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 Washington Post [10/21/2025 4:53 PM, Alec Dent, 24149K] reports at least one federal immigration officer fired gunshots during a traffic stop in Los Angeles on Tuesday, striking a motorist who authorities said threatened them with a vehicle while trying to flee an arrest. A U.S. marshal also was hit by the gunfire, and both of the injured people were taken to a hospital, authorities said. The marshal sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was in stable condition, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service. Authorities did not disclose the condition of the motorist. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called the incident a “developing situation.” Preliminary information, she said, showed that the shooting occurred while Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were performing a targeted enforcement operation against an “illegal alien who had previously escaped from custody.” McLaughlin said the motorist “began ramming” a law enforcement vehicle while trying to flee. “Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots,” she said. The motorist was shot in the elbow, and a federal officer was “shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet.” McLaughlin did not identify the motorist, and The Washington Post could not immediately confirm the person’s identity or immigration status. Brady McCarron, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, said the marshal, whom he did not name, was “attempting to assist in an arrest of a suspect wanted for illegal entry.” The New York Times [10/21/2025 5:12 PM, Jesus Jiménez, 135475K] reports that officers with the Homeland Security Department fired shots, striking the man in the elbow. A federal marshal was struck in the hand by a ricochet bullet, Ms. McLaughlin said. The man and the injured law enforcement officer were both hospitalized, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The officer’s injury was not life-threatening and he was in stable condition, according to the United States Marshals Service. The immigrant’s condition was not immediately known. The Department of Homeland Security has not identified the man in the traffic stop. Ms. McLaughlin said that he had “previously escaped from custody.” The Marshals Service confirmed that it was helping with the arrest of an undocumented immigrant, and that one of its deputies had been injured. The Los Angeles Police Department said that it was helping with traffic control around the area, but that its officers were not involved in the operation. The department referred questions about the shooting to federal agencies. “Resisting arrest puts the safety of illegal aliens, law enforcement and the public at risk,” Ms. McLaughlin said. NBC News [10/21/2025 6:19 PM, Julia Ainsley and Tim Stelloh, 34509K] reports that the immigrant, who the department said had previously escaped from custody, "weaponized his vehicle and began ramming the law enforcement vehicle in an attempt to flee," the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement. Fearing for their safety, the federal officers fired "defensive shots," McLaughlin said, and the immigrant was struck in the elbow. One of the bullets fired by federal officers ricocheted and hit a law enforcement officer in the hand. The Department of Homeland Security said both the immigrant and the officer were taken to the hospital. The officer’s condition was listed as stable, according to the statement. McLaughlin attributed Tuesday’s incident to the conduct and rhetoric of politicians who she said urge undocumented people to resist arrest. The Daily Wire [10/21/2025 10:57 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports that Tuesday’s shooting comes amid a 1,000% uptick in assaults on federal immigration agents. "These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest. Resisting arrest puts the safety of illegal aliens, law enforcement, and the public at risk. Our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them including vehicle rammings by illegal aliens. We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement," said McLaughlin of the growing threats.

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Daily Wire [10/21/2025 4:20 PM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports the illegal immigrant who allegedly rammed an ICE vehicle in Los Angeles Tuesday after previously escaping federal authorities was earlier given an award by the city for his efforts in exposing "illegal raids," The Daily Wire has learned. ICE officers fired at the Mexican illegal immigrant, who has since been identified as Carlitos Ricardo Parías, 44, shooting him in the elbow. A U.S. Marshal was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet. The U.S. Attorney has since hit Parías with the federal charge of assaulting an officer, which could put him behind bars for up to eight years. Parías is a well-known TikToker documenting ICE operations across LA to his more than 132,000 followers. He was seen earlier this year in handcuffs being hauled into a vehicle by bystanders while federal authorities were trying arrest him for allegedly interfering with immigration operations, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire. Join us now during our exclusive Deal of the Decade. Get everything for $7 a month. Not as fans. As fighters. Go to DailyWire.com/Subscribe to join now. The officers engaged in a struggle with the bystanders, who refused to hand Parías over for arrest. They ultimately drove him to a nearby hospital after he wailed that his leg was broken. He was arrested on Tuesday for attempting to flee a second time. Tuesday’s shooting comes amid a 1,000% increase in assaults on federal immigration agents."These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest. Resisting arrest puts the safety of illegal aliens, law enforcement, and the public at risk. Our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them including vehicle rammings by illegal aliens," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. "We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement," McLaughlin said.

Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 4:53 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1394K] reports an illegal immigrant allegedly rammed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with their car in Los Angeles Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said. The officer fired at the car as the suspect attempted to flee, injuring the suspect and a law enforcement officer with a ricocheted bullet. Both are in the hospital. The ramming continues a trend of violence against ICE officers after a shooting last month at a Dallas ICE facility. DHS says the suspect had previously escaped from custody and was trying to do so again by "weaponizing" his vehicle. He had been pulled over before he attempted to flee. "Fearing for the safety of the public and law enforcement, our officers followed their training and fired defensive shots. The illegal alien was shot in the elbow and one law enforcement officer was shot in the hand by a ricochet bullet," Assistant Secretary and DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. McLaughlin called on "sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media" to "turn the temperature down" and "stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement."

Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 9:37 AM, Emily Hallas, 1394K] reports California officials announced plans on Monday to launch a website tracking Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Los Angeles. During a press conference alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) revealed the new platform would come as part of an investigation he is leading on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In conjunction, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) is leading a similar investigation into ICE on the Senate side through the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "Over the course of the next couple of weeks, the Oversight Committee will be launching on their website a master ICE tracker where we’re going to be essentially tracking every single instance that we can verify that the community will send. You’ll be able to send us information on. It’ll be all available in one central place, and you’ll be able to look up that information as it relates to Los Angeles as well," Garcia said. His plans to create a "master" ICE tracker probing the agency’s movements in California’s most heavily populated area will likely trigger surveillance from the Department of Justice.

The Hill [10/21/2025 8:16 PM, Tara Suter, 12595K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday went after Democrats over proposed plans to launch an online "tracker" of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. "Shutdown Democrats are already refusing to pay our law enforcement agents. Now, @RepRobertGarcia and @SenBlumenthal are trying to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs," Bondi said in a post on the social platform X, referring to Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). "@TheJusticeDept has ZERO tolerance for violence against law enforcement — we will prosecute any person who physically assaults our agents," she added. Bondi’s post also featured a clip of a Monday press conference with Garcia and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D). "The Oversight Committee, I shared this with the mayor — over the course of the next couple of weeks, the Oversight Committee will be launching on their website a master ICE tracker where we can … essentially [track] every single instance that we can verify that the community will send, be able to send us information on.” "It’ll be all available in one central place," he added. Garcia responded to Bondi with his own X post an hour after Bondi’s initial post. "Hey @AGPamBondi, ICE detaining over 170 U.S. citizens is not them ‘just doing their jobs.’ But since you have the time to tweet at me—when are you going to stop covering for pedophiles and release the Epstein files?" the California Democrat said. Since he returned to office in January, President Trump’s administration has heavily cracked down on immigration. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) implemented a new $1,000 immigration fee for migrants paroled into the U.S. The fee aims to "institute accountability and prevent rampant fraud of the parole system," DHS said. It would also bolster oversight of the immigration parole system "and deter its misuse.” "The Biden Administration abused America’s immigration system and turned parole into a de facto amnesty program, thereby allowing millions of unvetted illegal aliens into the U.S., no questions asked, to the detriment of all Americans," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a previous statement. The Hill has reached out to Blumenthal’s office and ICE for comment. NewsMax [10/21/2025 10:15 PM, Mark Swanson, 4109K] reports Garcia in the House and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in the upper chamber announced investigations into alleged wrongful detentions by ICE, based on a report in left-leaning outlet ProPublica, which said it had documented cases of 170 American citizens arrested by Homeland Security. The Democrats cited the ProPublica reporting three times in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday.

The New York Times [10/21/2025 8:40 PM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní and Olivia Bensimon, 135475K] reports more than 50 federal agents fanned out in the heart of Lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, brushing past confused tourists and pedestrians to detain several men near Canal Street and quickly drawing dozens of protesters to the streets. The Department of Homeland Security described the operation as “focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.” The raid, in broad daylight, unfolded near a stretch of sidewalk where African men who illegally sell bootleg luxury merchandise to tourists are a longtime fixture. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for D.H.S., said the operation was led by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and others, including the F.B.I. and Border Patrol. She did not immediately indicate the number of people arrested or disclose their immigration status. The operation appeared to lead to at least four detentions, according to witnesses, with the sight of dozens of masked agents descending on the edge of TriBeCa making for a visible display of force by the Trump administration in the streets of Manhattan. News of the raid spread quickly on social media, leading protesters to show up and chase some of the federal agents down Lafayette Street as they traveled to the ICE offices at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan. More federal agents showed up in tactical gear, along with an armored vehicle, leading to a chaotic scene as agents pushed back protesters. Ms. McLaughlin said the crowd “became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties, including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement.” The raid began about 3:20 p.m., when federal agents — their faces covered, and many with vests that said Homeland Security Investigations — emerged from unmarked vehicles on Lispenard Street, just south of Canal Street, surprising passers-by; some cursed the agents and pulled out phones to record the events. The officers, from an array of federal agencies, detained several men who were standing on Church and Lispenard Streets, asking for their IDs and whisking them away into vans parked nearby, according to witnesses. onlan Thompson, 30, a photographer who works at a studio on Broadway who saw the vans pull up, said he did not believe any of the men detained were selling goods. Many, he said, were just sitting on a street corner, smoking cigarettes. “These men, they are just grabbing people, putting them in cuffs,” said Kaden Cummings, 23, who witnessed the arrests. “Nobody’s identifying themselves, explaining. There’s no due process going on. It’s just straight to the back of a van if you’re African on Canal.” Mor Ndiaye, 38, was one of the men at Church and Canal Streets when the agents showed up. He said a group of agents had surrounded him, pushed him to the ground — wounding his knee — and handcuffed him. “They arrested me,” said Mr. Ndiaye, who told them he was from Senegal and had been in the United States for 20 years. “They asked me if I’m legal, so I gave them my ID. They checked and then they let me go. They put me down, and I’m like, ‘What are you looking for?’” USA Today [10/21/2025 8:11 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 67103K] reports that video obtained by USA TODAY showed an armored Department of Homeland Security vehicle driving down Lafayette Street, from the direction of Canal, toward a Manhattan federal building, which houses immigration court and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding area. Protesters are seen screaming at marching agents as they shove people out of the way to make way for the vehicle. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS, said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies conducted a "targeted, intelligence-driven operation on Canal Street" that "focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods.” Canal Street is a common area where people sell clothing, accessories and food on heavily congested sidewalks. Agencies also included FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, IRS Criminal Investigations and Customs and Border Protection, she said. "During this law enforcement operation, rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement," McLaughlin said in a statement. At least one person was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a federal officer, she said, adding more details would soon be available on people arrested. Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, said he saw agents initially detaining African vendors on the street and putting them in unmarked vehicles. Agents refused to answer questions about who was being taken into custody, or whether agents had judicial warrants to arrest them, Awawdeh said. Then, as advocates and bystanders began gathering, dozens of agents swarmed the area along with the military vehicle, he said. Agents used batons and mace on demonstrators. "If they’re trying to give us a warning shot, New Yorkers are ready to fight for one another, and peacefully fight for one another," Awawdeh told USA TODAY in a phone call from the scene. "We’re going to fight for our democracy, because that’s what this is coming down to." [Editorial note: consult video at source link] ABC News [10/21/2025 7:06 PM, Luke Barr and Meredith Deliso, 30493K] reports that in response to protests, senior administration officials from City Hall went to the scene to monitor the ongoing situation. "We have learned about the federal law enforcement action on Canal Street in Manhattan this afternoon and are gathering more details. We never cooperate with federal law enforcement on civil deportation matters, in accordance with local laws, and have no involvement in this matter," a spokesperson for City Hall said in a statement to ABC News. "Mayor Adams has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue the American Dream should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals," the statement added.

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CBS New York [10/21/2025 1:01 PM, Staff, 39474K] reports Mahmoud Khalil appeared Tuesday in a federal appeals court in Philadelphia as he continues to challenge a deportation case brought by President Donald Trump’s administration over his pro-Palestinian activism at Columbia University. The hearing before the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals came as the government seeks to overturn a lower court order granting Khalil’s June release from a Louisiana immigration jail. Khalil’s attorneys have asked the three-judge panel to affirm the district court’s ruling, which prevents federal authorities from detaining him again and beginning the deportation process. Drew Ensign, an attorney for the government, countered that the lower court judge overstepped his authority and that the case should be left to the immigration judge in Louisiana. "All of this is being conducted in an improper forum," Ensign said. "So that should be a full stop.” An immigration judge last month ruled that Khalil could be deported, though the case is now under review by a separate appeal board. Khalil, who is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen, has vowed to continue advocating for Palestinians as his case plays out. A magistrate judge recently permitted him to travel across the country for rallies and other events.

AP [10/21/2025 3:10 PM, Mike Heuer, 2416K] reports Pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil must wait several days or weeks for a federal appellate court to decide whether the federal government can detain him while he appeals a deportation order. Khalil and his legal team argued against his continued detainment before the appellate court on Tuesday after a federal district court ruled the federal government must release him from custody while he appeals his deportation order. "They know they don’t have a case against me," Khalil told media after Tuesday’s hearing. "We will keep fighting the legal fight until the end," he added. "And we are fairly confident that we will prevail at the end.” Khalil accused the Trump administration of "being cruel" and trying to "break me.” "The government tried to put me in prison and disappear me," he said. "The legal system vindicated me.” Khalil is a citizen of Syria, but his wife and recently born child are U.S. citizens. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested him on March 8 outside a Columbia University housing facility. He was held at a Louisiana detention center until June, when a judge ordered his release pending the outcome of his immigration case, which the Trump administration appealed. "The Trump administration is still trying to bring me back to detention and block the federal court in New Jersey from reviewing my case," Khalil said Tuesday in an American Civil Liberties Union news release. The ACLU is among organizations representing Khalil and that accuse the Trump administration of targeting pro-Palestinian students at Columbia and elsewhere with deportation to silence them in violation of the First Amendment.

ABC News [10/21/2025 6:20 PM, Ely Brown and Nadine El-Bawab, 30493K] reports Mahmoud Khalil accused the Trump administration of trying to detain him again by using immigration court as a so-called "kangaroo court ... because they know they can control the process.” The pro-Palestinian activist’s comments to reporters on Tuesday came after his attorneys appeared before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over his habeas corpus petition challenging the legality of his detention. A lower court ruling has blocked the government from removing him from the United States. Khalil, a green card holder married to an American citizen, was arrested by ICE agents in New York City in March. At the time of his arrest, ICE agents told Khalil that he was being detained because his student visa had been revoked. He told officers he was a lawful permanent resident not on a student visa, but he was detained anyway. He was held in a Louisiana detention facility until a federal judge ordered his release in June. He has vowed to continue advocating for Palestinian rights. Khalil told reporters he is feeling "confident" that he will be vindicated in federal court. "The government lawyers were defending the indefensible … being literally detained for over 100 days for literally protesting a genocide. They don’t have anything other than that. That’s why they’re choosing a kangaroo court, which is the immigration court, because they know they can control that process," Khalil said.

Politico [10/21/2025 1:53 PM, Erica Orden, 13586K] reports a panel of federal appeals court judges appeared deeply skeptical Tuesday of the Trump administration’s effort to detain and deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil using an obscure provision of immigration law. A three-judge panel from the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments from government lawyers seeking to overturn a lower court’s order releasing Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., from detention in Louisiana and finding that the Trump administration’s application of the law was likely unconstitutional. The panel consisted of Judge Thomas Hardiman, appointed by former President George W. Bush; Judge Stephanos Bibas, appointed by President Donald Trump; and Judge Arianna Freeman, appointed by former President Joe Biden. Bibas, in particular, scoffed at an argument by a lawyer for the government that the lower-court judge, Michael Farbiarz, didn’t have jurisdiction over the case because Khalil’s lawyers hadn’t properly filed a petition for his release in the appropriate district. In the hours following his arrest on March 8, Khalil was moved several times over the course of a weekend, and his lawyers filed the petition in Manhattan based on inaccurate information provided by the government. The government lawyer, Drew Ensign, suggested Khalil’s lawyers should have waited to file the petition. “They’re dealing with a situation where, you know, immigrants have been spirited out of the country in a matter of a day or two,” Bibas said to Ensign. “Are they acting unreasonably?” After Ensign began to answer, Bibas interrupted him, saying: “I’m asking, should we adopt a rule that allows the executive to remove someone from the country in 24 to 48 hours and say there’s no jurisdiction anywhere until the courts open on Monday, by which time he’s on a plane?” Bibas continued: “If our rule says, wait until … the system is updated Monday morning, the executive might spirit the person out of the country over the weekend. Are you asking us to adopt a rule that says when there’s a lag in the database that’s all on their lawyers and then Monday morning — ‘Sayonara, sorry, he’s gone’?”

