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 New York Times [11/7/2025 8:49 PM, Anna Griffin, 135475K] reports President Trump overstepped his authority when he sought to deploy National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., to protect the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office there, a federal judge ruled on Friday, issuing a permanent block on troop deployments to the city in response to anti-ICE demonstrations. Judge Karin J. Immergut of U.S. District Court, who was nominated to the bench by Mr. Trump, had previously issued a preliminary injunction blocking the president’s order federalizing National Guard soldiers in Oregon in a lawsuit that was brought by the States of Oregon and California and the City of Portland. In her final 106-page ruling, Judge Immergut rejected arguments from government lawyers that protests at the ICE building made it impossible for federal officers to carry out immigration enforcement, represented a rebellion or raised the threat of rebellion. She also found that the attempt to use National Guard soldiers in Oregon had violated the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which gives states any powers not expressly assigned to the federal government. “The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the president’s authority,” she wrote. Judge Immergut also disputed the president’s claim that antifa, at least in Portland, is an organized and cohesive group working against the federal government. She said testimony from the regional director for ICE about the level of damage at the Oregon facility or how disruptive the protests were was not believable, noting that demonstrators had “minimally impeded” federal workers. She added that her ruling does not preclude future efforts by the president to deploy the National Guard to Oregon. Federal lawyers indicated at a three-day trial last week that if Judge Immergut ruled against them, they intended to appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. With the legal battle expected to continue, Judge Immergut stayed the portion of her ruling that would have reverted control of federalized guard soldiers back to Oregon’s governor for 14 days, essentially maintaining the status quo. A similar case involving the use of National Guard troops in Illinois is currently before the Supreme Court. Gov. Tina Kotek of Oregon, a Democrat, praised the ruling, saying it “validates the facts on the ground.” “Oregon does not want or need military intervention, and President Trump’s attempts to federalize the guard is a gross abuse of power,” she said in a statement. But the Department of Homeland Security objected to the judge’s characterization of the protests in Portland. CBS News [11/7/2025 10:16 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports that the Trump administration later placed 200 Oregon National Guard troops under federal control, and attempted to deploy another 200 federalized California National Guard troops in Portland as well. Mr. Trump invoked Title 10 of the federal code in his deployment efforts, which allows for its use if the president deems that "there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States." The moves prompted a lawsuit from city and state officials in Portland, Oregon and California. In her 106-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut wrote that "this Court arrives at the necessary conclusion that there was neither ‘a rebellion or danger of a rebellion’ nor was the President ‘unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States’ in Oregon when he ordered the federalization and deployment of the National Guard." The ruling, however, will allow the National Guard troops to remain under federal control for a period of at least 14 days. "President Trump is using his lawful authority to direct the National Guard to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following months of violent riots where officers have been assaulted and doxxed by left-wing rioters," Assistant Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Friday night in response to the ruling. "The President’s lawful actions will make Portland safer." White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Friday night in a statement: "The facts haven’t changed. Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities and we expect to be vindicated by a higher court." In her own statement, Democratic Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said, "This ruling, now the fourth of its kind, validates the facts on the ground. Oregon does not want or need military intervention, and President Trump’s attempts to federalize the guard is a gross abuse of power. Oregon National Guard members have been away from their jobs and families for 38 days. The California National Guard has been here for just over one month. Based on this ruling, I am renewing my call to the Trump Administration to send all troops home now."

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Wall Street Journal [11/7/2025 11:19 PM, Victoria Albert, 646K]
Washington Post [11/7/2025 9:26 PM, Mark Berman, 24149K]
The Hill [11/7/2025 8:34 PM, Ella Lee, 8017K]
AP [11/7/2025 9:30 PM, Claire Rush, Gene Johnson, 14862K]
FOX News [11/7/2025 10:01 PM, Brie Stimson, 40621K]
USA Today [11/7/2025 10:57 PM, Anastasia Mason, 67103K]
Washington Examiner [11/7/2025 10:56 PM, David Zimmermann, 1394K]

Breitbart [11/7/2025 3:10 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2416K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is warning Portland’s anti-ICE protesters that a new ban on mask-wearing has gone into effect around federal facilities. Many protesters have taken up the habit of hiding their identities behind neckerchiefs and other masks as they protest against President Donald Trump’s deportation policies. And many have used that anonymity to commit acts of violence and property damage. But the Trump administration has moved to put a dent in that obstructive concealment. The new rules were set to take effect next January, but DHS pushed that timeline up to this month. The department also announced new guidelines on addressing giving federal officers more authority to arrest and charge rioters. "DHS is using every tool possible to protect the lives of our law enforcement as they face a surge in violence and lawlessness at many of our federal facilities. We’ve seen rampant violence against law enforcement including our officers shot at, rammed by vehicles, assaulted and threatened," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, we will not tolerate violence perpetuated by Antifa and other domestic extremists who are targeting federal property and law enforcement. Law and order will prevail."

FOX News [11/7/2025 11:52 AM, Preston Mizell, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that more than 200,000 Americans have applied to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as the agency continues its hiring campaign. The surge in applications comes despite a substantial 8000% increase in death threats toward the agents, as first reported by Fox News. "ICE has received more than 200,000 applications from patriotic Americans who want to defend the homeland by removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the U.S.," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Americans are answering their country’s call to serve and help remove murderers, pedophiles, rapists, terrorists, and gang members from our country."

Yahoo News [11/7/2025 6:00 PM, Hannah Baker, 59943K] reports U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was in Charleston on Friday and spoke to Citadel cadets about what it takes to serve at the federal level, and how they could play a role in protecting the nation. “All of you in this room have chosen to do something that’s more difficult than the average person in your generation, and I applaud you for doing that,” said Noem. Inside Jenkins Hall at The Citadel, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spent the afternoon laying out what she calls a “critical need” for young leaders, as well as making the case for why some of them could come from right here in Charleston. “All of you in this room are here at this university in this training, because you want to live a life that matters, that serves you,” Noem said. “Recognize that your purpose, you were created to serve people, and that it will be much more fulfilling for you, not just physically and mentally, but also spiritually,” Noem added. On Friday, Noem defended the importance of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the hub of 23 different agencies and departments responsible for protecting the nation and controlling what comes through our borders. “We have authority over every product or good in our country. We have jurisdiction over and through our ports. What comes in legally or illegally? We have the authority to deal with,” said Noem. “What’s wonderful is you work with all these different agencies and can be incredibly nimble, but you all have the same mission, and the Coast Guard fits into that in a unique way.” From Cybersecurity to immigration policy, Noem said Homeland Security is evolving fast, and it needs the next generation of talent to lead the way.

FOX Business [11/7/2025 6:33 PM, Staff, 10085K] Video: HERE reports U.S. Border Patrol sector chief Greg Bovino addresses a judge’s ruling restricting Chicago I.C.E. operations and more on ‘The Evening Edit.’

Breitbart [11/7/2025 7:10 PM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports that, in yet another smear against the DHS-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and officers conducting targeted enforcement operations to deport criminal illegal aliens, the House Homeland Security Committee Democrats accused the Department of Homeland Security of lying in a Friday X repost of a video saying, "DHS will lie. They always do." The video purports to show a man having a medical seizure as ICE agents arrest his wife. The video, amplified by Democrats on X, shows a man feigning a seizure as agents arrest his wife, an Ecuadorian national wanted for a violent stabbing. DHS officials say the incident was distorted to smear law enforcement and incite hostility, citing antisemitic threats and false narratives that endanger federal agents. In the original post highlighted by the House Homeland Security Committee Democrats, the agents are accused of grabbing the father of a toddler in the vehicle by the neck, sending him into a violent seizure as agents attempt to arrest his wife in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, on Thursday. A toddler can be seen in the video resting on the father’s chest as he sits behind the wheel. The Democrat House committee groups post further exclaims, "Is this right? The WORST OF THE WORST?? Absolutely not. And shame on anyone who says otherwise.” In short order, the Department of Homeland Security issued a stern rebuttal providing clarification regarding the circumstances of the arrest. According to DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, the arrest was a targeted enforcement action of Juliana Milena-Ojeda-Montoya, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador who was released into the United States in 2023 under the Biden administration after she entered illegally near Lukeville, Arizona. According to McLaughlin, Ojeda-Montoya was the subject of an arrest warrant related to her illegal status. According to McLaughlin, Ojeda-Montoya repeatedly stabbed a coworker with scissors and threw a trash can at her victim in August. When Ojeda was encountered, her toddler child was seated in her lap, improperly secured in the vehicle at the time. During the arrest, Ojeda-Montoya refused to hand the child to her husband, also an illegal alien according to DHS. McLaughlin explained that her illegal alien husband began to feign a medical emergency, appearing to violently shake as if having a seizure, as his wife was being arrested. Agitators gathered and began to shout obscenities at agents during the arrest, prompting ICE to request additional assistance from the Fitchburg Police Department. According to a DHS press release, the crowd also shouted out death threats and antisemitic remarks at the ICE agents. According to DHS, the crowd shouted, "You probably support Israel too…you look like a Jew… I bet you are a f***ing Jew," and "I’m going to remember those eyes…I’m going to find you… I’m going to come for you… I know you probably have kids… We’re going to kill you and your kids… I am going to shoot all of you.”

Wall Street Journal [11/7/2025 12:00 PM, Michelle Hackman, Josh Dawsey, and Tarini Parti, 646K] reports pressure from the White House to speed up the pace of deportations has spawned infighting at the Department of Homeland Security over which tactics to use to remove more people from the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. Longtime immigration officials, led by President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan and Todd Lyons, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, want to rely on traditional methods including using police research to develop target lists, and to give priority to people with criminal histories, according to people familiar with their thinking. ICE is typically the primary agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws inside the U.S. Their approach has collided with that of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and top adviser Corey Lewandowski, who have opted for large, attention-grabbing operations such as the one in Chicago that are meant to push migrants to self-deport, according to people familiar with the matter. While Homan has the ear of the president and remains influential at the White House, Noem and Lewandowski have direct authority over personnel and policy decisions, those people said.

Washington Post [11/7/2025 1:56 PM, Tobi Raji, 24149K] reports that the mayor of Chicago on Friday invited a panel of independent United Nations experts to examine what he called the federal government’s “abusive immigration crackdowns” in the nation’s third largest city.

Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI. Speaking before members of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the Trump administration and federal immigration officials of violating the “dignity of all Chicagoans” with violent raids, and he asked the human rights council to hold a special session to discuss “the worsening human rights crisis in the United States.” “I call on this council to hold the federal government of the United States to the same standards of accountability you apply elsewhere in the world,” Johnson said. “No country should be above international law. Human rights are universal — or they are meaningless.” Since the Department of Homeland Security launched its “Operation Midway Blitz” enforcement operation in the Chicago area in early September, ICE agents have descended on worksites, dragged residents through neighborhood streets and used chemical irritants to disperse protesters — tactics that a federal judge said “shocks the conscience.” Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to requests for comment Friday, but Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem has said that federal officers are facing increasing assaults as they use more aggressive tactics to meet Trump’s deportation goals. The enforcement operation is part of the administration’s broader crackdown on “sanctuary cities,” which have long drawn President Donald Trump’s ire. Sanctuary city policies limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

ABC News [11/7/2025 9:51 AM, James Hill and Armando Garcia, 30493K] reports the Border Patrol official tasked with leading the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Chicago admitted to lying about a rock-throwing incident used to justify deploying tear gas against protesters, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis said Thursday before issuing a preliminary injunction limiting the use of force during immigration arrests and protests. The Oct. 23 incident involving Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, has been a key part of the court proceedings challenging the tactics of immigration agents during the Trump administration’s "Operation Midway Blitz," which began in September. Video of the incident showed Bovino throwing a gas canister at demonstrators in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood without giving a verbal warning -- a violation of the judge’s earlier temporary restraining order limiting the use of force, the judge said. "Mr. Bovino and the Department of Homeland Security claimed that he had been hit by a rock in the head before throwing the tear gas, but video evidence disproves this. And he ultimately admitted he was not hit until after he threw the tear gas," Ellis said Thursday. At the time of the incident, DHS defended Bovino’s actions saying that a Border Patrol transport van transporting undocumented immigrants was attacked by demonstrators. "The mob of rioters grew more hostile and violent, advancing toward agents and began throwing rocks and other objects at agents, including one that struck Chief Greg Bovino in the head," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement after the incident. She said in the statement that Border Patrol agents repeated multiple warnings. ABC News has reached out to DHS; about the discrepancy between its account of what happened and the judge’s ruling. A spokesperson responded with a statement criticizing the judge’s decision to grant a preliminary injunction. "This injunction is an extreme act by an activist judge that risks the lives and livelihoods of law enforcement officers," the spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. "Rioters, gangbangers, and terrorists have opened fire on our federal law enforcement officers, thrown rocks, bottles, and fireworks at them, slashed the tires of their vehicles, rammed them, ambushed them, and they have destroyed multiple law enforcement vehicles. Despite these real dangers, our law enforcement shows incredible restraint in exhausting all options before force is escalated." The spokesperson said DHS would appeal the judge’s order. The Washington Examiner [11/7/2025 6:07 PM, David Zimmermann, 1394K] reports that the Department added that the officers gave multiple warnings before deploying tear gas as required by one of Ellis’s recent court orders restricting certain riot control tactics. The judge previously mandated officers use body cameras to capture their treatment of protesters and illegal immigrants during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. Democrats and journalists have criticized the immigration enforcement operation since its start in early September. The federal government must provide proof by the end of Friday that Bovino and other federal immigration officials are complying with the order requiring body cameras. Ellis also recently ordered Bovino to brief her in court daily regarding updates on the immigration operation; however, an appeals court has temporarily paused that order. The daily court appearances were only set to last until a preliminary injunction hearing on Nov. 5. In response to Ellis’s Thursday order, the DHS said it would file an appeal.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 5:04 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports a federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction barring federal authorities from using force against protesters, journalists and others in Chicago as the Trump administration conducts an immigration crackdown in the city. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued her ruling Thursday, in a case brought against the Trump administration in early October alleging that federal agents in Chicago have responded to protests and negative media coverage "with a pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians." The ruling explicitly states that the federal agents are prohibited from using crowd control weapons such as batons, rubber or plastic bullets, flash-bang grenades and tear gas against civilians unless there is "a threat of imminent harm to a law enforcement officer." In a bench ruling, reported on by New York Times, Ellis said government officials, including Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol official leading the operation in Chicago, lied repeatedly about the tactics they employed against protesters. The ruling comes amid growing criticism of the Trump administration’s deployment of federal immigration authorities executing Operation Midway Blitz, which began on Sept. 9, targeting undocumented immigrants with criminal records.

