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

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

The New York Times [10/24/2025 3:18 AM, Heather Knight, Soumya Karlamangla and Shawn Hubler, 330K] reports President Trump announced on Thursday that he has called off the deployment of federal immigration agents to San Francisco, just as they were beginning to gather at a Coast Guard base in the Bay Area. Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had stopped the federal action in San Francisco at the request of friends who live in the Bay Area and who vouched for the work of the city’s Democratic mayor, Daniel Lurie. Mr. Trump specifically cited Marc Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce, who set off a local firestorm for initially saying he wanted the National Guard in San Francisco, and Jensen Huang, the president and chief executive of Nvidia. Mr. Benioff later apologized and said he did not want Guard troops in the city. Mr. Trump said that federal officials were “preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday,” until his friends asked him to stop because Mr. Lurie was making “substantial progress.” Mr. Lurie said in a news conference that he had not asked business leaders to intervene, and only learned of the president’s reversal when Mr. Trump called him late Wednesday night. He said the two men spoke about San Francisco’s recent drop in crime, the return of tourists after the pandemic, reductions in homeless encampments and the city’s booming artificial intelligence industry. The president, Mr. Lurie said, had “asked me for nothing.” “In our conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco,” Mr. Lurie said. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning.” It was not immediately clear whether that meant the Trump administration had called off the entire planned U.S. Customs and Border Protection operation for all of the Bay Area, or just for San Francisco. Mr. Lurie said that he and Mr. Trump did not discuss other cities. “He only spoke about San Francisco,” he said. In San Jose, Mayor Matt Mahan, who spoke to Mr. Lurie after the call with President Trump, interpreted the decision broadly. Mr. Mahan said that he believed federal agents had been called off from his city, the largest in Northern California with nearly one million residents. “I think the White House made the right decision,” Mr. Mahan said in an interview. He added that he had also called Mr. Huang, of Nvidia, to thank him for weighing in on the region’s behalf. But less affluent parts of the Bay Area were skeptical. In Alameda County, which includes the city of Oakland, local leaders worried that only San Francisco had been given a reprieve, and protests persisted outside Coast Guard Island, a facility in the city of Alameda that was to have been used as a base for the federal operation. Members of the crowd tried to block cars from entering the base, including at least two Border Patrol vehicles. A cheer initially went up later in the morning as word spread that Mr. Trump had called off the action in San Francisco, but it was quickly replaced by confusion over whether the entire Bay Area had been spared. The California Highway Patrol eventually said it needed to open one traffic lane for base access and threatened to begin towing vehicles that were blocking the entrance. By late afternoon, about 100 demonstrators had been winnowed to a few dozen and C.H.P. officers in riot gear had cleared the way for traffic as protesters played “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars.” The Los Angeles Times [10/23/2025 5:29 PM, Kevin Rector and Jessica Garrison, 14862K] reports Trump’s announcement came amid protests at the entrance to the U.S. Coast Guard base across the bay in Alameda County, where the Department of Homeland Security has begun staging additional forces. It followed a similar announcement by Lurie, who said he had told Trump during a phone call late Wednesday that San Francisco is "on the rise" and that "having the military and militarized immigration enforcement in our city will hinder our recovery." Lurie said Trump agreed to call off any federal deployment to the city, and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — who is in charge of federal immigration forces — had "reaffirmed that direction" in a conversation with him Thursday morning. During a Thursday morning briefing less than an hour after Trump’s post, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and other East Bay leaders said they had "no information" about such a stand-down in their communities, and were still bracing for increased federal immigration raids given the staging of forces at nearby Coast Guard Island, which is in the waters between Alameda and Oakland. The San Francisco Chronicle [10/23/2025 1:48 PM, Ko Lyn Cheang, Sophia Bollag, Kate Talerico, and Sarah Ravani, 4722K] reports Mayor Daniel Lurie first announced the news that Trump told him "clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco." The statement sent by Lurie’s office also said Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem "reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning." Lurie’s announcement came just hours after protesters clashed with federal immigration agents arriving at Coast Guard Station near Alameda. It was not immediately clear whether a major federal immigration operation, which the Chronicle first reported Wednesday, would proceed, or whether federal agents will be deployed in Bay Area cities other than San Francisco. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson did respond to a request for clarification. In recent days, Bay Area leaders had feared two potential federal incursions in the region from the Trump administration: a deployment of the National Guard, as Trump had done in other Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles, and a major immigration crackdown by federal immigration officers, who’ve already been ramping up arrests in the region, particularly at courthouses, since May.

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Wall Street Journal [10/23/2025 5:46 PM, Jack Morphet, Sean McLain, and Roshan Fernandez, 646K]
Washington Post [10/23/2025 2:08 PM, David Nakamura, 24149K]
Politico [10/23/2025 9:36 PM, Dustin Gardiner and Jeremy B. White, 13586K]
The Hill [10/23/2025 1:44 PM, Julia Manchester, 12595K]
Reuters [10/23/2025 4:58 PM, Jasper Ward and Nathan frandino, 36480K]
Axios [10/23/2025 1:52 PM, Shawna Chen, 12972K]
NBC News [10/23/2025 1:46 PM, Alexandra Marquez and David Ingram, 34509K]
(B) CNN News Central [10/23/2025 3:23 PM, Staff]
NewsMax [10/23/2025 1:17 PM, Staff, 4109K]
FOX News [10/23/2025 1:19 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K]
Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 1:21 PM, Christopher Weber and Terry Chea, 4829K]
Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 1:36 PM, Barnini Chakraborty, 1394K]
San Francisco Chronicle [10/23/2025 2:13 PM, By Aidin Vaziri, Jill Tucker, Roland Li, and Laura Waxmann, 4722K]

CBS News [10/24/2025 12:21 AM, Tim Fang, 39474K] reports President Trump announced Thursday that he has called off a plan to deploy federal agents to San Francisco, following a conversation with Mayor Daniel Lurie. In a statement on Truth Social, Mr. Trump said prominent tech company bosses had also contacted him Wednesday, urging him not to go forward with a so-called "surge" operation set for Saturday, saying the city was making "substantial progress." "I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around," the president said. "Great people like Jensen Huang, Marc Benioff, and others have called saying that the future of San Francisco is great. They want to give it a ‘shot.’ Therefore, we will not surge San Francisco on Saturday. Stay tuned!" Trump said in conclusion, mentioning Huang, the CEO of chipmaker Nvidia and Benioff, the CEO and co-founder of Salesforce. Two Department of Homeland Security officials also told CBS News Thursday afternoon that the planned Border Patrol operation in San Francisco had been canceled. Lurie said in a separate statement Thursday that he had received a call from the president late Wednesday night. "I told him the same thing I told our residents: San Francisco is on the rise. Visitors are coming back, buildings are getting leased and purchased, and workers are coming back to the office," Lurie said. "In that conversation, the president told me clearly that he was calling off any plans for a federal deployment in San Francisco. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem reaffirmed that direction in our conversation this morning." The mayor added, "I am profoundly grateful to all the San Franciscans who came together over the last several days. Our city leaders have been united behind the goal of public safety. And our values have been on full display—this is the best of our city." At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Lurie noted recently released crime statistics, which showed significant declines. "Today, in San Francisco, crime is down nearly 30% citywide. And violent crime is at its lowest levels since the 1950s. Car break-ins are at 22-year lows and homicides are on track to hit 70-year lows," the mayor said. "Our new approach is delivering results." Lurie also revealed that he spoke with Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday, in addition to Noem, and received assurances in tackling the fentanyl crisis. "She echoed her willingness to our local law enforcement to combat fentanyl and hold drug traffickers responsible," Lurie said. Benioff sparked controversy earlier this month in an interview with New York Times, urging Trump to deploy the National Guard to the city to address public safety. The comments were made ahead of the company’s annual Dreamforce convention in San Francisco. Following pushback from city officials and after saying the conference was successful, Benioff apologized for his comments. Gov. Gavin Newsom voiced support for Mr. Trump’s last-minute change of plan. "Trump has finally, for once, listened to reason – and heard what we have been saying from the beginning," said Newsom, who once served as San Francisco’s mayor himself. "The Bay Area is a shining example of what makes California so special, and any attempt to erode our progress would damage the work we’ve done."

Reported similarly:
AP [10/24/2025 12:04 AM, Janie Har, 2416K]

CBS San Francisco [10/23/2025 9:12 PM, Tim Fang, 39474K] reports that protesters gathered near Coast Guard Island in Alameda early Thursday ahead of the anticipated arrival of federal agents, as President Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown is set to expand to the Bay Area. The group began to arrive around 6 a.m. and blocked the entrance to the island, which is expected to be the staging area for an estimated 100 Customs and Border Protection agents. Shortly after 7 a.m., a CBS News Bay Area crew spotted a Coast Guard vehicle drive past the crowd and then fire flash bangs and smoke grenades to disperse the crowd. At least one person appeared to be hit by a flash bang. Reporter Veronica Macias said the man who was hit was a minister who was part of a group of interfaith leaders protesting. The minister, identified as Jorge Bautista, spoke to reporters after the incident. "I obviously was shot with whatever that Border Patrol had," said Bautista, who is a pastor at an Oakland church. "And I came to say we came in peace, and he didn’t care. There’s nothing else to say, he wanted to cause harm to me." "It’s clear that we’re here to be on the side of love," Bautista added. "Because it is our responsibility to express love and be on the side of peace and to make sure that no families are being harassed and threatened with their lives." On Wednesday, U.S. officials told CBS News that the Trump administration planned to expand its nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration to the Bay Area. An official said that Border Patrol agents would stage at the base, located roughly 15 miles from San Francisco.

New York Times [10/23/2025 12:59 PM, Felicia Mello and Soumya Karlamangla, 135475K] reports that more than 200 protesters demonstrated and tried to block the entrance to Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., on Thursday morning. Federal officials said on Wednesday that the base was being used as an operations center for federal immigration raids that were expected to start later this week in the San Francisco Bay Area. But President Trump announced on Thursday morning that federal agents would not be deployed to San Francisco after tech leaders convinced him that Mayor Daniel Lurie, a Democrat, was making progress on public safety. It was unclear whether federal agents still intended to conduct operations elsewhere in the Bay Area. Around 7:30 a.m. Thursday, federal authorities used crowd-control munitions that caused two loud bangs outside the Alameda base, sending the crowd there scattering momentarily from the roadway where Border Patrol vehicles were trying to enter. At least one man appeared to be injured by what protesters described as a pepper bomb. Protesters marched in the road intersection and held signs that said “No ICE or Troops in the Bay” and “No Hate No Fear, Immigrants are Welcome Here.” A line of U.S. Coast Guard police officers stood facing the demonstrators outside the entrance to the base, which is on an island linked to the mainland by a bridge. Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Coast Guard could be immediately reached for comment.

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SFGate [10/23/2025 5:14 AM, Staff, 13945K]

San Francisco Chronicle [10/24/2025 3:31 AM, Staff, 4722K] reports gunshots were fired late Thursday at a protest outside a U.S. Coast Guard base at the edge of Oakland, where demonstrators were rallying against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Bay Area. Video footage by the television station KTVU showed armed officials at Coast Guard Island firing shots at a U-Haul truck that was driving backward toward them. The officials appeared to have shouted at the vehicle, which was driving on a bridge that led to the base around 10 p.m., but the truck didn’t stop. It was unclear whether lethal or nonlethal rounds were discharged and whether anyone was injured. The U-Haul truck appeared to leave the area after the gunshots were fired. The base was where the Trump administration was staging for a possible immigration crackdown in the Bay Area, which the Chronicle first reported Wednesday. President Donald Trump said Thursday he was calling off a "federal deployment" in San Francisco, having said earlier that he would send the National Guard to the city, but it wasn’t clear whether an immigration operation would proceed. The protest outside the base Thursday evening involved a few hundred demonstrators and had been mostly peaceful. Earlier in the day, however, protesters tried to block federal agents from entering the base. Federal agents proceeded to deploy what appeared to be flash-bang grenades and pepper spray One person was injured.

The San Francisco Chronicle [10/23/2025 10:46 AM, Michael Barba, Kate Talerico, Jessica Flores, and Sarah Ravani, 4722K] reports tensions flared early Thursday as protesters tried to block federal Border Patrol agents from entering a U.S. Coast Guard base near Oakland that the Trump administration was staging as an operations hub for an anticipated immigration crackdown on the Bay Area. One protester was injured shortly after sunrise as several federal law enforcement vehicles, including one marked Border Patrol, passed through the crowd stopping traffic onto the island. “Once we start, we won’t stop,” one agent told the protesters blocking his vehicle. The chaos unfolded before President Donald Trump and Mayor Daniel Lurie announced that Trump had called off a planned “federal deployment” in San Francisco. It was not immediately clear whether a major federal immigration operation would proceed, or whether federal agents will be deployed in other Bay Area cities. Telemundo 48 [10/23/2025 12:35 PM, Bob Redell and Pilar Nino, 20K] reports that when dozens of federal agents arrived Thursday at Coast Guard Island near Alameda, protesters attempting to block vehicle access to the base were met with flash-bang grenades and other uses of force. Video captured one of the vehicles running over a protester. The man was injured but appeared to be okay. "We were helping traffic... asking people to be peaceful and not go through crowds... and then I started to back away, and he came forward and hit me," said Matthew Leber of Team Berkeley. "I was screaming for several seconds, and he didn’t back up. I don’t know why he didn’t back up." Leber added that he felt fine and was proud of the protesters. During the protests, our news team observed several SUVs entering the facility, two of which were marked as Border Patrol. Later that day, the California Highway Patrol arrived at the scene to attempt to remove the remaining protesters from the intersection. Several people were seen being detained by officers. Protesters began arriving early in the morning and walking in groups back and forth across a crosswalk on the road leading into and out of the base entrance. Later that morning, armed officers began forcing these people off the road as vehicles approached to enter the base. Many protest attendees expressed confusion and disbelief following Mayor Lurie’s announcement that after a call with President Trump, he had assured him that he would not send federal agents to San Francisco. Coast Guard Island is a federal base operated by the Department of Homeland Security.

AP [10/23/2025 9:09 PM, Jonathan Mattise, 852K] reports that Federal immigration agents were greeted by protests Thursday in the San Francisco Bay Area on their way out to a century-old, government-owned artificial island that houses a U.S. Coast Guard base. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began arriving at Coast Guard Island to support federal efforts to track down immigrants in the country illegally. The Coast Guard is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, along with Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. A statement provided to the news media by the Coast Guard said that “through a whole of government approach, we are leveraging our unique authorities and capabilities to detect, deter, and interdict illegal aliens, narco-terrorists, and individuals intent on terrorism or other hostile activity before they reach our border.” President Donald Trump then said Thursday that he is backing off a planned surge of federal agents into San Francisco after speaking to the mayor. It was not clear if the president was canceling a National Guard deployment or calling off immigration enforcement by CBP agents. Coast Guard Island is a 67-acre human-made island formed in 1913 in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda. It is federally owned, does not allow visits from the general public without an escort or specific government identification, and it has been home to the current base, Base Alameda, since 2012, according to a Coast Guard document from 2016.

New York Post [10/24/2025 2:05 AM, Victor Nava, 42219K] reports the Justice Department on Thursday warned California officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), against engaging in an "apparent criminal conspiracy" to arrest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued the letter to Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins after the former House speaker suggested Wednesday that local police could arrest ICE agents if they violate state laws while carrying out immigration enforcement operations. "Rather than supporting and working with federal law enforcement professionals, California politicians, including U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, have instead called for state and local law enforcement officials to ‘arrest’ federal agents and officers for enforcing federal laws enacted by the U.S. Congress, including federal immigration laws," Blanche wrote in his missive. "The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile," he added. "Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations." Blanche said the DOJ would "investigate and prosecute any state or local official" who flouts federal statutes or directs or conspires with others to violate them. The deputy AG further ordered the California officials to "preserve all written and electronic communications and records related to any attempts or efforts to impede or obstruct federal law enforcement officials." "We urge you and other California officials to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy, to stop threatening law enforcement, and to prioritize the safety of your citizens," Blanche continued. "In the meantime, federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities who have abdicated their duty to protect their constituents." Amid reports of ICE raids planned for the Bay Area, Pelosi and Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) issued a joint statement claiming that California law "prevents federal agents from taking certain actions." "While the President may enjoy absolute immunity courtesy of his rogue Supreme Court, those who operate under his orders do not," the lawmakers wrote. " Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them." Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. "Stand down or face prosecution," Blanche warned on X. "No one threatens our agents. No one will stop us from Making America Safe Again."

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Daily Caller [10/23/2025 9:04 PM, Hailey Gomez, 835K]
San Francisco Chronicle [10/24/2025 1:01 AM, Aidin Vaziri, 4722K]

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 12:03 PM, Brady Knox, 1394K] reports a semitruck driver allegedly responsible for killing three people and wounding four others after plowing into several vehicles while under the influence illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2022 under the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security. A statement from the DHS identified the driver as Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national. Dashcam video of the crash showed Singh’s truck plowing into three vehicles in front of him at full speed while they were stopped, destroying two and severely damaging the other. His momentum was only stopped by another truck, which caused his semitruck to catch fire and veer into other vehicles. In all, the crash destroyed or damaged eight vehicles, killing three people and injuring four, including Singh. "He was eventually transported to the hospital, and he was checked out by the medical staff, and our officers determined he was driving under the influence of drugs," CHP Officer Rodrigo Jimenez said. DHS tore into the Biden administration over its release of Singh back into the country after he was caught. "It is a terrible tragedy three innocent people lost their lives due to the reckless open border policies that allowed an illegal alien to be released into the U.S. and drive an 18-wheeler on America’s highways," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "This accident follows a disturbing trend of illegal aliens driving 18 wheelers and semi-trucks on America’s roads.” She pointed out that the DHS just filed another immigration detainer after an illegal immigrant from Serbia and Montenegro caused a fatal crash while driving a semitruck. "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is working day-in and day-out to make America’s roads safe again," McLaughlin concluded. DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged an immigration detainer against Singh on Wednesday.

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ABC News [10/23/2025 2:21 PM, Meredith Deliso, 30493K]
(B) NBC News Daily [10/23/2025 3:24 PM, Staff]
San Francisco Chronicle [10/23/2025 1:09 PM, Aidin Vaziri, 4722K]
NewsNation [10/23/2025 1:00 PM, Nancy Loo, 8017K]
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Daily Caller [10/23/2025 2:42 PM, Regan Reese, 835K] reports that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Caller that California gave a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to an illegal alien who is accused of killing three people in a major crash. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) that on Tuesday they took Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national, into custody after he allegedly caused a multi-car pileup along a highway in Ontario, California. Singh entered the country illegally during the Biden administration in 2022 and was later released. Leavitt told the Caller that California granted the illegal alien a CDL, which is needed to drive tractor trailers and buses in the United States. "It is something that the Department of Transportation has already looked into, I know Secretary Duffy, who is doing a phenomenal job, has spoken on this many times and the crack down that the Department of Transportation is taking on these licenses that are wrongfully being issued to people who clearly do not deserve to uphold these positions," Leavitt told the Caller. Over 25% of non-domiciled CDLs reviewed were "improperly issued" in California, according to the a DOT press release. The secretary issued requirements specific to California, including mandating that it pause issuing non-domiciled CDLs.

