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 [11/6/2025 2:23 AM, Joseph Falzetta, 31753K] reports the United States is terminating South Sudan’s designation for temporary protected status, which for years allowed people from the East African country to remain in the U.S. legally and escape armed conflict back home. The termination will be effective Jan. 5, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “After conferring with interagency partners, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem determined that conditions in South Sudan no longer meet the TPS statutory requirements,” the statement said. It added that South Sudanese nationals who use the Customs and Border Protection mobile app to report their departure could receive “a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 exit bonus, and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.” The new policy is a blow to people from South Sudan, a nation that remains politically unstable and the source of many refugees seeking shelter abroad. A peace deal to end fighting between rival forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and to his erstwhile deputy Riek Machar, has been in force since 2018, but observers say it is slowly unraveling after the arrest earlier this year of Machar on criminal charges. Kiir said he suspended Machar as his First Vice President so that his deputy could face charges including treason. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has moved to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally, including ending temporary status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden. South Sudan has been designated for temporary protected status since 2011, when it became independent from Sudan. The designation is renewed in 18-month increments. South Sudan’s government struggles to deliver many of the basic services of a state. Years of conflict have left the country heavily reliant on aid, which has been hit hard by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts in foreign assistance. NewsMax [11/5/2025 4:47 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports "While there is inter/intra-communal violence linked to border disputes, cross-border violence, cyclical and retaliatory attacks, and ethnic polarization, return to full-scale civil war, to-date, has been avoided," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services wrote in a filing published to the Federal Register on Wednesday. "Although residual challenges from the civil war remain, there is no longer an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning South Sudanese nationals," it added. President Donald Trump has sought to strip legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants from a number of countries since taking office in January as part of his broad immigration crackdown and "America First" agenda. Temporary protected status, or TPS, is a humanitarian designation under U.S. law for countries stricken by war, natural disaster, or other catastrophes, giving recipients living in the United States protection from deportation and access to work permits. South Sudan has faced repeated bouts of violent conflict since 2011, with a civil war between 2013 and 2018 leaving 400,000 people dead. A U.N.-backed hunger monitor said this week that food insecurity and malnutrition in the country remained "extremely high.” Nationals from Syria, Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba, and Nicaragua have also seen their TPS status revoked, though some cases remain tied up in court. The New York Times [11/5/2025 3:58 PM, Madeleine Ngo, 153395K] reports that “Under the previous administration, Temporary Protected Status was abused to allow violent terrorists, criminals and national security threats into our nation,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement. “T.P.S. was never designed to be permanent.” The Obama administration first authorized T.P.S. for South Sudanese nationals, saying the designation was warranted because of ongoing armed conflict. Since then, the program has been extended multiple times. Breitbart [11/6/2025 3:29 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports South Sudan was first designated for TPS in November 2011 amid violent post-independence instability in the country, and the designation has been repeatedly renewed since. The Trump administration has sought to end TPS designations for a total seven countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal, Venezuela and now South Sudan. Court challenges have followed, with decisions staying, at least for now, the terminations for all of the countries except for Afghanistan and Cameroon, which ended July 12 and Aug. 4, respectively. The move to terminate TPS for South Sudan is also expected to be challenged in court. The announcement comes a little more than a week after the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned the General Assembly that the African nation is experiencing escalating armed conflict and political crisis, and that international intervention is needed to halt mounting human rights violations. A civil war erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, just two years after the country gained independence — a conflict that came to an end with a cease-fire in 2018. Barney Afako, a member of the human rights commission in South Sudan, said Oct. 29 that the political transition spearheaded by the cease-fire agreement was "falling apart.” "The cease-fire is not holding, political detentions have become a tool of repression, the peace agreement’s key provisions are being systematically violated and the government forces are using aerial bombardments in civilian areas," he said. "All indicators point to a slide back toward another deadly war.” The DHS is urging South Sudanese in the United States under TPS to voluntarily leave the country using the U.S. Customs and Border Protection smartphone application. If they do, they can secure a complimentary plane ticket, a $1,000 "exit bonus" and potential future opportunities for legal immigration.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [11/5/2025 4:23 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12595K]
Politico [11/5/2025 10:52 AM, Eric Bazail-Eimil, 2100K]
Reuters [11/5/2025 9:59 AM, Maiya Keidan and Susan Heavey, 36480K]
CBS News [11/5/2025 7:00 AM, Nicole Sganga, 39474K]
Daily Caller [11/5/2025 3:09 PM, Melissa O’Rourke, 835K]

Breitbart [11/5/2025 10:22 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Ecuador on Wednesday to tour its military facilities, days before the country votes in a referendum on allowing foreign bases on its territory. The key vote takes place against the backdrop of a US military operation in the region, which has seen deadly strikes on alleged drug-ferrying boats killing at least 67 and the deployment of naval vessels. The strategy enjoys the support of President Daniel Noboa, as a growing drug gang presence has turned once-peaceful Ecuador into the country with South America’s highest homicide rate. Noem arrived Wednesday afternoon at the Eloy Alfaro Air Base, located in the city of Manta, as part of her tour of "strategic facilities" that could serve as "potential bases" for the US Department of Homeland Security, Noboa’s spokeswoman Carolina Jaramillo said at a conference in capital Quito earlier in the day. If voters approve the measure, Jaramillo said US security and defense agencies, together with Ecuadorian police and military forces in charge of fighting organized crime, will jointly operate at those bases. She did not provide further details. Noem’s agency is responsible for anti-terrorism work, border and immigration control. "When crime knows no borders, strategies against it must also know no borders," Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo said in a video statement, referring to Ecuador’s joint work with the United States. "The specific focus of this cooperation is…on technological resources and equipment, which Ecuador still lacks.” On Thursday, Noem is scheduled to visit a military base in the coastal town of Salinas, in the southwest of the country. For a decade, Manta hosted US aircraft for anti-drug flights until the country adopted a new constitution in 2008 banning foreign bases on its territory. Meanwhile, Salinas hosted a US military base during World War II. Both bases now host Ecuadoran military facilities. Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump in the region, announced last week that both countries had ruled out the idea of opening as US military base in the Galapagos as part of the Washington anti-drug offensive. Noboa also said that he was in talks with Brazil to create an Amazonian police force to combat organized crime in that region.

AP [11/5/2025 11:42 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, on Wednesday met with Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa to discuss opening U.S. military bases in the ports of Manta and Salinas. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [11/5/2025 5:54 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira] reports eleven states and Kentucky’s governor are suing the Trump administration over what they call "unlawful terms" placed on federal funding critical to supporting local disaster and terrorism preparedness. The predominantly Democratic-led states, which include Michigan, Oregon and Arizona, along with Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear sued the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Oregon. The states oppose a dramatic cut to the amount of time they are given to spend emergency management and homeland security grants, as well as an unprecedented requirement that they submit population counts omitting people removed under immigration law in order to receive emergency management funds. They argue the measures "erect inappropriate barriers" to money for public safety and emergency response. In a statement to The Associated Press, a DHS spokesperson said the changes were "part of a methodical, reasonable effort to ensure that federal dollars are used effectively and in line with the administration’s priorities and today’s homeland security threats." The lawsuit centers on two grant programs, the $320 million Emergency Management Performance Grant and the $1 billion Homeland Security Grant Program.

Daily Caller [11/5/2025 3:51 PM, Hudson Crozier, 985K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents now have broader authority to charge people with crimes against federal property amid repeated rioting at immigration facilities. The DHS enacted a rule on Wednesday titled “Protection of Federal Property” that allows more law enforcement action against rioters, the agency told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive statement. Officers guarding DHS buildings may arrest those wearing a mask while committing a crime, using “unmanned aircraft” such as drones to damage federal property, tampering with government tech systems, obstructing access, impeding federal employees from performing official duties, disorderly conduct and threatening to commit any violent crime. “Under President [Donald] Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we will not tolerate violence perpetuated by Antifa and other domestic extremists who are targeting federal property and law enforcement,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF. “Law and order will prevail.” The Trump administration is enacting the new charging powers based on a federal law authorizing the DHS to protect “the buildings, grounds, and property” that belong to the federal government, according to the department. Under the new rule, DHS officers can bring charges regardless of where the crime occurred if it “affects federal property and the persons thereon,” the agency told the DCNF. Officials initially scheduled the rule to take effect in January but sped up the process due to rising security threats, the DHS said.

San Diego Union Tribune [11/5/2025 5:35 PM, Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News, 1538K] reports the Trump administration has ordered states to investigate certain individuals enrolled in Medicaid to determine whether they are ineligible because of their immigration status, with five states reporting they’ve together received more than 170,000 names — an "unprecedented" step by the federal government that ensnares the state-federal health program in the president’s immigration crackdown. Advocates say the push burdens states with duplicative verification checks and could lead people to lose coverage just for missing paperwork deadlines. But the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Mehmet Oz, said in a post on the social platform X on Oct. 31 that more than $1 billion "of federal taxpayer dollars were being spent on funding Medicaid for illegal immigrants" in five states and Washington, D.C. Several states disputed Oz’s comments.

The New York Times [11/5/2025 7:56 PM, Mitch Smith, 153395K] reports a federal judge said Wednesday that immigration officials must provide bottled water, clean bedding, hygiene products and access to lawyers at a suburban Chicago detention center that detainees have described as squalid and unsanitary. The judge, Robert W. Gettleman, said conditions at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, Ill., “don’t pass constitutional muster.” He gave federal officials until midday Friday to submit a report on how they were meeting 15 requirements that he imposed in a temporary restraining order. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, defended conditions at the facility and pushed back against how it was characterized in court. “Any claims there are subprime conditions at the Broadview ICE facility are false,” Ms. McLaughlin said in an emailed statement. “All detainees are provided with three meals a day, water and have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. No one is denied access to proper medical care. There is a privacy wall around the toilet for detainees.” The Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 6:30 PM, Madeline Buckley, 4829K] reports that, following hours of testimony about dirty and unsafe conditions on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said the building is no longer just a temporary holding facility, and clearly was not built to accommodate the influx of detainees booked during the Trump administration’s "Operation Midway Blitz," which has rained chaos on the Chicago area since September. The lawsuit also accuses government officials of blocking detainees from speaking with attorneys while agents pressure people in custody to sign deportation forms rather than fight their case before an immigration judge. Reuters [11/5/2025 9:00 PM, Diana Novak Jones and Emily Schmall, 19051K] reports U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman granted the detainees’ request for a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, saying he found accounts from witnesses were extremely credible and that the conditions at the facility did not "pass constitutional muster." Gettleman said he added some conditions to the order beyond what plaintiffs requested, based on witnesses’ testimony at a hearing on Tuesday. The order sets requirements for detainees’ meals and hygiene needs at the facility in Broadview, Illinois, and mandates that officials provide phone access so detainees can communicate privately with their attorneys. It also requires federal officials to enter all detainees into a tracking log kept by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, so their locations are recorded. The AP [11/5/2025 5:58 PM, Christine Fernando, 31753K] reports that the order will be in effect for 14 days. It requires officials to provide detainees at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview with a clean bedding mat and sufficient space to sleep, soap, towels, toilet paper, toothbrushes, toothpaste, menstrual products and prescribed medications. “People shouldn’t be sleeping next to overflowing toilets,” U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said. “They should not be sleeping on top of each other.” The temporary restraining order says the holding rooms at the facility must be cleaned twice a day. Detainees must be allowed to shower at least every other day and should have three full meals and bottled water upon request. Advocates have raised concerns about Broadview’s conditions for months, and the facility has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress. Lawyers and relatives of people held there have called it a de facto detention center, and tense demonstrations have been held there for several weeks. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said detainees are provided with water and three meals a day, have phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers, and are not denied access to proper medical care. “Despite hoaxes spread by criminal illegal aliens, the complicit media, and now an activist judge, the ICE Broadview Facility does NOT have subprime conditions,” Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Gettleman had called the alleged conditions “unnecessarily cruel” after a hearing Tuesday about overflowing toilets, crowded cells, no beds and water that “tasted like sewer.” The judge said he found the witnesses “highly credible,” adding he was moved by the seriousness of the conditions. Gettleman required authorities to allow detainees to call lawyers in private with no cost and provide them with a list of pro bono attorneys in English and Spanish. Agents are barred from misrepresenting documents provided to detainees to sign. Gettleman requested a status report by noon Friday on how authorities are fulfilling the requirements. He said he knew complying with his order would be hard. “I don’t expect to snap my fingers and have this done,” he said An attorney for plaintiffs celebrated the order for improving the conditions of the facility and preventing detainees from unknowingly signing away their rights. “They cannot slip in a form written in a language somebody doesn’t understand and then all of a sudden the person gets whisked out of the country,” Alexa Van Brunt of the MacArthur Justice Center said. “That coercion has got to stop.” Plaintiff lawyers hope the document-gathering phase of the case will offer a rare glimpse inside Broadview. They are requesting documents on the facility’s detention policies, information on how ICE’s online detainee locator is maintained, emails from attorneys requesting information about their clients, a detention log, a facility inspection log, and details on what food, water and medications federal authorities are purchasing for detainees.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [11/5/2025 11:59 AM, Staff, 2416K]
CBS Chicago [11/5/2025 8:10 PM, Todd Feurer, Sabrina Franza and Charlie De Mar, 39474K] Video: HERE

Axios [11/5/2025 9:41 PM, Carrie Shepherd, Justin Kaufmann, 12972K] reports a federal judge in Chicago is expected to rule Thursday morning on whether Department of Homeland Security officers violated a temporary restraining order banning excessive use of force against protesters and journalists. More than a month after Judge Sara Ellis ordered DHS officers operating in and around Chicago to stop shooting pepper spray and tear gas at journalists and peaceful protesters, videos captured by witnesses from McKinley Park to Albany Park have shown tactics that question whether officers are adhering to the order. Under the temporary restraining order, Department of Homeland Security agents and other federal officials must give at least two audible warnings before deploying any riot control weapons. Video captured officers disrupting a Halloween parade last month on the city’s Northwest Side, sparking Gov. JB Pritzker to plead with DHS Sec. Kristi Noem to cease any immigration enforcement over the holiday, but Noem denied that request. CBP Commander Gregory Bovino’s recorded testimony from a private deposition was played for the courtroom on Wednesday, and in one moment, lawyers played Bovino a video in which he tells agents, "everybody f**king gets it if they touch you. … This is OUR f**king city," the Sun-Times reported from the courtroom. Elsewhere in Chicago on Wednesday, a widely circulated video shows federal officers following a worker into Rayito De Sol day care in North Center, then forcefully removing and detaining her. Elected officials also say agents went classroom to classroom looking for undocumented immigrants. The incident raises questions about where DHS agents are operating. Agents have recently waited outside schools, churches and other "sacred" spaces, but this is one of the first documented cases in which they entered the buildings. "This is a violation of public trust," U.S. Rep Mike Quigley (D-IL) said at a news conference. "Prior to this administration, there were clear guidelines against conducting enforcement in sensitive locations, like schools, day cares and places of worship. Today’s incident shows not only a blatant disregard for those norms, it shows this administration’s contempt for public safety." "Are folks not concerned about this? This is horrific," Rayito De Sol parent Maria Guzman said at the press conference. "They have crossed a line. Our schools, our libraries, our churches should be safe places for our children." "ICE law enforcement did NOT target a Daycare," DHS assistant secretary of public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on X. "Officers attempted to conduct a targeted traffic stop … Law enforcement pursued the vehicle before the assailant sped into a shopping plaza where he and the female passenger fled the vehicle. They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare — recklessly endangering the children inside." "They are lying here," Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) said at a news conference. The congresswoman says she saw the video footage from inside the day care and it disputes McLaughlin’s claim. "They’re going to continue to viciously lie and issue whatever statement they want, and they want you to accept that statement as if it’s a valid statement. We have the footage."