Chicago Tribune [11/7/2025 11:06 PM, Steve Sadin, 4829K] reports a Waukegan councilman says he faced the guns of four federal immigration enforcement agents Friday while sitting in his car with his hands raised, as he tried to return to work from home after lunch, before they left him alone as people on the street shouted, "He’s the alderman. He’s the alderman.” Ald. Juan Martinez, 3rd Ward, was briefly detained by U.S. immigration agents while all of them were stopped in traffic on Baldwin Avenue in Waukegan in what he came to believe was an operation by the officers. While the guns were pointed at him with his hands raised, Martinez said he kept saying, "Don’t kill me. Don’t kill me.” "My life flashed before my eyes," he said. "All I could think of was my family was going to be planning my funeral.” His day started like most. Martinez said he went to work, came home for lunch and began driving on Baldwin Avenue back to his job as he does every day. It was almost 1 p.m. when he ran into a traffic jam. "I saw the commotion and I stayed in my vehicle," he said. "I didn’t pay attention to what was happening around me.” A vehicle was stopped in front of Martinez, and he said he could not see what was in front of him because the vehicle ahead of his was blocking his view. He was worried about being late in returning to work. He said he tapped his horn with a short honk and remained in his car the entire time. "I waited two or three minutes, and a man wearing a mask came up to me with his gun drawn," Martinez said. "It was a rifle. He said, ‘Put your hands up or I’ll blow your f—–g face off.’ I told him four or five times, ‘I’m the alderman.’". While he sat in the car, a second agent came to the other side of the car with what Martinez believed was a handgun. "They were both yelling at me," he said. "I was frazzled. I said, ‘Please don’t kill me.’ Then a black vehicle appeared and two more guys got out. They also drew their guns. There were four barrels pointed at me.” Eventually, he said the four agents walked away, in part because Martinez’s neighbors were letting the agents know Martinez was a member of the Waukegan City Council. He got out of his car and saw the agents had left. As soon as he felt he felt he was safe, Martinez said his first call was to Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham. Cunningham told Martinez he would meet him at City Hall. Others eventually joined the gathering. "I cried; I broke down," Martinez said of his reaction as soon as he heard the mayor’s voice. Cunningham expressed shock over Martinez’s experience, saying he was "deeply troubled" by the incident. The mayor said he has been concerned about his community since federal Operation Midway Blitz began in early September, and even before. "No one should ever have a gun pointed at them by those sworn to protect the public," Cunningham said in a social media post. "I am relieved that Alderman Martinez is safe. Waukegan is a city that values compassion and unity. I stand with our community in rejecting fear and intimidation.”

New York Times [11/7/2025 12:46 PM, Jill Cowan and Mimi Dwyer, 135475K] reports that at first, the encounter seemed typical of the kinds of immigration raids that have roiled the nation’s biggest cities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents descended on a Home Depot parking lot in Los Angeles this week and detained a Latino man. They secured his hands behind his back, and the man, later identified as Dennis Quiñonez, leaned against his Chevy hatchback. Immigrant rights activists stood nearby, taking video and shouting at the agents, who were masked and heavily armed. But the situation, on Tuesday, soon took an unusual turn, according to interviews with four witnesses and footage shared with The New York Times by an immigrant rights group with permission from the person who took it. Mr. Quiñonez was taken away to another vehicle. An armed agent slid into the driver’s seat of his Chevy. “There’s a baby in the back!” an onlooker shouted. Minutes later, someone cried out, “They’re about to drive!” Another agent, wearing body armor and carrying a rifle, got into the passenger seat. The girl was reunited with her grandmother later in the day. On Thursday, Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that Mr. Quiñonez was to blame for what his daughter experienced because he brought her to a location where “violence against law enforcement” took place. The agency said in a statement on Wednesday that he assaulted agents by wielding a hammer and throwing objects, although he was never charged with assault, and that a gun was found in his car. Ms. McLaughlin, the D.H.S. spokeswoman, did not respond to questions about whether C.B.P. policy differs, or whether the agents involved in the arrest on Tuesday followed their own policies.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 12:37 PM, Amy Furr, 2416K] reports that a jury found the former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) employee accused of pelting a federal officer with a sandwich not guilty on Thursday. The man found not guilty of assault was identified as Sean Dunn, NBC News reported Thursday. He "faced a single misdemeanor count after a federal grand jury rejected more serious charges over the encounter," the outlet explained. The initial incident happened in early August in Washington, DC, per Breitbart News. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Dunn was facing a felony assault charge for the attack, then reiterated that such behavior will not be tolerated. "If you touch any law enforcement officer, we will come after you. I just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice — NO LONGER. Not only is he FIRED, he has been charged with a felony," Bondi said at the time, adding, "This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ. You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.” In video footage taken from across the street, Dunn apparently threw a sandwich at the officer, hitting him with it in the chest. Dunn then turned and ran away as officers chased him: The official hit with the sandwich was identified as Border Patrol Officer Greg Lairmore, per the NBC report. Despite the sandwich-throwing incident and the fact that leftists have been targeting federal officers in person and online, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have continued working to arrest the "worst of the worst" illegal aliens across the nation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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The Hill [11/7/2025 11:16 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K]

ABC News [11/7/2025 11:06 AM, Justin Gomez and Nadine El-Bawab, 30493K] Video: HERE reports the United States has conducted its 17th lethal strike against a suspected drug vessel, killing all three on board, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X overnight. The strike took place in international waters in the Caribbean on Thursday, Hegseth said. "As we’ve said before, vessel strikes on narco-terrorists will continue until their the poisoning of the American people stops," said Hegseth in his social media post. "The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean and was struck in international waters. No U.S. forces were harmed in the strike, and three male narco-terrorists -- who were aboard the vessel -- were killed." Separately, six individuals were arrested and more than seven tons of cocaine were seized in the Atlantic Ocean "without fatalities," Colombia President Gustavo Petro said in a post on X Friday morning. Petro called it "one of the largest seizure days in my government, with the collaboration of our public security forces and the French authorities." The seizures were carried out on land and at sea, according to Petro. The nationalities of those arrested are unknown, Petro said. President Donald Trump has called Petro an "illegal drug dealer" who "does nothing to stop" drug production. At least 70 people have now been killed in strikes on vessels since Sept. 2. The Washington Times [11/7/2025 8:53 AM, Mary McCue Bell, 852K] reports that the death toll from the Trump administration’s anti-narcotics campaign has reached at least 69. “As we’ve said before, vessel strikes on narco-terrorists will continue until their … poisoning of the American people stops,” Mr. Hegseth said on social media. The U.S. has been carrying out such strikes since September and recently began ramping up its military presence in the Caribbean. Critics say the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers. The administration has not provided concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics. President Trump has justified the strikes, saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and that the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organizations. On Wednesday, Mr. Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio briefed a small group of congressional leaders on the growing military campaign. On Thursday, Senate Republicans voted to reject legislation that would have checked the president’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela. “To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs —we will kill you,” Mr. Hegseth said in his post. CBS News [11/7/2025 6:53 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports that the U.S. strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels so far — 17 boats and an alleged "narco sub" — but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States. Hegseth released aerial footage on X of the latest strike, which he said took place in international waters like the previous attacks and targeted "a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization."

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FOX News [11/7/2025 5:53 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 40621K] Video: HERE
Daily Wire [11/7/2025 9:01 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K]

Washington Examiner [11/7/2025 6:00 AM, Mike Brest, 1394K] reports the Trump administration has largely pointed to the lethality of fentanyl as a justification for the U.S. military strikes on purported drug smuggling vessels linked to Venezuela, but the synthetic drug largely comes into the United States from Mexico. U.S. servicemembers have conducted at least 16 lethal strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, killing at least 60 people, over the last two months. The administration has pointed the finger at Venezuela, but has not provided evidence that there were drugs on board the targeted vessels or publicly identified those killed. "You can see it, the boats get hit, and you see that fentanyl all over the ocean," Trump said at an Oct. 15 news conference, the day after the fifth strike. "It’s, like, floating in bags. It’s all over the place." A couple of days later, after another strike, he said, "U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics." Various U.S. government reports state that cocaine is mainly the drug that comes from Venezuela into the U.S. — even though it’s largely produced in Colombia — while fentanyl is largely made in Mexico by drug cartels, using Chinese precursor chemicals, and is then smuggled into the U.S., largely by land. The Trump administration has publicized 16 strikes in the western hemisphere since this operation began in September. It’s a significant change from the U.S.’s long-term policy stance that drug interdiction is a law enforcement issue, not a military one, where the Coast Guard would interdict the ships and arrest those aboard if drugs were found. They would then be afforded due process, which is no longer possible if the military conducts fatal strikes instead. The operations are considered a possible precursor for a broader attempt to collapse Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government, whom the administration believes is an illegitimate leader. President Donald Trump has blamed Maduro for the tens of thousands of American overdoses resulting from illegal narcotics every year.

New York Times [11/8/2025 5:00 AM, Julie Turkewitz, Tibisay Romero, Sheyla Urdaneta, and Isayen Herrera, 153395K] reports they said they were punished in a dark room called the island, where they were trampled, kicked and forced to kneel for hours. One man said officers thrust his head into a tank of water to simulate drowning. Another said he was forced to perform oral sex on guards wearing hoods. They said they were told by officials that they would die in the Salvadoran prison, that the world had forgotten them. When they could no longer take it, they said, they cut themselves, writing protest messages on sheets in blood. “‘You are all terrorists,’” Edwin Meléndez, 30, recalled being told by officers who added: “‘Terrorists must be treated like this.’” From the moment he took office, President Trump has seized on what he calls the threat posed by Venezuela and its autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro, accusing the government and Venezuelan gangs of orchestrating an “invasion” of the United States. In March and April, the Trump administration made the extraordinary decision to send 252 Venezuelan men to a notorious prison in El Salvador known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, saying they had infiltrated the United States in a form of “irregular warfare.” Mr. Trump accused the men of being members of a dangerous gang, Tren de Aragua, working in lock step with the Venezuelan government. It was an early salvo in the administration’s standoff with Mr. Maduro, which has only intensified since then, with U.S. warships blowing up Venezuelan boats and Mr. Trump warning of potential military strikes on Venezuelan soil. But the men received little to no due process before being expelled to the terrorism prison in El Salvador, and they were abruptly released in July, part of a larger diplomatic deal that included the release of 10 Americans and U.S. residents held in Venezuela. Mr. Trump, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in September, praised Salvadoran officials for “the successful and professional job they’ve done in receiving and jailing so many criminals that entered our country.” In interviews, however, the men sent to the prison described frequent, intense physical and psychological abuse. Beyond the beatings, tear gas and trips to the isolation room, the men said they were mocked or ignored by medical personnel, forced to spend 24 hours a day under harsh lights and made to drink from wells of fetid water.

FOX News [11/7/2025 12:01 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports that New York City’s lone Republican member of Congress is criticizing an effort within her own party to defund the Big Apple over Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the mayoral race on Tuesday. "These attempts by those within my party to score cheap political points by going after New York City are not going to be met lightly. We’re going to fight back," Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital on Friday. "I’m the only Republican representing our city in Washington. My constituents did not vote for Zohran Mamdani, and then you have people in Washington wanting to punish the whole city for the stupid decisions of a few." Her ire comes in response to Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., revealing plans for new legislation called the Moving American Money Distant from Anti-National Interests Act, or the "MAMDANI Act" for short. The two-page bill text stated, "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, during any period in which Zohran Mamdani is mayor of New York, New York" that "any unobligated Federal funds available" for the city "are hereby rescinded," and that "no Federal funds may be obligated or expended for any purpose to New York, New York." It is expected to be introduced Friday, Fox News Digital was told the day prior. Malliotakis called out Carter by name, telling Fox News Digital, "Attempts by Congressman Buddy Carter to strip New York City of all its funding is ludicrous and a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers of this city, half of which did not even support Zohran Mamdani for mayor.” She argued that New York City pays "an exorbitant amount of federal taxes" and that U.S. government dollars were critical to funding education, transportation and national security priorities like counter-terrorism efforts.

FOX News [11/7/2025 1:41 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 40621K] reports that as President Donald Trump’s administration targets illegal immigrants and crime around the U.S., he could potentially target New York City with a federal crackdown. Reports indicate that preparations to prevent or push back the prospect are already underway and Empire State Gov. Kathy Hochul is involved. She has convened a series of discussions with law enforcement, business figures, and activist groups, to block or mitigate potential federal intervention, Politico reported. "The goal is to prevent, and if we can’t prevent, then hopefully we can delay," Jackie Bray, Commissioner of the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES), said, according to the outlet, which reported that she is the governor’s point person on the matter. "And if something happens, we then have to manage. All three scenarios have real planning behind them.” Fox News Digital reached out to the governor’s office and to DHSES for a statement on the matter. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Fox News Digital, "New York leaders should be focused on how to protect the City from Mamdani, the Communist who wants to run it into the ground – not President Trump." Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, has previously repudiated the "Communist" label. He recently won the Big Apple’s mayoral contest, defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa.

New York Times [11/7/2025 11:50 AM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Dana Rubinstein, 135475K] reports that New York’s political and civic leaders have been quietly preparing for the possibility that President Trump will follow through on this threats to deploy federal troops and immigration agents to the city. Their efforts took on added urgency Wednesday morning after the mayoral win of Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist whom Mr. Trump has sought to elevate into his new political foil. The preparations — among activists, business leaders and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office — have included private meetings to discuss lawsuits, the formation of rapid-response groups and multiple phone calls with the New Yorkers’ counterparts in Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. The backroom mobilization comes at an especially fraught time in the city and is the first test of a key question: Will Mr. Trump try to turn New York, his hometown and a place where he retains property and political allies, into another urban battleground over federal power? Or could his deep ties to New York businessmen and real estate developers help prevent, or at least curb, an aggressive federal incursion into the city’s affairs? Jackie Bray, one of Ms. Hochul’s top advisers, has led much of the state planning, peppering officials in other cities with questions to craft New York’s response. And leaders from New York City’s real estate and business sectors are planning to meet again next week, at Ms. Hochul’s request.

NewsMax [11/7/2025 12:06 PM, Jim Mishler, 4109K] reports federal immigration authorities are seeking to recruit New York City police officers with new social media ads portraying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a more appreciative employer. "Join an agency that respects you, your family and your commitment to serving in law enforcement," one ICE ad reads. The ad links to a recruitment page warning that "America has been invaded by criminals and predators" and offering signing bonuses up to $50,000. The Gothamist in New York reported that the pitch appears as the NYPD faces mounting vacancies and low morale, while the Trump administration expands deportation operations. ICE and NYPD spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment. The agency’s incentives include up to $60,000 in student loan repayment, a 25% premium pay incentive, and no college degree requirement. Even so, ICE salaries generally trail those of NYPD officers who benefit from overtime. ICE deportation officer positions in New York range from $63,000 to $163,000, while thousands of NYPD employees earned more than $200,000 last year. Jillian Snider, a former NYPD officer who teaches at John Jay College, called the $50,000 bonus "huge" and nearly unprecedented in law enforcement. "There is a kind of media-frenzied prestige right now about ICE that ultimately will dwindle," Snider said. She added that some officers may be motivated less by money than by frustration with City Hall’s direction under Mayor-elect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. "They don’t want to work somewhere where they think everything they do is going to be scrutinized, everything they do is going to be criticized, everything they do is going to be interpreted through a really negative lens," she said. CNN [11/7/2025 2:11 PM, Austin Culpepper, 606K] reports that on Friday, ICE posted a recruitment message to social media calling on police officers to "Defend the Homeland" and "work for a President and a Secretary who support and defend law enforcement-not defund or demonize it." ICE’s message references Mamdani’s history of police criticism, including his past support for defunding the NYPD. In June 2020, Mamdani posted on X: "We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD." CNN has reached out to Mamdani’s transition team for comment. Mamdani has also previously accused the NYPD of international corruption and collaboration with the state of Israel. In a 2023 clip Mamdani said, "We have to make clear that when the boot of the NYPD is on your neck, it’s been laced by the IDF." In October, he told CNN he was referencing training tactics, and did not actually believe the NYPD was actively working with the IDF. In the closing months of his campaign, Mamdani made a concerted effort to reach out to law enforcement and backtrack from his previous stances. He also committed to retaining current Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Mamdani has been a vocal critic of ICE, telling CNN he would not allow the NYPD to engage or cooperate with ICE on civil immigration enforcement. ICE’s attempts to hire NYPD officers are the latest efforts from the Department of Homeland Security to hire thousands more deportation officers after receiving $75 billion in federal funding from Trump’s sweeping agenda bill this summer.