AP [10/23/2025 5:29 PM, Corey Williams, 13945K] reports a 21-year-old semitruck driver accused of being under the influence of drugs and causing a fiery crash that killed three people on a southern California freeway is in the country illegally, U.S. Homeland Security officials said Thursday. Jashanpreet Singh was arrested and jailed after Tuesday’s eight-vehicle crash in Ontario, California, that also left four people injured. He faces three counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence causing injury, the San Bernardino District Attorney’s office said. Singh is scheduled for arraignment Friday. The district attorney’s office said he does not yet have a lawyer. Singh, of Yuba City, California, is from India and entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 across the southern border, Homeland Security said Thursday in a post on X. That revelation prompted Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to restate earlier concerns about who should be able to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. Duffy and President Donald Trump have been pressing the issue and criticizing California ever since a deadly Florida crash in August was caused by an immigrant truck driver the federal government says was in the country illegally. The Transportation Department significantly restricted when noncitizens can get commercial driver’s licenses last month. California’s Highway Patrol said in a release that traffic westbound on Interstate 10, about 26 miles (42 kilometers) west of San Bernardino, had slowed about 1 p.m. Tuesday when a tractor-trailer failed to stop, struck other vehicles and caused a chain-reaction crash. Dashcam video from the tractor-trailer obtained by KABC-TV shows the truck slamming into what appears to be a small, white SUV in the freeway’s center lane. It continued forward, plowing into several other vehicles, including another truck. It then crossed over two lanes before crashing into an already-disabled truck on the freeway’s right shoulder. Flames can be seen erupting alongside the tractor-trailer as it crosses the two right lanes. California Highway Patrol Officer Rodrigo Jimenez says the agency has seen the KABC video and believes it is dashcam video from the truck that caused the crash. "This tragedy follows a disturbing pattern of criminal illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles on American roads, directly threatening public safety," Homeland Security said Thursday in its X post.

FOX News [10/23/2025 3:49 PM, Rachel Wolf, Jasmine Baehr, Bill Melugin, 40621K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that California issued a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to an illegal immigrant truck driver charged in a fatal DUI crash that killed three people. Leavitt said the individual first entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 "and was released into our country by the previous administration." She added that the Department of Transportation (DOT) was cracking down on the issuing of CDLs amid a "disturbing pattern" of them being given to illegal immigrants. Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from India, was accused of driving while intoxicated and causing a crash that left three people dead. He has since been arrested on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated after allegedly plowing his big rig into slow-moving traffic on the I-10 Freeway in San Bernardino County. Multiple federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that Singh was first encountered by Border Patrol agents in California’s El Centro Sector in March 2022 and released into the interior of the country pending an immigration hearing. Police say Singh never hit the brakes before slamming into the traffic jam, citing toxicology tests that confirmed impairment.

Daily Caller [10/23/2025 10:34 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports California’s non-compliance with federal directives paved the way for an illegal migrant truck driver to remain on American roads and allegedly kill three people in a horrific California highway accident in the state, according to the Department of Transportation (DOT). Jashanpreet Singh, a 21-year-old Indian national living unlawfully in the U.S., was not only able to keep his Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), but was even able to upgrade it just days before allegedly getting behind the wheel of a big rig truck and causing a multi-vehicle accident, according to a breaking DOT investigation. The new details emerge as the Trump administration attempts to crack down illegal migrant truckers across the country. The DOT says California ignored emergency directives from the DOT to revoke non-domiciled CDLs from illegal migrants such as Singh. "My prayers are with the families of the victims of this tragedy," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. "It would have never happened if [Democratic California Gov.] Gavin Newsom had followed our new rules." "California broke the law and now three people are dead and two are hospitalized. These people deserve justice," Duffy continued. "There will be consequences." Singh, a 20-year-old at the time, obtained a non-domiciled CDL on June 27, according to the DOT report. The license included a "K restriction" which limited him to in-state operation only. In response to a growing number of serious vehicle accidents involving illegal migrant truckers, Duffy issued a large-scale crackdown on non-domiciled drivers on Sept. 26 and formally notified California of "significant compliance failures" upon an audit that revealed one-in-four non-domiciled CDLs sampled were issued illegally in the state. The DOT ordered California to pause issuance of non-domiciled CDLs, among other orders. Under the nationwide emergency rules, all asylum seekers were prevented from obtaining non-domiciled CDLs, with every state instead being required to apply stricter standards to all renewals, transfers and upgrades of the licenses, according to the DOT. However, upon turning 21 on Oct. 15, Singh was able to upgrade his driving privileges by removing the "K restriction" on his license, according to the investigation. California processed the upgrade to the illegal migrant’s non-domiciled license without applying the stricter standards set out by the DOT. Had California complied with the rules, Singh would’ve been required to return to the DMV to remove the K restriction and upgrade his CDL, and at that time he would’ve been found ineligible to retain his non-domiciled CDL due to his status as an asylum seeker, according to the report. On Oct. 21, just several days after upgrading his license, Singh allegedly got behind the wheel of a semi-truck under the influence of drugs and rammed into multiple cars in San Bernardino County, California, killing three people in the process. Singh first entered the U.S. illegally in 2022 through the southern border and was released by the Biden administration, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has since lodged a detainer request for him with local law enforcement. "Gavin Newsom was explicitly warned California’s CDL program was dangerously broken," the DOT report stated. "The USDOT’s emergency rule was issued to explicitly prevent drivers like Singh from getting behind the wheel of commercial motor vehicles."

Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 1:39 PM, Jim Woods, 4829K] reports that an Illinois man, who was driving his semi-trailer without a proper license when he was involved in an Oct. 15 fatal crash in Portage, now faces an immigration detainer filed against him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Borko Stankovic, 41, of Lyons, is charged with Level 5 felonies for reckless homicide and criminal recklessness. Stankovic is accused of causing the crash on U.S. 20 at Douglas Drive when he made a hard left evasive maneuver, crossed the center line and struck head-on a Subaru, driven by Jeff Eberly, 54, of Mishawaka, who died at the scene, court records show. While being held in the Porter County Jail, ICE recently filed the detainer charges against Stankovic. He is from Serbia and Montenegro and has been here illegally since February 2011, when his non-immigrant visa status expired, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Stankovic’s arrest follows a pattern of undocumented immigrants driving commercial vehicles on American roads, directly threatening public safety, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a release. Portage Police found that Stankovic only had an Illinois driver’s license and lacked the required commercial driver’s license.

FOX News [10/23/2025 8:22 PM, Greg Wehner, Bill Melugin, 40621K] reports an illegal alien truck driver accused of causing a crash in Florida that killed three people failed his commercial driver’s license (CDL) test 10 times in two months before finally receiving a license in 2023 in Washington state, Fox News learned from a senior official with the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Harjinder Singh allegedly crossed the southern border illegally in 2018 and is accused of causing an August crash in Fort Pierce, Florida, that killed three people. Investigators with the Florida AG’s office learned Singh failed his CDL knowledge exam in Washington state 10 times between March 10, 2023, and May 5, 2023. They also learned he failed his air brakes knowledge exam twice. The Washington company that trained Singh for his CDL attested that he could speak English, even though he struggled to speak it proficiently, the senior official said. Still, Washington issued Singh his first CDL, and California later granted him another. Bodycam footage released in August shows Singh struggling with limited English after being pulled over for speeding in New Mexico a month earlier, a detail that has become a major focal point in the case. The footage shows Singh being stopped by a New Mexico State Police officer July 3 for allegedly driving 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. Singh appeared apologetic as he received a ticket. He communicated clearly at first, but after signing paperwork and preparing to leave, the officer struggled to understand him. Officials investigating the wreck in Florida said Singh failed English and road sign tests. He’s accused of jackknifing his 18-wheeler during an illegal U-turn, causing a van to smash into the side of the semi, leaving three people dead. Last week, the Florida AG’s office sued California and Washington in a Supreme Court filing to prevent both states from issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants. The lawsuit accuses the states of failing to comply with federal safety and immigration status requirements. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Oct. 15 that many big rig drivers fail to meet English language requirement, a problem his department is now targeting. "I put states on notice this summer: Enforce the Trump Administration’s English language requirements or the checks stop coming," Duffy said. "California is the only state in the nation that refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs and communicate with law enforcement. This is a fundamental safety issue that impacts you and your family on America’s road." The announcement followed the Trump administration’s decision to withhold more than $40 million in federal highway safety funds from California for failing to enforce federal English proficiency standards for truckers. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [10/23/2025 6:00 AM, Adam Sabes, 40621K] reports the illegal immigrant in Indiana who was arrested after allegedly causing a fatal semi-truck crash owned a company that took out over $35,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, records show. Borko Stankovic was driving on U.S. Highway 20 in Indiana on Wednesday, Oct. 15, when traffic came to a stop due to a Ram Sprinter turning near Douglas Drive, but the suspect didn’t appear to slow down in his semi-truck, the Portage Police Department told FOX 32. Stankovic attempted to make a hard evasive left turn and entered opposite traffic, hitting a Subaru Crosstrek, officials said. The semi-truck jackknifed as a result and hit the Ram Sprinter, which was pushed into a road sign. Jeffrey Eberly, 54, who was driving the Subaru, died at the scene, officials said. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that Stankovic had been in the U.S. illegally since February 2011 when his nonimmigrant visa status expired. Officials said Stankovic possessed a suspended Illinois CDL, which was a family member’s, but didn’t have a valid CDL himself. PPP records cataloged by ProPublica show that two of Stankovic’s companies, Eclipse Trucking Inc. and ESD Team Inc., received a combined $36,082 in loans from the COVID-19 era funding program. Business registration records from both Illinois and Indiana show Stankovic owned both companies. The PPP loans were forgiven, according to the data. Records show that both companies listed having one employee.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [10/23/2025 3:07 PM, Amy Furr and Neil Munro, 2416K]

FOX News [10/23/2025 2:30 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons joins ‘America Reports’ to discuss illegal immigrants’ ability to obtain commercial driver’s licenses in California as Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy threatens to pull millions in funding for the state. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [10/23/2025 3:26 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin weighs in on the illegal immigrant truck driver in jail over charges related to a fatal California crash on ‘America Reports.’

The AP [10/23/2025 12:27 PM, Konstantin Toropin, 31753K] reports the U.S. military on Wednesday launched its ninth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said, expanding the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America. It followed another strike Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people, Hegseth posted on social media hours earlier. The attacks were departures from the seven previous U.S. strikes that had targeted vessels in the Caribbean Sea. They bring the death toll to at least 37 from attacks that began last month. The strikes represent an expansion of the military’s targeting area as well as a shift to the waters off South America where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled. Hegseth’s social media posts also drew a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown. "Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people," Hegseth said, adding "there will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice." Later Wednesday, he referred to the alleged drug-runners as "the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere.” The Daily Wire [10/23/2025 7:53 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K] reports that three "narco-terrorists" aboard the vessel were killed, according to the Secretary of War. It’s the ninth such U.S. strike on a suspected drug smuggling vessel said to be bound for the U.S. in recent months. And the effort is expected to continue. "These strikes will continue, day after day. These are not simply drug runners—these are narco-terrorists bringing death and destruction to our cities. These DTOs [Drug Trafficking Organizations] are the ‘Al Qaeda’ of our hemisphere and will not escape justice. We will find them and kill them, until the threat to the American people is extinguished." The Trump administration has focused its strikes on vessels traversing the Caribbean, while pressuring countries like Venezuela and Colombia to crack down on drug trafficking. Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has called the strikes "a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country," while accusing the Trump administration of "seeking a regime change" in the Latin American country. The U.S. has authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela against the country’s socialist dictator, while tagging him as complicit in the drug trade.

CNN [10/23/2025 6:24 PM, Adam Cancryn, Avery Schmitz and Natasha Bertrand, 606K] reports President Donald Trump on Thursday insisted that he could continue to launch strikes against alleged drug traffickers abroad without Congress first passing an official declaration of war. "I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war," he said. "I think we’re just doing to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be like, dead.” Trump’s dismissal came as he suggested his administration would soon begin targeting those deemed as cartel members within countries like Venezuela, in addition to continuing to strike alleged drug boats in international waters. The president said he would notify Congress first before beginning any operations on "land," but contended that the plan would not face any pushback from lawmakers. "We going to go. I don’t see any loss in going" to Congress, Trump said. "We’re going to tell them what we’re going to do and I think they’ll probably like it, except for the radical left lunatics.” The lethal strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and east Pacific have unnerved some lawmakers, given the little evidence the administration has presented proving that the targets were so-called narco-terrorists. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted that the military has confirmed that each targeted boat is trafficking drugs. Still, he defended the decision to return two survivors of a recent strike as "standard" practice in war. "Compared to Iraq and Afghanistan, the vast majority of people that we captured on the battlefield we handed over to the home country," he said, referencing the US’ wars in the Middle East. "So in this case, those two, they were treated by American medics and handed immediately over to their countries where they came from.” Trump’s remarks come as an American B-1 Lancer bomber flew near the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, although the president denied that the US sent the B-1 bomber. "No, it’s not accurate. No. It’s false. But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them, but also they’ve been sending their prisoners into our country for years under the Biden administration, not anymore, we have a closed border," Trump said.

Telemundo [10/23/2025 5:27 PM, Staff, 2218K] reports President Donald Trump reaffirmed Thursday that the United States will use lethal force against those trying to bring drugs into the country, amid attacks on at least nine vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific in which more than 30 people have died. When asked whether his administration would go to Congress to request a declaration of war against the cartels, which would legally allow him to mobilize Defense Department resources, the president rejected the idea. "I think we’re going to kill the people who are bringing drugs into the country, we’re going to kill them," he replied. Asked whether the United States was planning to seize some of the boats in the Caribbean or Pacific Ocean to interrogate their occupants and show evidence of drug trafficking, Trump said the government’s intelligence is solid and dismissed any doubt about that, without presenting evidence.

Bloomberg [10/23/2025 4:57 PM, Staff, 18207K] Video: HERE reports President Donald Trump said “the land is going to be next” in his campaign to halt the flow of drugs into the US from Venezuela, the clearest sign yet that he’s preparing to broaden strikes that have so far been limited to targets at sea.

New York Times [10/23/2025 6:33 PM, Robert Jimison, 135475K] reports President Trump said on Thursday that he would bypass Congress rather than seek its approval to carry out military strikes against drug cartels that traffic narcotics to the United States, even as he vowed to expand the operation from attacks at sea to targets on land. “I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Mr. Trump told reporters of his campaign of deadly strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea near Colombia and Venezuela. “I think we are going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country, OK? We are going to kill them, you know? They are going to be like, dead.” He made the remarks during a news conference at the White House to promote the work of agencies that Mr. Trump said were working to “arrest, prosecute and permanently remove” people who were part of an elaborate drug cartel operation inside the United States. They came as the president has talked about expanding the legally questionable military operation he has undertaken over the past several weeks, in which nine airstrikes at sea have resulted in 37 acknowledged deaths. The Senate is expected to vote next week on a bipartisan resolution that would bar the United States from engaging in hostilities inside Venezuela without explicit authorization by Congress. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, but formal declarations are rare and have not been issued since World War II. Lawmakers have more often passed authorizations for the use of military force to grant the president permission to use force against specific targets. The last time a president sought such a resolution was in October 2002, when President George W. Bush asked for authorization to use military force against Iraq. Congress approved that measure, and it has been cited for decades as the legal basis for military operations around the world carried out by subsequent administrations of both parties. Though he repeatedly referred to the military operation targeting drug trafficking as a “war,” Mr. Trump said he would not seek any formal approval from lawmakers to continue striking boats or expand it to include airstrikes against countries like Venezuela, where he says the cartels originate. “The cartels are waging war against America and just like I promised in the campaign, we are waging war against them,” he said in the White House state dining room flanked by members of his cabinet, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth; Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence; and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

AP [10/24/2025 9:10 PM, Konstantin Toropin, 30493K] reports the U.S. military flew a pair of supersonic, heavy bombers up to the coast of Venezuela on Thursday, a little over a week after another group of American bombers made a similar journey as part of a training exercise to simulate an attack. The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off of Venezuela, raising speculation that President Donald Trump could try to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S. Adding to the speculation, the U.S. military since early September has been carrying out lethal strikes on vessels in the waters off Venezuela that Trump says are trafficking drugs. According to flight tracking data, a pair of B-1 Lancer bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew through the Caribbean and up to the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations, confirmed that a training flight of B-1s took place in the Caribbean. The B-1 bomber can carry more bombs than any other plane in the U.S. inventory. A similar flight of slower B-52 Stratofortress bombers was conducted in the region last week. The bombers were joined by Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighter jets — a squadron is currently based in Puerto Rico — for what the Pentagon called a "bomber attack demo" in photos online. When Trump was asked about Thursday’s B-1 flight and if it was meant to ramp up military pressure on Venezuela, he said, "it’s false, but we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons. Drugs being one of them." The U.S. force in the Caribbean includes eight warships, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones and an F-35 fighter squadron. A submarine has also been confirmed to be operating in the waters off South America. Trump on Wednesday said he has the "legal authority" to carry out the strikes on the alleged drug-carrying boats and suggested similar strikes could be done on land. "We will hit them very hard when they come in by land," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "We’re totally prepared to do that. And we’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when we come to the land." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the military had conducted its ninth strike, killing three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It followed a strike Tuesday night, also in the eastern Pacific, that killed two people and brought the overall death toll from the strikes to at least 37. The latest pair of strikes expanded the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking in South America from the waters of the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific. Hegseth has drawn a direct comparison between the war on terrorism that the U.S. declared after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the Trump administration’s crackdown. "Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated al-Qaeda," Hegseth told reporters on Thursday at the White House. "We will find you, we will map your networks, we will hunt you down, and we will kill you," he added.

NewsMax [10/23/2025 7:07 PM, Michael Katz, 4109K] reports U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers flew near Venezuela on Thursday in another show of force against dictator Nicolás Maduro amid a widening military campaign in the Caribbean targeting alleged drug traffickers. Two B-1 Lancers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and flew near Venezuela, remaining in international airspace, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a U.S. official and flight-tracking data. Last week, the Air Force and Marines conducted a similar show of force with B-52 bombers and F-35B fighter jets near an island off the Venezuelan coast where its military held training exercises in September. The bombers circled the area before returning to the U.S., the Journal reported, citing flight-tracking data. The Pentagon described the flights as an "attack demonstration." President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday during a Homeland Security Task Force roundtable at the White House that the report of B-1s flying near Venezuela was "false." "No, it’s false," Trump said. "But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons, drugs being one of them. But also, they’ve been sending their prisoners into our country for years under the Biden administration. Not anymore. "We have a closed border." It is the second time in two days that Trump has disputed a Journal story. On Wednesday, he took to Truth Social after the Journal reported that his administration lifted a major restriction on Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied long-range missiles, calling it "FAKE NEWS!" The bomber flights are part of a broader military ramp-up that includes eight warships, a submarine, a P-8 maritime patrol aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and an F-35 fighter squadron now deployed in the region, according to the Journal. The U.S. has rarely flown bombers near South America in recent decades, typically conducting only one planned training mission a year. But more bomber missions could follow soon, two defense officials told the Journal. The widening campaign has focused on countering alleged drug traffickers from Venezuela and Colombia. After at least seven strikes on boats and a submersible in the Caribbean since early September, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the U.S. attacked two vessels in the eastern Pacific this week. Bombers could be used to hit narcotics distribution or production facilities, current and former Air Force officials told the Journal. The Trump administration has faced growing bipartisan scrutiny over the legal basis for the strikes, though the Republican-controlled Congress has rejected measures to limit the president’s power to continue them. Asked whether Trump would need congressional authorization to conduct strikes on land, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told the Journal on Thursday, "I’m not sure I know the answer to that."

NPR [10/23/2025 7:11 PM, Staff, 28013K] reports our reporter visited boat docks in Trinidad to find out. The Trump administration announced two more strikes on what it says were drug boats in the Pacific. That follows seven strikes in the Caribbean. NPR’s Sacha Pfeiffer talks with international correspondent Eyder Peralta about how countries in the region are reacting. And national security correspondent Greg Myre joins from Tel Aviv, where a carousel of U.S. officials has kept pressure on Israel to adhere to the president’s peace plan. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [10/24/2025 5:00 AM, Franco Ordoñez and Ryan Lucas, 34837K] reports the U.S. military carried out two more strikes on alleged drug boats this week. The attacks were not in the Caribbean Sea but in the eastern Pacific Ocean, signaling an expansion of the Trump administration’s campaign against drug trafficking from South America. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a video on X of a blue speedboat skipping along the ocean waters before being hit and then bursting into flames. "Just as Al Qaeda waged war on our homeland, these cartels are waging war on our border and our people," Hegseth wrote in the Wednesday message. "There will be no refuge or forgiveness — only justice." The strikes represented the eighth and ninth known boat attacks, which have killed at least 37 people. The Trump administration has yet to provide public evidence to support its assertions that the individuals on the boats were cartel members and that the vessels were transporting drugs, raising concerns about the legality of the strikes and the real goals of the White House campaign.