AP [10/22/2025 4:18 AM, Gerald Imray, 31753K] reports a Cuban man deported by the United States to the African nation of Eswatini is on a hunger strike at a maximum-security prison having been held there for more than three months without charge or access to legal counsel under the Trump administration’s third-country program, his U.S.-based lawyer said Wednesday. Roberto Mosquera del Peral was one of five men sent to the small kingdom in southern Africa in mid-July as part of the expanding U.S. deportation program to Africa, which has been criticized by rights groups and lawyers, who say deportees are being denied due process and exposed to rights abuses. Mosquera’s lawyer, Alma David, said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that he had been on a hunger strike for a week and there were serious concerns over his health. “My client is arbitrarily detained, and now his life is on the line,” said David. “I urge the Eswatini Correctional Services to provide Mr. Mosquera’s family and me with an immediate update on his condition and to ensure that he is receiving adequate medical attention. I demand that Mr. Mosquera be permitted to meet with his lawyer in Eswatini.”

Breitbart [10/21/2025 3:06 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is using several tools to pressure illegal aliens to self-deport from the United States, including via their pocketbooks. DHS officials revealed exclusively to Breitbart News that the agency has issued more than 31,600 fine notices to illegal aliens, totaling more than $9.6 billion. “Our message is clear: If you’re in the country illegally, leave now or face the consequences,” DHS’s Tricia McLaughlin told Breitbart News. Last month, DHS officials said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was on pace to deport almost 600,000 illegal aliens by the end of the first year of Trump’s second term. Some two million illegal aliens, DHS officials said, are no longer in the United States — 1.6 million of whom they said have self-deported and more than 400,000 of whom have been deported by ICE agents. Recently, in an exclusive interview with Breitbart News editor in chief Alex Marlow, McLaughlin said Americans can expect deportations to rapidly increase as ICE has hired about 5,000 new agents to help enforce federal immigration law.

NewsMax [10/21/2025 10:36 AM, James Morley III, 4109K] reports the Department of Homeland Security released a video showing an unidentified man calling for the assassination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, framed as a warning to those who threaten federal agents. In a video posted Monday, a man at a "No Kings" rally in Chicago yells into a microphone, "You gotta grab a gun, we gotta turn around the guns on this fascist system. The ICE agents gotta get shot and wiped out. The same machinery that’s on full display right there has to get wiped out.” DHS then included a clip of a man in front of a whiteboard giving a tongue-in-cheek analysis of what happens when people "f**k around." The clip then ends with a montage set to heavy music featuring body cam footage of an ICE raid. "During the Chicago NO KINGS rally this previous weekend, violent rioters called for the cold-blooded murder of ICE agents. This rioter, and his statements have been referred to the DOJ," the agency posted on X. The threat comes less than a month after a suspect allegedly attempted to inflict mass casualties on ICE officers at a facility in Dallas. Authorities say Joshua Jahn, 29, fired from a nearby rooftop at the ICE facility on Sept. 24, killing two detainees and critically wounding another in a transport van. Jahn later died by suicide. No ICE officials were injured. "There is no place in America for psychotic incitements of unlawful violence against ICE or CBP. To those who threaten violence against us: we will hunt you down, we will find you, and Justice will be served," DHS added.

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CNN [10/21/2025 5:03 PM, Lauren del Valle, 18595K] reports Rep. LaMonica McIver appeared in federal court Tuesday as she continues to fight a three-count indictment alleging she impeded and interfered with federal officers in a highly publicized incident at a Newark, New Jersey, ICE detention facility in May. Her attorneys have argued she’s being selectively and vindictively prosecuted because her political views are at odds with the Trump administration. Judge Jamel Semper did not rule from the bench on McIver’s motion to toss the charges, but he did ask prosecutors to push Department of Homeland Security officials to remove statements from their online platforms that allude to the incident involving McIver. The judge said it is prejudicial for "fact free" social media posts from government officials to be floating on the internet to potentially taint a jury pool while McIver’s prosecution is pending. DHS press releases related to the incident have been removed, according to prosecutor Mark McCarren who also said he’d try to get the social media posts removed. The congresswoman was indicted in June on the charges connected to her alleged attempt to physically thwart the arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, a Democrat, outside the facility.

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New York Times [10/21/2025 8:25 PM, Tracey Tully, 153395K] reports a federal judge overseeing a case involving a New Jersey congresswoman accused of assaulting immigration agents ordered the Justice Department on Tuesday to turn over additional videos as he reviews a defense request to dismiss the charges altogether. The judge, Jamel K. Semper, also told federal prosecutors to encourage the Department of Homeland Security to take down social media posts about the case that he described as prejudicial and “fact free.” “Make sure they are removed,” Judge Semper said, noting that lawyers for the congresswoman, LaMonica McIver, should “not be in a position to play Whac-a-Mole when there are government officials who are saying things that are not factual.”

AP [10/21/2025 4:45 PM, Mike Catalini, 19051K] reports a federal judge overseeing the Trump administration’s prosecution of U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver on charges she assaulted and impeded immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center told the government to remove social media posts he called "prejudicial" to the congresswoman. U.S. District Judge Jamel Semper on Tuesday heard pretrial arguments in the case brought by Republican President Donald Trump’s U.S. Justice Department against the Democratic congresswoman representing Newark, the state’s biggest city. Semper didn’t issue a ruling from the bench but told the government’s attorneys nine social media posts should be removed. The posts, which came from the Department of Homeland Security’s X account as well as the account for one of its spokespeople, referred to the May 9 visit by McIver and other members of Congress as "a reckless stunt by sanctuary politicians" and said the visit was not about oversight, a key point from the congresswoman and the other lawmakers who accompanied her to Newark’s Delaney Hall Detention Facility in May. "It’s not factual," Semper said. "The prejudicial nature of it is self-evident.” A message seeking a response from Homeland Security was sent Tuesday. McIver’s attorneys have argued the department’s posts could imperil her chances for a fair trial. The judge also told the government to turn over additional video footage to McIver after her attorneys told the court they had not received footage they knew existed but wasn’t turned over. He also said he would take time to review a motion from McIver’s attorneys to dismiss the case against her based on her right as a member of Congress to conduct oversight of the federal government. McIver, a Democrat, was charged by interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba, a Republican appointed by President Donald Trump, following the May 9 visit to Delaney Hall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the privately owned, 1,000-bed facility as a detention center. She has pleaded not guilty. "This process has not stopped me from doing my job," McIver said outside the courthouse on Tuesday.

FOX News [10/21/2025 12:05 PM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 40621K] reports a federal judge in Chicago said she will allow top officials, including Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, to be deposed after chemical agents were deployed during immigration operations in Chicago, potentially violating a temporary restraining order she had put in place. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, held an emergency hearing Monday over possible violations stemming from two incidents, according to multiple reports. Border Patrol official Kyle Harvick testified that agents used tear gas on Oct. 12 in Albany Park on the city’s North Side and again on Oct. 14 in the East Side neighborhood. Harvick argued the gas was deployed because those involved were not peacefully protesting but instead interfering with an active immigration enforcement operation. Harvick told the court that protesters in Albany Park were "actively resisting" by locking arms and blocking Border Patrol agents from leaving and that agents issued a verbal warning before deploying the gas. In the East Side incident, Harvick said people in the crowd began throwing objects at agents before gas was deployed. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Field Office Director Shawn Byers acknowledged he had not reviewed any use-of-force reports tied to an earlier September incident at the Broadview ICE Processing Center, even though his own Special Response Team (SRT) was involved.

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 5:49 PM, Steve Sadin, 4829K] reports members of the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operating in North Chicago are now more restricted in their execution of Operation Midway Blitz — President Donald Trump’s enhanced Chicago-area deportation effort. No longer can immigration officials use city resources, property, personnel or other assets as they try to apprehend undocumented immigrants in North Chicago based on an executive order issued by six-term Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. with those and other prohibitions. Barring federal immigration officials from using any city-owned property as a staging area for its activities, Rockingham’s order also keeps local police from detaining people based "solely" on civil immigration enforcement operations, according to the order.

AP [10/21/2025 1:20 PM, Tim Sullivan, 4K] reports that the music begins low and ominous, with the video showing searchlights skimming along a Chicago apartment building and heavily armed immigration agents storming inside. Guns are drawn. Unmarked cars fill the streets. Agents rappel from a Black Hawk helicopter. But quickly the soundtrack grows more stirring and the video — edited into a series of dramatic shots and released by the Department of Homeland Security days after the Sept. 30 raid — shows agents leading away shirtless men, their hands zip-tied behind their backs. Authorities said they were targeting the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, but only two of the 37 immigrants arrested were gang members. The others were in the country illegally, they said, including some with criminal histories. One U.S. citizen was arrested on an outstanding narcotics warrant. But the apartments of dozens of other U.S. citizens were also targeted, residents said, and at least a half-dozen Americans were held for hours. The immense show of force signaled a sharp escalation in the White House’s immigration crackdown and amplified tensions in a city already on edge. “To every criminal illegal alien: Darkness is no longer your ally,” Homeland Security said in a social media post accompanying the video, which racked up more than 6.4 million views. “We will find you.” But Tony Wilson, a third-floor resident born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, sees only horror in what happened.

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 6:43 PM, Madeline Buckley and Dan Petrella, 4829K] reports about 3 miles from the west suburban immigration processing center that has become a flashpoint for protests in recent weeks, a Cook County judge sat across from a woman who had been arrested there and ordered her to stay away from the Broadview facility. The 28-year-old woman is among the first wave of protesters arrested by state or local agencies to appear in county court after the state stepped in earlier this month in an attempt to help control the large and chaotic demonstrations that have seen federal agents deploy tear gas and other measures. So far, Illinois State Police, the Cook County sheriff’s office and the Broadview Police Department have arrested around 70 people at the protests, which have happened periodically since the September launch of "Operation Midwest Blitz." The majority of the initial charges have been for resisting arrest, misdemeanors that at least on paper could mean a short amount of time in custody. At least three cases have been filed as low-level felonies. At least four arrests are listed for battery or battery to a police officer, and other charges include disorderly conduct and disobeying a police officer. The majority of the arrests have been made by the Illinois State Police.

NewsMax [10/21/2025 2:03 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports that federal agents have arrested 11 violent criminal illegal aliens in Memphis — including gang members, child predators, and drug traffickers — just days after President Donald Trump launched a sweeping federal crackdown to "Make Memphis Safe Again," the Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday. The arrests are part of a broader operation Trump launched last month, when he signed a presidential memorandum deploying federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to the Tennessee city. The move followed his anti-crime initiative in Washington, D.C., which the administration said transformed the capital from a "nightmare of murder and crime" into one of the safest cities in America. Under the new order, the Memphis Safe Task Force was created to coordinate with Tennessee officials, share intelligence, and "restore public order." National Guard units began patrolling the streets on Oct. 10 in a city that has seen its murder rate soar to four times higher than Mexico City and 27 times higher than Havana, Cuba, according to DHS. "Memphis has suffered from historic levels of violent crime. No American should be afraid to walk down the streets in their own neighborhoods," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Under President Trump’s leadership, DHS and the Department of Justice are working hand in glove to change that. The Trump administration will make America safe again."

Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 2:11 PM, Staff, 1394K] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ERO) officers working with federal law enforcement partners apprehended another record number of illegal foreign nationals, 1,406, in Boston in a targeted immigration enforcement sweep. In Operation Patriot 2.0, ICE ERO-Boston and ICE Homeland Security Investigations-New England officers led a multi-agency law enforcement effort. They targeted transnational organized crime, foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs), transnational gangs, convicted felons and foreign fugitives in a several week operation. FBI, DEA, ATF, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Marshals Service agents were involved. Patriot 2.0 targeted FTO members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, violent gang members, convicted felons, including murderers, rapists, sex offenders and drug traffickers, and foreign fugitives with foreign arrest warrants or Interpol Red Notices wanted in several countries. ICE highlighted arrests of violent offenders, including citizens of Brazil, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Laos, Mexico and Turkey. The operation "exposed the grave consequences of sanctuary policies and the urgent need for local leaders to prioritize their constituents’ safety over politics," Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said. "Every illegal alien we arrested during the operation was breaking U.S. immigration law, and hundreds were violent criminals who should never have been allowed to roam freely in our communities."

Daily Wire [10/21/2025 8:24 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports that a Tren de Aragua gang member who was seen in a viral video last year, armed and forcing his way into an Aurora, Colorado, apartment complex taken over by the gang, was handed a 12-year prison sentence. Niefred Serpa-Acosta was involved in the armed break-in at the Edge at Lowry apartments on Aug. 18, 2024, as well as a brutal kidnapping of a couple at the complex the following December. An Arapahoe County judge sentenced Serpa-Acosta last month after he entered a guilty plea, according to 9 News. Minutes after the armed gang members stormed the apartments, a fatal shooting took place, according to CBS Denver. The Venezuelan gang member, however, successfully fled the scene. Police in Aurora later captured Serpa-Acosta, who was dressed as a woman and wearing a wig, for his role in the couple’s kidnapping which the woman was pistol-whipped and the husband was stabbed in the thigh. He later pleaded guilty to a burglary with intent to menace and assault the people inside the apartment and to using a weapon during the attack, according to 9 News. It is likely that Serpa-Acosta couldn’t be deported because the Biden administration was unable to force Venezuela to accept removal flights. Shortly after entering office, the Trump administration brokered a deal with the Maduro regime to resume the flights. Serpa-Acosta also admitted his gang ties to the feds and had the organization’s signature tattoos, the sources said.

San Diego Union Tribune [10/21/2025 12:40 PM, Amanda Watford, 1538K] reports that President Donald Trump has argued that he needs to deploy National Guard troops across state lines to protect federal personnel and property or to support overwhelmed local law enforcement in cities he claims are "overrun" by crime. But a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and federal crime data shows that Trump’s deployments and proposals have not focused on the nation’s most violent cities. Of the 10 cities population 250,000 or more with the highest violent crime rates, Trump has sent National Guard troops to just one: Memphis, Tennessee. He has proposed action in just three other top-10 cities: Oakland, California; Baltimore; and St. Louis. All, along with Memphis, are Democratic-led cities. Several other cities with high violent crime rates — including Milwaukee; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Minneapolis — also are led by Democrats but have not been targeted. Two other Democratic-led cities with high violent crime rates, Cleveland and Kansas City, Missouri, are in states with Republican governors and likewise haven’t been targeted. Instead, the administration has directed more attention toward larger, Democratic-run cities in Democratic-led states such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, along with Washington, D.C., where violent crime rates are lower than in many other major cities.

New York Times [10/21/2025 9:32 PM, Charlie Savage, 153395K] reports Prosecutors in Ecuador have decided not to charge a man who survived a U.S. military attack in the Caribbean Sea last week and have already released him, according to an Ecuadorean official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The outcome came despite the Trump administration’s stance that people suspected of smuggling drugs from South America are “terrorists” who pose such a severe danger to the United States that it is lawful for the American military to summarily kill them as if they were soldiers in a war. In announcing that he was repatriating the man, Mr. Trump declared on Saturday that he would face “detention and prosecution.” The man was one of two survivors of a U.S. military strike on a semi-submersible vessel on Thursday. The strike killed two people, Mr. Trump later said, but the Navy rescued two other men from the sea afterward and detained them aboard a warship while deciding what to do with them. The administration opted to repatriate them to their home countries, one to Colombia and one to Ecuador, rather than bring them to the United States for prosecution or hold them in longer-term detention at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

CBS News [10/21/2025 8:29 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports Ecuador has released a man who survived a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-trafficking submersible vessel, the attorney general’s office said Monday, adding that the authorities had found no evidence that he had committed a crime. A government official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations. A U.S. Navy helicopter transported the survivors of the attack from the semi-submersible to a Navy ship, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News on Friday. The attack also killed two crew members. U.S. authorities repatriated the Ecuadorian man, and the Ecuadorian attorney general’s office said in a statement there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution" against him, and therefore "he could not be detained." The man had "no pending cases against him," it added. A Colombian citizen also survived and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to Colombia, where Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said he "arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator." Authorities there said he would face prosecution. The Daily Caller [10/21/2025 6:30 PM, Hailey Gomez, 835K] reports that following his return home, Ecuador’s attorney general’s office told CBS News there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution" against him and therefore he "could not be detained." The outlet also reported there were no pending cases against Tufiño. In his original post Saturday, Trump applauded the strike, writing that there were "four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel." The president also shared a video showing the moment the submarine was struck while out at sea. "It was my great honor to destroy a very large DRUG-CARRYING SUBMARINE that was navigating towards the United States on a well known narcotrafficking transit route. U.S. Intelligence confirmed this vessel was loaded up with mostly Fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics. There were four known narcoterrorists on board the vessel. Two of the terrorists were killed," Trump wrote.

