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

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

The AP [10/3/2025 4:46 PM, Mark Sherman, 27036K] reports the Supreme Court on Friday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to strip legal protections from more than 300,000 Venezuelan migrants. The justices issued an emergency order, which will last as long as the court case continues, putting on hold a lower-court ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco that found the administration had wrongly ended temporary protected status for the Venezuelans. Trump’s Republican administration has moved to withdraw various protections that have allowed immigrants to remain in the United States and work legally, including ending TPS for a total of 600,000 Venezuelans and 500,000 Haitians who were granted protection under President Joe Biden, a Democrat. TPS is granted in 18-month increments. In May, the Supreme Court reversed a preliminary order from Chen that affected another 350,000 Venezuelans whose protections expired in April. The high court provided no explanation at the time, which is common in emergency appeals. Some migrants have lost their jobs and homes while others have been detained and deported after the justices stepped in the first time, lawyers for the migrants told the court. Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters, civil strife or other dangerous conditions. The designation can be granted by the Homeland Security secretary. Chen found that the Department of Homeland Security acted "with unprecedented haste and in an unprecedented manner … for the preordained purpose of expediting termination of Venezuela’s TPS" status. In earlier denying the Trump administration’s emergency appeal, Judge Kim Wardlaw wrote for a unanimous three-judge appellate panel that Chen determined that DHS made its "decisions first and searched for a valid basis for those decisions second.” Solicitor General D. John Sauer, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, had argued in the new court filing that the justices’ May order should also apply to the current case. "This case is familiar to the court and involves the increasingly familiar and untenable phenomenon of lower courts disregarding this Court’s orders on the emergency docket," Sauer wrote. The result, he said, is that the "new order, just like the old one, halted the vacatur and termination of TPS affecting over 300,000 aliens based on meritless legal theories.” The New York Post [10/3/2025 7:41 PM, Victor Nava, 43962K] reports that in her dissent, Jackson argued that "TPS statute plainly states" the designation for Venezuelan migrants shall remain effective until the expiration of its ‘most recent previous extension,’" which, before Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem terminated the extension, would have been October 2026. "By now, our lower court colleagues have determined five times over that this abrupt truncation of the TPS period was unlawful or likely so," Jackson argued. "They have done so in reasoned and thoughtful written opinions — opinions that, in the normal course, we would get to parse, assess, and embrace or reject, while fully explaining our reasoning.” Jackson also argued that as litigation over Noem’s move to scrap TPS for Venezuelans plays out, lower courts went with the "obvious — i.e., least disruptive and most humane" option, in deciding to allow the migrants to keep their legal protections for the time being – which the Supreme Court has overturned. "I view today’s decision as yet another grave misuse of our emergency docket," she added. "This Court should have stayed its hand.” "Having opted instead to join the fray, the Court plainly misjudges the irreparable harm and balance-of-the-equities factors by privileging the bald assertion of unconstrained executive power over countless families’ pleas for the stability our Government has promised them.” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the Trump administration’s Supreme Court victory "a win for the American people and commonsense.” "The American people should not have had to go to the Supreme Court twice to see justice done," McLaughlin said in a statement. "Temporary Protected Status was always supposed to be just that: Temporary. Yet, previous administrations abused, exploited, and mangled TPS into a de facto amnesty program.” She added: "Meanwhile, the Biden administration allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into our country exacerbating the issue and endangering all Americans. Now, that it’s clear the law and the American people are on our side, Secretary Noem will continue to use every tool at our disposal to prioritize the safety of all U.S. citizens.”

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CBS News [10/3/2025 2:18 PM, Staff, 45245K] reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat in the waters off Venezuela, according to a social media post. "Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike," which "was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics — headed to America to poison our people," Hegseth said in a post on X, which included a video showing a boat being destroyed at sea. In his post, Hegseth said that "our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route.” In his post, Hegseth offered no other details on who they were or what organization they belonged to. The video of the strike posted online showed a small boat moving in open water when it suddenly explodes. As the smoke from the explosion clears, the boat is visible, consumed with flames, floating motionless on the water. The strike comes less than a day after it was revealed that President Trump declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and that the United States is now in an "armed conflict" with them in a notification to Congress viewed by CBS News. A White House official said the information was part of a report to Congress required by the National Defense Authorization Act after the U.S. military conducts an attack. The New York Times [10/3/2025 3:41 PM, Charlie Savage, 143795K] reports Mr. Hegseth accused the four dead men of having been smuggling narcotics, without offering evidence. He also asserted that they were “affiliated” with one of the cartels and gangs that the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, but did not specify which. The strike was the fourth known attack by the U.S. military on boats in the Caribbean Sea dating back to Sept. 2. In all, the military has now summarily killed 21 people it says were smuggling drugs as if they were not criminal suspects but enemy soldiers in a war zone. As with the Trump administration’s previous announcements of such strikes last month, Mr. Hegseth posted a brief aerial surveillance video showing a go-fast-style boat moving across the surface of the sea and then blowing up. He said he had directed the strike on President Trump’s orders.