Politico [10/23/2025 5:00 AM, Eric Bazail-Eimil, 13586K] reports the Trump administration is barely bothering to pretend that its increasingly belligerent stance toward Venezuela is just about tackling narcotics. President Donald Trump wants Nicolas Maduro out of power — and the only question is how much pressure the United States is prepared to deliver to make it so. There have been successive U.S. strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats in the international waters off Venezuela, a buildup of military assets in the Caribbean and even an admission from Trump that he had authorized covert CIA action on the ground in Venezuela. Still, Trump claims he’s not pursuing “regime change.” To untangle what’s really going on in the region, POLITICO Magazine sat down with James B. Story, who served as the top diplomat to Venezuela during the first Trump administration and stayed on into some of the Biden administration. Story was also a senior diplomat in Colombia and led the Venezuelan Affairs Unit in the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá after the U.S. suspended diplomatic relations with Caracas. Story argues that in a shift from Trump’s first administration, U.S. policy is now being calibrated to rattle Venezuelan elites close to Maduro such that they move to oust the long-time leftist leader. It also provides Trump with the necessary firepower should he choose to actually conduct some kind of U.S. military operation in Venezuela, even if that’s not the administration’s first choice. “There are not enough assets for an invasion,” he said. “But there are enough ‘exquisite assets’ on site that could overwhelm the air defenses of the country, take out the Air Force, take out the navy, potentially decapitate the government if that were a decision that he decided to take.” Then comes the fallout — and it could get messy.

CNN [10/23/2025 12:41 PM, Stefano Pozzebon, 606K] reports the daily routine of Samuel Carreño has turned upside down since the end of August. That was around the time Donald Trump ordered warships to the southern Caribbean in what the US president said was a mission against drug trafficking, unleashing a wave of geopolitical tensions that have kept the region on edge ever since. But it’s not the US warships — or Caracas’ suspicions that Washington is more interested in deposing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro — that are weighing on the mind of the 49-year-old resident of Petare, Venezuela. It’s a more pressing, personal issue: how to pay the bills. That same week in August, his mother Tita Carreño, 75, had an accident at home and fractured her left femur, leaving her son no option but to stop working and care for her. Like millions of Venezuelans, Samuel Carreño is an informal worker who lives day by day — "killing tigers," as the local slang goes. A medical emergency is simply impossible for him to afford. For many Venezuelans, like Carreño, the daily ordeal of normal life in the country is a far more pressing concern than speculative headlines about whether the US will or will not attack. According to the Central Bank, in the two months that US warships have been in the Caribbean — the same period in which Tita Carreño has been bedridden — the Venezuelan bolivar depreciated by 50% against the dollar, as people sought a safe haven in the foreign currency.

FOX News [10/23/2025 5:00 PM, Emma Colton Fox, 40621K] reports President Donald Trump held a roundtable with law enforcement and administration officials Thursday to discuss the successes of the Homeland Security Task Forces, which the president established on his first day in office to snuff out threats from criminal cartels in the U.S. "We’re here today to discuss a sweeping, unprecedented, and historically successful operation that my administration has carried out in recent weeks to arrest, prosecute and permanently remove members of foreign drug cartels from American soil," Trump said as he addressed the group Thursday. "And the people gathered around this table are the ones that are doing it,". Trump established the creation of Homeland Security Task Forces Jan. 20 — his first day back in office — via executive order, "Protecting the American People from Invasion." The executive order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to establish such task forces in each state as part of the administration’s efforts to thwart cartels and human trafficking networks operating on U.S. soil. The executive order specifically directed the task forces to "end the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the United States, dismantle cross-border human smuggling and trafficking networks, end the scourge of human smuggling and trafficking, with a particular focus on such offenses involving children, and ensure the use of all available law enforcement tools to faithfully execute the immigration laws of the United States.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [10/23/2025 2:07 PM, Staff, 12595K]

Washington Times [10/23/2025 5:07 PM, Jeff Mordock, 852K] reports President Trump likened drug cartels to the militant Muslim terrorist groups the U.S. has targeted during the war on terror and vowed to continue military strikes on alleged drug smugglers off the coast of Venezuela. “These are the worst of the worst,” Mr. Trump said at White House roundtable on Thursday afternoon with law enforcement and administration officials to discuss the Homeland Security Task Forces, which he created to curb threats from drug cartels. “It should now be clear to the entire world that the cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere,” Mr. Trump said. “In addition to their monstrous violence, such as cutting off heads, burning enemies alive, and burning innocent people alive today." “They maintain vast arsenals of weapons and soldiers, and they use extortion, murder, and kidnapping to exercise political and economic control,” the president continued. Mr. Trump has designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a label not normally used for drug cartels. Earlier this month, the Trump administration sent a memo to Congress declaring the U.S. is at war with the cartels. The memo said the U.S. is engaged in “non-international armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations.” By declaring it an armed conflict, like with al Qaeda and other Islamist groups since 2001, the U.S. can lawfully kill enemy combatants, detain them indefinitely without trials and prosecute them in military tribunals. The U.S. military has launched a series of strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in waters in Latin America and the Pacific, in what critics have decried as an overreach of Mr. Trump’s authority. At the White House on Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said those strikes will continue. “The Department of War is not going to degrade or just simply arrest, we’re going to defeat and destroy these terrorist organizations to defend the homeland on behalf of the American people,” he said. Mr. Hegseth said his message to cartels is “we will treat you like we have treated al-Qaeda. We will find you. We will map your networks. We will hunt you down, and we will kill you.” Mr. Trump created the Homeland Security Task Forces on Jan. 20, his first day back in office. It is charged with cracking down on drug cartels and human trafficking networks operating on U.S. soil.

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 6:52 PM, Christian Datoc and Mabinty Quarshie, 1394K] reports President Donald Trump signaled Thursday that his administration’s controversial crackdown on the drug trade, so far limited to boat strikes in international waters, will soon turn to attacks on cartel-linked targets by land. "Our sea drugs, as they call them, they use the term sea drugs, the drugs coming in by sea are like, 5% of what they were a year ago, less than 5% — so now they’re coming in by land," Trump said during a roundtable with law enforcement officials at the White House. "And even the land is concerned, because I told them that’s going to be next, you know, the land is going to be next," Trump continued. "And we may go to the Senate, we may go to the, you know, Congress, and tell them about — but I can’t imagine they’d have any problem with it.” The president directed War Secretary Pete Hegseth to inform Congress about the possible land strikes, which would escalate tensions with nations in the Caribbean, in particular Venezuela. "While we’re here, I think it’s a good idea. Pete, you go to Congress, you tell them about it," said Trump. "What are they going to do? Say, gee, we don’t want to stop drugs pouring in? They’re killing 300,000 people a year.” Trump himself has done little to ease the growing tension among regional leaders. The president maintains that Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and Colombian President Gustavo Petro are directly linked to the drug trade, and, on Wednesday, he described the influx of drugs as a "national security problem" while defending his legal authority to launch land strikes, presumably in South America. Trump’s escalating attacks against cartels and other groups deemed foreign terrorist organizations are prompting concern on Capitol Hill, especially after a Pentagon strike that killed two people aboard an alleged drug boat in the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday expanded the campaign beyond the Caribbean Sea. A second strike on Wednesday killed three people in the eastern Pacific Ocean. In total, Trump’s strikes are believed to have killed more than 37 people. Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, is pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to bring lawmakers back to Washington amid the government shutdown to hold a hearing on Trump’s strikes. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wiles all attended Thursday’s event at the White House, touting the accomplishments of new Homeland Security Task Forces. "The President’s Homeland Security Task Forces are a landmark achievement that highlights what the federal government can achieve with a leader like President Trump, who is willing to slash red tape, increase coordination, and put the safety of the American people first," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. "The American people are safer today because of the HSTFs — and they’re just getting started.”

FOX News [10/23/2025 6:40 PM, Alexandra Koch and Jennifer Griffin, 40621K] reports Fox News has learned two B-1 bombers took off from Dyess Air Base in Texas Thursday morning, flying toward Venezuela as seen on open source flight trackers, according to senior U.S. official sources. During a White House roundtable on immigration and crime crackdowns Thursday, President Donald Trump denied the report, which was first published by the Wall Street Journal. "No, it’s not accurate. It’s false," Trump said. "But we’re not happy with Venezuela for a lot of reasons, drugs being one of them, but also, they’ve been sending their prisoners into our country. … Nobody can do that.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth did not correct the president during the Q&A with reporters. During the roundtable with law enforcement and administration officials to discuss the successes of the Homeland Security Task Forces, Trump honed in on the ongoing efforts to curb illegal drug smuggling into the U.S., noting he believes the cartels will begin infiltrating the U.S. by land. "Now they’re coming in by land," Trump said. "Even the land is concerned, because I told them … the land is going to be next. We may go to the Senate, we may go to Congress, and tell them about it. But I can’t imagine they’d have any problem with it.”

New York Times [10/23/2025 8:17 PM, Carol Rosenberg, 135475K] reports a U.S. government lawyer told a federal judge on Thursday that the homeland security secretary had the authority to send immigration detainees designated for deportation to any U.S. military base around the globe, in a defense of such detentions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The assertion came in response to a question from Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan of the Federal District Court in Washington. Judge Sooknanan was exploring the government’s position in a challenge brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the extraterritorial detention is illegal. She asked if Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, could send immigration detainees to any U.S. military base around the world. “I don’t see why not,” replied August E. Flentje, a senior Justice Department lawyer. Judge Sooknanan is deciding whether to confer class action status on migrants held in homeland security custody at the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay. The A.C.L.U. requested that status, arguing that the operation is illegal because the men are in a limbo between deportation and detention on U.S. soil, where they have greater rights. Over the summer, the Trump administration also held eight men at a U.S. military base in Djibouti while it fought and defeated a court challenge over its plans to deport them to South Sudan. The A.C.L.U. challenge accuses the current administration of housing small numbers of men at Guantánamo, rather then in U.S. facilities, as part of a messaging strategy “to frighten immigrants, deter future migration, induce self-deportation and coerce people in detention to give up claims against removal and accept deportation elsewhere.” It has called conditions inhumane, and the detainees’ access to legal counsel inadequate. The administration contends that the detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement are an extension of a longstanding U.S. policy that has allowed tens of thousands of migrants to be housed at the base since the 1990s. Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the A.C.L.U., said that case had a different legal basis because those men, women and children were intercepted at sea and had never reached the United States. Moreover, he said, they had the right to return to their countries upon request. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working with the U.S. military have held about 710 migrants at the base since the operation began in February, a much more modest operation than President Trump envisioned in December when he ordered his administration to prepare to hold thousands of “criminal aliens” there.

CBS News [10/23/2025 10:15 AM, Staff, 39474K] 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 U.S. deportation program to Africa. It 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," David said. "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.” The Eswatini government said Mosquera was "fasting and praying because he was missing his family" and described it as "religious practices" that it wouldn’t interfere with, a characterization disputed by David. She said: "It is not a religious practice. It’s an act of desperation and protest.” Mosquera was among a group of five men from Cuba, Jamaica, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen deported to Eswatini, an absolute monarchy ruled by a king whom a number of rights groups, and the British government, accuse of clamping down on human rights. The Jamaican man was repatriated to his home country last month, but the others have been kept at the prison for more than three months, while an Eswatini-based lawyer has launched a case against the government demanding they be given access to legal counsel. Civic groups in Eswatini have also taken authorities to court to challenge the legality of holding foreign nationals in prison without charge. Eswatini said that the men would be repatriated but could be held there for up to a year. The men sent to Eswatini already were convicted of serious criminal offenses that included murder and rape, and were in the U.S. illegally, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said. It said Mosquera was convicted of murder and other charges. His lawyer disputed that and said Thursday he was convicted of attempted murder and other charges. His full criminal record was not immediately available. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has cast the third-country deportation program as a means to remove "illegal aliens" from American soil as part of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, saying they have a choice to self-deport or be sent to a country like Eswatini.

Wall Street Journal [10/23/2025 4:24 PM, John McCormick and Victoria Albert, 646K] reports Gov. JB Pritzker said Thursday that he would establish an independent commission to document aggressive federal immigration enforcement in Illinois and use the findings to later hold agents and officials accountable. The announcement is part of a new and evolving playbook being developed by Democratic mayors, governors and attorneys general to confront the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and use of National Guard members in blue states and cities. The Democratic governor and possible 2028 presidential candidate signed an executive order to establish the Illinois Accountability Commission, an independent board that will focus on the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The commission will collect testimony, hold hearings and gather information from individuals, subject-matter experts, local officials, faith leaders and others. Speaking to reporters in Chicago, Pritzker acknowledged the commission won’t have subpoena power or the ability to directly charge anyone with misconduct or a crime. Still, he said, it is critical to build a public record. “While states have limited abilities against federal immunity, we must remind everyone that this is not forever,” he said. “There will come a time where people of good faith are empowered to uphold the law. When the time comes, Illinois will have testimony and the records needed to pursue justice to its fullest extent.” That time could come as soon as 2027, Pritzker said, if Democrats manage to win control of one chamber of Congress in November 2026 and hold investigative hearings. “Trump’s masked agents have detained innocent American citizens and legal residents,” he said. “They have used unmarked cars, a Black Hawk helicopter, automatic weapons and battering rams to raid an apartment building filled with almost entirely, well, families and children.” He argued that their actions are about politics. “None of this is about crime or safety,” Pritzker said. “If it were, there would be coordination with local law enforcement and judicial warrants.” Asked for comment, Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokeswoman, quoted a former Democratic president from Chicago. “In the words of Barack Obama,” she said, “‘We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants in this country.’”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [10/23/2025 2:22 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12595K]
AP [10/23/2025 12:07 PM, Staff, 31753K]
Axios [10/23/2025 1:54 PM, Monica Eng, 12972K]
CBS News [10/23/2025 5:58 PM, Nicole Sganga, Tara Molina, Elyssa Kaufman, 39474K]
CBS News [10/23/2025 6:31 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE
Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 6:35 PM, Olivia Olander, 4829K]
NewsMax [10/23/2025 4:19 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K]

FOX News [10/23/2025 9:40 PM, Stephanie Samsel, 40621K] reports Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker ridiculed President Donald Trump’s claim that ICE agents are going after the "worst of the worst" in their crackdown on illegal immigration in Illinois on Thursday. "They’re literally going after Black and brown people because of the color of their skin," the governor told "Special Report." Pritzker, who created the Illinois Accountability Commission to track ICE agents’ conduct, insisted there are instances of misconduct "all the time." The vocal Trump critic has compared the president’s ICE crackdown to Nazi Germany and called ICE agents Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s "thugs." However, he told "Special Report" anchor Bret Baier his state will help law enforcement who have a judicial warrant to deport violent criminals. "We want the bad guys off the streets," Pritzker said. "What we don’t want is for people to get racially profiled. That’s what’s happening right now." When Baier pressed Pritzker on his comparisons against ICE agents, the governor stood behind his comments. "I’m talking about what they were doing, taking away people’s rights, arresting people, asking them for papers," Pritzker said. "Early on in an authoritarian regime, wherever it is in the world throughout history, this is what happens," he continued. "It’s the beginning of something very bad for a country, especially a constitutional republic." He went on to argue the only thing he is "demonizing" is when law enforcement is acting out of line and are "literally racial profiling." Baier countered, "You don’t think you’re painting with a broad brush of all the ICE agents that are doing their job?". The governor replied nobody in Washington is holding the "bad ones" accountable. "There literally haven’t been any suspensions or firings for the terrible things that they’ve done, literally grabbing people, tackling them when they’re U.S. Citizens and have done zero wrong," Pritzker argued. The Democrat once again pointed to Trump’s federal troops to reiterate his warning Thursday on ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith’s show that the president may try to steal the next election. "What I’m telling you is you can just look back in his own history, back to 2020, after the election, when he claimed fraud, he claimed it had been stolen from him," Pritzker recalled. "And he and Michael Flynn discussed, and Michael Flynn very publicly talked about, maybe we should use troops and go in and seize the ballot boxes and count the votes. "You don’t think Donald Trump heard that and thought maybe that’s a good idea?" he asked. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Post [10/23/2025 11:41 PM, Stephanie Samsel, 42219K]

Reuters [10/23/2025 7:00 PM, Diana Novak Jones, 36480K] reports a top U.S. Border Patrol official violated a court order limiting the use of tear gas during demonstrations against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago, a group of protesters, journalists and clergy members told a U.S. judge on Thursday. The group said in a court filing that Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander overseeing the federal enforcement effort in Chicago, deployed tear gas in violation of the judge’s order during a standoff in a neighborhood known for being home to many Mexican immigrants. They attached photos and a link to a Facebook video that appears to show Bovino throwing tear gas at a group of protesters without giving the required warning. Representatives for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Donald Trump’s ongoing "Operation Midway Blitz" deportation drive in Chicago has spurred arrests across the city and sparked widespread protests. In response, Trump sent hundreds of National Guard troops to Illinois to quell what his administration called unprecedented violence against federal law enforcement, a directive that was halted by another court. Dozens of community members and protesters, a handful of them throwing rocks, were met with tear gas on Thursday in Little Village, one of Chicago’s biggest Latino neighborhoods. The heated standoff lasted around an hour until Chicago police officers arrived on the scene. This is at least the fifth time that tear gas has been used in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [10/23/2025 5:52 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K]

AP [10/23/2025 5:02 PM, Sophia Tareen, 31753K] reports that Hoan Huynh was going door-to-door informing businesses of ramped up immigration enforcement on Chicago’s North Side when the Democratic state lawmaker got an activist notification of federal agents nearby. He followed agents’ vehicles and then honked to warn others when he was pulled over. Masked federal officers pointed a gun at him and a staffer, attempted to break his car window and took photos of their faces, before issuing a warning, he recounted. "We were non-violent," Huynh said of Tuesday’s incident, part of which was captured on video. "We identified ourselves as an elected official and my hands were visible." As the Trump administration intensifies an immigration crackdown across the nation’s third-largest city and its suburbs, elected officials in the Democratic stronghold have been increasingly caught in tense encounters with federal agents. Members of the Chicago City Council and their staff, state legislators and congressional candidates report being threatened, handcuffed and detained in recent days. The Department of Homeland Security has defended its operations, including the detention of U.S. citizens, saying they are temporarily held for safety. The agency, which did not answer questions about Rodriguez’ staff, accused Huynh of "stalking" agents. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said agents had to assess if the legislator was a threat. "This behavior is unbecoming of a public servant and is just another example of sanctuary politicians putting our officers at risk," she said in a statement.

Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 8:52 PM, Kate Perez, 4829K] reports that, amid the swell of detentions by federal immigration officers in neighborhoods across the city, Chicago Board of Education members are calling for greater support for students and families living in fear and vulnerable to recent enforcement sweeps. Parents are afraid to send their children to school while U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers lurk nearby. Students are sharing live updates on ICE agent locations. And whistles blow, alerting neighbors to federal activity. Those daily occurrences prompted school board members at their monthly meeting Thursday to urge CPS to take more action, including implementing remote learning options for students unable to attend school due to immigration enforcement fears. The call comes as educators, school leadership, board members, parents and students grapple with the immigration crackdown under the administration of President Donald Trump — known widely as Operation Midway Blitz — which has resulted in hundreds of detentions throughout the city since its launch in early September. A street vendor was detained outside of Decatur Classical School near the Rogers Park neighborhood earlier this week, according to a letter from school leadership shared with the Tribune. The district cannot unilaterally implement remote learning, CPS interim CEO Macquline King said during the meeting. That decision would have to come from the governor’s office, which has the authority to do so in what King described as "emergency" situations. King has maintained that schools are the safest place for students to be. Several board members said they have been in contact with frightened community members and have responded to ICE threats in their neighborhoods, showing up at schools during drop-off and pickup to help ensure safety. While acknowledging that there are obstacles to implementing remote learning, board member Karen Zaccor, District 4A, maintained that the option should be considered for students and parents who are unable to attend school because of immigration enforcement fears. "We need their learning to continue," she said. The district has taken multiple protective measures for families and students since the start of the crackdown, including advocating for Safe Passage workers to ensure the safety of students who walk to and from school. It also recently expanded its 24-hour Student Safety Center, adding a dedicated team to triage incidents related to federal law enforcement. Additionally, schools were told to establish ICE protocols and hold staff trainings earlier this month.