AP [11/7/2025 7:18 PM, Jonathan Mattise and Bruce Schreiner, 31753K] reports a UPS cargo plane was nearly airborne when a bell sounded in the cockpit. For the next 25 seconds, the bell rang and the pilots tried to control the aircraft as it barely lifted off the runway, its left wing ablaze and missing an engine, and then plowed into the ground in a spectacular fireball, the chief investigator said Friday. The crash Tuesday at UPS Worldport, the company’s global aviation hub in Louisville, Kentucky, killed 13 people, including the three pilots on the MD-11 that was headed for Honolulu. National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said the cockpit voice recorder captured the bell that sounded about 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust. There are different types of alarms with varying meanings, he said, and investigators haven’t determined why the bell rang, though they know the left wing was burning and the engine on that side had detached. Inman said it would be months before a transcript of the cockpit recording is made public as part of that investigation process. Jeff Guzzetti, a former federal crash investigator, said the bell likely was signaling the engine fire. “It occurred at a point in the takeoff where they were likely past their decision speed to abort the takeoff,” Guzzetti told The Associated Press after Inman’s news conference. “They were likely past their critical decision speed to remain on the runway and stop safely. … They’ll need to thoroughly investigate the options the crew may or may not have had.” Dramatic video captured the aircraft crashing into businesses and erupting in a fireball. Footage from phones, cars and security cameras has given investigators evidence of what happened from many different angles. The NTSB clarified Friday that preliminary data on the aircraft’s altitude indicated it got only about 100 feet above ground level, not 475 feet. It reached a speed of 210 mph (340 kph) before crashing just outside the airport, Inman said. The left engine’s main component and pieces of fan blades were recovered from the airfield. Inman said UPS indicated no maintenance work was performed just before the flight. He noted investigators will look at video to see what, if anything, was being done around the MD-11 aircraft in preceding days.

New York Times [11/8/2025 4:15 AM, Francesca Regalado and Qasim Nauman, 153395K] reports UPS and FedEx, two of the world’s largest cargo airlines, said late Friday that they had grounded their MD-11 planes, days after one of the planes was involved in a deadly crash in Kentucky. Both carriers said they had taken the step to immediately ground their MD-11s on the recommendation of the plane’s manufacturer. The MD-11 was originally produced by McDonnell Douglas, which was bought by Boeing in the 1990s. “With safety as our top priority, we recommended to the three operators of the MD-11 Freighter that they suspend flight operations while additional engineering analysis is performed,” Boeing said in a statement early Saturday. A UPS MD-11 crashed on Wednesday just after taking off from Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Ky., killing all three pilots on board and 11 people on the ground. The plane’s left engine had detached from the wing, according to the National Transportation and Safety Board. “Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, we have made the decision to temporarily ground our MD-11 fleet,” UPS said in a statement. FedEx issued a similar statement. “Out of an abundance of caution we have made the decision to immediately ground our MD-11 fleet as we conduct a thorough safety review based on the recommendation of the manufacturer,” Heather Wilson, a FedEx spokeswoman, said. Western Global Airlines, the third cargo airline that flies MD-11s, did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted outside regular business hours.

The Hill [11/7/2025 7:30 AM, Mark Cromer, 12595K] reports the immigration arrest of Des Moines’ school superintendent Ian Roberts was the stuff of dark comedy. The supposedly mild-mannered educational policy savant, who had preached "radical empathy" to students and staff, ditched his district-issued car as he fled ICE agents on foot. He left behind a loaded Glock 9mm handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife and a brick of "bug out" cash apparently abandoned in his panic. Additional details released since make "Dr. Roberts" look every bit the congenial charlatan he seemed. The Associated Press reported that he was also funneling significant district funds into a consulting firm that also had him on its payroll. But the real scandal is the breezy nature with which the school board feigned ignorance of the true identity and past of their six-figure employee, who was on the lam from the law and ducking a deportation order. Sadly, the Des Moines Unified School District is in good company when it comes to gaming the vetting process. The truth is that the school board had done just enough due diligence not to want to know any more than it had to. Most Americans are unaware of just how empty the promises have been over the decades — made by both Republican and Democratic presidents — to keep bad actors from slipping in and ensure that those permitted to live and work in the U.S. are thoroughly vetted. Phrased less generously: The government is lying to you.

Blaze [11/7/2025 4:45 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports federal immigration officials rounded up several violent criminals on Thursday, despite the ongoing government shutdown. A Department of Homeland Security press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News highlighted five of Thursday’s "worst of the worst" arrests. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehensions included illegal aliens with a prior rap sheet, including two pedophiles, a rapist, and other violent assailants. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated that ICE agents are battling a severe uptick in threats. "Yesterday’s arrests include criminal illegal aliens convicted of some of the worst crimes imaginable, including sexual abuse of a minor," she continued. "These heinous criminals have no business remaining in the country any longer, and we thank President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem for unleashing ICE to protect American communities."

NPR [11/8/2025 5:00 AM, Jude Joffe-Block, 34837K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is acquiring powerful new surveillance tools to identify and monitor people. They include apps that let federal agents point a cell phone at someone’s face to potentially identify them and determine their immigration status in the field, and another that can scan irises. Newly licensed software can give "access to vast amounts of location-based data," according to an archive of the website of the company that developed it, and ICE recently revived a previously frozen contract with a company that makes spyware that can hack into cell phones. The federal agency is also ramping up its social media surveillance, with new AI-driven software contracts, and is considering hiring 24/7 teams of contractors assigned to scouring various databases and platforms like Facebook and TikTok and creating dossiers on users. The Trump administration is seeking to employ new technology as it tries to boost deportations to a million a year, a target that could be helped with tech to identify and locate noncitizens subject to removal. Some Democratic members of Congress are raising legal concerns about the new technologies and are asking questions of ICE that are going unanswered. A group of U.S. senators have called on ICE to stop using a mobile facial recognition app.

NPR [11/7/2025 3:52 PM, Martin Kaste, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports police rely on license plate cameras to help solve crimes. Recently, lookups of this data have surged by federal agencies, who are potentially using it for immigration enforcement in sanctuary states.

San Francisco Chronicle [11/7/2025 9:01 AM, Nicole M. Bennett, 4722K] reports when most people think about immigration enforcement, they picture border crossings and airport checkpoints. But the new front line may be your social media feed. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has published a request for information for private-sector contractors to launch a round-the-clock social media monitoring program. The request states that private contractors will be paid to comb through "Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, VK, Flickr, Myspace, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, Reddit, WhatsApp, YouTube, etc.," turning public posts into enforcement leads that feed directly into ICE’s databases. The request for information reads like something out of a cyber thriller: dozens of analysts working in shifts, strict deadlines measured in minutes, a tiered system of prioritizing high-risk individuals, and the latest software keeping constant watch. ICE already searches social media using a service called SocialNet that monitors most major online platforms. The agency has also contracted with Zignal Labs for its AI-powered social media monitoring system. The Customs and Border Protection agency also searches social media posts on the devices of some travelers at ports of entry, and the U.S. State Department reviews social media posts when foreigners seek visas to enter the United States.

CBS News [11/7/2025 11:12 AM, Camilo Motoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports new Department of Homeland Security data shows 66,000 people are currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [11/7/2025 8:28 AM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports Department of Homeland Security data shows there are currently 66,000 people in ICE custody, a record high. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [11/7/2025 3:30 PM, Julia Ainsley and David Ingram, 34509K] reports that the Trump administration is exploring buying warehouses that were designed for clients like Amazon and retrofitting them as detention facilities for immigrants before they are deported, a move that would vastly expand the government’s detention capacity, according to a Homeland Security Department official and a White House official. The precise warehouses that Immigration and Customs Enforcement may buy have not yet been determined, but the agency is looking at locations in the southern U.S. near airports where immigrants are most often deported, the DHS official and the White House official said. Selecting such warehouses would "increase efficiency" in deportations, the DHS official said. A deal to purchase the warehouses, which on average are more than twice the size of current ICE detention facilities, is past the early stages but not yet final, the DHS official and the White House official said. The DHS official described the warehouses as future "mega detention centers." Amazon would not be a part of any deal and would not profit from it as the warehouses were built by developers for Amazon but never used or leased by the company, the officials said. An Amazon spokesperson said that the company is not involved in any discussions with DHS or ICE about warehouse space and that it leases and does not own the vast majority of its warehouse space. Any decision on whether to use such warehouses, or how many, has not yet been finalized, the DHS official said. The White House referred all questions on the matter to DHS and ICE. DHS and ICE did not respond to comment.

USA Today [11/8/2025 6:01 AM, Lauren Villagran, Destini Ambus, and Jillian Magtoto, 75552K] reports Daniel Lee’s fried chicken, with its spicey-sweet glaze, regularly drew hungry Korean workers from a nearby Hyundai plant into his restaurant, 92 Chicken. That was, until a massive immigration raid at the battery plant two months ago left Lee stunned and his business reeling. Federal agents handcuffed, chained and detained more than 300 Korean workers in an operation President Donald Trump later said he fully opposed. The workers were flown home after a few days in immigration detention, but the effects of the raid continue to ripple out – from the tables at Lee’s restaurant, to Hyundai headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, to Trump’s White House. The high-profile raid of a major global Fortune 500 company that had been aggressively recruited to Georgia infuriated many Korean Americans. According to Pew Research, some 1.8 million people in the United States trace their roots to South Korea, a nation that had long thought of itself as America’s equal. And it raised existential questions for Lee’s business and for Korean Americans nationwide who didn’t imagine that people here lawfully would be targeted by ICE, or that the Trump administration would pick a fight with a country that had invested billions in the U.S. economy. Born in Philadelphia to Korean parents, Lee himself had worked 15 years for Hyundai before he launched his eatery, one of a dozen businesses in this Savannah suburb that opened to serve the Koreans and Korean Americans who came to work at the plant. "I thought America was like my mother country, and Korea was like my father country," Lee said. "So it’s like my parents are fighting."

Washington Times [11/7/2025 7:58 AM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports a Massachusetts judge accused of trying to help an illegal immigrant avoid arrest by ICE actually had no idea about the escape plan, and only inadvertently assisted in its execution, a state investigation has concluded. Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph did allow the illegal immigrant to go from her courtroom back to the courthouse’s lock-up area, where the migrant’s lawyer conspired with a court officer to get the person out of the building. But the investigation by Hearing Officer Denis J. McInerney found Judge Joseph didn’t know about those plans, and only approved the migrant’s return to the lockup because she thought he needed to consult privately with his lawyer. Mr. McInerney specifically rejected claims to the contrary by an interpreter and a lawyer who were present, saying they weren’t credible. Instead, he credited the testimony of Judge Joseph and another lawyer, both of whom said the judge was never told of the escape plan.

FOX News [11/7/2025 4:18 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K] reports an illegal immigrant who was arrested Thursday in Massachusetts during a tense confrontation that escalated between her family and federal authorities repeatedly stabbed her coworker with scissors and attacked the victim with a trash bin over the summer, officials said Friday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents initially stopped Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya during a traffic stop in Fitchburg, about 50 miles northwest of Boston, the Department of Homeland Security said. At the time, Ojeda-Montoya was in a vehicle with her husband, also an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, and their child, who was sitting on her lap instead of a car seat, authorities said. During the stop, authorities told Ojeda-Montoya that they had a warrant for her arrest and requested that she give the child to her husband, Carlos Zapata Rivera. She allegedly refused, and Rivera allegedly began having a seizure. The ICE agents at the scene called 911, but Zapata refused medical help and did not display any signs of medical concerns, DHS said. During the arrest of Ojeda-Montoya, she resisted arrest and a crowd of agitators formed, authorities said. The Fitchburg Police Department dispatched officers to the scene to keep the peace. In a statement, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin criticized the narrative that authorities caused Rivera’s medical episode. She noted that Zapata was captured on video on his feet and coherent moments later. Zapata told the Boston Globe that the medical episode was triggered by immigration agents who "pressed on his neck." Ojeda-Montoya illegally entered the United States on Feb. 22, 2023 under the Biden administration near Lukeville, Arizona, authorities said. She was released into the country the following March. She was taken to the Cumberland County Jail in Scarborough, Maine and will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. Zapata entered the United States illegally on the same date as his wife and was later released.

Daily Caller [11/7/2025 4:49 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports administration officials say a man faked a seizure during an enforcement operation in a purported attempt to help his illegal migrant wife avoid apprehension. Carlos Zapata Rivera, an illegal migrant from Ecuador, refused any medical help and displayed "absolutely zero" signs of medical concerns just moments after appearing to suffer a seizure, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Administration officials released the response after viral footage appeared to show him convulsing in his car on Thursday while Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents tried to arrest his wife during a targeted operation in Massachusetts. The episode began when ICE agents attempted to arrest Rivera’s wife, Juliana Milena Ojeda-Montoya, a criminal illegal alien from Ecuador previously arrested for stabbing a coworker with scissors and then throwing a trash can at her, according to DHS. ICE conducted a vehicle stop on Thursday with Ojeda-Montoya, her husband and her child in the car, according to DHS. When officers informed Ojeda-Montoya that they had a warrant for her arrest, she allegedly refused to hand her child to her husband and leave with authorities, leading to the viral altercation in which both parents resisted ICE agents and Rivera appeared to suffer a seizure. Initially, both parents stated that they were willing to place their child into state custody instead of simply allowing Rivera to take custody of the child, DHS says. However, Rivera "suddenly decided to be a good father" and left with his kid after realizing that he, too, would be arrested for immigration violations if he did not agree. "Once again, the media ran with a FALSE narrative about our brave ICE law enforcement officers," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a public statement. "As usual, here’s the REAL story: ICE targeted a known criminal who repeatedly stabbed her coworker." DHS further reported that, during the vehicle stop, a crowd of anti-ICE agitators surrounded the agents and allegedly began shouting death threats and anti-semitic remarks, such as "you look like a Jew" and "we’re going to kill you and your kids." Both Ojeda-Montoya and Rivera illegally entered the U.S. in February 2023 and were later released into the country by the Biden administration, according to DHS. Ojeda-Montoya is currently in ICE custody, where she will remain pending her deportation proceedings.