The Hill [10/21/2025 1:00 PM, Staff, 12595K] reports that the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control is holding a hearing Tuesday afternoon looking into the alleged ties between Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, and Latin American drug trafficking operations. The hearing is expected to examine the Lebanese militant group’s reported financial support of the movement of drugs through Latin America and the U.S. government’s response to such threats, according to the panel. It comes as the Trump administration has ramped up efforts to quash drug trafficking in the Caribbean with military intervention. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo 51 [10/21/2025 1:59 PM, Staff, 182K] reports that the United States government announced on Sunday that it killed three suspected drug traffickers linked to the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group in a new attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea, the seventh since it declared an "armed conflict" against drug traffickers. "On October 17, at the direction of President Trump, the War Department conducted a lethal kinetic attack against a vessel affiliated with the National Liberation Army (ELN), a designated terrorist organization, operating in the Southern Command area of responsibility," said U.S. War Department Secretary Pete Hegseth. The vessel was traveling "a known drug trafficking route and was transporting substantial quantities of narcotics," Hegseth added. But what is the ELN, and what is its history in Colombia? Here’s what we tell you. According to the nonprofit organization InSight Crime, which investigates and analyzes organized crime worldwide, "the National Liberation Army (ELN) is Colombia’s last true insurgency." It was formed in the 1960s. The movement, influenced by the Cuban revolution, has expanded to Venezuela in recent years and was "focused on kidnapping, extortion, and attacks on oil infrastructure. Although it avoided drug trafficking for decades, it has become deeply involved in international drug trafficking in recent years," according to InSight Crime. Colombian President Gustavo Petro proposed resuming peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group in mid-October, after months of complete breakdown in negotiations due to the escalating violence in Catatumbo, the border area with Venezuela.

Daily Caller [10/21/2025 11:00 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports the Trump administration reached a bilateral agreement intended to dissuade illegal immigration to the United States and establish more destinations for asylum seekers. The State Department signed a Safe Third Country agreement with Belize, according to a Monday announcement from the Central American country’s government. While more details are to be announced, the deal will allow asylum seekers in the U.S. — many of whom entered unlawfully — to resettle in Belize and pursue their cases there. "Thank you to the Government of Belize for signing a Safe Third Country Agreement — an important milestone in ending illegal immigration, shutting down abuse of our nation’s asylum system, and reinforcing our shared commitment to tackling challenges in our hemisphere together," the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs stated Monday in a social media post. The deal follows an unprecedented campaign by the Trump administration to arrest and deport illegal migrants across the country. As the immigration crackdown continues, the White House has pressured a number of foreign governments to become a landing spot for many of the deportees who refuse or are unable to return to their home countries. Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, over half a million illegal migrants have been deported and roughly 485,000 illegal migrants have been arrested by federal immigration officials, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Facing forced removal and financial incentives dangled by the Trump administration, more than two million illegal migrants have chosen to voluntarily depart.

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AP [10/21/2025 9:06 AM, Megan Janetsky, 852K]
Univision [10/21/2025 6:13 AM, Staff, 5004K]

FOX News [10/21/2025 9:28 AM, Morgan Phillips, 40621K] reports the United States has significantly increased its military presence across the Caribbean under U.S. Southern Command, deploying bombers, warships and Marines as part of an expanded campaign targeting drug-trafficking and so-called "narco-terrorist" networks operating near Venezuela. In addition to seven strikes on boats believed to be carrying narcotics, the Trump administration has built up thousands of troops in the region. War Secretary Pete Hegseth this month announced the creation of a new counter-narcotics Joint Task Force operating near Southern Command, saying it was established "to crush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe." The task force will coordinate air, maritime and special-operations missions across the region — marking the largest U.S. military effort in the Caribbean in decades. U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers and Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II fighters recently conducted a bomber attack demonstration over the region — a show of force captured in War Department imagery. For four hours on Wednesday, B-52s from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana patrolled near Venezuela’s coast in a display of military might aimed at Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. At least seven U.S. Navy warships and one nuclear submarine are believed to be patrolling the region.

AP [10/21/2025 2:50 PM, Konstantin Toropin, 182K] reports the U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off the coast of Venezuela since this summer, when the Trump administration first began to shift assets to the region as part of its so-called war against narcoterrorism. The Navy has eight warships in the region — three destroyers, three amphibious assault ships, a cruiser and a smaller littoral combat ship that’s designed for coastal waters. The three amphibious assault ships make up an amphibious readiness group and carry an expeditionary unit of Marines. As a result, those ships also have on board a variety of Marine helicopters, Osprey tilt rotor aircraft and Harrier jets that have the capability of either transporting large numbers of Marines or striking targets on land and sea. A squadron of advanced U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II jets have been sent to an airstrip in Puerto Rico. The planes were first spotted landing on the island territory in mid-September. MQ-9 Reaper Air Force drones, capable of flying long distances and carrying up to eight laser-guided missiles, also have been spotted operating out of Puerto Rico by commercial satellites and military watchers, as well as photojournalists, around the same time. All told, there are more than 6,000 sailors and Marines that are now operating in the region based on the ships that have been confirmed by defense officials.

AP [10/21/2025 3:51 PM, Ben Finley and Konstantin Toropin, 31753K] reports in less than two months, President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth say the U.S. military has killed 32 people in seven strikes against drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea. Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. He has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terror after the Sept. 11 attacks. But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president’s power. The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmakers have raised questions about the lack of hard evidence to justify the killings. Meanwhile, an unusual naval buildup off South America has stoked fears of invasion in Venezuela and speculation that Trump could try to topple President Nicolás Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S.

New York Times [10/21/2025 6:27 PM, Charlie Savage, 135475K] reports tensions between the United States and Venezuela continue to escalate as the U.S. military keeps attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea that it says are suspected of smuggling drugs for cartels and criminal gangs the Trump administration has labeled terrorists. The administration has focused its rhetoric on President Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, who was indicted on drug trafficking charges in the United States in 2020. President Trump has authorized C.I.A. operations in Venezuela, and the administration is weighing land strikes as some of his aides push to oust Mr. Maduro. But the boat attacks have not been limited to Venezuelan targets, and turbulence over them is spreading to other countries, especially Colombia. On Mr. Trump’s orders, the U.S. military began attacking vessels in the Caribbean in early September. The Trump administration has maintained that the operations have taken place in international waters and that the passengers were members of drug cartels who it says were trafficking narcotics. It has cited intelligence but not offered evidence for its accusations.

Reuters [10/21/2025 5:21 PM, Luis Jaime Acosta, 36480K] reports Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels on Tuesday denied any involvement with an alleged drug boat destroyed by U.S. in the Caribbean. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth claimed over the weekend that a vessel bombed by U.S. forces in the Caribbean on Friday belonged to the ELN, though Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said it was the property of a "humble family." Petro has objected to the U.S. military’s strikes against vessels in the Caribbean, which have killed dozens of people and inflamed tensions in the region. Many legal experts and human rights activists have also condemned the military actions. In response, Trump has accused Petro, without evidence, of being a "illegal drug leader" and threatened higher tariffs on Colombia and a cut to all U.S. funding for the country.

Reuters [10/21/2025 12:14 PM, Patricia Zengerle and Nelson Bocanegra, 45746K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat this week to slap Colombia with tariffs over its drug policy marked a sharp escalation in his feud with a country that has long been one of Washington’s closest Latin American allies. It was also a rejection of an established idea about countering the narcotics business: that free trade can make legitimate exports more attractive than drug trafficking. On Sunday, Trump said he would raise tariffs and stop financial aid for Bogota, and Colombia said on Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Washington. Most imports from Colombia to the U.S. currently face a 10% tariff, the baseline level Trump has imposed on many countries. Trump also called leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro an "illegal drug leader," after Petro accused the U.S. of committing "murder" and said the U.S. had fired at a boat off Venezuela that belonged to a "humble family," not a rebel group.

Reuters [10/21/2025 8:57 AM, Staff, 36480K] reports a meeting on Monday night between Colombia President Gustavo Petro, U.S. charge d’affaires John McNamara and Colombia’s recalled ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Garcia-Pena was a first step toward healing a bilateral impasse, Colombia’s foreign ministry said early on Tuesday. However, McNamara made clear that whether the U.S. imposes higher tariffs on Colombia, as threatened by President Donald Trump over the weekend, is Trump’s exclusive decision, the ministry added in a statement. Colombia recalled Garcia-Pena from Washington after U.S. Trump said he would raise tariffs on the South American nation and stop all payments to it, intensifying a feud stemming from U.S. military strikes on vessels allegedly transporting drugs. Trump also called leftist Petro an "illegal drug leader" on Sunday, which Petro’s government described as offensive, marking a new low in fraught relations between Bogota and Washington. Petro has objected to the U.S. military’s strikes against vessels in the Caribbean, which have killed dozens of people and inflamed tensions in the region. Many legal experts and human rights activists have also condemned the military actions. It is desirable for the two countries to continue to coordinate in the fight against illegal drugs, the foreign ministry statement added, and Petro reiterated Colombia’s commitment to expanding substitution programs for illegal crops like coca during the "long, frank and constructive" meeting.

AP [10/21/2025 9:07 PM, Astrid Suarez, 4K] reports Colombia was optimistic Tuesday in reporting the results of a meeting held earlier on President Gustavo Petro and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Colombia, John T. MacNamara, amid bilateral tension that worsened until the withdrawal of aid to Colombia and a threat of tariffs. “Both countries agreed that this is the first rapprochement to address the current impasse in bilateral relations and that new meetings will be held with the aim of reaching a prompt solution,” the ministry said in a statement. The meeting at the presidential palace in Bogotá was also present the ambassador to the United States, Daniel García-Peña Jaramillo, who was called to consultations for Petro in protest of the sayings of President Donald Trump, who called the Colombian a “drug kingpin”, saying that he “does nothing to stop” the production of narcotics in his country. Trump’s criticism came after Petro questioned the U.S. military deployment in Caribbean sea waters, saying deadly attacks on drug-carrying boats constitute a “murder,” in which he suspects Colombians have fallen. A Colombian was repatriated after surviving the Oct. 16 attack to be prosecuted in his country for drug trafficking. “The missiles that fall in the Caribbean are the same ones that fall in Gaza,” Petro said Tuesday during a council of ministers released by the presidency. The U.S. said the latest attack on Friday on a ship carrying drugs and belonging to the National Liberation Army (ELN). However, the guerrillas denied Tuesday in a statement that the vessel belonged to them: “The ELN does not and will not have any vessels linked to drug trafficking activities.” The guerrillas have held that argument for years, despite the fact that the Colombian authorities make constant anti-narcotic operations against them.

Washington Examiner [10/22/2025 12:03 AM, David Zimmermann, 1394K] reports Colombian President Gustavo Petro suggested that Tuesday’s acquittal of the country’s former president, Alvaro Uribe, could lead to sanctions from the United States, given the Trump administration’s support for the right-wing leader. Alvaro had been found guilty in July of bribing a paramilitary witness to lie about alleged links to him, but a Colombian appeals court overturned that conviction. Petro decried the latest ruling on social media, accusing Uribe of being aligned with Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary groups. "This is how the history of paramilitary governance in Colombia is covered up — that is, the history of the politicians who came to power in alliance with drug trafficking and unleashed genocide in Colombia," the left-wing president said on X, seemingly referencing the systematic extermination of the Patriotic Union party by drug cartels, paramilitary groups, and state agents in the 1980s and 1990s. "Now Trump, allied with these politicians and with Uribe, will seek to sanction the president who denounced, throughout his life, the alliances between Colombian political power and paramilitary drug trafficking in Colombia," Petro added, "and he does so with the help of those who helped paramilitarism in the country."

Washington Post [10/22/2025 5:01 AM, Karen DeYoung, Warren P. Strobel, Susannah George, and Ana Vanessa Herrero, 32099K] reports by his own count, President Donald Trump has “settled” eight wars, from the Gaza Strip to Southeast Asia, during his nine months in office. But in a place much closer to home, he now seems determined to start one. With dozens of warships and planes, and thousands of U.S. troops newly deployed to the Caribbean Sea, Trump has declared an “armed conflict” with drug trafficking groups he has designated international terrorists. U.S. air attacks have blown up at least seven boats that Trump has charged were carrying drugs to the United States in international waters from Venezuela, in the process killing dozens of alleged traffickers. He has also signed a “finding,” or authorization document, for CIA covert operations in Venezuela, and charged its president, Nicolás Maduro, with being illegitimately elected and heading a narcotics cartel. “I authorized it for two reasons,” Trump said last week. Venezuela, he said, was the “worst abuser” of “open border” policies under the Biden administration, emptying its “prisons, mental institutions, insane asylums” of migrants to the United States. “The other thing is drugs. ... We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela.” Asked if he had authorized the CIA to “take out” Maduro, Trump said it would be “a ridiculous question for me to answer. But I think Venezuela is feeling the heat.” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly referred to Trump’s public statements in response to a request for clarification of his policy in the region. She added in an email that “these decisive strikes have been against designated narcoterrorists bringing deadly poison to our shores and the President will continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.”

Politico [10/21/2025 4:28 PM, Eric Bazail-Eimil and Diana Nerozzi, 13586K] reports a newfound alliance between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive actions against Venezuela, according to three people familiar with internal conversations. The two top officials — who previously disagreed about how combative to get with the Venezuelan government — have coalesced around the current no-limits approach to combating drug trafficking, the people said. All were granted anonymity to speak freely about sensitive conversations within the Trump administration. That’s a big win for Rubio, who has long advocated for increasing political and economic pressure to force out Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Miller had previously been seen as more focused on keeping relations with Venezuela stable enough to ensure the country accepts deportation flights from the United States. One of the people said that since the summer, Miller has embraced the perspective of Rubio and the Venezuelan opposition — that Maduro is a dangerous drug kingpin. The seven U.S. military strikes in the international waters off Venezuela, which have killed dozens of people the U.S. accuses of participating in drug trafficking, represent the most provocative shows of force against the Maduro government to date. “There was the conventional wisdom early in the administration that Marco Rubio was marginalized and that the State Department might not be in the driver’s seat. And that’s clearly not the case with regard to Venezuela policy,” said Benjamin Gedan, who worked on South America policy on the Obama administration National Security Council. “It’s been really surprising to see an increase in tensions with Venezuela and it’s really hard to explain that other than the influence of Marco Rubio.” Miller and Rubio are now moving in lockstep on Venezuela, the three people said. They’re both “on the same page” about the U.S. government approaching the South American petrostate as akin to a transnational criminal group, said another one of the people familiar with discussions. Together, they’ve managed to sideline a third group: those who want to preserve some access for oil majors to the petrostate’s vast energy reserves and generally normalize relations with Caracas. That group had pushed for diplomatic engagement with Caracas. Now many in that corner are resigned to the idea that Trump will hit Venezuela hard. That leaves few voices in the administration who might argue against further escalation toward Venezuela in the coming months. The administration has already said it would consider striking cartels on Venezuelan soil, and Trump confirmed Thursday that he had authorized intelligence agencies to conduct covert operations in the country, ostensibly to further destabilize the Maduro regime.

Politico [10/21/2025 11:15 AM, Kyle Cheney, 13586K] reports a man pardoned by President Donald Trump for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 was arrested last week for allegedly threatening to kill House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Christopher Moynihan, who was among a small group of Jan. 6 rioters convicted for breaching the Senate floor and rifling through senators’ desks, was arrested by New York State Police after a “thorough investigation,” which authorities say began with an anonymous tip to the FBI. Court records reflect that the FBI’s tipster told the bureau that on Oct. 17, Moynihan “made statements regarding the assassination of Congressman Hakeem Jeffries” and that he planned to carry out the attack “in a few days,” while the Democratic House leader was in New York. The person told the FBI that Moynihan described the motivation for the plot as “the future” and voiced concern that the man given clemency by Trump had been abusing drugs and expressing increasing “homicidal ideations.” Investigators also indicated they had reason to believe Moynihan owned or had access to a firearm. Moynihan’s Oct. 19 arrest was first reported by CBS News. He faces a charge of making a terroristic threat against a member of Congress. Jeffries praised state and federal authorities for apprehending Moynihan and lamented Trump’s blanket pardon. “Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned,” Jeffries said in a statement. Moynihan was part of a group of Trump supporters who entered the Capitol early Jan. 6, reaching the Senate chamber just minutes after lawmakers evacuated. Charging documents from that case say Moynihan could be seen on video reviewing papers on senators’ desks and saying, “There’s got to be something we can use against these fucking scumbags.” He then stood on the Senate dais — where then-Vice President Mike Pence had stood just minutes earlier — alongside “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley and others who formed the early vanguard of the Jan. 6 mob. Moynihan was convicted in 2022 at a bench trial by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, who later sentenced him to 21 months in prison for obstructing Congress’ proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021. Cooper released him from prison a year into his sentence after the Supreme Court agreed to review questions about the way obstruction charges had been applied to those who attacked the Capitol. In reaching the decision, Cooper emphasized that he believed Moynihan “would not present a danger to the community” upon release. After Trump’s inauguration, Moynihan’s case was dismissed altogether, following Trump’s grant of clemency to those who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [10/21/2025 12:57 PM, Staff, 30493K]
CBS News [10/21/2025 11:06 AM, Scott MacFarlane, 39474K]
Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 12:23 PM, Lauren Green, 1394K]

Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 3:21 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1394K] reports the former Justice Department employee who was arrested for throwing a Subway sandwich at an immigration enforcement officer in August asked for his federal assault charge to be dismissed. Sean Charles Dunn’s attorneys said the government’s case against the man is "over conduct so minor it would be comical," and claimed they only chose to prosecute due to his criticism of the government. Prosecutors previously failed to secure a felony assault charge against Dunn, but managed to levy a misdemeanor assault charge against him.