NPR [11/6/2025 4:44 AM, Jon Seidel and Leila Fadel, 34837K] reports two cases involving ICE are in court in Chicago this week. In one, a judge ordered conditions at a detention facility be improved while a ruling is still expected in a case over agents’ use of force. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

NBC News [11/5/2025 4:55 PM, Bennett Haeberle, 34509K] reports attorneys representing a group of protesters, clergy and journalists suing the federal government over what they allege are excessive and "indiscriminate" use of tear gas and pepper spray argued before a federal judge Wednesday morning, saying the court should issue a preliminary injunction that would stop federal agents from using crowd control chemicals against protesters and others in the Chicago area. During opening remarks, one of the plaintiffs’ attorney, Craig Futterman, repeatedly quoted Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino saying: "‘You don’t want to get tear gassed, then don’t protest.’ Your honor, this case cries out for a preliminary injunction." Futterman argued that federal agents have repeatedly used tear gas and pepper spray against non-violent protesters, clergy or members of the press throughout the eight weeks since the Chicago-area immigration enforcement campaign known as Operation Midway Blitz began. Attorneys also argued that agents’ use of force infringed on the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to assemble, and cover protests and demonstrations. Wednesday’s hearing was expected to last at least five hours, with Judge Judge Ellis saying she would issue a ruling on the request for a preliminary injunction within 14 days. Bovino was expected to testify Wednesday, with at least portions of his recent video deposition played in court. CBS Chicago [11/5/2025 5:32 PM, Sabrina Franza and Darius Johnson, 39474K] reports that a group of protesters and journalists have sued the Trump administration over immigration agents’ aggressive tactics in Chicago, and U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis already has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting agents from using tear gas and other riot control weapons against people who do not oppose an immediate threat. Agents also are required to issue two warnings before deploying tear gas or using other riot control weapons. Over the last few days, lawyers in the case were able to interview Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, the man in charge of Operation Midway Blitz in a lengthy deposition in the case. Portions of his testimony were played in court on Wednesday during a hearing on the plaintiffs’ request for a long-term injunction restricting agents’ aggressive tactics. Protesters gathered outside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Wednesday morning as the hearing got underway. While U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino had to answer to Judge Sara Ellis in person last week, he was not in court on Wednesday. Instead, attorneys played portions of Bovino’s recorded deposition as testimony in the case, as well as body camera footage he reviewed during his deposition. One of the body camera videos played in court showed Bovino telling agents "arrest as many people that touch you as you want to you. Everybody gets it if they touch you. … This is our f***ing city." Bovino was asked by attorneys what he meant by that. "When someone impedes obstructs or assaults than those border patrol agents have a right to arrest them," he said.

Bloomberg News [11/5/2025 8:00 PM, Megan Crepeau, 91K] reports as the clock ticked toward the expiration of a temporary order governing federal agents’ use of force against Chicago protesters, a federal judge drew a distinction between courage against the threat of injury and evidence of a chilling effect on free speech. Judge Sara Ellis interrupted the government’s closing argument Wednesday evening to note that the protesters testified they "have to think twice" about protesting because they continue to be injured by federal agents. "If they are making changes to what they do because they have been tear-gassed, because they have been hit in the head with a pepper ball twice, because they have been staring down the barrel of a gun, then that is what matters," she said. "The fact that people can be courageous is utterly irrelevant as to whether there was a chilling effect.” Ellis, of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, said she will rule Thursday morning on whether to impose a preliminary injunction to supersede the temporary restraining order, which expires at 11:30 a.m.

NBC News [11/5/2025 2:14 PM, Natasha Korecki, 34509K] reports that the first thing that hit Sarah Parise was an unfamiliar, pungent smell. She looked down at her ginger-haired 2-year-old, Leia, who was taking a turn pushing her own stroller near a grassy field where they had stopped to play on a Saturday morning walk. "All of a sudden, my eyes were just burning and I couldn’t breathe," Parise said. Leia began to scream: "Mommy! Mommy! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!". Parise quickly put Leia in her stroller. She ran as fast as she could down the wide streets of her Old Irving Park neighborhood, past the towering trees with their leaves full of fall color. Multiple reports from that day, Oct. 25, detailed how Border Patrol agents conducting immigration enforcement in the neighborhood confronted residents, leading a federal judge to question an official in court over the use of tear gas there "without any warning." Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the actions in Old Irving Park resulted in the arrest of one "criminal illegal alien from Mexico, who has previously been arrested for assault." She added, in part, "To safely clear the area after multiple warnings and the crowd continuing to advance on them, Border Patrol had to deploy crowd control measures." A DHS spokesperson said agents were in the area to arrest five undocumented individuals "whose criminal histories included criminal trespass and multiple illegal entries into the country." "A hostile crowd surrounded agents and their vehicle, and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. As Border patrol arrested one individual, who actively resisted arrest, pepper spray was deployed… to deter the agitator and disperse the crowd," the spokesperson said.

NewsNation [11/5/2025 11:08 AM, Mike Lowe, 8017K] reports a new court filing in the case of the Chicago Headline Club versus the Department of Homeland Security alleges that Border Patrol agents tossed tear gas on a crowd "for fun" and that top officials have been misleading concerning their use of force. When "Operation Midway Blitz" started in September, it made headlines across the country. Two months and 3,200 arrests later, the operation has also generated a flurry of litigation over the aggressive tactics used by Border Patrol agents. A federal lawsuit brought by the Chicago Headline Club, the nation’s largest chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, against the DHS and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is seeking an end to such tactics. In a motion filed late Monday, lawyers for various media outlets asked a federal judge to stop what they say is the "widespread, intentional, and ongoing" violation of the U.S. Constitution. Agents working in Chicago and the surrounding area have been accused of repeatedly using excessive force against the public. The court motion states: "Without an injunction, defendants will continue to act as if they can use weapons of war to commit shocking acts of violence against civilians — protesters, press, clergy, bystanders, pregnant women, children — with impunity." Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino says agents have repeatedly faced violent crowds and have deployed gas and used physical force for their own safety as they carry out arrests of undocumented immigrants.

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 2:26 PM, Sam Charles, 4829K] reports that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling on Wednesday said the use of tear gas by federal immigration agents has lessened after he spoke with leaders from Customs and Border Protection. Since the start of "Operation Midway Blitz" in early September, CBP agents have repeatedly deployed tear gas into hostile crowds. CPD officers — 40 in all — were subject to the gas on at least two occasions. "We’ve had a conversation with them about it and we’ve seen less of it now," Snelling told the Tribune Wednesday morning before attending CPD’s budget hearing at City Hall. "I expressed my concern, we talked about it. Concern(s) from our officers and concern for everybody on the scene." "That conversation is always in the best interest of the entire city, not just the (police) department," Snelling added. The superintendent was not specific when asked if he spoke directly with CBP Cmdr. Greg Bovino, who was recently deposed as part of an ongoing federal lawsuit stemming from the use of chemical agents. The deployment of tear gas by federal agents has emerged as a sticking point in the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. A hearing is ongoing Wednesday at the Dirksen Federal Building where a judge is expected to decide whether to put more long-term restrictions on the use of tear gas and other chemical agents on crowds and provide enhanced protections for protesters and media.

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 6:47 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports images of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino tackling a protester to the ground in Broadview and tossing tear gas canisters in Little Village were displayed Wednesday in a federal courtroom in Chicago as a judge decides whether to put more long-term restrictions on the use of chemical agents on crowds and provide enhanced protections for protesters and media. Over more than two hours of testimony so far, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis heard from more than a half dozen witnesses who say immigration agents pointed guns at citizens, shot pepper spray balls at reporters, and threatened to arrest protesters who were doing nothing more than recording the agents’ activities on the street. One witness, 12th Ward Ald. Julia Ramirez, testified she went to the scene where an agent had shot a woman in Brighton Park on Oct. 4 and was stunned to see immigration agents rolling what looked like a tank down Kedzie Avenue. Perched on top of the armored vehicle, an agent was pointing a gun at the crowd, she said. “I couldn’t even believe I was living that. I felt helpless,” Ramirez testified, adding that the episode has had a “chilling” effect on residents and her personally. “I carry my passport around. My grandmother who is also a U.S. citizen doesn’t leave the house. I have to go out for her.” The preliminary injunction hearing, which is expected to last all day, stems from a lawsuit the Chicago Headline Club and a consortium of other media groups allege immigration officials have systematically violated the constitutional rights of protesters and reporters during the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement action “Operation Midway Blitz,” which began in earnest in mid-September and has shown no signs of slowing.

Axios [11/5/2025 2:40 PM, Carrie Shepherd, 12972K] reports that Pope Leo XIV has spoken in opposition to the Department of Homeland Security denying a coalition of Catholic priests, nuns and other clergy entry to the Broadview ICE processing facility outside Chicago. The big picture: For decades, clergy have gathered weekly outside Broadview, notably Catholic nuns, to offer prayers for the immigrants inside. Since the launch of "Operation Midway Blitz" this year, Sister JoAnn Persch told the Sun-Times her relationship with officers at the facility has frayed, despite being welcomed before President Trump took office. Driving the news: Pope Leo was asked Tuesday about clergy being denied entry into the facility, and he responded that he would like to ask "the authorities to allow pastoral workers to attend to the needs of those people," Chicago Catholic, the archdiocese’s newspaper, reported. "Jesus says very clearly that at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, you know, ‘How did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?’ And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening," Leo added. Catch up quick: Members of the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) hosted a mass outside Broadview on Saturday, All Saints’ Day, and a week before formally requested that eight religious ministers have access to the facility to distribute communion, according to a letter shared with Axios. The mayor of Broadview supported the request, but DHS denied the clergy entry. The Catholic Standard [11/5/2025 4:45 AM, Kate Scanlon] reports amid concern about the ability of those detained by immigration enforcement authorities to receive Catholic sacraments, a key U.S. bishop said Trump administration officials have “assured” him the matter is “under careful review.” His comments came shortly before Pope Leo XIV urged respect for “the spiritual rights” of migrants detained in the U.S. in comments to journalists Nov. 4 at Castel Gandolfo. Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Commission, said in a Nov. 3 social media post that he and Father Alexei Woltornist, a Melkite Catholic priest and a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, “have been in touch with senior officials in both the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security and have brought forward the concerns of the Church regarding detainees’ access to Sacraments.” Bishop Barron’s post included an OSV News article about a delegation of clergy, religious sisters and laity, and a Chicago auxiliary bishop who were barred for the second time in three weeks from bringing the Eucharist to those being held at an immigration detention center just west of Chicago on the feast of All Saints Nov. 1. The facility in the suburb of Broadview, Illinois, has seen tense confrontations between protesters and federal law enforcement in the last several weeks as the Trump administration ramped up enforcement efforts in and around the Windy City. In a separate incident, reports of immigration authorities near St. Jerome Catholic Church in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood on Oct. 12 prompted warnings of caution from its pastor, although a spokesperson for ICE denied the Church was targeted, local media reported. In a statement provided to OSV News in response to an inquiry about Bishop Barron’s post, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, said the Broadview facility is “a field office, it is not a detention facility.” “Illegal aliens are only briefly held there for processing before being transferred to a detention facility. Religious organizations are more than welcome to provide services to detainees in ICE detention facilities,” McLaughlin said. “Even before the attacks on the Broadview facility, it was not within standard operating procedure for religious services to be provided in a field office, as detainees are continuously brought in, processed, and transferred out.” McLaughlin argued the facility faces “serious public safety and officer safety threats,” and that “ICE staff has repeatedly informed religious organizations that due to Broadview’s status as a field office and the ongoing threat to civilians, detainees, and officers” they are “not able to accommodate these requests at this time.”

Breitbart [11/5/2025 6:08 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports the U.S. military has killed two people in a strike on a boat involved in alleged drug smuggling in the Eastern Pacific, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, making it the 16th attack by the Pentagon targeting such vessels. In a post on X, Hegseth said the Department of Defense conducted a "lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.” Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has, via executive order, listed eight drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists. In announcing the strike Tuesday, Hegseth did not specify which organization the boat was being operated by, but said "intelligence confirmed that the vessel was involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, transiting a known narco-trafficking route and carrying narcotics." Hegseth provided no evidence, but a video accompanied the post showing a boat lolling on the water and erupting in flames after being struck by an apparent munition. "No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, and two male narco-terrorists — who were aboard the vessel — were killed," Hegseth said, stating the strike was at Trump’s direction. Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO).

Reuters [11/5/2025 6:26 PM, Patricia Zengerle and Bo Erickson, 36480K] reports top Trump administration officials briefed members of the Senate and House of Representatives on Wednesday about strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Venezuela, after frustration in Congress about a lack of transparency about the operation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth met with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders and senior members of national security committees for about an hour, discussing U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed dozens of people since early September. President Donald Trump’s administration insists those targeted were transporting drugs, without providing evidence or publicly explaining the legal justification for the decision to attack the boats rather than stop them and arrest those on board. Several senators and House members who attended the briefing said the administration officials said the boats were carrying cocaine, not fentanyl, and explained their legal justification. NPR [11/5/2025 6:30 PM, Claudia Grisales, 28013K] reports legal analysts have broadly described the strikes as illegal under both U.S. and international law — in part because they have not been authorized by Congress. Trump officials invited a dozen members of Congress, including Republican and Democratic leaders and the top lawmakers on intelligence and armed services committees in both chambers. A growing bipartisan group of lawmakers have submitted months of demands for more information on the attacks. Since the strikes began in September, at least 66 have been killed in 16 strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, according to the administration. On Tuesday, the White House disputed claims it wasn’t being transparent enough with Congress regarding the strikes and military buildup in the region. However, many of the known congressional briefings have been limited in scope and targeted to small groups of Republicans. Wednesday’s meeting marked the first time Rubio and Hegseth briefed top lawmakers on the strikes since they began more than two months ago. During this time, members have complained they did not have a legal basis for Trump’s orders for the attacks, access to a secret list of targets or broader information on evidence recovered and identities of those killed. A small bipartisan group of lawmakers intends to force a vote in the coming days or weeks to block Trump’s use of military forces to engage in hostilities within or against Venezuela. Behind closed doors, Trump officials have been lobbying Republicans to vote no.

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AP [11/5/2025 7:22 PM, Stephen Groves and Matt Brown, 1538K] r

The Hill [11/5/2025 2:01 PM, Filip Timotija, 12595K] reports a bipartisan group of House lawmakers is demanding more answers from President Trump’s administration about the ongoing U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, including asking for more briefings and explanations for the legal rationale the White House is relying on. The four lawmakers, Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), all members of the House Armed Services Committee, are asking the administration to clarify the legal basis for the ongoing strikes. They also want to know if the White House plans to ask Congress for authorization, if the people targeted in the attacks — which started in early September — posed a threat to the U.S., and what process officials are relying on to verify the targets. “We strongly support the effort to reduce the flow of narcotics into this country. This effort, like every action the United States military takes, must be done within the legal, moral and ethical framework that sets us apart from our adversaries,” the lawmakers wrote in a 2-page letter to the administration dated Tuesday. The House members are also asking the administration for another classified briefing to the House Armed Services Committee.