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AP [10/3/2025 3:34 PM, Konstantin Toropin, 20690K]
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The New York Times [10/4/2025 3:22 AM, Grace Ashford and Tyler Pager, 330K] reports the Trump administration will restore $187 million in cuts it had made to law enforcement funding, which would have devastated New York’s intelligence and counterterrorism operations, following a bipartisan push to reinstate the funds. The cuts, which represented the largest federal defunding of police operations in New York in decades, were made by the Department of Homeland Security, without explanation and without the approval of President Trump, White House officials said. Indeed, President Trump was blindsided by the decision to defund the police, not learning of the cuts until Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York called him on Sunday to protest the change after the fact, according to three people with knowledge of the call. The frantic effort to undo the rolling cuts made to the Homeland Security Grant Program, with the last $100 million slashed over the weekend, underscored the chaos unfolding as the Trump administration moves to punish political adversaries by stopping the flow of billions of dollars in federal funds that had already been allocated nationwide. President Trump confirmed the restoration on Friday in a post to Truth Social, saying: “I am pleased to advise that I reversed the cuts made to Homeland Security and Counterterrorism for New York City and State. It was my Honor to do so. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Earlier on Friday, Homeland Security officials released a statement that did not explain the reasoning behind the cuts or their reversal. “FEMA works closely with our state and local partners to understand their needs and deliver grant funding directly into the hands of those who will utilize those funds most effectively,” the statement said, referring to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “We are grateful for the partnership of the State of New York, and today are announcing full funding of H.S.G.P. grants to effectively counter and combat security threats within the Empire State.” The push to reverse the cuts, which included personal appeals from Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, as well as several of the state’s Republican House members, has been underway since the weekend. The Republicans involved in the effort included, among others, Representatives Michael Lawler of the Hudson Valley, Elise Stefanik of the North Country, and Nicole Malliotakis, who represents Staten Island and southern Brooklyn and is New York City’s lone Republican in Congress. Ms. Hochul said on Friday that she was “glad President Trump heard our call and reversed course, ensuring our state has the resources necessary to support law enforcement and keep our families safe.” She had previously said that the cuts would make not only New York but “all of America more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.” The pushback posed a challenge for the Republican lawmakers, especially Ms. Stefanik, who is among Mr. Trump’s most loyal supporters and is considering running for governor next year. They seldom challenge the Trump administration, but not doing so on cuts that would have been damaging to law enforcement could have hurt them with their supporters.The AP [10/3/2025 7:56 PM, Susan Haigh and Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 27036K] reports Kathy Hochul sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday railing against the cuts, saying they represented 86% of homeland security funding to the state, impacting the New York City police and fire departments, state police and other law enforcement agencies. The cut would had slashed federal counterterrorism funding for the NYPD from $90 million to nearly $10 million, according to Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who on Wednesday called it "a devastating blow." She called the city "the No. 1 terrorist target in the world.” On Friday, Hochul credited political pushback from the state for the restoration of funds. "From the moment these devastating cuts were announced, I made it clear that New York would not stand by while our law enforcement and counterterrorism operations were defunded," Hochul said in a statement. "I’m glad President Trump heard our call and reversed course, ensuring our state has the resources necessary to support law enforcement and keep our families safe.”

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Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 11:02 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K] reports a federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from diverting around $34 million in funding intended to protect New York’s transit system from terrorism. In the ruling, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan cited the 9/11 terrorist attacks and security threats the city faces. He noted that the state will "quite likely" succeed in proving the money would be improperly diverted because the Trump administration sought to punish the state for not cooperating with its immigration agenda. "Obviously, New York is no stranger to risks of terrorist attacks and it’s not just 9/11 that tells us that," the judge said, noting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as well. The temporary restraining order will remain until Oct. 15 while the judge considers New York’s request for a permanent injunction to block the cuts. The state sued the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday, arguing that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks led to the creation of the Rail and Transit Security Grant Program, which protects transit systems from chemical, biological, radiological, and explosives threats.

AP [10/3/2025 8:26 PM, Christine Fernando and John O’Connor, 1648K] reports that federal agents detained multiple people Friday near an immigration facility outside Chicago that has frequently been targeted by protesters during President Donald Trump’s administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall. As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met with employees inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, a crowd grew over several hours, some riled by newly installed barricades to separate them from law enforcement officers stationed outside. Noem, whose visit to Chicago was confirmed by Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, also accompanied agents Friday on a raid near a local Walmart store. Some protesters have aimed to block vehicles from going in or out of the area in recent weeks, part of growing pushback to a surge of immigration enforcement that begin in early September. Federal agents have repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper balls and other projectiles toward crowds in response and at least five people have faced federal charges after being arrested in those clashes. Local law enforcement stepped up its own presence Friday at the facility about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago. Several streets around the site were closed, patrolled by Illinois State Police officers wearing riot helmets and holding batons on patrol. The state police set up concrete barriers Thursday night to segregate protesters and designate spaces to demonstrate. It was unclear how many people were detained Friday. Noem, alongside Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector, appeared on the Broadview building’s roof, surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew while standing beside a sniper’s post, according to footage shared online by conservative media personality Benny Johnson. Johnson also posted video outside a Walmart store where he said agents, accompanied by Noem, had conducted a raid.

