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

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

The Wall Street Journal [9/30/2025 6:56 PM, Louise Radnofsky, 646K] reports a federal judge on Tuesday lambasted the Trump administration’s efforts to arrest foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on American campuses, saying top officials violated free-speech protections guaranteed by First Amendment. U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston found that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio abused their authority by investigating and attempting to deport the activists, who had all been living legally in the U.S. “They did so in order to strike fear into similarly situated non-citizen pro-Palestinian individuals, pro-actively (and effectively) curbing lawful pro-Palestinian speech,” Young wrote in a 161-page ruling. “The effect of these targeted deportation proceedings continues unconstitutionally to chill freedom of speech to this day,” the judge wrote. The case, brought by faculty groups in the wake of high-profile arrests of campus activists, tapped into legal tensions over the government’s authority to set the terms for noncitizens living legally in the U.S. and the rights of those residents while they are in the country. Young, a Reagan administration nominee, described the case as “perhaps the most important ever” to fall within his court’s jurisdiction, which “squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in [the] United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do.’” A State Department spokesman said the administration’s approach was well-founded and would continue. “The United States is under no obligation to allow foreign aliens to come to our country, commit acts of anti-American, pro-terrorist, and antisemitic hate, or incite violence,” the spokesman said. “We will continue to revoke the visas of those who put the safety of our citizens at risk.” A Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman accused the judge of “smearing and demonizing” law enforcement. ABC News [9/30/2025 1:53 PM, Nadine El-Bawab, 27036K] reports "This Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, together with the subordinate officials and, agents of each of them, deliberately and with purposeful aforethought, did so concert their actions and those of their two departments intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble of the non-citizen plaintiff members of the plaintiff associations," U.S. District Court Judge William Young wrote in a decision Tuesday. The decision came as part of a lawsuit filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which represents hundreds of professors and students across the country. A bench trial was held in the case in July. In the course of the trial, it was revealed the government looked into more than 5,000 people named on the doxxing website Canary mission in its effort to revoke the visas of student protesters. Breitbart [9/30/2025 8:12 PM, Staff, 2608K] reports that, in his sharply worded ruling, Young wrote that evidence presented during the bench trial clearly showed that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Secretary of State Marco Rubio used their authority to "intentionally to chill the rights to freedom of speech and peacefully to assemble" of non-citizen scholars and students studying in the United States. "No one’s freedom of speech is unlimited, of course, but these limits are the same for both citizens and non-citizens alike," Young wrote. The case was brought earlier by the national American Association of University Professors, including its Harvard, Rutgers and New York University chapters, as well as the Middle East Studies Association. During a bench trial, it was revealed that federal authorities used doxxing website Canary, which contains information on more than 5,000 people critical of Israel, to review the names of student protestors. Young wrote that Trump administration officials never intended to deport all pro-Palestinian non-citizens because it would have "raised a major outcry.” Instead, he wrote that the officials used the Immigration and Nationality Act in ways it had never been used before to publicly deport a few who spoke out with "the goal of tamping down pro-Palestinian student protests and terrorizing similarly situated non-citizen (and other) pro-Palestinians into silence because their views were unwelcome.” Young, who was appointed by Reagan, continued that it was important to uphold the free speech rights of even non-citizens advocating for a cause in a land far away. He wrote that if Homeland Security could be "weaponized" against the group, it was possible for the president to use other agencies, such as the IRS or Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, against his "ever growing list of ‘enemies’ or opponents he ‘hates.” Reuters [9/30/2025 5:24 PM, Nate Raymond and Luc Cohen, 45746K] reports Young blasted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for having masked agents carrying out the arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student who was taken into custody in Massachusetts after co-writing an opinion piece criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. The Washington Post [9/30/2025 6:14 PM, Joanna Slater, 29079K] reports that [Young] said he would decide upon an appropriate remedy for the Trump administration’s conduct after a future hearing. Liz Huston, a spokeswoman for the White House, said in an email that Tuesday’s order was “an outrageous ruling that hampers the safety and security of our nation.” She said the administration would immediately appeal the decision. The White House also provided a lengthy critique of Young’s judicial track record.

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New York Times [9/30/2025 2:33 AM, Colin Moynihan, 143795K] reports student protesters detained by the Trump administration in deportation proceedings have relied on a centuries-old legal vehicle to have judges determine whether they were punished for exercising their First Amendment Rights and might be entitled to release. Now, the government is seeking to convince a New York appeals court that the tool, a habeas corpus petition, should be generally off-limits in such cases, arguing that it runs afoul of American immigration law. If the U.S. argument is successful, noncitizens detained by the administration and placed in immigration proceedings could lose one of the most dependable methods of challenging their detention. Without habeas filings, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi and Rumeysa Ozturk, three of the most prominent demonstrators detained by federal agents this year, might still be detained or already have been deported. American Civil Liberties Union lawyers representing Ms. Ozturk, who was a graduate student at Tufts University in Massachusetts when she was arrested this year, and Mr. Mahdawi, who helped organize pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in New York City, appeared at a hearing on Tuesday in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan. A Justice Department lawyer, Tyler Becker, repeatedly laid out the government’s position before a three-judge panel, saying that Congress had stripped from federal district courts the jurisdiction to consider habeas petitions that challenged deportation decisions. The lawyers representing Mr. Mahdawi and Ms. Ozturk countered that contesting a decision to remove someone from the United States is different from contesting a decision to detain that person. They said district courts clearly have the authority to hear habeas cases brought by people who contend that they are being held in violation of the law. Mr. Mahdawi and Ms. Ozturk both have active habeas cases in which they have asked the court to declare that the government’s actions violated the First and Fifth Amendments and to vacate what they call an unlawful policy of targeting noncitizens for removal from the country based upon advocacy for Palestinian rights. Those cases have been on hold pending decisions by the Second Circuit. Mr. Mahdawi and Ms. Ozturk also face separate deportation proceedings.

AP [9/30/2025 6:10 PM, Ben Finley, Konstantin Toropin and Evan Vucci, 3915K] reports President Donald Trump on Tuesday proposed using American cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing U.S. military might to combat what he called the “invasion from within.” Addressing an audience of military brass abruptly summoned to Virginia, Trump outlined a muscular and at times norm-shattering view of the military’s role in domestic affairs. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who declared an end to “woke” culture and announced new directives for troops that include “gender-neutral” or “male-level” standards for physical fitness. The dual messages underscored the Trump administration’s efforts not only to reshape contemporary Pentagon culture but to enlist military resources for the president’s priorities and for decidedly domestic purposes, including quelling unrest and violent crime. “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” Trump said. He noted at another point: “We’re under invasion from within. No different than a foreign enemy but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms.” After calling hundreds of military leaders and their top advisers from around the world to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Hegseth largely focused on long-used talking points that painted a picture of a military hamstrung by “woke” policies. He said military leaders should “do the honorable thing and resign” if they don’t like his new approach. Though meetings between military brass and civilian leaders are nothing new, this gathering had fueled intense speculation about its purpose given the haste with which it was called and the mystery surrounding it. The fact that admirals and generals from conflict zones were summoned for a lecture on race and gender in the military showed the extent to which the country’s culture wars have become a front-and-center agenda item for Hegseth’s Pentagon, even at a time of broad national security concerns across the globe. Hegseth said he’s easing disciplinary rules and weakening hazing protections, focusing on removing many of the guardrails the military put in place after numerous scandals and investigations. He also said he was ordering a review of “the department’s definitions of so-called toxic leadership, bullying and hazing to empower leaders to enforce standards without fear of retribution or second guessing. He called for changes to “allow leaders with forgivable, earnest or minor infractions to not be encumbered by those infractions in perpetuity.” “People make honest mistakes, and our mistakes should not define an entire career,” Hegseth said.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 3:31 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports during his address to America’s top military leaders on Tuesday, President Donald Trump pledged to "straighten out" the country’s dangerous sanctuary cities "one by one." The president lamented what Democrats have done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, and went on to say, "They’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one.” In another segment, Trump blasted the violent, hate-filled protesters for the abuse they hurl at our soldiers and federal law enforcement officials. The president has increasingly advocated for using the U.S. military — especially the National Guard — to quell violence and crime in America’s big, Democrat-controlled, deep-blue cities as an adjunct to his immigration enforcement policies. Trump has also rededicated portions of several military bases to serve as detention facilities for illegal aliens marked for deportation.

Reuters [9/30/2025 7:08 PM, Rich McKay and Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports that a Mexican immigrant wounded by a sniper in a shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas last week has died of his injuries, an ICE official said on Tuesday, making him the second detainee killed in the attack. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security identified the deceased man as Miguel Angel Garcia, 31, who media accounts say was a house painter who came to the U.S. as a child. Another immigrant from El Salvador was killed at the scene of the September 24 attack, his wife said. A third victim from Venezuela remains in a hospital, according to media accounts. The shooting took place two weeks after Charlie Kirk, co-founder of the conservative student political group Turning Point USA and a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, was shot and killed by a rooftop sniper during a speaking event in Utah. Kirk’s killing has fueled fears that a recent wave of political violence in the United States could accelerate. A GoFundMe page set up for Garcia’s family said he was the sole provider for his wife and children. His wife was expecting a baby "due to be delivered any day now." Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a daily press conference that Mexican officials had made it possible for the man’s mother to travel to the U.S. "They are in contact with the family in all respects, including financial and moral support, and, if needed, to file a legal complaint," she said.

DHS said Garcia entered the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and was arrested by local police in Arlington, Texas, on August 8, and charged with driving under the influence and evading arrest. ICE requested that Garcia be held for possible deportation and took him into custody on the morning of September 24, the day of the shooting, DHS said. Garcia had previous convictions in 2011 and 2017 for providing false information and evading arrest, DHS said. The New York Times [9/30/2025 9:23 AM, Jazmine Ulloa, 143795K] reports Mr. García-Hernández, 32, was taken off life support nearly a week after he was shot four times on Wednesday, including in the neck, while shackled in the back of a government transit van, according to the League of United Latin American Citizens, an advocacy organization. His wife, Stephany Gauffeny, who is nearing delivery of their third biological child, said in a statement released by the organization that her husband was “a good man, a loving father and the provider for our family.” He had lived in the Dallas area for around 20 years when he was picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a traffic stop. “We had just bought our first home together, and he worked hard every single day to make sure our children had what they needed,” Ms. Gauffeny said. “His death is a senseless tragedy that has left our family shattered. I do not know how to explain to our children that their father is gone.” She said they were raising funds to help support his family. The Hill [9/30/2025 10:13 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared condolences immediately after learning of the shooting last week. "Our prayers are with the families of those killed and our ICE law enforcement. This vile attack was motivated by hatred for ICE," Noem said in a statement, calling the shooting a "wake up call." "For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed," she added.

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(B) NBC News Daily [9/30/2025 3:31 PM, Staff]
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AP [10/1/2025 4:14 AM, Staff, 37974K] reports Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, a detainee from El Salvador, was among three people shot at a Dallas immigration field office last week and the first person killed in the attack. In the small town of Jiquilisco in south-central El Salvador his family mourns. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [9/30/2025 5:27 PM, J.D. Miles, 45245K] reports family and friends of a Salvadoran man killed in last week’s shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas say they are grieving without any support from local, state or federal officials — and seeking answers. Norlan Guzman Fuentes, 37, was killed while in federal custody. His partner, Berenice Prieto, said she only learned of his death two days later, after contacting the Salvadoran consulate herself. She said no one from ICE or any government agency reached out to notify her. He was arrested in August after allegedly entering the country illegally from El Salvador and taken into ICE custody. It wasn’t until Friday — after she reached out to the Salvadoran consulate — that she learned Fuentes had died. She was told he was in handcuffs when he was killed. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons identified the shooter as 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Washington Post [9/30/2025 10:09 PM, Brianna Tucker, 29079K] reports masked federal agents pushed two photojournalists to the ground in a hallway outside a New York immigration court Tuesday morning, resulting in one journalist receiving treatment by emergency medical personnel. The confrontation unfolded inside 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, according to video and witnesses. In the video, a masked agent grabbed AM New York journalist Dean Moses from an elevator while shouting at him to get out. Olga Fedorova, a freelance photojournalist, was also pushed by a second agent, knocking her and another photojournalist, L. Vural Elibol, with the Turkish news organization Anadolu Agency, to the ground. Elibol hit his head on the floor and was seen clutching at his head and torso. Video then appears to cut to him being treated by emergency medical personnel, placed in a neck brace and wheeled out in a stretcher. Washington Post was unable to independently confirm the extent of the injuries or whether other journalists were also involved. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, defended the agents’ actions in a building that houses the immigration court and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office.AI Icon “Officers were swarmed by agitators and members of the press, which obstructed operations,” she said.

“Officers repeatedly told the crowd of agitators and journalists to get back, move, and get out of the elevator. Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm’s way,” McLaughlin said in a statement to The Post, adding that the ICE building in New York had previously been the target of threats. Moses, Elibol and Fedorova did not respond to a request for comment. The clash is the latest confrontation as President Donald Trump continues his aggressive crackdown on immigration.AI Icon Journalists, demonstrators and elected officials seeking to document or protest immigration proceedings have at times been arrested, denied access or faced violent removals by federal agents. A federal judge in September barred federal agents with DHS and Los Angeles police from using crowd control weapons against journalists, determining in the ruling that members of law enforcement had retaliated against journalists covering the June and July protests against immigration raids in the city. Tuesday’s incident also comes only days after an ICE agent at the same Manhattan building was seen on video pushing a woman to the ground and shouting “adios” — Spanish for “goodbye.” That agent was initially relieved of his duties but later returned to work, CBS News reported. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) demanded an end to such physical confrontations. “This abuse of law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories must end,” Hochul said in a social media post. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said the federal agents involved in Tuesday’s incident must be held accountable. “This is just the latest outrage in a string of documented violence against law-abiding people exercising their rights,” Jeffries said in a statement. “Americans cannot and should not tolerate unaccountable masked secret police. These agents need to be identified by DHS and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

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Reuters [9/30/2025 8:01 PM, David Dee Delgado and Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports New York Governor Kathy Hochul criticized federal immigration officers who she said shoved and injured journalists at a New York City courthouse on Tuesday, the latest in a series of violent confrontations as tensions rise over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Hochul shared a video posted to X by a New York Daily News reporter that showed masked men boarding an elevator in a federal building in downtown Manhattan that houses immigration courts. Several of the men, one of whom appeared to be wearing a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge, pushed photographers near the elevator, sending at least two people crashing to the floor. "Masked ICE agents shoved and injured journalists today at Federal Plaza. One reporter left on a stretcher," Hochul said on X. "This abuse of law-abiding immigrants and the reporters telling their stories must end. What the hell are we doing here?". Trump, a Republican, has escalated immigration enforcement in Democratic-led cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., as part of his bid to deport record numbers of immigrants without legal status. In recent months, ICE adopted a strategy of arresting migrants appearing in court for their immigration cases, a tactic critics say punishes people trying to follow the law. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said officers were "swarmed by agitators and members of the press" while arresting "an illegal alien from Peru.” "Rioters and sanctuary politicians who encourage individuals to interfere with arrests are actively creating hostile environments that put officers, detainees and the public in harm’s way," she said in a statement. Trump officials have blamed politicians critical of ICE for fueling sentiment against officers, amping up that message following a shooting at a Dallas ICE facility that killed two immigrants and seriously wounded a third. ICE briefly relieved an officer of his duties on Friday after he was captured on video shoving a woman to the ground in the same New York City courthouse after she pleaded for her husband’s release. CBS News reported on Monday the officer had been returned to duty. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

New York Times [9/30/2025 7:15 PM, Grace Ashford and Stefanos Chen., 143795K] reports that, for months, the Trump administration has vowed to claw back federal funding to states and cities that it views as hostile to its immigration and anti-diversity priorities. In New York, that pledge has apparently been carried out with gusto. State officials recently learned that New York would lose $100 million from the Department of Homeland Security for counterterrorism programs. The cut comes on top of an earlier funding reduction, announced in August, of $87 million. New York, along with 10 other states and the District of Columbia, sued on Monday to block the Homeland Security cuts. And on Tuesday, a federal judge in Rhode Island granted the states a temporary reprieve, essentially freezing the funds while the case plays out in court. If the cuts are carried out in New York, they would reduce the federal contribution to the counterterrorism programs to just $30 million — an 86 percent reduction from what the state received under the Biden administration. “A Republican administration literally defunding the police is the height of hypocrisy — and walking away from the fight against terrorism in the No. 1 terrorist target in America is utterly shocking,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said in a statement on Tuesday. In a letter sent on Monday to Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary, Ms. Hochul demanded that the decision be reversed and accused the secretary of making “all of America more vulnerable to terrorist attacks." “Do not play games with this critical security funding,” she warned. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment. Ms. Noem has not responded to Ms. Hochul’s letter, according to the governor’s office. The New York City police said in a statement that the loss of funding was a “devastating blow to our capabilities and our efforts to protect all Americans from terrorist attacks,” calling the decision “incredibly dangerous.” The cuts are part of a nationwide reshaping of counterterrorism support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which distributed roughly $1 billion through its Homeland Security Grant Program to states for such efforts last year. New York’s share of that was roughly $220 million, which funded a broad array of programs for the New York City police and fire departments, as well as state police, and regional threat response units on Long Island and in Westchester. The grants helped fund bomb squads, canine teams and chemical weapon detection. They helped train officers to respond to an active shooter situation or a collapsed building, and paid for intelligence analysts and for members of the National Guard standing watch at Grand Central Terminal.