Daily Caller [11/7/2025 1:40 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports that an investigation into a judge accused of helping an illegal migrant avoid an immigration agent determined that she actually had no idea about the escape plan. Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph was not aware of an escape plan for an illegal migrant in her courtroom and only inadvertently helped him when allowing him to leave through a back door, according to findings released by the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct. The determination, which still recommended reprimand for the judge, largely puts to rest a saga that has stretched on for more than seven years. "I find that Judge Joseph did not know about — much less authorize — the escape plan, and did not mislead court authorities following the incident," hearing officer Denis McInerney wrote in a 117-page report. The incident occurred in April 2018 when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent arrived at the Newton District Court — where Joseph was serving on the bench — to apprehend Jose Medina-Perez, an illegal migrant from the Dominican Republic who had previously been deported on two different occasions and was barred from re-entering the United States for 20 years. The ICE agent was waiting in the lobby for Medina-Perez to be bailed out, but instead of letting the Dominican national out through the courtroom lobby, Joseph allegedly instructed him to be released through the rear exit, which leads to a parking lot.

New York Times [11/7/2025 6:25 PM, Benjamin Weiser and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, 135475K] reports a blind Ecuadorean man has been held since Tuesday in a Manhattan lockup without access to a lawyer or any help challenging his detention, according to a petition filed by his sister this week in Manhattan federal court. The petition, by Eva Magdalena Chalco Chango, who represents herself, accuses the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of arresting the man, Carlos Anibal Chalco-Beltran, 40, as he left his home on Tuesday and walked to work. It came nearly three years after he was released by an immigration judge to await further proceedings. Mr. Chalco-Beltran, who had applied for asylum, was placed in a holding cell at 26 Federal Plaza, site of the ICE offices in Lower Manhattan, according to the court filing, which seeks his release. Following reports about overcrowded conditions, a state judge in August ordered ICE to improve the conditions in those holding cells and mandated that detainees be able to make calls to their lawyers. Mr. Chalco-Beltran is being held with his son, who was also arrested by ICE, and the agency was trying to ensure that the two continue to be held together, a government lawyer told a federal judge, Andrew L. Carter Jr., during a telephone hearing late Friday afternoon. The judge ordered that Mr. Chalco-Beltran be appointed a pro bono lawyer, and pressed the federal government to provide him with documents that were in Spanish — and Braille. As ICE arrests have filled up detention centers, the agency has come under scrutiny over how it provides basic medical care and accommodations for detainees with disabilities. The conditions have led to litigation from civil rights groups, reports of medical neglect and congressional scrutiny. Mr. Chalco-Beltran’s case also underscores the strict approach the Trump administration has taken to detaining migrants who entered the United States during the Biden administration, and had previously been allowed to contest their deportation while living in the community. In her petition to the court, Ms. Chalco Chango says she has been a caretaker for her brother throughout her life. The petition also includes a document from the New York State Commission for the Blind verifying his disability. The petition did not say whether Mr. Chalco-Beltran’s blindness required special accommodations that he lacks, or describe how he coped in the holding cells of the lockup.

AP [11/7/2025 4:34 PM, Jack Brook, 31753K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to open a national call center to help local and state law enforcement agencies find unaccompanied migrant children who entered the country illegally, according to a federal contracting document released this week. ICE said it has an “immediate need” to establish an around-the-clock call center in Nashville, Tennessee, capable of handling 6,000 to 7,000 daily calls to help law enforcement with “locating unaccompanied alien children.” ICE seeks to open the call center by the end of March and be fully operational by June. It requests information on the number of interested vendors and what technology they can use to “maximize call efficiency.” ICE also issued another notice seeking information on vendors able to transport thousands of detainees daily from across Texas, where a new state law taking effect next year mandates all counties with a jail enter into ICE partnerships. The ICE notice did not specify why the greater Nashville area was chosen as the intended site. ICE is also searching for vendors capable of transporting detainees from anywhere in Texas, including hospitals, private residences and traffic stops, to one of 36 different ICE offices within 30 minutes. ICE said it anticipates six trips daily transporting around 30 detainees in SUVs under armed guard from regional hubs near each county jail, according to federal contracting documents. The vendor would be required to establish its own transport hubs within six months of receiving a contract.

Chicago Tribune [11/7/2025 3:32 PM, Madeline Buckley, 4829K] reports that a federal judge has ordered the release of two immigration detainees who came forward as plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit, alleging inhumane conditions at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis ruled in favor of Pablo Moreno Gonzalez and Felipe Agustin Zamacona after their attorneys filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, according the lawyers, paving the way for the two men to be reunited with their families and communities. "After bravely sharing their harrowing accounts of what it is like to be detained in Broadview, we are incredibly relieved that they no longer have to be held in inhumane conditions and can be safely returned to their families." said lead attorney Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois, in a statement. While still in ICE custody, Moreno Gonzalez and Agustin Zamacona testified Tuesday during a daylong hearing about what they said were dirty, unsafe and overcrowded conditions at the west suburban building, which has been holding detainees for days before they are sent to a long-term detention center, even though it was not designed as an overnight facility. The complaint, filed last week, accused Department of Homeland Security officials of warehousing people for days on end in dirty cells that were so overcrowded that people couldn’t lay down to sleep at night. The suit further alleges that government officials systematically deny detainees their right to consult with lawyers. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order that requires government officials to provide immigration detainees enough food, water and bed space, among other remedies.

AP [11/7/2025 5:39 PM, Christine Fernando, 31753K] reports a federal judge expressed optimism Friday at the government’s progress in making required changes to a Chicago-area federal immigration facility with alleged "inhumane" conditions. Many of the changes included regular cleanings, ordering bedding and making drinking water and soap more readily available for people held in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the west Chicago suburb of Broadview. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman ordered the changes Wednesday after several hours of emotional testimony from detainees about overflowing toilets, crowded cells, no beds and water that "tasted like sewer." Gettleman called the alleged conditions "unnecessarily cruel." The government claims it is largely in compliance with Gettleman’s order, which will be in effect for 14 days.

Univision Chicago WGBO [11/7/2025 4:13 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports Carlos Manuel Tinoco Campos, a 35-year-old truck driver, went to the ICE offices in downtown Chicago on Tuesday thinking it was his annual appointment related to his asylum process, which began three years ago. However, within hours, Carlos Manuel, originally from Nicaragua, had signed his voluntary departure from the United States. Armando Olmedo, vice president and legal advisor for immigration at TelevisaUnivision, pointed out that having a valid work permit does not guarantee one’s stay in the United States. Olmedo added that detainees should not sign anything without legal counsel. Carlos Manuel Tinoco Campos will be deported this Friday to the border with Mexico and subsequently transferred to Nicaragua.

Chicago Tribune [11/7/2025 1:46 PM, Gregory Royal Pratt, 4829K] reports that this is how the staff at Chappell Elementary School in Lincoln Square found out one of their families had been torn apart. A fourth-grade girl was in the lunchroom when she began to cry. School workers called for a counselor, and the student told them that her father had been arrested by immigration agents. Teachers reached out to the child’s mother, Ingrid Guanume, who told them federal immigration agents had taken her husband, Brayan Plata, while working a landscaping job in Skokie. Guanume and Plata live in Albany Park with a newborn, a five-year old autistic preschooler, and their older daughter. The loss has unsettled their family, Guanume said. She and her husband are Colombians seeking asylum. They arrived in Chicago in 2018, and her husband has a license and work permit, she said. "He’s the one who works, who takes care of his three children," Guanume told the Tribune. What happened next is a familiar sequence of events since Trump launched Operation Midway Blitz, a wave of immigration raids aimed at deporting as many undocumented people as possible. The community sprung into action. Two parents at the school, Audra Wunder and Erin Tobes, who have been leading safety efforts through the PTO began asking basic questions. When the women delivered the goods to the family Thursday night, Tobes thanked the little girl for alerting the school. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not return a request for comment. According to its online locator system, which spells his first name as "Bryan," Plata is being held in Michigan.

Chicago Tribune [11/7/2025 3:53 PM, Rebecca Johnson, 4829K] reports that an attorney representing the day care teacher arrested by federal immigration agents at a Chicago preschool said Friday that his client is currently detained at an ICE facility in Clark County, Indiana, but that she "belongs at home." Diana Santillana Galeano was arrested Wednesday morning at the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center in North Center, sparking outrage from parents and staff who knew the 38-year-old as someone who went "above and beyond" for the school. Charlie Wysong, Santillana’s attorney, issued a statement for the first time Friday morning. In it, he said her legal team will seek a bond hearing next week to "swiftly" release Santillana from detention. He called Santillana a "beloved and respected member" of her preschool community. "Our day care centers and other schools must be safe places where our children are protected from harm," he said. Officials with the Department of Homeland Security, however, have alleged that Santillana attempted to barricade herself in the day care to escape arrest. They said she illegally crossed the southern border two years ago and paid a smuggler last month to cross her two teenage children. According to an updated habeas corpus petition filed Thursday, seeking Santillana’s release, she’s a Colombian national who fled the South American country because of "threats to her safety."

Reuters [11/8/2025 2:16 AM, Staff, 36480K] reports a group of mothers and protesters were zip-tied and taken away by police outside the Broadview ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Detention Center on Friday (November 7) as they protested a recent immigration arrest at a daycare center that left children in tears and the community outraged. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [11/7/2025 12:55 PM, Caroline Kubzansky, 4829K] reports that Police arrested 14 women outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Broadview Friday morning in the latest act of civil disobedience outside the west suburban facility that’s become a major flash point of opposition to the Trump administration’s "Operation Midway Blitz." Just after 9:30 a.m., the women hopped the concrete barricades that have proliferated around the processing center, sat down in the middle of the street and held hands. Illinois State Police troopers, Broadview police and Cook County sheriff’s police immediately walked over, hauled each person off the sidewalk and put handcuffs on them. None of the protesters appeared to resist their arrests, which took about five minutes to complete. As police walked the women down Beach Street toward the boarded-up processing center, a caravan of cars bearing American flags, "Hands off Chicago" signs and other anti-Midway Blitz imagery rolled past, honking their horns and blowing whistles. The women are most likely to be charged with misdemeanors and released, similarly to the majority of people who have been arrested at demonstrations around the processing center. Some of the charges have been more serious. A congressional candidate was one of six people federally indicted for allegedly conspiring to forcibly impede an ICE agent and resisting arrest last month and a University of Chicago professor is facing felony charges for allegedly spitting on a state trooper. As police began to process the arrestees, another woman grabbed a megaphone and yelled that the women had "exercised their First Amendment Rights in opposition to what this government is doing to our communities."

Reuters [11/7/2025 6:09 PM, Renee Hickman, 36480K] reports more than a dozen suburban Chicago mothers were arrested outside an immigration detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, on Friday, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, in a protest against the ongoing immigration crackdown in the area launched by U.S. President Donald Trump. The facility has been a flashpoint for anger around Trump’s "Operation Midway Blitz" for months, with frequent confrontations between protesters and law enforcement. The clashes have included federal agents deploying tear gas and shooting pepper balls at protesters, and the indictment of a congressional candidate and others on charges of impeding federal agents at the facility. Raids across Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, including one at a daycare this week, have led to protests and violent arrests. "Every day is more and more alarming," said Dani Munoz, a protesting mother who was not among the 14 arrested. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and others have sued the government on behalf of detainees at the Broadview facility, and a federal judge on Wednesday ordered officials to improve conditions that he determined "did not pass constitutional muster.” The protesters, who described themselves as a coalition of area mothers, were calm as they were led away in handcuffs from a circle where they sat after crossing barriers outside the Broadview facility. It was not immediately clear whether they faced charges. Two days earlier, the dramatic arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents of a teacher at a Spanish-language immersion daycare center on Chicago’s North Side drew national attention. "The situation with the daycare provider was horrifying, and something like that happens here and in other communities every day. We don’t want to stand by and do nothing," Munoz said.

Houston Chronicle [11/7/2025 11:26 AM, Matt deGrood and Julian Aguilar, 2983K] reports that Federal immigration authorities say they made more than 1,500 arrests across the Houston region during a recent 10-day operation. But as with other recent announcements from the federal agency, details about the immigrants caught up in the dragnet were scarce. Of the more than 1,500 arrests U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say they made, a news release identifies five people by name. Those include one person they say is wanted for murder in Honduras, one who’d been convicted of DWI three times, and one they say had been arrested for aggravated extortion. Federal officials provided broad descriptions of the remaining arrests and didn’t answer questions seeking more details. It’s also unclear whether ICE counts multiple arrests for people accused of multiple violations. ICE said 40 arrests stemmed from aggravated felonies, 115 arrests were for aggravated assault offenses and one person was a convicted murderer. Illegal reentry after deportation led the list with 255 arrests, followed by 142 for DWI. When contacted for more details about the arrests, officials with the agency referred the Houston Chronicle back to the news release they previously issued. Critics argue that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement often touts huge arrest numbers but doesn’t say who was arrested or why in most cases, raising questions about how dangerous the detainees really are.

FOX News [11/7/2025 6:59 AM, Peter Pinedo Fox, 40621K] reports while resisting arrest, a pedophile, twice-removed illegal immigrant in Houston, assaulted an ICE officer, resulting in a severe laceration and burns on his face, according to a statement by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS said that during an operation on Monday in Houston, a Salvadoran illegal immigrant named Walter Leonel Perez Rodriguez "brutally beat" an ICE officer with a metal coffee cup, resulting in the injuries. The agency said the officer suffered burns to the side of his face and a severe laceration to his mouth, resulting in 13 stitches. This comes as Homeland Security law enforcement officers are facing a 1,000% increase in assaults in the line of duty, according to the agency. According to DHS, Perez Rodriguez first entered the U.S. at an unknown date and location without inspection over 15 years ago. An immigration judge issued a removal order against Perez Rodriguez on June 11, 2013, and he was removed that same month. However, he re-entered the country illegally at an unknown time and was again removed by ICE on Feb. 24, 2020. Besides repeat illegal re-entry, which is a felony, DHS said that Perez Rodriguez has a criminal record that includes a conviction for a sexual assault of a child under 17 years old, child fondling and multiple DUIs. The agency said he is now in ICE custody and "can no longer pose a threat to Americans.” Commenting on the incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that "This repeated criminal illegal alien is about to find out the hard way that there’s a new sheriff in town—and under President Trump and Secretary Noem, anyone who lays a hand on our ICE officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Univision [11/7/2025 3:29 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports the relationship between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the community organization FIEL Houston became strained again on November 7, after the federal agency publicly accused the group of spreading false information about recent immigration operations in the southwest of the city. In the statement obtained by Univision 45, ICE rejected what it called a "third time in three months" that FIEL allegedly made erroneous claims about the actions of its agents, including detentions of minors or assaults during arrests. ICE asserted that all FIEL reports since October have been previously refuted by other agencies, such as the Houston Police Department and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. ICE asked the Houston community to verify information before sharing it, reminding them that its public detainee search engine allows users to confirm whether a person is in immigration custody.