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CNN [10/3/2025 11:25 AM, Bill Kirkos, Alisha Ebrahimji, Taylor Romine, 662K] reports a crowd of protesters is beginning to thin out after clashes with an assortment of law enforcement agencies came to a head outside the Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago. Earlier Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was perched on the rooftop of the controversial facility, surrounded by armed agents and a camera crew, according to CNN affiliate WLS. At least five people have been arrested for aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting and obstruction, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office told CNN. Broadview police officers and Cook County sheriff’s deputies holding a line near the large group of protesters were instructed at one point to put on gas masks. The facility, about 10 miles west of Chicago, has been the site of demonstrations against ramped-up ICE enforcement and aggressive tactics for several weeks. Similar protests have flared across the country, including this week in Portland, Oregon, as the White House has aimed to crack down on crime more broadly in Democratic-led cities, often citing the need to protect ICE sites. The protests near Chicago began after local leaders got word in early September that "a large-scale enforcement campaign" would soon be underway in the Windy City as part of the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration agenda. The Midway Blitz Operation has resulted in more than 800 arrests, according to a Wednesday news release from the Department of Homeland Security. "Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens," Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker wrote on Facebook on Friday. Federal agents are also "acting with impunity," the governor said in a statement provided to CNN. "In addition to their inhumane tactics on immigration enforcement, they have grossly mishandled and incited tensions at the Broadview facility. This includes firing chemical agents at protesters and media, arresting a reporter, slamming people to the ground, and wreaking havoc on Broadview residents and nearby businesses," the statement said in part. Local, state and federal agencies have a large presence at the facility, and have closed multiple streets, including 25th Avenue, a major street in Broadview. Protesters outside the facility Friday morning held signs and chanted. One sign read, "ICE melts under resistance," meanwhile another said, "Hate has no home here.” Protester Nicole Bandyk lives in a nearby suburb and decided to join the demonstrators after watching coverage of the protests in news reports and online. "I’m not gonna look back and say I sat at home and did nothing," Bandyk told CNN. "It’s wrong … It’s just wrong what they’re doing. We are becoming a fascist authoritarian state and it’s wrong.” El Centro Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino accompanied Noem on the roof, according to WLS, and was later seen on the ground directing protesters and media away from the area.

FOX News [10/3/2025 5:40 PM, Deirdre Heavey, 40019K] reports Kat Abughazaleh, the progressive candidate for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, accused Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of perpetrating "crimes against humanity" during a protest outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Friday, prompting DHS to strike back at the Gen Z activist. A viral video of an ICE agent shoving Abughazaleh to the ground outside the Broadview ICE facility on Sept. 19 has become a flash point in the divisive debate over President Donald Trump’s deportation rollout as Republicans celebrate the crackdown on illegal immigration while Democrats reject ICE’s "unlawful and racist orders." "Dishonest, desperate and demonizing law enforcement to try to get 5 minutes on MSNBC and some fundraising cash," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement after Abughazaleh criticized Noem during a press conference Friday. "Kristi Noem is here right now to ensure that her crimes against humanity continue unimpeded," Abughazaleh told her fellow protesters outside Broadview. "We are here to make sure that does not happen. So, let us in, give us justice and tear this gate down." Abughazaleh introduced herself on Friday as "one of hundreds of people who have been brutalized by ICE while protesting the inhumane conditions" at Broadview, which she described as a "war zone" where the government is "waging war on peaceful protesters." McLaughlin accused Abughazaleh of putting "law enforcement at risk" in her pursuit to "obstruct justice" before she was shoved to the ground two weeks ago.

FOX News [10/3/2025 5:32 PM, Sophia Compton, 40019K] Video: HERE reports Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday she and her staff were denied entry to a government building in a Chicago suburb, where they attempted to stop for a "bathroom break" as federal agents clashed with protesters outside a nearby immigration facility. In a post on X, Noem said her team was denied access to the Village of Broadview Municipal Building, located about 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, and blasted Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration for its treatment of federal agents. "My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois," Noem said. "We were stopping for a quick bathroom break. This is a public building. The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year. This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful." A video of the encounter shows Noem approaching the building with her staff as one person asks through the door, "Can we use your restroom?" Someone inside can be heard responding, "No you cannot!" before Noem calmly replies, "OK, all right, thank you," and walks away. Village officials said Noem showed up unannounced Friday morning seeking a meeting with Mayor Katrina Thompson, who was out of the building at the time. "Since DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared this morning, unannounced, at Broadview’s Village Hall asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building, the mayor returned her visit," Village of Broadview spokesperson David Ormsby said in a statement. "Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas, and officers, to ask for the illegal fence to be dismantled. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet." However, DHS officials insisted the stop was not about a meeting at all. "She didn’t ask for a meeting. She asked to use the restroom. This is insane," DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 8:56 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was denied entry to Broadview City Hall in the Chicago suburbs as she attempted to use the building’s bathroom. A video shows Noem and others attempting to enter the building before a man held the door shut. Noem asks, "[Are we] not allowed in?" A different person asks if they can use the "restroom.” A man inside said, "No, you cannot." Noem and her crew then walk away before she noted that the resistance is "what Governor Pritzker calls cooperation.” Noem lamented the incident in an X post, noting "Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year.” "My team and I were just blocked from accessing the Village of Broadview Municipal Building in Illinois. We were stopping for a quick bathroom break. This is a public building. The Village of Broadview receives at least $1 million in federal funding every year. This is how JB Pritzker and his cronies treat our law enforcement. Absolutely shameful," she wrote. Noem said they were in the area to conduct "some operations" and arrest people with criminal convictions. A Broadview village spokesperson disputed that the bathroom was the only reason she was at the building. Village spokesperson David Ormsby told NBC Chicago Noem appeared "unannounced" at the Village Hall, asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building.” "Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas and officers, to ask for the illegal fence to be dismantled. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet," Ormsby said. "Additionally, we are distressed to hear that the bathrooms are unavailable at the ICE facility.” Noem was seen at the Broadview ICE facility earlier in the day with Border Control Commander Greg Bovino. Like many others within the country, demonstrations have been ongoing outside the facility. The Trump administration is beginning its "Midway Blitz" immigration operations in Chicago and uses the Broadview ICE facility to assist in their campaign. Gov. JB Pritkzer’s (D-IL) spokesperson criticized the actions of law enforcement near the ICE facility and the enforcement methods of immigration agents. "In addition to their inhumane tactics on immigration enforcement, they have grossly mishandled and incited tensions at the Broadview facility," the spokesperson said. "This includes firing chemical agents at protesters and media, arresting a reporter, slamming people to the ground, and wreaking havoc on Broadview residents and nearby businesses." The New York Post [10/3/2025 9:53 PM, Anna Young, 43962K] reports that the footage, taken by conservative commentator Benny Johnson, shows Noem and about a dozen of her plain-clothed staffers approaching the building and politely asking to use the restroom — as a man inside held the door shut and shouted, "No, you cannot.” The secretary and her group said "thank you" before walking off — with Noem later turning to the camera to rip the governor and local leaders for flaunting their lack of "cooperation" with federal officials. "So as much as these local leaders and governors talk about cooperating and have the backs of our law enforcement officers, this is what we have to put up with every single day and all we’re doing is getting criminals and terrorists and cartels and gang members off the streets." she said in the video. But Broadview village officials shot back, claiming the video failed to show the whole story. Village spokesperson David Ormsby told CNN that Noem visited Village Hall unannounced asking to meet with Mayor Katrina Thompson, who he says was out of the building at the time. "The mayor returned her visit," Ormsby said, adding that he was "distressed" to hear the bathrooms at the ICE facility in Broadview that Noem visited Friday morning were "unavailable.” "Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas, and officers …. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet.” Noem touched down in Illinois Friday morning and was reportedly seen atop the detention center roof — the same site that’s been a hotbed of civil unrest and raging anti-ICE protests. Pritzker, earlier in the day, slammed Noem’s visit in a flurry of social media posts. "Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability," he said in one post. Pritzker and Broadview village officials did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 9:59 PM, Ian Hanchett, 2608K] reports that, on Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) reacted to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem being denied access to a government building in Illinois by saying that she was reminded of what happened with Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and “It’s unfortunate that this is how we are seeing the federal government treat cities and other elected officials.” Host Blake Burman asked, “There was that scene. I watched the video, and they didn’t let the DHS Secretary into a government building. Do you think they made a mistake there?” Kamlager-Dove answered, “[A]s I was listening to that segment, I was thinking about the incident where U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was going into a federal building, actually, where his offices were, and was pinned to the ground and arrested, with Kristi Noem giving the go-ahead. It’s unfortunate that this is how we are seeing the federal government treat cities and other elected officials. But what is equally unfortunate is watching the videos of partially-clothed babies being yanked out of their beds at midnight and separated from their families on the south side of Chicago.”