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Reuters [10/1/2025 12:22 AM, Gnaneshwar Rajan and Mrinmay Dey, 45746K] reports New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday filed a lawsuit and an emergency motion seeking a temporary restraining order against U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the department, accusing them of unlawfully withholding nearly $34 million in funding requested by the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The MTA is the state agency that operates New York City’s subway and buses, as well as commuter rail lines that serve nearby suburbs. In a late Tuesday lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York James is seeking an emergency order by midnight to safeguard the MTA’s funding. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. "DHS today cut New York’s award from nearly $34 million to zero – an unlawful decision," her press office said in a statement, adding that James is not seeking disbursement tonight, only preservation of the funds while the courts resolve the case. The move, James said, jeopardizes the safety of millions of New Yorkers. "I am asking the court to act before midnight to stop these funds from vanishing and to ensure that New Yorkers are not put at risk by this administration’s political games," James said. Last month, the U.S. Transportation Department said it may withhold up to 25% of federal transit funding for the MTA if the agency does not improve safety for subway track maintenance workers.

Daily Caller [9/30/2025 11:47 AM, Nicole Silverio, 985K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reportedly reinstated an officer on Tuesday who had been initially relieved of his duties after footage showed an illegal immigrant’s wife falling to the ground during his altercation with her. A viral video from Sept. 25 showed the woman, Monica Moreta-Galarza, falling flat on her back after the officer appeared to grab her by the wrist inside Manhattan’s lower immigration court. After initially relieving the officer of his duties, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reinstated him after conducting a preliminary review of the incident, CBS News reported. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin initially called the officer’s conduct "unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE," in a statement from Sept. 26. "Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards and this officer is being relieved of current duties as we conduct a full investigation," McLaughlin said. The incident took place as Moreta-Galarza and her daughter clung to her husband, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, as agents attempted to take him into custody. Moreta-Galarza then confronted the officer arresting her husband, and one of the officers was seen grabbing her hair as someone said, "Just grab her, grab her and pull her away." The agents successfully detained her husband. Another video shows Moreta-Galarza touching the officer as she demanded in Spanish that they take her too. Following the incident, he ordered that she be taken out of the building. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are not going to allow criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens," a DHS official told CBS News. "If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will arrest you and you will never return.".

The Hill [9/30/2025 8:47 AM, Tara Suter, 12414K] reports Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) this week asked the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops to the Pelican State. Landry’s office, in a press release, said the governor submitted a request for federal assistance to the Defense Department, calling for up to 1,000 Louisiana National Guard personnel to be activated. "Since taking office, we have made real progress in driving down crime across Louisiana — but the job is far from finished," the governor wrote in the release, shared with The Hill’s sister network NewsNation. "Federal partnerships in our toughest cities have worked, and now, with the support of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, we are taking the next step by bringing in the National Guard," he added. "This mission is about saving lives and protecting families." He added, "To the criminals terrorizing our communities: your time is up. Law and order are back in Louisiana." The request comes after President Trump deployed the National Guard to other cities to combat crime and quell anti-immigration enforcement protests — including during his most recent federal takeover of law enforcement in Washington, D.C., and the use of troops in Los Angeles earlier this year as the administration ramped up Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. The move garnered backlash from local officials in both cities. The Pentagon also recently confirmed a deployment of around 200 Oregon National Guard troops in the wake of Trump’s announcement that he would send troops to Portland. Officials in the state sued to block the effort.

CBS News [9/30/2025 5:56 PM, S.E. Jenkins, Doug Myers, Lauren Crawford, Trevor Sochocki, 45245K] reports a federal judge in Fort Worth found probable cause for the cases against eight defendants accused of opening fire outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Alvarado on July 4th to go to a grand jury. The defendants — Cameron Arnold, Nathan Bauman, Zachary Evetts, Bradford Morris, Maricela Rueda, Elizabeth Soto, Ines Sota, and Benjamin Hanil Song — are among 17 people arrested in connection with the attack. The judge also ruled that all eight will have to stay behind bars in Johnson County as their cases proceed. The first witness, an FBI agent, testified that Song acted as a cult-like leader of the group involved in the shooting. Prosecutors presented evidence of a conspiracy that included ambushing officers, setting off fireworks, damaging property, and trespassing. Authorities said many of the suspects embraced antifa and anarchist ideologies. Authorities said more than 50 weapons were seized in connection with the group. Additional firearms were recovered days later when Song was found hiding in a Dallas apartment. Song faces charges of engaging in organized criminal activity, aggravated assault on a public servant, and aiding in the commission of terrorism, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The Prairieland facility had no security the night of the shooting, according to a witness, who also mentioned significant staffing shortages around that time. The facility now has a 24/7 armed officer in three different locations.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 11:15 AM, John Binder, 2608K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested an illegal alien who threatened to bomb the offices of Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) last year in what police have called a "vulgar, racist" voicemail that ended in threats of political violence. Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez, a 58-year-old illegal alien from Cuba, was convicted late last year on federal charges after he called Castor’s district office and threatened to plant a bomb in her office. "I’m going to plant a bomb in your office. It’s a threat," Albizar-Martinez said in Spanish on the voicemail. "It’s a threat, so take it however you want, you son of a fucking bitch.". This week, ICE agents arrested Albizar-Martinez after he had been sentenced in May to a year in federal prison followed by a year of home confinement. "Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez threatened to bomb a Congresswoman’s office. There is no place for political violence in America," the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE, this illegal alien and national security threat will be out of our country. Other worsts of the worst arrested include gang member, pedophiles, domestic abusers, and other violent criminal illegals. Nothing will deter us from removing the worst of the worst from American communities.”

Washington Post [9/30/2025 4:06 PM, Leo Sands and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 29079K] reports Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) has requested federal assistance to deploy National Guard troops to combat crime in urban centers throughout the state, weeks after President Donald Trump floated the possibility of sending troops to New Orleans. In a letter dated Monday, Landry asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for as many as 1,000 troops to be mobilized in Louisiana until September 2026, citing “elevated violent crime rates” in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport as well as “critical personnel shortages within local law enforcement.” The Trump administration has deployed military force in unprecedented ways in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, despite falling crime rates and opposition from Democratic leaders in many of the jurisdictions. In New Orleans, too, crime rates have decreased significantly this year. After a pandemic-era spike in killings, the city’s murder rate has fallen to lows not seen since the 1970s. In Baton Rouge, the city’s crime data on Tuesday showed slightly fewer homicides this year than the previous year, while the number of felony arrests so far this year was 13.5 percent lower than it was this time last year. “The proposed mission and scope for the Louisiana National Guard would be to deploy throughout the state to urban centers, supplement law enforcement presence in high-crime areas, provide logistical and communication support, and secure critical infrastructure,” wrote Landry, a Trump ally who has previously expressed support for the idea of sending in troops. Landry, a former congressman and police officer, announced his request on Fox News’s Sean Hannity show late Monday and released his letter with a statement titled, “Continuing the momentum of our federal-state law enforcement partnership to keep Louisiana safe.”

The Hill [9/30/2025 4:04 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R) on Tuesday authorized the state’s National Guard to perform tasks on behalf of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Soldiers will assist with "administrative, clerical, and logistical duties," following a request from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the Department of Defense, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in July changed the duty status of military personnel supporting ICE officials, which impacted National Guard members and allowed them to "seamlessly take over these vital mission roles to ensure continuity of support and operations."

FOX News [9/30/2025 12:49 PM, Greg Norman, 40019K] reports hundreds of federal agents carried out a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" early Tuesday in Chicago, Illinois, against suspected Tren de Aragua gang members. The FBI confirmed the operation to FOX32 Chicago, noting that its agents assisted the U.S. Border Patrol in the city’s South Shore neighborhood. The operation — which involved almost 300 agents — targeted six people associated with the Venezuelan gang, according to Fox News senior correspondent Mike Tobin. The development comes a day after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is "seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois.". The FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the DHS did not immediately respond Tuesday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. Footage captured overnight showed agents converging on an apartment building in the area. At one point, a helicopter dropped snipers down onto the building’s roof. Two dozen people were taken into custody. No Chicago police officers took part in the operation, the station added. "Over the weekend, we received numerous confirmed reports of federal agents from ICE and Customs and Border Patrol abusing their power, intimidating innocent civilians and waging war on our people," Pritzker told reporters on Monday. "All of this has been aimed at causing chaos and mayhem in the hopes of creating a pretext to deploy military troops against Chicago and Broadview and other suburbs just as the president is doing right now in Oregon.". "Moments ago, the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, claiming a need for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities," Pritzker added.

The Hill [9/30/2025 9:19 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Monday decried the clashes between soldiers and citizens in the Chicago area after the Trump administration ordered 100 troops to the Prairie State. “Moments ago, the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War, seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, claiming a need for the protection” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel and facilities, Pritzker said during a news conference, using the Trump administration’s preferred name for the Department of Defense. “What I have been warning of is now being realized; one thing is clear, none of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer,” he added. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the Department of Homeland Security request to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister station. “The Department of War has received a request for assistance to safeguard federal personnel, property, and functions in the state of Illinois. Any decisions will be made in accordance with established processes and announced at the appropriate time,” Parnell said. However, Pritzker has continued to push back against Trump administration officials’ intent to send federal forces into Illinois, citing multiple reports of agents attacking unarmed citizens and journalists. “Over the weekend, we received numerous confirmed reports of federal agents from ICE and Customs and Border Patrol abusing their power, intimidating innocent civilians, and waging war on our people,” Pritzker told reporters on Monday.

Politico [9/30/2025 8:10 AM, Shia Kapos, 2100K] reports in a striking escalation of federal presence in Illinois, the Department of Homeland Security has set in motion a plan to deploy 100 National Guard troops to the state, a move Gov. JB Pritzker announced at a high-profile press conference on Monday. Our story is here. This new show of force follows weeks of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents roaming Chicago and its suburbs — a slow-boil federal incursion that now appears to be reaching full flame. Unified resistance: “You cannot call this anything except an attack on the Constitution of the United States,” Pritzker declared, flanked by a wall of political muscle: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Also standing in solidarity were civic and business leaders, including Jack Lavin, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Pritzker’s full prepared remarks are here Tactical response: The Trump administration, for its part, says the National Guard deployment is intended to protect ICE agents who have found themselves clashing with protesters. “Enough is enough,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo signaling a hard line. “The Department of Justice will stand strong when federal law enforcement officers are attacked or threatened for doing their sworn duty.” But state officials aren’t buying it. State Attorney General Raoul emphasized that while Illinois has historically cooperated with federal agencies engaged in legitimate law enforcement, he rejected the notion of using agents lacking that specific expertise. Alongside Pritzker and Johnson, Raoul accused the administration of playing politics with public safety, citing its withholding of federal funds earmarked for crime prevention and disaster relief. In direct response, Illinois has now joined a multistate lawsuit “challenging the administration’s unlawful reallocation of more than $100 million in public safety and disaster relief funds.”

The Hill [9/30/2025 9:36 AM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Tuesday urged residents to document local interactions with federal agents after the governor said President Trump plans to deploy 100 National Guard soldiers to the state. "People of Illinois, we need your help. Get your cell phones out — record what you see," Pritzker wrote in a post on the social platform X. "Put it on social media." "Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors," he continued. "We need to let the world know this is happening — and that we won’t stand for it.". Pritzker has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration’s show of force in Democratic-led cities, including Chicago — which the president described as a "hellhole" — and Washington, D.C. "Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next," Trump said last month, amid the federal takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital. "That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.". Over the weekend, Pritzker said federal agents were spotted in Millennium Park by "The Bean," a popular tourist attraction in the Windy City. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials were also seen targeting construction workers near the Tribune Tower and along Michigan Avenue, per the governor. "Donald Trump and Kristi Noem and Tom Homan said they were targeting the worst of the worst criminals. They lied, and they continue to lie," Pritzker told reporters during a Monday press conference. "Sixty percent of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind."

FOX News [9/30/2025 4:26 AM, Bradford Betz, 40019K] reports Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Monday accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers of harassing people "for not being white.". Speaking at a press conference alongside Chicago Mayor Brandon, the Democratic governor lambasted the Trump administration for sending in federal agents into the Windy City over the weekend. "Donald Trump and [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem and [White House Border Czar] said they were targeting the worst of the worst criminals. They lie and they continue to lie," Pritzker said, adding that "Sixty percent of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind.". "ICE is running around the Loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace. That’s not making America great." The governor’s comments come after masked federal agents were spotted in downtown Chicago on Sunday – flouting the mayor’s recent executive order barring masks by all law enforcement – and the hundreds of immigrants that the federal government says it has detained in its sweep have underscored local leaders’ limitations against presidential authority. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 12:56 PM, Emily Hallas, 1563K] reports Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) on Monday framed President Donald Trump’s move to send around 100 troops to Illinois as an authoritarian move and an "attack" on Americans. Pritzker said the Trump administration is finalizing plans to send the troops to curb demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The move is similar to the government’s actions in Los Angeles and Portland, where troops were authorized for deployment after some protests against ICE agents carrying out deportation operations turned violent. The Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of War to seek the deployment of troops, Pritzker said this week. The Pentagon did not contradict the claim in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "The Department of War has received a request for assistance to safeguard Federal personnel, property, and functions in the state of Illinois. Any decisions will be made in accordance with established processes and announced at the appropriate time," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.

FOX News [9/30/2025 7:00 PM, Marc Tamasco, 40019K] reports Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson appeared on CNN Tuesday, asserting President Donald Trump is an "unstable human being" who must be "checked" on his use of the military in U.S. cities. "This president is an unstable human being, and it’s right for this moment to check him. And we’re calling on Congress to do its job," Johnson told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. After watching a clip of Trump speaking to senior U.S. military officers at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., on Tuesday, Blitzer asked what Johnson thought of Trump’s speech saying the National Guard would be "going into Chicago very soon.". Johnson called Trump’s comments "appalling" and argued that both citizens and military personnel should be against the president’s move to send troops to U.S. cities. "There’s no way that anyone in this country should be okay with armed militarized troops being sent to cities," he said. "These individuals, these brave women and men who signed up to serve and protect this country, they do not do it with being deployed against American citizens and residents in mind. "This is not only appalling, but this is, quite frankly, an egregious attempt to undermine the sanctity of our democracy.". On Tuesday, hundreds of federal agents carried out a "targeted immigration enforcement operation" in Chicago against suspected Tren de Aragua gang members.

NewsNation [9/30/2025 4:47 PM, Ali Bradley, Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports about 300 federal officers and members of other agencies targeted an apartment building on Chicago’s South Side, where officials say violent members of the Tren de Aragua prison gang are terrorizing residents and carrying out illegal operations. NewsNation got an exclusive look at one of the largest enforcement operations of the ongoing Operation Midway Blitz, which took place early Tuesday in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. Federal agents who rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters secured the perimeter of the complex, where officials say members of the designated foreign terrorist organization have been operating. Preliminary reports from officials indicate that at least 30 immigrants who entered the United States illegally and who were being targeted in the operation were arrested, NewsNation has confirmed. Agents and officers representing the U.S. Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI and Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms all were part of the operation, which targeted a five-story apartment building. After suspected members of the Venezuelan gang refused to open the doors, agents forced their way into the building. Some U.S. citizens were temporarily detained, which Department of Homeland Security officials have said is part of the agency’s protocol to keep residents safe during an ongoing operation.

