and is improving the life not only of border communities, where things are much safer, but in Charlotte, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc.” Despite criticism by many Democrats of the operation, Vitiello said, "The citizens there appreciate the improvement in quality of life when these criminals are taken away.” Discussing the expansion of the operation, Vitiello added, "These agents are going to go where the work is… as there are also targets in Raleigh."

Univision [11/19/2025 3:32 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports White House border policy director Tom Homan announced that the federal government will increase immigration enforcement operations in New York, a month after the crackdown on street vendors in Manhattan that drew criticism. During a television interview, Homan said he plans to travel to the city to oversee new ICE deployments, arguing that New York’s sanctuary status justifies expanding the federal presence due to alleged threats to public safety, according to Reuters. The official did not specify dates or the magnitude of the operations, and the Department of Homeland Security avoided commenting, leaving unanswered questions about the real scope of the measures being prepared for the most populated city in the country. From the office of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, it was reiterated that immigrants constitute an economic and social pillar for New York, emphasizing that the incoming administration will maintain its commitment to sanctuary policies and the protection of the rights of all residents. The state government expressed a similar stance: a spokesperson for Governor Kathy Hochul stated that New York will continue to collaborate with local and federal authorities only within the framework of the law, but deemed further government intervention in immigration matters unnecessary.

The Hill [11/19/2025 10:17 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12595K] reports that White House border czar Tom Homan said Tuesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations will ramp up shortly in New York City. In an interview on Fox News’s "America’s Newsroom," the Trump administration’s senior immigration official noted he previously had an agreement with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to let ICE operate from Rikers Island, but the City Council sued to block the proposal and the state Supreme Court sided with the council. "I plan on being in New York City in the near future. We’re going to do operations in New York City. We know, in New York City, me and Mayor Adams at one point had an agreement to let ICE into Rikers Island… but the city council shut it down," Homan said. Homan said there’s already a significant law enforcement presence in the city, but residents can expect that to increase. "So we’re going to be coming to New York City," he continued. "We’re already there now. I mean, teams are there now, but we are increasing enforcement present in New York City — again, because they’re a sanctuary city, and we know we have an issue there with public safety threats in the street every day." Homan said ICE operations are not focused specifically on the partisan leaning of the city but added that the government is targeting sanctuary cities because, he said, that’s where the government perceives there to be the biggest threat. "Regardless of, Republican or Democratic city, we’re going to enforce the laws across this country and take those public safety threats off the street," Homan said. "But I’ll say this," he continued. "I’ve said it from day one: Sanctuary cities, we’re flooding the zone because we know they’re releasing public safety threats in the communities every day." "That’s where the biggest problem is, and that’s where we’re sending majority of the agents," Homan added.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 3:35 PM, Jim Mishler, 4109K] reports New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is pursuing a campaign pledge to undercut immigration enforcement once he takes office. Mamdani told New York’s PIX 11 that he has already been reviewing the situation with New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who has confirmed that she plans to stay on in her position leading the New York Police Department.

USA Today [11/19/2025 3:23 PM, Tresa Baldas, 67103K] reports a wealthy Plymouth, Michigan couple has landed in federal court, accused of hiring more than 200 undocumented immigrants to work at their national plumbing business over the years, and housing many of them in run-down motels and houses — all while they raked in $74 million in revenue, according to a new court filing in New York. That’s where Moises and Raquel Orduna-Rios are facing federal charges, including money laundering, following a five-year investigation that started with federal agents spotting one of the couple’s company vans outside a motel in Amherst, New York. The agents also encountered — and arrested — a small group of undocumented immigrants, who explained the van belonged to their "boss," court records show. That boss was 36-year-old Moises Orduna-Rios, president of Michigan-based Orduna Plumbing Inc., which also has operations in New York, North Carolina and Ohio. He was arrested on Tuesday, Nov. 18, after years of being monitored by federal agents who kept close tabs on his company vans, financial transactions, communications and his illegal workers who made $800-$1,500 per week, and in some cases had their living expenses covered.

Univision [11/19/2025 8:59 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports a federal judge ordered the immediate release of Joel Camas, a 16-year-old Ecuadorian student who had been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents despite having Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJ). The young man, who is in his penultimate year at Gotham Collaborative High School in the Bronx and has a pending application for permanent residency, had been detained on October 23 during a routine immigration appointment, and remained in federal custody for four weeks. According to his legal team, comprised of the New York Civil Liberties Union and The Door Legal Services Center, Camas attended his appointment at 26 Federal Plaza accompanied by a lawyer, complying with the government’s requirements. However, he was redirected without prior notice to the Varick Street Immigration Court , where he was detained and transferred that same day to a shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) in the Bronx. Although a federal judge suspended his deportation order while a habeas corpus petition was being resolved, the minor remained in custody. District Judge Cathy Seibel ordered his release on Monday, November 17, noting that the government failed to justify the detention, which she described as legally untenable. Joel’s arrest raised concerns among local authorities. Last week, the New York City Council filed a statement warning that detaining a public school student infringes upon their right to education and destabilizes school life.

CBS Baltimore [11/19/2025 7:09 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports advocacy groups warn of deportation of Maryland seafarers.

CBS Baltimore [11/19/2025 7:18 PM, JT Moodee Lockman, Kaicey Baylor, 39474K] Video: HERE reports a Maryland mother was deported to Vietnam, her attorney confirmed Wednesday, after she was detained and released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Melissa Tran was initially taken into ICE custody in May and was ordered to be released in October by a judge who found the government was unnecessarily holding her. Despite being reunited with her family, she still faced deportation. The mother of four owns a business in Hagerstown, Maryland. According to her attorney, Tran came to the U.S. from Vietnam legally in the 1990s as a refugee with a Green Card. In 2001, she admitted to stealing checks from her employer while she was a teenager. She pleaded guilty and was ordered for removal in 2003. However, Vietnam would not accept her as they refused to take back immigrants who came to the U.S. before 1995. So, Tran was able to stay in the U.S. with the requirement that she complete regular immigration check-ins. According to her attorney, Tran has completed those check-ins for more than 20 years. However, during a check-in in Baltimore in May, she was detained. "I know what I did was wrong, and I take responsibility for that," Tran told WJZ in October. "For my kids to have to go through it is horrible for me to comprehend. Why? We always say if you change, you deserve a second chance." Tran spent several days in custody in Baltimore before she was moved to Louisiana, Arizona, and Tacoma, Washington. Tran’s attorney stated that she arrived in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, on Wednesday afternoon. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [11/19/2025 7:10 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1442K] reports the owner of a Latino-themed ice cream shop in Charlotte says his workers are too scared to drive to the shop over the threat of being picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Javier Morales is the co-owner of Legends Ice Cream & Snacks, but his is not the only business shuttering over the threat from ICE operations in North Carolina. ‘We have shut down. We are an ice cream shop that 80%-90% of our customers are Latino, because we sell Latino ice cream flavors. We have mangonadas, we have Mexican street corn.’. "Right now, I cannot take the risk to bring my employees to be profiled because a lot of them speak Spanish. They look like me. I look like the profile that they’re looking for. So it is a risk that I am not willing to take. My customers — the same thing," Morales said. The Trump administration ordered a surge in federal immigration sweeps in Charlotte named Operation Charlotte’s Web. The operation has led to a large drop in school attendance, which many say proves the immense size of the illegal immigration crisis. "So right now there’s a lot of uncertainty — we have shut down," Morales continued. "We are an ice cream shop that 80%-90% of our customers are Latino, because we sell Latino ice cream flavors. We have mangonadas, we have Mexican street corn, we have our Legends products, which are our big sellers that are just full of Latino flavor, and it’s what we try to do.” He said that on Sunday, he only had one customer during a two-hour period. "Even in their face, you could tell that they were scared," he added. "They came in, got their things, and left right out. The weather in Charlotte was beautiful this weekend, and as an ice cream shop, we should have been packed. We should have been busy, and now we’re dealing with our shutdown.” Morales suggested that ICE was profiling people based on their ethnicity. "It’s just really unfortunate that by the look of your skin, you’re being profiled and you’re being stopped — you’re being questioned," he added. WJZY-TV reported that a U.S. citizen claimed to have been stopped by ICE twice within 10 minutes on South Boulevard, and he was dragged out of his vehicle after his car window was busted out. One report from the operation indicated that 1 out of every 6 residents in Charlotte are foreign-born. "We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed," read a statement from DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t.” A closed sign on the business blamed "icy conditions" for the interruption in service.

FOX News [11/19/2025 1:31 PM, Charles Creitz, 40621K] reports that an arm of 15-time NASCAR Cup Series championship team Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) recently signed a contract with ICE that included the purchase of more than two dozen Chevrolet vehicles, according to multiple reports Wednesday. Hendrick Motorsports Technical Solutions, the advanced manufacturing arm of one of auto racing’s most popular teams, underwent a refresh earlier this year and opened a 160,000-square-foot facility as a standalone business entity on the main Hendrick Motorsports campus in Concord, North Carolina – just over the Cabarrus County line from Charlotte. The $1.5 million contract signed in October called Hendrick Motorsports "uniquely positioned to fulfill this requirement within the necessary timeframe, having confirmed immediate availability of vehicles that fully meet ICE’s specifications." ICE originally authorized $2.25 million for the agreement, but the agency and motorsports company settled at a more conservative $1.5 million figure. That funded 25 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs to "enhance [DHS’] Title 8 operations in anticipation of surge staffing requirements" from FY-2026 through FY-2029, according to a copy of the contract viewed by Fox News Digital. Hendrick Motorsports did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment, but a Hendrick Motorsports Technical Solutions spokesperson said in a statement to Charlotte’s CBS affiliate that the Chevys were provided to ICE unmodified and the sale was completed in full.

NewsNation [11/19/2025 2:10 PM, Ciara Lankford, 8017K] reports that a man being treated at a Charlotte hospital allegedly tried to escape through the ceiling, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Charlotte Medic confirmed the initial response on Sunday, saying the incident began as a medical call. "One person went to Atrium Health University with non-life-threatening medical conditions," the agency said. According to Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin, the man, described by DHS as a "criminal illegal alien from Mexico," experienced a panic attack and was transported to the hospital. McLaughlin said that while there, "he attempted to escape by climbing into the ceiling tiles from the hospital bathroom. He was unsuccessful and was apprehended inside the ceiling by law enforcement. He has a prior arrest for assault." The incident unfolded as federal authorities continue Operation Charlotte’s Web, an immigration enforcement effort recently launched across the Queen City. In a statement to Queen City News, a DHS spokesperson said, "During the first two days of Operation Charlotte’s Web, Border Patrol arrested over 130 illegal aliens who have all broken the immigration laws of our country.” The spokesperson detailed some of the criminal histories among those arrested, saying they include "known gang membership, aggravated assault, possession of a dangerous weapon, felony larceny, simple assault, hit and run, possession of stolen goods, shoplifting, DUI, DWI, and illegal re-entry after prior deportation, a felony."