FOX News [10/21/2025 9:00 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] Video: HERE reports House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., is sounding alarms to the Trump administration after a man allegedly involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack in Israel was arrested in Louisiana. Scalise led Republicans in his state’s delegation, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem about the case of Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi. The lawmakers asked for a briefing from Bayou State lawmakers as well as information on any other potential terror threats, which they blamed on the record surge of illegal immigrants coming across the U.S.-Mexico border under former President Joe Biden. "We appreciate the job you are doing to keep Americans safe here at home and write you as members of the Louisiana congressional delegation to request a briefing regarding how Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi came to reside in Lafayette, Louisiana, after entering the United States in 2024 during the Biden administration’s dangerous open borders policy," Scalise’s letter said. He cited public information and reports that "Al-Muhtadi is alleged to have participated in the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel and to have entered the United States the following year after falsely concealing his affiliations on his visa application." "He was later located living and working in Lafayette, Louisiana, before being taken into custody by federal authorities," the lawmakers wrote. "We would also like to be informed about any additional terrorist threats in our state due to President Biden’s dangerous and deadly immigration policies." The letter is also signed by Louisiana Republican Reps. Julia Letlow and Clay Higgins, as well as Sens. John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 7:10 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 1394K] reports a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, in a 2-1 preliminary decision, ruled that the threat to federal property is sufficient grounds for President Donald Trump to federalize state National Guard troops and deploy them to Portland, Oregon. “After considering the record at this preliminary stage, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3), which authorizes the federalization of the National Guard when ‘the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,’” two judges appointed by President Trump wrote, saying the Trump relied on an “assessment of the facts and law within a ‘range of honest judgment.’” But the effect of the ruling is delayed while the case is considered by nine judges of the court. "We thus conclude that Defendants [Trump, Hegseth, Noem] are likely to succeed on the merits of their appeal, and that the other stay factors weigh in their favor," wrote 9th Circuit Judges Ryan Nelson and Bridget Bade. In dissent, Clinton appointee Susan Graber wrote, "Considering the dwindling size of the largely peaceful protests outside the Lindquist Building, where ICE is headquarters, the facts of this case come nowhere near justifying the conclusion that the President was unable on September 27 to execute the laws" and that the government’s case rested on a set of circumstances that no longer exists. "It is illogical to assert that, because an emergency existed three months ago, the same emergency exists today," Graber wrote. "A pot of tepid water is not a pot of boiling water, and it cannot hurt you, even if it was boiling three hours earlier."

Reported similarly:
(B) Oregon News Now Midday [10/21/2025 2:05 PM, Staff]

FOX News [10/21/2025 4:31 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Acting I.C.E. Director Todd Lyons says he is worried violence against agents might continue and gives his thoughts on a recent appeals court ruling in Oregon.

CNN [10/21/2025 4:34 PM, John Fritze, 18595K] reports President Donald Trump is leaning on a new appeals court ruling that endorsed his deployment of the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, as he urges the Supreme Court to let his administration carry out a similar effort in Chicago. Describing those protesting the administration in Chicago as “rioters” who are leading a “violent resistance,” the Trump administration told the justices Tuesday that its decision to deploy the National Guard is unreviewable by courts or – at the very least – is entitled to great deference. In one of the most significant emergency cases involving the second Trump administration to reach the Supreme Court so far, the justices are reviewing whether lower federal courts were correct to block Trump from deploying hundreds of guard members to an ICE facility in Chicago’s suburbs. The Supreme Court is likely to hand down a decision in the Chicago case quickly, potentially within a few days.
Trump’s broader campaign to deploy the guard on US soil was buoyed this week when a divided three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit said the president was entitled to deference when making decisions about when such deployments are necessary. The full 9th Circuit is weighing whether to reconsider that decision. Though the case before the Supreme Court is focused on Chicago, the decision will almost certainly spill over into other litigation playing out as Trump seeks to send the National Guard to multiple US cities.

FOX News [10/21/2025 9:17 AM, Preston Mizell, 40621K] reports Secretary Marco Rubio’s Department of State unleashed on Democrats over the federal government shutdown and revealed the hypocrisy of former State Department officials, noting how detrimental a shutdown is for the country. The federal government is nearing three weeks of being shut down as many government employees received a partial paycheck during the last pay period and face a full missed paycheck in the coming days. "President Trump is delivering historic peace deal after historic peace deal," State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital. "Congressional Democrats are delivering a shutdown that undermines our national security.” The holdup in Washington lies in the Senate, where Democrats are insistent that Republicans undo Medicaid policy changes that were signed into law under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Senate Democrats will have to break ranks with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in order to break the 60-vote threshold required to pass a continuing resolution which would reopen the government through late November. "Congressional Democrats have decided to jeopardize our national security with their politically motivated government shutdown," a State Department official told Fox News Digital. "Republicans on Capitol Hill are prepared to move forward with a clean continuing resolution, but instead, Democrats are trying to exploit this moment to push their political pet projects like healthcare for illegal immigrants, continuing wasteful COVID payments, and harmful climate extremism," the State Department official added.

FOX News [10/21/2025 11:14 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie on Monday rejected President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to The City by the Bay after days of touting his administration’s public safety progress. Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that the National Guard is headed to San Francisco next as the Trump administration continues to crackdown on crime across the U.S., including in Chicago, Memphis and Portland. "I am deeply grateful to the members of our military for their service to our country, but the National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers — and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer," Lurie said. Lurie announced his rejection of the National Guard deployment in an Instagram Reel on Monday. He ousted a more than six-year incumbent when he was elected mayor in 2024 and has since made strategic use of social media to communicate his agenda, which has public safety at the forefront. "As your mayor, my top priority every single day is keeping San Francisco safe. With the support of local law enforcement, community leaders, and the appropriate federal law enforcement partners, we’re achieving that goal without compromising our values or our laws," Lurie said, touting that violent crime is down and the "city is moving in the right direction." Lurie said the city welcomes stronger coordination with government agencies to arrest drug dealers and disrupt drug markets, but since the National Guard "does not have the authority" to arrest drug dealers, he said their presence will do nothing to stop the flow of fentanyl.

Reported similarly:
AP [10/21/2025 4:54 PM, Olga R. Rodriguez, Janie Har]

Axios [10/21/2025 6:55 PM, Nadia Lopez and Geoff Ziezulewicz, 12972K] reports San Francisco will sue if President Trump deploys the National Guard to the city, City Attorney David Chiu said Tuesday. San Francisco joins a growing list of Democrat-led cities pushing back on Trump’s plans to deploy federal troops. Chiu issued the warning after announcing San Francisco would support a coalition of cities and elected leaders backing legal challenges to the federal deployment in Chicago. "Should President Trump make good on his ridiculous threats to send the military to San Francisco, our city is prepared — and my office is prepared — to take the necessary legal action to defend San Francisco," Chiu said in a statement. Chiu’s comments follow recent remarks from Trump reiterating his call to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s announcement Monday that ICE agents will be sent to the city. Mayor Daniel Lurie said police are equipped to manage public safety and the opioid crisis without federal help. "The National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers — and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to get fentanyl off the streets or make our city safer," Lurie said in a statement Monday. The National Guard’s mission is to defend the U.S. abroad and assist governors during disasters — not to police cities, retired National Guard Major Gen. Randy Manner told Axios.

New York Times [10/21/2025 2:19 PM, Tony Romm, 153395K] reports tucked among the many pages of President Trump’s signature tax cuts is a single paragraph that provisions money for the Department of Homeland Security. Totaling $10 billion, and created to help “safeguard” the border, the funds received scant attention when Republicans in Congress adopted the mammoth law this summer. But the money has since taken on greater significance, as one of the obscure accounts that have enabled the White House to manage the fallout from the government shutdown. Three weeks into the fiscal stalemate, the Trump administration has taken a series of unorthodox steps to reprogram billions of dollars in enacted spending, marking an escalation in its campaign to wrest control of the budget away from Congress. The moves, which are highly unusual during a shutdown, have allowed the president to pay military service members, immigration agents and other federal law enforcement officials, even though lawmakers have not approved new money for their wages. Normally, federal workers do not receive income until the shutdown concludes, creating hardship for millions of troops and civil servants, who are either furloughed or forced to keep working without pay. But the White House has stretched its authority in recent days to assist certain employees who are seen as central to Mr. Trump’s political agenda, including those who conduct deportations. Using a set of funds in the president’s tax law, the Trump administration has promised pay to thousands of ICE agents and other law enforcement officials, who otherwise would not have received checks while the government is closed. And for the troops, Mr. Trump has turned to a special set of funds meant to develop weaponry, while ordering the Pentagon to explore other sources to pay the military throughout the shutdown. Few in Congress have publicly challenged the president over his recent actions, given the broad, bipartisan desire to spare government employees, especially the troops, who are caught in the middle of the funding debate. But many legal scholars, budget experts and congressional Democrats remain uneasy with Mr. Trump’s expansion of presidential power. They view it as just the latest instance in which the White House has encroached on congressional authority — one that could open the door for Mr. Trump to reprogram the budget in more drastic ways once the shutdown ends.

Daily Caller [10/21/2025 4:32 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports labor unions with a history of support and donations to Democratic candidates are suing over the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal migrant truck drivers. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a public interest law firm filed a petition for review that challenges the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) emergency rule on non-domiciled commercial drivers, according to court documents. The lawsuit marks the latest pushback against the Trump administration’s efforts to take illegal migrant truck drivers off the road after a string of serious and fatal accidents. In September, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy declared that non-citizens who wish to earn non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDLs) must undergo a mandatory federal immigration status check and have an employment-based visa. The new rule could ultimately affect the roughly 200,000 individuals who carry a non-domiciled CDL — many of them commercial truck drivers who did not enter the United States lawfully.

The Hill [10/21/2025 2:51 PM, Addy Bink, 12595K] reports that while some employees paid biweekly are in line to receive their second of three paychecks this month on Friday, many federal employees won’t see a check at all as the government shutdown drags on. As of Tuesday, the government shutdown has entered its 21st day, the second such shutdown to last three weeks. Should the shutdown continue into November, it could approach — and even surpass — the longest on record. Without a deal, many of the 2.4 million-strong federal workforce remain without pay. They last received paychecks on Oct. 10, but that only covered a pay period through Sept. 30, leaving them without four days of pay, essentially. As The Hill reported earlier this month, workers who received partial paychecks were air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees critical for keeping the nation’s airports running. Some federal workers who would otherwise not be paid during a shutdown have received some reprieve, too. That includes U.S. Coast Guard service members, who are being paid with funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, The Hill previously reported. These service members, along with the rest of the military, were paid last Wednesday. Funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill will also be used to pay "more than 70,000 sworn law enforcement officers" under the Department of Homeland Security, a spokesperson confirmed to Nexstar. That includes officers with Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Secret Service Special Agents, and air marshals with the TSA. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said these "super checks" — covering "the 4 days lost, their overtime, and their next pay period" — would be dispersed by Wednesday.

New York Post [10/21/2025 7:31 PM, Staff, 42219K] reports a suggestion to President Donald Trump: Sometime soon, and well ahead of the midterms, show your support for immigrants who do it the right way by cheering on newly minted Americans at citizenship ceremony or three. These events, where immigrants tale the Oath of Allegiance, are as American as apple pie and as patriotic as it gets, and a core part of what makes the United States so exceptional: Men and women who believed in the American dream and came here to pursue it — and did it honestly, without breaking the law or jumping the line. That takes grit and perseverance; it’s a proud moment for these immigrants and their families, and there’s rarely a dry eye in the house. Showing up to honor a few of these meaningful milestones would reaffirm that the Trump administration is waging war on criminal migrants, not legal immigrants. As it is, Trump’s immigration stance often seems synonymous with one word: deportations. ICE is on track to boot out 600,000 illegal migrants by year’s end, atop the 1.6 million who’ve left voluntarily. That’s a campaign promise kept: The Biden crew let in millions of border-jumpers; Trump won, in no small part, because he swore to secure the borders and get criminal illegals out of US cities. There’s still plenty of support for that effort; a recent Harvard/Harris poll found a whopping 78% favor getting illegal immigrants who’ve committed crimes out of the country. But the Department of Homeland Security is casting the net wider, beyond the gang members, rapists and drug-runners that Trump promised to target. In order to hit pie-in-the-sky quotas that are killing the morale of its agents, Homeland Security has been making arrests at immigration courts and doing other raids that look like random roundups. That’s resulted in a smattering of stories of cleaning ladies, waitresses and dry cleaners scooped up off the streets. Immigration hardliners might call that fair play, but most voters don’t like to imagine their kid’s soccer coach or their friendly local landscaper being here one day and gone the next. Homeland Security’s deportation fervor gives fodder for headlines that paint Team Trump as rabidly anti-immigrant. It doesn’t help that some on the right demonize legal immigration, arguing that it should be curbed or halted entirely. Trump needs to give voters reason to see that he can be far kinder than that; otherwise, Republicans risk getting trounced in the midterms, losing their narrow House majority. The president plainly has no problem with legal immigrants; he married one, after all. But with so much of the media so hostile, it’s best to show voters that his administration is fighting for all citizens, including those not born here. By making a huge splash at a few citizenship ceremonies, and celebrating the newest Americans, Trump can again cut through the critics’ noise.

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 6:00 AM, Staff, 4829K] reports thanks to U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis, we’ve finally learned something about what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the U.S. Border Patrol are doing in the Chicago area from the perspective of ICE and the U.S. Border Patrol, which is helpful even if you don’t like what’s going on. Todd Lyons, acting director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Greg Bovino, chief patrol agent, El Centro Sector, U.S. Border Patrol, did write to this newspaper last month to take issue with one of our editorials and offer their view of events, which we duly published, but beyond that ICE has said little or nothing to reporters as it upends life as we knew it in Chicago. Local officials also tell us they are being kept in the dark. To say that both ICE and the Border Patrol lack a commitment to transparency is to understate. But Ellis, a persistent jurist, has managed to extract the information that the Border Patrol has 232 agents in the area, working on "Operation Midway Blitz," all of whom are equipped with cameras. She also heard from Deputy Field Office Director Shawn Byers that there are approximately 300 ICE agents assigned to the Midwest, with only about 75-80 total in the Chicago area, somewhat less than many people think. Apparently ICE agents mostly are not equipped with cameras; a lack of funding was cited as a reason in court. That should be corrected.

Washington Post [10/21/2025 7:00 AM, Jim Geraghty, 24149K] reports somehow, the Trump administration’s policy toward Venezuela has managed to combine Tom Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger” with “Dirty Harry,” “Miami Vice” and the Keystone Cops. Make no mistake, Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is a bad guy. Saturday, Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado accurately described Maduro’s policies as effectively declaring “war on the Venezuelan people.” If Maduro were to slip on a banana peel and die, Venezuela would be better off. And although it would be significantly less satisfying, if we could persuade Maduro to accept exile and a comfy retirement on the Riviera — something like the deal that Haiti’s Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier got — that would leave Venezuela with better chances for a brighter and freer future. Venezuela’s drug cartels and smugglers are also bad guys, and Maduro’s regime is just fine with the cartels’ operations in his country. In March, the U.S. State Department’s annual drug smuggling report concluded, “The Maduro regime failed to make any meaningful efforts to stem drug production or trafficking and in fact created conditions that allow drug traffickers and other transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) to operate with impunity.” But that doesn’t mean that every tool in the U.S. toolbox is the right one, or an effective one, to use when attempting to fix the problem.

Los Angeles Times [10/21/2025 6:00 AM, John Aloysius Cogan Jr. and Miguel F. P. de Figueiredo, 14862K] reports since the beginning of President Trump’s second administration, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has significantly increased its enforcement actions nationwide. This shift has seen the use of more aggressive and combative tactics by ICE, including entering dwellings by force and without judicial warrants — as instructed by the Trump administration. In a March memorandum, U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, relying on the obscure Alien Enemies Act of 1798, asserted that federal agents can enter homes without a judicial warrant. First: This is preposterous. The Trump administration cannot bypass basic constitutional protections merely by issuing a memorandum. Second: It’s also reckless. This tactic puts federal agents, residents and bystanders at risk for Wild West-style shootouts, especially because state laws protect residents from prosecution when they use deadly force to defend their homes. To avoid needless bloodshed, these warrantless raids must end now.