Axios [10/23/2025 7:19 AM, Monica Eng, 12972K] reports earlier this month, a top official at the Department of Homeland Security posted a message on X denying the agency’s involvement in an arrest captured on video, instead falsely claiming Chicago police were involved. 10 days later, DHS officials have not removed it nor commented on why they’d contradict local law enforcement. DHS’s refusal to address conflicting evidence and modify errors has been documented several times, a pattern that could erode the public’s faith in the department at a time when it’s conducting controversial operations in Chicago. On Oct. 10, a Hoffman Estates resident took a video of a 15-year-old girl, who identified herself to the Tribune as Evelyn, being violently apprehended. On Oct. 12, assistant secretary for public affairs at DHS Tricia McLaughlin reposted the video and called it "a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago." Other recent discrepancies shared on DHS accounts include a McLaughlin statement describing an incident in Brighton Park earlier this month as happening in "Broadview" and suggesting Gov. JB Pritzker controls the CPD, which he does not. McLaughlin has also characterized protesters at the Broadview ICE facility as "rioters," while Axios and other news outlets have documented the demonstrations as almost entirely peaceful, with federal agents behind the gates using tear gas, pepper spray and munitions on the public.

Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 2:52 PM, Greg Royal Pratt, 4829K] reports that federal immigration officials on Thursday once again deployed tear gas during an enforcement action, this time in the Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side where several people were detained including a 16-year-old U.S. citizen. Video footage reviewed by the Tribune shows immigration agents near the Discount Mall, located near 26th and Albany, being confronted by neighbors. After the agents were confronted and chided by locals, tear gas canisters were deployed. No prior warnings from agents could be heard. Earlier this week, leaders from Customs and Border Patrol told a federal judge in Chicago that the use of tear gas on public streets was prompted by threats to agents’ safety. On Oct. 9, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a restraining order and forbid federal agents from firing tear gas and other projectiles at peaceful protesters, clergy or journalists unless they pose an immediate threat of physical harm to a person, and to stop dispersing people if they have a lawful right to be at a location. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment. In a statement to the Tribune, Chicago Police said officers responded to several 911 calls in the area Thursday, including at least one call placed by a federal agent. "Upon arrival, CPD supervisors and officers observed a large crowd and worked to de-escalate," a department spokesperson said in an email. "CPD officers were only on scene to maintain public safety through crowd control and traffic control. Officers secured the area and left the scene once the area was safely cleared."

CNN [10/24/2025 3:29 AM, Amanda Musa, Hanna Park, 18595K] reports Senior Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino is accused of throwing at least one tear gas canister into a crowd of protesters in a Chicago neighborhood Thursday in a potential violation of a judge’s order restricting federal agents from using aggressive crowd control tactics during anti-ICE protests. A new court filing against the Department of Homeland Security alleges Bovino "apparently threw tear gas into a crowd without justification" during a protest against federal immigration authorities in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. The notice of alleged violation was filed by a combination of media groups, individual protesters and Chicago-area clergy members who earlier this month obtained a temporary restraining order from US District Judge Sara Ellis after suing DHS and Trump officials over federal agents’ tactics against protesters. The filing cites a Facebook video post that shows Bovino throw an object toward protesters Thursday morning. The video, which CNN has viewed, does not show clearly what happened in the minutes leading up to the alleged incident or if any warnings were given. "Defendant Bovino appears to throw either one or two tear gas canisters over the heads of armed federal agents in front of him and in the direction of a crowd of individuals protesting, including an individual filming the encounter," the filing from Thursday states. Ellis’ sweeping order restricts agents’ crowd control tactics, use of force and actions against journalists and others at protests in Chicago, but it includes exceptions for individuals who pose a threat to law enforcement or others. During a hearing last week, she said she had concerns about whether her order was being followed. Bovino is one of more than a dozen administration officials named as defendants in the lawsuit filed earlier this month, which accuses federal agents of "a pattern of extreme brutality" intended to "silence the press and civilians." CNN has reached out to DHS for comment. Hours before the court filing alleging a possible violation of the judge’s order, Bovino defended federal agents’ conduct in the Chicago area during an interview with CBS News. "The use of force I’ve seen has been exemplary. By exemplary, I would say the least amount of force necessary to accomplish the mission," Bovino said, in response to attacks he’s seen carried out on federal agents by "extremists and others."

Washington Post [10/23/2025 1:31 PM, Marianne LeVine, 24149K] reports that the mother of an Illinois woman killed by an undocumented immigrant in January is speaking out against the Trump administration’s attempts to tie her daughter to the ongoing immigration crackdown in Chicago. Denise Lorence wrote in an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune this week that her late daughter, Katie Abraham, “would not have wanted to be associated with a campaign that targets Chicago — a city she not only loved but felt safe in.” In September, the Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Midway Blitz,” a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, in honor of Abraham. She and a friend were killed when an undocumented immigrant, who was driving drunk, crashed into her vehicle in Urbana, Illinois, on Jan. 19. Local police have said the man charged in the case, Julio Cucul Bol, of Guatemala, had attempted to flee the country on a bus headed to Mexico before the U.S. Marshals Service apprehended him. Federal authorities have since made more than 1,000 arrests in a sustained campaign that has resulted in clashes between law enforcement and protesters. Much of the unrest has taken place in Broadview, a small Chicago suburb where weekly protests have taken place. Trump has also sought to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, but a federal judge has blocked him from doing so.

Breitbart [10/23/2025 8:42 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports federal agents launched a high-impact gang takedown in Wisconsin this morning, arresting 22 suspects and seizing a cache of drugs, guns, and vehicles in a coordinated strike dubbed "Operation Chalkline." Backed by 14 SWAT teams and dozens of law enforcement partners, the FBI Milwaukee-led operation targeted violent criminal networks operating in Milwaukee and Racine, Wisconsin. FBI officials released information on Wednesday about a multi-agency takedown of cartel-connected gangs operating in Wisconsin. The coordinated action led to the arrest of 22 people on federal charges. Agents and other law enforcement officials executed 24 federal search warrants, leading to the seizure of four kilos of cocaine, 260 grams of fentanyl, 1.5 pounds of methamphetamine, six pounds of marijuana, 23 firearms, and three vehicles, according to a statement from the FBI office in Milwaukee. FBI Director Kash Patel posted information on social media about the raids and the accomplishment of the Operation Chalkline task force. The director called it "one of our most significant violent gang takedowns to date.” "Outstanding work," the director said, praising the law enforcement teams.

FOX News [10/23/2025 11:08 AM, Taylor Penley, 40621K] reports that one Florida state representative is looking to expand the state’s crackdown on migrant crime with a bill that would fine police for refusing to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and allow families to sue government entities that "dropped the ball" over crimes committed by illegal immigrants. The Shane Jones Act, named in honor of an Air Force veteran and father of four killed outside Tampa in a 2019 motorcycle crash involving an intoxicated illegal immigrant driving without a license, was proposed on Monday to give "teeth" to existing immigration policy. "It’s a great idea because it sends the message that we will not tolerate our local law enforcement or local governments not cooperating with immigration officials when they don’t enforce immigration laws," said State Rep. Berny Jacques Thursday on "Fox & Friends First." Jacques, a Republican who introduced the bill, explained that victims would be suing the government entity that "failed to enforce" immigration laws. He also said the Sunshine State has been leading on the issue. "We’ve been telling folks that this is not a sanctuary state, and we’re not just telling folks, we’ve put that into law, so this puts teeth into that law to make sure that no agency of the state, no political subdivision, would violate that," he added.

Los Angeles Times [10/23/2025 6:08 PM, Brittny Mejia, 14862K] reports a federal judge on Thursday issued a tentative ruling ordering that the government ensure immigrant detainees held in a downtown Los Angeles processing center have access to legal counsel. The preliminary injunction would essentially extend a temporary restraining order that U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong issued in July, requiring federal immigration agencies to allow legal visitation at the B-18 detention facility seven days a week. Frimpong issued her tentative ruling ahead of the hearing Thursday morning, during which she heard arguments on whether the government was continuing to violate detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to access counsel. Mark Rosenbaum, of Public Counsel, which helped bring the lawsuit, told the judge that detainees swept up in immigration raids have been held at B-18 — intended as a processing center — in inhumane conditions, with "no beds, no showers, no heat, vending machine food at best.” "These are inherently coercive conditions," Rosenbaum said. "Which heighten the necessity for access to counsel, unfettered.” Government attorney Jonathan Ross argued that "evidence shows detainees at B-18 are meeting with attorneys, they have access to counsel" and argued that "conditions of confinement are not an issue before the court." He also said that exigent circumstances — protests that sprang up against immigration raids — shifted conditions at facility, thus impacting clients’ access to attorneys. "That circumstance has now changed and conditions at B-18 have now normalized," he said, adding that "the government is going to do the right thing" regardless of any order.

The Hill [10/23/2025 1:18 PM, Alexander Bolton, 12595K] reports that Senate Democrats blocked a Republican-sponsored bill Thursday to pay active-duty members of the military and other essential federal employees who have been required to work during the government shutdown. Democrats blocked the Shutdown Fairness Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), in a mostly party-line 54-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance. Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) crossed party lines to vote in favor of the measure. Fetterman — along with Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine) — has also been voting with Republicans to reopen the government. The two Georgia Democrats have been voting against that stopgap funding bill. The legislation would pay service members as well as employees who are determined by agency heads to be "excepted" from the shutdown or who are "performing emergency work." Johnson’s bill would also have guaranteed pay for federal workers who are on duty throughout the shutdown, including air traffic controllers, Transportation Security Administration agents, park rangers, federal law enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Border Patrol agents, Thune said.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [10/23/2025 4:59 PM, Riley Beggin and Theodoric Meyer, 24149K]

Reuters [10/23/2025 11:05 AM, Caroline L. Wolverton, 36480K] reports that traditional enforcement by federal regulatory agencies has dropped dramatically since the Trump administration took office in January. But this does not mean that businesses will necessarily avoid litigation aimed at enforcing federal laws. Plaintiff’s attorneys as well as state attorneys general are filling the federal agency enforcement gap with enforcement actions of their own. In the first half of 2025, federal agency enforcement actions in the areas of consumer protection, competition, and financial practices were down 37% compared to the first half of 2024, according to an analysis by Wolters Kluwer as reported in CFO.com. Dan Niepow, "Federal regulatory activity dropped steeply in H1 2025," CFO.com (Aug. 7, 2025). Enforcement actions targeting financial offenses specifically dropped 53% while consumer protection enforcement actions fell 22% during that same period. Id. This sharp drop can be attributed to shifted enforcement priorities under the Trump administration. Priority realignments are described in multiple executive orders and memoranda. For example, Executive Order 14219 directs federal agencies to align enforcement activity with deregulation goals. E.O. 14219. And a June 2025 Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Division memorandum prioritizes enforcement in immigration and other specific areas. Mem. to Civil Division Employees from Civil Division Assistant Attorney General (June 11, 2025).

San Francisco Chronicle [10/23/2025 2:02 PM, Anna Bauman, 4722K] reports that federal agents deployed stun grenades and fired pepper-spray balls in confrontations with protesters outside the U.S. Coast Guard base near Alameda on Thursday ahead of an anticipated U.S. Border Patrol immigration crackdown in the Bay Area. According to photos captured by the Chronicle, agents used a "Low Roll Distraction Device" manufactured by Defense Technology of Casper, Wyo., a company that says it sells "innovative products for ever changing threats" to clients including law enforcement departments, the Department of Defense and international clients. "We have helped restore order in every major domestic civil disturbance in the last century," the Domestic Technology website reads. The device, made for a one-time detonation and equipped with 12 grams of explosive powder, is meant to temporarily disorient people with a bright flash of light and a noise as loud as fireworks, according to the manufacturer. The hexagonal shape of the 5-inch steel canister "is designed to reduce rolling, fit in tactical pockets easily and deliver the safest and most effective stimuli in the industry," according to Defense Technology, and it should "only be deployed in areas that have been visually observed to be clear of potential hazards."

FOX News [10/23/2025 10:51 AM, Breanne Deppisch and Ashley Oliver, 40621K] reports lawyers for Salvadorian migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia subpoenaed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to testify over the government’s decision to investigate and pursue a criminal case against him this year while he was detained in El Salvador. The move portends what is certain to be a high-stakes court clash in Nashville next month, as Abrego Garcia seeks dismissal of his criminal case on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution. Blanche is one of at least five government officials Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have subpoenaed to appear in the two-day evidentiary hearing, according to a court filing submitted Wednesday. Others include two of Blanche’s deputies and two officials from the Department of Homeland Security. DOJ lawyers said that they plan to ask the judge to quash the subpoenas to prevent the officials from testifying. U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled earlier this month that Abrego Garcia’s legal team had established a "realistic likelihood" of vindictiveness in his criminal case, which was initiated by the Justice Department while he was detained in El Salvador. Crenshaw ordered new discovery and a two-day evidentiary hearing, scheduled for the first week in November.

Crenshaw’s ruling named Blanche directly on several occasions, which could present a bigger hurdle for the Trump administration in their efforts to quash the subpoena. The judge cited Blanche’s remarks directly, including from an interview in June, in which the deputy attorney general said that Abrego Garcia was brought back to the U.S. not because of orders from a federal judge in Maryland, but because of the Tennessee arrest warrant. "This could be direct evidence of vindictiveness," Crenshaw said in his ruling.

AP [10/23/2025 12:29 PM, Staff, 19051K] reports that a federal grand jury indicted a man on a charge he fatally stabbed a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte, North Carolina, commuter train. Wednesday’s indictment on a charge of causing death on a mass transportation system keeps a possible death sentence on the table for Decarlos Brown Jr. if prosecutors decide to seek it. Brown stabbed 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in an apparently random attack captured on video. Brown is also charged with the killing in state court, but federal prosecutors stepped in after growing questions about why Brown was on the street despite 14 prior criminal arrests. President Trump’s administration has used the case to show how it thinks local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities like Charlotte are failing to protect their residents from violent crime. Video from the commuter train showed Zarutska entering a light-rail train on Aug. 22 and taking a seat in front of Brown, who was seated behind her. Minutes later, without any apparent interaction, he pulled out a pocket knife, stood up and slashed her in the neck, investigators said. Passengers screamed and scattered as she collapsed. Zarutska had been living in a bomb shelter in Ukraine before coming to to the U.S. to escape the war, according to relatives, who described her as determined to build a safer life. The indictment indicates the charge against Brown is eligible for the federal death penalty.

Washington Times [10/23/2025 8:59 AM, Staff, 852K] reports President Trump can deploy federal troops to restore order in Portland, Oregon, allowing the deportations to continue. That was the preliminary finding this week by the nation’s most liberal appellate division, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The three-judge panel reversed a district court judge who thwarted the military operation at the beginning of the month. Liberal pundits downplay the significance of this order by pointing out that the panel was stacked with two of Mr. Trump’s appointees. Although this is true, they omit an important fact. The jurists were deep-sixing the legal analysis of District Judge Karin J. Immergut, whom Mr. Trump also nominated, something he likely regrets. Their conclusion is consistent with what the 9th Circuit decided in June. A separate group of judges upheld dispatching soldiers to California because “our review of the President’s determinations in this context is especially deferential.” The latest decision blasts Judge Immergut for disregarding “uncontested evidence” about the violence in Portland, saying “the district court turned the proper analysis on its head.” This wasn’t a difficult determination. The commander in chief has discretion, granted by Congress, to call up the National Guard when he is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.” Nightly antifa antics have impeded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement missions in Portland, with officers placed in legitimate peril. At an ICE facility in Dallas, an antifa thug shot into an ICE vehicle, presumably intending to murder agents. Instead, he killed a detainee and wounded two others. These are terrorist tactics meant to dissuade the administration from enforcing federal immigration policy, but it’s not working. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced that a record 515,000 foreign intruders have been ejected in the past nine months. If the pace is maintained through the rest of the year, the total could hit 600,000. She claims another 1.6 million have voluntarily fled the country. “President Trump delivered the most secure southern border in U.S. history in record time, and now, our goal is to make sure it stays that way for the long run,” Ms. Noem said. She is also using the Coast Guard to “Make America Safe Again” by monitoring 260 miles along the Rio Grande Valley, formerly a hotbed of forced entry.

The Hill [10/23/2025 1:30 PM, A. Scott Bolden, 12595K] reports that President Trump is reportedly considering giving preferential treatment to white Christians from South Africa and Europe seeking to enter the U.S. as refugees. If he moves forward with policy change, it would be a blatantly racist attack on diversity. The New York Times reported Oct. 15 that it had obtained documents detailing the possible change. The newspaper said a State Department spokesman refused to comment on the matter. Trump suspended refugee admissions into the U.S. in January. But the president made an exception to his ban in May, allowing 59 white South Africans, whom he claimed are a persecuted minority in the majority-Black nation, to enter the U.S. as refugees. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called reports of white persecution in his country "a completely false narrative." The facts are on Ramaphosa’s side. The limit on the number of refugees allowed to legally enter the U.S. was 125,000 in the last year of President Joe Biden’s administration. Trump has agreed to admit only a fraction of that — 7,500 people — as refugees in 2026. If the reduction in overall refugee admissions is combined with new restrictions on non-white and non-Christian immigrants, Trump will prevent many legitimate refugees — such as courageous Afghan Muslims who risked their lives working for the U.S. during the war against the Taliban — from entering our country.

Washington Examiner [10/24/2025 4:35 AM, Conn Carroll, 1563K] reports "My name is Ernie. I am here as a representative of a small town called Charleroi, PA, which you may have heard about here on the news recently," truck driver Ernie Merritt told a Trump campaign rally in western Pennsylvania, last September. "Over half of our town is now filled with Haitian immigrants and illegal immigrants that were brought in and are taking our jobs away. That there is a nation-killing practice," Merritt continued, "Which is brought in by the federal government and, specifically, the Biden-Harris administration. "I am here with a dire warning to every American," Merritt said. "This isn’t going to stop unless we take our country back.” Merritt was, of course, attacked relentlessly by many in the Biden-friendly media who claimed that, despite the complaints of local residents, Charleroi was "thriving" thanks to the massive influx of Haitian immigrants, not suffering as Merritt claimed. The Haitians, Democrats told us, were just doing the jobs Americans won’t do at a number of food processing facilities in the area, including Fourth Street Foods, which had 1,000 employees that included approximately 700 Haitians, almost all of whom had been allowed into the country by President Joe Biden. But how exactly did thousands of Haitians end up in a small town in western Pennsylvania? It is not exactly like Charleroi is an internationally known city. The answer is staffing agencies hired by companies such as Four Star Foods to find cheap immigrant labor. Four Star Foods used such an agency called Prosperity Services, Inc. And just weeks after Trump was sworn into office, the owner of Prosperity Services pleaded guilty to failing to pay employment taxes for his immigrant employees and harboring illegal immigrants.

New York Times [10/23/2025 5:03 AM, Jameel Jaffer, 153395K] reports since early September, U.S. forces have carried out eight strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing at least 34 people. President Trump says the strikes are legal, and that the boats were trafficking drugs, but he has not offered evidence to substantiate the claim. Nor has he explained how the deliberate, premeditated killing of civilians — what Columbian and Venezuelan leaders and some jurists have called “murder”— can possibly be reconciled with domestic and international law. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has reportedly deemed the strikes lawful, but its analysis hasn’t been disclosed. A quarter-century after the Sept. 11 attacks, then, we find ourselves in a familiar place: Our government is once again committing grave human rights abuses on the ostensible authority of a legal opinion that is being kept secret. The Office of Legal Counsel is a division of the Justice Department that interprets the law for the executive branch. It has played this role for decades, issuing opinions that bind federal agencies on matters ranging from Social Security to veterans’ affairs to immigrants’ rights.