Telemundo [11/19/2025 9:34 PM, Maylin Legañoa, 182K] reports the wife of a Cuban migrant detained at the Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center recently gave birth to her second child, without the father present. In an exclusive interview, the woman recounted how a status adjustment process—based on her marriage to a U.S. citizen—was not enough to prevent her husband’s arrest. The lawyer representing the family explained that immigrants who enter without legal permission or with an I-220A document —as in the case of Dasnier Barea Leyva— do not qualify to adjust status within the country, even if they are married to a U.S. citizen. 38 weeks pregnant, Liénnys Escalona was notified that her husband, the father of her two children, had been arrested. “He was on his way to work like every day and the Border Patrol stopped him simply for an immigration check,” Escalona recounts. The 32-year-old man had entered the United States in 2019 with an I-220A document and, according to his wife, was in the process of a family petition: “…which is the claim, the I-130, because I am an American citizen,” she explained. After being processed, he was transferred to the Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center, where he has been detained since October 31. Immigration attorney Jesús Novo, of Gallardo Law Firm, said the case had a key point: “His mistake was not asking for a waiver, because since he entered with an I-220A, he was not eligible for adjustment of status within the country even though his wife was a citizen.”

Detroit Free Press [11/19/2025 1:59 PM, Lily Altavena, 4030K] reports that Clarkston Community Schools students sheltered in place for a little more than an hour across district buildings due to federal immigration enforcement activity on Wednesday, Nov. 19, a district spokesperson confirmed. Families in the Oakland County district received a text message around 10 a.m. that all buildings were under a shelter-in-place order. More than an hour later, families were notified that "schools have resumed classes" via text message. An email to families from Superintendent Shawn Ryan stated that the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office had given the district the all-clear to resume normal operations. Ryan wrote that the shelter-in-place was taken as a precaution. "This morning, I received a call from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office," Ryan wrote. "The lieutenant informed me that they had been called to assist federal agents searching for two individuals in the area of Sashabaw and Clarkston Roads and advised we secure our buildings." Across the country and in southeast Michigan, federal immigration officials’ ramped-up efforts to detain people under the Trump Administration have prompted concern. In Oak Park earlier this week, a U.S. border protection agent used a stun gun on a woman accused of being in the United States illegally. Officials said the woman and a man assaulted the agent in the encounter. District spokeswoman Kelly Allen told the Detroit Free Press that shelter-in-place orders are different from a lockdown order: Students and staff can still move around school buildings and continue classes while sheltering in place, they just can’t go in or out of district buildings.

New York Times [11/20/2025 4:42 AM, Ashley Ahn, 153395K] reports a religious nonprofit and several Roman Catholic clergy filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Wednesday claiming that immigration authorities had unlawfully blocked its members from ministering to people at a detention center near Chicago. The suit, led by the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership, a Catholic advocacy group based in Illinois, is the latest to accuse the administration of creating unlawful, unsanitary and unsafe conditions at such centers. Roman Catholic bishops in the United States criticized the administration’s deportation campaign in a statement passed this month at their annual conference in Baltimore. The statement presented a united front with Pope Leo XIV, the first pope from the United States, who grew up in suburban Chicago and has been speaking in support of immigrants. The new lawsuit focuses on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Ill., that has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. It was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, did not respond to a request for comment. Since early September, federal agents have flooded the Chicago area and made thousands of arrests, prompting protesters and faith leaders to clash with law enforcement officers. Immigration rights lawyers and activists filed an emergency class action lawsuit in late October that claimed detainees at the ICE facility in Broadview were being denied their right to access counsel, and subjected to inhumane and unlawful conditions. A federal judge later called the conditions “unnecessarily cruel” and ordered the government to provide bottled water, clean bedding, hygiene products and access to lawyers. In Wednesday’s lawsuit, some Catholic members in the Chicago area argue that the administration has also violated detainees’ religious freedom.

Bloomberg [11/19/2025 1:53 PM, Tiana Headley and Megan Crepeau, 803K] reports that
Federal judges in Chicago have been threatened over their handling of litigation related to stepped up Trump administration immigration enforcement, Sen. Dick Durbin, (D-Ill.) said. Durbin said at a Senate Judiciary Committee nominations hearing on Wednesday that the threats stem from numerous cases and controversial decisions, and have targeted several judges. "The threats and challenges our federal judges face grow worse every day," Durbin said. Durbin didn’t offer specifics on threats, judges or cases relating to the administration’s "unlawful immigration" raids and other enforcement efforts in Illinois. But Chicago’s federal courthouse is handling multiple suits stemming from the surge… [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision [11/19/2025 9:52 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports an autopsy of Silverio Villegas reveals new details about his death, which occurred while he was in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Recently, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office released his autopsy report and confirmed that his death was a homicide. According to the report, the 38-year-old Hispanic man died during a shootout stemming from a traffic stop conducted by an ICE agent in Franklin Park. The autopsy indicates that he died due to multiple gunshot wounds , and details that one of them entered through his neck and as it went down it perforated his blood vessels, esophagus, trachea, lungs, and caused various fractures before ending up in the chest. In addition, injuries are described including contusions on the forehead, lacerations on two fingers, and bumps and scratches on the back, torso, and limbs. After the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that the agent shot the Hispanic man because he feared for his life. Also, at the time, the DHS reported that the agent was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. However, days later a video, from a body camera, of a police officer who arrived at the scene, came to light, revealing that his injuries had been minor.

CBS Chicago [11/19/2025 8:48 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports as part of that security plan, officials established a designated protest zone on Beach Street, where the ICE facility is located, requiring protesters to stay on the sidewalks just north of the building. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [11/19/2025 5:03 PM, Richard Requena, 4829K] reports two pastors of Evanston churches were among 21 arrested on Nov. 14 outside of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview processing facility. One said he was beaten, bruised and had his hands zip-tied so tightly they went numb. They have a Dec. 3 court date where they will face three misdemeanor charges. Rev. Michael Woolf, of the Lake Street Church of Evanston, and Rev. Luke Harris-Ferree, of Grace Lutheran Church, were charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct and for walking on a highway, according to a news release from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Woolf told Pioneer Press that he will continue to protest for what he believes in. "I’m willing to take that risk because of the gospel," Woolf said. "For me, I have to act like it is Jesus who is locked up there." In a statement, the Cook County sheriff’s office said that around 50 protesters left a designated protest area outside of the processing center and assembled on a blocked-off road on Nov. 14. The bulk of arrestees face charges of obstruction, disorderly conduct and pedestrian walking on highway, per the sheriff’s office. Broadview police said two of their officers were injured during the skirmish and transported to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood for treatment. The officers have been released, but are now sidelined due to their injuries. One Illinois State Police trooper and a Cook County sheriff’s deputy also reported injuries.

NBC News [11/19/2025 2:32 PM, Doha Madani, 34509K] reports that an employee of the Department of Homeland Security was among 16 men arrested last week in a sex trafficking operation in Minnesota looking to catch suspects allegedly soliciting sex from minors. Alexander Steven Back, 41, was arrested in the multiagency sting dubbed "Operation Creep," according to Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges. The men were arrested under suspicion of trying to solicit sex from someone they believed to be a 17-year-old girl. Officials listed Back as an auditor for Homeland Security Investigations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Court records were not immediately available for Back; NBC News affiliate KARE 11 reported Tuesday that the men had not yet been charged. "When he was arrested, he said, ‘I’m ICE, boys,’" Hodges told reporters on Tuesday. A spokesperson for ICE told NBC News on Wednesday that Back was hired in 2022 as an auditor for I-9 forms, or employment eligibility verification forms. Back was not a law enforcement officer with the agency, the spokesperson added. "Following his arrest, ICE immediately placed Alexander Back on administrative leave," the spokesperson said. "ICE is working with local authorities as well as conducting its own investigation via the agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility.” Hodges explained that the operation involved officers monitoring websites and apps that are allegedly used to purchase sex from trafficked individuals.

Houston Chronicle [11/19/2025 6:02 PM, Abby Church, Matt deGrood, 2983K] reports a City Council member is floating a plan to reduce the Houston Police Department’s cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, weeks after Mayor John Whitmire acknowledged the agencies were working together. HPD records show a more than 1,000% jump this year in HPD calls to ICE, largely during traffic stops, increasing concerns among immigration activists about the police department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Under a draft proposal from Council Member Letitia Plummer’s office obtained by the Houston Chronicle, police officers would have discretion on whether to call ICE during traffic stops. If approved, the measure would prohibit officers from keeping drivers stopped while waiting for immigration agents to arrive on scene, citing concerns about the legality of doing so. The draft proposal, if taken up, would mark the first time the council formally weighs in on the issue beyond individual criticisms. It’s unclear if the measure would have the nine votes needed to override the mayor and police department leaders.

Breitbart [11/19/2025 8:00 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports a 17-year-old illegal alien arrested and released by federal immigration authorities during the Biden administration has been charged with a brutal hammer attack on a woman jogging in a Texas park, reigniting concerns over public safety and immigration enforcement failures. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officers placed an immigration detainer against Sergio Noe de Nova Duarte, a Mexican national illegally present in the United States, after Plano police arrested him for a violent assault against a female jogger in a city park. The woman survived the attack after allegedly being struck in the head by the illegal alien who had previously been arrested and released during the Biden administration. According to a report by the Christian Post, Duarte attacked a female jogger with a hammer while she was running in a Plano park on November 13. Police say the man ambushed her and struck her repeatedly with a hammer. The woman managed to fight him off and escape. Police arrested Duarte the following day and charged him with aggravated kidnapping with bodily injury, a first-degree felony. Police transported the man to the Collin County jail where officials learned that he was an illegal alien from Mexico. "This criminal illegal alien should have never been loose in our communities to attack this woman jogging in a park with a hammer," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Following this illegal alien’s arrest in 2024, the Biden administration released this criminal illegal alien back into our communities. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE lodged an arrest detainer to ensure this criminal illegal alien is NEVER able to prey on innocent women in our country again." The criminal alien will likely be deported when his business with Collin County and the State of Texas are complete.

Breitbart [11/19/2025 5:30 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an illegal alien fugitive accused of beating and raping a woman in Houston, Texas. On Wednesday, ICE officials announced the arrest of illegal alien Cesar Orlando Castro Serrano of El Salvador, who has been wanted by Houston police since 2023 on aggravated sexual assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and aggravated kidnapping charges. According to police, Castro Serrano allegedly beat a 22-year-old woman in the head with a tire iron and then raped her before leaving her in critical condition in a wooded area behind an apartment complex. Since the alleged assault, Castro Serrano had been on the run. On Nov. 10, the illegal alien was arrested in Katy, Texas, and turned over to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office to face the charges against him. Castro Serrano first crossed the southern border in 2015 under the Obama administration. The following year, a federal immigration judge ordered him deported from the United States. Univision [11/19/2025 4:38 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports that according to information reviewed by Univision 45, Castro Serrano was accused by the Houston Police Department of beating a 22-year-old woman with an iron bar, sexually assaulting her, and abandoning her in critical condition in a wooded area near an apartment complex. The suspect remained a fugitive for nearly two years. Following his arrest, he was turned over to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, where he will face criminal proceedings. ICE also filed a detention order to prevent Castro Serrano from being released before his legal proceedings are concluded. Official records indicate that Castro Serrano entered the United States irregularly in 2015 and received a final deportation order the following year.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 8:55 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports that the Hillsboro City Council in Oregon, a sanctuary city, unanimously declared a state of emergency Tuesday in response to escalating federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, including the high-profile case of Victor Cruz. The emergency resolution, effective immediately, condemns "the misuse of immigration enforcement to detain and deport individuals who are lawfully present in the United States," and warns that recent ICE tactics have generated "widespread fear in the community." Democrat Mayor Beach Pace told Fox 12 the action is largely symbolic but comes amid intense public pressure. Two weeks earlier, more than three hours of testimony from business owners, parents, advocates, and children urged the city to intervene as ICE activity increased across neighborhoods and commercial areas. The resolution asserts that ICE conduct — including masked agents refusing identification and detaining U.S. citizens and legal residents without warrants — has produced a "dangerous escalation of the erosion of democratic norms and the rule of law." Community members described families afraid to leave their homes. Bridget Cooke, executive director of Adelante Mujeres, told Fox 12 that illegal migrant parents are "terrified to go to doctors’ appointments" or work. A school counselor told council members that educators are buying groceries for families because "ICE is hiding in grocery store parking lots."