The Hill [10/21/2025 10:30 AM, Amelia Koehn-Prout, 12595K] reports the case of disgraced former superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools’ Ian Roberts, should be a moment of reckoning — not just for one school district, but for public institutions across America. His arrest on Sept. 26 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement exposed far more than an immigration violation. It revealed a pattern of deception, systemic failure and misplaced priorities in our public institutions. Roberts was not just unlawfully present in the U.S. after a final deportation order. He had also lied about key parts of his background, and his claims had gone unchecked or ignored by those who were supposed to vet him. This is not just an immigration case; it is a credibility crisis that cuts to the core of public trust with those we trust with our children. According to reports, Roberts falsely claimed to have attended MIT Sloan School of Management and earned a doctorate from Morgan State University. He also lied about receiving awards from George Washington University. These aren’t small embellishments — they are deliberate misrepresentations designed to inflate his credibility, impress hiring committees and gain access to positions of power funded by taxpayers. And it worked, because nobody did their homework. Roberts entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999. He was hired to lead Des Moines Public Schools in July 2023, despite having received a deportation order in May 2024 and facing weapons charges in 2020. This timeline raises serious questions about what he disclosed and what the district failed to verify.

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 6:00 AM, Daniel DePetris, 4829K] reports on Friday, the United States destroyed what the Defense Department alleged was a boat affiliated with the National Liberation Army, a Colombian rebel group, using the Southern Caribbean to smuggle drugs into the country. The latest operation, which reportedly killed three people, is the seventh since the aerial campaign began in September. It took place on the same day that President Donald Trump claimed another successful strike earlier in the week, this time against a semi-submersible that took off from Venezuela. Two people were killed in that attack, according to the government. We’ve heard the phrase "war on drugs" before. President Richard Nixon declared it in the early 1970s, and each successive president since has largely used the war paradigm to describe the campaign against drug traffickers. Yet up until last month, the tagline has always been associated with aggressive law enforcement action at home and intelligence collaboration with other countries that have a vested interest in reducing the scourge of illegal narcotics. The Trump administration, however, is taking the "war" part literally. Bombs have replaced arrests as Washington’s principal tool. The terminology being deployed sounds eerily similar to what former President George W. Bush used to say when he was talking about America’s fight against al-Qaida. Indeed, senior Trump administration officials are branding drug traffickers as terrorists who need to be eliminated. The global war on terrorism we saw during the presidencies of Bush and Barack Obama is expanding under Trump to include a whole suite of new enemies. The fisherman allegedly doubling as a drug smuggler to make some extra cash is now on a par with the likes of Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Referring to Latin American drug cartels, FBI Director Kash Patel told Congress in September that the United States "must treat them like the al-Qaidas of the world because that’s how they’re operating." Ditto Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has labeled the cartels "the Al-Qaida of the Western Hemisphere." It doesn’t take a genius to understand what the White House is doing: It’s trying to justify its ongoing U.S. military campaign against the cartels by tapping into language that is still quite sensitive to Americans’ ears. The cartels are, after all, ruthless organizations that often use terrorist tactics — car bombings, indiscriminate killings, beheadings and assassinations of public figures — to scare the population, consolidate their control over territory and intimidate the state. And despite the reduction in overdose deaths since mid-2023, the organizations producing and trafficking these drugs are still responsible for tens of thousands of American fatalities every year. Nobody is shedding a tear when some of these traffickers are killed, arrested and extradited to a U.S. courtroom for prosecution.

NewsNation [10/21/2025 3:41 PM, Alex Caprariello, Jeff Arnold, 8017K] reports the Department of Homeland Security insists its officers’ top target remains the "worst of the worst" in a nationwide immigration and crime crackdown, but American citizens are increasingly the ones being taken into federal custody. House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., co-authored a letter with fellow Democrat and Washington U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapayl questioning top immigration officials about the growing number of U.S. citizens being detained by federal officers and agents. The letter, sent to DHS Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, asked why Americans are continually being detained illegally. In the letter, Raskin and Jayapayl accuse federal law enforcement of terrorizing American communities. The letter was sent as a follow-up from February, when the House Judiciary Committee’s panel on immigration raised "serious concerns" that U.S. citizens were being wrongfully taken into federal custody. The panel expressed frustration that, rather than answering specific concerns about Americans being detained, DHS officials cited existing policy that prohibits American citizens from being mistakenly arrested or detained.

Newsweek [10/21/2025 12:27 PM, Billal Rahman, 53955K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has responded to reports that more than a third of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruits have failed the physical fitness test at the agency’s training academy in Georgia. The Atlantic reported that more than one-third of new ICE recruits were unable to pass the academy’s basic fitness requirements, which include completing at least 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run in under 14 minutes. "The figures you reference are not accurate and reflect a subset of candidates in initial basic academy classes," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek. "The facts are most of ICE’s new recruits are former law enforcement officers and many are former ICE officers who retired or quit under President Biden because they were frustrated about not being able to do their jobs." DHS has launched a nationwide recruitment campaign to expand the ranks of ICE, citing a growing need for personnel to support enforcement and deportation operations as the Trump administration pushes to deport millions of migrants. ICE has received more than 175,000 applications so far, according to DHS. To attract candidates, the agency is offering a range of incentives, including signing bonuses of up to $50,000 and student loan repayment programs. The Atlantic article cited internal emails that referred to some recruits as "athletically allergic." DHS and ICE plan to continue their recruitment drive as the Trump administration continues plans to deport millions of migrants without legal status.

The Hill [10/21/2025 6:42 AM, Staff, 12595K] reports House Judiciary Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), along with Rep. Pramila Jayapayl (D-Wash.), ranking member of the panel’s subcommittee on immigration, sent a letter Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, asking for information about Americans who have been detained in recent actions. "Why do you continue unlawfully detaining U.S. citizens?" the letter begins.

NewsNation [10/21/2025 11:21 PM, Christian Meffert, 8017K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) worked with West Virginia State Police to arrest 60 illegal immigrants in West Virginia since ICE operations began in the state back in September. According to a release from the Office of Governor Patrick Morrisey, nine individuals were arrested by members of the West Virginia State Police Turnpike, the West Virginia Public Service Commission, ICE and DEA at a traffic detail on I-77 exit 48 leading onto US Route 19 northbound on Bridge Day, Oct. 18. Another nine arrests were made during a detail on US Route 19 near I-79. On Oct. 12, an operation on the West Virginia Turnpike resulted in the arrest of five illegal immigrants. "My administration continues to take aggressive action to combat illegal immigration with the support of President Donald Trump, Secretary Kristi Noem, and ICE," Gov. Morrisey said. "Our intent is to take any legal action necessary to protect West Virginians. If you are here illegally, if you are caught breaking our laws, if you are smuggling drugs – you will be arrested, you will be tried, and if found guilty, you will pay a heavy price.” Gov. Morrisey shared in a previous release that 37 other individuals were arrested over the past month for a sum total of 60 arrests.

FOX News [10/21/2025 9:00 AM, Adam Sabes, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says an illegal immigrant who was previously deported allegedly killed a 61-year-old man in September. The DHS said Wilmer Fuentes Mejia allegedly killed 61-year-old Richard Ferguson Jr. in a hit-and-run crash in Durham, North Carolina, on Sept. 13. ICE lodged an immigration detainer for Mejia. The agency said Mejia first entered the U.S. illegally in 2015 and was released into the country during the Obama administration. He was ordered to be removed by an immigration judge in December 2019 and was removed by ICE in 2020 during the first Trump administration, but illegally returned at a later date, officials said. Mejia is from Guatemala. Mejia has a criminal history that includes prior arrests for assault and driving under the influence. "Wilmer Fuentes Mejia is a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala who has a history of driving while intoxicated and was previously deported by ICE in 2020. A local DA allowed him to walk free after multiple DUIs only to then cause this fatal hit-and-run that killed an innocent 61-year-old man in North Carolina," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Richard Ferguson Jr. will get justice. ICE lodged a detainer for this criminal to ensure this menace and public safety threat isn’t released back onto America’s streets." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [10/21/2025 9:13 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 42219K] reports a Republican Florida state lawmaker proposed a bill Monday that would open up opportunities for families to sue some local governments over killings committed by illegal immigrants. The Shane Jones Act, which would expand on the Sunshine State’s staunch immigration laws, was authored in honor of its namesake who was killed in a traffic accident involving an alleged illegal immigrant in 2019. Rep. Berny Jacques, who introduced the bill, said that Jones’ widowed wife Nikki helped inspire the bill, which would impose harsher restrictions on illegal immigrants and even law enforcement officials violating the state’s immigration policies. "For too long, American families have been left to pick up the pieces after their loved ones were taken from them by crimes that could have been prevented," Nikki Jones said in a press release. "The Shane Jones Act represents a turning point — finally holding local governments accountable when they fail to enforce immigration laws," she said. The bill outlines a new structure for families to sue local governments over the death of a loved one, but only if an illegal immigrant was found to be responsible. It also proposes a $10,000 fine for out-of-compliance law enforcement agencies that would go towards the compensation for the grieving families. Jacques insisted that the current immigration laws in Florida "requires that law enforcement agencies collaborate with federal immigration enforcement officers," according to a press release. In the Sunshine State, the law requires that police agencies use their "best efforts" to work with ICE, but none are so far required to enter into 287(g) agreements with the federal agency. The state further argued that no city or police department can cancel the partnerships once they’ve been agreed to and that doing so would be an act of defiance against Florida’s mandate. As of May 2025, all but 10 states have at least one active agreement between ICE and local law enforcement in effect.

Blaze [10/21/2025 4:05 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports an Indiana man died in a head-on collision on Wednesday involving an unlicensed semitruck driver who is allegedly in the country illegally. The crash occurred amid national scrutiny in the trucking industry over an increase in non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses issued to foreign nationals, some of whom do not meet required English language proficiency standards, raising concerns about road safety and national security. Borko Stankovic, 41, an alleged illegal alien from Serbia and Montenegro living in Lyons, Illinois, was driving his truck eastbound along U.S. 20 in Portage, Indiana, when he failed to slow down for a stopped van in his lane waiting to make a left turn, according to authorities. In a last-minute maneuver to avoid a collision with the van, Stankovic made a hard left turn, crossing into oncoming traffic and striking a Subaru Crosstrek heading westbound, police told WFLD-TV. Stankovic’s truck jackknifed, causing the trailer to collide with the rear of the van, which then was forced into a road sign. While the driver and passenger of the van were treated at the scene and released, Jeffrey Eberly, the 54-year-old driver of the Subaru, died at the scene. Stankovic reportedly did not have a valid CDL. An Indiana case summary revealed that Stankovic is facing two felony charges: reckless homicide and criminal recklessness.

AP [10/21/2025 9:33 PM, Christine Fernando, 34509K] reports that many federal officers assigned to immigration enforcement in the Chicago area have body cameras but Congress would have to allocate more funds to expand their use, officials testified Monday at a hearing about the tactics agents are using in Trump administration’s crackdown, which has produced more than 1,000 arrests. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis last week ordered uniformed agents to wear cameras, if available, and turn them on when engaged in arrests, frisks and building searches or when being deployed to protests. She held a hearing Monday at which she questioned a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official and a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement official about the operation and complaints that agents are increasingly using combative tactics. Kyle Harvick, deputy incident commander with CBP, said Border Patrol agents who are part of Operation Midway Blitz have cameras. He said 201 are in the Chicago area. But Shawn Byers, deputy field office director for ICE, said more money from Congress would be needed to expand camera use beyond two of that agency’s field offices. He said no cameras have been worn by ICE agents working at a building in Broadview, outside Chicago, where immigrants pass through before being detained elsewhere. It’s been the site of protests that at times have been tumultuous.

Breitbart [10/21/2025 6:33 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2416K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested nearly a dozen illegal alien Uber and Lyft drivers and cabbies on Saturday in the rideshare staging lot at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. ICE rolled in on Saturday morning and began asking certain drivers for their documentation, resulting in far fewer Uber and Lyft drivers in the lot on Sunday after Saturday’s raid, according to Chicago’s WFLD-TV. Many legal rideshare drivers told the media that illegal aliens have flooded their market and some feel that illegals make the roads unsafe for everyone. Mohammad Rashid, who has been working legally as an Uber driver for six years in Chicago, told WFLD said that many illegal aliens are using other people’s names and personal information to get the rideshare companies to allow them to work in the field. "O’Hare is a very sensitive spot as passenger, to pick up a passenger. There is million passengers coming every day. So, we need to protect those people as a driver," Rashid added. He also urged Uber users to make sure the information they are provided by Uber matches up to the driver they get. "If you don’t feel comfortable don’t start the trip," Rashid advised. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Sec. Tricia McLaughlin reported that those arrested on Saturday come from Colombia, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Mongolia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and Venezuela. McLaughlin also noted that some of those arrested have criminal histories, including domestic battery, DUI, and violating final orders of removal. The legal immigrant driver added that illegals can take advantage of a federal program to self-deport. "The fact of the matter is those who are in this country illegally have a choice. They can use the CBP Home app and receive a free flight and a $1,000 check or they can be arrested, detained, and deported," McLaughlin said.

Axios [10/21/2025 7:18 AM, Carrie Shepherd, 12972K] reports Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans issued an administrative order last week aimed at keeping federal law enforcement out of county courts after several incidents of immigrants being detained. Public defenders and immigrant advocates say the order is needed to protect residents who fear U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol officers might detain them at the courthouse — a fear that’s kept some people from showing up, even for domestic violence or family court hearings. Being in the U.S. without authorization or overstaying a visa are civil offenses, not criminal ones. The petition for the order argues that ICE’s courthouse arrests violate the "well-established common law privilege against civil arrests in and around courthouses."

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 4:25 PM, Nell Salzman, 4829K] reports Ismael Cordová-Clough slipped out before dawn most mornings, while the rest of the block slept. By 4 a.m., he was circling the same streets he grew up on, scanning corners, alleyways and factory lots for unmarked cars. He goes by "Ish" on Facebook, where he has become a trusted but polarizing voice in Elgin’s immigrant community, documenting sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and posting real-time updates. His videos often show tense, chaotic moments: neighbors being detained, agents refusing to answer questions, bystanders shouting in fear or solidarity. Cordová-Clough, 28, recently left Elgin, but he said his feed remains a crucial part of the local resistance — especially since the Trump administration ramped up enforcement five weeks ago. Public demonstrations and chants are one way of protest, but Cordová-Clough and other organizers say they focus on evidence. "People share old photos, misinformation all the time," he said. "We try to verify in real time, with people who actually live here.” Though now a sharp voice in local immigrant advocacy, Cordová-Clough didn’t start in this work. He was a student organizer and policy researcher, first drawn to activism through LGBTQ issues in middle school. In recent months, as arrests in Elgin have surged — sometimes reports of six in a week — Cordová-Clough said he’s watched local government, nonprofits, and even some Latino leaders remain silent. So he stepped up as a volunteer. His posts now reach tens of thousands, spreading fast whenever ICE is nearby. He delivers supplies and connects those left behind after deportation to lawyers. As the only U.S.-born member of his family, Cordová-Clough carries a deep sense of responsibility. He’s seen firsthand how people in his community, including his family, alter their lives in the face of fear: avoiding public spaces by going to the laundromat late at night or changing jobs. His presence may be digital now, but for people in Elgin, Ish is still on the ground.

Breitbart [10/21/2025 9:45 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports videos on social media highlighted the disgusting behavior of two members of Chicago’s education system during the city’s No Kings protests. Videos show an alleged elementary school teacher mocking the assassination of Charlie Kirk. A Chicago college administrator could be facing criminal charges for inciting violence, calling for the shooting of immigration enforcement agents and officers. Department of Homeland Security officials posted a video of a man they describe as a "violent rioter" who calls for people to take up arms and kill ICE agents. Officials say they referred the man to the Department of Justice for possible federal charges. Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley identified the man as Wilbur Write College Adult Education Manager Moises Bernal. Turley quotes Bernal, writing, "ICE agents gotta get shot and wiped out.” "You gotta grab a gun!" and "We gotta turn around the guns on this fascist system!" Bernal said in the video. Turley said the Chicago-area college administration has a criminal history having earned a 12-month probation for disruptive behavior resulting in contempt of court during a hearing for Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, who had been charged with murder. In addition to possible federal charges, Bernal could face firing or suspension from Wilbur Wright College. The college has not issued an official statement, Turley stated.

Chicago Tribune [10/21/2025 2:57 PM, Gregory Royal Pratt, 4829K] reports that Ofelia Torres has spent almost every day of the past month at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where the 16-year-old Lake View High School student is fighting cancer. After a tough few weeks where the disease spread through her body and doctors inserted a drain in her abdomen to relieve fluid, the Torres family worked with her oncologist to arrange a short getaway over the weekend, where she and three of her closest friends could enjoy a Saturday of simple pleasures and normalcy before a scheduled return to the hospital and chemotherapy. The girls were getting their nails done as Ofelia’s father, Ruben Torres Maldonado, was at work. Hours later, he called his wife Sandibell Hidalgo from a number that came up on caller ID as "prison/jail." In that moment, the Torres family experienced the pain of separation gripping hundreds of immigrant families across Chicago and the suburbs since Donald Trump’s administration last month launched "Operation Midway Blitz," the president’s aggressive deportation plan. Now they’re fighting cancer and the United States government. Their attorney, Kalman Resnick, filed a petition in federal court to have him freed while Torres’ deportation case proceeds. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment.