New York Post [10/23/2025 9:40 PM, Savanah Hernandez, 42219K] reports illegal immigrants selling illegal counterfeits were cleared from Canal Street — but to New York City Council Member Justin Brannan, I’m the problem. Two days before the raid, a video I posted in the area went viral. Brannan was furious, labeling me a "far-right poverty tourist." No, I’m a person who cares about the quality of life in this city. A brief look into the nine migrants who were arrested on Tuesday will show that these weren’t simply street vendors. They are in fact tied to crimes such as drug trafficking, robbery, forgery, possession of drugs, burglary, assaulting law enforcement, counterfeiting and domestic violence. They crowd the sidewalks, ­undercut legitimate business owners and harass tourists and locals. These aren’t people struggling with poverty, as Brannan claims. Nor are they valiant "street vendors," as Zohran Mamdani says. They are con artists and they make our streets more dangerous. New York has been the epicenter of America’s illegal-immigration crisis. Since 2022 roughly 220,000 illegal immigrants have made their way to New York City, costing taxpayers upwards of $7 billion since the crisis began. I’ve watched these migrants receive free hotel rooms in Times Square, free plane tickets to travel across the US and free MetroCards, food and medical care, while homeless New Yorkers sleep on the streets. The reality is, New York’s illegal-immigration crisis is still one of the worst in the country, and Canal Street is the symptom of a larger issue. I think most New Yorkers are happy to see their streets finally getting cleaned up and are continuing to push for basic law and order on the streets of their city. It’s the politicians who are out of touch.

Bloomberg [10/23/2025 5:30 AM, Andreas Kluth, 18207K] reports one of the many puzzles in current American foreign policy concerns the Western Hemisphere, and specifically the Caribbean near Venezuela and Colombia. At huge cost, the administration of President Donald Trump is staging a formidable show of military force in these waters. War ships, fighter jets, special-operations units and about 10,000 ground troops are all poised to … well, do what exactly? Invade Venezuela? Depose its dictator? Keep bombing small boats carrying civilians? Declare victory and go home again? As Evan Cooper at the Stimson Center in Washington summarizes, “US aggression in the Caribbean has little upside, while threatening to make the United States a pariah and exacerbate the conditions that lead to drug trafficking and migration.” Just what is the White House thinking? Consider its stated objectives one by one, starting with the narrative that the strikes and the military build-up are elements in a war of self-defense against narco-terrorism. America does have a huge drug epidemic. But the cause (aside from domestic demand) is primarily the supply of fentanyl, which enters the US from Mexico (with chemical precursors largely made in China), and of cocaine, which comes almost entirely from Colombia via Pacific routes. Venezuela is not a primary source country, nor is the Caribbean a major trafficking artery to the US. If the ends are questionable, so are the means. For two months the US has been bombing small vessels, from speed boats to a semi-submersible, killing more than 30 people so far and claiming that they were all narco-terrorists and thus “unlawful combatants” which, like enemy soldiers, are legitimate targets. The administration has yet to offer any evidence to back this up.

CNN [10/23/2025 12:00 PM, Priscilla Alvarez, 18595K] reports when the Trump administration secured billions in funding for the Department of Homeland Security, officials immediately kicked off an aggressive push to hire thousands more deportation officers. It came with a hefty financial incentive: up to a $50,000 signing bonus. But the effort has hit roadblocks every step of the way. Multiple sources tell CNN that behind the scenes, ICE was ill-prepared to onboard a surge of agents in a matter of months, resulting in cut corners and people slipping through the cracks, including an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration who had to be plucked out of the pool of candidates after the agency flagged them to ICE. "It’s a shit show," an administration official familiar with the efforts told CNN. The ongoing recruitment efforts were the source of tension in a multi-agency meeting this week with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the driving force behind President Donald Trump’s deportation agenda. Miller expressed frustration with senior ICE officials over the slow pace at which new recruits are hitting the streets to make immigration arrests, according to the administration official. Current and former ICE officials have argued that the agency — housed under DHS — has historically been strapped for resources and personnel. When Trump signed his sweeping agenda bill into law, it set up ICE to be the most well-funded police force in the federal government over the next four years. ICE alone is set to receive nearly $75 billion through 2029. When the hiring push first got underway this year, local law enforcement, military veterans, and retired ICE employees received emails from the administration, urging them to join the ranks of the federal agency charged with Trump’s deportation agenda. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took to the airwaves. And the department flooded social media with callouts for so-called "Homeland Defenders," and medieval images, painting officers as knights. By January, the agency aims to bring on board 10,000 deportation officers, according to DHS. The speedy hiring push has resulted in minimal background checks, absent or confusing instructions for new hires, and physically unfit people showing up to the academy, sources told CNN. In some cases, human resources was not effectively communicating what field office new hires had to report to or how much they would be paid. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has assigned some of its staff to assist ICE HR staffing operations amid the influx of applications, which DHS says is upwards of 175,000 applicants. In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the idea that the department was struggling in its recruitment efforts and said the agency is maintaining its "high fitness and training standards.” "CNN is cherry picking individual cases out of the more than 175,000 applications of individuals who applied to join ICE law enforcement to help us remove murderers, rapists, gang members, pedophiles, and terrorists from our country," she said. "The fact of the matter is the vast majority of new officers — more than 85% — brought on during the hiring surge are experienced law enforcement officers who have already successfully completed a law enforcement academy.”

NewsMax [10/23/2025 10:19 AM, Jim Morley III, 4109K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has enrolled new recruits in its training program before completing the agency’s vetting process to implement the Trump administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants, NBC News reported on Thursday. The outlet spoke with both current and former Homeland Security officials who warned that expediting the hiring of federal immigration officers without proper background checks marks a deviation from standard procedures undertaken at the agency. Sources told NBC News that only later did ICE learn some recruits had failed drug tests, possessed disqualifying criminal records, or did not meet the physical or academic standards for service. ICE training staff in Brunswick, Georgia, recently discovered that a recruit had past robbery and domestic violence charges and also found that some trainees had not completed required fingerprint background checks, according to sources. According to internal ICE data reviewed by the outlet, the agency has dismissed more than 200 new hires, with the majority let go for failing to meet fitness or academic standards. Fewer than 10 were dismissed for past criminal or drug charges that should have been flagged in routine background checks. A report earlier this week in The Atlantic said that more than one-third of new ICE recruits could not pass basic fitness requirements, which include completing at least 15 push-ups, 32 sit-ups, and a 1.5-mile run in under 14 minutes. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the findings saying that the figures "are not accurate.” "The vast majority of new officers brought on during the hiring surge are experienced law enforcement officers who have already successfully completed a law enforcement academy," McLaughlin said in a statement. "This population is expected to account for greater than 85% of new hires. "Prior-service hires follow streamlined validation but remain subject to medical, fitness, and background requirements."

Washington Times [10/23/2025 3:30 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports one of the casualties of the shutdown showdown is that Democrats have lost their access to ICE facilities. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told a federal judge this week that the requirement that lawmakers be guaranteed access to their detention centers was part of spending legislation. So when the spending bills lapsed Oct. 1, the access requirement also “expired,” ICE said. The upshot is that Democrats, who fought for years to get the special access, appear to have lost it, at least as long as the shutdown continues. The special access provision gives members of Congress the right, without notice, to show up and inspect at least some ICE facilities. Congressional staffers are also guaranteed access, though ICE can require 24 hours’ advance notice. That was attached as a “rider,” or policy provision, to the 2024 bill that funded the Homeland Security Department. That bill has been controlling the department’s funding for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. But the new fiscal year 2026 began on Oct. 1, and because there has been no agreement on funding, the previous legislation has lapsed. Democrats have filibustered bills to reopen the government. They said they cannot vote for anything that doesn’t include new money to extend expired Obamacare subsidies and roll back trims to health coverage programs included in Republicans’ budget bill from the summer. Ralph Ferguson, who oversees mission support for ICE, told a judge this week the impasse means the Section 527 rider also lapsed. “With the expiration of the FY2025 continuing resolution, ICE is no longer using for detention operations … any funds that were appropriated subject to Section 527,” Mr. Ferguson said in a court filing. “During a lapse in appropriations, ICE continues to incur obligations in advance of FY2026 appropriations, when permitted under law. Such obligations incurred during the lapse are not subject to the expired general provision Section 527.” Andrew “Art” Arthur, a longtime Capitol Hill immigration staffer and former immigration judge, said that interpretation is likely correct. “This is a contingency that congressional Democrats placed on Department of Homeland Security funding. Now that we are in a government shutdown that funding is no longer flowing, that rider no longer applies,” said Mr. Arthur, now at the Center for Immigration Studies.

National Review [10/23/2025 6:02 PM, Audrey Fahlberg, 109K] reports President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi expressed support for cracking down on apps that track Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, leaving the door open to increased executive regulatory measures as attacks on federal immigration-enforcement officers escalate amid the White House’s deportation efforts. Pressed by National Review on Thursday on whether the administration is supportive of any measures to crack down on, regulate, or ban apps that track ICE agents’ locations, Bondi said, “Yes, yes, yes.” “These organizations, President Trump, are coming in, and there are apps to track our federal law enforcement officers, and it jeopardizes their lives, where they’re going to be, their location,” Bondi said during a Thursday press conference alongside Trump, senior White House officials, and law enforcement officials. It’s unclear what a White House crackdown on the tracking apps might look like, though Justice Department officials have previously suggested that these platforms strongly “resemble obstruction of justice.” Bondi said on Thursday that the Justice Department is already coordinating with companies to prevent apps from being used to harm law enforcement officials on the job. “We’ve actually been working really well with the tech companies who have been cooperating because they don’t want our law enforcement officers to get injured,” she added. “So yes.”

Blaze [10/23/2025 1:30 PM, Julio Rosas, 1442K] reports that Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) recently announced that his Democratic colleagues on the House Oversight Committee are putting together a "master ICE tracker" so illegal aliens and activists throughout the nation can be made aware of federal operations. Garcia made the announcement on Monday alongside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), who has routinely denounced ICE and Border Patrol agents arresting illegal aliens and criminals in her city. While the Oversight Democrats insist the database will include only "confirmed cases of ICE misconduct AFTER they happen," Democrats and the mainstream media have hyped up stories claiming misconduct of federal agents when no misconduct took place. "Republicans are putting American citizens at risk by refusing to lift a finger to hold the Trump Admin accountable," House Oversight Democrats accused. Actions such as creating databases, doxxing agents, and calling federal agents the "Gestapo" have created an environment where the Department of Homeland Security personnel and its partners have faced an over 1,000% increase in assaults during operations. Democrats committed to targeting DHS personnel have added another layer of concern for federal agents who are eager to undo the damage they saw firsthand from the Biden-Harris border crisis.

Newsweek [10/23/2025 3:58 PM, Staff, 53955K] reports that President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said Wednesday that the administration is expecting that 600,000 immigrants will be deported this year. Speaking at Axios’ Future of Defense Summit, Homan said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was on track to reach that number, following a spike in arrests of alleged illegal immigrants. Homan’s claim follows a DHS statement earlier in October that it had so far deported over half a million people, while continuing to not publish public data on removals. Trump promised to carry out mass deportations on his return to the White House, but ICE has struggled at times with detention capacity and having enough resources to carry out deportations. While ICE has a record number of immigrants in its detention centers across the country, following a rapid increase in targeted enforcement activities, the next part—deporting individuals—remains a point of tension. Trump’s deputy chief of staff and driving force of immigration policy, Stephen Miller, was reported to be unhappy with the pace of arrests and removals earlier in the summer and was putting pressure on DHS to accelerate them. The external messaging has been that deportations are taking place, and at a rapid pace. Homan said that 548,000 had been removed from the U.S. so far in 2025 under Trump, between ICE and its border counterpart, Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Homan believed that meant 600,000 was possible by the end of the calendar year.

NPR [10/23/2025 4:24 PM, Adrian Florido, Tyler Bartlam, and Patrick Jarenwattananon, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports NPR’s Adrian Florido speaks with California Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat, on an investigation he is leading into arrests of U.S. citizens by federal immigration authorities.

NBC News [10/24/2025 5:00 AM, Natasha Korecki and Daniella Silva, 43603K] reports Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and at least a half a dozen other senators are calling on the U.S. Department of Education to pressure immigration authorities to refrain from carrying out immigration enforcement within 1,000 feet of any school property, citing recent classroom disruptions in the Chicago area. On Friday, they sent the letter, first provided to NBC News, to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, demanding that she step in and ask the Department of Homeland Security to curb its operations around schools. “Federal agents continue to use unwarranted, excessive levels of force around Chicago, demonstrating an alarming lack of care or regard for the health and wellbeing of children, particularly by conducting unfocused, inflammatory operations within close proximity of school grounds,” the senators wrote in the letter. “We demand you pressure your colleague, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, to reinstate restrictions on Federal immigration enforcement operations in and around places of education.” The letter asks for “common sense” civilian immigration policing around schools, arguing that “if society can agree that alcohol, tobacco and drugs should be kept at least 1,000 feet away from our schools, surely we can agree that tear gas—a chemical weapon which causes burning, pain, skin inflammation and respiratory distress—and other violent DHS tools and tactics also belong on that list.” Last week, NBC News detailed incidences of immigration activity around schools, including one where tear gas drifted toward a school playground, forcing students back inside the school. Teachers also relayed the fear their students felt inside the classroom. The letter asks that federal agents operating in the Chicago area specifically be prohibited from carrying out “Operation Midway Blitz” within 1,000 feet of public and private schools. When asked by NBC News if the department would consider a policy of avoiding immigration activities near schools because of schoolkids playing outside during recess and other students reporting feeling fearful in the classroom, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman did not answer the question. “Why was the tear gas deployed? Because of violent rioters,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded in an email. “This is not that hard.”

NPR [10/23/2025 10:22 AM, Ximena Bustillo and Rahul Mukherjee, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has recorded its deadliest year since the early 2000s as agency officials push to increase the number of people in its custody. According to a review of deaths by NPR, at least 20 people have died in ICE custody so far this year. The number comes as ICE is also holding nearly 60,000 people in immigration detention, the highest number in several years. Deaths reached a peak in 2025 for the first time since 32 deaths were recorded in 2004, and 20 deaths were recorded in 2005. Former agency officials are warning that increased detention population, decreased oversight, an increase in street and community arrests and continued difficulties staffing medical teams will result in more deaths. This summer, ICE received about $70 billion to hire more staff, including deportation and detention officers, and increase its detention space. Across the country, media and immigration advocates have reported overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and issues with food and health care access — a byproduct of a rapid scaling-up of immigration arrests. "Can staffing actually keep pace with the increase in population? And that becomes particularly challenging in more remote locations where it was already difficult to find qualified staff willing to come out and work," said Peter Mina, who worked at ICE for nearly a decade including most recently as the deputy officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. "And that just places risk all across the system, including, unfortunately, individuals in detention facing medical conditions that might result in their death." ICE did not respond to an immediate request for comment on the count. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Blaze [10/23/2025 6:45 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1442K] reports Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul praised a settlement reached to fine apartment building owners $55,000 after they hung a poster calling on tenants to report immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Officials said a building superintendent tried to intimidate potential witnesses with immigration raids at an apartment building with mostly immigrant residents in Jamaica, Queens. The original complaint about the poster was made in 2017 to the New York State Division of Human Rights, but the settlement was reached eight years later in February. The state office accused the building owner, a management company, and others associated with the building of illegally discriminating against people based on their national origin. The defendants agreed to pay the fine and also accepted three years of oversight to ensure compliance. "Let us be clear: New York remains committed to protecting anyone who is discriminated against or harassed because of their national origin, citizenship, or immigration status," Human Rights Commissioner Denise M. Miranda said in a statement Wednesday.

New York Post [10/23/2025 2:03 PM, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 42219K] reports that a MAGA influencer’s shock over illegal sidewalk vendors running amok in Chinatown prompted her to post a viral video of the scene online — and may have tipped off the feds about the out-of-control mayhem. Influencer Savanah Hernandez was so stunned by the unlicensed peddlers who had taken over Canal Street that she posted a video from the scene on Sunday, two days before federal immigration agents swept in and locked up nine illegal African immigrants. "The reason this street caught my eye was because I was recently reporting on the illegal immigration crisis in Paris and Canal street looked exactly the same," Hernandez told The Post this week. "This worried me because it highlighted how bad New York’s immigration crisis still is, despite President Trump’s push for mass deportations. "I wanted to bring light to the area in hopes that it would get cleaned up as I witnessed several New Yorkers upset at not being able to walk down the street due to the crowds and the migrants themselves were very aggressive with me for filming, despite not being from the U.S. and understanding our first amendment laws and rights," she said. Hernandez, who is from Texas, said she doesn’t know if her viral post prompted ICE agents to move in on Tuesday afternoon to break up the illicit sidewalk market — although she did tag the agency and the Department of Homeland Security when she posted online.

Breitbart [10/23/2025 11:13 AM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Democrat candidate for New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, a self-proclaimed socialist, is vilifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while vowing to make the city’s sanctuary policy even more extreme. "ICE is a reckless entity that cares little for the law and even less for the people that they’re supposed to serve," Mamdani said during a New York City mayoral debate on Wednesday evening. In addition to attacking ICE, Mamdani said that as mayor, he would sever all ties New York City has with the federal government — making the city’s sanctuary policy even stricter to prevent ICE agents from arresting illegal aliens. "What we need to be doing here in our city is to end the chapter of collaboration between City Hall and the federal government," Mamdani said. Mamdani was responding to ICE agents arresting nine illegal aliens this week with violent rap sheets on New York City’s Canal Street — known for its street vendors with bootlegged products. "ICE conducted a targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation on Canal Street in New York City, focused on criminal activity relating to selling counterfeit goods yesterday," the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: ICE arrested nine illegal aliens with criminal histories including robbery, burglary domestic violence, assaulting law enforcement, counterfeiting, drug trafficking, drug possession, and forgery. The majority of those arrested were released into the country by the Biden administration. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S. [Emphasis added].

Telemundo [10/23/2025 12:10 AM, Staff, 2218K] reports protesters are complaining about the operation that hit Chinatown on Tuesday. While the DHS claims it was focused on the sale of counterfeit goods, residents respond by saying, "We need to be more empathetic toward immigrants." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Newsweek [10/23/2025 12:48 PM, Mandy Taheri, 53955K] reports earlier this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detained Mohamed Shama, a North Carolinian man from Egypt who worked at the local AMC movie theater and was awarded "General Manager of the Year," while at an immigration interview, according to his wife Maggie Hanlon and a GoFundMe set up on his behalf. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in an email Wednesday: "He entered the U.S. on a B2-tourist visa that required him to depart the U.S. by May 25, 2014. After more than a decade of illegally living in the U.S., ICE arrested him and placed him in removal proceedings.” Newsweek has reached out to ICE and AMC for comment via email on Wednesday. Newsweek has also reached out to Hanlon for comment via Facebook Messenger and filled out the contact form on a GoFundMe set up on his behalf. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Newsweek in an email Wednesday: "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S. 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." According to the ICE detention tracker, Shama is held in ICE custody in Georgia. He faces deportation, and as the GoFundMe started on his behalf states, he may self-deport.

NewsMax [10/23/2025 10:25 PM, Sam Barron, 4109K] reports Lori Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor and one-term mayor of Chicago, is teaming up with other attorneys to launch the ICE Accountability Project. Lightfoot, who served as mayor from 2019 to 2023 before losing reelection, said the organization will serve as a website and central repository for any illegal actions committed during Operation Midway Blitz. "We want to create a centralized archive of all the purported criminal actions of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] agents," Lightfoot said in an interview. "We want to create a portal where what’s happening in real time can be centralized and put out for the public to view." The group will "unmask" ICE and CBP agents who have remained anonymous, Lightfoot said. "They are on public property out in the open," Lightfoot said. "We have an absolute right under our Constitution to document what’s happening." In September, ICE and other federal agencies launched Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. According to federal officials, nearly 550 arrests were made in the first two weeks of the operation across Chicago and greater Illinois. The federal agencies say many targets are undocumented individuals with criminal records, final removal orders, or criminal gang association. The database of agents will be based on their physical traits, what kind of clothes they wear, and the vehicles they drive, Lightfoot said, adding it will likely be unable to determine the identities of the agents. "We have a right to compile that information and put together a profile of each of those agents who have allegedly committed a crime," Lightfoot said. "This is not about doxing them." Lightfoot said she has the Constitution and rule of law on her side. "What I can’t do is sit on the sidelines and watch these crimes being committed on a regular basis and do nothing," she said.