CNN [11/5/2025 8:39 PM, Alison Main, Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood, 606K] reports Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner on Wednesday expressed confidence in the intelligence used by the Pentagon to strike alleged drug traffickers in the Pacific Ocean, but he urged the Trump administration to divulge more information to a skeptical public as Democrats question the legal justification for continued attacks. After a briefing with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Warner said, "I think our intelligence assets are quite good," explaining that he believes the administration does have "visibility" into the transport of illegal drugs. But the Virginia senator contended that making more information available about the strikes would help instill confidence in the US’s actions in the region. "The notion on the kinetic strikes, without actually interdicting and demonstrating to the American public that these are carrying drugs and they’re full of bad guys, I think, is a huge mistake and undermines the confidence in the administration’s actions," he said. Warner, who was deeply critical when the administration briefed a group of only GOP senators last week, said it’s "good" that all senators are now able to view the administration’s detailed legal justification for the strikes in a classified setting. However, he added that he thinks all of his colleagues should also be able to hear from administration officials, especially as Congress continues to debate limiting the president’s war powers in the region. Rep. Jim Himes, the House Intelligence committee ranking member, echoed Warner’s confidence in the work of the US intelligence community, telling reporters, "I don’t worry there’s not some connection of these boats to trafficking." But he added, "what I’m not sure about is whether we have the same architecture to make sure innocents aren’t killed, etc, that we do when we traditionally do counter-terrorism strikes.” Rubio and Hegseth, as well as an official from the White House’s Office of Legal Counsel, briefed a group the administration described as the "Gang of 12" — leadership from both chambers, as well as the top Republicans and Democrats on key committees. House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks told CNN he heard "nothing" during the closed-door briefing to convince him of the legality of the strikes. And Meeks said they did not share evidence that ties the vessels or their passengers to the drug trade. Officials, including Rubio, have repeatedly claimed to have such evidence to support the deadly strikes. The New York Democrat said the administration referred to the Office of Legal Counsel memo that says they do not need congressional approval for the military action. The memo was shared with lawmakers, he said. However, Meeks said he was still seeking an answer as to why the administration issued a War Powers notification after the first strike if they don’t believe they legally need to. "It seems to me that what they are doing is they’re making mental gymnastics to figure out and to justify circumventing Congress’ role on matters of war and peace," he told CNN. "With some of their legal, what they say is legal authorization, I don’t buy it all.”

FOX News [11/5/2025 10:20 AM, Leo Briceno, 40621K] reports as U.S. warships strike suspected drug-smuggling boats off Venezuela, critics call the Trump administration’s campaign illegal under international law — a charge supporters dismiss as irrelevant to America’s security. While international law helps create legal, technical or even moral consensus, it is powerless to restrain President Donald Trump’s decision to attack vessels the administration sees as threats to the U.S. Since September, the Trump administration has destroyed several boats off the coast of Venezuela, eliminating what it described as narco-trafficking operations. Last week, Volker Türk, the United Nations commissioner for human rights, blasted those strikes. "Based on the very sparse information provided publicly by the U.S. authorities, none of the individuals on the targeted boats appear to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law," Türk said. But even if the strikes do violate international law, some U.S. lawmakers don’t believe that should stop the president. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, argued the U.S. must prioritize its own security.

National Review [11/5/2025 11:21 AM, Vahaken Mouradian, 109K] reports a very early printed appearance of this redundant cliché was in H. J. Simson’s 1937 book British Rule, and Rebellion, about the Arab uprising in Mandatory Palestine. The author and Royal Scot officer used the term “root cause” to reject it: not because, in almost all contexts, either “root” or “cause” does the job just fine, but because rooting about in search of the hidden often entails missing the obvious. Deliberately, sometimes. “A policy of glossing things over.” This would also be the most charitable way to describe the Democratic Party’s decade-long stance on immigration. After then–Vice President Kamala Harris visited Honduras in 2022 for the presidential inauguration of the cynical careerist Xiomara Castro, the White House made clear that “combating corruption and impunity remains at the center of our commitment to address the root causes of migration.” Well, then. Simply enforcing U.S. law would have made a splendid start, but for the Biden administration, doing so was — to use another member of the family of phrases that Kingsley Amis identified as “shreds of battered facetiousness” — a nonstarter. Had Democrats been serious at any point about the roots (or causes) of emigration from Latin America, they would have suspected that socialist thuggery might have something to do with it. So here we are: the first serious attempt to put serious pressure on the Venezuelan narcocracy. And it’s Trump’s War Department detonating dinghies in the Caribbean. Democrats (as well as Republicans) should continue to press the White House on the legality of these actions and its untidy reasoning for them. Law enforcement does not mean aerial summary execution — not in or by the United States. And if aerial summary execution is justifiable because we’re at war, then Congress should have a say in the matter.

AP [11/5/2025 6:40 PM, Michael Kunzelman] reports a jury began deliberating Wednesday in the Justice Department’s assault case against a man who threw a sandwich at a federal agent, turning him into a symbol of resistance to President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. Prosecutors told jurors that Sean Charles Dunn broke the law when he threw his submarine sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent on the night of Aug. 10. One of Dunn’s lawyers urged the jury to acquit Dunn, a former Justice Department employee, of a misdemeanor assault charge after a two-day trial. Defense attorney Sabrina Shroff questioned why the case was brought in the first place. A grand jury refused to indict Dunn on a felony assault count, part of a pattern of pushback against the Justice Department’s prosecution of surge-related criminal cases. After the rare rebuke from the grand jury, Pirro’s office charged Dunn instead with a misdemeanor. CBP Agent Gregory Lairmore testified that the sandwich "exploded" when it struck his chest hard enough that he could feel it through his ballistic vest. Dunn is charged with assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [11/5/2025 4:03 PM, Ryan J. Reilly, 34509K]

AP [11/5/2025 4:28 PM, Kimberlee Kruesi] reports a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the deportation of a doctor from Lebanon who was deported from Boston’s Logan Airport earlier this year despite having a visa after immigration officials said she supported a Hezbollah leader and attended his funeral. In March, Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a kidney transplant specialist at Brown University, was detained for at least 36 hours in Boston’s airport after arriving from Lebanon. The doctor was traveling with her family, and while traveling, she attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah. Homeland Security officials say they reviewed her phone while Alawieh was detained and found photos of "Hezbollah fighters and martyrs." Alawieh responded that she was only interested in Nasrallah’s spiritual beliefs, but she confirmed that some of her family supported his politics. Alawieh’s case quickly gained national attention as her family launched a legal campaign to keep her in the U.S. At one point, a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held, but lawyers have said customs officials did not get word until after Alawieh was sent back to Lebanon. Late last month, U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin dismissed Alawieh’s case, arguing that he did not have the authority to provide relief she sought — in particular, saying that he could not remove a five-year ban on returning to the U.S. as a result of her deportation.

NPR [11/5/2025 4:46 PM, Ximena Bustillo, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports the Trump administration is firing scores of immigration judges, and bringing on dozens of others, as it seeks to boost mass deportations. NPR analyzed patterns in hiring and firing.

The Hill [11/5/2025 11:32 AM, Judy Kurtz, 12595K] reports the family of Norman Rockwell says the artist would be "devastated" that his work appeared in social media posts from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and "for the cause of persecution toward immigrant communities and people of color.” In an opinion piece published this week in USA Today, Rockwell’s son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren called out the DHS for a series of posts earlier this year that featured the legendary artist’s works. Three of Rockwell’s paintings, the family said, "appeared without authorization" alongside posts from the department. "Protect our American way of life," one DHS post on Facebook from August said, with an image of Rockwell’s 1971 painting "Salute the Flag." Another post included an image of Rockwell’s work along with a quote from former President Coolidge: "Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America." Rockwell, his family said, painted "more than 4,000 works during his career, many of them depicting what are considered classic scenes from 20th century American life: Boy Scouts, doctor visits, squabbling couples, soda shops, soldiers returning from war, linemen and so much more." A DHS spokesperson said in a statement to ITK that it "will continue using every tool at its disposal to keep the American people informed as our agents work to Make America Safe Again."

New York Times [11/6/2025 3:21 AM, Sydney Ember, 330K] reports that, when President Trump said he would enact sweeping tariffs and crack down on immigration, dire warnings rang out in the construction industry. The policies threatened to push up building costs and deprive the industry of a crucial pool of labor when high interest rates were already depressing building activity. Those forces are converging on builders, weighing them down in a potential drag on the economy. Higher import taxes on steel, copper, lumber and other materials are lifting construction prices and interrupting some jobs. Immigration enforcement is worsening worker shortages and delaying projects. “We get so many things thrown at us in the construction industry,” said Tony Rader, the chief relationship officer at National Roofing Partners, a commercial roofing company in Coppell, Texas. “It just seems like every time we turn around, we’ve got something else to fight.” The rising costs and understaffing could impede the momentum the industry is expected to derive from lower interest rates, economists say. The effects could be most pronounced in the housing industry, where elevated mortgage rates have discouraged homeowners from moving and dragged down sales. Mr. Rader said tariffs on products from China had pushed up the cost of screws, plates and other supplies. Mr. Trump said on Thursday that he and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, had agreed to a one-year deal to reduce the overall tariff on many Chinese goods by 10 percentage points, to around 47 percent. The possibility that immigration agents could target job sites has made some employees reluctant to come to work even though they are in the country legally, he said. He said one of his subcontractors had missed out on a roofing project near the U.S.-Mexican border this year because he could not field a crew of workers. His clients are also worried about uncertain pricing and the possibility that staffing issues could affect construction jobs. Some have delayed putting on expensive new roofs, he said, and have asked instead for maintenance plans on existing ones. His revenue is shrinking, and he is looking for ways to cut spending. He is budgeting for slower growth next year. Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs on a wide range of materials and foreign-made products that the construction industry needs. In addition to levies on steel and other metals, tariffs on foreign timber, lumber and wood products like kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities went into effect last month. The tariffs are meant to encourage more domestic manufacturing. But so far, that has not been the case. The complicated nature of supply chains means that it will take time for companies that buy materials from abroad to shift gears. It is also unclear whether foreign suppliers, American companies or consumers will shoulder the extra costs — and how much prices will rise for consumers.

NPR [11/6/2025 5:00 AM, Scott Neuman, 34837K] reports as cars and trucks zoom by, Rurick Palomino points to the underside of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge that spans the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., where his crew of about 30 workers is doing demolition work and pouring concrete as part of a $128 million federally-funded refurbishment. A Peruvian immigrant who came to the United States 25 years ago, Palomino — a U.S. citizen — built his construction firm from scratch after earning an engineering degree and learning the trade firsthand. He once employed 45 workers but has since scaled back. "There’s plenty of work — a lot of mega-projects coming — but I’m afraid to take more because I don’t have the manpower," he says. For years, the construction industry — in which on average one in three workers is foreign-born — has struggled with a yawning labor shortage that President Trump’s immigration crackdown is making worse, industry officials warn. In D.C., for example, that has meant Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checkpoints that have swept up Latino workers on their way to and from work. "I personally saw a checkpoint here on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway," Palomino says. "All construction pickups. So, it’s happening." "People are scared," he continues. Palomino says he doesn’t hire people who can’t provide proof that they have a legal right to work in the U.S. — even though allowing people to work without that proof is common in construction, he says. The members of his workforce — originally from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and his native Peru — are all employees with a Social Security number and a driver’s license. That’s a necessity to work on a government project. For Palomino, playing by the rules means competing for an even smaller labor pool. But workers with work permits and green cards worry they too could be detained. Recently, Palomino said, several of his employees were stopped by ICE on their way into work, with agents holding them for hours before eventually releasing them. "I guess they were checking their background or whatever," he says. "We could not accomplish what we were supposed to do that day. And that, in turn, put us behind schedule." Sergio Barajas, head of the National Hispanic Construction Alliance, notes that although the number of actual ICE raids has been limited so far, the anxiety among Latino workers — documented and undocumented alike — is palpable. "That in and of itself is resulting in crews not showing up or a reduced number of persons on a given crew showing up," he says.

FOX News [11/5/2025 12:52 PM, Ryan Morik, 40621K] reports that the Los Angeles Dodgers are set to visit the White House once again after winning their second straight World Series title. The Dodgers became the first team to win back-to-back Fall Classics since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000 after completing a Game 7 comeback against the Toronto Blue Jays in 11 innings. The team took a trip to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. back in April during a series against the Washington Nationals, and if that’s the plan again, the Dodgers would head back over sometime between April 3–5 next year. But an immigration rights group is pleading with the team to not go. "The Los Angeles Dodgers have always been more than a baseball team — they’re part of the spirit of who we are as a city. The team represents our neighborhoods, our families, and our shared love for our diverse communities. But right now, our community, our city are under siege, we need them to stand with us, on the right side of history," the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) wrote in an online petition. "Ask the team to honor the unity, integrity and diversity they themselves represent. They cannot stay silent as our families and neighbors face violence, detention, and deportation. By visiting a president who has used his power to harm the most vulnerable, the team would be turning its back on the very people who fill the stadiums, wear the jerseys, and give this team its heart. By encouraging the team to do the right thing, we will show the White House that Los Angeles stands for compassion, dignity, and solidarity with their immigrant neighbors."

NBC News [11/5/2025 8:38 PM, Matt Lavietes and David K. Li, 34509K] Video: HERE reports that the left engine of a UPS plane caught fire during takeoff and immediately detached, officials in Kentucky said Wednesday, leading to a horrific crash and the deaths of at least 12 people. Investigators have recovered the cockpit flight recorder and the flight data recorder, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said, in hopes of finding out more about Tuesday’s tragic accident just outside of Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. CCTV footage shows the left engine detaching from the wing during takeoff, Inman told reporters. "The plane lifted off and gained enough altitude to clear the fence at the end of runway 17 R. Shortly after clearing that fence, it made impact with structures and the terrain off of the airport property," Inman said. A young child is believed to be among the dead, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday. He said that the number of deaths could rise, and "there are a handful of other people that we’re still searching for." Beshear said Wednesday morning that 16 families have reported loved ones who were unaccounted for. No survivors are expected to be found at the crash site, he said. “I don’t know how many victims we’re actually looking for. That’s one of the issues,” Okolona Fire District Chief Mark Little told reporters on Wednesday. “And the debris zone is so large, so trying to get people back there and with the debris zone, some of that debris is going to have to be moved and searched underneath, so it will take us quite a while.” UPS Flight 2976 was heading for Honolulu when it crashed, officials said. The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, had three crew members on board, according to the FAA. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said Wednesday evening that a 12th person had died. It wasn’t immediately clear how many were killed on board the plane and the death toll of those on the ground. Heather Fountaine, a spokesperson for the University of Louisville Health, said that it had received 15 patients from the crash across several hospitals and that as of Wednesday morning, 13 had been discharged. Two people were still in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Jason Smith, the chief executive of University of Louisville Health and a trauma surgeon at the University of Louisville Hospital, said at a news conference. He added that of the 15 patients received, they were treated for burns and blast and shrapnel injuries. Video from the crash shows a large fireball and smoke plume erupting from the crash site. The plane had around 38,000 gallons of fuel on board, according to officials.

FOX News [11/5/2025 5:34 PM, Alexandra Koch Fox, 40621K] reports the left engine of the UPS cargo plane involved in the fiery crash at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) in Kentucky Tuesday fell off during takeoff, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed Wednesday. UPS Flight 2976 crashed with three crew members on board and more than 200,000 pounds of fuel into the Kentucky Petroleum Recycling building after departing from SDF at about 5:15 p.m. ET Tuesday, according to Gov. Andy Beshear. At least 11 people are dead, including the three crew members onboard and a young child, and 11 others on the ground were injured, Beshear said. Though the cause of the crash has not yet been released, NTSB officials said the left engine detached from the plane and was found on the airfield. Preliminary information indicates the flight was not delayed, and no immediate maintenance work was performed before takeoff, officials said. There are no known airworthiness directives tied to the aircraft or its engines. The NTSB confirmed the FBI is assisting with the investigation "under a longstanding Interagency agreement.” It is unclear if criminal intent was suspected or what the plane was carrying at the time of the crash. NTSB officials said shipments that travel through the Louisville UPS hub daily contain "life-saving drugs, postal products, food, supplements, you name it.” Investigators on Wednesday afternoon recovered the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder commonly known as the "black box," which the NTSB said was exposed to heat but appeared intact.