CBS News [10/3/2025 1:13 PM, Asal Rezaei, Sara Tenenbaum, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Gov. JB Pritzker said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "should no longer be able to step foot" in Illinois without accountability "for the Trump Administration’s gross misconduct" as she visited the Broadview ICE facility Friday. Tensions over "Operation Midway Blitz" and immigration raids in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs have escalated as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have stepped up raids and detentions across the area. Sources reported Thursday night that Sec. Noem would be in Illinois Friday, which prompted Pritzker to release his statement, writing in part, "Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability." "It’s time she faces the public and takes questions from the press to be held accountable for the Trump Administration’s gross misconduct," the statement continues. Noem was spotted on the roof of the makeshift ICE detention center in Broadview, Illinois shortly before 8 a.m. Friday morning. She appeared to be filming something. A spokesperson for the Village of Broadview said Noem appeared at the Village Hall unannounced Friday morning and asked to meet with Mayor Katrina Thompson, who was out of the building at the time. So, the spokesperson said, the mayor tried to go to her. "Since DHS Secretary Kristi Noem appeared this morning, unannounced, at Broadview’s Village Hall asking for a meeting while Mayor Katrina Thompson was out of the building, the mayor returned her visit," the statement said. "Mayor Thompson went to the ICE center, accompanied by the Broadview Police Chief Thomas, and officers, to ask for the illegal fence to be dismantled. The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [10/3/2025 7:53 PM, Rick Pearson and Gregory Royal Pratt, 5352K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem indicated on Friday that the federal government is seeking to acquire additional property in west suburban Broadview to expand its immigration enforcement efforts in the Chicago area. Noem, appearing at the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility at 1930 Beach St. in the west suburb, also met with U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino and other federal agents at the site to tell them that, despite large-scale protests, the people of Chicago "are grateful you are here.” "You’re setting an example for the rest of the country. Everybody is watching how strong you are here, the operations and the professionalism in which you’re conducting this law enforcement and restoring some safety back to the city, and it’s rippling across the country," Noem told Bovino and the federal agents, based on social media posts from a right-wing influencer who was granted access to be embedded with ICE. "It may seem like right here, when you’re in the middle of this chaos, that you’re not necessarily sure of it, but boy, the American people are just thrilled to have you and to have you on the job and on the task of restoring and making America safe again," she said. Noem’s comments were recorded by Benny Johnson, a conservative influencer who said he was embedded with immigration agents on Friday — something that has become a pattern with federal enforcement in relying on politically supportive media during its actions in the Chicago area. Noem herself did not make any comments to members of the Chicago media. Instead, pictures of her were recorded from afar, including while she stood on the roof of the Broadview ICE facility, surrounded by heavily armed agents while observing protests on the ground below. Speaking earlier with Bovino and federal agents, Noem was recorded saying, "We’re going to try to buy that building today" as she pointed at a nearby structure. "So, give you more space. Let you spread out and tell everybody and send a message: We’re not just here, we’re here to stay, and we’re expanding and we’re going to make this city safe again," Noem said. "So today, when we leave here, we’re going to go hard," she told agents as they prepared to leave the Broadview facility for enforcement activities. "We’re going to hammer these guys that are advocating for violence against the American people. What they are doing is advocating to harm not just you and your colleagues, but your families. And they’re doxing your identities and victimizing people every day by the way that they’re talking, speaking, who they’re affiliated with, who they’re funded with, and what they’re talking about as far as consequences for what we’re doing by protecting this country," she said. "So we’re going to go out there and we’re going to make sure that there’s consequences for the way that they’re behaving and that we’re going to prosecute them. We’re going to bring them to justice. We’re not taking this anymore," she said. "The president’s sick of it. I’m sick of it. And we’re going to give you guys all the authority that you need to go out there and arrest these individuals who are advocating for violence against you.”