CBS Chicago [9/30/2025 12:34 PM, Lauren Victory, 45245K] Video: HERE reports federal agents reported in the South Shore neighborhood were part of a "U.S. Border Patrol targeted immigration enforcement operation" overnight, the FBI confirmed. Agents were seen holding long guns outside a residential building overnight near 75th Street and South Shore Drive. Most federal agents were wearing camouflage with vests that read U.S. Border Patrol Police or FBI. Several agents were seen on an armored green truck, going in and out of U-Haul and Budget rental trucks. Women and children appear to be some of the people led away by federal agents and taken into vans staged in a parking lot near a school. Officials have not confirmed how many people were taken into custody. CBS News Chicago spoke to a man who says his boyfriend, who is a U.S. citizen, was escorted off the premises by federal agents. "Ziptied, they put him in a bus, they had immigrants and the Black people in one bus. They still, they said they were checking people for warrants," Marlee Sanders said. Sanders took CBS News crews inside the building, where he says federal agents busted holes through walls and doors to access the people living inside. The FBI spokesperson did not provide further details. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision Chicago WGBO [9/30/2025 4:51 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports the FBI confirmed that early Tuesday morning, September 30, a “targeted immigration operation” was carried out at a multi-family building located at the intersection of 75th Street and South Shore Drive. In an emailed statement, the agency said Border Patrol agents led the operation, with support from the FBI and other federal agencies, under the direction of the Attorney General. In a statement, the FBI reported: "We can confirm that the FBI supported a U.S. Border Patrol immigration enforcement operation in the aforementioned area this morning. The FBI, along with other law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice, has supported these efforts at the direction of the Attorney General." At press time, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security had not confirmed the number of people detained in the operation.

AP [9/30/2025 5:10 PM, Steve Karnowski and Margery A. Beck, 27036K] reports that the U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Minnesota, its two largest cities and a county over so-called sanctuary policies that the agency says interfere with the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration policies. The lawsuit filed Monday targets the state, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. The lawsuit alleges their policies result in the release of dangerous criminals who would otherwise be subject to deportation. And it asks a federal court to invalidate state and local laws and policies that it says impede immigration enforcement. "Minnesota officials are jeopardizing the safety of their own citizens by allowing illegal aliens to circumvent the legal process," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. Minnesota is the latest jurisdiction targeted by President Donald Trump ‘s administration, which has also sued Colorado, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and several cities, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Rochester, New York, over their policies. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his state is not stopping the federal government from partnering with local law enforcement to prosecute dangerous individuals. "This baseless lawsuit is just more political retaliation against Minnesota and we will respond in court," Keith Ellison said in a statement.

CNN [9/30/2025 1:30 PM, Andy Rose, 23245K] reports most people in Portland, Oregon, don’t mind if you think they’re weird. In fact, it’s practically a trademark. "We do have a lot of weirdos here," Sarah Siano, who has lived in the city off and on since 2010, says with a smile. But to hear President Donald Trump tell it, Portland is the latest city taken over by terrorists and in desperate need of federal salvation, making its weirdness something else entirely. "It’s anarchy out there," Trump said last week in the Oval Office, days before announcing the federalization of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard for a period of 60 days. The president is citing daily protests outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility to justify the latest of his troop callups in a major city with a Democratic-led government. The anarchy described by the president is strongly disputed by locals who say they don’t want or need federal help. "It kind of feels like somebody’s trying to rage bait you," Siano said. "They’re just trying to get that negative reaction.". The state and the city government took their concerns a step further Sunday, filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration and calling the president’s move "unlawful" and "baseless.". "There is no insurrection," Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said Saturday. "There is no threat to national security, and there is no need for military troops in our major city.". As they await a federal judge’s decision on whether to block the Guard deployment – and continue to emphasize their "sanctuary city" status – Portland officials remain at odds with Trump over their view that the city needs no additional federal presence. "President Trump has directed ‘all necessary Troops’ to Portland, Oregon," Mayor Keith Wilson said Saturday. "The number of necessary troops is zero.".

CNN [9/30/2025 12:24 PM, Staff, 662K] reports an unidentified hacker stole sensitive data from Customs and Border Protection and Federal Emergency Management Agency employees in a "widespread" breach this summer that lasted several weeks, according to an internal FEMA assessment reviewed by CNN. The incident led to an urgent cleanup operation by senior Department of Homeland Security IT officials after the hacker gained deeper access to a FEMA computer network that handles operations in a region that stretches from New Mexico to Texas to Louisiana, the document says. The incident has roiled the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both FEMA and Customs and Border Protection, and raised new questions about the department’s ability to protect the information of the more than quarter-million people who work there. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the firing last month of two-dozen FEMA IT employees, including the agency’s top tech executives, blasting them for "severe lapses in security" that allowed a "threat actor to breach FEMA’s network and threaten the entire Department and the nation as a whole." Noem appears to have been referring to the same incident described in the document obtained by CNN. In her August 29 statement, Noem said that "no sensitive data was extracted from any DHS networks," but the document says that on September 10, a "DHS Task Force" and FEMAs officials confirmed that the attacker stole FEMA and CBP employee data. The document, which was presented to FEMA staff this week in an update on the breach, reveals just how easily the attacker bypassed the agency’s digital defenses.

NPR [9/30/2025 4:11 PM, Jude Joffe-Block, 34837K] reports the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to aggregate the personal data of Americans is facing a new legal challenge. A class action federal lawsuit filed Tuesday argues the Trump administration’s actions that aggregated personal data on hundreds of millions of Americans from various federal agencies violated federal privacy laws and the U.S. Constitution, put sensitive data at risk of security breaches, and could lead to the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. The suit argues that the Department of Homeland Security, along with the Department of Government Efficiency team, is "working rapidly to create precisely the type of ‘national data banks’ the American people and Congress have consistently resisted, and the Privacy Act was designed to prevent.". The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and five unnamed U.S. citizens.

FOX News [9/30/2025 6:30 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore and other Democratic leaders have fallen silent after it was discovered that illegal alien Ian Andre Roberts, who was recently arrested by ICE, is registered as an active Democratic voter in the state. Fox News Digital reached out to Moore’s office and the offices of Maryland’s two Democratic senators, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, and Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., asking for their response to an illegal alien being a registered Democratic voter in their state, but did not receive a response by the time of publication. This week, the Maryland Freedom Caucus blew the whistle on Roberts being listed as an active Democratic voter on the state’s official elections board website despite not being a U.S. citizen and not having lived in Maryland for years. On Tuesday, SBE sent a statement to Fox News Digital that a review of public information available through Maryland’s Public Information Act "did not show any voting history for any individual with the name Ian Andre Roberts in Maryland.". The statement further said that due to Maryland law protecting personal identifying information from disclosure, SBE "cannot and will not publicly announce whether media reports about the individual in question is or is not or was or was not a registered voter in Maryland.". Finally, SBE noted that according to Maryland law, it is not a crime to unintentionally register to vote despite not being eligible. The office added that "the right to vote is a sacred right that has been expanded through sacrifices of many before us" and "this office will not disenfranchise a voter based upon partial or unsubstantiated evidence.". In response, Republican state Delegate Matt Morgan, who is chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital that SBE’s statement only leads to more questions. The Maryland Freedom Caucus sent a letter to SBE on Monday demanding answers about "gaping holes" in the state’s election integrity systems. "Basically, the board of elections has the excuse that Mr. Roberts was registered accidentally, and therefore he didn’t break a law. This leads me to ask how many other people are accidentally automatically registered? Why was he automatically registered as a Democrat?" said Morgan. "The Maryland Freedom Caucus looks forward to receiving answers from the state [Board of Elections] on these questions soon," he added.

FOX News [9/30/2025 9:30 PM, Alexander Hall, 40019K] reports a senior Sinaloa Cartel leader, speaking anonymously, told CNN senior national correspondent David Culver that President Donald Trump’s efforts have indeed made business more difficult for their organization. The Trump administration has pledged to take down the cartels that have been bringing crime through America’s southern border. A drug cartel is a criminal group where drug lords coordinate to produce and distribute illegal drugs. The cartels have been involved in the trafficking of guns, weapons and people for years, and now reportedly are claiming that Trump’s efforts are working. A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel spoke with CNN while wearing goggles, a mask and a baseball cap to hide his identity. "From killing to coordinating smuggling operations, he says he’s done it all," Culver reported. "Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making your job tougher?" the reporter asked the cartel member. "Oh yeah," he responded. "Yeah.” "So it’s becoming more difficult, you think?" Culver inquired. "Yeah," the senior member said. Culver reported how Trump’s enforcement has massive implications for the cartels, organizations, which he described as growing "increasingly desperate.” "You heard that cartel boss say that his job is getting tougher. And because of that, officials say cartels are now charging much more to get migrants across. It’s jumped from about $6,500 a person that they were charging earlier this year to now nearly $10,000 that they’re charging, according to the deputies," Culver said. "A lot of migrants simply cannot afford that. He added that as a result, those crossing now often find themselves deeply in debt to the cartels. Earlier in the interview with the anonymous cartel boss, Culver asked, "When you see, for example, the impact of violence and everything that is caused from the cartel movements, from essentially your employer, do you feel like you’re part of this problem?". "Yeah," the gang member agreed, arguing that he sees it as a matter of self-defense. "You have something wrong to me, I do something bad to you.” The cartel member said his reason speaking to the news was to warn people that this kind of life path is not a good one. After noting he ultimately does what he has to do for the organization, Culver pressed him about why he doesn’t choose to leave this life behind and do something else. The cartel member responded that once one joins an organization like this, they cannot get out.

CNN [9/30/2025 8:26 PM, Michael Rios, 662K] reports Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he is preparing to declare a state of emergency to protect his country in the event of an attack by the US military, amid rising tensions over the deployment of American warships to the Caribbean. In a televised address Monday, he told the country the "consultation process" had begun to declare "a state of external unrest, in accordance with the Constitution, and to protect our people, our peace, and our stability … should Venezuela be attacked by the US empire, militarily attacked.” The address follows weeks of rising tensions following the US deployment of warships to the Caribbean Sea on what Washington insists is a mission to combat drug trafficking but Caracas believes is aimed at regime change. The US has accused Maduro of involvement in drug trafficking – an allegation he strenuously denies – and recently doubled the bounty for his arrest to $50 million. Recent US strikes have targeted at least four vessels allegedly carrying drugs, killing more than a dozen suspected traffickers, according to US President Donald Trump, though he has not provided concrete evidence or intelligence confirming that those targeted were criminals. Earlier Monday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said the declaration would grant Maduro special powers in the event of a US military incursion. The declaration, Rodríguez said, would allow the president to mobilize Venezuela’s military – the Bolivarian National Armed Forces – throughout the country and take military control of public services, the oil industry and other areas. Maduro, Rodríguez said, could also close land, sea and air borders, as well as "activate all kinds of economic, political and social plans" to guarantee national security. "(The declaration) seeks to protect the territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence, and vital strategic interests of our republic against any serious violation or external aggression that may have occurred against our territory," the vice president said. While Trump has played down the idea of regime change – saying recently "we’re not talking about that" – he has weighed options for carrying out military strikes against cartels operating in Venezuela, including potentially hitting targets inside the country as part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening Maduro, according to multiple sources briefed on the administration’s plans. Venezuela has condemned the warship deployment and has responded by carrying out military drills in the Caribbean, mobilizing militia members across the country and displaying its Russian-made fighter jets in a show of force against the US. The Venezuelan military has also been conducting training exercises in local neighborhoods, teaching militias to handle weapons and protect their communities from foreign threats. "We are preparing along three lines: the comprehensive defense of the nation, the active resistance of the people, and the permanent offensive of an entire country," Maduro recently said.

Univision [9/30/2025 6:44 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports President Trump said his administration “very seriously” monitors drug cartels across the U.S. southern border after at least three attacks on Venezuelan vessels allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [10/1/2025 2:49 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports recent U.S. escalations in the Caribbean are a result of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s “personal” agenda against the region, Cuba’s top diplomat said, adding that his American counterpart is increasingly pushing policies that do not align with President Donald Trump’s so-called mandate for peace. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla told The Associated Press that Cuba saw a possibility of changing the longstanding antagonistic dynamic between the United States and the communist-run island when Trump returned to office in January. But he added that Rubio, who was born to Cuban immigrants, has made it his mission for Washington to adopt an even stronger “maximum pressure” campaign against Havana. “The current secretary of state was not born in Cuba, has never been to Cuba, and knows nothing about Cuba,” Rodríguez said in a sit-down interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday. “But there is a very personal and corrupt agenda that he is carrying out, which seems to be sacrificing National Interests of the U.S. in order to advance this very extremist approach.” The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. Rubio and U.S. officials have defended their aggressive stance against Cuba, accusing its leaders of running a dictatorship. “The U.S. will continue to stand for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Cuba, and make clear no illegitimate, dictatorial regimes are welcome in our hemisphere,” Rubio said in a July statement. The foreign minister and other Cuban officials have been toeing the diplomatic lines with the Trump administration as they seek an end to a six-decade-long U.S. economic embargo, which, while failing to overthrow the government, has caused widespread energy blackouts, food shortages and inflation. In public statements and speeches, officials have strayed away from directly criticizing Trump for the series of aggressive actions his administration has taken against Cuba in the first eight months of his second term. Those include restoring a gamut of restrictive economic sanctions that were eased during the terms of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. In the days before leaving office, Biden had moved to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism. Trump moved the country back to the list the day after his inauguration. The U.S. has also made Cuba one of seven countries facing heightened restrictions on visitors and revoked temporary legal protections that had shielded about 300,000 Cubans from deportation. The administration has also announced visa restrictions on Cuban and foreign government officials involved in Cuba’s medical missions, which Rubio has called “forced labor.” Rodríguez, who has served as foreign minister since 2009, blames these escalations against Cuba and the recent ones against Venezuela squarely on the “bipolar” State Department, not the Trump White House. He added that Trump “portrays himself as an advocate of peace,” but it’s Rubio who “promotes the use of force or the threat to use force as an everyday, customary tool.”

Reuters [9/30/2025 11:52 AM, Andrew Mills and Parisa Hafezi, 45746K] reports the first group of about 400 Iranians expected to be deported from the U.S. under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown were due to land in Qatar on Tuesday before flying to Tehran, a U.S. and an Iranian official said. The group included both convicted criminals and people who had entered the country illegally, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The transfer marks an unusual moment of coordination between two nations at loggerheads over Iran’s nuclear programme, which Tehran says is purely civilian but Washington asserts is aimed at building a nuclear bomb. The Iranian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, played down the idea of any political deal with the U.S., which joined Israeli air strikes on Iran and its nuclear facilities in June. The matter was consular, not political, the official said. The Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for parliament affairs, Hossein Noushabadi, said the U.S. was "planning to deport around 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, in line with the new anti-immigrant approach of the U.S. government." "In the first step, they decided to deport 120 Iranians who entered the U.S. illegally, most of whom through Mexico," he told the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Noushabadi called on Washington to respect the rights of Iranian migrants in the United States. The first group of 120 would reach Iran in the next one or two days, he said.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [9/30/2025 4:55 PM, Maria Sacchetti and Susannah George, 29079K]
NBC News [9/30/2025 9:38 AM, Freddie Clayton, 43603K]
Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 5:44 AM, Staff, 1563K]

FOX News [9/30/2025 7:36 PM, Cameron Arcand, 40019K] reports that, as the federal government heads toward a potential shutdown starting Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security assured that immigration and border operations will continue but said frontline employees could be working without pay. DHS noted in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration will continue their "critical functions," including ICE being able to "arrest and deport violent criminal aliens" and CBP being able to "screen goods and people" entering the U.S. The agency also noted that the officer hiring processes will still continue, including for recruitment. "While these critical operations continue, Democrats are forcing many of our nearly 200,000 frontline officers, emergency responders and employees to continue secur[ing] the Homeland without pay," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Far-left politicians demonize our employees every day, which has led to a 1,000% increase in assault[s] on our law enforcement. Now they are holding hostage their family’s finances and jeopardizing their welfare. This is unacceptable.” As of Tuesday afternoon, a government shutdown seems likely and would be the first since the end of 2018 and entering 2019 during President Donald Trump’s first term. There were also lengthy shutdowns during the Obama and Clinton administrations. "The Trump administration wants a straightforward and clean CR to continue funding the government – the exact same proposal that Democrats supported just six months ago, 13 times under the Biden administration. But radical Democrats are threatening to shut the government down if they don’t get their nearly $1.5 trillion wish list of demands, including free health care for illegal aliens," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated. "The Democrat’s radical agenda was rejected by the American people less than a year ago at the ballot box. Now they’re trying to shut down the government and hold the American people hostage over it.” Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress have said Republicans should bear the blame for the shutdown. "Republicans would rather shut down the government than protect the Affordable Care Act. A shutdown puts ACA tax credits at risk—and in Texas, premiums could jump 289%, costing families $459 more each year," Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, posted to X Tuesday. "They passed up multiple chances to extend them in the Big Beautiful Bill; they chose not to. Families shouldn’t have to pay the price for their political games.”

Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 6:24 PM, Samantha-Jo Roth, 1563K] reports Payroll guidance makes clear that paychecks for the Sept. 7-20 pay period will be issued on time, but checks covering work on or after Oct. 1 may be delayed until appropriations are restored. All scheduled paid leave and holiday time off will be canceled for furloughed and required-to-work staff. Employees may perform only limited "orderly shutdown" tasks, generally up to four hours, to secure files and equipment before being sent home. The OPM memo also notes that employees in special workforce situations, such as the Deferred Resignation Program or pending reductions-in-force, will be placed in furlough status rather than administrative leave. President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday that "a lot" of federal workers could ultimately lose their jobs if the government shuts down, telling reporters outside the White House that reductions may be significant. The Office of Management and Budget has also directed agencies to prepare not only furlough notices but possible reduction-in-force notices. In guidance circulated last week, OMB said a reduction in force should be considered for employees in programs that would lose funding on October 1, have no alternative financing, and are "not consistent with the President’s priorities." Those layoff notices would be in addition to furloughs tied to the lapse in appropriations. Agencies must submit layoff plans to OMB and revise them once appropriations are enacted, retaining only the "minimal number of employees necessary to carry out statutory functions." The White House said these steps would not be needed if Congress approved stopgap funding, but officials stressed the importance of preparing for reductions. The Department of Homeland Security has 271,982 employees. Of those, 14,754 would be furloughed, while 169,173 are required to work without pay, and 88,055 are funded separately and continue with pay, according to plans issued on Sept. 27, 2025. Required-to-work staff include Border Patrol agents, Transportation Security Administration screeners, Coast Guard personnel, Secret Service officers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency responders. Funded-separately staff are supported through multi-year appropriations. Headquarters functions, like policy development and training, will stop.

AP [9/30/2025 6:21 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports the federal government is nearing a partial shutdown, with a range of effects on public services and the broader U.S. economy. Employee furloughs and potential layoffs would halt some government activities. Other functions — like NASA’s space missions, President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and certain public health work at FDA and the USDA — would continue. Most Department of Homeland Security employees would continue to work, because much of the department’s workforce is connected to law enforcement or works in areas funded by user fees as opposed to Congressional appropriations. Medicare and Medicaid programs and services will also continue uninterrupted, though staffing shortages could mean delays for some services, like the mailing of Medicare cards. The National Park Service has not said whether it will close its more than 400 sites across the U.S. to visitors. While FEMA’s core disaster relief functions would not be affected, at least in the short term, other aspects of the agency’s work would be impacted. Some grant approvals would be paused, and no new policies could be written under the National Flood Insurance Program, halting new mortgages that require flood insurance. Air traffic controllers already certified and on the job would be among the essential workers who would continue during any shutdown but their pay could be affected. At the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half the agency’s workers will be furloughed. Those still working include people who deal with infectious disease outbreaks and care for research animals and maintain laboratories. Federal officials said CDC would continue to monitor disease outbreaks. Most of the Food and Drug Administration’s core responsibilities would continue, including responding to public health threats and managing product recalls and drug shortages. The State Department expects to furlough more than half of its remaining direct-hire personnel in the U.S., although embassies and consulates abroad will remain open and provide services to American citizens. No permanent layoffs are foreseen. The Environmental Protection Agency says a contingency plan for a possible government shutdown would leave more than 10% of its staff in place to handle “significant agency activities” that are required by law or necessary to protect life and property.

Federal News Network [9/30/2025 5:34 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1147K] reports more than 90% of DHS will continue working through a shutdown, but some gaps could emerge, especially with CISA expected to furlough two-thirds of its staff. Border Patrol agents, airport security screeners, emergency management specialists and other staff at the Department of Homeland Security will continue working if Congress doesn’t reach a funding deal Tuesday night. The vast majority of DHS employees will continue working under its "Procedures Relating to a Lapse in Appropriations" plan. But some key gaps could emerge under an extended shutdown, particularly at DHS’s lead cyber agency. DHS’s plan, which was updated Sept. 30, shows 249,065 employees – more than 91% of the department’s total staff – would be retained during a shutdown, while 22,862 staff would be furloughed.

The Hill [9/30/2025 9:30 AM, Bill Press, 12414K] reports President Trump rattled many members of the military on Sept. 5 when he signed an executive order changing the Department of Defense back into the Department of War. But to be honest, that was probably the right thing to do, because under Trump, that’s what the department has become: a war machine. Whatever the crime statistics actually say, if Trump thinks a city has a serious crime problem, he doesn’t depend on local police. He just sends in the military, or threatens to send it, into Washington, Chicago, Portland. Without checking first, if Trump thinks that a boat coming from Venezuela is carrying drugs, he doesn’t depend on the Coast Guard to investigate. He just sends in the military to blow it up and kill everyone on board. And, just to make sure everyone gets the message, the president and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have summoned hundreds of generals and admirals to the Quantico Marine Base this week — the purpose of which, Pentagon insiders report, is for Hegseth to instruct military leaders on the need to adopt a "warrior mode.". So let the name reflect reality. It’s no longer the Department of Defense, it’s the Department of War. But that’s not the only federal agency begging for change. The Department of Justice needs a new name, too.

New York Post [9/30/2025 7:39 PM, Andrew Arthur, 43962K] reports that, on Monday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt tweeted a picture of a New York state commercial driver’s license his officers seized during an "enforcement action" on an interstate highway. The name on this official state document, found on one of 125 illegal-immigrant drivers apprehended by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol: "No Name Given". No city or state suffered more on 9/11, but this single incident shows how even the Empire State has forgotten the lessons of that horrible day — and how New York’s solicitousness for illegal immigrants is setting America up for a tragic replay. All but one of the 19 illegal aliens who carried out those attacks in 2001 had some type of US-issued identification document. As Richard Barth, then-assistant secretary for policy development at the Department of Homeland Security, told the Senate in March 2007, the terrorists found it easy to fraudulently obtain driver’s licenses and state-issued IDs. Take Hani Hanjour, the Saudi national who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 and flew it into the Pentagon that morning, killing 184 innocents. He had IDs from three different states. Those US-issued IDs, Barth noted, "enabled the hijackers to maneuver throughout the United States in order to plan and execute critical elements of their mission" — allowing them to "rent cars, travel, take flying lessons and board airplanes.” "The 9/11 hijackers evidently believed that holding driver’s licenses and ID cards would allow them to operate freely in our country," he chillingly concluded. "And they were right.” The bipartisan 9/11 Commission, tasked with investigating those attacks and making recommendations to ensure they could never be replicated, recognized that easy access to domestic IDs created an unacceptable vulnerability to our homeland. In their final report, the commissioners advised the federal government to set stringent new standards for driver’s licenses. "Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft," they explained. "At many entry points to vulnerable facilities . . . sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.” In response, Congress passed the REAL ID Act of 2005. Among other things, it established verification requirements states must follow in issuing licenses and other IDs that can be used for federal purposes — like boarding aircraft and entering federal buildings — and mandated that certain information appear on those documents. Including, at section 202(b)(1): "The person’s full legal name.” The image Gov. Stitt tweeted shows a purportedly REAL ID-compliant New York state CDL, identifiable by the star in its upper right-hand corner. And yet, that document was issued to "No Name Given.”

USA Today [9/30/2025 4:31 AM, Nicole Russell, 64151K] reports they say the only things in life that are certain are death and taxes, but I think I could add a third axiom to that list: President Donald Trump will vow to fix a problem, Democrats will claim it isn’t a problem, or that he’s an authoritarian overreacting. Trump will fix it anyway; they’ll admit he was half-right, and the cycle will start over. This happened with the overrun border and a National Guard presence in Washington, DC, and it’s bound to happen in Portland, Oregon, too. Oregon and Portland have sued the Trump administration after the president announced on Sept. 27 that he was authorizing National Guard troops to the city to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities against anti-fascists and other "domestic terrorists.". In a social media post, Trump called Portland "War ravaged." Trump has also said, "It’s like living in hell." Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, disagrees with Trump’s description of Portland and his crackdown. "When the president and I spoke yesterday," Kotek said in a news release on Sept. 28, "I told him in plain language that there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state. Despite this ‒ and all evidence to the contrary ‒ he has chosen to disregard Oregonians’ safety and ability to govern ourselves. This is not necessary. And it is unlawful. And it will make Oregonians less safe.".

NewsMax [9/30/2025 1:23 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4779K] reports that in its latest round of arrests, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained five illegal aliens whose convictions range from sexual assault of a child and felony assault to possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "With each arrest, ICE is getting pedophiles, drug dealers and violent criminals out of our country," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a release. "Nothing will deter ICE from fulfilling the President’s mandate to arrest the worst of the worst from American communities." "Our brave ICE law enforcement is facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against them as they carry out operations to make America safe again," McLaughlin added. According to DHS, the "worst of the worst" apprehended across the country on Monday included: Carlos Salvador Chacon-Franco, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras: Convicted of sexual assault of a child in Smith County, Texas. Perez Benancio, a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic: Convicted of possession with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jose Sanchez-Martinez, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador: Convicted of felony assault with intent to kill while armed in Washington, D.C. Ramiro Garcia-Rodriges, a criminal illegal alien from Honduras: Convicted of carrying a prohibited weapon in Bay Minette, Alabama. Ernesto Armenta Lopez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico: Convicted of assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury in Ontario, California. Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.

Blaze [9/30/2025 7:40 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1559K] reports a New York Times report published on Monday claimed that at least 15 American citizens have been "arrested or detained and questioned" by law enforcement officials as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The Department of Homeland Security rejected the Times’ accusations in a press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News. The Times claimed that the DHS has "roamed the streets, courthouses and workplaces demanding proof of citizenship from residents," particularly in Southern California communities. ‘Any US citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement.’. The DHS rejected the Times’ accusation, emphasizing that its operations are "highly targeted" and do not result in the arrest of U.S. citizens. "We do our due diligence," the department explained. "We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability. ICE does not arrest or detain U.S. citizens.” The Times further reported that Americans had been detained overnight in immigration facilities without access to a lawyer or a phone call. The DHS stated this was not true, noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers have higher standards "than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens.” "Any claim that there are subprime conditions at ICE detention centers are false," the DHS said. "All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members," the DHS continued. The Times highlighted several cases, including those involving Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio, Jason Brian Gavidia, Javier Ramirez, George Retes, and Leonardo Garcia Venegas. The outlet reported that all the individuals were American citizens who were unjustly targeted by the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. According to the news outlet, Laynez-Ambrosio, 18, was riding in his employer’s truck with his co-workers in May when the Florida Highway Patrol pulled them over. After Laynez-Ambrosio and the other vehicle occupants refused to exit the vehicle, troopers forcibly removed them, the Times reported. Laynez-Ambrosio was allegedly held at a nearby Border Patrol facility for roughly six hours, despite repeatedly telling officials he was a U.S. citizen. The DHS argued that Laynez-Ambrosio, who was in the vehicle with "several adult male illegal aliens from Guatemala," resisted arrest during the traffic stop. Border Patrol agents, who were responding to a request for assistance from the FHP, arrested the illegal aliens. Law enforcement officials detained Gavidia, 29, and Ramirez, 32, after conducting an operation at their place of business in East Los Angeles in June. The Times claimed that both were American citizens who were improperly targeted. "Gavidia was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer and interfering with agents performing their duties," the DHS stated. "Javier Ramirez was detained on the street for investigation for interference and released after being confirmed to be a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants.” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated, "We have said it a million times: ICE does NOT arrest or deport U.S. citizens. Not even a week after the terrorist attack targeting ICE in Dallas, the media is once again shamefully peddling a false narrative, attempting to demonize our DHS law enforcement agents, who are already facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them.” "Any U.S. citizens arrested are because of obstructing or assaulting law enforcement," McLaughlin declared.

Bloomberg [9/30/2025 1:04 PM, Zoe Tillman, 19085K] reports that a US citizen filed suit against the federal government alleging he was improperly arrested and detained twice by immigration officials as they unlawfully targeted Latino workers at Alabama construction sites, despite providing them with his proof of legal status. The case, filed on Tuesday in federal court as a potential class action, was brought on behalf of Leonardo Garcia Venegas, an American-born construction worker who claimed he’s been detained twice this year during workplace raids. During one incident, Garcia Venegas alleged that officers initially dismissed his identification document as “fake” and kept him in handcuffs for more than an hour. It’s the latest case to accuse the Trump administration of illegally detaining people based on the fact that they appear to be Latino or are located in certain places, such as construction sites or outside home improvement stores — as opposed to specific evidence that they lack legal status to be in the country. The Justice Department has defended the lawfulness of President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration policies and the US Supreme Court’s conservative majority earlier this month voted to let federal agents continue to make mass arrests in Los Angeles in a way that critics contend crosses the line into racial profiling. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. The case is Garcia Venegas v. Homan, 25-cv-397, US District Court, Southern District of Alabama (Mobile).

USA Today [9/30/2025 5:20 PM, Lauren Villagran, 64151K] reports Rebecca Shouhed watched the surveillance video in horror, as one immigration agent knocked her 79-year-old, U.S. citizen father to the ground inside his car wash business. When he got back up and went outside, two others tackled him to the pavement. An agent can be seen barreling into her father, Rafie Ollah Shouhed, she said, "bulldozing down the hallways like a linebacker." Under President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown federal agents are on orders to aggressively go after people they believe are in the country illegally. The increasingly violent arrest encounters have resulted in multiple, multi-million-dollar tort claims by people – including American citizens – who say they were severely harmed or wrongfully detained during ICE operations. Department of Homeland Security leaders have accused alleged use-of-force victims of resisting arrest, assaulting agents or impeding law enforcement operations. "If you lay a hand on our law enforcement, we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Sept. 19 post on the social media site X.

Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 1:47 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1563K] reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a sweeping directive late Monday ordering federal law enforcement agencies to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and facilities in the wake of what she called an “era of extreme political violence.” The three-page Justice Department memorandum, shared on X, calls on agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to “immediately” deploy officers to ICE facilities “whenever and wherever they come under attack,” citing recent assassinations, riots, and a deadly shooting in Dallas in response to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown efforts. The move follows a sniper attack last week on the ICE field office in Dallas, in which two detainees died and one was injured. No ICE personnel were hurt, but the incident marked the latest in a surge of attacks that Bondi says are linked to organized campaigns of radicalized violence. "As President Trump stated, we are witnessing a new era of extreme political violence," Bondi wrote. "Enough is enough. The Department of Justice will stand strong when federal law enforcement officers are attacked or threatened for doing their sworn duty." The DOJ memo establishes a temporary ICE Protection Task Force, comprising federal, state, and local agencies under DOJ coordination. The task force will prioritize arrests and prosecutions related to violence or interference with ICE operations, especially in Chicago and Portland, two cities where protests have turned violent in recent months.