FOX News [11/5/2025 8:05 PM, Ashley Oliver, 40621K] reports Kansas leaders brought criminal charges Wednesday against Joe Ceballos, the mayor of a small city in rural Kansas, alleging he voted in several elections but is not a U.S. citizen. Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, both elected Republicans, announced they filed six charges in Comanche County against Ceballos, a lawful permanent resident from Mexico, for voting in elections in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Ceballos is the mayor of Coldwater and previously served as a city councilman. States are required by law to have mechanisms in place to regularly clean voter registration lists, also known as voter rolls. The process includes using external databases to screen for noncitizens, which Kobach, a longtime immigration hawk and ally of President Donald Trump, said is not error-proof. "Noncitizen voting is a real problem. It is not something that happens once in a decade. It is something that happens fairly frequently," Kobach said, echoing the broader sentiments of Republicans who say voter fraud is a pressing issue. Ceballos’ charges, which include perjury and voting without being qualified, according to the complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital, carry a maximum penalty of more than five years in prison. Ceballos did not respond to a request for comment. Kobach, who previously served as Kansas secretary of state, has a long history of pushing for tougher immigration enforcement and stricter voter ID laws. In 2018, he lost a high-profile federal lawsuit after attempting to enforce a state law that required voters to provide physical documentation of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. A court found it exceeded the necessary requirements to confirm citizenship, in violation of federal election laws. The court said at the time that the state law could not "be justified by the scant evidence of noncitizen voter fraud before and after the law was passed.” Kobach did not detail how state officials came to learn that the mayor and former city councilman is allegedly a noncitizen, but he said investigators had "unassailable evidence" against Ceballos. Kobach said city officials, such as mayors, are also required by law to be U.S. citizens, which the attorney general said was "worth noting" but not a criminal offense. Ceballos was on the ballot for re-election on Election Day, but the official results have not been certified yet. "In large part, our system right now is based on trust, trust that when the person signs the registration or signs the poll books saying that he is a qualified elector or that he is a United States citizen, that the person is telling the truth," Kobach said. "In this case, we allege that Mr. Ceballos violated that trust.” Kobach and Schwab said they recently began taking advantage of a federal government database that helps cross-check voter rolls with immigration records that they expect will lead them to identify more voting violations. Ceballos’ first court appearance is Dec. 3.

Federal News Network [11/5/2025 6:32 PM, Jory Heckman, 986K] reports most of the 4,000 layoff notices sent to federal employees earlier in the government shutdown are on hold, following a federal court’s order. But agencies are now telling the court that a fraction of those RIF notices is not covered by the court’s order and can proceed. These new details, in court documents submitted this week, show that just over 10% of the 4,000 RIFs are not covered by the court’s injunction and can proceed — meaning that those employees remain on track to be separated from their jobs on Dec. 9. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a preliminary injunction last month that prohibits agencies from issuing any RIF notices “during and because of the federal government shutdown,” to employees in any program, project or activity that includes any bargaining unit or member represented by eight unions who are leading the lawsuit. The vast majority of reductions-in-force will remain in effect for now. But the departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services, as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency, told the court that last month’s preliminary injunction does not cover some of the RIF notices they sent. Crystal Taylor, the Commerce Department’s acting chief human capital officer and director of its Office of Human Resources Management, told the court that more than half of its RIF notices are currently on hold, given the court’s preliminary injunction. Nearly 250 RIF notices that went out to employees at the Census Bureau, the Minority Business Development Agency and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office are currently on hold. However, Taylor told the court that “no employees are protected by the injunction” at programs, projects and activities at five component agencies within Commerce. The department’s latest court filing shows that 170 of its RIF notices are not covered by the court’s preliminary injunction. That includes layoff notices sent to employees at the International Trade Administration, Bureau of Industry and Security, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology and FirstNet Authority.

The Hill [11/5/2025 11:30 AM, John Yoo and Ivana Stradner, 12595K] reports that even as Russia and China wage a relentless cyber war against the West, the United Nations is celebrating a new cybercrime treaty whose chief architects were none other than Moscow and Beijing. It should come as no surprise, then, that this U.N. convention, signed by 65 nations last month, is less about fighting cybercrime than about legitimizing authoritarian repression of free speech. Although his predecessor grudgingly supported the treaty, President Trump should lead the charge against it. Russia’s and China’s efforts to shape global cyberspace norms stretch back decades. In 1999, Moscow proposed "principles of international information security," although this initiative received little support. In 2001, Russia and China refused to ratify the first-ever international treaty on cybercrime, known as the Budapest Convention, viewing it as too intrusive and a threat to state sovereignty. But Moscow and Beijing did not give up. In 2018, the Russians launched a fresh effort to replace the Budapest Convention. They formed a new U.N. working group on cyber as an alternative to a rival U.S.-favored forum. The following year, the U.N. General Assembly passed a Russian resolution, cosponsored by China and other authoritarian countries and opposed by Washington and its allies, to begin drafting a new international treaty to counter cybercrime. The U.S. and other democracies then had little choice but to join that process or else cede it entirely to the authoritarians.

Reuters [11/5/2025 3:52 PM, Ted Hesson, 36480K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aims to open a call center that would have a dedicated unit to track down unaccompanied migrant children with the help of state and local police, an agency contracting document said, part of a wider Trump administration effort to find and potentially deport the minors. The center would aim to feed information from state and local police to federal authorities, including the locations of unaccompanied children, according to the document, which was posted to a government contracting website on Tuesday. ICE wants to create a round-the-clock facility that could handle 6,000-7,000 calls per day related to immigration enforcement, it said.

NewsMax [11/5/2025 11:13 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4109K] reports the FBI has urged immigration officers to clearly identify themselves during operations to show they are not criminals — a warning that underscores the growing danger of impostors posing as U.S. agents to commit violent crimes. According to a law enforcement bulletin first reported by Wired, criminals impersonating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have carried out kidnappings, robberies, and sexual assaults across several states. The document was first obtained by the transparency nonprofit Property of the People. The FBI said the incidents are eroding public trust and making it harder for Americans, particularly in immigrant-heavy communities, to distinguish legitimate law enforcement from criminals. "Ensure law enforcement personnel adequately identify themselves during operations and cooperate with individuals who request further verification," the FBI advisory said, calling on agencies to allow the public to confirm an officer’s credentials with local police when in doubt. The advisory cited at least five incidents in 2025 involving fake ICE agents.

Daily Wire [11/5/2025 9:38 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Tuesday arrested an illegal alien from Africa with over three dozen previous arrests and eight felony convictions, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. As Senate Democrats voted for a 14th time to block the reopening of the government, ICE agents arrested Marcelin Charles Gbey Gouley, an illegal alien from the Ivory Coast. Gouley has been arrested 39 times and has been convicted of eight felonies, according to DHS. The convictions have been on cocaine trafficking, possession of controlled substances, drug manufacturing and distribution, and drug possession in Florida, Maryland, and Virginia. "ICE is on a mission to remove criminal illegal aliens from terrorizing American communities and fulfilling President Trump’s promise to make America safe again," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire.

Roll Call [11/5/2025 4:10 PM, Chris Johnson, 548K] reports President Donald Trump’s immigration policies have led to increasingly visible incidents of U.S. citizens being caught up in wrongful detention, and Democratic members of Congress say the administration has not responded to requests for information about the number of incidents. Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said indiscriminate enforcement of immigration law under the Trump administration that wraps up citizens and noncitizens alike "continues to be a real danger." A report last month from investigative news outlet ProPublica created an unofficial tally and found more than 170 incidents of agents holding U.S. citizens against their will in the first nine months of the Trump administration. Several Democrats said they are frustrated by the Trump administration’s intransigence in not being forthcoming with the information as reports of wrongful dentition continue to intensify, despite efforts in outreach to the Department of Homeland Security.

NPR [11/5/2025 4:20 PM, Adrian Florido, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports US citizens were restrained, questioned, and in some cases held for days in ways that conflict with the government’s public assurances.

FOX Business [11/5/2025 10:18 AM, Staff, 10085K] reports former federal prosecutor Jonathan Fahey joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the Supreme Court case over President Donald Trump’s tariff authority and the Department of Homeland Security warning of an 8,000% increase in threats against officers. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [11/5/2025 11:50 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports that federal immigration authorities made mass arrests of illegal migrant truck drivers along a single highway during a two-day operation in Oklahoma. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working alongside the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, nabbed 70 illegal migrants along the I-40 interstate in late October, including 34 who were operating big-rig trucks in violation of state law, according to the agency. The massive bust follows an ongoing crackdown by the Trump administration against illegal migrant truck drivers. "For the second time in just the past month, the state of Oklahoma and ICE have banded together to bolster public safety along Oklahoma’s highways, identifying and apprehending illegal aliens who are in the country illegally and have been recklessly issued a commercial driver’s license by states like California, Illinois, and New Jersey," ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles said in a statement. "Many of the illegal aliens arrested behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound tractor trailer can’t even read basic English, endangering everyone they encounter on the roads," Charles continued. The massive bust, dubbed "Operation Guardian," found that 26 of the illegal migrant truck drivers had obtained a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), typically from sanctuary states such as California, Illinois and New York, and another eight who were somehow driving a commercial motor vehicle with no CDL at all, according to the agency.

Daily Wire [11/5/2025 7:18 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports that President Donald Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan vowed to press ahead with immigration raids in New York City after Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani’s victory in Tuesday’s mayoral race. Mamdani, 34, has vowed to keep the Big Apple’s sanctuary status, preventing local law enforcement from working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But that’s not going to deter the Trump administration, Homan told The Daily Wire on Wednesday. "We will continue operations. Nothing changes," Homan, who previously served as acting ICE director, said. On the campaign trail, Mamdani called ICE a "rogue agency" that "has no interest in laws, no interest in order." "It is the actions of masked men in unmarked cars picking up Americans and New Yorkers, whether they’re going in for a regular immigration check-in or they’re just in their apartment lobby like Mahmoud Khalil," Mamdani previously told far-left host Mehdi Hasan. "And I do believe that when we think about what this country needs and a humane immigration policy that has some thought and care for law and order, that clearly is not ICE," he said. "As it does every day, DHS will enforce the law, including in New York City. When sanctuary politicians ignore ICE detainers, they are protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens. ICE is arresting and removing barbaric criminals with prior convictions for rape, murder, drug trafficking, and instead of holding them for ICE, sanctuary politicians release them back into your communities," Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. "These reckless policies have deadly consequences. ICE will continue placing detainers, enforcing immigration law, and defending public safety—because every American deserves to feel safe in their own neighborhood," she added.

Newsweek [11/5/2025 1:35 PM, Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant, 52220K] reports New York City’s newly elected mayor, Zohran Mamdani, issued a warning to federal immigration agents during remarks on Wednesday regarding his transition to City Hall. In response to a question from a reporter, the 34-year-old democratic socialist said, "My message to ICE agents, and to everyone across this city, is that everyone will be held to the same standard of the law. If you violate the law, you must be held accountable." "There’s sadly a sense that is growing across this country that certain people are allowed to violate the law whether that be the president or agents themselves," Mamdani continued. "What New Yorkers are looking for is an era of consistency. An era of clarity and an era of conviction. And that’s what we will deliver to them." The mayor-elect’s comments were part of a wider press event on Wednesday, during which he announced his transition team and outlined plans for the weeks leading up to his January 1, 2026, inauguration. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Newsweek: “As it does every day, DHS will enforce the law including in New York City. When sanctuary politicians ignore ICE detainers, they are protecting criminal illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens. ICE is arresting and removing barbaric criminals with prior convictions for rape, murder, drug trafficking, and instead of holding them for ICE, sanctuary politicians release them back into your communities. These reckless policies have deadly consequences. ICE will continue placing detainers, enforcing immigration law, and defending public safety—because every American deserves to feel safe in their own neighborhood.”

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 6:44 PM, Laura Turbay and Gregory Royal Pratt, 4829K] reports a beloved day care worker at a Spanish-immersion preschool in North Center was taken by federal immigration agents just as the day care was opening Wednesday morning, sparking outrage among parents and the surrounding community. The woman, a mother herself and from Colombia, had authorization to work in the preschool, where she cared for infants, and had undergone a background check, according to staff from Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center and parents that knew her. An agent did not present a warrant when he entered the building, the school’s staff said. “We were concerned about the safety of the children,” said a visibly shaken educator, Marisel Mari, just after the arrest. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin, however, released a statement saying federal officers tried to pull the woman over while she was riding in a car with a man prior to arriving at the school, but the driver refused to stop. And then they “ran into a daycare to barricade themselves inside the daycare — recklessly endangering the children inside,” the statement said. According to the school and parents, the saga began around 7:15 a.m., when the three immigration agents who had been following the woman parked in front of the facility at 2550 W. Addison St. In a video circulating on social media, the agents can be seen pulling her out through the glass doorway. In the video, she is heard saying, “I have papers,” in Spanish as agents pin her against the officers’ car. The day care opens at 7 a.m. While most kids were not present when the arrest occurred, Mari said she took one of her 3-year old students with her into a car that was left unlocked during the encounter. She said they waited there for an hour until it was safe to come out. As word spread about the arrest, concerned parents showed up at the school in support, parents told the Tribune. Others showed up with their children, ready to be dropped off for the day. Tara Goodarzi, a part-time immigration attorney whose 3-year old son is a student at the school, was on her way to drop off when she heard the news that a teacher was taken. After what Goodarzi called “the abduction,” everyone “was crying, terrified, huddled together.” “To do it in a place where children are, with complete disregard for what children see, there’s no low these people won’t stoop to,” Goodarzi said.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [11/5/2025 4:54 PM, Arelis R. Hernández, 24149K]
AP [11/5/2025 3:27 PM, Elliot Spagat, 2983K]
AP [11/5/2025 4:21 PM, Staff, 31753K] Video: HERE
NBC News [11/5/2025 4:56 PM, Patrick Fazio and Alex Dvorak, 34509K]
Daily Wire [11/5/2025 11:00 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K]
Chicago Sun-Times [11/5/2025 10:02 PM, Cindy Hernandez and Violet Miller, 3300K] Video: HERE
Univision Chicago WGBO [11/5/2025 4:16 PM, Staff, 5004K]
Univision [11/5/2025 8:35 PM, Staff, 5004K]

FOX News [11/5/2025 7:27 PM, Bonny Chu, Alexandra Koch, and Bill Melugin, 40621K] reports authorities announced Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers did not target a Chicago daycare but were pursuing an illegal immigrant who fled into the building after multiple reports claimed a viral video shows a teacher being dragged outside. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said ICE officers arrested Colombian national Diana Patricia Santillana Galeano — previously released at the border under the Biden administration in 2023 — after she fled into the vestibule of a building following an attempted traffic stop Wednesday morning. While the arrest drew public criticism, authorities said it did not occur inside the daycare itself and denounced Santillana Galeano for allegedly "recklessly endangering children" by entering the building. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill, said Santillana Galeano was a preschool teacher and was legally authorized to work in the country. "ICE isn’t going after the worst of the worst. This morning, they took a preschool teacher without a warrant IN FRONT OF CHILDREN in my district," he said in a post on X. DHS has since condemned Quigley’s claims as "deliberately misrepresenting the facts" and said similar reports have been "inaccurate and false." "Work authorization does NOT confer any type of legal status to be in the U.S." the agency said. "The illegal alien’s work authorization was approved by the Biden administration, which exploited this loophole to help facilitate the invasion of our country." DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin clarified the situation on X, noting Santillana Galeano was arrested after officers attempted a targeted traffic stop on a vehicle registered to her. She said the car was being driven by a man who refused to comply even as officers activated sirens and emergency lights. The vehicle reportedly sped into a shopping plaza, where the incident — captured on video — unfolded. Blaze [11/5/2025 7:56 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1442K] report that the driver of the car refused to pull over, and the officers gave chase. The couple abandoned the car at a shopping mall and then went into the day care and preschool. "They ran into a daycare and attempted to barricade themselves inside the daycare — recklessly endangering the children inside," the statement continued. "The illegal alien female was arrested inside a vestibule, not in the school. Upon arrest, she lied about her identity.” "Facts including criminality and information on the male assailant are forthcoming and we will update the public with more information as soon as it becomes available," DHS added. Quigley responded with just two words. "They’re lying," he wrote. A WGN-TV report claimed to confirm that a day care teacher had been detained from the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in Chicago. The school indicated in a statement that the officers did not present a warrant and were following the woman, who was arriving for work.