FOX News [10/3/2025 9:26 PM, Sophia Compton, 40019K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Friday that federal agents arrested more than 1,000 illegal aliens in Illinois as part of Operation Midway Blitz, a sweeping crackdown on those who sought refuge under the state’s sanctuary policies. The operation — led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol — launched Sept. 8 in honor of Katie Abraham, who was killed in Illinois by a drunk driver later identified as illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol. The initiative was designed to take "the worst of the worst" off the streets of Chicago and other parts of the state, according to a press release from DHS. "During Operation Midway Blitz, our brave DHS law enforcement has made more than 1,000 arrests across Illinois, including of pedophiles, child abusers, kidnappers, gang members and armed robbers," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "Operation Midway Blitz is making Illinois safe again.” Federal authorities highlighted several of the criminals arrested during the operation, including Rafael Alberto Tolentino Martinez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who has been convicted of aggravated domestic battery against a 3-year-old child, according to DHS. Pedro Avendano Andres, an illegal alien from Mexico, who has previously been arrested for domestic battery, aggravated battery and "causing a circumstance that would endanger a child," as noted in the release. Aziz Kamal, a "deportable" lawful permanent resident, who has previously been charged with second-degree rape, indecent liberties and assault and has an arrest for a sex offender registration violation, according to DHS. Marco Geronimo Ocampo, an illegal alien from Mexico, who has previously been arrested for armed robbery, sexual assault, kidnapping, property damage, domestic battery and possession of drug paraphernalia and has a conviction for criminal sexual abuse by force, according to the news release. Mohamed Fagel, an illegal alien from Mauritania, who has previously been arrested for battery against a public official, robbery, resisting law enforcement and disorderly conduct, according to DHS. Erick Rios, an illegal alien and confirmed gang member of MS-13, who has multiple prior arrests, including violating a bail bond, criminal damage to property, mob action, consumption of liquor by a minor, a DUI and a final order of removal, DHS said. Leonardo Jose Paredes Varela, an illegal alien with several prior arrests including domestic battery, assault, shoplifting and theft, according to the news release. Jesus Rafael Gonzalez-Teran, an illegal alien, who was arrested on charges of battery, assault and possession of controlled substances, according to DHS. Ludwing Jeanpier Parra-Perez, an illegal alien and confirmed member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, according to DHS. Isaac Josue Rodriguez Arguelles, an illegal alien with previous charges for assault with a weapon, as noted in the release. Earlier Friday, federal agents arrested more than a dozen protesters outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem also said she and her staff were denied entry to a government building in Broadview when they stopped to use the restroom.

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NewsMax [10/3/2025 8:01 PM, Staff, 4779K]
Daily Wire [10/3/2025 12:07 PM, Jennie Taer, 3184K]

NewsMax [10/3/2025 7:25 AM, Staff, 4779K] reports two illegal aliens used their cars as weapons against ICE officers in the Chicago area this week, ramming Operation Midway Blitz agents in two separate near-deadly incidents, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. The DHS said Thursday night that the attacks were fueled by anti-ICE rhetoric from Illinois’ top Democrat leaders. Both incidents took place Tuesday during targeted enforcement operations. Officials said the illegals deliberately weaponized their cars in an attempt to injure the officers. The first attack occurred in Norridge, Illinois, when Miguel Escareno De Loera, an illegal from Mexico, struck an ICE vehicle twice before losing control, jumping a curb, and crashing into a stop sign. He was taken into custody. In Bensenville, Illinois, Widman Osberto Lopez-Funes, an illegal from Guatemala, rammed ICE officers with his vehicle and then ran into his home. Agents later arrested him at the scene without further incident. The DHS said the attacks could easily have turned deadly. "Thankfully none of our law enforcement was killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "This is exactly what happens when Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement.” McLaughlin said assaults on ICE officers have skyrocketed by more than 1,000 percent, with vehicles increasingly used as weapons. She vowed the DHS will pursue criminal charges against those who attack federal agents. "[DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear: anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," McLaughlin said. Both Escareno De Loera and Lopez-Funes will remain in federal custody pending removal proceedings. The DHS said charges for assaulting law enforcement are being prepared. Officials stressed that ICE officers face these risks daily as they work to remove violent illegal aliens from American communities. "These back-to-back attacks underscore the dangers ICE law enforcement officers face every day as they remove criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods," DHS said in a statement. "DHS will restore law and order and continue to protect American communities from criminal illegal aliens who choose violence.” These incidents are just two of several in recent weeks involving illegals attempting to ram ICE officers with vehicles. In September, in Franklin Park, Illinois, ICE agents confronted Mexican national Silverio Villegas-González, who used his car to drag an officer during an enforcement operation, according to the DHS. An ICE agent fatally shot him. Weeks earlier, outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, ICE said two suspects tried to ram their car into agents during a raid in the Black Forest area. An officer fired three shots at the vehicle. One suspect was arrested immediately, while the driver fled before eventually being taken into custody. The DHS has also pointed to additional assaults connected to Operation Midway Blitz, saying that at least two more ICE officers were targeted with cars in recent weeks. The department vows to prosecute anyone who attacks federal officers to the fullest extent of the law and that its mission of removing dangerous illegal aliens from U.S. communities will not be deterred.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [10/3/2025 2:18 PM, Greg Norman, 40019K]
NewsMax [10/3/2025 7:25 AM, Staff, 4779K]
Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 5:16 AM, Christopher Tremoglie, 1563K]