Univision [9/30/2025 3:18 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports Mónica Moreta, an Ecuadorian mother who was violently subdued by an ICE agent in New York, expressed outrage over what happened, especially because the perpetrator has already been reinstated. The incident occurred on September 25 at 26 Federal Plaza, when Mónica Moreta was complaining to the agents about the arrest of her husband, Rubén Abelardo Ortiz-López. In front of her children and a crowd of journalists, she was pushed against a wall by an officer and then thrown to the floor, in an incident that quickly went viral on social media. Following the release of the videos, the officer was relieved of his duties, and the Department of Homeland Security itself called the conduct "unacceptable and undignified." However, according to CBS News, the agent has since been reinstated after a review.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 1:38 PM, Sean Moran, 2608K] reports that a shocking discovery about an adult migrant upended the town, leaving many to wonder how he could get away with pretending to be a high school student. Many that lived in Perrysburg, Ohio believed that Anthony Emmanuel Labrador-Sierra was a 16 year-old human trafficking victim. However, he was actually 24 years old and had a baby with his ex-fiancé in Toledo, Ohio. One night, Evelyn Camacho, who is 22 years old and the mother of Labrador-Sierra’s daughter, called the house where the migrant was living. "I was questioning what the truth was," she told the New York Post. "Did he lie to me about being an adult? Or did he lie to them about being a child? I didn’t know what was going on. And I care about him. He’s the father of my daughter." Kathy and Brad Mefferd, the migrant’s guardians, called the school after Camacho called, and the school called the police. Law enforcement searched his room and discovered a burner phone, a fake ID, a semiautomatic pistol, and ammunition. Labrador-Sierra has pled guilty to lying on immigration forms as well providing false information to purchase a firearm. He has since been transferred into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. "Probably only he knows why he did it. And, maybe, not even him, to be honest. Anthony is impulsive," Camacho remarked.

NBC News [9/30/2025 4:12 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 43603K] reports after Villegas González crashed into the truck driver’s trailer, the two ICE officers removed him from his car, according to video from a bystander. In that witness video, Villegas González appears to be unconscious and with a bloody wound in the neck area. ICE officers then began providing first aid to Villegas González on the side of the road and attempted to cover his wound with gauze, according to video shot by the truck driver and obtained by Telemundo Chicago. This is the scene Franklin Park police first encountered when they arrived. Franklin Park police asked the ICE agents if they were OK, according to body camera footage. The ICE agent who was previously seen on the passenger side of Villegas González’s car during the traffic stop appeared not to be injured and put one thumb up. The other ICE agent, who had been on the driver’s side when Villegas González began moving his car and was apparently dragged, said, "I got a cut." That agent can be seen moving around with part of his jeans ripped and his left knee bleeding. Villegas González was pronounced dead at the hospital. A medical examiner later determined he died of multiple gunshot wounds in a homicide. The ICE agent who was hurt was released from the hospital after receiving care for back injuries, lacerations to the hand and knee tears, according to DHS. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin had said the agent was "in serious condition" during a TV appearance on "Fox & Friends" a day after the shooting.

The Hill [9/30/2025 2:01 PM, Mills Hayes and Jeff Arnold, 12414K] reports that a man who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers over the weekend in Chicago has been deported as the intensifying federal crime and immigration crackdown known as "Operation Midway Blitz" continues around the Chicago area. Ana Miranda told NewsNation on Monday that her father was among those detained by federal officers and agents over the weekend. Federal agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and ICE officers have been active both in Chicago’s downtown district and outside of an ICE processing center in suburban Broadview, which is serving as the main detainee processing hub for the ongoing operation. Miranda told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister station, that her father is an undocumented resident but "follows the law to a T." But Miranda’s father was detained by ICE and was captured on video obtained by NewsNation. Miranda said that before she could say goodbye to her father, he had already been sent to Texas along with 40 others. She told NewsNation on Tuesday that her father is now in the custody of the Mexican National Guard on the Mexican side of the U.S. southern border, where military troops are providing detainees with clothing and giving them cash to cover their travel expenses back to their final destination. On Monday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) announced that the Illinois National Guard received a memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), saying it has requested that 100 military troops be deployed to Chicago to protect ICE officers and facilities.

ABC News [9/30/2025 3:17 PM, James Hill and Meredith Deliso, 27036K] reports an Iowa superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week will resign, his attorney said Tuesday. Ian Roberts, 54, announced his immediate resignation as superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in a letter released through his attorney on Tuesday. Roberts was detained on Friday, with ICE saying he is in the country illegally from Guyana and was working as a superintendent despite having "a final order of removal and no work authorization." On Monday, the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts’ administrator license. The Des Moines School Board voted unanimously Monday evening to put him on unpaid administrative leave and gave his attorney until noon Tuesday to provide proof that he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination. Parrish said his office on Monday filed a motion in immigration court in Omaha, Nebraska, to stay the educator’s order of removal. Parrish also shared a letter with reporters purportedly sent from Roberts’ previous attorney in Texas in March, stating that his immigration case "has reached a successful resolution" and was closed. The letter did not contain any further details on the resolution. Parrish said his office plans to file a motion to reopen Roberts’ immigration case on Tuesday. Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999 and a judge gave him a "final order of removal" in May 2024, ICE said in a statement. Norris said during Monday’s school board meeting that the board received documentation from the Department of Homeland Security that day indicating Roberts is an unauthorized worker in the U.S. It also received documentation of Roberts’ final order of removal issued by an immigration judge, she said. When Roberts was taken into custody on Friday, he was in possession of a loaded handgun and $3,000 in cash, ICE said. According to the ICE detainee locator, Roberts is currently being held at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, Iowa. Meanwhile, Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn said Tuesday a "state-level investigation" into Roberts’ hiring is underway. The AP [9/30/2025 4:23 PM, Hannah Fingerhut and Ryan J. Foley, 43603K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Roberts last week, saying the Guyana native and former Olympic runner was living and working in the country illegally. A state board stripped Roberts’ license to be superintendent. The Des Moines school board voted Monday to put Roberts on unpaid leave from his job leading the district, which has more than 30,000 students. Roberts submitted a letter through his attorney announcing his immediate resignation Tuesday, saying he did not want to distract the district’s leaders and teachers from focusing on educating students. Board chair Jackie Norris had given Roberts until noon Tuesday to provide documentation showing he can legally work in the U.S., or face dismissal proceedings. The board plans to hold a special meeting Tuesday night to consider whether to accept the resignation. The backlash from the arrest was far from over. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced Tuesday that it would investigate whether the district has engaged in racial discrimination by favoring non-white applicants as part of a plan to “increase the number of teachers of color.” A district spokesperson said the matter was under review. Parrish described Roberts as a “tremendous advocate to this community” who was an inspiration to students, and he thanked the public for an outpouring of support. Parrish said he and other lawyers spoke with Roberts for hours Tuesday and “his spirits are high.” Parrish cautioned that it was a “very complex case” that will take time to investigate. He acknowledged Roberts could face deportation at any moment and it was uncertain whether his new appeals would be considered by the court.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [9/30/2025 4:10 PM, Louis Casiano, 40019K]
NewsNation [9/30/2025 6:27 PM, Zach Fisher, Kelly Maricle, 6811K]
(B) Today [9/30/2025 9:28 AM, Staff]
Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 4:32 PM, Brady Knox, 1563K]

Breitbart [9/30/2025 9:28 AM, John Binder, 2608K] reports Des Moines, Iowa Public School Board Chair Jackie Norris, a former chief of staff of First Lady Michelle Obama and a Democrat nominee for Iowa’s open Senate seat, has called for "radical empathy" for Ian Andre Roberts — the illegal alien accused of maneuvering his way into becoming the school district’s superintendent. Last week, as Breitbart News reported, Roberts was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after having a prior arrest for weapons charges and a final deportation order. In Roberts’ government-issued vehicle, ICE agents found $3,000 in cash, a loaded handgun, and a fixed-blade hunting knife. Following the arrest, Norris urged the public, parents, and teachers "to engage in radical empathy" for Roberts, even as he is accused of potentially lying on employment eligibility forms about his legal status and lack of citizenship in the United States. "It seems fitting to take a page out of Dr. Roberts’s book and ask the community to engage in radical empathy as we work through the situation together," Norris said in a statement: Radical empathy is the recognition that we can disagree and still empathize with each other. The respect of others’ humanity — this concept will be essential as we wait to learn more. [Emphasis added]. Norris has sought to push blame off the school board, stating that board members were unaware of any immigration-related issues regarding Roberts. Norris also said that the public and elected officials must "cool down the rhetoric.".

CBS News [9/30/2025 11:10 PM, Doug Myers, 45245K] reports federal agents raided a Dallas strip club suspected of human trafficking and illegal employment last week, taking 41 undocumented immigrants into custody and seizing thousands in cash and business records, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last Friday’s operation at Chicas Bonitas Cabaret was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Dallas, with support from state and local law enforcement, ICE said in a news release. The club is located on Harry Hines Boulevard, near Walnut Hill Lane in Northwest Dallas. Of those detained, 29 are believed to have been working unlawfully at the club, according to ICE. The agency’s Dallas Field Office is handling immigration violations, while HSI continues its criminal investigation into the business. The raid resulted in the seizure of $30,000 in U.S. currency and various business records tied to suspected human trafficking and unlawful employment. Travis Pickard, HSI Dallas special agent in charge, said the operation aimed to disrupt suspected sex trafficking and identify potential victims. "HSI Dallas is committed to eradicating the vile scourge of sex trafficking from our local communities," Pickard said. "Working in conjunction with our federal and local partners and leveraging HSI’s unique investigative authorities, we were able to disrupt the suspected trafficking operation at this cabaret and are working to identify potential victims.” According to ICE, several of those arrested had prior criminal convictions, including charges related to assault, DUI and prostitution. Juan Carlos Salas Medina, who had illegally entered the U.S. 10 times and was convicted of aggravated assault, drug possession, and DUI. Julios Cesar Martinez, 47, a Mexican national convicted three times for assault causing bodily injury and DUI. Victor Manuel Manzano-Ramirez, 47, a Mexican national who has illegally entered the U.S. twice and has a DUI conviction. Gustavo Rojas-Garda, 44, a Mexican national with a DUI conviction. Genaro Diaz-Perez, 44, a Mexican national convicted of prostitution-related offenses. Agencies involved in the raid included Homeland Security Investigations, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, Dallas Police Department, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, U.S. Marshals Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, according to ICE. The investigation remains ongoing as ICE continues processing those arrested and HSI pursues its criminal probe into the business.

FOX News [10/1/2025 2:41 AM, Christina Shaw, 40019K] reports the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, working with ICE agents, arrested 120 illegal immigrants during an operation at a port of entry near the Texas border. The plan, dubbed Operation Guardian, was a comprehensive deportation effort launched by Gov. Kevin Stitt in coordination with Oklahoma’s Department of Public Safety. The sting took place along Interstate 40, where officials found most offenders with unverifiable licenses behind the wheels of 80,000-pound 18-wheelers. During the operation, troopers encountered more than 500 people and turned 120 over to ICE, according to officials. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the findings were alarming, highlighting a serious safety risk. Many of the licenses were either expired by nearly a decade or listed under a single name, making identification impossible. "You don’t have a minor collision with a commercial vehicle," Tipton said. "An 80,000-pound truck at 70 miles an hour isn’t going to be a minor crash.” Oklahoma’s Operation Guardian plan states that the state currently houses about 525 undocumented offenders in its prisons, costing $36,000 per day. The plan alleges that 30% of those crimes are violent offenses against children, 20% violent assaults, 14% homicides or other violent deaths, and 7% sex crimes. It notes that most offenders are from Mexico (72%), followed by Guatemala, Honduras, and Vietnam. Stitt said the operation is designed to move undocumented offenders directly from state and county custody into federal deportation proceedings, ending what he calls years of federal neglect. "Former President Biden’s weak border policies allowed our country to become a safe haven for criminal illegal migrants — that ends in Oklahoma with Operation Guardian," Stitt said. "These dangerous illegal aliens should not be walking our streets, and they soon won’t be. Oklahoma will continue to stand for law and order.” The plan expands ICE agreements so some state and local officers can detain and transfer offenders. It also allows parole boards to send noncitizen inmates straight to federal custody if deportation orders are already in place. It will implement a Rapid REPAT program as well, allowing eligible inmates to skip appeals and move directly into deportation. Tipton emphasized the operation was about more than immigration policy — it was about protecting families on Oklahoma’s roads and in its communities. "This plan ensures Oklahoma leads the nation in cracking down on illegal aliens who’ve committed crimes against our communities," Tipton said. "Operation Guardian is a direct response to the threat these criminals pose to our citizens.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Francisco Chronicle [9/30/2025 6:58 PM, Christian Leonard, 3790K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported roughly 5,500 people from California during the first seven months of this year, new data shows, reflecting a significant jump in removals since President Donald Trump took office. And the number of deportations is only growing. That figure, which comes from a Chronicle analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley, reflects a 78% increase from the 3,000 California deportations ICE oversaw from January 2024 to July 2024. This year’s sum doesn’t include more than 900 "voluntary departures," cases in which someone arrested by ICE agrees to leave the country instead of fighting their case, sometimes to avoid having a deportation order on their immigration record or being stuck in the sometimes-dismal conditions of a detention center. There were just 46 voluntary departures from California in the first seven months of 2024. Nationally, the data shows ICE conducted roughly 143,000 deportations from January to July of this year, not including voluntary departures. That’s about 14% lower than the number for the same period last year — and far behind the Trump administration’s stated goal of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants every year. A Homeland Security official told CNN that the figure was higher, nearly 200,000. The deportation data has limitations. It doesn’t contain detailed information on where an arrest took place, and some location information is missing entirely. The Chronicle filtered out cases in which it was unclear whether the arrest occurred in California, meaning the resulting figures are underestimates of the total number of deportations in the state. The data also does not include people removed by other agencies, such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Chronicle excluded California deportations that did not result from an ICE arrest.

New York Times [10/1/2025 1:14 AM, Choe Sang-Hun., 143795K] reports the agreement was reached in Washington on Tuesday when officials from both countries negotiated how to resolve visa problems in the wake of a massive immigration raid on an electric vehicle battery factory under construction in Ellabell, Ga. A total of 317 South Koreans were arrested and placed in handcuffs and chains during the Sept. 4 raid, outraging a key U.S. ally. Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution, both South Korean companies, had brought in hundreds of engineers to help build the factory as a joint venture. They rotated them in and out of the country, mostly on short-term B-1 business visas or on a visa waiver program called the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA. But U.S. immigration authorities accused the Koreans of working illegally when they arrested them. After a week in a detention center, all but one of the workers were flown home on a chartered plane. After the Georgia raid, South Korea warned that its businesses would hesitate to invest in the United States unless visa hurdles were removed for their engineers. In the meeting on Tuesday, the U.S. side confirmed that workers visiting on B-1 visas or ESTA would be allowed to “install, service or repair” equipment bought from abroad to build South Korean plants in the United States, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a news release. During the meeting, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said that Washington welcomed outside engineers who were helping to build South Korean plants, according to the ministry. Mr. Landau also pledged to open a special desk at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to help process visas for them, it said. Such assurances were expected to encourage South Korean businesses to dispatch engineers again to resume construction at the Georgia plant site. “Under the latest agreement between the two governments, we will make thorough preparations and work to construct and operate our plant in the United States,” LG Energy Solution said in a statement on Wednesday. Most of the workers detained on Sept. 4 were engineers from LG or its subcontractors. Along with ESTA and B-1 visas, South Korean companies building factories in the United States sometimes used B-2 tourist visas. They said that Washington did not issue enough long-term work visas for their engineers, even as it pressed South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars to build new factories and threatened to increase tariffs on Korean imports as leverage. Some of the workers repatriated from the United States said they were so traumatized by their treatment that they did not want to return to the job. Others said they were willing to go back to finish building the plant if both governments sorted out visa problems.