CBS Colorado [11/8/2025 12:29 AM, Alan Gionet, 39474K] reports a man of Laotian descent in Colorado remains at the ICE detention facility in the Denver metro area awaiting deportation that he’s not fighting. In fact, he’s asking for it. Keooudone Phetchamphone, who has been under a deportation order since 2010, has informed authorities he wants to go back to Laos. But the family of the 56 year old claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been slow in getting the process moving, and "Don," as he is known to family, has missed two flights that have taken deported people to Laos. "I thought my brother would just be checked in, six weeks later he would just be gone and back to Laos to start his life. And it is not happening that way," said Don’s sister Pathoumma Phetchamphone. Instead, more than two months have passed and her brother, who was taken into custody at a yearly check-in, remains at the ICE facility in Aurora. "We’re not slow rolling getting him out of here," said an ICE spokesman in response to the family’s allegations. Keooudone, his sister, another brother and parents came to the United States as refugees in 1979. That followed five years at a refugee camp awaiting a sponsor to come to the U.S. Their father had helped American military forces during the U.S. war in Vietnam, which also edged over at times into Laos and Cambodia. Keooudone’s sister, who goes by "Pat," excelled, getting a law degree and going into real estate and mortgages. Keooudone, who goes by "Don," had trouble. "I think he had a harder time, acclimating than oldest brother and I," said Pat. "(He) ended up just hanging out with the wrong people and doing the wrong things," she explained. Between 2003 and 2007, Don was arrested on a list of charges including assault, drug possession, weapons possession, domestic violence and harassment. There was time behind bars. In 2010, he was taken into custody by immigration authorities and ultimately a deportation order was entered. Law required that anyone under that order must be deported within six months, or be freed from immigration custody. The United States had no diplomatic agreement on deportation with Laos, a communist country, so he could not be deported and was freed. Don was then under an order of supervision and told to check-in yearly. His sister says he could not get a passport from the U.S. or Laos, or permission from Laos to depart. His family says he began to change. Don was moved to help the Lao Buddhist Temple in Westminster rebuild after it was hit by fire in 2011. "He has gone there for the past 14 year(s) with his blood, sweat, tears and thousands and thousands of dollars and poured that into that temple which is now 80% or 90% done," said his sister. "I mean if he hasn’t done anything for that long, I think he’s a changed man." Don has been working for his sister and brother and at a property he manages for them. He also has been instrumental in helping other refugee families. "Mr. Don was the first person who extended a helping hand. He patiently taught us how to use basic household appliances, cook safely, shop for groceries and pay bills. He guided us through every step of adapting to life in America," wrote Durga Niroula, a Nepalese refugee. There was an additional misdemeanor charge in 2013 in connection with an alleged hit and run involving an unoccupied vehicle, but otherwise, Don’s record in Colorado shows no additional arrests or citations in the past dozen years. This year, he decided he would try to self-deport to Laos. "He had a feeling that something was going to be different during the administration and so he wanted to go back," said Pat. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Bloomberg [11/7/2025 2:07 PM, Jimmy Jenkins, 18207K] reports GEO Group Inc., one of the largest private prison operators, said President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown eventually will fill up detention facilities and force the government to use more electronic systems to track non-citizens it wants to deport. The company predicted the number of people electronically monitored by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement will climb to 465,000 over the next two years, up from 181,000. Ankle bracelets and other such monitors are GEO’s highest-margin business. GEO also announced its BI Inc. unit secured a two-year contract worth as much as $1 billion to manage ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which uses GPS tracking, routine check-ins and other tools to keep tabs on immigrants outside of detention centers who are facing court proceedings. “Once they max out that capacity, and they continue the enforcement efforts that they have, the next logical tool to use is the ISAP program,” GEO Chief Financial Officer Mark Suchinski told analysts on a conference call Thursday.

San Francisco Chronicle [11/7/2025 8:57 PM, Zara Irshad, 4722K] reports Bad Bunny hasn’t even hit the Levi’s Stadium stage yet, but as debate over his upcoming Super Bowl LX performance continues, one organization plans to make a bold statement at the South Bay venue. Public policy advocacy group MoveOn Civic Action has commissioned a banner that reads “No ICE at 2026 Super Bowl” to fly over the venue on Sunday, Nov. 9 before the San Francisco 49ers faceoff against the Los Angeles Rams. It’s scheduled to be in the air from 10:25 a.m. to 12:25 p.m. The Niners’ home game is scheduled to begin at 1:25 p.m. The move comes amid heated discourse around Bad Bunny’s halftime show appearance, which some conservatives — including President Donald Trump — claim is unpatriotic. From the moment his selection was announced by the NFL in September, critics began disparaging the Grammy-winner’s Puerto Rican heritage (despite the island being a U.S. territory), his Spanish-language music and his political stances on topics such as LGBTQ+ rights, the Trump administration and immigration. The artist’s past remarks about skipping the U.S. during his “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” tour out of fear for his Latino fans then resurfaced, prompting Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to declare that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be “all over the Super Bowl.” In response, MoveOn launched a petition in an effort to prevent ICE officers from showing up for the big game. “This is completely unacceptable,” the petition, launched on Oct. 7, reads. “We cannot let ICE terrorize our communities and our families at the largest single sporting event in the U.S.” As of the evening of Friday, Nov. 7, it has earned more than 82,000 signatures. MoveOn’s Sunday banner will also link to the petition. Meanwhile, a petition to replace Bad Bunny with the “King of Country” George Strait, launched Oct. 1, continues to gain momentum As of Friday night, it has earned more than 109,000 signatures. Virginia resident Kar Shell, who launched the effort, justified his argument by asserting that “The Super Bowl halftime show should unite our country, honor American culture, and remain family-friendly, not be turned into a political stunt.” Nonetheless, the NFL and Jay-Z, who selected Bad Bunny along with Roc Nation and the city of Santa Clara, have doubled down on their support. Additionally, Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor told the Chronicle last month that “we want to make sure that we protect everybody that comes to Santa Clara,” emphasizing that “this is an inclusive event.”

NewsMax [11/7/2025 6:26 PM, Jim Mishler, 4109K] reports the State Department has confirmed a new directive allowing consular officers to deny immigrant visas to applicants with medical conditions that could lead to significant public expenses. The Hill reported that the policy instructs officers to weigh whether an applicant’s health might make them more likely to depend on government-funded care or long-term assistance once in the United States. Outlined in an internal cable sent to department personnel, the guidance tells officers to evaluate an applicant’s overall health and financial situation before deciding on a visa. Much of the process is not new. The State Department has a comprehensive list of medical-related issues posted online that could impact a visa request. "Certain medical conditions, including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions, can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care," the cable states. It asks officers to determine whether the applicant has the means to pay for such treatment "over his entire expected lifespan without seeking public cash assistance or long-term institutionalization at government expense.” The directive echoes elements of the "public charge" rule introduced during the first Trump administration, which denied green cards to immigrants who received benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps, or housing aid for extended periods. "It’s no secret the Trump administration is putting the interests of the American people first," principal deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement. "This includes enforcing policies that ensure our immigration system is not a burden on the American taxpayer.” Applicants for immigrant visas are already required to undergo medical examinations, but the new order expands the review process. Officers are now instructed to form "their own thoughts about what could lead to some sort of medical emergency or medical costs in the future," according to the cable.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [11/7/2025 4:39 PM, Rebecca Beitsch and Nathaniel Weixel, 12595K]

Los Angeles Times [11/7/2025 6:00 AM, Amanda Seitz, 14862K] reports foreigners seeking visas to live in the U.S. might be rejected if they have certain medical conditions, including diabetes or obesity, under a Thursday directive from the Trump administration. The guidance, issued in a cable the State Department sent to embassy and consular officials and examined by KFF Health News, directs visa officers to deem applicants ineligible to enter the U.S. for several new reasons, including age or the likelihood they might rely on public benefits. The guidance says that such people could become a "public charge" — a potential drain on U.S. resources — because of their health issues or age. While assessing the health of potential immigrants has been part of the visa application process for years, including screening for communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and obtaining vaccine history, experts said the new guidelines greatly expand the list of medical conditions to be considered and give visa officers more power to make decisions about immigration based on an applicant’s health status. The directive is part of the Trump administration’s divisive and aggressive campaign to deport immigrants living without authorization in the U.S. and dissuade others from immigrating into the country. The White House’s crusade to push out immigrants has included daily mass arrests, bans on refugees from certain countries, and plans to severely restrict the total number permitted into the U.S. The new guidelines mandate that immigrants’ health be a focus in the application process. The guidance applies to nearly all visa applicants but is likely to be used only in cases in which people seek to permanently reside in the U.S., said Charles Wheeler, a senior attorney for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, a nonprofit legal aid group.

FOX News [11/7/2025 8:49 AM, Andrew Mark Miller and Emma Colton, 40621K] reports the Department of Labor revealed it has launched at least 175 ongoing investigations targeting potential abuses within the H-1B visa program as part of its mission to protect American jobs and ensure only necessary foreign workers are employed in the U.S. The DOL launched Project Firewall in September to ensure that employers prioritize qualified Americans for job positions and do not abuse the H1B visa program, which allows U.S. companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. The aggressive federal crackdown on potential abuse of the program includes Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer personally certifying the initiation of investigations — which is a mechanism that the department has never used before, Fox Digital learned. "The Labor Department is using every resource currently at our disposal to put a stop to H-1B visa abuse, and for the first time, I am personally certifying investigations into suspected violations to better protect American jobs," Chavez-DeRemer told Fox News Digital in a statement. "Under the leadership of President Trump, we will continue to invest in our workforce, ensuring high-skilled job opportunities go to American workers first."

Reported similarly:
Blaze [11/7/2025 5:15 PM, Cooper Williamson, 1442K]

Mercury News [11/7/2025 7:58 PM, Ethan Baron, 3100K] reports some spouses of foreign workers on the controversial H-1B visa may lose their work permits after the Trump administration changed employment rules. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Oct. 30 stripped holders of the H-4 spousal visa — thousands of whom are estimated to live and work in the Bay Area — of the ability to receive automatic extensions for their work permits when their renewal applications have been submitted but not fully processed by immigration authorities. Previously, foreign citizens on the H-4 and certain other visas could have their work permits automatically extended by 540 days if their permit applications were submitted on time but expired while still being processed. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow, announcing the rule change, said his agency was placing renewed emphasis on “screening and vetting” foreign citizens, “eliminating policies the former administration implemented that prioritized aliens’ convenience ahead of Americans’ safety and security.” The agency, which handles employment authorization renewals, said its current processing time is four months in 80% of cases. But immigration experts said the agency will likely take longer than that in certain cases. And because visa holders can only apply for work permits a maximum of six months in advance, some H-4 holders may not get their permits re-approved before they expire. Foreign workers must immediately stop working if their employment authorizations lapse. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Friday that gaps in employment could result if visa holders don’t file work permit applications in time, or if the agency can’t process their applications before permits expire.

Telemundo [11/7/2025 10:05 PM, Marinee Zavala, 57K] reports that, during the final hours of Temporary Protected Status for the Venezuelan community in the United States, fear and uncertainty are part of the mood in these people’s homes and workplaces. There are nearly 250,000 Venezuelans in the United States who, on November 8, will no longer have documents to work and live in a country they have called home for years. Among the beneficiaries of the program, it was difficult to find members of this community who were willing to speak on camera, as they believe their chances of being expelled from the country will increase in a matter of hours. "I have no hope, I have no hope," said a woman who has lived in San Diego for eight years with TPS. She says she is already preparing to return to Venezuela. "What am I going to do once I’m no longer here? That’s what I’ve been planning, focusing on how I’m going to return to my country," she explained. Lawyers in San Diego say the political climate leaves this community with no other options. "We see it as a tragedy, it continues to be a slap in the face for those who came to this country legally, as they have always been told. And overnight, they no longer have these benefits," explained Cesar Luna, an immigration lawyer. The government has assured that there is a 60-day grace period to leave the country, however, those days are not guaranteed. "You have that extension, but it is not a right. As we have seen, immigration services are so aggressive that they could retaliate and try to detain the person. When you can no longer identify yourself with legal status, then we are at the mercy of the officials in charge of that situation," explained the lawyer. He explained that although TPS has been complicated because there are different levels of protection and some people still have a valid work permit, there is another way to remain in the country legally. "You could seek refuge under asylum laws, and it would be important to have a very precise analysis from lawyers who are familiar with the issue. Asylum is not for everyone," clarified Cesar Luna. Amid the federal government’s ultimatum, the Department of Homeland Security indicated that TPS was never an amnesty program and that all foreigners whose Temporary Protected Status has been canceled or who are in the country illegally should take advantage of the self-deportation process, an option that for many is not an alternative, especially given the political situation in Venezuela. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
Univision [11/8/2025 2:55 AM, Krellys Verdejo Febus, 5004K]

Telemundo [11/7/2025 11:14 AM, Staff, 2218K] reports a quarter of a million Venezuelans will be exposed to deportation from midnight this Friday when the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) that protects them expires, which represents a hard blow for immigrants who prefer to remain in the shadows rather than return to their country. The legal complaint seeks to protect two groups of Venezuelans under protection: those from 2021, some 250,000 whose TPS ends today, and the beneficiaries of the 2023 extension, some 350,000, who were left unprotected last month when the Supreme Court allowed the White House to continue with its plans while the battle in lower courts continues. The case is in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals where a panel will hear arguments from both sides, after the Trump administration appealed a ruling by a federal judge who determined that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem exceeded her legal authority in ending the injunction and that her decision was “arbitrary and capricious.” Palma does not rule out that the legal battle will reach the Supreme Court again, where the judges will have to fully consider the case. In total, 600,000 Venezuelans will be at risk of detention and immediate deportation from midnight tonight, representing the largest number of people who have lost TPS in the history of the protection. But both options require time, something Venezuelans seem to lack given the onslaught by immigration authorities to meet President Trump’s goal of deporting one million people in a year.

Washington Post [11/8/2025 5:00 AM, María Luisa Paúl, 32099K] reports Carlos Rodríguez had finally begun to feel at home in the United States. He’d fled Venezuela in 2018 and spent the last six years building a future in Miami. He saved money with the dream of putting a down payment on a small house, adopted a dog after his first promotion and was quietly planning how to propose to his girlfriend. But on Thursday night, the faint smell of coffee lingered in his apartment as he folded the last kitchen towel into a box — taking apart, piece by piece, the life he had worked so hard to create. The next day, he’d be giving his dog to the neighbors, ending his two-year relationship and boarding a flight to Spain. “Not because I want to,” Rodríguez said, “but because I’m being forced out — again.” Rodríguez, 30, is among the more than 600,000 Venezuelans who have, as of Friday, lost temporary protected status, or TPS — a designation that shielded them from deportation and allowed many to work and live in the United States. Overnight, some lost the jobs they’d held for years; others closed shops, walked away from leases and left homes standing empty. Many have also lost their licenses, health insurance and access to routine care. The decision to revoke the protection triggered what Venezuelan American activist Adelys Ferro called “the largest mass illegalization of a group in this country’s history.” And it comes at a time when President Donald Trump is sinking alleged Venezuelan drug boats and gathering U.S. forces in the region, raising the possibility of land strikes. Across the country, the calculus looks different in each household. Many are scrambling to try to stay — waiting on pending asylum or change-of-status petitions, searching for lawyers, hoping for any reprieve that might keep them from deportation. Others, like Rodríguez, have decided to start over elsewhere. But even that has proved difficult.