FOX News [10/21/2025 2:45 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40621K] reports that two illegal immigrants from Mexico were recently arrested in connection to the murder of a 43-year-old woman in Texas. Enrique Gomez-Urbina, 21, of Mexico, was arrested by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and is charged with first-degree murder and resisting arrest, according to the Austin Police Department. He has an immigration detainer pending the homicide investigation. Gomez-Urbina’s "associate," Jesus Llamas-Yanez, 48, of Mexico, who is wanted by federal authorities in Mexico for a weapons charge, is being extradited back to Mexico. On Oct. 6, a local tire shop employee found a woman’s body in a wooded area behind the business with "apparent trauma," according to police. The woman, later identified as Mary Gonzales, was allegedly shot to death, according to the Travis County Medical Examiner’s office. Authorities said the night before, they pulled over Gomez-Urbina about a mile away from the scene after he failed to stop at a stop sign, FOX 7 Austin reported. Inside his car, police allegedly found opened beer bottles, a Glock handgun and ammunition, according to the report. Surveillance footage showed a car matching Gomez-Urbina’s near the body about an hour before he was stopped by police, FOX 7 reported. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Houston Chronicle [10/21/2025 3:36 PM, Sarah Smith, 2983K] reports a judge ordered that one of the founders of the viral Trump Burger restaurant be released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to court filings, noting that he had been on supervised release for over a decade without incident and that every attempt to get him removed to either Israel, Palestine or Jordan in that time had been unsuccessful. Iyad Abuelhawa had been detained by ICE on June 2. The order cited medical records showing Abuelhawa suffers from diabetes. While in ICE detention, he broke bones in his foot and has been confined to a wheelchair, experienced numbness in his legs and "is currently in danger of losing his whole foot," according to the judge’s decision. The government, the decision notes, did provide evidence contesting those allegations. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an August statement to the Chronicle about Abuelhawa’s case, the agency denied mistreating detainees. "He’s glad to be home, but he’s going to have a lot of recovery to do," one of his attorneys, Jennifer Lopez, said Tuesday. "It definitely took a toll, being in that detention center.” Abuelhawa, according to a judge’s Oct. 16 opinion granting his preliminary injunction, is Palestinian. An immigration judge ordered that he be removed in September 2009. Abuelhawa made multiple requests for travel documents from Israel and Jordan over the years "to no avail," the filing says. (The government, the judge wrote, didn’t provide evidence that Israel, Jordan or Palestine had "accepted a single Palestinian detainee at any recent time."). "You can’t force a foreign government to issue a travel document," Lopez said. "And there’s no point in detaining someone when you know you can’t deport them. It’s just been the MO of the Trump administration.”

Breitbart [10/21/2025 9:44 PM, Elizabeth Weibel, 2416K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a statement regarding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at a horse race event in Idaho over the weekend, which resulted in more than 100 illegal aliens being arrested. DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin explained that the ICE raid had "dismantled an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and a gambling enterprise operation," in Wilder, Idaho, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. McLaughlin added that 105 illegal aliens had been arrested. McLaughlin’s statement comes as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) "previously announced five arrests of people linked to the alleged horserace gambling operation in Wilder called La Catedral Arena," according to the outlet. Per the outlet, a spokesperson for the FBI explained that "ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division helped ‘process individuals who were found to have potential immigration violations’": FBI spokesperson Sandra Yi Barker previously said ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division helped "process individuals who were found to have potential immigration violations during the course of the investigation. Their presence was limited to that specific federal responsibility and was separate from the criminal gambling investigation led by the FBI." Leo Morales, who serves as the Executive Director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Idaho, criticized the Trump administration for having come "in full force, military-style" with helicopters and drones and arresting people, according to the outlet. The Idaho Capital Sun [10/21/2025 8:19 PM, Kyle Pfannenstiel, 189K] reports “Over the weekend, ICE dismantled an illegal horse-racing, animal fighting, and a gambling enterprise operation …,” DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a written statement. “As part of the operation ICE law enforcement officers arrested 105 illegal aliens. Under President Trump and (Homeland Security) Secretary (Kristi) Noem, we are dismantling criminal networks in the United States.” FBI spokesperson Sandra Yi Barker previously said ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division helped “process individuals who were found to have potential immigration violations during the course of the investigation. Their presence was limited to that specific federal responsibility and was separate from the criminal gambling investigation being led by the FBI.” Advocates who were at the scene of the raid have denounced aggressive tactics they say they saw used, including law enforcement detaining everyone at the venue, children being zip-tied, and people being struck with rubber bullets. “The government came in full force, military-style, helicopters, drones and arrested and handcuffed, everyone … including children,” ACLU of Idaho Executive Director Leo Morales told reporters at a news conference Monday. “No person, no Idahoan, no American should ever accept whenever a government does this to its own people.” The FBI canceled a press conference scheduled Monday, saying law enforcement officials didn’t have more information to share publicly beyond a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The document details the investigation, but does not specify law enforcement’s tactics during the raid. In a press release issued Tuesday afternoon, the Idaho governor’s office said about 400 people were in attendance on Sunday and that none of the 105 people in ICE custody are children. “Illegal gambling operations involving animals often accompany drug trafficking, animal abuse, illegal weapons trafficking, and large sums of money that end up in the hands of cartel bosses. The State of Idaho provided support in the service of a warrant issued by a federal judge in connection with the illegal activities taking place in Wilder,” Idaho Gov. Brad Little said in the release. The FBI led a “monthslong investigation in coordination with the Treasure Valley Metro Violence Crime and Gang Task Force and served a warrant, issued by a federal judge, at the Canyon County facility,” according to the governor’s office. “When serving a search warrant, it is common practice for law enforcement to detain others present while processing the scene to ensure the safety of both the civilians and officers present and to preserve evidence.” However, Idaho Democratic Party Chairwoman Lauren Necochea said the FBI raid in Wilder was “government overreach at its worst.” “The vast majority of those detained had nothing to do with the alleged crime,” Necochea said in an emailed statement. “It was inhumane, unnecessary, and dangerous.”

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CBS Colorado [10/21/2025 8:27 PM, Anna Alejo, 39474K] reports in a case challenging a new Trump administration policy that denies bond hearings to immigrant detainees, a federal judge in Denver declared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement was violating immigration law and denying the due process rights of a Colorado man. The judge ordered the immediate release of Nestor Gutierrez, originally from El Salvador, and living in Colorado for more than twenty years. He had been detained by ICE at the GEO facility in Aurora since May. Prior to this past July, the mandatory detention policy set forth by ICE was generally limited to recent border-crossers and noncitizens convicted of certain crimes. ICE said in July that the new no-bond policy intends to enforce immigration law "as it was actually written to keep America safe.” But attorneys for Gutierrez argued that detaining him -- the main provider for his family -- was causing irreparable harm, and that the new interpretation of the law by ICE is wrong. Immigration attorney Hans Meyer said the ruling helps protect the balance of power in the U.S. "ICE, you’re not allowed to just reinterpret the law illegally in some way that you want it to read," Meyer said. "When ‘A’ you agreed for three decades that it doesn’t read that way. And almost every single jurist in the United States of America has agreed with our position. ICE is trying to meet a mass deportation agenda. That’s why they’re doing it. It’s not because it has a legitimate, intellectually honest interpretation of the law that’s new or different.”

Breitbart [10/22/2025 3:35 AM, Neil Munro, 2416K] reports the president can send the National Guard into downtown Portland, Oregon, because the city police have protected Antifa attacks on a federal facility, says Harmeet Dhillon, the top civil rights chief in the Department of Justice. Dhillon made her comment in response to a video showing Antifa rioters hiding behind city police as the rioters aimed strong flashlights at the federal officers guarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. The police cover protected the Antifa members from the pepper balls normally fired by security officers at the federal building. ‘This is exactly why the 9th Circuit just said POTUS can send in the National Guard!" Dhillon wrote on October 21. "Incredible FAIL!" Federal law allows the president to deploy National Guard troops if "there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion," or if the president cannot enforce U.S. law. The deployment was approved on Monday, October 20, by a three-judge panel in the far-left Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which said: "The federalization and deployment of just 200 National Guardsmen for 60 days is well within a deferential proportional response to support good faith.” The decision was opposed by one judge who argued that "The government cannot point to a single instance in which federal property or personnel was threatened or in need of assistance and the local police failed to respond to a request for assistance.”

San Diego Union Tribune [10/21/2025 2:10 PM, Julia Marnin, 1538K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security says immigration officers are arresting accused criminals, the "worst of the worst." But a federal lawsuit argues authorities are regularly jailing and deporting immigrants who are survivors of human trafficking, domestic abuse and other crimes. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court on Oct. 14 says that a new U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement policy disregards legal protections previously established by Congress to protect immigrant crime survivors and allows ICE to detain and deport them even when they have been granted formal permission to stay in the U.S. ICE is also targeting immigrant crime survivors who have pending applications for protections, according to a 76-page complaint. In a statement to McClatchy News on Oct. 20, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin referred to the lawsuit’s accusations as "clickbait," adding that "Every illegal alien ICE removes has had due process and has a final order of removal — meaning they have no legal right to be in the country." The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, one of the organizations representing eight individual plaintiffs, said in a news release that ICE’s new policy is "dehumanizing, unjust, and illegal" and "enables the widespread jailing and deportation of immigrant survivors.” "The 2025 guidance reverses course from decades of agency practice under which immigration agencies generally refrained against enforcement against survivors of serious crime, unless warranted by adverse factors," attorneys for the lawsuit wrote in the complaint.

Univision [10/21/2025 7:08 AM, Staff, 5004K] reports after a message purportedly praising the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was displayed at a San Jose Sharks game on Hispanic Heritage Night, the team demanded an apology and political leaders called for an investigation. “SJ Sharks fans love ICE! Go get ‘em, guys,” read the message displayed on the stadium scoreboard on Saturday, October 18, during Hispanic Heritage Night. After this message was shared on the scoreboard, controversy was not long in coming, and in a statement, shared by the team through X, they indicated that the message had been sent externally and that what was said did not reflect the values ​​of the San José Sharks. The team also stated that the incident was under investigation.

OutKick [10/21/2025 7:31 AM, Mark Harris] reports the San Jose Sharks apologized after a pro-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) message appeared on the video board of the SAP Center as the franchise celebrated Hispanic Heritage Night. During the first intermission of the Sharks’ 3-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday, a message appeared on the video board that read, "SJ SHARKS FANS LOVE ICE!! GET’EM BOYZ!" The team issued a statement on X about the message, claiming that it was "inadvertently displayed" and that it "was not detected during our standard review process." The team’s statement also explained that the organization would actively be working to determine the origin of the message. Some fans inside the arena booed as the message was shown on the video board.

Politico [10/21/2025 1:14 PM, Myah Ward, 13586K] reports the Trump administration imposed a new annual $100 fee on asylum seekers earlier this summer. But more than three months later, immigrants and their attorneys say they can’t figure out whether they owe the money or how to pay the fee. The confusion is the latest example of how the Trump administration’s efforts to curb legal pathways for immigrants have trapped people in a bureaucratic maze, according to immigration attorneys and advocates who are struggling to advise their clients. The fear is that these new fees create a way for the Trump administration to deny asylum claims and quickly deport some immigrants. “It just feels like people are being cornered from every angle, and the lack of clarity just causes that much more fear and intimidation,” said Robin Nice, an immigration attorney in Boston. “It’s hard to know if it’s weaponized incompetence in how they’re rolling it out, or if it’s straight up malicious … but it’s really hard to advise clients.” The fees, which are new, were part of the GOP’s domestic policy and tax law President Donald Trump signed on July 4, but the administration’s rollout has been plagued by mishaps: The two agencies collecting the fees initially released different instructions, and only one has offered a vehicle to pay the annual fee. Payment notices to asylum seekers have been sporadic, and misinformation has run rampant on social media. Some asylum seekers who have opted to pay the immigration courts $100 say there’s no way to know whether that’s the correct way to pay or whether the federal government will ask them to pay again, according to court filings, immigration attorneys and asylum seekers who spoke with POLITICO. “I don’t think chaos and confusion is part of the point. The fee amounts themselves are designed to be prohibitive while being just under the line of impossible,” said an administration official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking. The new fees are just one component of the administration’s sweeping effort to permanently alter the immigration system. They come after the White House announced plans last month to overhaul H-1B visas, a move that briefly spurred panic inside corporations. The One Big Beautiful Bill also included a number of other new fees and fee increases for immigration benefits, including an initial $550 fee for asylum work permit applications. The administration has also revoked Temporary Protected Status, a program that allows immigrants from countries facing humanitarian crises to remain in the U.S. and work legally, and terminated parole for millions of immigrants.

Axios [10/21/2025 7:00 AM, Maria Curi, 12972K] reports a bipartisan group of House lawmakers is urging President Trump to work with Congress on fixing the high-skilled immigration system instead of imposing a fee on new applicants. The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee for every new H1-B visa applicant is poised to hit small tech companies and startups hard, stifling competition and innovation in the U.S. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are calling on Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to come to the table to negotiate a policy solution to H1-B visa issues. "Together, we should evaluate options that include restrictions on outsourcing firms, visa portability to counter wage suppression, revising eligibility and skill classifications, improving enforcement, and modifying the fee structure," the letter, shared first with Axios, states. Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) led the letter, with Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.), Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) and Don Bacon (R-Neb.) signing on.

CBS San Francisco [10/21/2025 5:53 PM, Megan Cerullo, 39474K] reports guidance from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) clarifies that a $100,000 fee imposed in September to obtain H-1B visas for skilled foreign workers applies only to new applicants who are living abroad. In a notice posted on the agency’s website late Monday, USCIS explains what types of visa applicants must pay the new six-figure fee and who is exempt. Applications for H-1B visas filed on or after Sept. 21 for workers outside the U.S. and who are not current H-1B visa holders are subject to the $100,000 charge, USCIS said. The fee also applies if a petition filed on or after Sept. 21 "requests consular notification, port of entry notification or pre-flight inspection for an alien in the United States.” The $100,000 payment must be paid prior to applying for an H-1B visa, according to USCIS. Importantly for employers, the fee does not apply when a visa applicant files to move from one type of visa to another, such as from an F-1 visa for non-U.S. students to H-1B status. The White House had previously said the fee would apply to all new H-1B visa applicants, with exemptions for some specialized workers who do not "pose a threat to the security or welfare" of the U.S.

Bloomberg [10/21/2025 6:33 PM, Alicia A. Caldwell and Andrew Kreighbaum, 18207K] reports college graduates on student visas and certain foreign workers already living in the US will not have to pay a $100,000 filing fee for H-1B visas, the Department of Homeland Security said in updated guidance outlining how the new rules will work. The clarification, announced this week by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, applies to foreigners who hold US visas and are already in the country, including recent graduates and certain employees. The new H-1B fee, unveiled Sept. 19 and implemented just two days later, blindsided employers and visa applicants. The abrupt change left companies and foreign workers unsure who would be required to pay and raised fears that those traveling abroad could be charged upon returning to the US. This week’s guidance adds detail about how the policy will be carried out, including assurances that travel or a change in employer won’t trigger additional payments. The guidance didn’t specify the types of visa holders who will qualify for the H-1B payment exemptions. A USCIS spokesperson declined to comment beyond the published guidance. The confusion has rippled through industries that rely on foreign talent. Walmart Inc. — the largest US retail employer of H-1B visa holders, with about 2,400 on staff — temporarily halted job offers for candidates requiring one of the visas, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The hiring freeze underscores how deeply the uncertainty had disrupted workforce planning. Susanna Teel, a global mobility manager in the tech sector, said employers have been eager for clarity and are increasingly looking at every possible option to fill vacancies for which they had relied on H-1B visa holders. “There is still a lot of talking and I think there is still a little bit of, ‘we need to take a pause’,” she said. “We need to rethink how we are going to do this.”

Breitbart [10/21/2025 5:27 PM, Neil Munro, 2416K] reports Indians are celebrating new regulations that exempt migrant students from President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee on new H-1B outsourcing workers. The loophole and celebrations may reverse the recent decline in the huge number of Indians who enroll in U.S. universities to get four years of white-collar work permits. Now the loophole also ensures that more U.S. employers are likely to pick more U.S.-based foreign graduates for the roughly 110,000 new H-1B visas that are handed out each year. There is no cap to the annual inflow of H-1B workers. That would be a dramatic reversal from recent months, when the inflow of foreign graduates was falling rapidly.

CNN [10/21/2025 6:56 PM, Nathaniel Meyersohn, 18595K] reports Walmart, America’s largest private-sector employer, is pausing job offers to foreign candidates needing H-1B visas to work in the United States, a company spokesperson told CNN. It’s a significant shift that demonstrates how major companies are changing their policies in response to Trump’s strict immigration agenda that could have major ramifications for US businesses and high-skilled workers from overseas. Walmart’s policy change, which was first reported by Bloomberg, comes after President Donald Trump announced a $100,000 fee on the visas designed for high-skilled positions that companies struggle to fill. The H-1B is a work visa that’s valid for three years and can be renewed for another three years. Economists have argued the program allows US companies to maintain competitiveness and grow their business, creating more jobs in the US. Major tech companies are the largest users of the program. Walmart, which has a significant and rapidly growing online marketplace that competes with Amazon, currently employs more than 2,000 H-1B visa holders, according to government data. "Walmart is committed to hiring and investing in the best talent to serve our customers, while remaining thoughtful about our H-1B hiring approach," a Walmart spokesperson told CNN.