Reuters [10/1/2025 4:12 AM, Jack Kim and Hyunjoo Jin, 43603K] reports the United States has agreed to allow South Koreans to work on equipment at U.S. investment sites under existing temporary visas and open new channels to help its ally send workers to do business there, Seoul’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday. But U.S. officials at a working group meeting offered no new answers to South Korea’s argument for wider access to U.S. visas for specialty workers, despite reaffirming a commitment to advance the trade and investment partnership, the ministry said. The working group was set up in the aftermath of a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor car battery facility under construction in the U.S. state of Georgia in September, where hundreds of South Korean workers were arrested. The arrests, which stunned the South Korean government and public, highlighted the lack of access to the right class of U.S. visas for specialized South Korean workers needed at investment sites. The U.S. side, made up of officials from the Departments of State, Homeland Security and Commerce, made clear that South Korean workers can install, service and repair equipment needed as part of South Korean business investment in the U.S., using the ESTA visa waver program and the B-1 temporary visas, South Korea’s foreign ministry said. "The clarification on B-1 visas essentially confirms the route we were already using for short-term assignments under six months, such as equipment installation," Mira B. Park, head of the immigration department at the Visa Service Company, told Reuters. "However, in practice, even with a visa properly issued by a U.S. consulate and supported by the right documentation, we continue to see cases where workers are denied entry at the port of entry...That said, this measure does not solve the deeper issue," she said. A new section dedicated to visas related to South Korean businesses will be set up at the U.S. embassy in Seoul and U.S. immigration authorities will open a new channel with South Korean missions to better coordinate visa matters, according to the foreign ministry. The move can be a short-term fix to visa issues, but the U.S. needs to create a new visa type or increase visa quotas for skilled workers in Korea, said Park Tae-sung, vice chairman of Korea Battery Industry Association, whose member companies include LG Energy Solution. "This would help alleviate uncertainty about workers entering the U.S. and their fears about getting denied U.S. entries at U.S. airports," Park told Reuters. LG Energy Solution 373220.KS, which suspended work on its joint Georgia factory with Hyundai after the September raid, said: "We are grateful for the government’s prompt support, and we will thoroughly prepare and work hard to normalize the construction and operation of our plants in the United States.” The U.S. officials said a more fundamental change to U.S. visa systems to accommodate Seoul’s demand for clearer and more certain access for its specialty workers faced "practical legislative constraints," the South Korean ministry said. South Korea has pushed for years for a bill that would create or expand visa categories to accommodate skilled South Korean nationals who need to visit the United States. That bill has had difficulty getting through Congress because visas are linked to immigration, one of the most sensitive subjects in the United States, according to South Korea’s foreign ministry. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau stressed the "critical role" of the skilled workers of South Korean companies investing in the U.S. during the group’s first meeting in Washington, the State Department separately said. The U.S. was committed to encouraging investment by companies from South Korea as one of the leading foreign investors in the country, the department said. The U.S. is working with Seoul on "processing appropriate visas for qualified ROK visitors to continue investing in America, in compliance with U.S. laws," it said in a statement, referring to South Korea. The working group will hold further meetings, South Korea’s foreign ministry said.

Los Angeles Times [9/30/2025 9:03 PM, Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga, 12715K] reports that for the first time in four years, the federal government plans to begin processing initial applications for DACA, the Obama-era program that grants deportation protection and work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. The move, outlined in a proposal Monday by the Justice Department, would reopen DACA to first-time applicants in every state except Texas. The proposal was filed in response to an ongoing lawsuit in U.S. district court in Brownsville, Tex. According to the filing, Texas residents who already have DACA could continue receiving protection from deportation but would no longer qualify for employment authorization. Lawsuits over DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, have been ongoing since President Trump moved to end the program during his first term. Under the government’s proposal, DACA recipients who move into Texas would risk losing their legal ability to work, while moving out of Texas could allow them to resume qualifying for a two-year work permit. The proposal is pending a final decision by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen. "These proposals do not limit DHS from undertaking any future lawful changes to DACA," the filing states. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

CBS News [9/30/2025 12:42 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K] reports federal immigration officials have revealed plans to reopen the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to new applicants to comply with a court order, though they cautioned the Trump administration retains the discretion to modify the Obama-era policy. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has made plans to accept and process new DACA applications from immigrants not enrolled in the initiative, which currently allows more than half a million so-called "Dreamers" to live and work in the U.S. without fear of deportation, the Justice Department said in a court filing Monday. Dreamers are immigrants who, as children, entered the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas. The Obama administration created DACA in 2012 to protect this population from deportation amid congressional gridlock on immigration reform. Due to litigation, DACA has been closed to new applicants since 2021, though existing beneficiaries have been able to renew their two-year work permits. To qualify for DACA, applicants must show they arrived in the U.S. by age 16 and before June 2007; that they enrolled in an American high school or enlisted in the military; and lack any serious criminal record. The announcement that DACA could be reopened pending a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Hanen was outlined in a Justice Department court filing in the years-long legal battle over the policy. The government’s plan is designed to comply with an order from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in January that upheld Hanen’s finding that the DACA program is unlawful. While the 5th Circuit found that a Biden administration regulation to codify DACA violated U.S. immigration law, the appeals court narrowed the ruling’s impact, making it applicable only in Texas, the state spearheading the Republican-led lawsuit against the program. The appellate court also paused its ruling as it relates to existing DACA beneficiaries. To comply with that order, the Trump administration said it intends to process initial DACA requests once Hanen issues an order dictating the next steps in the case. The administration said applicants in all states outside of Texas who are approved will be eligible for DACA’s deportation protections and work permits. Those residing in Texas will only be eligible for the program’s deportation deferrals — not work authorization. Texas residents approved for DACA will also not be considered to be lawfully present in the U.S., unlike existing recipients. Those who move to Texas could have their work permits revoked.

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Telemundo47 [9/30/2025 2:55 PM, Staff, 131K]

Breitbart [9/30/2025 5:32 AM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports a bipartisan duo in the Senate has drafted an unprecedented bill to curb the little-known but huge L-1 visa program, which allows multinationals to import hundreds of thousands of white collar workers while paying them home country wages. The L-1 reform is combined with a reform of the H-1B visa, which keeps roughly one million foreign white collar workers in the Fortune 500 jobs that are needed by skilled American graduates and innovative professionals. "Congress created the H-1B and L-1 visa programs as limited pathways for businesses to acquire top talent when it can’t be found at home," said a Monday statement from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He added: Over the years, many employers have used them to cut out American workers in favor of cheap foreign labor. Congress must step in again to bring integrity back to these programs and restore dignity for American and foreign workers. There’s bipartisan acknowledgement that these programs ought to be returned to their intended purpose. Our bill would make that shared goal a reality." "Major companies are laying off thousands of American workers while filing thousands of visa petitions for foreign workers at depressed wages and poor working conditions," said a statement from Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), the top-ranking Democrat on the judiciary committee. "Congress must step in to protect American workers and fix our broken immigration system." The bill sets new wage rules, time limits, and approval procedures for L-1 visa and H-1B workers.

Bloomberg Law [9/30/2025 4:03 PM, Christopher Brown, 790K] reports the League of Women Voters filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration aiming to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from creating a centralized record system on US citizens and residents, which they allege could be used for monitoring and harassing Americans. Congress passed the Privacy Act in 1974 to prevent the government from consolidating the personal information of Americans stored in separate agencies, but DHS and the Department of Government Efficiency are now creating a web of linked data systems to allow centralized queries and analyses of this sensitive data, according to a complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The goal of the initiative is to advance Trump administration priorities, including making it harder to vote, and ensuring that contacts between immigrants and government agencies can be "leveraged to support the administration’s agenda," the plaintiffs said. But DHS and DOGE are now attempting to pool DHS’s data with that of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor, and several state election databases, the complaint said. The defendants have also linked the USCIS’ Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements tool with data from the Social Security Administration, turning the SAVE tool into a searchable national data system that allows its 1,200 user agencies to query the US citizenship or immigration status of anyone, including US citizens, it said. The plaintiffs claim violations of the Privacy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the separation of powers. They are seeking an injunction prohibiting the defendants from pooling data without statutory authority and requiring them to restore the data systems to their prior state, as well as to publish notices in the Federal Register disclosing what data has been pooled.

NewsMax [9/30/2025 3:47 PM, Jim Mishler, 4779K] reports White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is urging U.S. citizens to consider employment with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The essence of the more critical positions is to offer recommendations for the approval or denial of immigration applications. USCIS has a hiring push underway in advance of implementing a stricter application process for green cards on Oct. 20. The agency emphasizes opportunities to contribute to the integrity and fairness of the immigration system while offering a range of federal benefits and professional development for prospective applicants. USCIS highlights that its workforce plays a key role in processing applications, overseeing immigration services, and ensuring compliance with federal law. Careers at the agency are open to a variety of backgrounds and include programs for veterans, students, and people with specialized skills.

Telemundo20 [9/30/2025 6:07 PM, Eduardo Orbea, 51K] reports the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a streamlined process for processing visa applications for seasonal agricultural workers. The new procedure will take effect on October 2 and will apply to H-2A visa applicants, while the Department of Labor reviews the job application to ensure it does not affect U.S. workers. Beginning October 2, those seeking unidentified beneficiaries will be able to electronically file the newly released Form I-129H2A, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker: H-2A Classification, after the Department of Labor (DOL) issues a notice of acceptance of the temporary labor certification (TLC) application and before the DOL approves the certification. This allows USCIS to immediately begin processing electronically filed petitions with unidentified beneficiaries and gives them the flexibility to file them with USCIS sooner. USCIS will not approve any petition until the DOL has approved the corresponding TLC.

New York Post [9/30/2025 6:41 PM, Vaughn Golden, 43962K] reports New York issued a driver’s license to a migrant — but didn’t require a first name. The revelation came as Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said a man caught up in a raid that ensnared 125 illegal immigrants in his state had a New York commercial driver’s license with "No Name Given" in the place of his first and middle monikers. "If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws," the Republican wrote in a social media post Monday, along with a picture of the license. The New York Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to The Post that the license, issued on April 14 and set to expire May 26, 2028, was real. "This commercial driver’s license was issued in accordance with all proper procedures, including verification of the individual’s identity through federally issued documentation," DMV spokesman Walter McLure said in a statement. The spokesman said the individual in question had "lawful status" to be in the US "through a federal employment authorization and was issued a license consistent with federal guidelines.".

Univision Chicago WGBO [9/30/2025 2:40 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports a Hispanic woman was arrested by federal agents Saturday morning while selling tamales near the intersection of 47th Street and Pulaski Road. According to her son Josué, his mother was in the asylum process and had valid documents. Since then, Josué has faced the difficult situation of not having clear news about his mother’s whereabouts until Monday, September 29, when he tried to leave her her medication. The surprise came when she went to the ICE processing center in Broadview to deliver her medication, but was informed that her mother had been transferred to a detention center in Michigan. The transfer is due to the fact that there are no ICE-operated prisons in Illinois due to state legislation prohibiting it. According to Josué, in addition to the infection, his mother suffers from anxiety and depression, which could worsen under confinement conditions. The arrest raised questions about whether ICE has the authority to arrest a person in the middle of an asylum process.

The Washington Times [9/30/2025 3:16 PM, Stephen Dinan, 964K] reports federal authorities revealed what they called a shocking level of immigration fraud after a major enforcement surge in Minnesota, saying they found problems with nearly half of the cases they investigated. The fraud spanned a variety of immigration programs, including high-skilled guest workers, student visas, fraudulent marriage and the Biden-era Uniting for Ukraine program. “We are declaring war on immigration fraud,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services He said they picked Minneapolis as a first location because of patterns of fraud, but said they’ll take the same effort to other cities. Mr. Edlow blamed the Biden administration for inviting some of the fraud, particularly with its use of “parole,” an end-run around the usual visa system. The enforcement surge, begun on Sept. 19, was dubbed Operation Twin Shield, and Mr. Edlow said it’s the first time in the agency’s 22-year history that it did this kind of deep-dive on fraud. More than 1,000 cases with indications of fraud were selected for review and hundreds were identified for follow-up interviews. In 44% of those cases, they ended up establishing evidence of fraud or security risks. USCIS said it has issued immigration court summonses — effectively starting the deportation process — in 42 of the cases it reviewed, though it expects the number to increase as more investigations are completed. Mr. Edlow said his agency is exploring whether to revoke or rescind immigration status for some of those identified in the operation. Breitbart [9/30/2025 7:02 PM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports a survey in Minneapolis showed that almost 50 percent of migrant households have cheated American citizens, says a top official in President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security. "Officers encountered blatant marriage fraud, visa overstay, people claiming to work at businesses that can’t be found, forged documents, abuse of the H-1B [white-collar] visa system, abuse of the F-1 [student] visa, and many other discrepancies," said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The division is stepping up efforts to combat fraud, and recently announced it is hiring Americans to check the claims made by migrants. In response, pro-migration groups claim the division should focus on providing benefits to migrants, not checking the truth of migrants’ self-serving claims. Since September 19, officers from our fraud detection and national security directorate, working in teams, have conducted over 1,000 site visits across the Minneapolis-St. Paul, area as part of this operation. What they found should shock all of America, focusing on a list of over 1,000 target cases involving more than 900 individuals. In one case, officers identified an alien who had overstayed his visa, who was the son of a known or suspected terrorist on the no-fly list. He had previously been found to have engaged in marriage fraud, which resulted in the denial of several immigration benefit requests. He was arrested and is now presently being returned to his country of origin. In another [case], an individual admitted to obtain a death certificate for just $100 to prove he was no longer married. In reality, his wife is alive, living here in Minneapolis, and is the mother of five of his children. And incidentally, he has another wife living in Sweden, with whom he has an additional three children.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [9/30/2025 5:38 PM, Alex Oliveira, 43962K]
Daily Caller [9/30/2025 3:20 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K]

FOX News [9/30/2025 1:30 PM, Morgan Phillips, 40019K] reports that the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office conducted an unprecedented large-scale investigation in Minneapolis this month, focused on those who were committing marriage and asylum fraud. Under a mission known as Operation Twin Shield, officers targeted 1,000 cases, knocking on doors at more than 900 sites to conduct interviews and review immigration criteria. Coordinating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the FBI, they found fraud, non-compliance, or public safety and national security concerns in 275 cases. It’s the first operation after a new rule finalized earlier this month allowed USCIS to expand its law enforcement duties. In 44 of those cases, the immigrants were referred to ICE or given a notice to appear (NTA) in court. Two were detained on-site. The rest are still being investigated. In one example, an immigrant engaged in a sham marriage with an elderly U.S. citizen and subjected the citizen to "elder abuse and exploitation," according to USCIS. Another immigrant admitted to fabricating a death certificate from Kenya for $100 to falsely claim the termination of a marriage — the spouse in question was alive, living in Minneapolis and the mother of five of his children. Other cases included a petitioner who confessed to marriage fraud just hours after swearing under oath that her marriage was legitimate, and another involving an immigrant who had overstayed a visa waiver, was the son of a suspected terrorist, and had previously been denied benefits for fraud.

Washington Examiner [10/1/2025 2:20 AM, Staff, 1563K] reports the Department of Homeland Security reported a significant increase in drug seizures in August. Customs and Border Protection officers identified the uptick over the summer, reversing a trend of recent months with a relatively low number of drug apprehensions. According to a press release from DHS, August was the "third-highest monthly total of drug seizures" since President Donald Trump began his second term on January 20, 2025. "As part of its mission to stop harmful drugs from entering the United States, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that seizures of deadly drugs – including fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana – increased substantially from July to August," read the release by DHS. "This includes a 37% increase in methamphetamine seizures and amounts to just over 55,000 pounds of drugs seized in August.” This revelation by DHS came on the same day that CBP announced another successful drug bust operation at the Calexico East Port of Entry Commercial Facility on Sept. 17. Using X-ray and other advanced imaging technologies, CBP officers discovered "nearly 186 pounds of cocaine concealed within a car hauler trailer.” "This seizure highlights the dedication and vigilance of CBP officers in protecting our nation’s borders and preventing dangerous drugs from entering our communities," said Calexico Port of Entry Director Roque Caza. "Our officers work tirelessly to disrupt criminal organizations and safeguard the public.” DHS categorized the drug seizures as a win for the Trump administration. The federal agency claimed it was part of the process of the president’s vision to make the country safer with enhanced border security measures. They noted that fentanyl trafficking has significantly decreased since Trump’s second term began, citing a drop of 56% compared to the same time in 2024. These successful efforts kept "deadly drugs out of American communities. "Secretary Noem and the Department of Homeland Security are fulfilling President Trump’s promise to make America safe again by dismantling drug cartels and stopping the flow of deadly drugs into American communities," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Thanks to President Trump, fewer American families will be torn apart by addiction, fewer lives will be lost to overdoses, and fewer profits will go to violent cartels.”