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 6:48 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K] reports two illegal immigrants allegedly tried to use their vehicles in "deliberate attempts to ram and injure" Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Chicago metro area. Both assaults happened on Wednesday in the Chicago suburbs of Norridge and Bensenville. They come as the government is currently concerned about violence against immigration officers. The Trump administration is also preparing to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to help reduce crime and assist with other issues. Neither of the ramming incidents, which involved illegal immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, respectively, resulted in any injuries. "In the first assault in Norridge, IL, Miguel Escareno De Loera, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, rammed his vehicle into an ICE law enforcement vehicle twice. He then jumped a curb and crashed his car into a stop sign — ending his violent assault," the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News. "Escareno De Loera entered the United States at an unknown date and unknown location, without inspection by an immigration official.” "In the second instance, Widman Osberto Lopez-Funes, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, rammed his vehicle into ICE agents during a targeted enforcement operation, and then exited the vehicle and fled into his residence in Bensenville, IL," the department added. "This criminal illegal alien was later arrested on scene without incident.” The Trump administration is pursuing charges against both illegal immigrants for assaulting law enforcement. Each of the assaults comes as protests ensue at an ICE facility in nearby Broadview. Officers have had to deploy teargas to quell protests there. "Thankfully, none of our law enforcement officers were killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks on law enforcement. This is exactly what happens when [Illinois] Governor Pritzker, [Chicago] Mayor Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the outlet. "Our ICE law enforcement is facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults — including cars — being used as weapons against them," she added. "Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear: anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Reuters [10/3/2025 2:52 PM, Heather Schlitz, 45746K] reports that Police arrested several people on Friday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Chicago that has been the focus of protests since a federal immigration enforcement surge began last month. Tensions have been high in recent weeks in Chicago as the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has ramped up his efforts to deport immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, arresting many without criminal records. This week, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said the Trump administration had requested the Pentagon to send troops to the Democratic-run state. Outside the detention facility in Broadview, behind barriers erected by ICE, protesters initially stood peacefully on Friday, singing Christian hymns and Jewish morning songs. Then Gregory Bovino, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commander who is leading the federal enforcement effort in Chicago, arrived with agents in gas masks and armored vehicles. Protesters began jeering and scuffling with police, some shouting obscenities. Illinois State Police officers, some carrying rifles, night vision goggles and clubs, made several arrests, including of an elderly woman, who appeared to hyperventilate as she was shoved to the ground and handcuffed. "It’s outrageous. I’m just out here silently protesting and they’re pushing us off the street and sidewalk and they’re using violence against us," said Kevin Ryan, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. An Illinois State Police spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 1:40 PM, Amy Furr, 2608K] reports that around 7:30 a.m., the leftist agitators showed up at the facility where state police officers and local law enforcement were trying to control the crowds, Fox 32 reported, noting other law enforcement agencies were already present. Border Hawk video footage shows officers working to push the crowd back. Many of the protesters were wearing protective equipment and carrying signs. People behind the camera yelled "Fuck you!" at the officers while one person screamed, "Who do you serve?" Another Border Hawk clip shows officers telling the mob they needed to move back. Moments later, someone is heard yelling, "You Nazis! Fuck you!" at them: The Fox article said at least a dozen arrests were made and five people were charged, adding, "The protest marks the fifth consecutive Friday of demonstrations at the suburban Chicago processing center." "Department of Homeland Security [Secretary] Kristi Noem and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino also made an appearance on the roof of the ICE facility surrounded by armed personnel. An armored truck was also present at the scene," the outlet stated.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 5:21 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports the police chief of the Chicago suburb of Broadview is threatening to tear down the defensive fencing holding back the unruly protesters outside an ICE facility. Broadview officials and Police Chief Thomas Mills have gone on the attack against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and claimed it is they, rather than the violent protesters surrounding the ICE facility, who are "endangering nearby village residents." On Wednesday, Mayor Katrina Thompson, Chief Mills, and Acting Fire Chief Matt Martin held a press conference to blast legal federal law enforcement actions around the Broadview facility. The city also claimed they are opening "criminal" investigations into ICE. Meanwhile, Illinois radical left-wing Democrat Governor JB Pritzker also encouraged the protesters — who are becoming increasingly violent — to continue engaging in obstruction of federal agents. Meanwhile, ICE and federal law enforcement officials have announced that they have taken more than 800 dangerous criminals off Chicago’s streets since Operation Midway Blitz was launched.