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Bloomberg [10/21/2025 2:09 PM, Jaewon Kang, 18207K]

San Diego Union Tribune [10/21/2025 2:18 PM, Maria G. Ortiz-Briones, 1538K] reports that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has made changes to the naturalization civics test that will make it more challenging for immigrants to obtain their U.S. citizenship. The changes are part of the federal agency’s ongoing effort to overhaul the legal immigration naturalization process. "These critical changes are the first of many," said USCIS Spokesperson Matthew Tragesser. USCIS posted in September a Federal Register notice about the implementation of the 2025 Naturalization Civics Test. The implementation of the new test is part of President Trump’s executive order to protect the U.S. from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats signed when he took office, according to USCIS. Immigrants who file their naturalization application Form N-400 on or after Oct. 20 will take the tougher 2025 Naturalization Civics Test. According to USCIS, the new test will better assess applicants’ knowledge and understanding of U.S. history and government. The new test is based on the 2020 test with some modifications to how the test is administered by USCIS officers.

Federalist [10/21/2025 12:46 PM, Brianna Lyman, 785K] reports that there are more than 2,700 "potential noncitizens" on Texas’ voter rolls, according to Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson. Nelson announced Monday that her office compared the state’s voter registration list against citizenship data in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database and discovered 2,724 potential noncitizens who are registered to vote. The SAVE database allows local, state, and federal government agencies to verify an individual’s immigration status. The Trump administration granted states free and direct access to the database, according to Nelson. "The Trump Administration’s decision to give states free and direct access to this data set for the first time has been a game changer, and we appreciate the partnership with the federal government to verify the citizenship of those on our voter rolls and maintain accurate voter lists," Nelson said. Nelson’s office said the potential noncitizens’ names were sent to Texas counties for further investigation into their eligibility. Any individual who is determined to be a noncitizen will then be referred to the Office of Attorney General, Nelson’s office said. Breitbart [10/21/2025 1:09 PM, Alana Mastrangelo, 2416K] reports Nelson said on Monday that an election evaluation in Texas has sparked an eligibility review across the 254 counties after more than 2,700 potential illegal immigrants were found on the state’s voter rolls, according to a report by Fox News. "Only eligible United States citizens may participate in our elections," Nelson said, adding that the Trump Administration has given states "free and direct access" to a dataset "for the first time," which she called "a game changer" in Texas’ election review. Nelson was referring to federal citizenship records in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ database called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), which her office said allowed Texas to conduct a full comparison of the state’s 18 million registered voters, providing them with more thorough data. "We appreciate the partnership with the federal government to verify the citizenship of those on our voter rolls and maintain accurate voter lists," the Texas Secretary of State said. NewsNation [10/21/2025 7:28 AM, Tanya Nguyen, 8017K] reports that during the review, the state identified more than 2,000 potential noncitizens registered to vote in Texas, according to Nelson. "Only eligible United States citizens may participate in our elections," Nelson said in a Monday news release. She said, in part, that having free and direct access to the data set has been a "game changer" to "verify the citizenship of those on our voter rolls and maintain accurate voter lists." The release said 2,724 potential noncitizens were identified as being registered to vote in Texas. According to the release, those files were provided to Texas counties, which will conduct their own investigations into the eligibility of those voters. Once that process is complete, those individuals deemed noncitizens who voted in a Texas election will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General. Those identified as potential noncitizens will receive a notice from the county voter registrar and will have 30 days to provide proof of citizenship, the release said. If a response is not received by the county, the registration will be canceled.

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Breitbart [10/21/2025 1:09 PM, Alana Mastrangelo, 2416K]
NewsMax [10/21/2025 3:16 PM, Brian Freeman, 4109K]

Daily Wire [10/21/2025 5:51 AM, Cameron Arcand, 2494K] reports Senator Ted Cruz has thrown his support behind a measure to prevent noncitizens from voting in American elections. The Texas Republican on Tuesday wrote a comment letter along with Congressman Eli Crane in support of America First Legal Foundation’s petition to the Election Assistance Commission to require voters present documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. "Unfortunately, the current federal form falls short of that mandate," the lawmakers write in the letter, a copy of which was exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire. "It relies solely on self-attestation of citizenship, allowing an applicant merely to check a box under penalty of perjury. This ‘honor system’ offers no meaningful safeguard against ineligible individuals registering to vote." "Requiring documentary proof of citizenship is a simple, common-sense reform. Just as Americans are asked to show identification for far less consequential activities—boarding an airplane, opening a bank account, or even attending certain events—it is entirely reasonable to require proof of citizenship to participate in our elections. This step would not burden eligible voters but would provide an essential check to ensure that only citizens are added to the voter rolls," the letter continues. The letter is co-signed by a long list of Republicans in both chambers, including Sens. Ted Budd, Jim Banks, Roger Marshall, Cindy Hyde-Smith, Bernie Moreno, John Cornyn, Ron Johnson and Marsha Blackburn. On the House side, Reps. Andy Harris, Barry Moore, W. Gregory Steube, Andy Biggs, Byron Donalds, Clay Higgins, Mary Miller, Ronny Jackson, Derek Schmidt, Riley Moore and Pat Fallon signed on.

Washington Post [10/21/2025 1:16 PM, Adam Taylor and Teo Armus, 24149K] reports that the Trump administration’s plan to overhaul the U.S. refugee resettlement process, including a drastic reduction in overall annual admissions, coincides with a concerted effort to prepare thousands of White South Africans to relocate to the United States through the system, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the matter. If the administration succeeds, almost all people admitted to the U.S. as refugees — as many as 7,000 from a maximum potential pool of 7,500 — could be Afrikaners, a group not traditionally eligible for the program but one that President Donald Trump says has been tyrannized by South Africa’s Black majority. The remainder may be chosen because of their ability to speak English or their views on “free speech,” people familiar with the matter said, upending a system that for decades had taken in people fleeing conflict and persecution from all over the world regardless of race or language. The State Department has set a goal of processing 2,000 Afrikaners for resettlement by the end of October and an additional 4,000 by the end of November, according to two people familiar with the matter, speaking like some others on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the administration’s objectives.

Bloomberg [10/21/2025 10:38 AM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 91K] reports that a refugee advocacy group is suing the Trump administration to preserve removal protections for several thousand Syrians in the US, the latest court fight over government moves to strip humanitarian relief from hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals. The Department of Homeland Security announced last month it was terminating a Temporary Protected Status designation covering more than 6,000 Syrian nationals effective Nov. 21. The agency found that circumstances in Syria no longer justified the relief after the end of a more than decade-long civil war. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

Reuters [10/21/2025 12:44 PM, Lisa Baertlein, 36480K] reports that U.S. Customs and Border Protection has processed nearly 24 million packages that would have received duty-free treatment since President Donald Trump ended the de minimis exemption on August 29, an agency spokesperson said on Tuesday. Nearly 1.4 billion packages entered U.S. under the de minimis exemption for packages valued below $800 in 2024, according to CBP data. Data from the U.N.’s Universal Postal Union showed that on August 29, total postal shipments to the U.S. had fallen 81%. That led to severe disruptions in global mail shipment to U.S. shoppers and small businesses. Large delivery firms like United Parcel Service (UPS.N) and FedEx (FDX.N) also felt the crunch after formerly booming direct-to-consumer e-commerce shipments from Chinese e-commerce firms Shein and Temu (PDD.O) dropped.

Telemundo [10/21/2025 6:42 PM, Cinthya Gomez, 57K] reports once again, crossing into the United States became a real test of patience for motorists transiting through the San Ysidro gate. During the morning of Monday, long lines were registered that, according to user testimonies, came to be extended for several hours. Situation that this weekend also lived residents like Carlos González. "It took him six hours on Saturday to cross. I was from eight in the morning and I crossed around at three in the afternoon. What is this all about? Well, who knows, they’re taking a long time for the line," he told Telemundo 20. Prolonged waiting times are not new. One of the possible causes, according to representatives of the tourism sector in Tijuana, could be related to the partial closure of the U.S. government, which already accumulates more than 20 days. Karim Chalita, president of the Tijuana Committee on Tourism and Conventions (COTUCO) said that, although not every day has been affected, significant delays have been reported. "There have indeed been days when, by the shutdown of the American government, the crossings have slowed down, especially on weekends and peak days. Waits of 3, 4 or up to 5 hours are reported. However, in 60% of days traffic has been fluid," he explained. Julian Palombo, National Councilor of Concanaco, attributed the delays to the lack of personnel in the US dens.

AP [10/21/2025 11:54 AM, Staff, 31753K] reports that as certain federal employees face challenges during the U.S. Federal Government shutdown, the Rapid Relief Team (RRT), the charitable arm of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, is responding by supporting Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at airports across the country. In a coordinated effort, RRT teams have mobilized to provide thousands of complimentary meals and refreshments at key locations, including Chicago, IL; Baltimore, MD; San Antonio, TX; Rochester, NY; Columbus, OH; and San Francisco, CA. With the support of local volunteers from these cities and surrounding areas, dozens of RRT team members have served both catered and hot meals at affected airports — with more locations being added as needs evolve. While many public servants face financial uncertainty, TSA officers continue to report for duty to ensure safe and secure travel for the public. RRT’s outreach is a practical expression of gratitude — aiming to lift morale and offer encouragement through small but meaningful acts of service. "During this uncertain and stressful time for officers and their families, TSA agents continue to do the critical work of ensuring air travel continues safely for millions of Americans," said Wes Macdonald, RRT NA Operations Manager. "RRT is pleased to extend a heartfelt thank you through a free meal and a warm smile to the wonderful men and women of the TSA, and trust this small act lifts their spirits.

The Hill [10/21/2025 6:00 AM, Al Weaver, 12595K] reports alarm bells are going off for lawmakers after some of the nation’s busiest airports experienced scores of delays over the weekend due to air traffic control staffing shortages as the government shutdown prepares to enter its fourth week. Air-traffic controllers are among the federal workers deemed essential, forcing them to continue on the job while not receiving paychecks. Lawmakers are closely watching the weekend’s woes and increasing possibility of "sick-outs" by controllers, well-aware that travel delays could be the issue that forces them to the negotiating table. "It most certainly will not get better with age," said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). "The longer the shutdown goes on, the more people are going to be frustrated and we’ve got people that are going without paychecks — they most certainly aren’t going to get happier." "You’re going to find more of them trying to find a way to express their frustration even though that they know that there are real implications to calling in sick and slowing things down," Rounds said. "And I get it." Unlike other parts of the federal workforce, air traffic controllers could have a say in ending the three-week long shutdown — but at a major cost. Travel delays are among the shutdown effects felt most directly by average Americans, and the absence of fewer than a dozen controllers helped force the government to reopen in 2019 as it prompted a ground stoppage of flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York. "Air traffic controllers had a pretty powerful punch," Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of those actions. Overall, 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are working without pay this month.

The Hill [10/21/2025 9:13 AM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports the Atlanta Police Department arrested a man who intended to open fire at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Monday, the city’s police chief said. Forty-nine-year-old Billy Cagle arrived at the airport just prior to 9:30 a.m. local time, Chief Darin Schierbaum said at a Monday press conference. Less than 10 minutes after he entered the South terminal, the Cartersville Police Department (CPD) alerted the Atlanta Police Department (APD) of a tip from Cagle’s family members. Cagle, the family members said, had been streaming on social media that he was headed to the airport to, as they put it, "shoot it up." The family also told Cartersville police that he was in possession of a semi-automatic rifle, Schierbaum noted. Upon entering the airport, Schierbaum was "very interested" in the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) check-in area. Just after 9:54 a.m., officers from APD’s airport division — with a photograph of the suspect and up-to-date information from their sergeant, who was in contact with CPD — took Cagle into custody at the TSA check-in. Police then searched Cagle’s Chevrolet pickup truck, parked outside the airport, and found a Springfield AR-15 rifle with 27 rounds of ammunition. "We’re here today briefing you on a success and not a tragedy because a family saw something and said something," Schierbaum said. In a Monday afternoon post on the social platform X, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her department "is in communication with our interagency partners" regarding the incident and she is "thankful this individual was taken into custody."

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Reuters [10/21/2025 11:50 AM, Rich McKay, 19051K]
(B) NBC News Daily [10/21/2025 3:18 PM, Staff]

CBS News [10/21/2025 5:45 PM, Dan Raby, 39474K] reports the man arrested at the Atlanta airport after his family reported he had threatened to shoot up the terminal is now facing federal charges, authorities say. At a press conference discussing the arrest on Tuesday, Atlanta Police Chief Darren Schierbaum said that 49-year-old Billy Joe Cagle is in the process of being transported into federal custody. Cagle was charged with making terroristic threats, criminal attempt to commit aggravated assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and possession of a firearm by a felon. Officials have not shared details about what the federal charges may entail. Investigators say Cagle is a convicted felon and that the FBI is working to learn how he obtained the semi-automatic rifle that was found in his truck parked at the airport. Authorities say they began their search for Cagle after his family alerted the Cartersville Police Department that he had commented during a livestream that he was headed to the Atlanta airport to "shoot it up."

CBS News [10/21/2025 6:03 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports the officer who helped take down the man police say could have been minutes away from starting a mass shooting at the Atlanta airport is sharing what she felt in the moment she spotted the suspect.

DailySignal [10/21/2025 5:02 PM, Fred Lucas, 549K] reports the Justice Department could investigate Biden administration emergency response employees who "systematically" avoided helping disaster survivors who displayed yard signs or flags supporting Donald Trump or the Second Amendment. The practice goes back to 2021, according to an internal review by the Department of Homeland Security released Tuesday. The report, issued by the DHS Privacy Office, also found Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers collected information about the political beliefs of disaster survivors and used that information to delay assistance. "The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs—this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a public statement. "For years, FEMA employees under the Biden administration intentionally delayed much-needed aid to Americans suffering from natural disasters on purely political grounds," Noem added. "They deliberately avoided houses displaying support for President Trump and the Second Amendment, illegally collected and stored information about survivors’ political beliefs, and failed to report their malicious behavior. We will not let this stand." Noem ordered an internal review on the matter based on a whistleblower who reported last year that, after Hurricane Milton in 2024 in North Carolina, FEMA employees were directed to bypass homes with Trump signs. Then-FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell said it was an isolated incident. The DHS internal probe showed this was a pattern that also occurred during multiple disasters dating back to 2021 during Hurricane Ida in Louisiana. The DHS Privacy Office says it will issue clear recommendations to FEMA to address these violations and prevent future ones. The DHS also instructed FEMA to implement rigorous oversight and auditing mechanisms.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [10/21/2025 11:16 AM, Staff, 4109K]
Washington Examiner [10/21/2025 6:56 PM, Staff, 1394K]

DailySignal [10/21/2025 4:47 PM, Fred Lucas, 549K] reports several blue cities, led by Chicago, want federal money to keep flowing but aren’t willing to abide by the Trump administration’s condition of dropping diversity, equity, and inclusion policies to get it. Joining Chicago in the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency are Boston, New York, Baltimore, Denver, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and New Haven, Connecticut. The cities filed the case of Chicago v. Noem in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois Monday. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is named in her official capacity as the defendant. Rather, the funds are intended to help cities train first responders, modernize emergency operations centers, purchase equipment such as hazmat suits, or build public alert systems. Plaintiffs claim that putting the conditions on funding violates the separation of powers, since Congress has already appropriated some of the funding that the executive branch is now trying to put conditions on.

CNN [10/21/2025 11:02 AM, Mary Gilbert, 18595K] reports that Tropical Storm Melissa has formed in the Caribbean Sea, proving this year’s Atlantic hurricane season won’t be wrapping up quietly. The storm could slam the northern Caribbean with pouring rain and strong winds as it strengthens over extremely warm water this week. Melissa’s worst impacts could center on Hispaniola, where significant flooding and dangerous mudslides are possible for parts of the Dominican Republic and Haiti through the weekend. Melissa was churning about 300 miles south of Haiti with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to hit hurricane status by Saturday, according to the center, but it’s still tough to pin down exactly how strong it will become from there. A hurricane watch has been issued for parts of Haiti and a tropical storm watch is in effect for Jamaica. There’s a low, but non-zero chance Melissa directly impacts the mainland United States, though details are still coming into focus. Puerto Rico is much more likely to experience some of the storm’s rain. Melissa’s exact track is still tricky to pin down, but there are two main scenarios forecasters have been monitoring for days. The one looking most likely at this point could spell disaster for parts of Hispaniola; the other could eventually take Melissa close to Central America. Both involve Melissa first loitering out over the Caribbean Sea for multiple days this week, churning up seas and bringing nasty weather to islands within the storm’s reach.

Reuters [10/22/2025 12:06 AM, Staff, 36480K] reports an earthquake of magnitude 6 struck Costa Rica on Tuesday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said. The quake was at a depth of 31 km (19.26 miles), the EMSC said.