FOX News [9/30/2025 12:00 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40019K] reports that a union representing roughly 18,000 Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents is putting pressure on Senate Democrats to avert a partial government shutdown before midnight Wednesday. Congress now has roughly less than 12 hours to keep federal agencies funded or risk potentially furloughing thousands of government workers and temporarily pausing key government services, with the Senate due to vote on a short-term bill extending current funding levels through Nov. 21 sometime late afternoon on Tuesday. Democrats have so far stood firm in their demands for significant concessions on healthcare to be included in any funding deal, while Republicans continue to pressure left-wing lawmakers to stop the coming shutdown. "On behalf of the men and women patrolling and securing our borders, we strongly support the bipartisan House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) and urge the Senate to immediately pass and send it to President Trump for his signature," National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez told Fox News Digital. Perez warned that a lapse in federal funding "threatens our ability to do our jobs and our capacity to maintain the most secure border in our nation’s history.". "A government shutdown means we go without mission-critical funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay," Perez said.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 11:42 AM, Amy Furr, 2608K] reports that a cyclist in Chicago’s Loop got what he asked for when taunting several U.S. Border Patrol agents on Sunday. The incident happened in the 300 block of North Dearborn Street when the agents were walking on a sidewalk, ABC 7 reported on Monday. Christopher Sweat recorded the tense moments after the man kept yelling at the agents. "Hey, I’m not a U.S. citizen! Come on!" he told them while gesturing with his hand. In the video, it appears he also yelled "Fuck Trump!" before moving away from the curb as the agents laughed. One agent then pointed out the cyclist dropped his phone on the ground and the man went back to get it. However, the moment he bent down to pick it up, several agents started chasing him. A longer version of the clip shows the moments before the chase when the agents were walking down the street. The man taunted them, saying, "I’m not a U.S. citizen. What’s up?" The incident happened as dozens of Border Patrol agents patrolled downtown Chicago "in defiance of efforts to block immigration enforcement by Democrats Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker," Breitbart News reported on Monday. The outlet said their patrol was also a counterpoint to riots at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Broadview, Illinois. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [9/30/2025 8:20 AM, Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby, 2608K] reports a Mexican federal congressman denied that he was detained by U.S. authorities while trying to enter Texas and that news stories in Mexico about his detention are politically motivated. Two days later, the politician was forced to admit that he did spend approximately 12 hours at the port of entry and that he would have to renew his visa. The incident began on Friday night when Mexican Federal Congressman Mario "La Borrega" Lopez tried to cross into Brownsville through a port of entry. Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection took the Mexican politician to a back room for questioning, where he spent approximately 12 hours before being sent back to Mexico. U.S. federal authorities have not released any information related to the incident. Initially, Lopez issued a prepared statement denying that any incident or detention had occurred at the port of entry and stating that news articles about it were unfounded rumors. However, on Monday, Lopez went on air with Mexican journalist Azucena Uresti and revealed that he had spent approximately 12 hours at a port of entry, where U.S. authorities questioned him and then revoked his visa. The politician attempted to downplay the incident, claiming that he was initially sent for a secondary inspection because his visa had been damaged due to wear and tear. He then claimed that during secondary inspection, officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection informed him that there was a notice from Washington requiring additional information about him. Lopez did not go into details about what happened to his visa, but admitted that he was working on getting it back. It remains unclear whether the U.S. officials revoked the visa as part of an investigation or if it was due to what he claimed was damage to the document.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 8:31 AM, Randy Clark, 2608K] reports the suspect in the deadly Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino shooting has been identified by law enforcement authorities in Texas as Keyran Rashad Jones. The 34-year-old San Antonio man is a former member of the Texas Army National Guard. According to Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber, Jones is charged with two counts of capital murder for his suspected role in the shooting that occurred early Sunday morning in the border city of Eagle Pass. The shooting, as reported by Breitbart Texas, happened at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino nestled along the banks of the Rio Grande just south of Eagle Pass. Texas Highway Patrol troopers captured Jones after a short chase near San Antonio. According to the Wilson County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Highway Patrol troopers discharged their firearms during their effort to stop the vehicle Jones was driving near a convenience store in Stockdale, Texas. The victims in Sunday’s shooting have been identified as Marcus "Mark" Antley, a retired Customs and Border Protection officer from Eagle Pass, and Alicia Sanchez, a resident of Dimmit County near Eagle Pass.

Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 9:36 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K] reports four illegal immigrants who allegedly aimed a laser pointer at a Customs and Border Protection helicopter in Portland, Oregon, have been taken into custody. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agents executed a search warrant on a nearby residence when the laser pointing took place and found the illegal immigrants. The Department of Homeland Security says the laser could have temporarily blinded the helicopter pilot and "was incredibly dangerous for the aircraft personnel and for the public’s safety.” "These four illegal aliens endangered the lives of our CBP personnel, the safety of every other aircraft in flight during the time and put everyone on the ground in immediate danger. DHS law enforcement is facing a 1,000% increase in attacks against them," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "This strike happened just days after the terrorist attack on an ICE facility in Dallas, and as rioters were arrested with guns outside a Broadview, Illinois, ICE facility with weapons. Secretary Noem has been clear: if you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she added. Two of the four illegal immigrants arrested have criminal records, and all four came illegally from Mexico, DHS said. President Donald Trump recently deployed the National Guard to Portland to handle protests targeting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility there. Oregon sued the administration for the action. "I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," Trump posted to his Truth Social last week. "I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary.”

Reported similarly:
FOX News [9/30/2025 1:47 PM, Rachel Wolf and Greg Wehner, 40019K]

FOX News [9/30/2025 7:43 AM, Preston Mizell, 40019K] reports the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uncovered that the Biden administration placed some Americans who resisted the COVID-19 mask mandate or were involved in the events of Jan 6, 2021, on prolonged TSA watchlists, including some on a no-fly list typically reserved for suspected terrorists. Fox News Digital acquired the findings of an internal investigation conducted by the agencies that showed that then-President Joe Biden’s TSA initiated "Operation Freedom to Breathe" in September 2021, roughly six months after the CDC relaxed the COVID-19 mask mandate, which targeted Americans who previously resisted mask mandates set forth by the Biden Administration. The initiative placed 19 Americans on various levels of intensive watchlists, with more than half added to the highest severity no-fly list, preventing them from boarding a flight in the U.S. entirely. Eleven of the individuals remained on watchlists until April 2022, when the national mask mandate was lifted by the Biden administration. "Biden’s TSA Administrator [David] Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Digital. "Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority, targeting Americans who posed no aviation security risk under the banner of political differences," Noem added. "President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against the American people, and we are making good on that promise.".

Reuters [9/30/2025 3:14 PM, David Shepardson, 45746K] reports the Trump administration said Tuesday it is removing five senior officials on suspicion of targeting former president Joe Biden’s political opponents with a now-abolished aviation security watchlist. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she was referring the issue to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and to Congress for further investigation. The Transportation Security Administration’s "Quiet Skies" program, scrapped in June, had required enhanced screening for some air passengers deemed to be a higher security risk. Noem, whose department includes the TSA, said the program cost $200 million annually and had been used to "target political opponents and benefit political allies." Her department said that, under Biden, the program watchlisted and sometimes denied boarding to passengers who resisted COVID-era mask mandates on airplanes, and to others linked to a mob attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, intended to prevent Biden’s 2020 election win being formalised. Trump forced out the head of the TSA on January 20 and has not named a permanent replacement. Many Republicans in Congress had sharply criticized the program.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg Government [9/30/2025 11:15 AM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 84K]

NewsMax [9/30/2025 12:13 PM, Staff, 4779K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said Biden administration officials weaponized the Transportation Security Administration to secretly target Americans who refused mask mandates on airplanes and citizens linked to the Jan. 6 protests, despite no evidence of criminal activity or security threats. An internal DHS investigation found that TSA leadership under then-Administrator David Pekoske systematically abused federal watchlists to harass ordinary Americans, denying boarding privileges and even placing some under surveillance. The report details how, in 2021, long after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed indoor mask requirements, TSA officials continued punishing passengers who resisted airline mask rules. These Americans were flagged, delayed, or outright banned from flights. In some cases, federal air marshals were assigned to track their movements. "These individuals posed no legitimate threat to aviation security," DHS said in a lengthy press release, underscoring that watchlisting powers were intended for terrorists and dangerous criminals — not citizens challenging government policies. The abuses extended to dozens of Americans tied to the Jan. 6 protests. DHS said many were placed on watchlists and denied air travel, even without evidence they engaged in violence or broke the law. Under DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s direction, DHS has already moved to restore accountability, according to the department, citing the removal of five senior TSA leaders from their posts, including the executive assistant administrator for operations support and the deputy assistant administrator for Intelligence and Analysis. The matter has been referred to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and to Congress for further investigation. The New York Post [9/30/2025 1:44 PM, Josh Christenson, 43962K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “Biden’s TSA wildly abused their authority” when sharing the findings from the internal investigation, first reported by Fox News, into what the prior administration had dubbed Operation Freedom to Breathe. “Biden’s TSA Administrator [David] Pekoske and his cronies abused their authority and weaponized the federal government against the very people they were charged with protecting,” Noem said in a statement “President Trump promised to end the weaponization of government against the American people, and we are making good on that promise,” she added.

NewsMax [9/30/2025 6:11 PM, Jim Mishler, 4779K] reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is returning nearly $3.5 billion to state and local communities through its non-disaster grant programs. The intent is to bolster emergency preparedness nationwide. Spending on nonrelated programs or agendas is now strictly regulated. The money will help local communities hire and train firefighters and first responders, safeguard critical infrastructure such as ports and transit systems, plan for cyberthreats, and implement public warning systems. By improving local resilience to fires, floods, tornadoes, cyber incidents, and other emergencies, the initiative aims to make the entire nation stronger and more secure. "Secretary Noem is empowering state and local leaders over Washington bureaucrats," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "This administration is restoring accountability at FEMA and ensuring that taxpayer dollars directly enhance American disaster response."

The New York Times [9/30/2025 8:15 PM, Chris Cameron, 153395K] reports a federal judge in Rhode Island on Tuesday blocked a Trump administration effort to freeze hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness funds to blue states that have opposed his mass deportation campaign. It was the second time in a week that a federal judge had blocked the Trump administration’s effort to withhold disaster preparedness funds. Last Wednesday, a judge in the Federal District Court in Rhode Island ruled in favor of a coalition of 20 states and the District of Columbia, most led by Democrats, that had sued for the release of billions of dollars in federal grants. President Trump has argued that the states had mounted a “lawless insurrection” by not complying with his demands on immigration enforcement. Days after the court in Rhode Island ruled against Mr. Trump, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides funding for disaster preparedness, informed 11 of those states and the District of Columbia that they would receive less than half of an expected $460 million in counterterrorism funds, according to a filing by the plaintiffs. New York and Illinois, states that Mr. Trump has repeatedly targeted over policy disagreements, had their grants cut by 79 percent and 69 percent, totaling over $100 million. FEMA did not provide a specific reason for the cuts, but the plaintiffs argued in their filings that the reason was apparent: “The current administration is taking money from its enemies.” They quoted Kristi Noem, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, who has argued that states that do not comply with Mr. Trump’s policies “should not receive a single dollar of the department’s money.” Politico [9/30/2025 5:10 PM, Kyle Cheney, 2100K] reports a federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Tuesday from permanently steering $233 million in FEMA disaster relief funds away from 12 blue states, issuing a restraining order just hours before a deadline that would have seen the funds lost for good. U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy, a Trump appointee to a Rhode Island-based court, said the administration’s abrupt decision to repurpose the funds from those states — just days before the Sept. 30 end of the current fiscal year — seemed to be plainly illegal. Her ruling ensures that the funds remain available while the states continue to litigate to reclaim them. It’s “yet another case where the administration is saying … I’m going to do what I want to do and not what the law says and make the court make me,” McElroy said at a hastily convened court hearing Tuesday. Her new decision ensures that when the fiscal year ends at midnight Tuesday, the funds will still be available in case the states win their legal battle.

Reported similarly:
Los Angeles Times [9/30/2025 5:15 PM, Kevin Rector, 12715K]
Bloomberg Law [9/30/2025 5:01 PM, Megan Crepeau, 790K]

New York Times [9/30/2025 9:39 AM, Scott Dance, 143795K] reports that a looming government shutdown is converging with key deadlines for funding of disaster preparedness and federal flood insurance, threatening to expose thousands of Americans to flood losses and stall thousands of real estate sales. The National Flood Insurance Program, the main source of coverage against flood damage for most Americans, is set to lapse at midnight Wednesday, at the same time a funding gap is expected to shut down the federal government. The program provides more than $1 trillion in coverage to about 4.5 million homeowners, renters and businesses. If Congress lets its authorization lapse, homeowners would be unable to renew existing policies, leaving them vulnerable in the event of a flood. And new policies, which are required for federally backed mortgages for properties in flood plains, could not be issued. Policies not up for renewal would not be affected, and ongoing claims would be paid, but perhaps with a delay. When the program lapsed for one month in 2010, sales of more than 40,000 properties were frozen, according to the National Association of Realtors. Flooding along the coasts as well as inland has become a growing problem in the United States as the planet has warmed. Climate change is linked to heavier rainfall and rising sea levels. At the same time, as hurricane activity stirs in the Atlantic and wildfires smolder in the Northwest, the government account that pays for disaster response and recovery is running out, its balance projected to drop to $2.3 billion by the end of this month, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency report released Sept. 16. When its funding runs low, federal disaster spending is typically limited to “lifesaving and life-sustaining activities.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

The Hill [9/30/2025 6:30 PM, Rachel Frazin, 12414K] report people whose coverage is slated to lapse under NFIP, which is run through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), could find themselves without insurance in the event of a flood if the government faces a prolonged shutdown. "The main concern is whether buyers will have coverage if a flood occurs and whether FEMA will have sufficient funds to pay claims," Austin Perez, senior policy representative for insurance Issues at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), said in a statement to The Hill. The association sent a letter to congressional leaders on Friday urging them to extend the program. "Without access to flood insurance, American families must rely on federal disaster aid, which is severely limited," said group President Kevin Sears in the letter. "According to NAR research, 1,400 property sales each day could be forced to move forward and go bare without the protection of flood insurance depending on lender approval. The risk of an unnecessary NFIP lapse puts American lives, families, properties and businesses at untenable risk and must be avoided," Sears wrote. Andy Winkler, managing director of housing and infrastructure policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said that this could also delay some real estate transactions, particularly in areas where flood insurance is required.

AP [10/1/2025 2:15 AM, Gary Robertson and Jesse Bedayn, 27036K] reports five unoccupied houses along North Carolina’s Outer Banks collapsed into the ocean Tuesday as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic, the National Park Service said, marking the latest private beachfront structures to fall into the surf there in recent years. The homes, once propped on high stilts, collapsed in the afternoon in Buxton, a community on the string of islands that make up the Outer Banks, said Mike Barber, a spokesperson for the park service. No injures were reported, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore said in a post on social media. In videos shown by the local station 13News Now, homes teetered on stilts battered by the waves before plunging into the surf. The shoreline was clogged with debris, two-by-fours, cushions and an entire home as wave after wave rolled in from the Atlantic. The post said that more collapses were possible given the ocean conditions, and urged visitors to avoid Tuesday’s sites, including areas several miles south to stay clear of debris. North Carolina’s coast is almost entirely made up of narrow, low-lying barrier islands that have been eroding for years as the sea level rises. Seventeen privately owned houses have collapsed on Seashore beaches since 2020, the park service said. The first 15 were north of Buxton in Rodanthe, but a Buxton home fell into the surf two weeks ago. The threat to these structures often builds when storms affect the region, as is the case with the two latest hurricanes, even as they headed further out in the Atlantic. Portions of eastern North Carolina were subject to coastal flood advisories and warnings, the National Weather Service said, while dangerous surf conditions were expected in the area through the rest of the week. Ocean overwash on Tuesday also prompted the state Transportation Department to close a portion of North Carolina Highway 12 on Ocracoke Island. The ferry connecting Ocracoke and Hatteras islands also was suspended Tuesday, the department said.

UPI [9/30/2025 6:27 PM, Lisa Hornung, 2608K] reports the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday it will give more than $38.3 million in congressionally mandated recovery aid to South Carolina farmers through a block grant agreement with the South Carolina Department of Agriculture. The money will help producers recover from this past year’s Hurricane Helene. Helene struck the southeastern states on Sept. 26, 2024, killing 230 people across six states. The storm flooded towns and destroyed homes across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. "Farmers and ranchers across the Southeast are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, and our team at USDA is working closely with states like South Carolina to quickly provide relief for farmers who have taken a financial hit due to no fault of their own," said Secretary Brooke Rollins in a statement. "President [Donald] Trump will not leave our farmers behind, and he has directed me and our team to ensure they have the resources they need to continue to produce the safest, most reliable, and most abundant food supply in the world.". Under this agreement, the SCDA will administer a program covering infrastructure and timber losses in addition to future economic losses and market losses. This funding is part of the $30 billion disaster assistance relief effort authorized by the American Relief Act 2025. USDA is working with 14 states, including South Carolina, to develop and implement block grants to address the unique disaster recovery needs for each state, the release said. "South Carolina’s farmers and forest landowners have worked tirelessly to recover from Helene’s devastation, and this funding will close crucial gaps to assure a future for their businesses," said South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers in a statement.