San Francisco Chronicle [11/19/2025 5:56 PM, Jessica Flores, 4722K] reports a parent dropping their child off at a West Oakland elementary school was apparently targeted by federal immigration officers Wednesday morning, resulting in a car chase that ended in a crash, according to Oakland City Council Member Carroll Fife. In an Instagram post, Fife said a person was allegedly chased down by ICE officers in a SUV after dropping their child off at Hoover Elementary School near 33rd and Market streets. The chase resulted in the parent’s vehicle crashing into a parked car, Fife said. The Oakland Police Department said in a statement that the driver crashed just before 10 a.m. on the 800 block of 31st St. after an "outside law enforcement agency" attempted to contact the vehicle while conducting an investigation. Police were "not notified of any outside agency conducting investigative operations in that area of Oakland," the police department said. After the crash, the driver got out of their car and ran into a nearby home, Fife said. Neighbors came out of their homes and protected the person, asking officers to identify themselves, the council member said. Fife said neighbors told her that "there were too many white people around to detain this parent." She thanked the neighbors for protecting the person. Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search. "They’re wreaking havoc in our neighborhoods that is actually causing harm," Fife later told the Chronicle in a phone interview. Alameda County’s rapid response hotline said that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security personnel were in the area but did not enter school grounds. The group said it was likely a targeted enforcement and were not aware of any ICE-related arrests. Oakland school district officials alerted parents of the ICE presence near Hoover Elementary, saying ICE officers were last seen near the intersection of 31st and Market streets. Hoover Elementary went into "secure school protocol" because of the nearby ICE activity. The nearby Harriet Tubman CDC preschool also went into "secure school protocol" before classes were dismissed for the day, district officials said. "Your child is safe in school," the alert said. After the attempted arrest, parents and community members gathered outside of Hoover Elementary and other nearby schools to protest the ICE activity and protect immigrant families in their neighborhood. Jordan Baxter Stern, a music teacher at Hoover Elementary, said volunteers who patrol the area near the school during student pickup and drop-off times spotted two black unmarked SUVs lingering outside of the campus around 8 a.m. Volunteers began filming the vehicles and immediately alerted school officials, Stern said.

SFGate [11/19/2025 9:19 AM, Staff, 13945K] reports a West Oakland elementary school and a preschool were placed on lockdown Wednesday and some children were sent home early in response to confirmed reports of federal immigration activity in the neighborhood. Administrators at Hoover Elementary School on Brockhurst Street and the nearby Harriet Tubman Preschool initiated their "secure school protocol" sometime between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. following reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were knocking on doors in the area. ICE agents were last seen near the intersection of 31st and Market streets, according to Oakland Unified School District officials. In addition to the lockdown, dozens of Oakland teachers and community members gathered on the sidewalks surrounding the Hoover campus in response to the ICE activity, which was reported by people calling the Alameda County Immigration Legal and Education Partnership rapid response hotline. "At this point, there has been no confirmed presence or attempt to get on any school campus that we are aware of, but there is a beautiful community presence here at the elementary school and at the preschools nearby to help make sure the community knows and help them feel safe," said Olivia Udovic, a kindergarten teacher and member of the Oakland Education Association teachers union. Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search. "I think it’s just a real reminder of what a beautiful community Oakland is and how Oakland in hard times comes together and supports our neighbors," Udovic said. Another teacher and OEA member Vilma Serrano said a suspected ICE vehicle had been circling the area and she believes the agents inside might have been discouraged by the large gathering. "We really think that the community presence here has really helped ward off the ICE presence that has been here," Serrano said. Oakland City Councilmember Carroll Fife was also on hand outside the Hoover campus Wednesday and said the city’s residents aren’t backing down from the federal government’s mass deportation policies and aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. "So I’m grateful for the work of educators, for our labor unions and for our community members who are here to support our families who are just trying to do the basic things that families do, which is get their kids to school, an education, and get home," Fife said.

NewsMax [11/19/2025 5:02 PM, Jim Thomas, 4109K] reports a California state lawmaker introduced legislation Tuesday dubbed the "No Kings Act" that would create a new legal avenue for residents to sue federal immigration agents for alleged constitutional rights violations, marking a significant challenge to federal immunity protection. Democrat state Sen. Scott Wiener, running for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., introduced Senate Bill 747 on Tuesday. The measure would let individuals in California seek damages under state law against federal, state, or local officers who violate rights guaranteed by the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. Wiener framed the bill as necessary to plug what he described as a "loophole" in federal law that shields agents from accountability following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions narrowing the landmark Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents framework. Wiener singled out a case involving Los Angeles resident and Army veteran George Retes, who he said was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, held 72 hours without attorney access, and missed his daughter’s third birthday. The Department of Homeland Security disputed the characterization, saying Retes was "violent and was arrested on charges of assault." If the bill is passed by the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, it is expected to face legal challenges. The federal government has already expressed opposition to similar California laws, arguing that they interfere with federal agents’ authority. Supporters of the legislation say it will restore accountability for federal agents who operate beyond the scope of the Constitution. Critics question whether a state can impose liability on federal officers without violating the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and warn that the measure could undermine federal immigration enforcement. The exact legal boundaries remain untested in court.

Bloomberg [11/19/2025 10:17 AM, Zoe Tillman, 18207K] reports that President Donald Trump’s administration continues to face claims that US officials are wrongfully deporting migrants in violation of court orders and other legal protections amid his ramped up immigration enforcement. Immigrant advocates sued this week on behalf of a transgender woman sent to Mexico despite an immigration judge’s order blocking the move due to her risk of being tortured or killed. A government lawyer acknowledged that the woman was “inadvertently” deported, according to emails filed in court. Her attorneys say the administration then failed to ensure she could safely return to the US. Such cases aren’t new. Government officials have been in court for months fighting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a migrant from El Salvador who sued to challenge his mistaken deportation to his home country. That case is poised to come to a head later this week, when a judge will hear arguments on the administration’s latest plan to send him to Liberia. In the meantime, the number of suits is growing. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin provided a statement that Uriostegui Rios had a record of criminal convictions and would be deported again once officials identified another country. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” McLaughlin said. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US.” The case is Uriostegui Rios v. Trump, 25-cv-1798, US District Court, Western District of Louisiana (Alexandria).

Reported similarly:
Univision [11/19/2025 8:49 AM, Staff, 5004K]

DailySignal [11/19/2025 10:00 AM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 549K] reports that the Trump administration is divided between factions about the best way to reform the controversial H-1B visa program, sources familiar with the matter told The Daily Signal. One faction wants to restrict the program so much that foreigners won’t be able to use it, while others think it’s useful to bring in exceptional talent, a senior administration official said. While President Donald Trump maintains abuses of the system need to be reformed, he told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham he believes the program—which allows highly skilled workers in "specialty occupations" to live and work in the U.S.—is needed to bring certain talent in. This comment sparked outrage from many of his supporters. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she’s "solidly against" Americans "being replaced by foreign labor, like with H-1Bs." "End H-1B so it’s not used for cheap labor & expand genius visas for genuine high end talent," conservative influencer Robby Starbuck wrote. Former Department of Government Efficiency adviser and Florida governor hopeful James Fishback said he would "fire every single H-1B working at our state agencies." But the conversation is more far reaching than a MAGA social media dispute. The future of H-1B visas is a highly contested issue within the administration, a senior official told The Daily Signal.

Breitbart [11/19/2025 10:43 AM, Neil Munro, 2416K] reports that President Donald Trump and his administration are narrowing their defense of the huge H-1B corporate outsourcing program, which is used by many corporate executives to hire many foreign graduates for a wide range of jobs. "We have to train our people how to make chips… We used to do it, and then foolishly, we lost that business to Taiwan," Trump said on November 17 at the White House. "The President was very clear," Trump counselor Stephen Miller told Newsmax: The narrowing comes after Trump received backlash from his base when he told Fox Host Laura Ingraham last week: "We… have to bring in talent… [we] don’t have certain talents and people have to learn. You can’t take people off an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory… to make missiles.’" In reality, the H-1B program keeps roughly 1 million foreign graduates and their wives in a huge variety of jobs. Similar visa programs keep another 1.5 million foreigners in a broad variety of U.S. jobs. Most of the migrants are Indians, and they use the programs to extract wealth from the white collar sector for themselves, their ethnic hiring networks, and for India. The result is that millions of Americans - both young and old - are pushed out of careers and prosperity as many companies’ shareholder values and U.S. innovation are drained. But Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, downplayed the white-collar prosperity issue, telling CNBC: "There could be a little bit of almost a quiet time in the labor market [now] because firms are finding that AI is making their workers so productive that they don’t necessarily have to hire the new kids out of college."

Politico [11/19/2025 7:00 PM, Myah Ward and Eric Bazail-Eimil, 13586K] reports President Donald Trump has a message for his MAGA base on immigration. And he knows they don’t want to hear it. The president on Wednesday again offered a defense of visas for high-skilled workers, arguing that Americans don’t have the knowhow to fill certain jobs. He pointed to the multi-billion dollar expansion of chip production in Arizona, saying the company — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — will bring in thousands of workers, and that he will “welcome those people.” “I love my conservative friends. I love MAGA,” Trump said during remarks at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at The Kennedy Center. “But this is MAGA, and those people are going to teach our people how to make computer chips, and in a short period of time, our people are going to be doing great.” The remarks represent Trump’s most pointed defense of his immigration positions to date, and show the president is aware he has work to do to bring along the hawks in his party. Nearly one year since his return to the White House, Trump’s insistence that legal immigration is not only tolerable but an economic necessity continues to roil hardliners on the right, who are at odds with the business and tech interests that Trump has long aligned himself with. “The people who are against us are really, really smart,” Trump said. “They’re unbelievable patriots, but they just don’t understand — our people have to be taught.” He added that companies that invest big money to create plants here need to “bring a lot of their people from their country to get that plant open, operating and working. I’m sorry. So my poll numbers just went down, but with smart people, they’ve gone way up.”

ABC 7 New York [11/19/2025 6:35 PM, Staff, 30493K] reports executives in Westchester County are calling on federal officials to reinstate local naturalization ceremonies, which are the final process of becoming a U.S. citizen. In White Plains on Wednesday, they criticized the decision that came from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS abruptly cancelled a naturalization ceremony on November 12 and halted all future ceremonies, according to an email from an official with the Department of Homeland Security. "We are a nation of immigrants. Let’s not make it more difficult for immigrants to become part of our nation," Westchester County legislator David Imamura said. Advocates say the decision is problematic and that new citizens’ families might not be able to attend the momentous event. "Discontinuing them creates a real barrier for families already balancing work, childcare and other responsibilities," Westchester County Executive Kenneth Jenkins said. The feds want it to happen at 26 Federal Plaza, which has been a recent flashpoint for immigrant issues. "It forces these folks to go down to 26 Federal Plaza, where there have been some notorious issues concerning ICE and things of that sort," Westchester County Clerk Timothy Idoni said. County executives say they have offered to work with federal partners on staffing and logistical support so the ceremonies can be reinstated. So far, no one has taken them up on that, they said.