New York Times [10/22/2025 1:47 AM, By Francesca Regalado, 153395K] reports a person drove a vehicle into a security gate outside the White House on Tuesday night, the Secret Service said. A man was arrested and there was no threat to President Trump, who was in the complex, according to the agency. The person drove the vehicle into a barrier at the corner of 17th and E Streets at about 10:30 p.m. Eastern, the Secret Service said. The car was a 2010 Acura TSX with Maryland license plates, according to public records. The Secret Service did not release any details about the driver. It was not immediately known whether the crash was intentional, or why the driver approached the White House. Mr. Trump was in the White House at the time of the incident, the Secret Service said. The White House was not placed on lockdown, but the road leading to the gate will remain closed until the police tow the vehicle away, the Secret Service added.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [10/22/2025 12:59 AM, Martin Weil and Aaron Schaffer, 24149K]

Blaze [10/21/2025 2:20 PM, Julio Rosas, 1442K] reports that much ink has been spilled in the mainstream media and by Democrats after the Department of Homeland Security acquired new jets for top officials within the agency to use for travel, but a deeper dive shows the purchases are not only standard but also a matter of safety. Liberals such as David Axlerod have characterized the aircraft as "luxury jets" and bewailed their hefty price tag. However, while two used Gulfstream jets added to the Coast Guard air assets cost $172 million, the Coast Guard has been using Gulfstream aircraft for travel for its leadership since the early 2000s. The plane the new long-range Gulfstream V jet replaced was also 20 years old. The New York Times noted that the acting commandant of the Coast Guard told Congress back in May that the "avionics are increasingly obsolete, the communications are increasingly unreliable." The need to modernize the air fleet was again emphasized by Admiral Kevin Lunday in a press release on Saturday. "The timing of this investment underscores the Coast Guard’s vital need to modernize its command and control capabilities to meet today’s rapidly evolving operational demands. As maritime activity increases and national security challenges grow more complex, maintaining reliable air mobility is essential to ensuring continuity of operations and mission success," Lunday said.

SFGate [10/21/2025 8:45 AM, Staff, 13945K] reports last week, state funds were awarded to a West Marin nonprofit to help rehabilitate the campus and buildings at the derelict Coast Guard facility in Point Reyes Station. The Community Land Trust Association of West Marin announced it was awarded $11.5 million from the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant, a program of the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The grant is aimed at the creation of multifamily housing for agricultural workers, with a priority for lower-income households. The Coast Guard facility in Point Reyes Station was built in 1974 to house officers and their families, but it was no longer in use by 2014. In 2019, Marin County purchased the 33-acre property from the Coast Guard for $4.3 million. By 2020, CLAM and the nonprofit developer Eden Housing proposed a joint rehabilitation project. The total cost for the renovation is $55.4 million, which will be comprised of the Joe Serna grant, plus $12 million in grants awarded through the Marin County Board of Supervisors and affordable housing funding programs. The remainder will be filled with the sale of tax credits that the project team will apply for in early 2026.

Axios [10/21/2025 12:59 PM, Sam Sabin, 12972K] reports that as companies scramble to respond to a major nation-state cyberattack, the top U.S. cybersecurity agency’s threat-sharing apparatus has gone silent, industry sources told Axios. Why it matters: This is the first major test of how prepared the recently shrunken Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is to respond to a possible government breach. Some key information-sharing protocols have looked different or gone dark in the last week, an industry source familiar with the matter told Axios. So far, it’s unclear if the silence is due to the government shutdown or post-layoff restructuring. Driving the news: F5, a major U.S. tech vendor, said last week it was actively investigating a nation-state breach into its BIG-IP product suite and had patched a vulnerability that hackers used to break in. As of Thursday, more than 600,000 F5 devices were vulnerable to potential intrusions, according to Palo Alto Networks. Bloomberg reports that suspected Chinese hackers likely had access to F5’s systems from late 2023 until they were discovered in August. F5 counts more than 80% of the Fortune Global 500 and several government agencies as customers. The big picture: CISA’s capacity is shrinking along with its headcount.

Federal News Network [10/21/2025 6:28 PM, Justin Doubleday, 986K] reports Cybersecurity experts and government officials are still determining the scope and impact of the breach of U.S. technology company F5. But the hack, which was made public last week, highlights ongoing concerns around managing the security of technology that underpins both government networks and critical infrastructure systems. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued an emergency directive on F5 devices last week. Agencies have until Oct. 22 to patch potentially vulnerable F5 products. The directive came on the same day F5 revealed it had been the victim of a nation-state hack targeting both product source code and customer configuration data. Bloomberg reported that hackers had been inside F5’s systems since late 2023. Cybersecurity firm Censys, which scans for internet-facing IT assets, reports that nearly 680,000 F5 product hosts are visible on the public internet, with most located in the United States. Those systems are not necessarily vulnerable, but should be inventoried and patched, per CISA’s guidance. "The attack against F5 reminds us that threat actors continue to target widely used products and services in our digital world, particularly those used for security or performance that operate without traditional endpoint security detection and protection capabilities," Erin Joe, special counsel at law firm Wiley, told Federal News Network. Bob Huber, chief security officer at cyber firm Tenable, said the breach is a major concern given that source code and undisclosed vulnerability data was stolen by the hackers.

Reuters [10/22/2025 12:07 AM, Francesco Guarascio, 36480K] reports a landmark U.N. cybercrime agreement aimed at curbing offences that cost the global economy trillions of dollars annually is set to be signed by representatives from dozens of states in Hanoi this weekend, despite criticism over human rights risks. The convention, which would come into force after it is ratified by 40 states, is an unprecedented move that the United Nations expects will make responses to cybercrime quicker and more effective. Activists, major technology companies and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights have warned about possible abuses from its vague language on crime, with some saying it would facilitate rather than combat illegal activities. The list of signatories has not been released, though the European Union and Canada are set to sign the pact, which they said included safeguards to protect human rights. The U.S. State Department declined to say whether a U.S. representative will attend the signing ceremony.

CyberScoop [10/21/2025 4:25 PM, Derek B. Johnson] reports the federal government is shut down and the House remains out of session, but work in the Senate continues, as a bipartisan bill designed to crack down on overseas robocalls advanced through a key committee Tuesday. The Foreign Robocall Elimination Act, sponsored by Sens. Ted Budd, R-N.C., and Peter Welch, D-Vt., would create a new public-private interagency task force at the Federal Communications Commission to study and recommend executive and congressional action on robocalling operations based outside the United States. The task force will propose potential solutions that can meaningfully curb robocalls without disrupting regular communications or legal marketing. It would potentially provide policymakers with granular insight into a notoriously complex telecommunications ecosystem. The members would be charged with answering fundamental questions, like how many illegal robocalls come from overseas, what countries may host or serve as a nexus for robocalling outfits, and how much Americans lose every year through such scams. “Every single month, millions of Americans are targeted by billions of scam calls attempting to rob them of their security, privacy, and hard-earned dollars, including many from foreign criminals. This needs to stop,” Budd said in a statement. The bipartisan bill passed through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, a key hurdle that now clears it for a full Senate vote.

Breitbart [10/21/2025 7:00 PM, Matthew Boyle, 2416K] reports U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Tuesday evening that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) provided actionable intelligence to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials to successfully capture a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel Plaza known as "El Pato.” "We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico. Our team at NCTC is on the watch preparing for the moment to strike," Gabbard said in a Tuesday evening statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release. "For more than two decades, NCTC has led the Intelligence Community in synchronizing information that can be turned into actionable intelligence for operators around the world to act on to go after those who threaten the safety and security of the American people. Now, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives.” The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which Gabbard leads, announced on Tuesday the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel Plaza Boss Leonardo Daniel Martinez Vera, who also known as "El Pato," in Juarez, Mexico, on October 15, 2025, stemming from U.S. intelligence officials at the NCTC helping authorities locate him. The release states that El Pato is "allegedly responsible for leading a wide range of illicit activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and murder.” The ODNI release notes that the NCTC provided "timely and accurate location information to Mexican authorities" as the Mexican law enforcement officials "raided two houses of interest in search of El Pato.” "He was later apprehended while attempting to flee the area, alongside three additional cartel money launderers," the release states.

San Diego Union Tribune [10/21/2025 10:10 PM, Staff, 1538K] reports a 40-year-old man was convicted Tuesday of sending emailed threats to commit a mass shooting at Shoal Creek Elementary School in Carmel Mountain Ranch. A San Diego Superior Court jury deliberated for about a day before finding Lee Lor guilty of a single felony count of making criminal threats for an email he sent in December 2023 that prompted a police response at the campus and Lor’s arrest later that day. Lor is slated to be sentenced next month. The criminal threats count carries a maximum possible sentence of three years in state prison. Prosecutors say the email was one of more than 400 he sent over several months stating he would commit a shooting at the school, located less than a mile from where Lor was then living. The email in December 2023 stated he was going "to commit mass shootings" at the school and listed the school’s address. Another email he sent stated, "I’m going to murder a bunch of children," while another read, "Children are going to die and parents can’t do nothing about it. This will put a smile on my face." None of the emails Lor wrote was sent directly to the school. Instead, he replied to random spam emails in his inbox with nearly identical threats to shoot up Shoal Creek. One of the emails he replied to on Dec. 1 landed in the spam folder of a woman in Beverly Hills, who alerted police.

Reuters [10/21/2025 3:14 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports that a group of hundreds of former U.S. national security officials on Tuesday urged lawmakers to examine an internal government group that has been coordinating President Donald Trump’s retribution drive against his perceived enemies. The Steady State, a rule-of-law advocacy group, issued its call for congressional inquiries into the Interagency Weaponization Working Group in a letter to the top Republicans and Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence, judiciary and armed services committees. The existence of the interagency group indicates the administration’s push to deploy government power against Trump’s perceived foes is broader and more systematic than previously reported. "The activities described in the Reuters report echo the worst examples of intelligence politicization and misuse of our ‘security services’ in our history and would represent a direct violation of the statutory and ethical boundaries designed to separate intelligence functions from domestic political operations," the Steady State said. The Steady State represents more than 340 former U.S. intelligence officers, law enforcement officials and diplomats, according to its website. The source also said the group was told that the ODNI had begun using "technical tools" to search an unclassified communications network for proof of an anti-Trump "deep state" and hoped to expand its search to classified networks. The ODNI official disputed this as inaccurate and "not how the systems operate." Reuters could not obtain independent information about the tools.

New York Post [10/21/2025 1:10 PM, Caitlin Doornbos, 42219K] reports that President Trump’s nominee for US ambassador for international religious freedom is in Israel this week, visiting at a symbolic time as the administration continues its landmark push for peace in Gaza. Ex-Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), a former pastor who once led the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism, said his dual background in ministry and national security makes his new role a "calling" — especially amid what he described as "one of the most historic peace moments of our lifetime. "This is the perfect convergence of faith and diplomacy," Walker recently told The Post of his pending ambassadorship, a post created in 1998 and designed to help the US push for religious freedom globally. "You can still feel the reverberations from this landmark peace agreement," he said, referring to the cease-fire deal Trump brokered between Israel and Hamas. "People said it would never happen — not in our lifetime. But President Trump and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio have built real relationships that are bringing nations together." Walker praised the Trump administration for its "audacious diplomacy," citing the president’s unprecedented speech at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, followed by high-level meetings in Egypt. The ambassador-designate, who awaits Senate confirmation, said his mission is to "advocate for people of faith who are being persecuted throughout the world" — from Coptic Christians in Egypt to the Druze in Syria to victims of Islamist terror in Africa.

Axios [10/21/2025 3:42 PM, Hans Nichols and Barak Ravid, 12972K] reports NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. After Trump’s "tough" meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky last week, Rutte made preparations to travel to Washington to meet with Trump and members of Congress. The meeting was scheduled before the White House on Tuesday pulled down a planned summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. After a long phone conversation with Putin last week, Trump announced that he would be meeting with Putin to try and broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. On Sunday, Trump was still optimistic about ending the conflict, telling Fox News that Putin was "going to take something, he’s won certain property."

Reuters [10/21/2025 5:36 PM, Tom Balmforth and Steve Holland, 45746K] reports a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was put on hold on Tuesday, as Moscow’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine cast a cloud over attempts at negotiations. A senior White House official told Reuters "there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future" after Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a "productive call" but opted against an in-person meeting. Trump had announced last week that he and Putin would meet soon in Hungary to try to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. But Putin has been unwilling to consider concessions. Moscow has long demanded that Ukraine agree to cede more territory before any ceasefire. Trump, asked by reporters about the prospect for a summit, said he did not want to have a "wasted meeting" but suggested there could be more developments and that "we’ll be notifying you over the next two days" about them. Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s investment envoy, said in a social media post that "preparations continue" for a summit. Russia reiterated its long-standing terms for a peace deal in a private communique known as a "non paper" that it sent to the U.S. last weekend, according to two U.S. officials and two people familiar with the situation.

Breitbart [10/21/2025 2:40 PM, Joel B. Pollak, 2416K] reports that U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Israel on Tuesday and told reporters that he was confident Hamas was committed to its ceasefire with Israel in Gaza — but that it would be "obliterated" if it failed to disarm. Vance is seen as the favored candidate of the isolationist wing of the Republican Party, but has long said that the U.S. should maintain a strong alliance with Israel, even in the context of a non-interventionist foreign policy. He arrived in Israel with Second Lady Usha Vance for a three-day visit, which will include formal meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday. He appeared at a press conference alongside U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been a key negotiator in recent weeks. The Times of Israel reported: US Vice President JD Vance says that recovering the 15 remaining deceased hostages in Gaza "is difficult" and "is not going to happen overnight." "Our warning to Hamas; it’s very straightforward," he says, adding, "The terms of the 20-point plan that [US] President [Donald Trump] put out there is very clear. It’s supported not just by Israel, but by all of our Gulf Arab friends."

Washington Times [10/21/2025 3:47 PM, Staff, 852K] reports Iraq’s prime minister announced that a small contingent of U.S. military advisers would remain in the country to coordinate counter-Islamic State operations with forces in Syria, despite an agreement last year to wind down the American-led coalition by September. Between 250 and 350 U.S. military advisers and security personnel will remain at the Ain al-Asad air base in western Iraq. The advisers will support counter-ISIS surveillance and coordinate with the al-Tanf base in Syria. U.S. forces are also stationed at a base adjacent to Baghdad airport and the al-Harir air base in northern Iraq. The decision to maintain advisers was influenced by developments in Syria following the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December.

FOX News [10/21/2025 10:34 AM, Morgan Phillips, 40621K] reports China’s spy agency accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of hacking its national time service, alleging a yearslong cyberespionage campaign that targeted the system keeping official Beijing Time — a backbone for China’s telecommunications, finance and defense sectors. The Ministry of State Security claimed the NSA began the operation in 2022 by exploiting a text-messaging vulnerability to gain control of employee cellphones at the National Time Service Center, then used stolen credentials to access servers and implant covert tools. The alleged breach, if true, could have allowed attackers to tamper with national timekeeping — a move that experts say could disrupt communications, banking and satellite navigation across China. The NSA said in a statement it "does not confirm nor deny allegations in the media regarding its operations. Our core focus is countering foreign malign activities persistently targeting American interests, and we will continue to defend against adversaries wishing to threaten us.” Chinese investigators allege the hackers deployed 42 "specialized cyberattack weapons" to implant sabotage capabilities.

FOX News [10/21/2025 12:36 PM, Eric Revell, 10085K] reports that the agreement between the U.S. and Australia to partner on developing supplies of rare earths and critical minerals amid trade tensions with China, the world’s leading supplier, prompted a response from the Chinese government. The U.S.-Australia deal was signed by President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday at the White House after China announced export controls on rare earths earlier this month. "The global industrial and supply chains came into shape as a result of the choices of the market and businesses," Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told FOX Business in a statement. "Countries with mineral resources need to play a positive role in keeping relevant industrial and supply chains safe and stable and to ensure normal trade and economic cooperation," he added. Rare earths are used in a range of applications and are a critical component in consumer-oriented devices like smartphones and electric vehicle batteries, and are also used in military equipment like radars and cruise missiles. China is the world’s leading producer of rare earths and has the largest reserves, according to a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS found that in 2024, China’s mines produced 270,000 tons of rare earths and the country has 44 million tons of reserves. By comparison, the U.S. produced 45,000 tons of rare earths and had 1.9 million tons of reserves, while Australia produced 13,000 tons and had 5.7 million tons of reserves.

AP [10/22/2025 3:31 AM, Mari Yamaguchi, 31753K] reports Japan’s new foreign minister said Wednesday his country plans to show its determination to further build up its defense to rapidly adapt to changing warfare realities and growing tension in the region when U.S. President Donald Trump visits Tokyo next week. Trump is expected to hold talks next Tuesday with Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office Tuesday after being elected as Japan’s first female leader. Takaichi, who had spent much of past few weeks embroiled in internal political wrangling, has to face major diplomatic tests within days of taking office — Trump and two regional summits. "We are firmly preparing for President Trump’s visit," Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said. Motegi said he hoped Trump’s first meeting with Takaichi during his Oct. 27-29 visit would serve as an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance while fostering their personal relationship of trust. He said Japan also hopes to further cooperate with South Korea, along with other regional partners including Australia and the Philippines, while seeking stable and constructive relations with China.

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