NewsNation [10/3/2025 6:33 PM, Tulsi Kamath, Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports federal immigration officers deployed what is believed to be tear gas outside a Chicago grocery store after a chase was blocked by local activists, surveillance video obtained by NewsNation shows. Demian Kogan, who works with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, told NewsNation that officers arrived in the neighborhood attempting to conduct an operation, which led local residents to indicate Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in the area. Kogan said that ICE officers apparently got agitated by being identified, threw what appeared to be tear gas canisters. He said no one was detained by federal officers to his knowledge. Kogan said he arrived after the incident and witnessed a man vomiting, and another person was having water applied to their eyes. Witnesses Kogan spoke to who were hit by tear gas displayed visibly and agitated and red eyes. A Chicago Police Department spokesman told NewsNation that a 42-year-old woman who was walking in the area with a 2-year-old child inhaled an unknown chemical agent. Police said that at this time, it is unknown who released the agent into the air. Both the woman and child received medical treatment at the scene and the investigation into the incident remains ongoing, police said. The federal activity in Logan Square took place just days after multiple federal agencies, including Border Patrol, DEA and FBI, raided an apartment building in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood early Tuesday morning. The deployment of chemical agents in Logan Square took place on the same day as continued protesting at the ICE processing center in suburban Broadview, where 12 people were arrested on Friday, NewsNation sources confirmed. Community leaders and activists have continued to speak out about the increased federal presence, which has included protesters, clergy members, local elected officials and journalists saying that they have been targeted by federal officers and agents. Department of Homeland Security officials said that 37 people were arrested in the South Shore operation, including suspected members of the Tren de Aragua Venezuelan prison gang. However, residents in the area told Block Club Chicago that the raid left their apartments heavily damaged.

Chicago Tribune [10/3/2025 9:15 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 5352K] reports Andrew Denton was on his way to get lunch on Friday afternoon when he noticed people yelling at masked men in a white SUV near Funston Elementary in Logan Square. Realizing the men were likely federal immigration enforcement agents, Denton pulled out his phone and started recording the commotion near the school and Rico Fresh Market at Armitage and Drake avenues. The SUV had been blocked in traffic by a man on a scooter for about 30 seconds when suddenly the agents tossed canisters from their windows that quickly began expelling smoke onto the streets, Denton recalled. Aside from "people yelling at them, telling them to leave, and a lot of honking, no one was attacking the agents," said Denton, who lives in Logan Square. "There was no reason for them to do that," he added. "I’m upset. I’m a Caucasian male and I don’t typically have to deal with situations like this, but it’s upsetting to see people being paid to attack our community for senseless stupid reasons." The deployment of smoke canisters - some witnesses described it as tear gas - came as tensions boiled over on the city’s Northwest Side Friday afternoon. One local alderman was briefly detained by agents. Protesters chased federal immigration agents through neighborhood streets, past grocery stores, small businesses and a daycare that went into lockdown. Numerous reports of federal agents arresting people lit up on social media, group chats and rapid response teams, the escalation in Chicago coming after a tense morning outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in suburban Broadview when federal agents confronted hundreds of protesters, resulting in several arrests.

FOX News [10/3/2025 2:52 PM, Rachel Wolf and Garrett Tenney, 40019K] reports that more than a dozen people were arrested on Friday during protests at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. Just before 8 a.m. ET, approximately 250 anti-ICE protesters gathered outside the facility where Illinois State Police and the Cook Country Sheriff’s Office set up barricades to designate protest zones, Fox News observed at the scene. Fox News observed agents firing pepper balls, tear gas and rubber bullets to clear crowds blocking federal operations. Just hours later, tensions appeared to had died down significantly and police were no longer wearing gas masks. Fox News witnessed more than a dozen protesters being arrested in the streets near the Broadview ICE facility. ICE agents across the country have faced increased protests amid growing unrest regarding President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. The ICE processing center in Broadview has become a flashpoint for the protests. Broadview police opened multiple investigations at the ICE facility, WMAQ-TV reported. The cases include two alleged hit-and-runs and criminal damage to property. Additionally, the outlet noted that its reporters observed escalating tensions between ICE agents and protesters over the last few weeks.

Chicago Tribune [10/3/2025 8:52 AM, Caroline Kubzansky, Madeline Buckley and Jake Sheridan, 5352K] reports federal agents confronted hundreds of protesters for the fourth week straight outside the Broadview U.S. Immigration and Customs processing center Friday, an exchange that at times had the look of a publicity stunt as masked men in military fatigues hung from the sides of an armored truck and waved to a jeering crowd as the media and local police officers looked on. Demonstrations at the west suburban site have grown heated in recent weeks as federal forces have become more visible in downtown Chicago and arrests continue under President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz.” Federal personnel have deployed baton rounds, tear gas and other less-lethal ammunition at protesters who try to block vehicles with their bodies, throw things and taunt the agents. Several people were detained Friday but authorities did not use tear gas. Protesters began to gather at the intersection of 25th Avenue and Harvard Street around 6 a.m. Friday, carrying signs that read “And then they came for me” and “Immigrants Make America Great.” They booed Broadview public works trucks as they pulled up and blocked a sidewalk and cheered or shouted expletives at drivers of passing cars who beeped in support or yelled “America first!” They screamed “shame!” as masked agents drove cars and vans up and down Harvard Street, some apparently dropping off recent arrestees. By 9:15 a.m., hundreds of people had joined the crowd as Illinois State Police troopers tried to keep people on the sidewalk. Federal agents could be seen massing behind a fence just outside the processing center, located at the intersection of Harvard and Beach Street, as protesters lined the street, chanted and sang songs on a nearby lawn. The agents marched out of the gate and up to the intersection, accompanied by photographers in neon vests. A small drone tracked the group’s progress up to the intersection. The agents, with U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino among them, began to clear protesters off one side of the street, grabbing several and pushing them to the ground to detain them. Bovino participated in at least one arrest personally. An armored truck drove out of the gate with more agents hanging on the sides, followed by a caravan of black vehicles that appeared to drive about a half-block before parking outside a low-slung gray building for about an hour and driving back again. An agent seated on the vehicle’s roof waved to the heckling protesters lining 25th Avenue. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was on hand, with TV news helicopters capturing images of her on the roof at one point in the morning. Noem also apparently made an unannounced visit to Broadview’s Village Hall on Friday morning, hoping to meet with Mayor Katrina Thompson, according to a village spokesperson. Thompson was not there, but later went to the ICE processing center with Broadview Police Chief Thomas to ask that a fence put up by the federal government be dismantled. “The mayor was told by agents at the gate the secretary was unavailable to meet,” village spokesperson David Ormsby said in a statement. Noem’s appearance came after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, called for accountability from her. “Federal agents reporting to Secretary Noem have spent weeks snatching up families, scaring law-abiding residents, violating due process rights, and even detaining U.S. citizens. They fail to focus on violent criminals and instead create panic in our communities,” the statement said. “Secretary Noem should no longer be able to step foot inside the State of Illinois without any form of public accountability. Last time when the secretary was here, she snuck in during the early morning to film social media videos and fled before sunrise. It’s been nearly 45 days since Secretary Noem has held an official press conference, so it’s time she faces the public and takes questions from the press to be held accountable for the Trump Administration’s gross misconduct.” Federal agents present at the site had uniforms with identification from at least five different agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Drug Enforcement Administration alongside Border Patrol, Homeland Security and ICE. Dozens of state troopers were working crowd control and detained at least one person just before agents marched up the driveway, as well as police officers from the Cook County sheriff’s office and nearby suburbs like Bellwood and Hillside. Pritzker on Monday announced that the Department of Homeland Security had requested 100 National Guard troops to deploy for increased protection of ICE operations. Local police agencies arrested at least five people on Friday for charges including aggravated battery to a police officer and resisting and obstruction. During prior protests, around 17 people were arrested at the site, according to the Department of Homeland Security, with some charged with offenses like weapons possession or threatening officers.