Telemundo [11/19/2025 7:51 PM, Staff, 182K] reports Marieva Briceno, a former owner of medical clinics in Detroit, lost her citizenship after defrauding the Medicare system of more than $5.4 million, the Justice Department reported. Briceno, originally from Venezuela, concealed her crimes during her naturalization process, falsely claiming she had never committed a crime. Thanks to these deceptive statements, she obtained U.S. citizenship in March 2010. Between 2007 and 2010, Briceno’s clinics performed unnecessary medical tests and procedures, generating fraudulent payments that netted him over $500,000 in personal profits. In 2011, she was charged with fraud and conspiracy against Medicare and, after pleading guilty in 2012, was sentenced to five years in prison. On August 12 of this year, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to revoke her citizenship, and on November 17, her U.S. citizenship was officially revoked. “U.S. citizenship is a privilege that demands honesty and respect for the law,” emphasized Attorney General Jason A. Reding Quiñones. “Those who deceive others to obtain it and also defraud our health programs will face the consequences.” This case serves as a reminder that health fraud and lying in immigration processes do not go unpunished, and underscores the need for vigilance by authorities to protect public funds and the integrity of the system. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [11/19/2025 4:31 PM, Daniel Wiessner, 36480K] reports a federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from terminating temporary deportation protections and work permits for more than 6,100 Syrians while a legal challenge proceeds. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan said the abrupt elimination of temporary protected status for Syrians was likely illegal, agreeing with seven Syrian migrants who had sought to block the policy from taking effect on Friday. They claim the change was arbitrary and motivated by racial animus. The Trump administration can immediately appeal.

Reported similarly:
Newsweek [11/19/2025 4:53 PM, Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant, 52220K]

AP [11/20/2025 12:17 AM, Byron Tau and Garance Burke, 31753K] Video: HERE reports the U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious, The Associated Press has found. The Border Patrol’s predictive intelligence program has resulted in people being stopped, searched and in some cases arrested. A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement. Suddenly, drivers find themselves pulled over — often for reasons cited such as speeding, no turn signals or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view. They are then aggressively questioned and searched, with no inkling that the roads they drove put them on law enforcement’s radar. The AP’s investigation, the first to reveal details of how the program on America’s roads, is based on interviews with eight former government officials with direct knowledge of the program who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media, as well as dozens of federal, state and local officials, attorneys and privacy experts. The AP also reviewed thousands of pages of court and government documents, state grant and law enforcement data, and arrest reports. Border Patrol’s parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said they use license plate readers to help identify threats and disrupt criminal networks and are “governed by a stringent, multi-layered policy framework, as well as federal law and constitutional protections, to ensure the technology is applied responsibly and for clearly defined security purposes.” “For national security reasons, we do not detail the specific operational applications,” the agency said. While the U.S. Border Patrol primarily operates within 100 miles of the border, it is legally allowed “to operate anywhere in the United States,” the agency added. Once limited to policing the nation’s boundaries, the Border Patrol’s surveillance system stretches into the country’s interior and monitors ordinary Americans’ daily actions and connections for anomalies instead of simply targeting wanted suspects. Started about a decade ago to fight illegal border-related activities and the trafficking of both drugs and people, it has expanded over the past five years. Border Patrol has for years hidden details of its license plate reader program, trying to keep any mention of the program out of court documents and police reports, according to two people familiar with the program. Readers are often disguised along highways in traffic safety equipment like drums and barrels. The Border Patrol has defined its own criteria for which drivers’ behavior should be deemed suspicious or tied to drug or human trafficking, stopping people for anything from driving on backcountry roads, being in a rental car or making short trips to the border region. The agency’s network of cameras now extends along the southern border in Texas, Arizona and California, and also monitors drivers traveling near the U.S.-Canada border.

FOX News [11/19/2025 9:50 AM, Staff, 10085K] reports that former federal prosecutor Jonathan Fahey joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss nationwide ICE raids, border agent attacks, GOP redistricting battles and new fraud allegations facing top Democrats.
Border agents face growing threats as DHS expands raids. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [11/19/2025 9:38 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports that a Georgia man accused of laundering nearly $1 million through a complex cryptocurrency scheme has been arrested after a months-long investigation, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. Prosecutor Mark Musella said 39-year-old Olanrewaju B. Adeosun, of Dunwoody, Georgia, was taken into custody Monday in Queens, New York, after detectives tracked him down with help from the Department of Homeland Security, the Port Authority Police Department of New York and New Jersey, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The arrest stems from a 15-month investigation that began in July 2024, when Palisades Park police alerted county detectives to a fraudulent wire transfer that caused a $982,148 loss to a local business. Investigators later determined the stolen money was pushed through several financial accounts before being converted into cryptocurrency. According to the prosecutor’s office, Adeosun used a fake cryptocurrency account to move the funds as digital assets and then funneled them into accounts he controlled. Detectives say the money was ultimately withdrawn and used for his personal benefit. Adeosun is charged with first-degree money laundering under New Jersey law. He remains in custody in New York while he awaits extradition to Bergen County.

NBC News [11/19/2025 9:33 PM, Julia Ainsley, 34509K] reports over 1,000 people in Charlotte signed up for training on how to protect the city’s Latino community from immigration agents as arrests continue. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [11/19/2025 5:33 PM, Dan Raby, 39474K] reports a former star of "The Real Housewives of the Potomac" is in custody after she was arrested by police at the Atlanta airport. Records from the Fulton County Jail show that Mia Fields-Thornton is charged with theft by taking, a felony. Atlanta police say that officers assigned to Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport were called to the Customs and Border Protection office after receiving reports of a wanted person, later identified as Fields-Thornton. A police report obtained by CBS News Atlanta says Fields-Thornton is accused of stealing the furniture from a condo she was renting on Marietta Street.

Detroit Free Press [11/19/2025 1:53 PM, Christina Hall, 4030K] reports that a New Baltimore man received one year of probation after pleading guilty in a counterfeit automotive parts case filed by the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Dinas Kamaitis on Tuesday, Nov. 18, learned his sentence of probation and one day in the Macomb County Jail, with credit for one day served, from Macomb County Circuit Judge Julie Gatti, according to online circuit court records. They indicate Kamaitis is to maintain employment for 30 hours a week, with the court preapproving travel for work purposes, and he is to have no contact with General Motors or Stellantis. Kamaitis’ attorney did not respond immediately with comment Wednesday, Nov. 19. Kamaitis pleaded guilty in September to one count of using computers to commit a crime. The judge dismissed eight other charges — four counts each of counterfeiting-delivery/possession of property and knowingly selling counterfeit, nonfunctional or noncompliant supplemental restraint systems — at sentencing, according to court records. Records previously indicated Kamaitis owed $20,000 in restitution and will forfeit $65,000. Attorney General’s spokesman Danny Wimmer in April declined to say how many counterfeit items Kamaitis was suspected of selling, to whom and for how long, where Kamaitis got the items and how much he charged. U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 211,000 counterfeit automotive parts in fiscal 2024, nearly doubling the number of counterfeit parts seized the previous year.

NewsNation [11/19/2025 12:44 PM, Alex Caprariello, 8017K] reports that a man accused of putting a hit out on Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino is appearing in a federal courtroom in Illinois on Wednesday. Lawyers for both sides will argue over whether Juan Espinoza Martinez, an alleged high-ranking member of the Latin Kings street gang, should be released ahead of his trial scheduled for January 2026. During the last hearing, the defense requested a speedy trial, arguing Martinez never put out a hit on Bovino and he’s not a member of the Latin Kings gang. In a pretrial motion for release, Martinez’s defense team argued that he’s an upstanding citizen, is fully employed and has no criminal history. They also said Martinez has lived in Chicago for 30 years and is deeply embedded in his community, writing, "The government would have this court focus on an allegation, but allegations are not evidence and certainly not proof. What is proven is three decades of living in this district without incident, without arrest, without giving anyone cause to believe he poses any danger to this community." According to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago, Martinez sent a Snapchat message stating, "2K on information when you get him" and "10K if you take him down." The criminal complaint against Espinoza Martinez alleges he is in a position of authority within the gang and has the power to order its members to kill.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [11/19/2025 2:53 PM, Claudia Moreno, 10K] reports that Border Patrol agents from the El Paso Sector rescued a person who became entangled in barbed wire while attempting to cross into the United States, the agency reported through its sector chief. According to the report, agents located the person trapped in the wire, a barrier that poses a high risk due to its sharp edges. They immediately and safely cut through the metal structure, freeing the migrant without serious injury. The Border Patrol indicated that the person sustained minor scratches and received medical attention before being transferred to the Processing Center (PCC), where deportation proceedings will be initiated.

San Diego Union Tribune [11/19/2025 2:54 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1538K] reports that Border commuters enrolled in trusted traveler programs such as SENTRI or Global Entry woke up Wednesday morning with a new option to get in line at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Travelers can now access the busy port of entry via the new access route on Tijuana’s Calle Segunda or the existing one on Boulevard Padre Kino. This change is part of a four-month pilot program previously announced by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the city of Tijuana. "This is an example of the great things we can achieve when authorities coordinate in a binational way," said Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño in Spanish early Wednesday before inaugurating the new entryway. Those with SENTRI or Global Entry can use the two designated lanes on Calle Segunda, also known as Benito Juárez, from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, the mayor said. Entry through Boulevard Padre Kino will continue to be available 24 hours a day. There was hardly any wait to cross through Calle Segunda during the first hours of operation on Wednesday, but officials expect that to change as word gets out. Burgueño crossed into San Diego around 5 a.m. to try out the new access point himself; it took him less than three minutes. Tijuana police officers were stationed at the entrance on Wednesday to verify that drivers had the required documents before getting in line and let people know about the change. Traffic through the SENTRI lanes represents 42% of all border traffic at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, compared to 14% for the regular all-traffic lanes, according to Customs and Border Protection data from October 2024 through August 2025.

Bloomberg [11/19/2025 2:23 PM, Zach Williams, 38K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration is pursuing a new approach to allowing people to access flights without proper identification. "TSA will use the individual’s biographic and/or biometric information to verify identity and match the individual to their Secure Flight watch list result," reads a notice filed Wednesday in the Federal Register. Such an approach would streamline the entry process for passengers as the Federal Aviation Administration pursues its own modernization effort. Passengers under the TSA proposal would have to pay a non-refundable $18 fee to access the proposed program, which would not guarantee access to controlled areas… [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

CBS Philadelphia [11/19/2025 1:36 PM, Alexandra Simon, 39474K] reports two security checkpoints that were closed inside the Philadelphia International Airport during the government shutdown are set to reopen after two weeks. The Terminal A-West and Terminal F TSA checkpoints will reopen on Thursday and resume their normal operating schedules, according to a post on the airport’s social media accounts. The checkpoints were closed on Nov. 5 as the longest government shutdown in American history put a strain on TSA staffing. During the shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered a 10% reduction in flights at 40 of the country’s busiest airports to cope with an air traffic controller shortage, prompting days of flight delays and cancellations at PHL Airport. The FAA lifted that order early Monday morning after the House and Senate passed a bill to end the 43-day shutdown on Nov. 12.