Univision [11/7/2025 12:03 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States will be facing a very uncertain future after midnight this Friday, November 7, when the grace period for those with 2021 TPS comes to an end. Now, the fear of being deported or detained returns to their lives. Lawyers warn that those who do not have an asylum case or any other pending protection claim will lose their work authorization. Alexis Mogollón, from the Arepazo restaurant in Doral, asserts that the economic impact is already noticeable.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 12:37 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2416K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) is opening up hiring to an array of personnel, including those who left during the administration of President Joe Biden, to sustain the success of CBP under President Donald Trump, a top adviser tells Breitbart News. Breitbart News caught up with Senior Adviser Ron Vitiello, who formerly served as chief of border patrol and acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, on Thursday in the nation’s capital. "There’s a lot going on" at CBP, Vitiello said. "The Reconciliation gives us an opportunity to hire a lot more frontline personnel, some office staff, as well as professional staff. But the story at the border is even better." "I mean, the numbers are incredibly low," he added. "As you’ve seen the President and others, the secretary in the press bragging on what the front line has done: zero releases into the U.S. of people who have crossed illegally, and just a real cohesive application within the interagency, something I’ve never really seen, where the State Department, Health and Human Services, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], ourselves, the Department of Justice, Department of War, everybody working together to succeed, to deliver on the President’s agenda, to secure the border and initiate the largest deportation effort ever. To do that, we need personnel." When asked if agents and former officials are excited to work under Trump’s Department of Homeland Security versus Biden’s, Vitiello said, "Yes," and noted the One Big Beautiful Bill gives CPB the "right tools to succeed."

Washington Examiner [11/7/2025 5:36 AM, Christopher Tremoglie, 1394K] reports the Department of Homeland Security boasted of a historic start to fiscal 2026 regarding the number of illegal border crossings into the country. Data compiled by DHS revealed that the U.S. had a record-low number of border crossings in October, marking the start of fiscal 2026. Moreover, the decreased number of border crossings in October was the lowest on record for any October in the history of border crossing calculations, DHS revealed in a press release. Through the federal agency’s work with Customs and Border Protection, DHS announced there were 30,561 "total encounters nationwide," a sum that was the "lowest start to a fiscal year ever recorded by CBP." It was also a whopping 79% lower total than October 2024 under the Biden administration and a 29% decrease from the "previous record low" in October 2012, in which there were 43,010 encounters. "History made: the lowest border crossings in October history and the sixth straight month of ZERO releases. This is the most secure border ever," said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "Thank you, President Trump, and our brave DHS law enforcement. You make America proud!" Several other feats were recognized by DHS, including six consecutive months of not releasing any illegal immigrants into the U.S. This is a massive shift from the actions and policies of the Biden administration. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott also acknowledged the historic achievement. He said the results were due to the efforts of the "most dedicated law enforcement professionals in the country."

AP [11/7/2025 6:25 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports a South Korean solar company says it will temporarily reduce pay and working hours for about 1,000 of its 3,000 employees in Georgia because U.S. customs officials have been detaining imported components needed to make solar panels. Qcells, a unit of South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions, said Friday that it will also lay off 300 workers from staffing agencies at its plants in Dalton and Cartersville, both northwest of Atlanta. The company says U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been detaining imported components at ports on suspicion that they contain materials that may have been made with forced labor in China, meaning it can’t run its solar panel assembly lines at full strength. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced in August that her department was stepping up enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, a 2021 law that restricts Chinese goods made with forced labor from entering the U.S. Published reports indicate that U.S. officials began detaining solar cells made by Qcells in June. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection couldn’t immediately answer questions about Qcells on Friday. Qcells says none of its materials or components are made with forced labor or even come from China. Spokesperson Marta Stoepker said the company maintains "robust supply chain due diligence measures" and "very detailed documentation," which has been successful in getting some shipments released. "Our latest supply chain is sourced completely outside of China and our legacy supply chains contain no material from Xinjiang province based on third party audits and supplier guarantees," Stoepker said.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 2:19 PM, Jasmyn Jordan, 2416K] reports that three Chinese research scholars affiliated with a University of Michigan laboratory have been criminally charged for allegedly conspiring to smuggle biological materials into the United States, marking the latest incident in a series of federal investigations targeting national security vulnerabilities tied to Chinese nationals and foreign research partnerships. Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that three citizens of the People’s Republic of China — Xu Bai, 28, Fengfan Zhang, 27, and Zhiyong Zhang, 30 — face criminal charges related to an alleged scheme to smuggle concealed biological materials into the United States. All three were J-1 visa holders conducting research at the University of Michigan’s laboratory overseen by Professor Xianzhong "Shawn" Xu. Bai and F. Zhang were charged with conspiracy to smuggle biological materials, while Z. Zhang was charged with making false statements to federal agents. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bai and Fengfan Zhang received multiple international shipments from Chengxuan Han, a Chinese national and Ph.D. candidate from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China. The shipments contained biological substances related to roundworms, which were not disclosed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The case follows Han’s own recent conviction and removal from the United States after she pleaded no contest to three counts of smuggling and one count of making false statements. Authorities found that Han had also erased data from her electronic devices shortly before entering the U.S. FOX News [11/7/2025 6:00 AM, Adam Sabes, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Xu Bai, 28, Fengfan Zhang, 27, and Zhiyong Zhang, 30, were charged on Wednesday after allegedly making false statements to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in order to import materials that were related to roundworms sent from China under the cover of research at the University of Michigan, according to prosecutors. The Chinese nationals worked at the University of Michigan’s Shawn Xu laboratory. Chengxuan Han, who also previously worked at the laboratory, was earlier charged with smuggling and making false statements. She pleaded no contest before being removed from the U.S. After Han’s removal from the U.S., the university launched an internal investigation. Bai, Zhang and Zhang refused to cooperate with the investigation and were terminated, which made them eligible for deportation. The three allegedly tried to board a flight to China on Oct. 16 from John F. Kennedy International Airport when they were stopped for further inspection. ICE Director Todd M. Lyons said in a statement that the incident shows the need for universities to change their admissions procedures. "This case underscores the vital importance of safeguarding the American people and addressing vulnerabilities within foreign student and exchange visitor programs," Lyons said. "Educational institutions must enhance their admissions procedures to prevent exploitation, which can pose risks to national security."

USA Today [11/7/2025 7:14 PM, Michael Loria, 67103K] reports a Border Patrol agent cracking down on immigration in Chicago appeared to brag about shooting a woman he said assaulted him, according to text messages obtained by USA TODAY. Miramar Martinez is charged with assaulting a federal immigration officer in connection with an car crash dating back to Oct. 4 on Chicago’s South Side. She pleaded not guilty in the case out of the Northern District of Illinois. Text messages published in the court record on Wednesday, Nov. 5, show that Supervisory Border Patrol agent Charles Exum apparently bragged about the incident. "I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes," the agent writes. "Put that in your book boys.” Exum sent the messages, which were obtained via a court order, in an encrypted chat with other immigration agents, said Martinez’s attorney, Christopher Parente. USA TODAY reached out to the Justice and Homeland Security departments for comment on behalf of Exum. A Homeland Security spokesperson declined to comment directly about the case. "Given the violence against our agents, CBP will not be giving away information on personnel that could be weaponized against them," the spokesperson said when asked about Exum’s status. "This matter is being led by the FBI and the Department of Justice.” Homeland Security officials say agents are facing a rash of violent resistance in Chicago. In response to a request for comment on Border Patrol agents wrestling a Chicago woman from her car after saying she rammed them, agency Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said the incident "is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers."

NewsNation [11/7/2025 5:59 AM, Julian Resendiz, 8017K] Video: HERE reports a Mexican National Guard unit in Juarez on Thursday located a suspicious underground structure leading to the banks of the Rio Grande. The tunnel-like structure was located just over 100 yards from a smugglers’ tunnel U.S. authorities discovered on Jan. 9, 2025, and that authorities believe was used to bring over drugs and “high value” migrants. The National Guard unit located an access point to the newest structure at the edge of Juan Pablo II Boulevard in Juarez; they found the exit on the Mexican levee of the river. Mexican authorities told Border Report news partner ProVideo that after a thorough investigation, the soldiers determined the new “tunnel” was an old storm drainage pipe. Soldiers and civilian authorities left the scene without any word on whether they intended to seal the structure. Border Report contacted the U.S. Border Patrol about the find. They characterized the incident as a “false alarm” of a new smugglers’ tunnel. Still, Mexican soldiers reportedly found clothing and other items left by humans near the exit of the structure. Authorities in Juarez declined to speculate on why those items were there. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [11/7/2025 8:39 PM, Alex Riggins, 1538K] reports a San Diego judge on Friday sentenced a former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer to 15 years in federal prison for conspiring with a Mexican drug cartel and accepting payments from the group in exchange for allowing vehicles filled with fentanyl, methamphetamine and heroin to pass through his inspection lanes at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Diego Bonillo, a 31-year-old U.S. Army veteran who grew up in San Diego and Tijuana, told the federal judge that he got caught up in the conspiracy because of threats he received. "If I didn’t do what I had to, consequences would have happened," he told the judge Friday. But prosecutors said Bonillo and his defense team produced no evidence that he or his family had been threatened. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Van Demark told the judge it was greed alone that motivated Bonillo to abuse his power. "He fabricated the story about the threat," Van Demark told U.S. District Judge Ruth Montenegro. "It never happened.” In handing down the sentence, Montenegro said Bonillo understood the scope of his misdeeds, abused his position of trust and used that position to enrich himself while undermining CBP’s main goal. More than 40 CBP officers and other federal agents attended Friday’s hearing, filling both the main courtroom and an overflow room. Van Demark told the judge they were there to support the government, not Bonillo. "The defendant betrayed his fellow officers," Van Demark said. FBI agents arrested Bonillo and another CBP officer, Jesse Clark Garcia, in May 2024 on suspicion that they were both working for the same unnamed cartel to allow drug-laden vehicles through their inspection lanes in Tecate and Otay Mesa. Garcia pleaded guilty in early July to nine counts of conspiracy and drug importation, admitting that he began allowing drugs through his inspection lanes as early as April 2021. Bonillo pleaded guilty a few weeks later to three similar counts. According to court records, Garcia came under investigation first, and as agents were gathering evidence against him, they learned that a suspected drug courier who often crossed through Garcia’s lanes in Tecate also frequently crossed through Bonillo’s lanes in Otay Mesa. In a sentencing memorandum and in court on Friday, Van Demark said Bonillo, who rose to the rank of sergeant while in the Army, originally joined CBP in December 2021 but left six months later for a more lucrative job with a private company. He rejoined CBP in April 2023. Van Demark said that in applications to join CBP and the Drug Enforcement Administration after discharging from the Army, Bonillo failed to disclose that his father was a convicted drug trafficker and an uncle is also suspected of trafficking drugs. Prosecutors believe Bonillo began working with the cartel around October 2023, because that’s when he started using a second phone with a Mexican number. Investigators learned about that phone through an interview with another CBP officer with whom Bonillo had a romantic relationship.

AP [11/7/2025 5:09 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Pacific Region Immigration Enforcement and Intelligence and Investigations Operations are part of a newly created BC Extortion Task Force which was announced by the Province of B.C. in September and is led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This task force was created to address the sharp rise in extortion threats and violence against businesses, particularly those within the South Asian community in the Lower Mainland. The role of the CBSA in this task force is to assist in the execution of search warrants, conduct Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) investigations and share information with law enforcement partners. To date, the CBSA has initiated immigration investigations into 78 foreign nationals who may be inadmissible and has removed from Canada three individuals related to these investigations.

Telemundo [11/7/2025 6:35 PM, Daniel Andrade, 57K] reports as positive news for trade on both sides of the border, so they see the new lane that will be enabled for the crossing of the Sentri in Tijuana. “In this season, so much in September that shopping for back-to-school, school supplies, clothing, we see it again in November and December, we see it in Mexico for the best purpose, but also in the United States with Thanksgiving,” said Kenya Zamarripa, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce in San Diego. He indicated that they are ready to receive the buyers in the different stores, because from this moment, they say, the flow increases for Christmas shopping. He said that the new access to Second Street for the Sentri crossing will come to generate relief in traffic, and with it, they would register more agile crossings contributing to the economy of San Diego. “I do see that Sedeti and the Secretary are doing a great job of promoting it, even before the change is taken, so that people are informed, so that we are attentive to change and with the appropriate signage to be able to take advantage of this other entry, I think it is an excellent opportunity to provide the community with other accesses, and also to address the traffic that is generated in areas like Padre Kino,” Kenya Zamarripa added.

NewsMax [11/7/2025 6:33 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports airlines canceled more than 1,000 flights across the United States on Friday as federal officials began enforcing an FAA order to reduce air traffic amid the prolonged government shutdown. The agency said the cuts, which affect 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, are designed to preserve safety as unpaid air traffic controllers and TSA officers increasingly call out of work. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the reductions, now near 10%, could rise as high as 20% if the shutdown continues. "We’re doing this to protect the safety of the flying public," Duffy told Fox News, warning that controller shortages "are getting worse by the day.” The Federal Aviation Administration said the slowdown began at roughly 4% earlier in the week and will ramp up in the coming days to relieve strain on an overworked system. Administrator Bryan Bedford said the agency was seeing "signs of stress in the system" and described the cuts as a "necessary step to prevent something worse.” Friday’s cancellations represented about five times the number scrubbed Thursday, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport was hardest hit, with 16% of arrivals canceled, while Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, and Chicago O’Hare each lost roughly 3% of flights. Airlines said they were focusing cuts on smaller regional routes to limit disruption for most travelers.

New York Times [11/8/2025 3:27 AM, Niraj Chokshi, Karoun Demirjian and Michael Levenson, 330K] reports the first wave of flight cancellations ordered by the Trump administration in response to the government shutdown hit airports across the United States on Friday, foreshadowing what could be wider disruptions in air travel if Congress does not reach a spending deal soon. Although airlines said they were able to limit the fallout, there was a growing sense of frustration among some travelers that a federal shutdown was to blame for hundreds of canceled flights. By Friday afternoon, major airports serving Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., also had flight delays ranging from 15 minutes to several hours that were caused at least partly by limited air traffic controller staffing. Bryan Dick, who was at LaGuardia Airport in New York and trying to get home to Phoenix after his flight was canceled, said he was used to bad weather causing disruptions, but not shutdowns in Washington. He was able to book another flight home, but was thinking about canceling a work trip in December if the shutdown dragged on. “This one’s different because it’s sort of man-made,” said Mr. Dick, 44, an electrical engineer who had visited New York for a conference. “I think people in Congress need to do their jobs because a lot of people out here are living paycheck to paycheck.” As of midday Friday, about 780 flights had been canceled, or about 3 percent of the 25,000 scheduled for the day, according to Cirium, an aviation data company. While the cuts were relatively limited, they will be more difficult to manage as the reductions rise. And if the shutdown lingers, travel around Thanksgiving, one of the busiest periods of the year, could be affected. Starting on Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration required airlines to cut 4 percent of flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports, including those serving Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and other major cities. The mandate will remain in place through Monday, rising to 6 percent on Tuesday, 8 percent on Thursday and 10 percent on Friday. The Trump administration has said the cuts are necessary to relieve pressure on air traffic controllers who have been working without pay since the shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, began Oct. 1. On Friday, Sean Duffy, the secretary of transportation, suggested that the reductions could reach 20 percent at some airports if the shutdown continued into the Thanksgiving travel period. By then, he said, there could be “more controllers who decide they can’t come to work and control the airspace, but instead have to take a second job.” Major airlines said on Friday that most customers would not be affected by the cuts imposed so far and that travelers who wanted to change or cancel a flight for a refund could do so. American Airlines said on Friday morning that of the 12,000 people whose flights had been canceled, most had found some other accommodation within a few hours. Flying is generally less congested in the weeks before Thanksgiving, which gives the industry some room to handle smaller cuts. About 1 percent of U.S. flights are canceled on an average day, Cirium said. During a major weather event, like a snowstorm or hurricane, that figure could be 5 to 10 percent, it said. On Friday, the vast majority of U.S. routes still had some service, and the airlines appeared to be taking a surgical approach to the cancellations, which were concentrated among short flights, according to Cirium. About one in five of the cancellations on Friday affected flights within a state, mainly in California and Texas, it said.