Reuters [11/5/2025 3:25 PM, Emily Schmall and Heather Schlitz, 36480K] reports that a Spanish-language immersion daycare in a leafy residential neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago was raided by federal immigration agents on Wednesday and a teacher was taken away, panicking school administrators and parents of infants, toddlers and pre-kindergarten children at the center, a staff worker at the daycare told Reuters. Footage obtained by local WGN-TV showed two men, one in a balaclava, dragging a woman out of the colorfully decorated front doors of Rayito de Sol daycare center as she screamed. The men wore vests that said "Police" but no other agency markings were visible. The woman, who was identified in a parents’ text group shared with Reuters as Diana Santillana, a teacher in the infant classroom from Medellin, Colombia, could be heard saying in Spanish, "I have papers." The agents grabbed the teacher in front of children, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement. The daycare raid marked a heightened turn in U.S. President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in Chicago, which began in September with the stated purpose of pursuing dangerous criminals without the legal right to reside in the U.S. It has resulted in more than 3,000 arrests, according to the Department of Homeland Security, including of U.S. citizens and people with no criminal record. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the raid.

The Hill [11/5/2025 6:00 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12595K] reports Chicago schools are seeing a drop in attendance among English language learners amid the highly publicized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the city. One high school in Chicago has reported a 4 point drop in attendance since ICE operations began, according to data obtained by Chalkbeat, as immigrant families stay home due to fears of deportations and encounters with police. Another study from Stanford University showed a 22 percent jump in absences from five California school districts during January and February, compared to the same months in the previous years, when ICE operations were happening around the areas. Advocacy groups have moved on from "Know Your Rights" campaigns and are urging schools to offer remote learning and other support to ensure students missing class don’t fall behind. The Chalkbeat data showed the first month of school, before the ICE enforcement began in earnest, attendance was at the same level as the previous year. But once the operations in Chicago kicked into high gear, attendance went down by 1.25 percentage points, more than double the drop between the first two months for the past two years, according to Chalkbeat. Officials for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), which serves approximately 324,000 students, said the rate of attendance among English language learners the first nine weeks dropped 1.3 percentage points compared to the same time last year. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement the department is "NOT targeting schools." "Under Secretary [Kristi] Noem, our brave law enforcement officers are delivering on President Trump’s and the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens to make America safe. Removing dangerous criminals from our streets makes it safer for everyone — including business owners and their customers," McLaughlin said. "Those who are not here illegally and are not breaking other laws have nothing to fear. Elected officials choosing to fearmonger by distorting reality are doing a great disservice to our country and are responsible for the nearly 1,000% increase in assaults on ICE officers," she added.

FOX News [11/5/2025 6:03 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Illinois State Sen. Chapin Rose called out Democrats after an illegal immigrant allegedly killed a couple in his district, asking "how many" more people need to die in order for action to be taken.

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 6:13 PM, Christy Gutowski and Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent is facing drunken driving charges after police said his car jumped a curb and crashed into a hedgerow in the west suburbs. Guillermo Diaz-Torres, 33, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, will be arraigned next month in DuPage County following a one-car crash in Oak Brook on Oct. 26. Police allege he failed several field-sobriety tests, including balancing, walking in a straight line and reciting the alphabet. If convicted, Diaz-Torres could face penalties ranging from probation to up to a year in jail. Throughout its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration repeatedly has referred to drunken driving as a justifiable reason for non-citizens to be detained and deported.

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 4:47 PM, R. Christian Smith, 4829K] reports two Aurora aldermen on Tuesday delayed a vote on an ordinance that would ban federal civil immigration enforcement efforts on city property, saying they needed more time because of the multiple changes made to the ordinance throughout the course of the day’s meetings. The proposed restrictions come amid what President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," a surge of immigration enforcement in the Chicago region that started in September. Aurora has recently seen an increase in federal immigration enforcement agents, and last week, many residents spoke at a meeting to urge the city to pass restrictions around immigration enforcement efforts. Such an ordinance was on the agenda of multiple meetings on Tuesday. But Ald. Juany Garza, 2nd Ward, and Ald. Patty Smith, 8th Ward, after hours spent in meetings listening to comments from local residents and voting on changes to the proposal, used a section of city code to push the item back to the next regularly-scheduled council meeting without a vote from the full Aurora City Council. Immediately after a vote on the last change made to the ordinance, which she was in favor of, Garza moved to push the item back because she said aldermen need a clear copy of the ordinance and an understanding of exactly what they are doing. While they want to do this to protect residents, she said, they also want to do it in the right way. Smith told The Beacon-News on Wednesday that, while she was in favor of the spirit of the ordinance, aldermen were being asked to vote on something they hadn’t had the time to read from beginning to end, which she said was "irresponsible.” When the vote was pushed back, some people from the crowd shouted "shame" and walked out of the meeting room. The proposed ordinance would restrict any city-owned or controlled property — including buildings, parking lots or city parks — from being used as a staging area, a processing location or a base of operations for civil immigration enforcement efforts. The restriction would not stop criminal enforcement efforts or those with a judicial warrant.

CBS News [11/5/2025 9:37 PM, Nicole Sganga, 39474K] reports a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was seriously injured Monday after being struck in the face with a metal coffee cup during an arrest operation in Houston, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The officer sustained a deep laceration requiring 13 stitches, plus several burns to his face. Authorities say the suspect, Walter Leonel Perez Rodriguez, a previously deported Salvadoran national with convictions for sexual assault of a minor, child fondling and multiple DUIs, attacked the officer while agents attempted to take him into custody. Perez, who had been deported from the United States twice — first in June 2013 and again in February 2020 — allegedly reentered the country illegally at an unknown time and location, according to DHS. He’s now in ICE custody. DHS Assistant Secretary for External Affairs Tricia McLaughlin condemned the assault and said, "Anyone who lays a hand on our ICE officer will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Death threats targeting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have increased 8,000%, DHS announced in October, pointing to a wave of online harassment and violent rhetoric aimed at agents and their families. DHS Officials have not yet provided further data about the explosion in death threats, however. Last month, federal agents arrested Eduardo Aguilar, a Mexican national in Dallas accused of offering money on TikTok for the murder of ICE agents. According to DHS, investigators have tracked a series of threatening phone calls and social media posts targeting officers in Texas and Washington state. In Texas, an ICE officer’s spouse received a threatening call, according to a release by DHS. "I don’t know how you let your husband work for ICE, and you sleep at night. F*** you, f*** your family. I hope your kids get deported by accident. How do you sleep? F*** you," the caller said, according to DHS. "Did you hear what happened to the Nazis after World War II? Because it’s what’s going to happen to your family.” A separate voicemail left on an ICE employee’s phone was also discovered, according to DHS, in which a caller says, "I hope every one of those lawless c**** you call ICE officers gets doxxed one by one.” Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol Gregory Bovino told CBS News in an interview last month that such incidents reflect a broader surge in violence against federal agents nationwide. "What we’re seeing here in Chicago are oftentimes United States citizens attacking Border Patrol agents, ICE agents, and allied law enforcement," Bovino said. "When that happens, if you attack us, we’re going to arrest you and take you to jail. That shouldn’t be normal, and we don’t want it to be normal — but that’s what’s happening now.” At a press conference in Gary, Indiana, last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the recent wave of attacks against immigration officers "unacceptable," adding, "Every single ICE officer has someone who loves them — a family member, someone who cares that they come home at night.”

CBS News [11/5/2025 8:41 PM, Jack Fink, 39474K] reports Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson told CBS News Texas he’s heard conflicting information about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement 287g program that Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux rejected, along with millions of dollars in federal funding. In an exclusive interview this week the mayor said, "I’ve heard wildly different things about what the program does and how it operates.” That’s why Johnson said he’s looking forward to the briefing by ICE and Comeaux that’s being held on Thursday morning. "I want to hear from ICE, and I want to hear from the chief, and I want to understand what exactly it is that we are being asked to do by ICE," Johnson said. The 287g program allows state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws under ICE oversight. Since 1996, state and local law enforcement agencies like police departments and sheriff’s offices have been able to partner with the Department of Homeland Security to conduct some immigration enforcement duties through a voluntary program called 287(g). There are three models within 287(g) that departments can cooperate with: Serving administrative warrants in jails. Executing civil immigration warrants on behalf of the federal government. Conducting limited immigration enforcement activities. Earlier this year, the Texas Legislature passed a law requiring all county sheriff’s departments to participate in at least one of the 287(g) models. The mayor’s office said Johnson met with three top officials from ICE’s Dallas office back on September 4. They asked to meet with Johnson to discuss the 287g program in an email dated August 7, in which they said the program, "Enables ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement agencies to identify and process removable noncitizens encountered during regular law enforcement operations. These partnerships help enhance public safety and promote consistent enforcement of immigration laws, all while respecting local authority and priorities...” During a community meeting last month, Comeaux announced he turned down ICE’s invitation to join the program and $25 million dollars of funding. That’s when the mayor called for a council briefing. "That’s a significant amount of money for a police department that is trying to hire more officers, and that could use those resources," Johnson said in the interview. Comeaux sent a memo to the city council last Friday explaining why he said no to ICE. "Implementing this program would reassign officers under federal oversight, which could negatively impact response times and erode the public trust that our department has worked diligently to build," the email reads. "Committing to the 287g program would require an operational change away from the aforementioned goals, making our city less safe...” In response, Johnson said, "I would like to understand if it does require an operational shift because I have received communication from ICE. I’ve seen emails from them that say their whole purpose in expanding this program or at least the resources available to it, is to get more participation without taking local police departments off of their local priorities and their local mission, and without impeding their ability to do their jobs." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision Austin [11/5/2025 2:43 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports the Texas Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Highway Patrol division will work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), assuming the functions of federal immigration agents. This would be possible thanks to the controversial cooperation program known as the Section 287(g) agreement of the Immigration and Nationality Act, a federal provision that allows state or local agents to perform certain immigration tasks under the supervision of the federal government, as reported by The Texas Observer and Dallas Morning News.

Blaze [11/5/2025 5:30 PM, Cooper Williamson, 1442K] reports while national attention has largely been focused on cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois, illegal alien arrests in Texas have seen an uptick following recent raids. According to an NBC News report, Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently completed an operation in Houston, Texas, which led to 1,500 arrests over a 10-day stretch. NBC noted that the rate of per-day arrests on this raid was above average compared with raids in other cities. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the report on social media.

Houston Chronicle [11/5/2025 7:14 PM, Julián Aguilar, 2983K] reports a Kenyan priest detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month was in the country without permission after overstaying a visa, a spokesperson for ICE said Wednesday. The Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi was detained on Oct. 25 while returning from his job with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, according to a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Texas. He is currently being detained in an ICE facility in Conroe. The diocese said Monday it didn’t know why Mwangi was detained; a spokesperson for ICE said in an email Wednesday that the priest initially entered the country on a business visa, but his permission to remain in the U.S. expired more than a year ago. "His visa required him to depart the country by May 16, 2024. All of his claims will be heard by a judge," the spokesperson said. "President Trump and [Department of Homeland] Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S."

AP [11/5/2025 6:18 PM, Staff] reports federal immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and took his car with a child in the back seat and drove off from the scene of a raid in Los Angeles, advocates and family said Wednesday. On a video provided by immigrant advocates, masked and armed agents are seen arresting a man by his car in a parking lot while his 1-year-old daughter is strapped into a car seat in the back. After the man is led away, agents are seen getting into the front of the car and driving off with the girl still inside. The man is a U.S. citizen who was at the scene of a federal immigration raid at a Home Depot store in Los Angeles, said Lindsay Toczylowski, co-founder of Immigrant Defenders Law Center. In an email, an agency spokesperson said a U.S. citizen was arrested for investigation of assault on Tuesday after carrying a hammer and throwing rocks at Border Patrol agents carrying out a raid at a Home Depot store in Los Angeles while a child was in his car. Five immigrants were arrested during the operation on suspicion of immigration violations, the spokesperson said. It was not immediately known where the man was on Wednesday, more than 24 hours after his arrest. His mother, Maria, told reporters, the family received a call from an unknown number Tuesday to pick up the girl at Border Patrol offices in Los Angeles, so they did.

Reuters [11/5/2025 7:58 PM, Daphne Psaledakis, 36480K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked around 80,000 non-immigrant visas since its inauguration on January 20 for offenses ranging from driving under the influence to assault and theft, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. The extent of the revocations, first reported by Washington Examiner, reflects a broad immigration crackdown initiated when Trump came into office, deporting an unprecedented number of migrants including some who held valid visas. The administration has also adopted a stricter policy on granting visas, with tightened social media vetting and expanded screening. Around 16,000 of the visa revocations were tied to cases of driving under the influence, while about 12,000 were for assault and another 8,000 for theft. "These three crimes accounted for almost half of revocations this year," said the senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Telemundo [11/5/2025 8:43 PM, Flavio Lacayo, 20K] reports the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued an alert regarding a new policy to clarify the steps to take for those with U visa cases who wish to apply for permanent residency. “There has always been a bit of confusion regarding this issue. I remember hearing from different people that: my lawyer told me that if I am married to a citizen, my U visa process will go faster,” said Andrew Newcomb, an immigration attorney. That is not allowed, nor can the process be expedited by having a relative or parent who is a citizen, as lawyer Newcomb explained to us. “What this is clarifying is that the U Visa, when they grant that work permit with category A-19 for the principal or A-20 for the derivative, that is not in itself an admission and inspection into the United States. What it means is that those people cannot simply, upon receiving those cards, adjust their status if they have a citizen child over 21 or a citizen spouse,” Newcomb explained. However, this is not an impediment to applying for permanent residency or a Green Card in the future, as it is commonly known. “They just have to go through the normal process and wait three years, and then apply through 245-M instead of 245-A, which is a different section of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Code,” Newcomb said. So it’s important not to be deceived by unscrupulous lawyers who promise to expedite your residency case through a family member or spouse who is a citizen. The immigration agency’s announcement is clear and emphasizes the following: “The granting of “nonimmigrant U visa” status to a foreign national in the United States does not constitute admission for purposes of adjustment of status pursuant to section 245(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).” In other words, having a U Visa, you or your lawyer cannot use section 245(A) because this section only allows certain people to obtain permanent residence and generally requires that they have entered the country legally. “For example, someone who applied in 2023 has to wait longer than someone who applied in 2018. However, once they are granted U Visa status, they will have to wait another three years before they can apply for residency,” Newcomb stated.