USA Today [11/19/2025 2:29 PM, Michelle Del Rey, 67103K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is investigating after a meat cleaver somehow made its way through airport security and onto a Delta flight. The incident occurred at Portland International Airport in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, Nov. 13, according to the Port of Portland, a public agency that manages the airport, general aviation and marine activities. Delta staff reported a "hazardous item" to TSA, which then notified Port operations, the agency told USA TODAY in an email, adding that no arrests were made. According to TSA, the passenger passed through the security checkpoint with the meat cleaver in their carry-on bag. The individual then boarded the Delta flight to Salt Lake City with the item in the bag, the government agency added. "We take this matter very seriously. We are reviewing the incident, and once we determine the circumstances surrounding this event, we will take appropriate corrective action that could include additional training of the security screening workforce," TSA said in a statement emailed to USA TODAY. Delta said it "elected to deplane and rescreen the aircraft" following the incident. After deplaning and rescreening, the flight arrived in Salt Lake City about two and a half hours late, according to CNN. "We apologize to our customers for the delay and any inconvenience," the airline said in a statement.

AP [11/19/2025 8:04 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 31753K] reports a draft of a much-anticipated report on reforms to the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been whittled down in size, with recommendations compiled by a council appointed by the president slashed and amended by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s office, according to three people familiar with the developments. The report "got nuked," said one former FEMA official. The three people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue with the media, said the report shrunk from over 160 pages to roughly 20. They said it left council members and other emergency management leaders concerned that some of the recommendations about the country’s disaster preparedness won’t make it into the final copy, which is expected around Dec. 12. The draft report’s downsizing reflects the Trump administration’s push to disengage the federal government from disaster management and the agency overseeing it, FEMA, pushing more responsibility for preparing, responding to and recovering from climate on states, tribes and territories. The former officials said that cutting some of the original recommendations and adding others that further diminish FEMA will not only show that the administration is intervening politically in a professional undertaking. They said the changed recommendations could ultimately leave states and other governments unequipped to prepare for or recover from disasters. DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Asked about the status of the report, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the review council will recommend to President Donald Trump how FEMA may be reformed "such that the Federal role remains supplemental and appropriate to the scale of disaster," and that "Secretary Noem is working hard to implement the President’s vision that will best serve the American public.”

New York Times [11/19/2025 6:47 PM, Maxine Joselow and Scott Dance, 153395K] reports a task force formed by President Trump to consider changes to the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recommended that it should not be abolished, according to four people briefed on the matter, a position that conflicts with Mr. Trump’s earlier assertion that the agency should “go away.” It is unclear whether Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, will accept the task force’s suggestions, the people said. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security. The deliberations underscore a growing tension within Mr. Trump’s political coalition over the federal role in responding to hurricanes, floods, fires and other disasters across the country that are growing more destructive as the planet warms. Democrats and Republicans agree that the agency is often slow and inefficient. But Republicans, who control Washington, have come to recognize that FEMA aid is crucial to disaster-struck communities and would be difficult, if not impossible, for state and local governments to replace. The task force has presented Ms. Noem with a draft report that calls for reforming but preserving the agency in some form, the four people briefed on the matter said. The panel failed to release its final report by Sunday as required by an executive order Mr. Trump issued in May. The final report is now expected by the end of the year. It could ultimately suggest a compromise intended to appease the White House, such as renaming FEMA or eliminating the agency “as it exists today” or “in its current form,” two of the people briefed on the matter said.

Washington Post [11/19/2025 5:05 PM, Brianna Sacks and Isaac Arnsdorf, 24149K] reports a panel appointed by President Donald Trump to review whether to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency has instead concluded in a report that the agency should be more powerful and autonomous. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, however, wants to take FEMA in a different direction. The wrangling over the FEMA review council’s long-awaited report, which has been in the works for nearly 10 months, will help determine the fate of one of Trump’s controversial efforts to reshape the government and its ability to respond to disasters, such as floods, fires and hurricanes. Noem, as the council co-chair, is responsible for finalizing the report and sending it to Trump for review. Her draft, which is not finished, recommends keeping FEMA within DHS and largely removing FEMA from its direct role in disaster relief, instead turning it into more of a grant-making operation, according to five people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations. The council’s earlier draft did not recommend those changes, but rather that FEMA gets elevated to a Cabinet-level office. Noem’s office also wants to reduce the federal government’s share of disaster-related costs to 50 percent with states having to fund the other 50 percent with cash, which some council members staunchly opposed, according to a person familiar with the situation. Under current FEMA guidelines, the federal government covers about 75 percent of costs, and in extreme cases, will front nearly 100 percent for a period of time. The council is recommending FEMA keep its current cost share responsibility, which is defined by the Stafford Act. A spokesperson for DHS denied Noem was trying to alter the report.

AP [11/20/2025 5:08 AM, Dorany Pineda, 31753K] reports if heat-trapping pollution from burning coal, oil and gas continues unchecked, thousands of hazardous sites across the United States risk being flooded from sea level rise by the turn of the century, posing serious health risks to nearby communities, according to a new study. Researchers identified 5,500 sites that store, emit or handle sewage, trash, oil, gas and other hazards that could face coastal flooding by 2100, with much of the risk already locked in due to past emissions. But more than half the sites are projected to face flood risk much sooner — as soon as 2050. Low-income, communities of color and other marginalized groups are the most at risk. With even moderate reductions to planet-warming emissions, researchers also determined that roughly 300 fewer sites would be at risk by the end of the century. “Our goal with this analysis was to try to get ahead of the problem by looking far out into the future,” said Lara J. Cushing, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles who co-authored the paper published in the science journal Nature Communications. “We do have time to respond and try to mitigate the risks and also increase resilience,” she added, speaking at a media briefing Wednesday ahead of the study’s release. The study was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and builds on previous research from California.

The New York Times [11/19/2025 8:57 PM, Hannah Ziegler, 153395K] reports a Democratic congresswoman from Florida was charged on Wednesday with stealing federal disaster funds and using the money to support her congressional campaign, prosecutors said. The lawmaker, Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, and several co-defendants were indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Justice Department said in a news release. Prosecutors allege that Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick used $5 million in funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on a congressional campaign in South Florida. In 2021, Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, worked through their family health-care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, on a FEMA-funded contract to register people for Covid vaccines. The company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds in July 2021, prosecutors said. The authorities say Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother routed that money through several accounts to disguise its source and ultimately used “a substantial portion” on her campaign to represent Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which includes parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick and another defendant also funneled funds from the company’s FEMA contract to friends and relatives, who passed off the money donated to her campaign as their own personal contributions, prosecutors said. Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick was the chief executive of Trinity Healthcare Services at the time. It was not immediately clear if Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick had a lawyer. A spokeswoman for Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday evening. The AP [11/19/2025 8:07 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that the Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family health care company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege. "Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain. We will follow the facts in this case and deliver justice." A phone message left at Cherfilus-McCormick’s Washington office was not immediately returned. Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected to Congress in 2022 in the 20th District, representing parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, in a special election after Rep. Alcee Hastings died in 2021. In December 2024, a Florida state agency sued a company owned by Cherfilus-McCormick’s family, saying it overcharged the state by nearly $5.8 million for work done during the pandemic and wouldn’t give the money back. The Florida Division of Emergency Management said it made a series of overpayments to Trinity Healthcare Services after hiring it in 2021 to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations. The agency says it discovered the problem after a single $5 million overpayment drew attention. Cherfilus-McCormick was the CEO of Trinity at the time. The Office of Congressional Ethics said in a January report that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income in 2021 was more than $6 million higher than in 2020, driven by nearly $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing fees received from Trinity Healthcare Services. In July, the House Ethics Committee unanimously voted to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee to examine allegations involving Cherfilus-McCormick. The Hill [11/19/2025 7:21 PM, Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee, 12595K] reports that a staffer for Cherfilus-McCormick, Nadege Leblanc, is accused of arranging additional contributions using straw donors and sending the FEMA funds to friends and relatives, who prosecutors say then donated to the campaign as if it were their own money. Spencer and Leblanc face up to 33 years and 10 years in prison, respectively. Last year, Florida’s emergency management division sued the company, Trinity Health Care Services, over the overpayment. The case was dismissed after the parties reached an agreement in mediation. The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, a conservative nonprofit, referred Cherfilus-McCormick to the Justice Department over the alleged overpayment in July. The Florida Democrat has also faced scrutiny from the Office of Congressional Ethics, which earlier this year found she may have violated ethics rules by requesting earmarks for a for-profit entity.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [11/19/2025 9:19 PM, Victor Nava, 42219K]
Politico [11/19/2025 7:56 PM, Aaron Pellish, 13586K]
Breitbart [11/20/2025 12:20 AM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K]
Breitbart [11/19/2025 11:55 PM, Staff, 2416K]
ABC News [11/19/2025 7:22 PM, Staff, 30493K]
CBS News [11/20/2025 12:28 AM, Joe Walsh, 39474K]
CBS Miami [11/19/2025 7:17 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE

SFGate [11/19/2025 7:09 PM, Sam Mauhay-Moore, 13945K] reports multiple roads have closed in Death Valley National Park after this week’s storms brought record-breaking rainfall to Southern California. The recent rainfall caused extensive flooding and road damage throughout the park, the National Park Service wrote in two different social media posts this week. Heavy rains are known to wreak havoc on Death Valley’s roads, bringing not only flooding but also debris flows and pavement erosion. "The park’s rocky, steep terrain causes water to run off quickly, creating fast-moving flows of mud, rocks and debris," the Park Service wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. "These floods have covered some roads and have eroded road shoulders, making travel hazardous.” The park’s road closures map — in which open roads are highlighted in green, and closed roads in red — currently looks Christmas-themed. Paved roads impacted by closures include Badwater Road, Artists Drive, Beatty Cuttoff Road, Emigrant Canyon Road, North Highway and Bonnie Clare Road to Scotty’s Castle. Multiple unpaved backcountry roads are also closed, including Cottonwood and Marble Canyon Road, Titus Canyon Road, Lower and Upper Wildrose Road and Death Valley/Big Pine Road, among several others. Some of the park’s open roads may still be impacted by debris or standing water, the Park Service wrote. Visitors are also being reminded that it is unsafe to drive through shallow water, and to check road conditions and closures prior to arriving. More rain, and even snow, is expected to arrive in Death Valley on Thursday night, according to the National Weather Service, which is reporting a 70% chance of precipitation.

New York Post [11/19/2025 6:00 AM, Marisa Schultz and Alex Oliveira, 42219K] reports the FBI "stonewalled" the House investigation into the Thomas Crooks’ attempted assassination of President Trump, two congressmen involved in the probe told The Post. On Monday, The Post reported on violent social media posts that are believed to be tied to Crooks. The online activity included numerous endorsements of political violence, and a severe turn from being a hardcore advocate for Trump to coming within a few millimeters of killing him. The FBI never shared those files with the Congressional investigation, said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX). "I think that there’s so many unanswered questions about it," Kelly said. "We all know it wasn’t done, it wasn’t complete and the reason for that is they can’t handle the truth," he said of how the FBI treated the Congressional investigation. "They don’t want people to handle the truth.”