Reuters [11/7/2025 1:45 PM, David Shepardson, 36480K] reports the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it was delaying flights at eight airports including in Atlanta, San Francisco, Houston, Washington and Newark, citing widespread air traffic staffing issues as controllers have not been paid during the government shutdown. The FAA said it has staffing shortages at 10 locations across the country, which could potentially result in delays at more airports. The agency has separately required airlines to cancel 4% of flights at 40 high-volume airports to address air traffic control staffing -- or more than 700 flights in total. Under FAA ground delay programs, flights are being delayed by an average of 83 minutes at Reagan Washington National, 66 minutes at San Francisco, 52 minutes at Newark, 47 minutes at Austin, and 80 minutes at Houston Bush. More than 2,300 flights had been delayed as of 12:45 p.m. EST, according to Flightwire, a flight tracking site. Some airlines have expressed concern that controllers, who have not been paid during the shutdown, might feel emboldened not to show up for work because of the flight reductions. The 38-day shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay. In an interview Friday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he had asked the controllers union to reach out to controllers to ask them to come to work. "I need them to come to work," Duffy said. "This is not about you now having a ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ to not come to work."

New York Times [11/8/2025 5:02 AM, Christine Chung and Claire Fahy, 153395K] reports the first day of the Trump administration’s flight cuts at the nation’s 40 busiest airports passed without widespread disruption, but uncertainty about imminent cancellations and the overall stability of the air traffic control system has some travelers rethinking whether to fly at all. Airlines canceled just under 800 flights on Friday because of the government mandate and planned for similar levels of reductions throughout the weekend, flight data shows. Under the Federal Aviation Administration’s directive, airlines must cut 10 percent of flights at 40 airports by next Friday if the government remains shut down and air traffic controllers are still working without pay. But with little advance notice from airlines about forthcoming cancellations, travelers said they’re already changing plans for the weeks ahead, including Thanksgiving. They’re researching alternatives, like renting a car or getting on a train. They’re even considering just staying home. But for some people staying put isn’t an option. Dr. Naomi Lawrence-Reid, 42, is the only overnight pediatrician at an inpatient ward at a hospital in Chico, Calif. If she misses her Saturday morning flight from Atlanta, the hospital will have to scramble for a replacement or even divert patients elsewhere. “I have to trust that there’s someone in air traffic control that’s watching my flight and all of these flights,” Ms. Lawrence-Reid said. “You kind of hold your breath until you’re at cruising altitude and then you hold it again until you start to descend.”

NewsMax [11/7/2025 11:53 AM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports that the White House says Democrats are to blame for the "airport chaos" affecting travelers after U.S. airlines on Friday canceled hundreds of flights as reductions at the Federal Aviation Administration take effect amid the monthslong government shutdown. "Democrats’ shutdown tantrum — now dragging into its 38th day of misery — is a brazen, demented betrayal of the American people," the White House said in a statement. "Now, as FAA safety restrictions loom like a guillotine over holiday flights, Democrats are inflicting their man-made catastrophe on Americans just trying to make life-saving medical trips or get home for Thanksgiving." The FAA is requiring airlines to cut 10% of their flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports to reduce pressure on air traffic controllers during the ongoing government shutdown and ensure that flying remains safe. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford have said reducing flights is a "proactive" measure, with safety of the national airspace system as the primary concern. "My department has many responsibilities, but our No. 1 job is safety. This isn’t about politics — it’s about assessing the data and alleviating building risk in the system as controllers continue to work without pay," Duffy said in a written statement Thursday. "It’s safe to fly today, and it will continue to be safe to fly next week because of the proactive actions we are taking.” More than 1,000 flights had already been delayed Friday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware. More than 820 flights had been canceled, and that number was expected to continue to climb.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 8:34 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has dispersed an additional $155 million for western North Carolina to fund 130 projects from Tropical Storm Helene. The funding is the most allocated in the state for the storm, which struck the western Appalachian region Sept. 27, causing widespread river flooding and landslides with 30 inches of rain in some areas. There were 85 direct and indirect deaths in the state. The 2024 storm was the costliest and deadliest in North Carolina’s history at $60 billion. Helene had intensified into a Category 4 hurricane and made landfall in western Florida before hitting the Carolinas. The total impact was $79.8 billion, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More than $957 million has been provided for road repair, debris removal, infrastructure repair and emergency protective measures. Since Donald Trump became president Jan. 20, more than $632 million in public assistance reimbursements have been approved to support the recovery efforts in North Carolina. A senior HHS spokesman said Trump and HHS Secretary Kristi Noem "are committed to streamlining aid and supporting North Carolina’s recovery from Tropical Storm Helene and other disasters. These millions of dollars in federal assistance will help communities repair critical infrastructure, restore essential services and continue rebuilding stronger for the future.” The grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency include $54 million to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to rebuild roads and bridges. Also, $40 million was awarded for two utilities — French Broad Electric Co. and Rutherford Electric Membership Corp. — for repairs and emergency protective measures. Other funding includes $14.8 million to Henderson County, $9.6 million to Buncombe County, $1.6 million for city of Boone, $1.4 million for Paddy’s Creek Beach and Catawba Beach, $1.3 million to the Buncombe County School District. State officials are awaiting on other funding, NC Newsline reported. A $1.4 billion pool of grant money for a homebuilding program that now has more than 4,000 applicants. Also, another grant program allows FEMA to buy out private properties with applications pending for months.

HS Today [11/7/2025 6:54 AM, Staff, 38K] reports Secretary Kristi Noem has announced that the Department of Homeland Security is expediting $1 million in up-front FEMA funding to help Alaska recover from the devastation of Typhoon Halong in early October. “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem’s leadership, FEMA is moving at an unprecedented speed to provide Alaska with immediate support that it needs to recover from this tragedy,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Disasters are best managed when they’re state managed, locally executed, and federally supported. From FEMA’s on-the-ground efforts to the U.S. Coast Guard’s successful rescue operations, DHS is ensuring that Alaskans are getting the help they need.” This funding, which will be immediately accessible, will be used to stabilize dangerous conditions and help communities stay safe. This work includes making temporary repairs to critical infrastructure or utilities and staffing emergency operations to coordinate response. Additional funding for recovery efforts will follow.

Blaze [11/8/2025 2:42 AM, Steve Baker, Joseph M. Hanneman, 1442K] reports a forensic analysis of a female former U.S. Capitol Police officer’s gait is a 94%-98% match to the unique stride of the long-sought Jan. 6 pipe-bomb suspect, according to a Blaze News investigation confirmed by several intelligence sources. A source close to a congressional investigation of Jan. 6 additionally told Blaze News evidence has emerged recently that pointed toward law enforcement possibly being involved in the planting of the pipe bombs. A software algorithm that analyzes walking parameters including flexion (knee bend), hip extension, speed, step length, cadence, and variance rated Shauni Rae Kerkhoff, 31, of Alexandria, Va., as a 94% match to the bomb suspect shown on video from Jan. 5, 2021. The veteran analyst who ran the analysis for Blaze News said that based on visual observations the program can struggle with, he personally pegged the match at closer to 98%. Kerkhoff, who was a Capitol Police officer for four and a half years, left the department in mid-2021 for a security detail at the Central Intelligence Agency, sources told Blaze News. In that job, she reportedly serves on dignitary protection teams for officials including CIA Director John Ratcliffe and others, sources told Blaze News. Kerkhoff’s residence in Alexandria, Va., appeared to be under the watch of law enforcement officers on Friday night. Blaze News editor in chief Christopher Bedford was pulled over by local police after stopping to observe the home. He was then allowed to leave. The FBI, which failed to solve the case in nearly five years of investigation but indicated that it was closing in after Blaze News brought its investigation to intelligence sources, was feet from the Falls Church address of the pipe bomb suspect days after Jan. 6, according to the Blaze News investigation. Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin realized Friday that he was doing surveillance next door to the woman now suspected of being the Jan. 6 pipe bomber. "The FBI put us one door away from the pipe bomber within days of January 6, and we were deliberately pulled away for no logical or logically investigative reason," Seraphin told Blaze News Friday. "And everything about that tells me that they were involved in a cover-up and have been since day one. "They were f**king in on it," Seraphin said. Seraphin proposed doing a "knock and talk" at the door of an Air Force civilian employee whose address was tied to a vehicle that picked up the bomb suspect in Falls Church, Va., on Jan. 5, 2021. Seraphin’s team spent two days watching the man, but Seraphin’s request to go face-to-face with the person of interest was denied. The team was pulled off the case the same night, he said. Seraphin said he has given the same details publicly since 2021. "There’s a personal reaction to it, which is the complete vindication that the things I’ve been saying and my recollection of being briefed on this stuff has been accurate for years and I’ve never changed my tune," he said. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

Free Beacon [11/7/2025 1:57 PM, Jessica Schwalb, 411K] reports that the woman who posted flyers exposing White House adviser Stephen Miller’s address and calling for "NO NAZIS" in Northern Virginia is a harmless academic "in the field of peace studies," her lawyer claimed. On Sept. 11, a day after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was killed by a politically motivated assassin, Barbara Wien, a retired 66-year-old American University professor, posted the flyers around Miller’s Arlington neighborhood showing a photo of the Trump adviser in a red circle with a cross through it. They also included a QR code that linked to the Instagram account of Arlington Neighbors United for Humanity, an activist group that has praised Antifa and left chalk messages outside Miller’s home accusing him of "destroying democracy." Secret Service surveillance footage shows Wien walking by that same day and making eye contact with Miller’s wife, Katie, who was on her front porch, Axios reported. Wien made an "I’m watching you" gesture, pointing two fingers to her eyes. According to Axios, "Wien’s lawyer said she broke no laws and is a harmless academic ‘in the field of peace studies.’ He accused DOJ of trying to quash lawful dissent."

FOX News [11/7/2025 1:11 PM, Hayley Vawter, 3739K] reports that five people were rescued from a sinking sailboat off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on Thursday. The U.S. Coast Guard said watchstanders received a distress call from the crew of the sailboat roughly 260 miles offshore, saying the boat was taking on water. On the call, the crew advised that all five people aboard were abandoning ship for a life raft. The Coast Guard diverted a ship and launched an aircraft and helicopter crew in search of the boaters. The aircraft crew found the life raft with all five people on board and established communication with them. It was confirmed everyone aboard was stable and in good condition. After receiving fuel assistance to make it the long distance out to the rescue site, the helicopter crew arrived on scene. All five people on the life raft were successfully saved and brought up into the helicopter. They were transported back to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City in good health, the Coast Guard said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [11/7/2025 3:03 PM, Stepheny Price, 40621K] reports five people are safe after the Coast Guard rescued them from a sinking sailboat hundreds of miles off the North Carolina coast Thursday. According to the Coast Guard, watchstanders at Sector North Carolina received a mayday call from the crew of a sailboat called "Magic Bus" about 260 nautical miles offshore from Cape Hatteras. The crew reported their vessel was taking on water and that they had climbed into a life raft. The Coast Guard launched a response involving the cutter Angela McShan (WPC 1135), an HC-130 Hercules airplane and an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City. Because of the boat’s distance from shore, the Coast Guard coordinated with the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush to provide fuel support for the helicopter, extending its range for the offshore mission. The HC-130 crew eventually spotted the life raft and confirmed that all five people were aboard, "stable and in good condition," the Coast Guard said. A short time later, the Jayhawk crew hoisted them to safety. After refueling aboard the George H.W. Bush, the helicopter flew the rescued sailors back to Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City. Officials said everyone appeared to be in good health. No other details were immediately available from the Coast Guard about the voyage or the rescue.

FOX News [11/7/2025 4:22 PM, Morgan Phillips, 40621K] reports the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed it was hacked Thursday, potentially exposing key financial research to malicious actors. Washington Post first reported the breach appeared to come from a foreign actor. The CBO told Fox News Digital it had taken "immediate action" to contain the threat and strengthen its systems. "The Congressional Budget Office has identified the security incident, has taken immediate action to contain it and has implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems going forward," the office said in a statement. "The incident is being investigated and work for the Congress continues. Like other government agencies and private sector entities, CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats.” The CBO provides Congress with nonpartisan analysis of the federal budget, economic outlook and cost of legislation. If internal communications, cost estimates or draft models were accessed, experts say a foreign actor could gain insight into congressional deliberations, the timing of bill releases or fiscal vulnerabilities, information that could be used to anticipate U.S. policy moves, craft disinformation or exert strategic influence.

CyberScoop [11/7/2025 8:30 AM, Robert Rea, 122K] reports cybersecurity headlines still focus on the headline-grabbing moments, whether it’s the latest breach, a zero-day exploit, or an eye-catching product launch. However, beneath the surface noise, a quieter but more profound transformation is taking place—driven by regulations that are changing the way organizations think about, approach, and communicate on security.” Across the globe, new standards and frameworks, including the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the U.S. government’s Secure-by-Design Principles, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enhanced disclosure rules, are shifting accountability from aspiration to expectation. For security leaders, these are more than checkboxes. They’re the building blocks for a cultural revolution that rewards transparency, enforces architectural rigor, and reshapes how teams communicate risk from the SOC up to the C-suite.

FOX News [11/7/2025 6:51 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 40621K] reports Russian state-backed hackers have stepped up their game with new malware families that hide behind fake CAPTCHA tests. The group, known as Star Blizzard or ColdRiver, now uses ClickFix attacks to trick people into launching dangerous malware disguised as a simple "I’m not a robot" check. These attacks represent a new wave of cyber deception, targeting governments, journalists, and NGOs with malware that keeps changing faster than researchers can analyze it. Google’s Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) first observed the hackers using LostKeys malware in espionage operations. Once researchers exposed it, the attackers pivoted quickly, abandoning LostKeys within a week and deploying new tools: NoRobot, YesRobot, and MaybeRobot.

CyberScoop [11/7/2025 4:30 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports a 25-year-old Russian national pleaded guilty to multiple charges stemming from their participation in ransomware attacks and faces a maximum penalty up to 53 years in prison. Aleksei Olegovich Volkov, also known as “chubaka.kor,” served as the initial access broker for the Yanluowang ransomware group while living in Russia from July 2021 through November 2022, according to court records. Prosecutors accuse Volkov and unnamed co-conspirators of attacking seven U.S. businesses during that period, including two that paid a combined $1.5 million in ransoms. The victims, which included an engineering firm and a bank, said executives received harassing phone calls and their networks were hit with distributed denial of service attacks after their data was stolen and encrypted by Yanluowang ransomware operators. Cisco wasn’t named in the court filings for Volkov’s case, but the enterprise networking and security vendor said it was impacted by an attack attributed to Yanluowang ransomware in May 2022. Cisco linked the attack to an initial access broker who had ties to UNC2447, Lapsus$ and Yanluowang ransomware operators.