Univision [11/5/2025 10:54 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports that, on November 7, at midnight, the grace period for Venezuelans with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 2021 will end, meaning that thousands of beneficiaries will join the undocumented population in the United States. Armando Olmedo, legal advisor to TelevisaUnivision, recommends that all individuals with pending immigration proceedings carry their documents at all times to avoid being detained by federal agents. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [11/6/2025 12:01 AM, Hannah Beech, 135475K] reports Mohammed Faisal sold his computer shop and graphic design business that he had scraped together in the refugee camp in Bangladesh. He even sold his tarpaulin shelter to raise money to move to America. He told his three sons, born like him in exile, that they would soon be citizens of a country composed of immigrants. He was wrong. Mr. Faisal, a member of the Rohingya Muslim minority whose violent expulsion from Myanmar has been labeled a genocide by the United States, has been stymied by a series of actions by President Trump that have shut the door on almost all refugees seeking sanctuary in the United States. On his first day in office, Mr. Trump announced a pause in refugee admissions. In his latest move, a federal notice was posted last week announcing that the United States would accept no more than 7,500 refugees from across the world for the fiscal year that started in October. The previous period’s ceiling, set by the Biden administration, was 125,000. The new cap is the lowest in the history of the decades-old refugee program, and it was made official without consulting Congress. The federal notice specified that future refugee resettlement will prioritize a white South African group called Afrikaners, as well as “other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands.” The South African government has disputed that Afrikaners face such persecution. In recent years, most of the refugees accepted by the United States have come from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Syria and Myanmar, all places that have endured conflict or major social upheaval. Mr. Faisal, who learned his fluent English from classes held in dirt-floor tents and from movies like “Titanic” and “The Terminator,” had been on the cusp of resettling in America when Mr. Trump returned to office in January. His years of immigration paperwork are now paused. “The U.S.A. is my dream country,” Mr. Faisal, 31, said. “The U.S.A. is a country of immigrants who work hard, and I want to work hard.” The news of the slashed cap has crushed him, Mr. Faisal said, his voice wracked with sobs. “I have sold everything,” he said. “I have nothing.” Mr. Faisal and his family are living with his sister and her family in a single tent. It is too many people for one shelter, he said. In Thailand, where refugee camps for other ethnic minorities from Myanmar have been open for decades, the number of people who left for the United States in fiscal 2025 was just 465, despite a recently launched program that was supposed to significantly increase emigration to America. A year earlier, more than 7,300 Myanmar refugees were granted entry to the United States, just a couple hundred fewer than the new worldwide quota. Apart from ethnic-cleansing campaigns, Myanmar has been engulfed by civil war, following a military coup in 2021. Daw May Hnin’s son got a student visa to study international relations in the United States three years ago, then applied for asylum when the Myanmar junta began to draft young people to fight in the civil war. She had hoped to join him in Minnesota, but in June Myanmar was put on the list of countries bound by a travel ban because of the high number of its citizens who overstayed their American visas. She cried when she learned of the 7,500-person limit, Ms. May Hnin said, wondering if she would ever see her son again. “I know countries have their limits, but for a mother like me, this isn’t about politics,” she said. “It’s about love, family and the chance to be whole again.”

NPR [11/5/2025 4:46 PM, Angela Kocherga, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports the U.S. is seeing a decline in international tourists this year, about 9 percent. The number of Canadian visitors has plummeted. But after an initial drop, there’s an uptick in travelers from Mexico.

ABC News [11/5/2025 2:07 PM, Luke Barr, 30493K] reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection had the lowest number of border encounters in any October, according to statistics obtained by ABC News. The numbers also represent the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded. CPB says. In October, there were 30,561 total encounters nationwide -- the lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded by CBP. The previous record low was 43,010 in October of FY2012, officials said. The numbers are also almost 80% lower than in October 2024, according to CBP statistics. "History made: the lowest border crossings in October history and the sixth straight month of ZERO releases. This is most secure border ever," said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement to ABC News, who also thanked the men and women of CBP. Since Jan. 21 through the end of October, there have been 106,134 total enforcement encounters along the southwest border. The daily average encounters along the border is 258 per day -- 95% lower than the previous administration’s encounter numbers, CPB said. Customs and Border Protection has focused now on interior enforcement due, it says, to the lack of migrants encountered at the border. They are currently deployed to cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles. "Our mission is simple: secure the border and safeguard this nation," said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. "And that’s exactly what we are doing. No excuses. No politics. Just results delivered by the most dedicated law-enforcement professionals in the country. We’re not easing up -- we’re pushing even harder." The Washington Times [11/5/2025 5:41 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports Customs and Border Protection tallied 30,561 encounters with unauthorized migrants nationwide last month. That’s the lowest October on record, and it is 79% lower than the same month in 2024 under President Biden. “History made,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said. “Thank you, President Trump and our brave DHS law enforcement. You make America proud!” The catch-and-release number is particularly striking. In the Biden years, there were months with more than 100,000 releases of migrants nabbed by the Border Patrol. The department said every migrant arrested by agents now is processed according to the structures of the law, which means they are either ousted or sent to another federal or state agency for further action. The department said that it is unmatched in modern border history. The average day in October saw agents nab just 258 people across the entire 1,954-mile boundary, or about 8,000 for the month. That’s up from an all-time monthly low of about 4,600 in July, but it’s far better than any month under the Biden administration. Nationwide, including the northern boundary, the Border Patrol recorded 9,845 apprehensions in October. “Our mission is simple: secure the border and safeguard this nation,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said. “And that’s exactly what we are doing. No excuses. No politics.” On no other issue during the last decade has there been as big a reversal, and then a re-reversal, as the border.

FOX News [11/5/2025 11:12 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] reports the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday that three Chinese national scholars have been charged with conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the U.S. while working at a university laboratory. The scholars allegedly made false statements to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to import materials related to roundworms from China under the "guise" of research at the University of Michigan, authorities said. "Allegedly attempting to smuggle biological materials under the guise of ‘research’ is a serious crime that threatens America’s national and agricultural security," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. The agency identified the suspects as Xu Bai, 28, Fengfan Zhang, 27, and Zhiyong Zhang, 30, who were all participating in J-1 visa academic exchange programs. According to U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgen, these charges stem from a broader pattern of alleged misuse within U.S. academic programs, specifically involving international researchers. "These three men are part of a long and alarming pattern of criminal activities committed by Chinese nationals under the cover of the University of Michigan," Gorgen said in a statement, while also thanking the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and CBP for assisting in the case. The three scholars, who conducted research at the university’s Shawn Xu Laboratory in Ann Arbor, allegedly received multiple shipments of concealed biological materials related to roundworms from a Chinese Ph.D. student in Wuhan, China, Chengxuan Han. Han had previously worked at the university and was convicted of smuggling and making false statements before being removed from the U.S. Following Han’s removal, the university launched an internal investigation. When the three scholars refused to cooperate, they were terminated, making them eligible for deportation. Before an Oct. 16 flight to China from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, CBP stopped the men for inspection. Zhiyong Zhang allegedly provided false information about Han, while Xu Bai and Fengfan Zhang admitted to receiving packages even after Han’s removal. "This case underscores the vital importance of safeguarding the American people and addressing vulnerabilities within foreign student and exchange visitor programs," ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement. "Educational institutions must enhance their admissions procedures to prevent exploitation, which can pose risks to national security. "I commend the ICE HSI agents and officers who work tirelessly to protect our nation and uphold the rule of law every day.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Post [11/6/2025 1:58 AM, Victor Nava, 42219K]
NewsMax [11/5/2025 7:48 PM, Michael Katz, 4109K]

CNN [11/5/2025 9:16 PM, Omar Jimenez, Elizabeth Wolfe, 606K] reports a Customs and Border Protection agent appeared to brag to fellow agents about his marksmanship after he repeatedly shot a Chicago woman following a collision between their cars, text messages shown in court revealed. The woman, Marimar Martinez, is accused of closely pursuing the agent and ramming into his car. But her defense attorney has alleged the opposite, saying it was actually the agent who sideswiped Martinez. Text messages from the agent, Charles Exum, were displayed in court Wednesday as Martinez’s defense attorney sought to prove his claim the government potentially destroyed evidence that may have supported the defense when it released Exum’s damaged vehicle and allowed the agent to drive it more than 1,000 miles to his home state of Maine. Criminal defense attorney Christopher Parente pointed to the messages as an indication Exum understood the high public scrutiny of the case and would have recognized the potential evidentiary value of this vehicle. As the case grasped the attention of national media and the public, Exum sent an article from The Guardian on October 7 to a group of other agents, which quoted Parente saying Martinez had "seven holes in her body from five shots from this agent.” "Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes," Exum said in the next text. When Parente pressed him on what he meant, Exum responded he was a firearms instructor. He said, "I take pride in my shooting skills.” Another message to the group read, "I have a MOF amendment to add to my story. I fired 5 rounds, and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.” Exum explained to the judge MOF is a "Miserable Old F**ker" who is always trying to one up someone wherever possible. It’s unclear what exactly he was responding to because the text conversations were redacted when presented to the court. When asked to explain the text, Exum said, "That means illegal actions have legal consequences.” Exum defended his use of force against Martinez, saying his life was at risk and "I did what I had to do.” Later, he noted Border Patrol agents consider "transferred intent" when deciding whether to use force, meaning, for example, whatever was done to an agent’s vehicle is considered as intent to do the same to the agent. The agent’s responding use of force needed to be proportionate, he said. "This incident is so unlike anything we have trained for," Exum told the judge. He said it was something one might see in "cartel-controlled" areas of the world, not on American streets. He did not elaborate further. Parente, a former federal prosecutor, has often described the incident leading up to the shooting as nothing more than a minor car accident.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [11/5/2025 9:54 PM, Renee Hickman, 36480K]

Chicago Tribune [11/5/2025 6:11 PM, Caroline Kubzansky, 4829K] reports his face uncovered and wearing dress clothes in place of his military fatigues, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Paul Delgado strode to the front of a federal courtroom Wednesday morning to testify about a cut on his leg and a slammed car door that preceded the arrest of a Lakeview comedy club manager and U.S. citizen. The three-hour preliminary examination hearing, held in a 25th-floor courtroom before U.S. District Judge Holleb Hotaling, offered a narrow window into the operations of a pair of federal teams whose enforcement actions Oct. 24 unleashed chaos around Chicago’s upscale North Side. "It is clear that the agents were not on a frolic," Hotaling said after nearly an hour of consideration and a relatively rare hearing into whether it was appropriate to forward Nathan Griffin’s assault charges on to a grand jury. "The government has met its very low burden … to determine there is probable cause.” It also showed the aftermath of one of the day’s highest-profile arrests: that of an American citizen working as manager of the Laugh Factory comedy club, whom federal prosecutors accused of slamming the door on Delgado’s leg. Agents’ body camera footage that captured Griffin’s arrest and transport back to the Chicago FBI headquarters mostly shows Griffin handcuffed between two agents and unleashing a steady stream of invectives about the morality of Operation Midway Blitz and the agents’ personal role in the enforcement surge, about to enter its third month in and around Chicago. At one point, Griffin apparently remarks on the agents’ race, saying, "all of you guys are Hispanic, huh? All of you guys are just an (expletive) disgrace.” He is evidently aware that he is being recorded, at one point leaning into the lens and saying "you see me, camera? I’m an American (expletive) citizen.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Snell played lengthy portions of the footage to argue his point that Griffin was hostile toward the agents and had intentionally assaulted them, although Hotaling toward the end questioned the point of doing so since she didn’t know "how much of that is going toward what we are here for.” But federal defense attorney Akane Tsuruta zeroed in on a few seconds of footage just before Griffin’s arrest and used her line of questioning to cast doubt on whether the agents had in fact been performing their official duties in the moments leading up to the tussle with Griffin.

NewsNation [11/5/2025 7:35 PM, Salvador Rivera, 8017K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered almost 290 pounds of heroin hidden in one vehicle at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, said to be the biggest haul ever discovered in a single car. The confiscated heroin has an estimated street value of more than $13 million. CBP officers arrested the driver, a Mexican citizen with lawful permanent residency in the U.S. The bust was made on October 22. According to CBP, the unidentified individual tried to enter the U.S. while driving a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado. "This interception is a direct result of the relentless vigilance and expertise of our CBP officers and their K9 partners," said San Diego CBP Field Office Director Sidney Aki. "They stand on the front lines every day, committed to disrupting criminal networks and ensuring the safety and security of our communities." CBP officers notified Homeland Security Investigations who responded to interview and take the subject into custody. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to file federal charges against the driver for trying to import the drugs into the U.S.

Reuters [11/5/2025 6:30 PM, David Shepardson and Rajesh Kumar Singh, 36480K] reports U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Wednesday that he would order 10% of flights at 40 major U.S. airports to be cut starting Friday unless a deal to end the federal government shutdown is reached. The shutdown, now in its 36th day and the longest in U.S. history, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay. This has worsened staff shortages, caused widespread flight delays and extended lines at airport security screening. While the government did not name the 40 airports affected, the cuts were expected to hit the 30 busiest airports including those serving New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Dallas. This would reduce as many as 1,800 flights and over 268,000 airline seats, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The move is aimed at taking pressure off air traffic controllers. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration also warned that it could add more flight restrictions after Friday if further air traffic issues emerge. NBC News [11/5/2025 5:45 PM, Corky Siemaszko, 34509K] reports that the development comes as the shutdown has entered its second month and in the wake of a weekend during which dozens of American airports reported hundreds of delays. More than 5,000 flights traveling from and to U.S. airports were delayed Sunday alone, and the Transportation Security Administration said it screened nearly 2.7 million people around the country. The shutdown has meant that essential workers, including air traffic controllers, have been working without pay. That has led to a shortage of anywhere from 2,000 to 3,000 controllers, Duffy has previously said.

Reported similarly:
NewsNation [11/5/2025 4:47 PM, Sean Noone, 8017K]

CBS News [11/5/2025 6:14 PM, Brian Unger, 39474K] reports a simple car wash might not sound like much — but for Transportation Security Administration officers who haven’t seen a paycheck in two weeks, it’s one small act of care in a time of crisis. TSA officers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport lined up this week for free car washes and gas cards, thanks to a partnership between Caliber Car Wash and Caleb Harmon-Marshall, founder of the travel newsletter Gate Access and a former TSA officer himself. With the government shutdown dragging on, many TSA officers say they’re relying on donated meals at work, food banks, and dwindling savings to stay afloat. Beyond the financial strain, officers describe deep emotional exhaustion — tears shed in break rooms, private moments of hopelessness between security lines and baggage checks. For TSA officers, the shutdown feels deeply personal, a political fight with real human costs. As the shutdown drags on, one thing is clear: the people protecting America’s skies are struggling to stay grounded themselves.

The Hill [11/5/2025 4:51 PM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports what began with a stop at Charleston International Airport in South Carolina has evolved into a growing whirlwind of accusations and pushback against Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). In the days following the incident, Mace defended herself through several posts on the social media platform X. She claimed that she was suing the airport for defamation in one post on Wednesday. The entire incident started on Oct. 30, when Mace was scheduled to meet with Charleston County Aviation Authority police officers at 6:30 a.m. EDT to be escorted to her flight, according to a police incident report. As officers were on the lookout for a white BMW, they were notified that she would be arriving late. Dispatchers notified the police before 7 a.m. that she was at the entrance for the Known Crewmember program. Once they found her, "she immediately began loudly cursing and making derogatory comments to us and about the department," according to the report. The alleged "cursing and complaining" continued until she was brought to her gate, police wrote. Officers later learned that a gray or silver BMW appeared at 6:51 a.m., not at the curb but at the atrium crosswalk, according to the report. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer and other agents told police they would file a report "about her unacceptable behavior" to their superiors.