(B) Good Day Seattle at 10AM [11/19/2025 1:04 PM, Staff] reports that the US Coast Guard seized 60,000 pounds of cocaine in the eastern Pacific. It was the largest amount ever seized in a single Coast Guard patrol. This year, the Coast Guard has seized more than 500,000 pounds of cocaine, equating to about 193 million potential lethal doses.

Washington Examiner [11/19/2025 10:05 PM, Pedro Rodriguez, 1394K] reports the Coast Guard seized over $250 million worth of illicit drugs in the eastern Pacific on Wednesday. The offload marks the largest amount of cocaine seized by a single long-range vessel, referred to as a cutter, in a single patrol in Coast Guard history. Over 49,000 pounds of narcotics, totalling more than $362 million, were offloaded in Port Everglades, Florida, on Wednesday. The load was accumulated in over 15 interceptions in the Pacific, the Coast Guard reported. "I am extremely proud of the crew’s incredible performance during this deployment," the commanding officer of the Coast Guard cutter Stone, Capt. Anne O’Connell, said in a news release. "This offload demonstrates our increased posture and continued success in the fight against narco-terrorism and transnational criminal organizations." "The Coast Guard, in conjunction with our inter-agency and international partners, continues to patrol areas commonly associated with drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific, denying smugglers access to maritime routes by which they move illicit drugs to our U.S. land and sea borders," O’Connell added. The Department of Homeland Security also celebrated the seizures on social media, writing that the Coast Guard is "MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN."

Reported similarly:
CBS Miami [11/19/2025 2:00 PM, Briauna Brown and Morgan Rynor, 39474K]

CBS News [11/19/2025 9:22 PM, Nicole Sganga, Stephen Smith, 39474K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday offloaded a nearly 50,000-pound haul of cocaine worth more than $360 million, bringing it onshore at Port Everglades in southern Florida. "It’s the most cocaine ever seized by a single cutter in one deployment. So business is good," Adm. Nathan Moore, the commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area, said in his first network interview. But despite recent U.S. air and missile strikes on what the Trump administration says is cartel smuggling infrastructure, the Coast Guard has not seen "any noticeable difference" in the flow of cocaine, Moore said. "I would just tell you that the drugs you see here on [Cutter] Stone — most have been seized in September, October and even early in the month of November. So business is good for us and we are continuing to enjoy success" in intercepting drug vessels. According to Moore, there have been no major changes in traffickers’ routes or pace, or in drug purity. The U.S. military has conducted at least 21 strikes targeting alleged drug-ferrying boats off South America since September as part of a wider anti-drug offensive. But Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole says the strikes are having a measurable impact. "You’re starting to see the rise in the price of cocaine," Cole told CBS News in an exclusive interview. "Cocaine is getting more expensive. And I think what it is — not only more expensive in the U.S., but we’re seeing it become more expensive at first stops. So more expensive in Puerto Rico, more expensive in the Dominican, more expensive once it lands in Guatemala and Honduras and Central America.” Cole said the DEA has seen an increase in the price of cocaine of 30% to 45% per kilogram. "It’s now more expensive to recruit boat captains, it’s more expensive to purchase engines, it’s more expensive to build larger boats for transportation," he added. "And this is all due to immense pressure.” There has also been a recent surge in Coast Guard drug seizures, which Moore attributes to upgraded cutters like the Stone, as well as tighter integration with U.S. intelligence agencies and new autonomous surveillance tools. The strikes have come amid a broader buildup of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean as the Trump administration continues to put pressure on Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro, whom the administration has repeatedly accused of being the head of a drug trafficking operation. President Trump on Monday said he would not rule out sending American troops to Venezuela. "I don’t rule out anything," Mr. Trump said. "We just have to take care of Venezuela.”

CyberScoop [11/19/2025 12:50 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports Amazon said the lines between cyberattacks and physical, real-world attacks are blurring quickly — prompting the tech giant to call for a new category of warfare: cyber-enabled kinetic targeting. Nation-states have combined and understood how logical systems and the physical world interact for a long time, but more non-traditional attackers are showcasing expertise in using cyberattacks to enable and amplify the impact of kinetic military operations, according to Amazon Threat Intelligence. “The collective industry and our customers have to really pay attention to this and change the way we’re doing things,” Steve Schmidt, chief security officer at Amazon, told CyberScoop in a phone interview. “Physical and digital security cannot be treated as separate domains with separate domains and approaches.” Governments traditionally have requirements for actions to occur or access to specific information, and oftentimes those objectives were treated separately. Yet, now when governments want to achieve military objectives, military planners are asking for more precise details about the target, Schmidt said.

HS Today [11/20/2025 3:03 AM, Matt Seldon, 38K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) unveiled three new guides to assist critical infrastructure owners and operators in understanding and mitigating risks associated with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). These products are part of CISA’s Be Air Aware™ resources and include “Unmanned Aircraft System Detection Technology Guidance for Critical Infrastructure,” “Suspicious Unmanned Aircraft System Activity Guidance for Critical Infrastructure Owners and Operators” and “Safe Handling Considerations for Downed Unmanned Aircraft Systems.” “The new risks and challenges from UAS activity demonstrate that the threat environment is always changing, which means our defenses must improve as well,” said CISA Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala. “CISA’s Be Air Aware™ resources are designed to empower critical infrastructure owners and operators with the information they need to better safeguard their systems and assets.” As the commercial and recreational use of UAS continues to soar, the frequency of UAS operating near critical infrastructure is expected to rise significantly. While most UAS activity is mostly harmless, some flights may go undetected, raise suspicions, or result in a downed UAS within a facility’s perimeter. To address these potential threats, CISA has developed a suite of UAS security resources. These resources are designed to help critical infrastructure owners and operators enhance their security planning and make recommendations to better manage UAS-related risks. “The release of these guides is a significant step in supporting the actions mandated under Executive Order 14305. By addressing the escalating UAS threats, including the frequent incursions at critical infrastructure facilities, we are taking proactive measures to protect our nation’s vital assets” said Steve Casapulla, CISA Executive Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security. “These guides provide critical infrastructure owners and operators with meaningful information and resources to fortify their security posture, enabling them to address UAS threats to public gatherings and critical infrastructure.”

CyberScoop [11/19/2025 4:50 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports the Treasury Department, along with officials from the United Kingdom and Australia, imposed sanctions Wednesday against two bulletproof hosting providers and key people involved in their operations, in a globally coordinated effort aimed at thwarting the role these services have in enabling ransomware, phishing operations, and data extortion campaigns around the world. Authorities sanctioned Media Land, three of its leaders and three affiliated companies for allegedly supporting ransomware operations and other cybercrime. The Russia-based bulletproof hosting provider has provided services to ransomware groups, including LockBit, BlackSuit and Play, officials said. Authorities imposed sanctions on Media Land’s general director Alexsandr Volosovik, Kirill Zatolokin, Yulia Pankova and subsidiaries ML Cloud, Media Land Technology and Data Center Kirishi. “Media Land has been impactful largely because of its longevity. Recorded Future can trace attackers using their infrastructure back to at least 2015 — 10 years of activity,” Allan Liska, threat intelligence analyst at Recorded Future, told CyberScoop. “Targeting this kind of infrastructure can have a disruptive effect on the ransomware ecosystem,” he said. “It’s not the same as a takedown, but it makes it much more difficult for these threat actors to operate and continue to provide services.”

FOX News [11/19/2025 7:58 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 40621K] reports a major national security debate is unfolding, and it affects more than government networks. It touches your home, your devices, and the Wi-Fi your family uses every day. The Commerce Department has proposed blocking new sales of TP-Link products after a months-long review into the company’s ties to China, citing a growing TP-Link security risk. Multiple agencies, including the Departments of Homeland Security and War, supported that proposal. They believe the company’s connections could expose American networks to foreign influence. Security experts warn that foreign-backed hackers have targeted home and office routers for years. These devices often act as silent stepping stones that help attackers move deeper into sensitive systems. When compromised, they can expose everything connected to them, including computers, smart home gear, military devices used on base and more. This potential ban would be one of the biggest consumer tech actions in U.S. history. It comes as lawmakers raise fresh alarms about Chinese-made cameras, routers and connected home products sold on military exchanges and in homes across the country.

Federal News Network [11/19/2025 1:30 PM, Terry Gerton, 986K] reports that guest: Josh Ferenczi. Title: Head of Innovation Lab, Cytactic. Summary: New data from Cytactic shows that 70% of security leaders say internal misalignment creates more disruption than the threat actor itself. From unrehearsed plans to unclear authority, organizations are struggling to respond effectively even with strong tech in place. Here’s what leaders should do now to close the readiness gap. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [11/19/2025 11:09 AM, Sam Tabahriti, 36480K] reports the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom announced coordinated sanctions on Wednesday against Russia-based bulletproof hosting service provider Media Land for its role in supporting ransomware operations. U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also designated three members of the Russian company’s leadership team and three of its sister companies, the Department of Treasury said in a statement. "These so-called bulletproof hosting service providers like Media Land provide cybercriminals essential services to aid them in attacking businesses in the United States and in allied countries," said John Hurley, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

New York Post [11/19/2025 6:44 PM, Ryan King, 42219K] reports House lawmakers unanimously passed legislation Wednesday aimed at preventing terrorists from using generative artificial intelligence (AI) amid fears that the technology could help develop chemical, nuclear, and other advanced weapons. The measure comes in response to ISIS and other terrorist groups using bleeding-edge generative AI technology to bolster their propaganda and sourcing of supplies to carry out brutal attacks. Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), who introduced the Generative AI Terrorism Risk Assessment Act, warned that as AI technology advances, the risks of terrorist groups using it to carry out sophisticated, bloody attacks grow. "To confront this emerging threat and stop terrorist organizations from weaponizing AI to recruit, train, and inspire attacks on U.S. soil, I am proud that the House passed my Generative AI Terrorism Risk Assessment Act today," Pfluger told The Post. "I know how critical it is for our policies and capabilities to keep pace with the threats of tomorrow." Pfluger, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee’s subpanel on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, crafted the bill to require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct annual assessments on terrorist threats to the US from AI in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence.

USA Today [11/19/2025 11:47 AM, Jeanine Santucci, 67103K] reports an international neo-Nazi group leader accused of inspiring a teen to commit a school shooting in Tennessee has pleaded guilty to soliciting hate crimes in a plot to poison Jewish people in New York City, authorities said. The terrorist group’s leader, Michail Chkhikvishvili, who also goes by "Commander Butcher," pleaded guilty on Nov. 17 to soliciting hate crimes and sending instructions to make bombs and ricin, federal prosecutors said. The Georgian national was extradited from Moldova on May 22 after he was arrested there last July. Officials have said the man was the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, also known as MKY, and was responsible for orchestrating deadly attacks around the globe. Chkhikvishvili distributed a writing called the "Hater’s Handbook," encouraging people to commit acts of mass violence such as school shootings and "ethnic cleansing," according to court filings. His "solicitations of violence" led to international attacks, prosecutors said. Chkhikvishvili also targeted the United States as a site for attacks because of an ease of accessing firearms, prosecutors said. He told an undercover law enforcement employee, "I see USA as big potential because accessibility to firearms and other resources," in an electronic message sent Sept. 8, 2023, court filings show.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [11/19/2025 9:06 AM, Jennifer Hassan, 24149K]

CBS Miami [11/19/2025 1:33 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports nearly 50,000 pounds of cocaine were offloaded Wednesday at Port Everglades in Broward County.