FOX News [10/23/2025 9:48 PM, Lorraine Taylor, 40621K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi put former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot on notice Thursday night over her vow to "unmask" ICE agents. During an interview on "Jesse Watters Primetime," Bondi reacted to a clip of Lightfoot talking about how she wants to create a real-time portal to track "purported criminal actions of ICE and CBP agents" and "unmask" them. "This is the first time I’ve seen the Lori Lightfoot video was just now on your show," she told host Jesse Watters. "She will be getting a letter from us tomorrow to preserve anything she has done as well, to make sure that she’s not violating the law. It appears she is. You cannot disclose the identity of a federal agent — where they live, anything that could harm them." Lightfoot made the comments on FOX32 Chicago’s "Chicago Report." She said she and other attorneys are creating a nonprofit called "The ICE Accountability Project." Lightfoot said it would be a "centralized archive of all the purported criminal actions of ICE and CBP agents" that would spit out real-time updates to the public. "We start the process of unmasking the agents," she said. She claimed she has a constitutional right to document what’s happening because they are on public property. Bondi said it’s not just Lightfoot she’s looking into. "Pritzker, same ball game. Nancy Pelosi got a letter today from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, so did Brooke Jenkins – that D.A. in San Francisco," she said. "We told them: ‘preserve your emails, preserve everything you have on this topic.’ Because if you are telling people to arrest our ICE officers, our federal agents, you cannot do that. You are impeding an investigation, and we will charge them." The letter Bondi referenced cites several federal statutes that criminalize assaulting, impeding or conspiring against federal officers. It also notes that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution dictates state officials cannot prosecute federal agents for actions taken in the course of their duties. Blanche directed California leaders to "preserve all written and electronic communications and records related to any attempts or efforts to impede or obstruct federal law enforcement officials," forewarning that the Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any official who violates federal statutes. Bondi doubled down on the vow to charge them during her interview with Watters, saying: "If they think I won’t, they have not met me."

CNN [10/24/2025 4:00 AM, Danya Gainor and Sara Smart, 18595K] reports in the quiet village of Mount Prospect, nestled just northwest of Chicago’s city limits, residents were sheltering from the cold and rain on a sleepy Sunday afternoon watching TV, scrolling through social media and enjoying midday coffee at home. As rain pattered against windows, and trees lining the streets swayed, flurries of urgent texts began ricocheting from one end of the neighborhood to the other, and panic set in as some residents put on their shoes and hurried out the door. “ICE IS HERE,” one text between Mount Prospect neighbors said. “F**king helicopters. Ice at Owen Park,” read another. “On our way,” one neighbor replied. The historic suburb quickly devolved into a scene that has become familiar to places like nearby Chicago and elsewhere across the country as President Donald Trump works to execute his Day 1 promise to crack down on immigration and crime: A Homeland Security helicopter whirred overhead, several SUVs and trucks with tinted windows drove slowly past houses, and around two dozen masked federal agents meandered through yards and walked down sidewalks, according to images and interviews with residents. Neighbors stepped out of their homes to document the agents who had descended on their community, joining a coalition of opposition to the president’s unwavering determination to detain and deport undocumented migrants en masse – a resistance effort spreading throughout US cities that have seen their workers, schoolchildren and community members swept up in ICE raids. “The Rapid Response network confirmed high levels of immigration enforcement activity in Rolling Meadows, Wheeling, Prospect Heights & Mt. Prospect,” read a text from an ICE activity alert system run by a local immigrant rights group, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “At least 4 people have been detained.”

(B) NBC News Daily [10/23/2025 1:24 PM, Staff] reports that more federal agents in Little Village were spotted today. Clashes broke out at 26th and Troy where ICE activity was reported about 10:00 this morning. At least three people were detained by federal immigration agents in the neighborhood. Within less than an hour, the federal agents left the community. Tear gas and pepper balls were thrown onto the crowd.

Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 2:48 PM, Maya Wilkins, 4829K] reports that the East Chicago Common Council, on Wednesday, didn’t add a resolution against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to its agenda, which was nearly identical to a resolution passed in Hammond about one week prior. Multiple East Chicago council members said they were worried about the consequences of speaking out against ICE. Councilwoman Vanessa Hernandez Orange, D-at large, asked for the council to work together and take more time to create a resolution they all support. The resolution — proposed by Councilman Robert Garcia, D-5th, — aims to "prohibit the uncoordinated use of city property for (ICE) staging areas, processing locations or operations centers," according to the online documents. "To me, this immigration stuff, it’s an issue that we need to take care of now," Garcia said. "This resolution is just saying that they won’t use city property. That’s all it is." The language almost completely mirrors a Hammond resolution that was passed at the council’s Oct. 14 meeting. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. supported the measure in a Facebook post, following an Oct. 9 incident where Hammond officials kicked out ICE officers attempting to set up a staging area at the city’s police department parking lot.

Chicago Tribune [10/23/2025 2:44 PM, Gloria Casas, 4829K] reports that the Elgin City Council is considering the creation of "ICE-free" zones that would prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using city property for detentions and other purposes. But council members want to ensure that the public understands what the city legally can and cannot do before any ordinance is approved, they said at Wednesday night’s council meeting. "We need to do something to show our community that we support them and to stand up to what’s happening right now," Councilwoman Tish Powell said. "We can’t just lay down and continue to let this stuff happen." Councilman John Steffen said, "I would be in support of the broadest ordinance we could possibly pass.” Both council members asked for the ordinance discussion at Wednesday’s meeting, but also cautioned that the public must be made aware of the city’s limitations. ICE-free zones would only apply city-owned property, Steffen said. It would not apply to libraries, schools or any other public property controlled by other government entities, Powell said. The ordinance also would not prevent agencies from coming into the city, Steffen said. "It’s just something we can do with some of the properties that are city-owned," he said.

Univision Chicago WGBO [10/23/2025 3:31 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports federal agents returned for the second consecutive day Thursday morning to the heart of Little Village, a predominantly Hispanic and Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, where several people were arrested. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., federal agents were seen arriving at the Discount Mall, an iconic market located on 26th Street. The exact number of detainees has not yet been confirmed. Just like the day before, the community reacted quickly. Residents began blowing whistles around the neighborhood, a signal used to alert them to the presence of officers on the streets. Drivers also honked their horns to generate noise and warn the public. Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino, considered the face of immigration operations during Donald Trump’s second presidency, was present during the operation. Bovino, 55, has gained notoriety in recent months for these operations and has warned that officers will arrest anyone who "obstructs" their work. As in previous operations, officers responded to the crowd using pepper spray to disperse it.

New York Post [10/23/2025 9:41 AM, Emily Crane, 42219K] reports an illegal migrant from Nicaragua allegedly raped a 54-year-old woman in Chicago after he dragged her into an alley, stripped her naked and bashed her head into the concrete, the feds said. Leyter Arauz-Medina, 21, has been in custody since he was arrested last month over the sick attack that unfolded on Aug. 31 in the Windy City’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials officially lodged an arrest detainer — a formal request for local cops to notify the feds before he is cut loose — for him on Wednesday. Chicago, however, is a sanctuary city — meaning authorities are prevented from honoring ICE requests. "A real-life nightmare: This criminal, who JB Pritzker continues to protect, viciously attacked an innocent woman who was walking the streets of Chicago," Homeland Security’s assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said as she ripped the city’s sanctuary policy. "This monster was released into our country by the Biden Administration. Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies protect criminal illegal alien rapists over American citizens. We will do everything in our power to ensure this wicked criminal never walks our streets again." Arauz-Medina is being held on rape charges after he allegedly grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her across the street in the early hours as she screamed.

Reuters [10/23/2025 10:40 AM, Heather Schlitz, 36480K] reports as the shrill sound of whistles echoed through a parking garage in Chicago’s North Side on Tuesday, two people flung their car doors open, ducked inside and shrank down into their seats. Outside, a convoy of federal immigration enforcement vehicles that had arrived in the area just minutes prior sped off. "We just saw a bunch of guys with whistles that chased them out," said Luke, a landscaper who was working nearby and declined to share his full name. The Trump administration in early September launched a targeting what it said were hardened criminals among immigrants in the U.S. without legal status, though many noncriminals have been swept up in raids. Since then, the piercing blow of a whistle has become a Chicago-wide means of signaling that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents are present. It warns undocumented people to flee and invites U.S. citizens to come to the scene to record arrests, give detainees legal information and discourage agents from lingering. "Our officers are highly trained," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, and "they are not afraid of loud noises and whistles."

Telemundo [10/24/2025 12:02 AM, Staff, 2218K] reports two men were arrested and two immigration agents were taken to the hospital Thursday after a car allegedly struck an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle in Arizona, authorities said. The incident occurred near North Western and North Central Avenues in the city of Avondale. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that ICE agents initiated a vehicle pursuit in Avondale around 8:00 a.m. local time on Thursday, and that the driver failed to stop and returned to a residence. Upon arriving at the home, the driver of the vehicle hit the car in which two agents were traveling, according to DHS. The driver of the car and a passenger exited and barricaded themselves inside the residence, and local and federal law enforcement established a perimeter around the house. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [10/23/2025 1:56 PM, Luke Barr and Megan Forrester, 30493K] reports that three federal officers were injured after a man, who Immigration and Customs Enforcement said is in the country illegally, allegedly rammed his car into their vehicles to evade arrest, according to the agency. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the suspect rammed his vehicle, "striking ICE officers before crashing into multiple government vehicles," ICE San Diego Field Office Director Patrick Divver said. The suspect was in the U.S. illegally from Kuwait and had a "final order of deportation from the United States," Divver said. "This illegal criminal alien who is wanted in his home country of Kuwait and who has a violent criminal history, weaponized his vehicle to narrowly miss hitting an innocent bystanders and striking ICE officers before crashing into multiple government vehicles," Divver said in a statement to ABC News. The identity of the suspect was not released by ICE. Michael Burreec, a witness to the car ramming, told ABC San Diego affiliate KGTV that the incident occurred in a residential neighborhood with a 20 mph speed zone and a day care center nearby. Divver said the suspect’s "blatant disregard for human life and the rule of the law is exactly why ICE San Diego will continue to pursue, arrest and remove dangerous illegal aliens who threaten our communities."

FOX News [10/23/2025 5:03 PM, Madison Colombo, 40621K] reports an illegal immigrant was charged with assaulting a federal officer after authorities alleged he rammed law enforcement vehicles with his car while trying to evade arrest. The suspect was shot, and a deputy marshal was struck by a ricocheted bullet from a federal agent during the altercation and hospitalized, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton blasted Democratic leaders for what he called a system that protects lawbreakers, arguing the attack reflects the dangers of anti-ICE rhetoric and emboldened criminals. "The whole system seems to be there to protect those who break the law, who do the wrong thing rather than those who do the right thing," Hilton said Wednesday on "America Reports.” Suspect Carlitos Ricardo Parias, a Mexican national, reportedly previously documented Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in southern Los Angeles on TikTok. His posts earned him recognition from a city councilman for his efforts to inform the community. Justice Department officials said Parias has avoided capture before. A DOJ statement noted officers positioned their vehicles to stop the suspect from driving. When he apparently recognized the vehicles as belonging to law enforcement, he reversed and was boxed in, according to the DOJ’s U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California. He allegedly ignored commands to exit and repeatedly rammed two law enforcement cars, creating smoke and debris. A federal agent opened fire and struck Parias, and a ricocheted bullet hit a deputy marshal, the office’s statement said. An official at the Department of Homeland Security argued it’s anti-ICE rhetoric, not officers, putting lives at risk. "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," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Los Angeles Times [10/23/2025 7:00 AM, Brittny Mejia, Ruben Vives and Salvador Hernandez, 14862K] reports Carlitos Ricardo Parias had been tracking ICE raids around South L.A. and posting videos on TikTok for months, gaining hundreds of thousands of followers who looked to his social media accounts for vital updates on where federal immigration agents were. As masked federal agents detained people in Los Angeles streets, Parias was often there streaming and recording. Known by several people as "Richard," "El Señor Richard," or the "Tiktokquero," Parias became such a reliable source for news and information for residents that the city gave him official recognition in August for "keeping the South LA community informed empowered and protected." But on Tuesday, Parias found himself on the other side of the lens and the apparent target of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as they tried to take the 44-year-old into custody in an operation that left him and a deputy U.S. marshal wounded. Parias, who remained hospitalized Wednesday, was charged by federal prosecutors with assault on a federal officer. They allege Parias, described in court records as an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, "rammed his car into agents’ vehicles after they boxed him in and ordered him to submit to arrest." He also has a history of driving without a license, failing to prove financial responsibility and resisting arrest, according to a statement from Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. Parias also entered the country illegally from Mexico at an unknown time and place, according to the statement.

The Hill [10/23/2025 9:42 AM, Dominick Mastrangelo, 12595K] reports that a Mexican national living in the U.S. was charged this week after he was shot by law enforcement following an attempt to dislodge his car during an arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Both the defendant, Carlitos Ricardo Parias, 44, of South Los Angeles, and a deputy U.S. marshal were shot and injured during the Tuesday incident. Parias was a popular journalist on the video platform TikTok, NBC News reported, noting he frequently posted about fires, car crashes and other breaking news in Southern California. The Department of Justice (DOJ) said earlier this week that Parias was living illegally in the U.S., was the subject of an ICE arrest warrant and had previously avoided capture. Officers located the TikToker and boxed in the Toyota Camry he was driving, leaving the vehicle with "no reasonable means of escape," according to the DOJ. "Once the Camry was boxed in, federal agents approached it and gave Parias orders to exit the car and submit to arrest," the administration said. "Parias ignored those commands and drove the Camry both forward and back, hitting two of the law enforcement vehicles." "Given Parias’s continued refusal to comply with agents’ orders, an agent attempted to break the Camry’s driver’s side window. Parias still refused to submit to arrest, and then drove the Camry more aggressively, forwards towards one law enforcement vehicle," prosecutors continued. Parias, if convicted, could face a statutory maximum sentence of eight years in federal prison.

Bloomberg Law News [10/23/2025 4:43 PM, Maia Spoto, 91K] reports lack of confidential legal communication at a Los Angeles immigrant processing facility that has been criticized for inhumane conditions troubled a federal judge, who previously ordered daily legal visitation, during a Thursday hearing. Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong appeared ready to grant a preliminary injunction requiring access to counsel at the basement holding center known as B-18 in downtown Los Angeles. She asked whether the government is arguing that detainees aren’t entitled to confidential communications with their counsel. Attorney Jonathan Ross, for the government, said they should be allowed to speak with lawyers. However, he defended open-door legal meetings at B-18, citing safety concerns. Lawyers can whisper to keep their discussions private, he said. The case stems from a July lawsuit, which also challenged the Trump administration’s use of racial profiling during immigration sweeps. Plaintiffs alleged federal agents were holding them in "dungeon-like facilities" and denying access to their lawyers for arbitrary reasons. Frimpong asked whether she needs to find conditions are coercive to make a ruling on the preliminary injunction.

Daily Caller [10/23/2025 10:07 AM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will refer a California teacher for a possible criminal probe after he made threatening comments toward immigration officials, the agency told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) history teacher Ron Gochez said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents "are not the only ones with guns" and that "people have every right to defend themselves" against them during a Tuesday press conference denouncing ICE raids. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF that Gochez’s comments endanger agents’ lives and "looks criminal." "Calling for violence against law enforcement is un-American and beneath the conduct of someone teaching the next generation of Americans," McLaughlin told the DCNF, adding that the DHS will refer him to the Department of Justice (DOJ). "Our law enforcement officers are already facing a 1000% increase in assaults against them including terrorist attacks, cars being used as weapons, and rocks thrown at them," McLaughlin said. "Words have consequences and this type of rhetoric is going to get one of our officers killed.” LAUSD and Gochez did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. Gochez led the press conference on behalf of activist group Unión del Barrio (UDB), which did not respond to a request for comment. "The Department is actively tracking these targeted assaults against our law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law," a DOJ spokesperson told the DCNF. "Anyone encouraging reckless behavior should think twice before inciting further violence and putting federal agents in harm’s way.” Gochez claimed he was not "calling for violence" by suggesting that anti-ICE agitators carry guns, though he also praised rioters for throwing bricks at federal agents.

Breitbart [10/23/2025 10:19 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is urging Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to re-review visa applications from legal immigrants admitted to the United States under the Biden administration. The call for more scrutiny of legal immigrants comes after the Justice Department revealed that the Biden administration rewarded a Gaza citizen with a visa to the U.S. despite his alleged ties to Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel in October 2023. "I urge DHS to conduct an audit of all visas issued through high-risk countries since 2021, prioritizing potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups," Cotton wrote to Noem in a letter this week: To prevent future breaches, DHS must implement enhanced social media monitoring for visa applicants from high-risk regions and establish mandatory real-time FBI watchlist checks to ensure no terrorist slips through undetected. [Emphasis added]. Cotton’s request comes after the Department of Justice (DOJ) arrested 33-year-old Mahmoud Amin Ya’qub Al-Muhtadi, a legal immigrant from Gaza, in Lafayette, Louisiana, for his alleged involvement with the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. According to a criminal complaint, Al-Muhtadi is an operative with the National Resistance Brigades — the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The National Resistance Brigades participated in the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel. Federal prosecutors allege that Al-Muhtadi learned of the Hamas attack that morning and subsequently armed himself along with others and crossed into Israel in the hopes of aiding in terrorism. Then, in June 2024, less than a year after the Hamas attack, Al-Muhtadi filed an immigrant visa application to live in the U.S. and met with a U.S. consulate official in Cairo, Egypt, in August 2024, where he claimed to have no involvement with Hamas or the National Resistance Brigades. Despite overwhelming evidence on his social media that he was linked to Hamas, prosecutors allege, Al-Muhtadi was approved by the Biden administration to legally enter the U.S. and did so on Sept. 12, 2024, through the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Al-Muhtadi first began living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he secured a state-issued driver’s license, before moving to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he worked at a local restaurant. "Al-Muhtadi applied for a visa through the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, falsely denying his paramilitary training and terrorist affiliations," Cotton wrote in his letter to Noem. "Despite blatant evidence of these activities on his social media, the Biden administration approved his application, granting him legal permanent resident status and entry into the United States."

AP [10/23/2025 12:42 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that Golden Gate Global ("GGG"), a leading U.S. EB-5 Regional Center and real-estate financing platform, today announced that the Appellation Healdsburg Hotel has received an I-526E petition approval from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in just four months, one of the fastest approvals on record for a high-unemployment Targeted Employment Area (TEA) project. Typical adjudication timelines range from 12 to 18 months. "This outcome validates the strength of our underwriting and project-execution framework," said Mark Jorgensen, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Gate Global. "It also reflects growing adjudication efficiency within the EB-5 program — momentum that benefits EB-5 investors participating in qualified, well-structured offerings." The Appellation Healdsburg Hotel serves as the flagship property of the Appellation brand, founded by Christopher Hunsberger, former President of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, and Charlie Palmer, Michelin-starred chef and James Beard Award winner. Located in downtown Healdsburg, California, the 108-key luxury hotel integrates culinary programming and experiential travel, positioning the brand at the intersection of fine dining and hospitality innovation. Investor Security Supported by Job Creation and Operating Status. Construction is substantially complete, and the hotel has commenced operations.

Bloomberg Law [10/23/2025 10:15 AM, Andrew Kreighbaum and Jacqueline Thomsen, 803K] reports that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers has drawn a rare challenger: the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business organization that has rarely challenged his administration. The Chamber’s lawsuit to block a $100,000 fee on H-1B workers shows how the fee is already disrupting hiring by the group’s members months before many would have to start paying up. And its decision to file in DC bucks a trend of bringing most lawsuits against the government outside of Washington, showing that the Chamber is aiming for a court win that will survive Supreme Court second-guessing, attorneys and legal experts say. The steep hike in labor costs is affecting hiring plans for tech and other employers for next year’s visa lottery, said Carl Hampe, a partner at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. That’s impacting enough Chamber members for them to push the organization to act, he said. "It’s not going to take on this administration on a signature issue without a significant expression of member interest behind it," Hampe said. A lawsuit in favor of business interests isn’t surprising from the Chamber, which has its own litigation arm. But it’s the first time the group, historically considered a Republican ally, has chosen to sue the administration during Trump’s second term. The Chamber declined to comment.