NewsMax [11/7/2025 7:13 PM, Jim Thomas, 4109K] reports that, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, seven individuals were briefly treated after opening a "suspicious package" on Thursday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the 316th Wing of the U.S. Air Force. The incident prompted a building evacuation and heightened scrutiny of security protocols at a base that serves as the arrival and departure point for President Donald Trump’s presidential aircraft operations. Joint Base Andrews serves as the designated home base for Air Force One, the aircraft utilized for transporting the president of the United States. Officials say the package, containing white powder, delivered earlier in the day, was opened inside the base’s Air National Guard Readiness Center. Following the opening, seven individuals "felt ill and were assessed by the JBA medical team and were released," a representative of the 316th Wing said. Responders immediately evacuated the building and an adjoining structure, established a security cordon, and transferred the scene to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. Hazmat teams conducted field tests and found no immediate hazardous substances, though the investigation remains ongoing. One report indicates the package may have contained "negative sentiments" directed at Trump, though there were reportedly "no specific threats towards the President or other government officials.” Because the base, located near Washington, D.C., plays a central role in presidential logistics and national security operations, the incident raises concerns about delivery-screening processes and potential vulnerabilities in facilities tasked with safeguarding high-level government travel. While the precise contents of the package have not been publicly confirmed and no lasting injuries have been reported, the event underscores the need for vigilance at strategic installations. Normal operations have since resumed at the facility. FOX News [11/7/2025 11:25 AM, Jennifer Griffin and Christina Shaw, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Joint Base Andrews is home to Air Force One and other aircraft that support the president, vice president and senior U.S. leaders. "At no time was there a stoppage to airfield operations and there was no effect to Air Force One or Joint Base Andrews operations," a senior U.S. official said. "As a precaution, the building and connecting building were evacuated, and a cordon was established around the area," a spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. "Joint Base Andrews first responders were dispatched to the scene, determined there were no immediate threats, and normal operations have resumed. An investigation is currently ongoing." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [11/7/2025 3:33 PM, Emily Crane, 42219K] reports a suspect accused of plotting the Michigan Halloween terror attack allegedly "sought guidance" on when to carry out the violence from the father of a local "extremist" Islamic preacher who has previously called on American Muslims to wage jihad. Mohmed Ali, 20, and an unnamed juvenile had a conversation last week about reaching out to the father of the so-called "Islamic ideologue" to ask for advice on timing for a "good deed," the FBI alleged in a criminal complaint. The feds didn’t specifically identify the Islamic ideologue but described a research paper on radicalization that clearly named the radical preacher as ISIS supporter, Ahmad Musa Jibril, according to the court filing. The juvenile is said to have called the preacher’s father on Oct. 29 to tell him he intended to do a "good deed" but was unsure of "what day to do it," the court papers charge. The preacher’s dad then allegedly told the juvenile that he shouldn’t wait and to carry out the deed. There is no suggestion that the preacher’s dad was aware of the alleged plot. Still, the FBI alleged the pair went on to use the "guidance" to forge ahead with plans for the attack, according to the complaint.

Los Angeles Times [11/7/2025 6:00 AM, Matthew Ormseth, 14862K] reports the young men from MS-13 lived mostly in the cramped urban districts of Van Nuys, Panorama City and North Hollywood. But it was in the mountains north and west of Los Angeles, where, as one alleged gang member put it in a recorded jailhouse sting, they went “to play.” At a remote helipad and scenic overlooks, many miles from any witnesses or good Samaritans who might intervene, the gangsters — some just teenagers — killed four people between 2017 and 2019, Deputy Dist. Atty. Eric Siddall told a jury Tuesday in federal court. The five alleged MS-13 members on trial were also charged with killing two people in Van Nuys and North Hollywood. Also known as the Mara Salvatrucha, MS-13 was founded 40 years ago by Salvadoran immigrants in Los Angeles. It has since metastasized into an international criminal organization led by imprisoned gang members in Central America. Over a two-month trial, prosecutors made the case that the local branches of the gang became far more violent around 2016. An influx of gangsters from Central America brought with them “the Salvadoran rules,” which required prospective members to kill to prove their loyalty, said Siddall, who was deputized to assist in the federal racketeering prosecution. “The more ruthless the killing, the greater the respect that was earned,” he told the jury. Defense attorneys argued the prosecution’s cooperating witnesses — eight admitted killers who struck plea deals — lied in exchange for lighter sentences. Another lawyer for the accused compared MS-13 members with “child soldiers” who have been inured to extreme displays of violence.

Blaze [11/7/2025 1:00 PM, Tyler Hummel, 1442K] reports that "Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter. I am hereby making Nigeria a ‘COUNTRY OF PARTICULAR CONCERN.’" President Trump’s recent post to Trump Media-owned Truth Social focused attention on a crisis not known for being a priority of American foreign policy. But as much as the news out of Mexico and Ukraine may overshadow what’s happening in Nigeria, the situation there is no less severe. And it is indeed an "existential threat" that should especially concern Christians. Despite their well-observed decline in North America and Europe, the number of Christians worldwide is increasing, largely thanks to Asia and Africa. And in Africa, nowhere does the faith have a stronger presence than in Nigeria. Africa’s most populous nation (238 million) is also its most Christian, with some 100 million believers — enough to rank Nigeria as the sixth-largest Christian population in the world. Concentrated in the country’s south, this population includes 21 million Catholics, 22 million Anglicans, 14 million Baptists, 6 million evangelicals, and 4.5 million Pentecostals, in the form of the Apostolic Church Nigeria. Despite these numbers, Nigeria remains predominantly Muslim (53.5%), especially in the north, where Islamic terrorism is on the rise. According to a 2022 State Department report, groups like Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa — along with religiously unaffiliated criminal gangs — have killed thousands of Muslims and Christians, with both sides accusing the government of failing to intervene.

Wall Street Journal [11/7/2025 5:06 PM, Drew FitzGerald, 646K] reports pentagon leaders are putting their weapons suppliers in the crosshairs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday that the U.S. military will shake up the way it buys weaponry, equipment and software by making purchases more quickly, and from a broader range of potential suppliers. The plan would streamline Pentagon program offices, develop incentives for new investments and potentially box out suppliers that miss deadlines. Hegseth said the overhaul was needed to break the cycle of decadelong weapons- development timelines, which he said have put the U.S. military at risk of falling behind geopolitical rivals such as China. He said he would clear testing requirements that can slow purchasing and empower military officials to order commercial products on the open market when custom-made military technology takes too long. “We need to save the bureaucracy from itself,” Hegseth said Friday at an address to dozens of defense-industry executives in Washington.

Breitbart [11/7/2025 7:38 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports President Ahmed al-Sharaa will become Syria’s first leader to pay an official visit to the White House on Monday, a crowning achievement for the ex-jihadist who since taking power has ended his country’s isolation. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, will meet President Donald Trump during the unprecedented visit. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said earlier this month that Sharaa will "hopefully" sign an agreement to join the international US-led alliance against the Islamic State (IS). The United States plans to establish a military base near Damascus "to coordinate humanitarian aid and observe developments between Syria and Israel", a diplomatic source in Syria told AFP. Just days before the visit, the United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday to lift sanctions on Sharaa, who until now had needed a UN exemption for every trip abroad. The resolution was drafted by the US, whose ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said Sharaa’s government was "working hard to fulfil its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics"

The Hill [11/7/2025 6:40 PM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports the State Department announced on Friday that the United Nations Security Council lifted the terrorist designation of two Syrian officials, including the country’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa. The adoption of a resolution "championed by the United States" to delist al-Sharaa and Interior Minister Anas Hasan Khattub "sent a strong political signal that further recognizes Syria’s transition to a new chapter," State Department principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. "These actions are being taken in recognition of the progress demonstrated by the Syrian leadership after the departure of Bashar al-Assad and more than 50 years of repression under the Assad regime," Pigott said. As the new Syrian government moves forward, it will "fulfill its commitments on countering terrorism and narcotics, eliminating any remnants of chemical weapons and promoting regional security and stability as well as an inclusive, Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process," the statement concluded. Syria’s new president is also expected to sign an agreement to join the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS. Al-Sharaa is expected to meet with President Trump on Monday in what will be the first time a U.S. president has hosted a Syrian president at the White House. The two previously met in Saudi Arabia in May, the first meeting between the two nations’ leaders since former President Clinton’s administration 25 years ago. Al-Sharaa, under the name Abu Mohammed al-Golani, had ties with al-Qaeda, fought U.S. troops in Iraq and was even imprisoned by American forces after taking part in Syria’s civil war. Monday’s planned meeting also comes at a time when civil society groups are pressuring House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) to allow for sanctions on Syria to be lifted. There is bipartisan support to include a repeal of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). "Discussions on Caesar Repeal are ongoing but my concerns should be obvious to anyone following the situation in Syria," Mast previously said in a statement to The Hill.

New York Times [11/8/2025 3:27 AM, Kenneth P. Vogel, 330K] reports President Trump has approved a pardon for a retired New York police officer who was sentenced in April to 18 months in prison for his participation in a Chinese government plot to locate, surveil and intimidate a family in the New Jersey suburbs. The former officer, Michael McMahon, of Mahwah, N.J., was convicted by a jury in 2023 of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and interstate stalking, as well as conspiracy. Prosecutors claimed that the efforts of Mr. McMahon and his co-conspirators were intended to coerce a Chinese couple living in New Jersey to return to China to face corruption charges. The prosecutors presented the plot as part of Operation Fox Hunt, a decade-long push that Chinese officials claim is aimed at repatriating fugitives. The Justice Department contended that the campaign was part of the Communist Party’s push to control Chinese nationals around the world. But Mr. McMahon’s defenders say he was tricked into participating in the plot while working as a private investigator. They say he cooperated with the federal investigation, only to face aggressive tactics from prosecutors in the Justice Department during the Biden administration who were intent on making an example of Mr. McMahon. While he was awaiting sentencing, he and his wife attended Mr. Trump’s inauguration in January. And they had support from people in Mr. Trump’s orbit, including Representative Mike Lawler, Republican of New York, and Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime Trump associate and friend who had urged the president to issue the pardon. “I am glad that the president pardoned him,” Mr. Lawler said in an interview. “It was the right thing to do.” That influence campaign followed a formula that has been shown to resonate with Mr. Trump, who has complained that he, too, was harmed by politically motivated investigations. Mr. Trump has used the unfettered presidential clemency power to reward allies and make political points, including casting prosecutions of his supporters as corrupt witch hunts. A White House official echoed that framing in a statement confirming the pardon of Mr. McMahon. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, argued that the trial was flawed and that Mr. McMahon was tricked into participating in the effort by someone who cast it as an investigation into an individual who had embezzled funds from a construction company. In reality, the official said, the people who had hired him were actually Chinese spies using his services to track down the individual. The official suggested that Mr. McMahon’s pardon campaign was aided by his career with the New York Police Department, during which he responded to the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the city. Mr. McMahon’s pardon, like most issued by Mr. Trump, bypassed Justice Department guidelines for vetting and identifying deserving recipients who have served their time and expressed remorse. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. also flouted the department’s clemency process.

Washington Post [11/8/2025 3:50 AM, Frances Vinall, 24149K] reports no U.S. officials will attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa this month, President Donald Trump said Friday, repeating his claim that White South Africans there are being murdered and oppressed — an allegation that lacks any evidence. In a social media post, Trump said the United States would not be represented at the summit — which brings together officials and leaders of the world’s largest economies — “as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.” The theme for the summit in Johannesburg in two weeks is “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.” Trump added that he was looking forward to hosting the gathering next year, when it is set to be held at his Doral golf resort in Florida. He shelved a similar proposal during his first term over criticism of self-dealing. Trump has repeatedly claimed that White farmers are being persecuted in South Africa — also a common talking point of his former ally Elon Musk, who was born there. In his post Friday, Trump said Afrikaners and other South Africans of European descent “are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.” During his first term, he suggested — without evidence — that White farmers in South Africa were being killed on a “large scale,” a myth spread by white supremacists. South African officials have rejected the claims. The country has a high crime rate and does not release crime statistics based on race, but its President Cyril Ramaphosa and other officials noted during a May meeting with Trump that White farmers were not disproportionately threatened. In a Saturday statement, a spokesperson for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said that it had noted Trump’s “regrettable” social media post. “The claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact,” the statement added, referring to Afrikaners.

UPI [11/7/2025 8:15 AM, Danielle Haynes and Lisa Hornung, 1847K] reports that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is traveling to the United States on Friday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine likely at the top of the agenda. Orbán expected to host Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest in a summit aimed to bring about a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Trump, however, postponed the meeting in October, saying he didn’t want to "have a waste of time." The Guardian reported that at Friday’s meeting, Orbán was expected to try to set up another meeting between the two leaders not only to broker peace in Ukraine but to also boost his own standing as a statesman. Citing insiders, the news outlet said the far-right leader is facing stiff opposition ahead of April’s parliamentary elections, and a visit from Trump would potentially boost support among conservatives. "Orbán wants Trump to come to Budapest before the elections," an unnamed source working in the Hungarian government told The Guardian. "This is a top priority. They will discuss the Russian gas issue, but the thing Orbán cares about the most is the elections.” In a post on X on Thursday, Orbán said Trump’s first 10 months back in office have repaired the relationship between the United States and Hungary. He said the Biden administration damaged that relationship through "politically motivated sanctions.” "Our goal is to establish a strategic partnership that includes energy cooperation, investments, defense collaboration, and discussions on the post-war landscape following the Russia-Ukraine conflict," Orbán wrote.

AP [11/8/2025 4:30 AM, Wafaa Shurafa and Julia Frankel, 31753K] reports Israel on Saturday returned the bodies of 15 Palestinians to Gaza, hospital officials in the strip said, a day after militants returned the remains of a hostage to Israel under the terms of the tenuous ceasefire agreement in the two-year war. The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered truce. As part of the deal, Israel has returned the remains of 15 Palestinians for each Israeli hostage. The Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis said the 15 bodies were brought there. The return came shortly after Israel confirmed the remains given back Friday night were of an Israeli man who died while fighting Hamas in the militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war. The hostage body was identified as that of Lior Rudaeff, according to a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s office. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said Rudaeff was born in Argentina and moved to Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, a farming community in southern Israel, as a child. He volunteered for more than 40 years as an ambulance driver and was a member of the community’s emergency response team. The forum said he was killed in the Hamas-led attack and that his body was taken to Gaza. Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 23 hostages, including Rudaeff’s body, with five still remaining in Gaza. Including the remains returned on Saturday, Israel has handed over the bodies of 300 Palestinians. Health officials in Gaza have struggled to identify the bodies without access to DNA kits, and have so far identified 89 of the bodies, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Under the terms of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire, Israel is supposed to allow substantially more aid into Gaza. However, relief efforts under the pact still fall well short of what is needed in Gaza, according to Farhan Haqq, deputy spokesperson for the United Nations. More than 200,000 metric tons in aid is positioned to move into Gaza, but only 37,000 tons, mostly food, have been admitted, he said. The 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s sweeping military offensive has killed more than 68,800 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals, maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by independent experts.