The AP [11/19/2025 6:31 PM, Margery A. Beck, 852K] Video: HERE reports federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a man with committing a terrorist attack, alleging he poured gasoline on a woman and chased her through a Chicago train car before setting her on fire. Lawrence Reed was sitting at the back of a car on a Blue Line L train on Monday night when he approached the woman as she sat with her back to him and doused her with gasoline that was in a plastic beverage bottle, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrest affidavit. The 26-year-old woman fought off the man as he tried to ignite the gas, then she ran from one end of the car to the other as Reed chased her, an investigator said in the affidavit, citing surveillance video from the train. Reed then ignited the bottle, approached the woman and set her on fire, according to the affidavit. The federal charge against Reed, 50, of Chicago, carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Federal court records do not show whether Reed has an attorney representing him in the case. Chicago news outlets reported that Reed was disruptive during his first appearance in a federal court on Wednesday afternoon, including yelling over the judge that he wanted to represent himself and claiming that he was a Chinese citizen. Reed shouted, “I plead guilty!” repeatedly as the judge tried to advise him of his rights, according to local news reports. Surveillance video showed Reed at a gas station about 30 minutes before the attack, filling a small container with gasoline, the affidavit says. After the attack, Reed got off the train at the next stop in downtown Chicago, walking away as the woman stumbled out and fell to the ground, police said. She was taken to a hospital in critical condition with severe burns to her head and body, authorities said. Officials have not released her name. Chicago police said that when they arrested Reed on Tuesday morning he made incriminating statements about the attack. He was wearing the same clothes as the man who attacked the woman and had burns on his right hand, according to the affidavit. Reed carried out the attack “with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury to one or more persons” on the train, the ATF investigator wrote. Chicago police did not answer questions Wednesday by The Associated Press on whether it had or would refer charges against Reed to state prosecutors, saying questions should be directed to federal authorities. At a news conference after Reed’s court appearance, federal officials expressed frustration that he was free at the time of the attack, saying he had a long criminal history while providing few details. “Lawrence Reed had no business being on the streets given that his violent criminal history and his pending criminal cases,” ATF Special Agent-in-Charge Christopher Amon said. “Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system and as a result you have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life.” U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said that if the victim were to die from her injuries, the case could be eligible for the death penalty. Illinois abolished the death penalty in 2011. Asked about Reed’s mental health, Boutros said he was not aware of Reed ever legally being declared mentally incompetent. Federal officials also said more information about Reed’s criminal history would be discussed at a Friday detention hearing. The attack drew comparisons to an August stabbing on a commuter train in Charlotte, North Carolina, that left a young woman dead. Federal authorities have charged a man with fatally stabbing 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, in an apparent random attack. Chicago and other Democratic-led cities have been the focus of intense criticism from President Donald Trump and his administration, who have characterized them as crime-ridden despite a drop in violent crime after a pandemic-era spike. In a post on social media on Tuesday night, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy highlighted the Chicago train attack. “This horrific attack is EXACTLY why we need communities to take safety seriously. Blue cities cannot allow another Iryna Zarutska to happen,” Duffy wrote on X. The Chicago Transit Authority said it was working with police in the investigation and that it has a multipronged approach to security that includes the use of surveillance cameras. NBC News [11/19/2025 5:03 PM, Marlene Lenthang, 34509K] reports Reed was arrested on Tuesday morning, found wearing the same clothes as he wore during the train incident. Reed appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon, where he repeatedly yelled "I plead guilty!" as soon as he entered the courtroom, according to NBC Chicago. He declined counsel and he started to sing so he wouldn’t hear the judge. The judge and prosecutor agreed Reed will have a medical mental evaluation. The Chicago Tribune [11/19/2025 8:32 PM, Caroline Kubzansky, Talia Soglin, and Jason Meisner 4829K] reports Prosecutors Wednesday afternoon charged Reed, of Chicago, with a single count of terrorism against a mass transportation system for the apparently unprovoked attack in an unusual 13-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Speaking to reporters after the hearing, U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros said the victim remained in critical condition Wednesday, adding that if she died of her injuries, Reed could be eligible for the death penalty. Boutros added that he believed this case was the first time this particular terrorism charge had been brought here, though it’s been used in other districts, including in the September stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina. Boutros said the surveillance video from the train is "difficult to watch" and showed there was no altercation between Reed and the victim before the incident. Chris Amon, special agent in charge of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Chicago, said that given Reed’s extensive criminal record, he had "no business being on the streets." "Reed had plenty of second chances by the criminal justice system, and as a result we have an innocent victim in the hospital fighting for her life," Amon said.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [11/19/2025 2:34 PM, Amanda Holpuch and Mark Walker, 135475K]
AP [11/19/2025 6:33 PM, Staff, 31753K]
ABC News [11/19/2025 5:36 PM, Meredith Deliso and Luke Barr, 30493K]

AP [11/19/2025 7:05 PM, Jamie Stengle, 31753K] reports five people pleaded guilty Wednesday to terrorism-related charges after they were accused of supporting antifa in a July shooting that wounded a police officer outside a Texas immigration detention center. The charges brought by the Justice Department followed President Donald Trump signing an order that designated the decentralized movement known as antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. Trump has blamed antifa for political violence. FBI Director Kash Patel has previously said the charges in Texas are the first time a material support to terrorism charge has targeted antifa. A police officer was injured in the July 4 shooting near Dallas outside the Prairieland Detention Center, where federal prosecutors say an antifa cell carried out an attack that included gunfire and fireworks aimed toward the facility. Antifa, short for "anti-fascists," is not a single organization but rather an umbrella term for left-leaning militant groups that confront or resist neo-Nazis and white supremacists at demonstrations. Nathan Baumann, Joy Gibson, Seth Sikes, Lynette Sharp and John Thomas each entered guilty pleas to one count of providing material support to terrorists in federal court in Fort Worth. They face up to 15 years in prison at sentencing.

AP [11/19/2025 7:07 PM, Colleen Slevin, 31753K] reports federal authorities said Wednesday they seized more than a half-ton of methamphetamine and indicted 15 people following a two-year investigation that disrupted a drug trafficking organization from Mexico operating in Colorado. Eleven people have been arrested, but four others including the organization’s alleged leader remain free and are believed to be in Mexico, the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. Dave Olesky, Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge, said in a news conference that the investigation revealed ties “to elements in Mexico involving the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels.” Olesky did not take questions, and an agency spokesperson declined to elaborate. Sinaloa and Jalisco, notorious cartels whose names are derived from the Mexican states where they originated, were among eight Latin American crime groups recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. An arrest affidavit said the seized methamphetamine amounted to millions of individual doses. Most of the 1,115 pounds (505 kilograms) of meth was discovered hidden in the corners of boxes of pear squash that was recently imported from Mexico and found on a property in the Denver suburb of Lakewood in April, the affidavit said. Almost 100 pounds (45 kilograms) were found on a Greyhound bus passing through Vail in December after investigators got a warrant to track a cellphone used to communicate with a suspected drug dealer. Authorities were waiting to check the bus when it arrived in the ski resort town, the affidavit said. The drugs were headed to the Denver area, U.S. Attorney Peter McNeilly said. “This is one supply chain that needed to be broken,” said Marv Massey, acting FBI special agent in charge.`

San Diego Union Tribune [11/19/2025 8:04 PM, Staff, 1538K] reports a man convicted of sending an emailed threat to commit a mass shooting at Shoal Creek Elementary School in Carmel Mountain Ranch was sentenced Wednesday to two years in state prison, though he has already served enough time in custody to be paroled. Lee Lor, 40, was found guilty by a jury of a single felony count of making criminal threats for an email he sent in December 2023 that prompted a police response at the campus and Lor’s arrest later that day. Prosecutors say the email was one of more than 400 he sent over the course of several months, stating he would commit a shooting at the school, which is located less than a mile from where Lor was living at the time. The December 2023 email stated he was going "to commit mass shootings" at the school and listed the school’s address. Another email he sent stated, "I’m going to murder a bunch of children," while another read, "Children are going to die and parents can’t do nothing about it. This will put a smile on my face.” None of the emails Lor wrote were sent directly to the school. Instead, Lor replied to random spam emails in his inbox with nearly identical threats to shoot up Shoal Creek. One of the emails he replied to on Dec. 1 landed in the spam folder of a woman in Beverly Hills, who alerted police. The two-year sentence was the maximum term that could be imposed. San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers’ sentence also included an order that state parole officials provide mental health and substance abuse treatment for Lor, which he said was "an important component of Mr. Lor’s supervision and potential rehabilitation.” Weathers denied requests from Lor’s defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Lucas Hirsty, to reduce the conviction to a misdemeanor, allow Lor to participate in mental health or military diversion programs, or dismiss the conviction entirely. Hirsty argued that since Lor would not face any more custodial time, a felony conviction would not accomplish anything further. The attorney argued at trial that there was no serious intent behind the threats, which he said were triggered in part by trauma sustained during Lor’s military service and the recent death of his father. Lor did not make a statement during the sentencing hearing, but Hirsty said his client "wanted to express his condolences to Ms. Omoto and the school. He is not oblivious to the impact that receiving the communication could have or did have on the school.” Weathers said the felony conviction should stand due to the seriousness of Lor’s actions. "The defendant targeted one of the most vulnerable locations, where the most innocent of victims are attending school. In a place where children should feel safe, the defendant instilled a lasting fear in the principal, staff, students, parents, and the community by his threats," the judge said.

Breitbart [11/19/2025 12:30 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2416K] reports that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday posted an animated GIF image of a clown in response to Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parilla after the communist official accused him of being a "corrupt and compulsive liar." Rodríguez Parilla levelled his accusations against Rubio in a social media post complaining about alleged "lies" from the U.S. State Department — which, according to the Cuban foreign minister, is trying to "justify military aggression against Venezuela with false pretexts" under Rubio’s "corrupt and compulsive liar" leadership. "In full view of everyone and with the support of the media, they seek to normalize and legitimize an attack against a sovereign nation," Rodriguez Parilla’s message read. "As a dishonest ploy, they seek to implicate the legitimate Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, in drug trafficking and terrorism, two serious international scourges that have only been promoted in this region by the U.S. government, its intelligence and drug agencies, and by figures associated with all those politicians in Florida who are calling for an attack on Venezuelan territory," he continued. Rubio responded to the Cuban Foreign Minister’s accusations with the GIF image of a clown.

Federal News Network [11/19/2025 5:39 PM, Anastasia Obis, 986K] reports a government watchdog is sounding the alarm about a growing national security threat online. Rather than a traditional cyberattack, however, this one comes from the everyday digital footprints service members and their families leave across the internet. A new Government Accountability Office report warns that publicly accessible data — from social media posts and location tracking to Defense Department press releases — can be pieced together by malicious actors to identify military personnel, target their families and disrupt military operations. According to GAO, while the Pentagon has taken some steps to address the threat, its efforts remain scattered, inconsistent and lack coordination. "We found that the department recognized that there were security issues, but they weren’t necessarily well-prepared to respond to them because it was new, because it didn’t necessarily neatly fit into existing organizational structures or policies or doctrines, and that’s a consistent story with the department," Joe Kirschbaum, director of the defense capabilities and management team at GAO, told Federal News Network.