AP [10/23/2025 8:14 AM, Julie Carr Smyth, 31753K] reports a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for voting in U.S. elections hasn’t been able to pass Congress and has been blocked by the courts, so allies of President Donald Trump’s administration are pursuing another avenue to try to impose the idea — asking a little-known federal agency to do it. By a deadline earlier this week, the independent U.S. Election Assistance Commission had received more than 380,000 public comments reacting to a petition to add the requirement. The proposal is being pushed by America First Legal, a conservative group co-founded by Stephen Miller, the Republican president’s deputy chief of staff. The group is asking the commission, composed of two Republicans and two Democrats, to add the mandate to the federal voter registration form. It says requiring people to produce documents proving their citizenship is "essential to enhance the integrity and reliability of voter registration processes, ensuring that only eligible U.S. citizens are permitted to register and vote in federal elections." A group of Republican U.S. senators and representatives described it as "simple, common-sense reform," little different from showing ID to board an airplane or open a bank account. The gambit before the Washington-based election commission is the latest attempt by conservatives to push a nationwide proof-of-citizenship requirement while raising the specter of noncitizen voting as a significant problem, when it fact it is extremely rare. Making claims about noncitizens voting was a major part of the Republican playbook during the 2024 presidential election, even though it is already illegal and punishable as a felony.

AP [10/23/2025 10:48 AM, Megan Janetsky, 19051K] reports as they walked up to the thick metal pillars of the border wall dividing Tijuana and San Diego, the Hussaini siblings carried nothing from their lives in Afghanistan than a hazy fantasy of what awaited them on the other side. Amir, 21, and his sisters, Suraiya, 26, and Bano, 27, arrived in northern Mexico with an appointment for Jan. 24, four days after U.S. President Donald Trump took office. That was the day they were supposed to enter the U.S. and make their case, marking what they thought would be an end to the repression by the Taliban after the withdrawal of American troops in 2021, and to their 17,500-mile journey by foot, canoe, bus and plane across the world. That was all before the door to asylum slammed shut along the U.S. southern border moments after Trump took office. Trump’s victory was based in no small part on support from voters who embraced his hard-line immigration views. Within days, his administration had transformed what it meant to seek refuge in the U.S., casting aside an ethos of helping the persecuted that is nearly as old as the country itself. Families such as the Hussainis are suffering the cascading consequences of larger political shifts as countries tighten asylum policies and turn away refugees. In Afghanistan, whose tumultuous history is intertwined with American military and foreign policy, the expulsion carried an added sting because the Hussainis believed they would find safe harbor in the U.S. Instead, Amir watched his sisters being torn away from him by American border agents under the harsh fluorescent lights of a detention facility. It was the last time he saw them. Half a year later, the family has been dispersed to different countries as part of the administration’s push to send immigrants and refugees to far-flung, unfamiliar and often dangerous places. One sister is trying to navigate life in the far reaches of South America. The second is marooned in Central America. Amir is back in Afghanistan, plagued by fear in the very country the family fled. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said their case was a "sob story" and that reporting on their separation was "pure garbage." She did not answer multiple questions inquiring why the siblings were separated and sent to other countries. She said those seeking humanitarian protection should ask at official border crossings, not enter illegally, even as that path has become largely impossible under Trump. "These are grown adults who made a choice to try and enter our country illegally," she said.

Breitbart [10/23/2025 5:38 AM, Ian Hanchett, 2416K] reports on Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) argued that “Not everybody came to the United States the wrong way. Many undocumented immigrants came the right way. They came on a visa of some type and have overstayed that visa. So, they may be undocumented, but are otherwise law-abiding, hard-working, taxpaying, etc. It’s our broken immigration system that has created this mess.” Padilla said, “ICE’s own data shows this, that the vast majority of people that have been detained, that have been arrested, and even many deported without due process, do not have violent criminal convictions on their record. What they are pointing to is their sheer presence in the United States without being legal immigrants. Not everybody came to the United States the wrong way. Many undocumented immigrants came the right way. They came on a visa of some type and have overstayed that visa. So, they may be undocumented, but are otherwise law-abiding, hard-working, taxpaying, etc. It’s our broken immigration system that has created this mess.” He continued, “So, our immigration system as a whole needs to be modernized. We should focus on the dangerous, violent criminals, the true threats to public safety. But give the hard-working folks who are doing right and pursuing the American Dream the ability to come out of the shadows, take a step towards legal status, maybe eventually earn citizenship. It’s good for them, it’s good for communities, and it would be great for our economy.”

Bloomberg [10/23/2025 10:45 AM, Maggie Eastland, 18207K] reports that a revamped visa program launched by China earlier this month threatens to lure away American technology talent just as the Trump administration is raising barriers for skilled workers and graduate students to enter the US, the top Democrat on the House China committee said. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer warning that US immigration rule changes imperiled American economic competitiveness. Krishnamoorthi singled out Trump administration plans to charge $100,000 for many new H-1B skilled worker applications and a proposal to limit how long foreign graduate students can study in the US. Meanwhile, “Beijing is throwing its doors wide open,” to draw talented people who may have otherwise contributed to the US technology sector, Krishnamoorthi wrote, according to a copy of the letter seen by Bloomberg News. The letter was sent Tuesday evening, according to a person familiar with the matter. China announced a new visa category in August that went into effect earlier this month. It stoked fears that global talent discouraged by US H-1B fees and a proposed four-year cap on student visas would be lured to China instead.

Bloomberg Law News [10/23/2025 12:22 PM, Tristan Navera, 91K] reports the IRS got a request from US Customs and Border Protection for corporate tax return information last month, the tax agency told a federal court amid a lawsuit over data disclosure. The IRS hasn’t acted on the Sept. 11 request, according to the Oct. 23 brief filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. The filing, which didn’t identify the companies CBP sought information about, came after the IRS told that court it would reveal within 24 hours if it learned of an information request from the US Department of Homeland Security or Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ..

CBS Chicago [10/23/2025 7:24 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino is accused of violating a temporary restraining order blocking federal agencies from using certain tactics to suppress protests or prevent media coverage of immigration enforcement operations in Illinois. The same group of journalists and First Amendment advocates that obtained the TRO earlier in October filed a notice of alleged violation to U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis after Bovino was caught on video throwing at least one canister of tear gas during a confrontation between federal agents and protesters in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. The video, which was streamed live to Facebook, was taken near the Discount Mall at 26th and Whipple on the Southwest Side. Protesters and residents confronted CBP tactical agents as they tried to conduct immigration enforcement at that site. In the video, Bovino can be seen in uniform, but no headgear, pulling out a canister of tear gas and tossing it into the crowd of protesters over the heads of other agents. As the camera begins to move away, he can be seen pulling another canister of tear gas off his belt. The CBS Confirmed team has reviewed the video and verified that it shows Bovino at the site of the Little Village confrontation today. In their filing, the plaintiffs include a screenshot from the same video, and say it shows Bovino throw "either one or two tear gas canisters over the heads of armed federal agents in front of him and in the direction of a crowd of individuals protesting, including an individual filming the encounter.” The plaintiffs argue this violates "multiple paragraphs" of the court’s Oct. 9 order, which prohibits federal agents from arresting, threatening to arrest or using physical force against journalists unless there is probable cause to believe the individual has committed a crime. It also prohibits them from issuing crowd dispersal orders, without exigent circumstances, requiring people to leave a public place where they otherwise have a lawful right to be. The order also prohibits these federal agencies from using various types of riot control weapons, including tear gas and other kinds of noxious gas, as well as various kinds of "less-lethal" weapons and ammunition.

Reported similarly:
NewsNation [10/23/2025 5:43 PM, Jeff Arnold, 8017K]

New York Times [10/23/2025 7:45 PM, Julie Bosman, 153395K] reports Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official, appeared to lob a tear-gas canister into an irate crowd of Chicago residents on Thursday, videos showed, during a chaotic confrontation between the public and Border Patrol agents in the Little Village neighborhood. Plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over tactics federal agents have used during an illegal immigration crackdown in the Chicago area said that Mr. Bovino had violated a court order by “apparently throwing tear gas into a crowd without justification.” This month, a coalition of media organizations, protesters and clergy members filed the lawsuit, which accused agents of “a pattern of extreme brutality” intended to “silence the press and civilians.” Judge Sara L. Ellis of Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had previously issued an order banning federal immigration agents from deploying tear gas and other chemical agents on a crowd without two warnings. She also banned agents from “deploying these weapons above the head of the crowd” in most situations. The judge’s order left room for exceptions in cases where issuing such warnings was not feasible or if someone posed a serious threat to officers or others. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FOX News [10/23/2025 4:10 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40621K] reports the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) recently shared video footage of its Border Mounted Patrol Unit (BMPU) capturing a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico last weekend on a private ranch in Kinney County, Texas. Adan Delgado-Ortega, 52, was arrested and turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to DPS. While working "Operation Lone Star" just after 9 a.m. local time Sunday, DPS’ mounted unit, along with a K-9 and its handler, responded to a camera activation by a man on a private ranch. BMPU troopers and the K-9 tracked and found Delgado-Ortega hiding in thick brush, according to DPS. After he was taken into custody, troopers discovered that Delgado-Ortega is a previously deported felon, with multiple deportations dating back to 1998. He also has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for assault, family violence, weapons charges, evading arrest and drug possession, according to officials. Delgado-Ortega was last deported from the U.S. in August 2025 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in Oklahoma City. It is unclear where and when he illegally reentered the country.

FOX News [10/23/2025 1:20 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports that the Texas Department of Public Safety captured a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico on a private ranch while working Operation Lone Star in Kinney Co. last weekend. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Wire [10/23/2025 10:20 AM, Cameron Arcand, 2494K] reports an illegal immigrant charged in the murder of 43-year-old Mary Gonzales entered the United States under President Joe Biden using the controversial CBP One app, The Daily Wire has learned. Javier Roman Hernandez entered the country in July 2023 through Hidalgo, Texas. He was arrested on October 8 and charged earlier this week with murdering Gonzales, whose body was discovered on October 6 in a "wooded area" near a tire shop in Austin after she was reportedly shot and killed. Hernandez was one of nearly a million immigrants who entered the country under Biden using the CBP One app, which streamlined the entry process at the peak of the immigration crisis. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump terminated the app, which is estimated to have allowed nearly a quarter of a million "inadmissible aliens" into the country. "These alleged cold-blooded murderers should have never been in our country in the first place and Mary Gonzales should still be alive," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "One of these criminals came into our country using Biden’s disastrous CBP One app. Open border policies have deadly consequences. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, these accused murderers will never be free on American streets to commit heinous crimes again.”

Breitbart [10/23/2025 7:37 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports a routine traffic stop in Eagle Pass led Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers to apprehend a previously deported child sex offender from Mexico, officials confirmed. The Oct. 15 stop in Maverick County uncovered three illegal immigrants inside a Dodge Challenger, including 49-year-old Jose Aleman Arroyo, an aggravated felon convicted of indecency with a child and assault in North Carolina just two months prior. Texas DPS spokesman, Lt. Chris Olivarez, posted a video on social media that captured the events as a trooper initiated a traffic stop at a gas station in Eagle Pass, Texas. During an interview with the driver, Fort Worth resident Joshua Sanders, the trooper found three illegal aliens in the car. The trooper arrested Sanders for a state crime of human smuggling. The trooper turned Arroyo and the other two illegal aliens over to Border Patrol agents for processing and removal. Arroyo could face federal charges for illegal re-entry after removal as a child sex offender. The other two illegal aliens will likely be removed to their home countries of Mexico and Honduras. Sanders was booked on Texas human smuggling charges into the Maverick County jail, where he will await prosecution.

(B) NBC 7 News Today 6A [10/23/2025 9:37 AM, Staff] reports that local Congress members are sounding the alarm over reports of ICE detainees being held in the basement of the federal courthouse in downtown San Diego. After being denied entrance to see the conditions of the area, they are asking Homeland Security for more information on this. The letter asks DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to confirm the detentions and explain why they happened.

Reuters [10/23/2025 3:26 PM, Staff, 36480K] reports Mexico’s agriculture minister will travel to Washington next week with the aim of reaching an agreement on the reopening of the border to Mexican cattle amid an outbreak of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite, President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday. Mexican Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegue will meet with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to discuss plans for the border, which the U.S. has kept closed to Mexican cattle imports since May. "We hope he can return with an agreement on the border opening," Sheinbaum said in her regular press conference. The screwworm, a pest that burrows into the flesh of warm-blooded animals, often killing livestock if left untreated, has moved northward through Central America since late last year and deep into Mexico, straining relations with the United States, Mexico’s biggest trading partner, and rattling the livestock sectors of both countries. Rollins has publicly criticized Mexico’s response to the outbreak. Mexico confirmed its first cases of screwworm infections in animals in the state of Nuevo Leon, which borders the U.S., in recent weeks but has said they were contained and resolved.

DailySignal [10/23/2025 12:05 PM, George Caldwell, 549K] reports Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy delivered a stern message at the Capitol on Thursday: The federal government shutdown is already putting a strain on air traffic controllers, and the problem will only get worse until the government reopens. "Next Tuesday is the first paycheck that [air traffic controllers] will not receive for the work that they did in October," Duffy said at a House Republican leadership news conference. Democrats in the Senate have repeatedly voted against a short-term funding extension to reopen the government, demanding that Republicans yield to their demands on health care policy and repealing conservative legislation. "You have a controller that’s working six days a week, but has to think about, ‘How am I going to pay the mortgage? How am I going to make the car payment? How am I going to put food on my kids’ table?’ They have to make choices, and the choices they’re making is to take a second job," Duffy said. Duffy warned of disruptions in air travel due to the shutdown as the busy holiday travel season approaches. "I can’t guarantee you that your flight is going to be on time. I can’t guarantee you that your flight’s not going to be canceled. It’s going to depend on our air traffic controllers coming in to work every single day," he said. The news conference took place shortly before a Senate vote on a bill from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., to appropriate funds to pay essential federal workers. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also has a bill to pay air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration employees. But Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said he sees little chance of Senate Democrats budging and supporting those bills. "We are told that the Democrats have vowed to vote ‘no’ on that measure," Johnson said when asked whether he would bring the House back into session if the Senate voted to restore pay to federal workers. "They will vote against restoring paychecks to troops, Border Patrol agents, air traffic controllers, TSA agents, and all the rest.”

FOX News [10/23/2025 12:26 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports U.S. travelers could soon start to feel the pain of the ongoing government shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned on Thursday. Duffy joined House GOP leaders at their daily press conference on Day 23 of the shutdown to talk about the difficulties Congress’ fiscal standoff is putting on the nation’s air traffic controllers. The Trump Cabinet official said air traffic controllers he’s spoken with were "angry" and "frustrated" about being forced to work without pay — noting that Tuesday, Oct. 28, will mark their first full missed paycheck if a sudden breakthrough does not happen on Capitol Hill by then. "Safety is paramount for us. And so, if we don’t have the staffing levels in a tower TRACON or center, you will see us delay traffic. You will see us cancel flights," Duffy said. "It’s not moving as many flights as possible. It’s moving as many flights as possible safely. That is our mission.” Duffy said that many air traffic controllers are already working under difficult conditions, noting they would get even worse if the shutdown persists. "If you have a controller that’s working six days a week but has to think about, ‘How am I going to pay the mortgage, how am I to make the car payment, how am I going to put food on my kid’s table?’ They have to make choices, and the choice they’re making is to take a second job," he said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., noted that roughly 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers will work without pay the longer the shutdown goes on. "There were 19,000 delayed flights from Saturday to Monday and an additional 1,600 canceled flights during that same period. That number is only going to increase as the Democrat shutdown continues," Johnson said.

Breitbart.com [10/23/2025 11:44 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports Republicans sounded the alarm Thursday over potential turmoil at US airports as the government shutdown threatens to drag into November, warning of ruined holiday plans for millions of Americans. With the standoff in its fourth week, President Donald Trump’s Republicans and the opposition Democrats are facing increasing pressure to end a stalemate that has crippled public services. More than 60,000 air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are working without pay, and the Trump administration joined Republicans in Congress to warn that increasing absenteeism could mean chaos at check-in lines. "We are rounding into a holiday season, as we all know, and we’re in the middle of the height of the football season. This is peak travel time for the US," House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news conference. "Hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to travel to football games this weekend, for example, and if the current trajectory continues, many Americans could miss watching their favorite teams and reconnecting with friends and family.” Airport workers calling in sick rather than working without pay — leading to significant delays — was a major factor in Trump bringing an end to the 2019 shutdown, the longest in history at 35 days. In normal times, five percent of flight delays are the result of staffing shortages but that has increased to more than 50 percent, Johnson said. He told reporters that 19,000 flights were delayed from Saturday to Monday and that this rate was "only going to increase" as the shutdown continues.

Reuters [10/23/2025 3:10 PM, David Shepardson, 36480K] reports the Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress on Thursday warned that flight disruptions will increase as a government shutdown enters its 23rd day and controllers miss their first full paycheck. Some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must work without pay during the government shutdown. Controllers will miss their first full paycheck on Tuesday. "We fear there will be significant flight delays, disruptions and cancellations in major airports across the country this holiday season," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "If Democrats continue to shut down the government, they will also be shutting down American air travel." Democrats reject the contention that they are responsible and say it is President Donald Trump and Republicans who refuse to negotiate. "I can’t guarantee you that your flight will be on time. I can’t guarantee you that your flight’s not going to be canceled. It’s going to depend on our air traffic controllers coming into work every single day," U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a Capitol Hill press conference, urging controllers to keep working.

Washington Post [10/23/2025 2:47 PM, Andrea Sachs, 24149K] reports on Monday morning, Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas opened a food pantry for federal employees affected by the government shutdown. By the end of the day, the tables were bare. “At that initial opening, we got completely wiped out,” said Luke Nimmo, a public information administrator for the Clark County Department of Aviation, which collected the piles of items over several days. “We’re restocking right now. The need is there.” In Week 4 of the government shutdown, federal employees are facing financial hardships. Some are furloughed, and others — including workers in the Transportation Security Administration and air traffic controllers under the Federal Aviation Administration — are unpaid essential workers. The Trump administration is not guaranteeing back pay and is threatening layoffs, adding to the sense of uncertainty and exigency. A TSA officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she fears professional retribution, said she is worried about how she will be able to cover rent plus bills plus child care expenses.

AP [10/23/2025 6:37 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 30493K] reports President Donald Trump approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe late Wednesday, while denying requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still waiting for answers. The decisions fell mostly along party lines, with Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had "won BIG" in Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was his "honor" to deliver for the "incredible Patriots" of Missouri, a state he also won three times. The disaster declarations authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide survivors money for repairs and temporary housing. While Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he’s denied this year, he has also repeatedly floated the idea of " phasing out " FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery. States already take the lead in disasters, but depend on federal assistance when the needs exceed what they can manage alone. Trump has also taken longer to approve disaster declaration requests than in any previous administration, including his first, according to an Associated Press analysis. The states approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which filed an expedited request after experiencing back-to-back storms this month that wrecked coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump approved a 100% cost share of disaster-related expenses for 90 days. North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for August severe weather, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota was approved for both public and individual assistance for a June storm that felled thousands of trees across its tribal lands. Trump denied four requests, including Maryland’s appeal for reconsideration after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May flooding that severely impacted the state’s two westernmost counties.

Blaze [10/23/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 1442K] reports according to the DHS Privacy Office report, the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Biden administration did not just mishandle a few cases — they secretly blacklisted conservatives and lowered their priority when it came to assistance. "They tracked Americans, their political and religious beliefs, during disasters — not in theory, in black and white," Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck says on "The Glenn Beck Program.” "When these people were flooded, they were homeless, they were desperate, and asked for help from the same government that preaches compassion and equity, they got something entirely different. They got silence, delay, and sometimes nothing at all," he continues. According to the DHS report, "FEMA violated the Privacy Act of 1974 by collecting and storing data tied to protected speech.” "They were checking bumper stickers and writing you down in a book. They logged gun signage 72 times, Trump 15 times, firearms 5 times, Biden twice," Glenn says.