Univision [9/30/2025 7:35 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports that, although Hurricane Imelda strengthened on Tuesday as it moved away from Central Florida, its effects continue to impact the region, especially in coastal areas. The system was located 755 miles west-southwest of Bermuda, moving northeast at 7 mph with sustained winds of 75 mph. Rainfall will be concentrated mainly along the coast, from Cape Canaveral northward, where scattered showers with gusts are expected. In some areas, if rain bands repeat, accumulations of close to an inch could be recorded. Inland, the chances of rain are lower, with 20–40% coverage. Wind remains a risk factor, especially on beaches and barrier islands, where gusts of up to 25 mph are expected. Authorities are maintaining a High Surf Advisory throughout the work week, as waves of 6 to 10 feet, dangerous rip currents, and beach erosion are expected, especially during high tides. Swimmers are advised not to enter the water, even if they are experienced swimmers. For the rest of the week, winds are expected to shift to the east as high pressure from the north strengthens and tropical moisture increases. On Wednesday, the coast will continue to be the area most likely to see rain (40–50%), while thunderstorms will be infrequent but possible. For Thursday and Friday, a gradual increase in rainfall is expected, starting in the south and spreading to the rest of the region. Over the weekend, precipitation could reach 60–70% coverage, with possible localized heavy rains, especially in coastal areas. Temperatures will remain warm, with highs in the 80s °F and lows in the 70s °F, while windy conditions persist in the afternoons. Authorities remind the public that rip currents and dangerous waves could continue through the weekend, so swimmers should exercise extreme caution and stay on the sand. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [9/30/2025 8:00 AM, Julia Bonavita, 40019K] Video: HERE reports the U.S. Secret Service dismantled a massive telecommunications network hidden throughout the New York City area, forcing investigators to confront a startling reality surrounding threats to national security. The bust marks one of the largest communications threats uncovered within the country, with over 300 SIM servers filled with more than 100,000 SIM cards discovered throughout various sites within the tri-state area. The devices possessed the capability to transmit up to 30 million text messages a minute, according to The Associated Press. "The potential for disruption to our country’s telecommunications posed by this network of devices cannot be overstated," U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement Sept. 23. "The U.S. Secret Service’s protective mission is all about prevention, and this investigation makes it clear to potential bad actors that imminent threats to our protectees will be immediately investigated, tracked down and dismantled." Authorities uncovered the network as nearly 150 world leaders were preparing to arrive in Manhattan for the U.N. General Assembly. According to investigators, the devices were concentrated within 35 miles of the global meeting, resulting in a rapid response from authorities working to dismantle the network. While officials said they have not found a direct plot to disrupt the assembly, experts said the potential damage could have been catastrophic. "I think that it’s a wake-up call," former NYPD inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital. "The fact that this was happening at this scale, on our soil, in the New York area with the U.N. General Assembly about to kick off tells us that these groups have the resources to do something like this, at this level." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [9/30/2025 3:42 PM, Nicole Sganga, 45245K] reports federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations discovered an additional 200,000 SIM cards at a location in New Jersey, law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News. This follows last week’s discovery by U.S. Secret Service of a sprawling telecommunications network in the New York tri-state area that investigators said could potentially have caused a serious disruption to New York’s telecom systems and threatened the United Nations General Assembly meetings. Agents were first tipped off last spring, and officials believe that among other foreign links, the telecommunications network was connected to Chinese actors, according to two law enforcement sources briefed on the probe. Authorities still have not made any arrests.

CyberScoop [9/30/2025 1:29 PM, Tim Starks] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency doesn’t have any plans in place for continuing a threat information-sharing program should a 2015 law that laid the groundwork for its creation expire Wednesday, according to a new watchdog report. The inspector general report points to yet more potential complications for threat data exchanges between industry and the government should the 2015 Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, known as CISA 2015, lapse. Already, private-sector groups and cyber professionals have been sounding alarms about what would happen if the law’s legal safeguards disappear — something that’s now almost certain to happen after Tuesday’s expiration deadline is set to transpire without action from Congress. The IG report takes a look at the Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) program that the Department of Homeland Security established in the year after passage of CISA 2015. The voluntary program was designed to allow the exchange of machine-readable cyber threat indicators (CTIs), like malicious IP addresses, and defensive measures (DMs), defined as activity that protects information systems against cyber threats. According to the IG, CISA (the agency) has not finalized plans for continued use of the program in the event of the expiration of the 2015 law. “Without finalizing this plan, CISA could be hindered in how it shares information on cyber threats, which would reduce its ability to protect the Nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber threats,” the report, dated Sept. 26, states

Bloomberg Government [9/30/2025 10:34 AM, Ellen M. Gilmer, 84K] reports the Department of Homeland Security will maintain a critical platform to exchange information about cybersecurity threats even if the federal law that established it expires. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it won’t shutter its automated indicator sharing system, a platform that allows companies, agencies, and other organizations to share real-time information about cyber threats and defensive measures — despite the possible expiration of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. The law will lapse as of Wednesday unless lawmakers preserve it.

Bloomberg [9/30/2025 10:07 AM, Emily Forgash, 19085K] reports Chinese hackers breached email servers of foreign ministers as part of a years-long effort targeting the communications of diplomats around the world, according to researchers at the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks Inc. Attackers accessed Microsoft Exchange email servers, gaining the ability to search for information at some foreign ministries, said the team at Unit 42, the threat intelligence division of Palo Alto Networks, which has been tracking the group for nearly three years. Hackers specifically searched in the email servers for key terms related to a China-Arab summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2022, said Lior Rochberger, senior researcher at the company. They also searched for names such as including Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, in the context of that summit, the researchers said. The researchers declined to specifically identify which countries had their systems breached in the hacking campaign, but wrote in the report that the group’s targeting patterns “align consistently with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) economic and geopolitical interests.”

Daily Signal [9/30/2025 5:55 PM, Morgan Berkness, 668K] reports Christians are under attack. Support for Israel is waning among young Americans. A self-avowed socialist is the leading candidate for New York City mayor. The Daily Signal’s president and executive editor, Rob Bluey, tackled these topics—plus Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl selection—during CNN’s "NewsNight With Abby Phillip" Monday night. The fatal shooting at a Catholic school Mass last month and the deadly attack on a Mormon church this past weekend has left communities shattered. "We have seen a significant, sharp increase in attacks on Christians and churches," Bluey said. According to the Family Research Council, there were 383 attacks on Christian churches last year alone. The Daily Signal’s Tyler O’Neil documented nine recent church attacks in 2025. Bluey noted that this problem goes beyond a need for government intervention. The underlying causes of violence against Christians are deeply embedded within our society. "As people have abandoned religion and faith and the belief in Jesus Christ, we have moved away from some of those very foundational principles that not only were instrumental in the creation of this great country that we live in, but have guided us for thousands of years," Bluey said.

NPR [9/30/2025 5:43 PM, Ryan Lucas, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports the administration’s approach to drug cartels relies — at least in part — on a blueprint for military strikes that mirror those waged during the war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

ABC News [10/1/2025 12:35 AM, Luke Barr, 27036K] reports a civilian U.S. Department of Navy employee was charged with falsely reporting an active shooter at a New Jersey military base on Tuesday morning -- a hoax she allegedly carried out to "trauma bond" with her colleagues, according to a criminal complaint. On Tuesday, the official Facebook page for Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst outside Trenton reported the base was on lockdown due to an active shooter. About an hour later, the lockdown was lifted -- and authorities later said the initial reports were unfounded. According to the criminal complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, the civilian employee, Malika Brittingham, texted an unnamed individual at about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday, that she allegedly heard five to six gunshots and that she, along with her colleagues, were hiding in a closet. Believing her statement to be true, the person she texted then called the Base Defense Operations Center and 911, relaying what Brittingham allegedly said and leading to active shooter notification to be sent out to the base’s entire workforce, according to the complaint. Later, when authorities determined there was, in fact, no active shooter, they interviewed Brittingham, who initially told investigators she only sent the text message about the shooting after she received the emergency notification, the complaint stated. Authorities later reviewed the timing of the calls to both the Base Defense Operations Center and 911 and the timing of the emergency notification and "proved that this statement was not true," the complaint stated. At that point, Brittingham admitted to making up the active shooter threat, according to the complaint. Brittingham "explained that she carried out this hoax because she had been ostracized by her co-workers and hoped that their shared experience in response to an active shooter would allow them to ‘trauma bond,’" according to the complaint. Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba said the employee’s alleged conduct won’t be tolerated. "This kind of senseless fear-mongering and disruption will not be tolerated in my state," Habba said in a post on X. "After everything this country has gone through, especially in light of current events, I will be sure to bring down the hammer of the law for anyone found guilty of creating unnecessary panic and undermining public trust.” There was no contact information for Brittingham immediately available, and it wasn’t clear if she had an attorney.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [9/30/2025 10:26 PM, Eric Mack, 4779K]

Daily Wire [9/30/2025 1:33 PM, Zach Jewell, 3184K] reports authorities issued an emergency evacuation order at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, on Tuesday after a "suspicious device" was found just hours before a Turning Point USA event was scheduled to take place on campus. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was supposed to speak at the event at Utah State before he was assassinated while speaking to students at Utah Valley University on September 10. The event is the first that Turning Point USA has hosted in the state since the assassination. Utah State University is around 120 miles north of Utah Valley University. In a video posted on social media by local news outlet KSL TV, police are heard yelling "fire in the hole!" before a loud explosion is heard. The building that was evacuated was not where the Turning Point USA event was set to take place, KSL TV reported. Police just yelled "fire in the hole" three times before we all heard an explosion. @KSL5TV. Authorities gave the "all clear" around an hour after it was reported that a "suspicious device" was spotted. Fox News reporter Matt Finn posted a screenshot of an alert sent out by Utah State that read, "An evacuation has been ordered for the Old Main building on Logan campus. Leave immediately using the nearest exit. Use stairs, not elevators. Take only essential items.".

NPR [10/1/2025 5:01 AM, Hansi Lo Wang, 34837K] reports for many American citizens living abroad, making sure their ballots are returned correctly and on time hundreds or thousands of miles away, back in the United States, can be tough. But with the 2026 midterm election approaching, U.S. expatriates and their advocates say voting faces more uncertainty than usual, as Republican officials continue a push for more restrictions on overseas voters, including U.S. military members stationed abroad. Some 2.8 million U.S. adult citizens living abroad were eligible to vote in 2022, the latest year for federal estimates. And with turnout for overseas voters long trailing that of domestic voters (3.4% compared to 62.5% in 2022), voting rights advocates fear GOP-led lawsuits and proposals could drive down participation even further. "It really stands out," says Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the U.S. Vote Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for U.S. citizens casting ballots from outside the country. "I have to admit that 20 years ago when I got involved with overseas voting, I did not fast forward to this time where I thought we would be fighting for our basic rights. But it seems like that’s what’s on the chopping block here."

CyberScoop [9/30/2025 5:30 PM, Matt Kapko] reports an elusive, persistent, newly confirmed China espionage group has hit almost 10 victims of geopolitical importance in the Middle East, Africa and Asia using specific tactics and extreme stealth to avoid detection, according to Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42. Phantom Taurus uses tools and a distinct homegrown set of malware and backdoors that sets them apart from other China threat groups, said Assaf Dahan, who’s led an investigation into the group since 2022 as director of threat research at Palo Alto Networks’ Cortex unit. The discovery of an undocumented threat group conducting long-term intelligence-gathering operations aligned with Beijing’s interests underscores the spread of China’s offensive espionage operations globally. Roughly 3 in 4 nation-state threats originate from or are operating on behalf of the Chinese government’s interests, Dahan told CyberScoop. Unit 42 did not name Phantom Taurus’ victims but said the group has infiltrated networks operated by ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, diplomats and telecom networks to steal sensitive and timely data around major summits between government leaders or political and economic events. Phantom Taurus seeks sustained access to highly targeted networks so it can periodically and opportunistically steal data they want at any time. Unit 42 researchers responded to one case involving access going back almost two years, Dahan said. The threat group remains active and has expanded its scope over time by targeting more organizations. “The latest activity was just a couple of months ago when we saw them highly active in at least two regions of the world,” Dahan said.

Daily Caller [9/30/2025 9:53 PM, Mariane Angela, 985K] reports Philadelphia officials on Tuesday raised the flag of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at City Hall. The ceremony marked the CCP’s Oct. 1 National Day and involved a co-organizer with ties to Beijing’s regime, according to The Epoch Times. The event reportedly whitewashes a violent legacy of mass killings, religious crackdowns and cultural destruction that began when Mao Zedong seized power in 1949. Outside the event, protesters from the Tibetan Association of Philadelphia demanded the city take down the banner. "The red flag of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not a symbol of culture; it is the emblem of a brutal, totalitarian regime," Tsering Jurme, president of the local association, told The Epoch Times. "This regime is responsible for the persecution and murder of millions, the destruction of thousands of monasteries, and the ongoing cultural genocide of my people in Tibet and the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. To fly their flag here in our Philadelphia city hall is to legitimize terror and betray the dissidents who seek freedom.” Campaign for Uyghurs also denounced the event in a formal letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, the outlet reported. Its founder, Rushan Abbas—whose sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, was sentenced to 20 years in a Chinese prison—said the flag represents mass surveillance, forced sterilizations, and the silencing of dissent across China. Elected officials at both the state and federal level blasted the city for hosting the event. Republican Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano called the decision "a terrible mistake," pointing to the CCP’s decades-long record of persecution and the deaths of millions during the Cultural Revolution. On social media, Mastriano wrote: "The cradle of liberty flying the banner of tyranny.” Republican Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on the CCP, also urged the mayor to reverse the decision, saying it’s a disgrace to the values enshrined in the Constitution. Philadelphia held a similar flag-raising in 2019, and other liberal cities, including San Francisco and New York, have done the same. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Newsom’s China Whisperer Is The Daughter Of Mastermind Building Chinese-American Database For Beijing). A Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found that the CCP’s reach extends beyond symbolic flag-raisings, with party members enrolled at U.S. universities setting up overseas party branches backed by their Chinese alma maters. These branches, unregistered as official student groups, have appeared at Oklahoma State, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Colorado-Denver, with members later moving on to other U.S. institutions. President Donald Trump said in August that allowing 600,000 Chinese nationals to study in the U.S. would benefit American colleges and bring in "hundreds of millions of dollars." But several Republican lawmakers pushed back, with Republican Arizona Rep. Eli Crane calling the plan a "massive national security threat.”

NPR [10/1/2025 5:02 AM, Teri Schultz, 34837K] reports after a week of flights by unidentified drones, the U.S. and other NATO countries sent troops and equipment to Denmark to protect its capital during meetings with European Union leaders Wednesday. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

New York Times [9/30/2025 1:46 PM, Adam Goldman and Elian Peltier, 143795K] reports that American officials involved in hostage negotiation efforts saw the Taliban’s release this week of a U.S. citizen held in Afghanistan as an encouraging sign that the two sides could reach a broader prisoner deal to resolve the fate of the other Americans held there. Still, the path to any agreement remains fraught. Taliban officials are seeking the release of a high-level Qaeda detainee held at the naval prison at Guantánamo Bay, and the whereabouts of some Americans in Afghanistan remain unknown — possibly even to the Taliban. The challenges illustrate the delicate complexities of hostage negotiations. Both sides have much to gain from reaching an agreement. The Taliban is seeking international recognition, while President Trump has made the release of Americans held overseas a priority in his two presidencies. Mr. Trump’s terms for a deal with the Taliban were clear. After Amir Amiry, the American, was released, one of the president’s top counterterrorism advisers, Sebastian Gorka, wrote on social media: “All Americans must come home. That means all.” Mr. Gorka accompanied Mr. Amiry home, along with Adam Boehler, the Trump administration’s special envoy for hostage response, who has visited Afghanistan several times this year. In a photo of Mr. Amiry’s plane ride home released by Qatari officials, Mr. Boehler wears a jacket with the flags of the United States and Qatar, which has played a key role in the negotiations.

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