Daily Caller [11/19/2025 11:27 PM, Mariane Angela, 835K] reports White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that her office restricted free-roaming media access after catching reporters secretly recording staff conversations. The White House now bars reporters from entering the press secretary’s Upper Press office without an appointment, citing security concerns after decades of unrestricted access. In an interview with "Pod Force One," Leavitt told Miranda Devine the change came after multiple incidents involving reporters loitering around sensitive information inside Upper Press. "We have taken over the responsibilities of the National Security Council, thanks to the restructuring of Secretary Rubio when he became National Security Advisor. Steven Cheung and I are responsible for all communications matters, including national security," Leavitt said. "And so we felt it became very inappropriate for reporters to be loitering around sensitive information in our offices. And we did, unfortunately, catch some unruly reporters recording us without our permission, listening in on conversations, eavesdropping.” Leavitt said the White House imposed appointment-only access to Upper Press after reporters began hovering outside morning staff meetings. "We’d have staff meetings in the morning. Some of the reporters started to pick up on that, and we’d walk out and they would be out there trying to listen. You know, if Secretary Rubio or the chief want to come in and brief us on something, you’d have reporters out there heckling them, and it just became an inappropriate work environment," Leavitt said. "And so now they’re welcome up here, but it’s by appointment only. And so a lot of the outrage you’re seeing on Twitter, they’ve told us privately they’re OK with how this system works so long as they can still have appointments with me to understand the news of the day.” Leavitt added she still gives reporters as much access as her schedule allows, saying that she splits much of her day between the Oval Office. "I give them as much time as I possibly can on my schedule. Although a lot of my time is with the president and in the Oval Office and sitting in on meetings. So I try to devote as much time as I can to the press because that is my job, right? The basic duty is for me to work with the press and make sure they’re telling the truth out there," Leavitt said. Assistant to the President and White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung also defended the move, saying the White House imposed the restrictions after catching reporters secretly recording video and audio inside the West Wing. He added that some journalists even slipped into restricted rooms and tried to eavesdrop on private meetings. "Press still has access to lower press where the press team sits and can answer all inquiries. Reporters can make appointments to see us in our offices," Cheung wrote.

FOX News [11/19/2025 7:21 AM, Anders Hagstrom, 40621K Video: HERE] reports President Donald Trump has given his approval for the CIA to carry out covert operations within Venezuela, New York Times reported Tuesday. The report comes after the U.S. deployed USS Gerald Ford, America’s largest aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean. Citing multiple people briefed on the matter, the Times reported that the covert operations could lay the groundwork for a potentially more broad military campaign. The unnamed sources further said that back channel negotiations with Venezuela’s government have so far failed to produce results. They say Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered to step down after a delay of "a couple years," but the Trump administration rejected the offer. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. The news was first reported less than a day after Trump labeled Maduro a "terrorist" and left the door open to deploying U.S. troops to Venezuela. "No, I don’t rule out that, I don’t rule out anything," Trump said Monday when asked about the possibility. "We just have to take care of Venezuela. They dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country from prisons. Nobody knows better than this young lady right here," Trump continued, referring to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "She’s done an incredible job with Tom Homan and all of your people." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [11/19/2025 5:02 AM, Julian E. Barnes, 153395K] reports President Trump has said that the U.S. military is attacking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific because of the large numbers of fentanyl deaths in the United States, and he claims that those boats come from Venezuela. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the military mission “secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.” The U.S. military has blown up at least 21 boats, killing more than 80 people since the Trump administration’s antidrug campaign began in September. There is little doubt that fentanyl is exceptionally dangerous. But lawmakers and narcotics experts say that the Trump administration’s efforts to tie Venezuela to the U.S. fentanyl crisis are misleading. For one, the fentanyl used illegally in the United States does not come from Venezuela.

Federalist [11/19/2025 7:20 AM, Phillip Linderman, 785K] reports President Donald Trump is implementing Bismarckian realpolitik in the Western hemisphere, filling dangerous geopolitical power vacuums created by the Biden administration. On the Mexican frontier, in Central America and the Caribbean basin, Biden repeatedly failed to act to protect National Interest, allowing these key regions to become staging areas for hostile actors and criminals to strike the U.S. homeland. President Trump’s renewed transactional engagement with unfriendly governments in Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela is an overdue rebalance after years of U.S. inattention and mismanagement that empowered illegal migration networks and freebooting organized crime. That said, a U.S. boots-on-the-ground military intervention in Venezuela should be avoided. Such an action is not a required element of Trump’s refreshing renewal of the Monroe Doctrine spirit. Similarly, the administration would be wise to seek congressional authorization for U.S. military strikes on drug-smuggling boats on the high seas because controversy surrounding those attacks should not distract from the need for Washington to repudiate and reverse Biden’s foolish hemispheric security policies. Long term, Trump should pursue a "good neighbor policy" in the Americas, built on security, peace, and economic development, but it is naïve to believe that current hostile governments in the region make such an approach possible. As a good neighbor, the U.S. should stop intervening in the Americas to impose Washington elites’ solutions to long-standing injustices; but the president can and should call out corrupt governments that facilitate powerful organized crime groups, particularly when that criminality strikes at the U.S. homeland. As Trump has done, a genuine good neighbor must end mindless policies that accelerate massive and lawless cross-border people flows and recognize that hemispheric economic development requires citizens to remain in their countries in order to build them. When that does not happen, the region is left with corrupt ideological dinosaurs like Cuba.

Washington Post [11/19/2025 11:32 AM, Aaron Wiener, Serhiy Morgunov, and Ellen Francis, 24149K] reports tensions spiked Wednesday as Poland, a key NATO supporter of Ukraine, accused Russia of “an act of state terrorism” and vowed a strong response to an explosion that damaged a rail line in eastern Poland over the weekend. In a fiery speech to Parliament in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced that the last Russian consulate in the country would be closed, and he promised a response that would be “more than just diplomatic.” This response, Sikorski said, would be revealed in coming days. The escalating tension between Warsaw and Moscow came as Russian missile and drone attacks killed at least 25 people in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine, and injured dozens more across Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. Poland scrambled fighter jets in response to the Russian attack, the Polish armed forces operational command said on X. Two German fighter jets, deployed as part of a NATO air-policing mission, and two Romanian military aircraft also responded after a drone violated Romanian airspace, Romania’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has dismissed the allegations over the train line explosion as “Russophobia.” But the damage to the tracks, which have been used to deliver aid to Ukraine, marks the most direct confrontation between Moscow and a NATO country since a flock of Russian drones violated Polish airspace in September. Some of the drones were shot down by NATO aircraft. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the rail explosion on the Warsaw-Lublin route “an unprecedented act of sabotage.”

Washington Post [11/19/2025 8:41 PM, Adam Taylor, John Hudson, Catherine Belton and Dan Lamothe, 24149K] reports the Trump administration is renewing efforts to end the war in Ukraine, with special envoy Steve Witkoff quietly pushing a revised peace plan that contains some provisions opposed by Kyiv and top U.S. military officials undertaking an unusual diplomatic assignment in the Ukrainian capital, according to people familiar with the developments. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who is leading the delegation, is the most senior Pentagon official known to have visited the war-ravaged country since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House this year. His arrival in Kyiv on Wednesday follows a secretive meeting in Miami this past weekend between Witkoff and top advisers to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the people said, speaking like others on the condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. A breakthrough appears unlikely, however. One person familiar with Witkoff’s efforts said the administration’s latest proposal includes several concessions that Zelensky will find difficult to approve, including a significant loss of territory and strict limits on Ukraine’s military. At the same time, Zelensky has been weakened by a major corruption scandal that has ensnared several of his close associates, which — coupled with the exhausting pace of Russian military strikes — could leave the Ukrainian leader with few good options as U.S. officials exert greater pressure on him to accept a deal to end the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio eventually commented on the plan Wednesday evening, suggesting a great deal more debate lay ahead. “Ending a complex and deadly war such as the one in Ukraine requires an extensive exchange of serious and realistic ideas” and that achieving “a durable peace will require both sides to agree to difficult but necessary concessions,” he wrote on X. It was not immediately clear whether, or how, Driscoll’s trip may be aligned with Witkoff’s negotiations. A senior administration official said the Army secretary, who is traveling with two top U.S. generals, will relay his findings to the White House. Spokespeople for the White House, Ukraine’s presidential office and the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment on the developments. Spokespeople for the State Department did not respond when asked about Witkoff’s proposal. A U.S. defense official said that, in Ukraine, Driscoll will explore “efforts to end the war.” The official characterized the trip as a “fact-finding mission” but declined to say who within the Ukrainian government the American delegation would be meeting or what the content of those gatherings would be. The latest push for a ceasefire follows Trump’s inconclusive summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the summer.AI Icon The administration’s effort to continue those talks with a second bilateral meeting, which was to be held in Budapest, collapsed under what U.S. officials said were Putin’s unrealistic, maximalist demands.

New York Post [11/19/2025 1:26 PM, Samuel Chamberlain and Caitlin Doornbos, 42219K] reports members of the Trump administration and Russian officials have secretly been hashing out a revised plan to end Moscow’s 45-month-old invasion of Ukraine — but the deal is riddled with unacceptable provisions that would in part force Kyiv to dramatically shrink its military, The Post can reveal. The 28-point framework calls for Ukraine to shrink its Army to 2.5 times smaller than it is now; forces Kyiv to turn over long-range missiles “or any kind that can reach Moscow or St. Petersburg”; and bans any international brigades within Ukraine — which has long been considered the best way to ensure a halt to Russia’s assault would remain in place, a source familiar with the plan told The Post. The proposed plan would also target NATO, requiring Ukraine to ban allied countries from keeping any military aircraft in Ukraine — instead backing them up to at least the Polish border. The plan would also force Ukraine to fork over the entirety of the Donbas region — including territory Russia has been unable to occupy, according to a report by Financial Times. Axios reported that the deal was inspired by President Trump’s 20-point road map for ending the war between Israel and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip, citing US and Russian officials. However, that plan famously calls for an international force to keep the peace in Gaza until a Palestinian state can be established.

Reuters [11/19/2025 2:06 PM, Bleb Bryanski, 36480K] reports that President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for a national task force to coordinate Russia’s work on homegrown generative artificial intelligence models, which he said were vital to preserving Russian sovereignty. Putin said large-language models have become a major instrument in spreading information and are capable of influencing the views of entire nations. He added that dependency on LLMs designed in other countries was not acceptable for Russia. "For Russia, it is a matter of national, technological and value-based sovereignty. Therefore, our country must possess a comprehensive set of its own technologies and products in the field of generative AI," Putin said at AI Journey, Russia’s flagship AI event. Putin said the task force should focus on developing data centres across the country and ensuring nearby energy sources such as small-scale nuclear power stations. While Russia lags the United States and China in AI, two large-language models, Gigachat and Yandex GPT, have been developed by the country’s main AI-focused companies, Sberbank and Yandex. Sberbank, which grew from a traditional bank into a technology company, announced a new version of Gigachat on Wednesday and presented AI-powered products, from humanoid robots to health-scanning ATMs, to Putin.

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