NewsMax [10/23/2025 12:21 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 4109K] reports that FEMA’s refusal under the Biden administration to help Trump supporters was just the most recent example of the "politicization" of relief aid, Homeland Security Deputy Assistant Secretary Micah Bock told Newsmax on Thursday. According to the DHS press release, the investigation found that FEMA employees during the Biden administration "systematically refused to visit" certain homes after disasters, engaged in "textbook political discrimination," and even collected information on survivors’ political beliefs — in direct violation of federal privacy law. These actions reportedly began under former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and spanned multiple disasters dating back to Hurricane Ida in 2021. The revelations followed earlier denials by Criswell, who told Congress that political bias in FEMA’s field operations was a one-off incident after whistleblowers alleged workers were told to avoid houses supporting Trump during 2024’s Hurricane Milton recovery. "But this report clearly shows systemic abuse," Bock said. "This isn’t just one year or one natural disaster. This is years of abuse and misuse and politicization of the most important types of disaster response for the American people.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who ordered the investigation after taking office, condemned the conduct as "horrifying.” "The federal government was withholding aid against Americans in crisis based on their political beliefs — this should horrify every American, regardless of political persuasion," Noem said in a statement and reiterated in a post on X. "We will not let this stand." The DHS said it has referred the case to the Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector General for further investigation and possible prosecution.

The Hill [10/23/2025 7:18 PM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied his state’s appeal for federal disaster relief for flooding in May. Moore, in a Thursday release, called the move "deeply frustrating" and said it "leaves Marylanders on their own." "FEMA has a responsibility to weigh the merits of each emergency request objectively," Moore added. "Instead, President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price." The floods occurred over two days, impacting Garrett and Allegany counties in western Maryland. They resulted in $33.7 million in damages, with homes, schools, libraries and other community buildings impacted, according to a letter Moore sent to Trump in August. The president did not issue a major disaster declaration, which would have made FEMA assistance available, following the floods. In July, the administration denied disaster assistance to Maryland. Moore appealed the decision in August, noting that the damages were nearly triple Maryland’s federal threshold for assistance. "Maryland has met long-standing criteria for FEMA support in the wake of historic floods across Mountain Maryland. And this appeal isn’t simply justified, it’s necessary," Moore said at the time. The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. By signing up, I agree to the Terms of Use, have reviewed the Privacy Policy, and to receive personalized offers and communications via email, on-site notifications, and targeted advertising using my email address from The Hill, Nexstar Media Inc., and its affiliates. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Hill that the president "provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him" and responds to disaster relief requests "with great care and consideration, ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement—not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters." "The Trump administration remains committed to empowering and working with State and local governments to invest in their own resilience before disaster strikes, making response less urgent and recovery less prolonged," she added. The Hill has also reached out to FEMA for comment. Maryland’s senators, Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks, also criticized the denial in Thursday’s release. Van Hollen said the administration "has turned its back on these communities," while Alsobrooks claimed Trump "cares more about supporting billionaires than supporting Americans facing disaster."

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [10/23/2025 6:20 PM, Katie Shepherd, 24149K]

NPR [10/23/2025 4:53 PM, Katia Riddle, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports local leaders in Astoria, Oregon are building a hospital meant to withstand earthquakes and tsunamis, but the Trump administration canceled its FEMA grant, and the shutdown has stalled communication.

Federal News Network [10/23/2025 6:56 PM, Jory Heckman, 986K] reports the Trump administration’s pick to permanently lead the General Services Administration says the agency needs to step up efforts to address underutilized federal buildings and office space deteriorating under a multi-billion-dollar maintenance backlog. Edward Forst, a real estate and financial services executive, told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday that GSA "stands at the tip of the spear" of the Trump administration’s government efficiency agenda. In his written testimony, Forst said GSA, as the federal government’s landlord, needs to "right-size" its real estate portfolio, and address the growing maintenance backlog for the properties it owns. "GSA must examine underused and outdated properties, renegotiate leases where possible, and consolidate space to reflect how federal agencies actually work today," Forst wrote. If confirmed, Forst would be GSA’s first permanent administrator under the Trump administration. Forst said offloading these underutilized and deteriorating properties will "ensure taxpayers no longer pay for underutilized space and properties that may never fully be repaired," and ensure federal employees have better office space. GSA owns and leases over 363 million square feet of space in more than 8,300 buildings. Under the Trump administration, GSA sought to cut its real estate portfolio in half. At the direction of the Department of Government Efficiency, GSA tried to terminate nearly 1,000 government leases, but significantly scaled back those plans after getting pushback from tenant agencies. GSA currently has about $24 billion in deferred maintenance projects. Forst said about $6 billion of that deferred maintenance backlog is "urgently needed," within the next year or two. "Deferred maintenance is a very gentle term for, I’ll say, delinquent maintenance," Forst said. The maintenance backlog, he added, is "likely underestimated," and will only grow if left unaddressed. GSA is supporting the Trump administration’s return-to-office mandate for federal employees by moving agencies out of underutilized office space that is 60% occupied on average

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 4:19 PM, Brady Knox, 1394K] reports Trump decided to be the one to undertake the project, announcing the plans in July and announcing its groundbreaking on Monday. The White House didn’t apply for any permits for the demolition of the East Wing. Ultimate authority on the subject of White House renovations is unclear. The National Trust for Historic Places argued that any construction is legally required to go through the public review process by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts. But a White House official told the outlet that the National Capital Planning Commission doesn’t have jurisdiction over demolition, only construction. They added that they had not yet but would "soon" seek approval from the commission. The White House website said Trump met with members of the White House Staff, the National Park Service, the White House Military Office, and the United States Secret Service "to discuss design features and planning."

FOX News [10/23/2025 8:00 AM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 40621K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announced the successful interdiction of 100,000 pounds of cocaine through Operation Pacific Viper, a months-long international effort targeting transnational criminal organizations operating in the Eastern Pacific. The operation is a surge in Coast Guard forces to the Eastern Pacific aimed at stopping cartels and transnational criminal organizations before their drugs and human smuggling operations reach U.S. shores, the Coast Guard said in an Oct. 14 release. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Operation Pacific Viper has averaged about 1,600 pounds of cocaine interdicted daily, resulting in 34 total interdictions since its launch. "Operation Pacific Viper has proven to be a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America and has sent a clear message that we will disrupt, dismantle, and destroy their deadly business exploits wherever we find it," said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. "In cutting off the flow of these deadly drugs, the Coast Guard is saving countless American lives and delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again and reestablish our maritime dominance.”

Bloomberg Government [10/23/2025 6:11 PM, Zach Williams, 38K] reports a top Democrat is urging the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Secretary Kristi Noem over the Coast Guard’s purchase during the shutdown of two luxury jets for her use. "These actions further call into question Sec. Noem’s judgment and leadership, and add to the alarming record of waste and corruption by the Trump Administration within DHS," Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said in an Oct. 23 letter to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari exclusively obtained by Bloomberg Government.

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 5:00 AM, Mike Brest, 1394K] reports despite heavily regulating both commercial and private fishing in the Gulf of America, the United States loses millions of dollars every year to the illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) that occurs in the U.S Exclusive Economic Zone in the Gulf of America by Mexican fishermen. Commercial and recreational fishing in the Gulf is a multimillion-dollar business managed at the state and federal levels. By far, the most common fish is red snapper. The Gulf Council, one of eight U.S. Regional Fishery Management Councils that oversees fishery resources in the federal waters of the Gulf of America, set the 2025 annual catch limit at slightly more than 16 million pounds of red snapper. The strict U.S. regulations mean more fish are available in U.S. waters than in Mexico’s waters, where fishermen do not have restrictions to follow designed to preserve the environment. The Coast Guard is the primary law enforcement agency that will interdict Mexican fishermen caught fishing in U.S. waters. They are identifiable by their boats, called lanchas, and are carbon copies of one another. The single-engine white and blue boat is cheaply made because the producers know the risk that U.S. forces could seize the vessel.

New York Times [10/23/2025 4:49 PM, Michael Levenson, 135475K] reports three family members were sleeping on their boat, anchored off Martha’s Vineyard on Monday night, when they were awakened by the sound of their two barking dogs. Their boat was on fire, and it was sinking. As flames engulfed their 30-foot motorboat, named Third Wave, a 73-year-old woman, her 72-year-old husband and their 37-year-old son jumped overboard into the dark water. Together, they swam to the shore of Naushon, a sparsely populated island that has been owned by the Forbes family, which made its fortune in trade with China, since the mid-19th century. Suffering from burns, they sought refuge in an empty gray farmhouse near the shore. They spent the next 30 hours there, with no way to call for help, until the son found that their marine radio had washed ashore. At 7:20 a.m. on Wednesday, he radioed for help. The police, a local harbormaster and the Coast Guard had been searching for the family since Tuesday evening, when another son reported that they had not returned home, as expected. But the family’s cellphones, which sank along with their boat, were going straight to voice mail and cellphone pings did not give an accurate location, the Coast Guard said. After the son’s Mayday call, the Coast Guard contacted the Naushon Trust, which helps take care of the island, and dispatched a helicopter from Cape Cod. The Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued the family, who were taken to Cape Cod Hospital and treated for burns and smoke inhalation. They had left Eel Pond in Falmouth, Mass., on Friday and had planned to remain anchored between Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard before returning to Falmouth on Tuesday.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [10/23/2025 5:07 PM, Brad Matthews, 852K]

AP [10/23/2025 8:45 PM, Staff, 19051K] reports three family members who swam to a private island when their boat caught fire and sank were rescued two days later after their marine radio washed ashore. "Mayday, mayday, mayday! Our ship went down in Tarpaulin’s Cove!" Tyler Sullivan told a Coast Guard dispatcher early Wednesday morning. "Our ship burned while we were sleeping, and we barely escaped!". Sullivan and his parents left Falmouth on Friday and had planned to return Tuesday after spending the weekend anchored close to Naushon Island, the largest of a chain of islands between southeastern Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard. A relative contacted authorities Tuesday night, prompting a multiagency search that included Falmouth police and the Falmouth Harbormaster. In audio provided by Broadcastify.com, a Coast Guard dispatcher asks Sullivan about his parents’ medical conditions and asks about their ability to move around or sit up. In mayday recordings released by the Coast Guard, he described their location and what happened to the boat. "The vessel has sunk, and we are in the farmhouse," Sullivan said.

Turning Point USA [10/23/2025 3:58 PM, Staff] reports The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday announced the launch of Operation River Wall, a new initiative aimed at securing the Rio Grande against illegal immigration, narcoterrorists, and other criminal activity along the southern border. The operation will be led by the US Coast Guard, which is deploying more than 100 response boats, shallow-watercraft, command and control assets, and tactical teams to the region. Hundreds of personnel will take part in the mission, which DHS said will “control, secure, and defend the U.S border along approximately 260 miles of the Rio Grande Valley.” “President Trump delivered the most secure southern border in U.S. history in record time, and now, our goal is to make sure it stays that way for the long run,” Secretary Noem said in a statement. “The men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard are experts at defending America’s maritime borders–they have been doing that with honor, respect and devotion to duty since 1790. Now, Coast Guard Forces Rio Grande and Operation River Wall will be a force multiplier in defending against illegal immigration.” Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, Acting Commandant of the Coast Guard, added that the guard leads “the world at tactical boat operations and maritime interdiction at sea, along coasts, and in riverine environments,” and that the operation will see the Coast Guard control the southern border in the Rio Grande River.

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 1:42 PM, Maydeen Merino, 1394K] reports that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to launch new cybersecurity tools to prevent and respond to cyberattacks on the United States’ water systems amid increased attacks by foreign adversaries. To curb attacks from Russia and China, the EPA has introduced new, updated tools for water and wastewater systems as of Thursday to help mitigate potential attacks. Jess Kramer, EPA assistant administrator for water, said in a statement, "Strengthening cybersecurity for the U.S. water sector is critically important because cyber resilience and water security are key to national security. Water systems across the country are facing cyberattacks that threaten the ability to provide safe water." "As part of advancing the Powering the Great American Comeback Initiative, EPA is committed to ensuring every American has access to clean and safe water. Guarding against cyberattacks is central to this mission," the statement continued. Last year, the Biden administration’s EPA warned water facilities about hacking threats after Russian-linked hackers targeted a Texas water facility, causing a tank to overflow. They also attacked a wastewater treatment facility in Indiana the following April. The administration also warned that the Chinese hacker group known as Volt Typhoon had compromised the information technology of drinking water systems. The EPA’s announcement includes updating its Emergency Response Plan Guide for Wastewater Utilities to enhance preparedness against cyberattacks. It offers strategies and resources for utilities to address natural or man-made incidents that threaten life, property, or the environment.

CyberScoop [10/23/2025 5:40 AM, Tim Starks] reports last week, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency officials spoke candidly about the challenges they faced tracking the use of F5 products across the civilian federal government. While CISA knows there are thousands of instances of F5 currently in use, it admitted it wasn’t certain where each instance was deployed. The uncertainty came as the agency issued an emergency directive related to F5, instructing other government agencies to find and patch any F5 instances. The urgency stemmed from the fact that F5 itself had revealed a nation-state had gained a long-term foothold in its systems. One of the main goals of the directive: “help us identify the different F5 technology in the federal network,” as one official told reporters. CISA didn’t already have a complete picture of that despite the billions of dollars spent on a program, Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation (CDM), designed for, among other things, “increasing visibility into the federal cybersecurity posture,” which CISA’s website for the program states is one of its main four goals. CISA’s lack of awareness about the extent of the F5 vulnerability’s presence in the federal government highlights a weakness in a program that is, by and large, a well-regarded one. But the fact that CDM did not automatically identify F5 prevalence is a circumstance of fast-changing technology and a shortcoming in the part of CDM that’s focused on keeping track of digital assets, according to current and former CISA officials and cyber industry professionals.

Politico [10/23/2025 5:30 AM, Maggie Miller and Eric Bazail-Eimil, 2100K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem promised to prioritize a “comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to cybersecurity.” But over the last nine months, a key cybersecurity agency under Noem’s command has had its staffing slashed by more than a third, axed funding for election security programs and scaled back its support to state and local governments to protect against cyber threats. “There’s a real disconnect between the public messaging about cybersecurity and the reality on the ground,” said an employee of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is housed under DHS. This person, like others interviewed for this article, was granted anonymity for fear of retribution. Lawmakers and those within the cyber community who work closely with CISA to defend the nation’s critical infrastructure from hackers say the Trump administration’s cutbacks have weakened our cyber defenses, particularly as adversaries such as China and Russia have intensified their assaults on U.S. networks. “The administration keeps undermining CISA, which serves at the forefront to defend our infrastructure and private sector from cyberattacks,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee’s cyber subcommittee and a frequent critic of the Trump administration’s policies. “Our vulnerability to our adversaries’ cyberattacks grows, and we have handicapped ourselves in defending against these attacks.” The Department of Homeland Security argues that such fears are misguided. It insists that engagement with the private sector has continued and that it still provides resources directly to state and local governments to tackle cyber threats. The agency also argues that recent changes to CISA are needed to course-correct after supposed excesses under the Biden administration. “Under the leadership of President Donald Trump and Secretary Noem, CISA has refocused on its core mission: serving as the national coordinator for securing and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure,” the department said in a statement. “CISA is now delivering timely, actionable cyber threat intelligence, supporting federal, state and local partners, and defending against both nation-state and criminal cyber threats. Any notion that DHS is unprepared to handle national threats because of these changes is unfounded.”

Washington Examiner [10/23/2025 10:37 AM, David Zimmermann, 1394K] reports that the FBI is seeking tips from the public about a suspect who placed two pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C., on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021. In a statement on Wednesday, the bureau released never-before-seen videos that captured the unidentified person’s route and appearance. A $500,000 reward is being offered to anyone who has information on the suspect. The case remains unsolved to this day. The new footage filmed by security cameras on Jan. 5, 2021, shows the pipe bomb suspect planting a bomb outside the DNC at 7:54 p.m. and laying a second bomb outside the RNC at 8:16 p.m. The bombs did not detonate, but as the FBI said last year, the explosive devices were "viable" and "could have seriously injured or killed innocent bystanders." The bomb’s components were 1×8-inch threaded galvanized pipes, end caps, kitchen timers, wires, metal clips, and homemade black powder. The person, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, was carrying a backpack and wearing a face mask, gray hooded sweatshirt, black gloves, and black and gray shoes with a yellow Nike logo. Under 25,000 shoes of that description were sold between August 2018 and January 2021, according to authorities. The FBI and ATF are offering up to $490,000 for information leading to the location, arrest, and conviction of the person responsible. The Metropolitan Police Department is offering up to $10,000 as part of the reward, adding to the $500,000 total

New York Times [10/23/2025 1:53 PM, Paulina Villegas, 135475K] reports that he linked some of Mexico’s most powerful cartels with drugmaking chemicals from China, officials say, and smuggled cocaine and fentanyl across the U.S. border by land and air. He ran stash houses packed with drugs throughout the United States, according to court documents, and laundered millions in cash using dozens of bank accounts. And he slipped from house arrest — through a hole in the wall, one senior Mexican official said — while under the watch of Mexico’s National Guard, setting off an international manhunt that ended with the announcement this week that he had been arrested in Cuba. The U.S. and Mexican authorities have accused the man, a Chinese national named Zhi Dong Zhang, of being a major cartel broker with aliases including “Brother Wang,” and a leader of a criminal network linking China, the Americas and Europe. His detention in Cuba was announced late Wednesday by Mexico’s Security Ministry, which said that he had been detained along with two others, a Mexican and a Chinese national. The ministry’s statement did not name Mr. Zhang but clearly described his case — from his arrest in October 2024, when Mexican police and military forces swept into one of Mexico City’s busiest neighborhoods, to his escape from house arrest this summer.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [10/23/2025 8:43 AM, Staff, 39474K]
CNN [10/24/2025 4:43 AM, Laura Sharman and Rocio Ruiz, 18595K]

New York Times [10/23/2025 10:11 AM, Carol Rosenberg, 153395K] reports in recent years, an unlikely collection of portraits has given the public its only glimpse inside the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay. In these photos, men who have been held as prisoners for more than two decades are voluntarily posing for American soldiers. Some are accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks. Others have never been charged with crimes and could be released. The prisoners send the pictures to their families through a longstanding collaboration with the U.S. military and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The prisoners wear civilian, sometimes traditional, clothes. Sometimes they smile or look sternly into the camera, but mostly they look serene. Former prisoners have described this as an effort to reassure their loved ones who have not seen them for many years, and for a time thought they were dead. It is part of a Red Cross program that allows detainees in the war against terrorism to communicate with their families through prison-reviewed letters and cards. These protections are outlined in the Geneva Conventions, the international law governing warfare. All 15 prisoners at Guantánamo have had access to the program, which began allowing photos in 2009.

Reuters [10/23/2025 1:17 PM, Andrius Sytas, 36480K] reports that NATO member Lithuania said two Russian military aircraft entered its airspace on Thursday for about 18 seconds, prompting a formal protest and a reaction from NATO forces, while Russia denied the incident. The two aircraft, an Su-30 fighter and Il-78 refuelling tanker, were possibly on a refuelling training mission when they flew 700 metres (0.43 mile) into Lithuania from the Kaliningrad region at about 1500 GMT, the military said. The Russian Defence Ministry said that none of the Su-30 jets training in Kaliningrad on Thursday violated borders of other countries. Spanish Eurofighter Typhoon jets from the NATO Baltic Air Police were scrambled in response and were patrolling the area, the military said. "This is another demonstration of NATO’s readiness to respond to any developments and ability to ensure the safety of the Alliance’s airspace,” a NATO official told Reuters. Lithuania summoned Russia’s top diplomat in the country and issued a stern protest, and informed its NATO and European Union allies and the North Atlantic Council about the incident, the Foreign Ministry said. "This incident once again shows that Russia is behaving like a terrorist state, disregarding international law and the security of neighbouring countries," Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Facebook. "Lithuania is safe. Together with our allies, we look after and will defend every centimetre of our country," she added.

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