New York Times [11/6/2025 12:31 AM, Sachi Kitajima Mulkey, 135475K] reports Hurricane Melissa’s path through the Caribbean last month was made more violent by climate change, according to a scientific analysis released Thursday. Researchers from the group World Weather Attribution found that the storm had 7 percent stronger wind speeds than a similar one in a world that has not been warmed by the burning of fossil fuels. They also found the rate of rainfall inside the eyewall of the storm was 16 percent more intense. Melissa made landfall as a Category 5 storm in Jamaica on Oct. 28 with wind speeds of 185 miles per hour, collapsing buildings and knocking out internet to most of the island. It continued on to Cuba as a Category 3 storm, forcing hundreds to evacuate, and pummeled Haiti with catastrophic flooding. Dozens of people in hard-hit areas have died. Even a small increase in wind speed can cause substantial damage, said Friederike Otto, one of the group’s founders and a climatologist at Imperial College London. While the economic toll of Melissa is still unfolding, Dr. Otto estimated that the increase in wind speed may have added more than one billion dollars in additional damages. For a country with a small gross domestic product, that is a “huge percentage of the damages,” she said. Since World Weather Attribution was founded in 2014, it has published more than 100 studies that quickly link the impact of global warming to heat waves, drought, wildfires and storms. It has found that other damaging storms, like Hurricane Helene and Milton last year, were more intense and devastating because of climate change. Climate change “absolutely has its ‘finger on the scale,’ but that doesn’t automatically mean all hurricanes will become powerful,” said Brian McNoldy, a senior researcher of atmospheric science at the University of Miami. Rather, an average storm is more likely to encounter factors that help it intensify, he said. The frequency of hurricanes may actually be decreasing as the climate warms, according to a 2022 study. But those that do form are more likely to become extreme, according to the United Nations’ leading climate report. Hurricanes draw energy from ocean heat. Melissa formed in the central Caribbean, where temperatures were 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit higher than usual. The analysis found that climate change made these temperatures, and the humidity that helped Melissa intensify, six times more likely. “It is very clear that the oceans have warmed in recent decades due to climate change,” said Mr. McNoldy. “All other things being equal, that would act to enhance hurricane activity.” Hurricanes born in hot ocean waters are also more likely to rapidly intensify, a designation that means a storm’s sustained wind speeds jumped by 35 miles per hour, or roughly equivalent to two storm categories, in 24 hours. Melissa’s wind speeds doubled in less than a day and raced through multiple categories over a weekend. Heat in the atmosphere matters, too. Each degree of Celsius warming can cause the air to hold 7 percent more moisture. Almost like a giant sponge being wrung out, this means hurricanes can carry larger cargoes of rain that can be dumped on areas they pass over.

NPR [11/5/2025 6:00 AM, Katia Riddle, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports eight years ago, Erik Thorsen — CEO of Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria, Ore. — received a warning that no hospital administrator wants to hear: A big earthquake could cause his hospital’s building to collapse. His staff and his patients could die in a matter of moments. "They basically said, ‘None of you are prepared for a major natural disaster from the Cascadia subduction zone,’" recalls Thorsen. The Cascadia subduction zone is an earthquake-prone region that stretches about 700 miles from California to British Columbia. Thorsen’s hospital sits right along it — which is why a team of experts and engineers from the state had come to talk to him and other leaders from coastal hospitals about earthquake risk. Alarmed, Thorsen — who grew up in this area, left for college, and then returned to raise his family here — got to work fundraising and planning in order to fortify his hospital to withstand an earthquake and provide shelter during a tsunami. A critical part of the project’s $300 million budget was to come from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Their $14 million grant would help to build a tsunami evacuation zone in the hospital. But in April, the Trump administration canceled the grant program that awarded the funding, called Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program. A report from the Urban Institute estimates this cancellation jeopardizes over $3 billion nationally in hazard mitigation funds to protect communities from threats like floods, wildfires, tornadoes and hurricanes. When the news reached Astoria, construction plans were already well under way. "We did go back to the design team and say, ‘What would it take to actually take these elements out?’" says Mark Kujala, a Clatsop County commissioner who worked on fundraising for the project. "And because it’s so integrated into the project, that just wasn’t feasible.” The hospital broke ground in September. The current plan for filling the $14 million hole left by FEMA: There is no plan. "Unfortunately, FEMA — even prior to the shutdown, had kind of gone silent on us," says Thorsen. "And now with the shutdown … very silent on us."

New York Post [11/5/2025 12:45 PM, Brad Appleton, 42219K] reports that President Biden’s trip to Los Angeles stymied evacuation efforts in the burning city — because the LAPD had to deploy its entire motorcycle fleet to accompany him, an explosive new report says. Cops on motorcycles were not available to help alleviate gridlocked traffic for residents fleeing for their lives as the raging fire engulfed the City of Angels in early January, according to the newly released 2025 "Palisades After Action Report," penned by LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. The report details the department’s resource planning leading up to the fire and what happened after the blaze grew out of control. As the fire grew and residents fled, a massive traffic jam began on a portion of Sunset Boulevard, making it "nearly impossible for first responders to reach their destinations," the report says. Biden had a preciously planned trip to LA on Jan. 7, and was in town as the fire quickly spread — a visit that required the use of all of the LAPD’s on-duty motorcycle officers. "At 11:30 a.m., the LAPD IC contacted the POTUS CP to request the assistance of motorcycle officers whose ability to maneuver through heavy traffic would have helped reduce the gridlock in the Palisades," McDonnell notes. "Unfortunately, the POTUS CP was unable to release the motorcycle officers. However, due to a change in the President’s schedule, the POTUS CP was able to send 65 officers in patrol cars to the Palisades incident," the report reveals.

FOX News [11/5/2025 3:01 PM, Marc Tamasco, 40621K] reports during an appearance Wednesday on "Pod Force One with Miranda Devine," Eric Trump expressed frustration over what he called a lack of answers from the investigation into the 2024 assassination attempt against his father, President Donald Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania. According to official reports, 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight bullets at Trump from a rooftop during the rally, with a bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman also killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, husband and father attending the event, and injured two others. A Secret Service sniper killed Crooks during the shooting, and an FBI investigation remains in progress. No motive has been determined for why Crooks conducted the attack.Eric Trump voiced skepticism about the official narrative, questioning why more information on Crooks hasn’t been revealed and calling out the peculiarity of the information that has been revealed.

New York Post [11/5/2025 10:32 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 42219K] reports Florida authorities have sounded the alarm over rep. eated instances of people trying to pass off blatantly counterfeit money, including movie prop bills, as legitimate currency — and flagging ways to tell which ones are fake. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office posted a picture of a crisp $100 bill with founding father Benjamin Franklin adorning the front like usual, but circled bolt markers that don’t appear on your average banknote. "The $100 bills are marked as fake, stating they are to be used only in making motion pictures, but they may look accurate at a casual glance," the office explained on Facebook. While the fonts are similar to the standard used on real greenbacks, the labels very apparently spell out "FOR MOTION PICTURE PURPOSES," "THIS IS NOT LEGAL TENDER," and "PROP MOVIE MONEY," according to the bills shared by the authorities. Police in Key West, the most populated city in Monroe County, also flagged similar counterfeit $20 bills featuring the notoriously tough Andrew Jackson with a smirk spread across his face in late September. "Check your twenties! Some movie prop bills have made it into circulation! Though they’re marked ‘for motion picture purposed.’ They can fool you. Oh, and if Andrew Jackson has a smirk, that’s another clear giveaway!" the Key West Police Department wrote on Facebook. The Key West police added that a local businessman had alerted the department of a fake bill "in his till" and requested that they issue a warning to the masses. Many Gen Z cashiers have struggled to differentiate between real and fake cash, including one well-meaning employee at a fro-yo shop in Florida who scrawled "FAKE" in Sharpie across a pair of very real bills. In Missouri, one diner tried to pay for his meal with a novelty $1,000 bill, which isn’t minted in US currency. The bill wound up being a piece of Chinese "ancestor money" typically burned during post-mortem rituals. In 2019, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer even warned residents of the Big Apple that funny money was becoming a "major problem" for the city’s retailers. "This problem is definitely rated R, because it’s getting very, very bad," Schumer said. "It shouldn’t be ‘Mission Impossible’ to prevent these fake funds from being passed off as the real thing in the first place," he added.

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USA Today [11/5/2025 4:49 PM, Amaris Encinas, 67103K]

New York Times [11/5/2025 9:19 PM, Neil Vigdor, 135475K] reports a Florida man was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a series of online threats against several of President Trump’s most prominent political adversaries, according to a criminal complaint, which said that his targets included James Comey, Letitia James and Hunter Biden. Two of the posts appeared within a few weeks of the recent indictments of Mr. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Ms. James, New York’s attorney general, whom Mr. Trump had pressured the Justice Department to prosecute. The man, Gregory Formicone, 58, of Bradenton, Fla., could face up to five years in prison if he is found guilty of making the threats, which an F.B.I. special agent said in the criminal complaint had appeared on Disqus, a hosting service for online comments. Mr. Formicone had been responding to articles published by The Gateway Pundit, a website known for spreading right-wing conspiracy theories, including its Oct. 20 coverage of the criminal proceedings against Mr. Comey, according to the complaint. The website suggested that the federal judge in the case, who was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., had handed an early procedural victory to Mr. Comey, who was charged in late September with one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding. “If he skates and walks on the beach again, he’s going down!” the criminal complaint quoted Mr. Formicone as saying. “We already have a team on it. Time for the American people to administer justice!” The threat appeared to be referring to a social media post that Mr. Comey made in May that showed seashells on a beach forming the numbers “86 47.” “Eighty-six,” according to Webster’s New World College Dictionary, is a slang term meaning to eliminate or remove. Mr. Trump is the country’s 47th president. The Secret Service questioned Mr. Comey about the image, which Mr. Trump’s allies said had amounted to a call for Mr. Trump’s assassination. About four days later, investigators said, Mr. Formicone renewed his calls for violence, this time in connection with the federal government’s criminal case against Ms. James, who was indicted in early October on bank fraud and false statement charges. That case stems from a home that Ms. James purchased in Norfolk, Va. The Justice Department accused her of falsely claiming it as a secondary residence and using it instead as a rental investment property. “If they let both of them off the hook, every fn [sic] person involved in the fix will definitely be pushing daisies,” Mr. Formicone wrote, according to investigators. According to the complaint, some of his other posts called for the targeting of Hunter Biden, who was pardoned at the end of his father’s presidency; John Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and a Democratic Connecticut state senator whom Mr. Trump’s allies had condemned for holding up a sign at a “No Kings” protest last month that read “Cholesterol, do your job!” The senator was not named in the complaint. “Brennan and Comey are average citizens right now,” the complaint quoted Mr. Formicone as saying in one post from late September. “Their safety is not guaranteed.”

NewsNation [11/5/2025 3:10 PM, Anna Ashcraft, 8017K] reports a 12-year-old waved down a jet skier and brought three people in distress in the ocean onto his family’s boat after watching their boat capsize in Oceanside Harbor Sunday morning. The Oceanside Fire Department says five people in total were rescued after a 25-foot powerboat capsized in breaking waves in the mouth of Oceanside Harbor at 10:25 a.m. Sunday. Lifeguards in Tower 14 on Oceanside Harbor Beach watched as five people were thrown into the water. The lifeguard station dispatched a Marine Safety Unit (MSU) Rescue Boat and lifeguards on the beach responded, who initiated a Rescue-Ocean response with Fire Dispatch that included the U.S. Coast Guard San Diego, according to the fire department. Five people were rescued from the water from several private boats that were nearby, including the boat the 12-year-old was on with his family. All five victims were brought back to the dock by the boats where an Oceanside Fire Engine and Rescue Ambulance were standing by, the fire department said. Three people were transported to a local hospital for minor injuries after being evaluated by paramedics at the dock.

CyberScoop [11/5/25 2:06 PPM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports a Commerce Department office should investigate Chinese government-connected products in more than a dozen emerging industries for security threats, a group of House GOP committee leaders said in a letter they released Wednesday. In the missive, the lawmakers said the Office of Information and Communications Technology and Services has the power to both investigate and restrict those products in areas like artificial intelligence and energy generation. China, they wrote, has already demonstrated that it views information technology as a battlefield with its cyberattacks on the United States. “A compromised power grid, an infiltrated telecommunications network, or a manipulated industrial control system can pose as great a threat as a kinetic military strike,” the House members said. “The fusion of digital capabilities with critical infrastructure has whittled away geographic borders, as connected infrastructure or products can be controlled or updated by entities in another country. “Without a concerted effort to create a secure technology ecosystem from the very beginning of each supply chain, our adversaries will continue to exploit our dependence on their technology to undermine U.S. economic and military stability,” they continued. The lawmakers signing the letter were House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino of New York; Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar of Michigan; Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast of Florida, Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford of Arkansas; and Bill Huizenga of Michigan, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia.

NextGov [11/5/2025 2:43 PM, David DiMolfetta, 115K] reports the Department of Homeland Security says it’s proceeding with planned layoffs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, despite a recent court order barring workforce reductions across parts of the federal government during the ongoing shutdown. In a Tuesday filing, CISA Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala said the agency issued reduction-in-force notices to 54 employees on Oct. 11, roughly two weeks before a federal court issued a preliminary injunction pausing certain layoff activity governmentwide. The listed employees work across CISA’s Stakeholder Engagement Division, which includes branches focused on partnerships, international affairs and academic outreach. CISA maintains it is in compliance with the court’s order, saying that no new reduction notices have been issued since the injunction, the October layoffs were planned beforehand and they involve no union-represented employees. The injunction barred any layoffs since the Oct. 1 start of the shutdown, but applied only to “competitive areas”— the groupings of employees that agencies must create before engaging in RIFs — that contain members of one of the unions party to the lawsuit. Because CISA did not send layoff notices to any staffing groups that contained such union-represented workers, the agency argued it can proceed with the cuts.

CyberScoop [11/5/2021 7:05 AM, Brad LaPorte, 122K]
reports the federal cybersecurity system is weathering a series of crises that couldn’t have arrived at a worse time. The F5 security breach from Oct. 15, the proposed elimination of more than 1,000 jobs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the ongoing federal government shutdown have created a perfect storm that is not only leaving critical vulnerabilities exposed across the nation’s digital infrastructure, but it’s also weakening the workforce meant to defend it. On its own, each of these events is serious, but when combined, they are threatening to push an already strained federal cyber defense posture to its breaking point. The F5 incident was not another routine software breach. Security researchers and federal officials have called it a nation-state–level compromise that could have a cascading impact. In this incident, a China-linked espionage group accessed F5 source code and undisclosed vulnerabilities, gaining access to a detailed blueprint for crafting custom exploits capable of bypassing traditional defenses. Because the company’s BIG‑IP software is used by many of the world’s largest enterprises, including federal agencies, defense contractors, hospitals, and utilities, the breach has national implications. CISA’s emergency directive ordering agencies to patch affected systems reflects the severity of the threat. It also highlights a deeper issue—federal cyber defense relies too heavily on reactive approaches that are no longer effective in battling adversaries who are moving faster, hiding deeper, and automating their attacks. Or under normal conditions, this reactive approach would be an uphill battle. But, as most of us now know, CISA is facing potential cuts of more than 1,000 positions and funding cuts totaling nearly half a billion dollars. This includes jobs directly tied to incident response, stakeholder engagement, regional operations, and election security—the very jobs that ensure resilience across the federal, state, and local cyber ecosystem. The timing could not be worse. Since 2018, CISA has been the connective tissue of our national cyber defense. It links intelligence from federal agencies with state governments and private-sector partners. These massive cuts will jeopardize the entire framework that coordinates national response during cyber crises.

CyberScoop [11/5/2025 4:03 PM, Greg Otto, 122K] reports a federal judge has reimposed a sentence on Paige Thompson, the former Amazon Web Services engineer convicted in the 2019 Capital One data breach that compromised the personal information of more than 100 million people. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik sentenced Thompson to time served, plus five years of supervised release with three years of home confinement, and 250 hours of community service. The judge also maintained the original $40.7 million restitution order. The resentencing, issued last week, follows a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that vacated Thompson’s original 2022 sentence after prosecutors appealed the original sentence as too lenient. Lasnik acknowledged his “poor job of articulating the reasons” for the original sentence but maintained that imprisonment would be “greater-than-necessary punishment” after analyzing all legally required sentencing factors. The court determined that Thompson’s three years under supervision since the original sentencing demonstrated that non-custodial punishment adequately “reflects the seriousness of the offense, promotes respect for the law, provides just punishment, affords adequate specific deterrence, and protects the public.”

HS Today [11/5/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 38K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), in collaboration with international cybersecurity partners, have released the “Microsoft Exchange Server Security Best Practices” guidance. This blueprint builds upon CISA’s “Emergency Directive 25-02: Mitigate Microsoft Exchange Vulnerability” and recommends proactive prevention techniques to address cyber threats head-on and to protect sensitive information and communications within on-premises Exchange Servers as part of hybrid Exchange environments. In an era of escalating cyber threats, this comprehensive document is a critical resource for organizations relying on Microsoft Exchange, designed to equip on-premises administrators with essential security measures to enhance prevention and fortify defenses. By restricting administrative access, implementing multifactor authentication, enforcing strict transport security configurations, and adopting zero trust (ZT) security model principles, organizations can significantly bolster their defenses against potential cyberattacks. Additionally, as certain Exchange Server versions have recently become end-of-life (EOL), the authoring agencies strongly encourage organizations to take proactive steps to mitigate risks and prevent malicious activity “Even amid a prolonged government shutdown riddled with partisan rhetoric, CISA remains dedicated to safeguarding critical infrastructure by providing timely guidance to minimize disruptions and to thwart nation-state threats,” said CISA Acting Director Madhu Gottumukkala. “Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, CISA continues to demonstrate the power of operational collaboration by working shoulder to shoulder with our trusted intelligence and law enforcement partners across the globe”

AP [11/5/2025 8:41 PM, Jessica Hill, 19051K] reports state workers were put on paid administrative leave. Nevada residents couldn’t receive their driver’s licenses. Employers were unable to conduct background checks on new hires. These were all effects of a massive cyberattack in Nevada that took nearly a month to fully restore its services. The ransomware attack – though discovered in August – occurred as early as May when a state employee mistakenly downloaded malicious software, and cost at least $1.5 million to recover, according to an after-action report the state released Wednesday. "Nevada’s teams protected core services, paid our employees on time, and recovered quickly — without paying criminals," Gov. Joe Lombardo said Wednesday in a statement announcing the report. "This is what disciplined planning, talented public servants, and strong partnerships deliver for Nevadans.” The attack came on the heels of a long series of cybercrimes against states and municipalities in recent years. In 2024, Georgia’s largest county was hit with a cyberattack where hackers shut down office phone lines and threatened to publicly release sensitive data they claimed to have stolen unless officials paid ransom. The ransomware syndicate LockBit took credit for the cyberattack in late January that temporarily crippled government services in Fulton County. Cybercriminals hacked Rhode Island’s system for health and benefits programs and released files to a site on the dark web in 2024. The Colorado Department of Transportation’s computer network was targeted in a ransomware attack in 2018 by two Iranian computer hackers, though no money was paid and no information was lost. When Baltimore was hit in 2019 with a ransomware attack that crippled the city’s services for a month, it was estimated to cost at least $18.2 million. A year before, a ransomware attack slammed Baltimore’s 911 dispatch system. Nevada officials maintain the state did not pay the ransom, the amount of which was not disclosed. The attacker has yet to be identified, and the incident is still under investigation. The attack against Nevada was a "fairly large ransomware against a state," according to Gregory Moody, director of cybersecurity programs at UNLV. This attack was able to spread through the state more quickly because of the decentralized nature of Nevada’s cyber systems, he said. Nevada’s response time was good compared to others, he said. It typically takes between seven and eight months to discover an attacker in a system, and Nevada officials caught it faster than is usual, Moody said. The attack cost 4,212 in overtime hours – or about $211,000 in direct overtime wages – and $1.3 million for help from contractors, according to the report. The $1.3 million was paid for by the state’s cyber insurance, according to the governor’s office.

CNN [11/5/2025 2:15 PM, Mark Morales, Brynn Gingras, and John Miller, 18595K] reports that two men were arrested in New Jersey in a terror plot probe on the heels of two arrests in Michigan in an alleged ISIS-inspired terrorist plot, multiple law enforcement officials close to the investigation said Wednesday. The two men are said to have been part of the same online communication group as the ones who hatched the alleged plot in Michigan, one of the officials said. The forum was not necessarily to discuss and participate in the same plot, but to discuss their own separate schemes, the official said. One of the suspects, a 19-year-old man from New Jersey, was taken into custody at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday morning, the official said. Authorities had been monitoring his movements and arrested him once they noticed he moved up his flight to Turkey, the official said. The act of going to the airport was seen as a move to further his plot, triggering the arrest, the official said. The suspect ultimately planned to travel from Turkey to Syria, where he would attempt to join ISIS, the officials said. Authorities routinely make these types of arrests after monitoring online chatter from targets they are zeroing in on, the official said. The circumstances of the arrest of the other suspect were not immediately known. The US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey and the FBI declined comment.

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NBC News [11/5/2025 11:43 AM, Jonathan Dienst, Tom Winter, and Minyvonne Burke, 34509K]
NewsMax [11/5/2025 11:52 AM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4109K]

AP [11/5/2025 8:52 PM, Isabella Volmert, 31753K] reports investigators say a third Michigan man is now facing charges in a plot to stage a terror attack on Halloween. He traveled to an amusement park in the Midwest to scout the location, they said. Ayob Nasser, 19, was arrested Wednesday. He is accused of participating in the planning of a possible attack on LGBTQ+ bars in suburban Detroit that was inspired by the Islamic State, federal authorities have said. Nasser, his brother Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud are charged with conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated terrorist organization and receiving and transferring guns and ammunition for terrorism, according to court documents. Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud were arrested Friday. Investigators say two minors, identified only as Person 1 and Person 2 in court documents, were also involved in the discussions. "We will not stop. We will follow the tentacles where they lead. We will continue to stand guard with the FBI against terrorism," said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said in a statement. It was unclear whether Nasser has an attorney. Two attorneys representing Ali and Mahmoud declined to comment when reached by phone Wednesday evening, and both said they are reading through an amended 93-page complaint filed in federal court. One of the attorneys, Amir Makled, over the weekend seemed to wave off the allegations, saying they were the result of "hysteria" and "fear-mongering.”

FOX News [11/5/2025 3:38 PM, Adam Sabes, 40621K] reports an Alabama judge rejected calls from prosecutors and community members to increase bond for a man charged with attempted murder as the suspect remains out of jail. The shooting took place on Oct. 4 just after 11:30 p.m. following the Morehouse-Tuskegee Classic college football game in Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery Police Chief Jim Graboys said two people were killed and 12 were injured, adding that only one of the 14 victims was the intended target. He said there were multiple shooters. One of the suspects, Javorick Whiting, 19, was arrested on Oct. 16 and charged with attempted murder in relation to the mass shooting. According to court documents, the suspect Whiting allegedly shot was last reported in critical condition. After being taken into custody, a judge set bond at $60,000, which Whiting was able to post on Oct. 17 through a bail bond company, court records obtained by Fox News Digital show.

Reuters [11/5/2025 11:17 AM, Camillus Eboh and Elisha Bala-Gbogbo, 36480K] reports Nigeria’s government rejected on Wednesday its designation by the United States as a "country of particular concern" over alleged religious freedom violations, saying the move was based on misinformation and faulty data. President Donald Trump last week put Nigeria back on a list of countries that the U.S. says have violated religious freedom, and said on Saturday he had asked the Defense Department to prepare for possible "fast" military action if Nigeria does not crack down on the killing of Christians. Washington’s decision to designate Nigeria as a violator of religious freedoms has strained diplomatic ties between the two countries. Defending Nigeria’s record, Information Minister Mohammed Idris told a press briefing that Trump’s threats of military action were unwarranted and misrepresented Nigeria’s complex security challenges. "...any narrative suggesting that the Nigerian State is failing to take action against religious attacks is based on misinformation or faulty data," Idris said. Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff General Olufemi Oluyede said on Monday the country faced terrorism, not persecution of Christians, and the Nigerian presidency has said it would welcome U.S. help in fighting Islamist insurgents as long as the country’s territorial integrity is respected.

New York Times [11/5/2025 5:44 PM, Matthew Cullen, 135475K] reports a majority of the justices on the Supreme Court suggested during a hearing today that President Trump might have exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs this year on imports from nearly every U.S. trading partner. The outcome of the case, which could be decided within weeks or months, has immense implications: Just under half of all goods that enter the U.S. are now subject to steep tariffs. The president — who has made tariffs a centerpiece of his agenda — described the case as “literally, LIFE OR DEATH for our Country.” At issue is whether Trump can impose the tariffs under a 1977 law that gives the White House the power to respond to an “unusual and extraordinary threat” by regulating the importing of foreign property. His critics argue that trade deficits do not qualify as a national emergency and that the tariffs seem to run afoul of the “major questions doctrine,” which requires Congress to weigh in on big issues. The court’s three liberal justices are likely to side with the states and small businesses that sued the Trump administration. Some of the conservative justices seemed inclined to side with Trump. The deciding votes appear to belong to Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch — conservatives who cast doubt on Trump’s tariffs. Gorsuch warned of “a one-way ratchet” of delegating power from Congress to the presidency.

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New York Post [11/5/2025 3:41 PM, Ryan King, 42219K]
Bloomberg [11/5/2025 2:00 PM, Greg Stohr, 91K]
Breitbart [11/5/2025 1:13 PM, John Carney, 2416K]
The Hill [11/5/2025 1:49 PM, Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee, 12595K]
NPR [11/5/2025 1:08 PM, Nina Totenberg, 28013K]

Bloomberg [11/5/2025 6:41 PM, Lauren Dezenski, 18207K] reports President Donald Trump said it would be “devastating for our country” if the Supreme Court struck down his administration’s sweeping global tariffs after key justices questioned whether he overstepped his authority during oral arguments Wednesday. Trump said in an interview with Fox News that he had been told the case “went well” but warned that the “entire world would be in a depression” had he not been able to implement the levies on goods from trading partners. “I think it’s one of the most important, maybe the most, but one of the most important cases in the history of our country,” Trump said. The president went on to argue that he was able to force China to remove planned curbs on rare earths because of the threat of increasing tariffs on the country. “That wasn’t a threat against us, that was a threat against the entire world,” Trump said. “I did this for the world.”

Reuters [11/5/2025 6:40 PM, Andrea Shalal, 36480K] reports U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday said he came away from a Supreme Court hearing on the legality of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs feeling "very, very optimistic." Bessent told Fox Business Network’s "Kudlow" program he thought plaintiffs challenging Trump’s use of a 1977 law to justify tariffs had "almost embarrassed themselves," and he was confident the Supreme Court would reverse a lower court ruling that the tariffs were illegal. Asked how the administration would return the large amounts of funds already collected if the Supreme Court upheld the ruling, Bessent, who attended the arguments on Wednesday, said: "We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it, but I’m confident we won’t have to." U.S. Supreme Court justices heard more than 2-1/2 hours of oral arguments on the case on Wednesday, with both conservative and liberal justices raising doubts about whether a 1977 law meant for use during national emergencies gave Trump the power to impose tariffs or whether the Republican president had intruded on the powers of Congress. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts told U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, arguing for the administration, that the tariffs were "the imposition of taxes on Americans, and that has always been the core power of Congress." The tariffs - taxes on imported goods that are paid by importers in the United States - could add up to trillions of dollars for the U.S. government over the next decade. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to issue taxes and tariffs. Asked about comments by Trump and himself touting the amount of revenue being generated, Bessent told reporters the duties being collected were "coincident" and amounted to a "shrinking ice cube" that would generate less tax income over time. As that happened, however, increased domestic manufacturing spurred by higher import costs would generate more revenue from income tax, resulting in a balanced result, he said.

Reuters [11/5/2025 2:16 PM, Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, 36480K] reports that the Pentagon on Wednesday denied accusations from senior Republican lawmakers that the agency’s top policy official, Elbridge Colby, was not fully briefing Congress on important national security issues, suggesting a widening rift between the Department of Defense and senators from both parties. Republican and Democratic lawmakers slammed the Pentagon’s top official on Tuesday for a lack of briefings and said at times officials appeared to be undermining U.S. President Donald Trump’s own policies, in a rare bipartisan show of frustration with the administration. The lawmakers had singled out Colby, the Pentagon’s under secretary of defense for policy. "The Department values its relationship with the Hill, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with Congress to support a robust national defense," Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson said in a statement. Wilson added that Colby’s team had "briefed Congress dozens of times, in both classified and unclassified settings, in addition to other meetings." She did not provide details on what the briefings were about. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has worked to control the information flow about the world’s most powerful military and told Pentagon staff they must obtain permission before interacting with members of Congress. During the more than two-hour hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, lawmakers said senior Pentagon officials were unresponsive to questions and concerns from Congress. Colby is set to meet Sullivan later on Wednesday, officials said.

Daily Wire [11/5/2025 12:26 PM, Tim Pearce, 2494K] reports President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will ramp up nuclear weapons testing to be on an "equal basis" to other countries’ programs. "The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country," the president said in a Truth Social post. "This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term. Because of other countries [sic] testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” In an accompanying video message, Trump added, "Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do it, having to do with nuclear weapons, but I really had no choice. Russia is second in line, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.” The president’s Wednesday announcement appears to escalate previous moves he has made to increase U.S. research and testing into nuclear weapons. It also follows earlier warnings the president has made about U.S. intelligence on Russia and China’s testing programs. "Russia’s testing nuclear weapons," Trump said during an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired over the weekend. "And China’s testing them too. You just don’t know about it.” "Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report," the president said. "We’re going to test, because they test and others test.”

Bloomberg [11/5/2025 2:00 PM, Greg Stohr, 18207K] reports that President Vladimir Putin said Russia has no plans to violate existing agreements on nuclear testing, but signaled that he’s ready to order them if Donald Trump moves forward with threatened US atomic weapons trials. “Russia has always strictly adhered to its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and we have no plans to deviate from these commitments,” Putin said Wednesday at a televised meeting of his Security Council. Moscow would “take appropriate retaliatory measures” if the US or another power conducted such a test, he said. After Defense Minister Andrey Belousov and army chief Valery Gerasimov called for preparations to resume testing in response to the US president’s comments, Putin ordered his officials to seek more information about Washington’s intentions and to set out proposals for “the possible commencement of work on nuclear weapons testing.” Trump said last week that he’s instructing the Pentagon to start testing US nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” in response to “other countries’ testing programs.” That followed Russia’s announcements that Moscow had conducted trials of a nuclear-powered underwater drone and a nuclear-capable cruise missile. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Sunday that he expected the actual tests would stop short of using warheads, and would instead be trials for the system. The US’s last nuclear explosive test was in 1992, though it continues to test delivery systems. Russia, which has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, last conducted a publicly declared detonation test in 1990.

Reported similarly:
Axios [11/5/2025 12:04 PM, Avery Lotz, 12972K]

Wall Street Journal [11/5/2025 4:31 AM, Anat Peled, 646K] reports the body of the last dead American hostage in Gaza was returned by Hamas after more than two years, marking the close of a painful chapter for U.S. families whose relatives were taken by the militant group. Itay Chen, 19, an Israeli-American soldier who also holds German citizenship, was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack while fighting off militants with his tank crew in southern Israel. Chen was one of around 250 hostages taken during the attack, including around a dozen U.S. nationals, according to the Hostages Families Forum, an advocacy group. The return of the hostages taken by the U.S.-designated terrorist group, especially those with American citizenship, has been central to President Trump’s diplomatic efforts on Gaza. Throughout the war, Trump and top U.S. officials frequently met with hostage families, and he has often spoken about the importance of bringing them home as part of a deal. As part of the U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement last month between Israel and Hamas, the militant group has returned all the remaining living hostages in Gaza and 21 dead bodies, including Chen’s body late Tuesday, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Seven deceased hostages now remain in the enclave, including one Israeli soldier, Hadar Goldin, who was captured by Hamas in 2014 and is included in Israel’s official tally. The remaining six dead hostages taken on Oct. 7 include two foreigners, from Tanzania and Thailand, and four Israeli men.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [11/5/2025 4:24 PM, John Hayward, 2416K]

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