USA Today [10/3/2025 6:35 PM, Michael Loria, Eduardo Cuevas, 64151K] reports federal agents rappelled from Black Hawk helicopters. Dozens of others, their faces hidden behind masks, arrived in moving trucks. In total, 300 officers stormed a South Side apartment building that Department of Homeland Security officials say harbored criminals. An agency spokesperson said the raid in the early hours of Sept. 30 was aimed at capturing members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang President Donald Trump has designated as a terrorist organization. Hundreds of agents swarmed apartments in the multi-story building, detaining several American citizens, including children, for hours and netting 37 total arrests. The outcome of those arrests remains unclear. The extraordinary raid came nearly a month into the White House’s immigration enforcement crackdown in the Chicago area, known as Operation Midway Blitz. Federal officials said it has netted more than 800 arrests since Sept. 8. "Our continued targeted enforcement in Chicago shows criminals have nowhere to hide," Michael Banks, the chief of U.S. Border Patrol, said in an X post. "Not at the border, not in our cities." The raid saw dozens arrested and the building left in shambles, according to photos shared with USA TODAY. Two "confirmed Tren de Aragua members" were captured, according to a Department of Homeland Security statement. An American citizen with a local arrest warrant, and four U.S. citizen children of immigrants were also caught up in the raid, Homeland Security reported. The children were taken into custody to be "put in the care of a safe guardian or the state," the agency said. Federal law enforcement agencies including DHS, ICE, and Customs and Border Protection would not say if the Black Hawks used in the raid were from the U.S. Army, National Guard, or a non-military department. Out of more than 800 people arrested during the last month in the Illinois operations, it’s unclear how many actually had criminal convictions or pending charges, versus those with no criminal record, including children.

CNN [10/3/2025 3:26 PM, Rebekah Riess, Bill Kirkos, 23245K] reports adults and children alike were pulled from their Chicago apartments, crying and screaming, during a large overnight raid that has left tenants and neighbors shaken. Ballard recalled seeing residents detained outside the building for hours, after seeing a Black Hawk helicopter flying over the five-story building in the city’s South Shore neighborhood and military-sized vehicles and agents filling the parking lot early Tuesday morning. All were part of a multiagency operation that led to the arrest of 37 undocumented immigrants, most of them from Venezuela but also including people from Mexico, Nigeria and Colombia, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told CNN. In the past weeks, federal agents have been deployed on the streets of Chicago and have arrested more than 800 undocumented immigrants since September 8 during what the administration has titled "Operation Midway Blitz," according to a news release from DHS. It is unclear if those arrested at the South Shore apartment building are included in that number. The building was targeted because it was "known to be frequented by Tren de Aragua members and their associates," and two people arrested are believed to be members of the Venezuelan criminal gang, according to DHS. A number of others arrested had criminal histories that included aggravated battery and possession of a controlled substance, the agency said. Tenants said it appears everyone in the building was detained by federal officers, including US citizens. At least one US citizen with an active narcotics warrant was arrested during the operation and turned over to the Chicago Police Department, DHS said. Four children who are US citizens with undocumented parents were taken into custody, DHS said, including a child who was allegedly found with a Tren de Aragua member. In its statement addressing the raid, DHS noted it was still gathering information about those arrested "due to the size" of the operation and will provide more information.

Reuters [10/4/2025 6:09 AM, Renee Hickman, Kristina Cooke, and Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed to Chicago led a late-night raid on an apartment building this week, rappelling from helicopters onto rooftops and breaking down doors in an operation authorities said targeted gang members but which swept up U.S. citizens and families. The show of force highlighted President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of Border Patrol agents as a surge force in major cities, rerouting personnel who would normally be tasked with guarding America’s borders with Mexico and Canada. Naudelys, a 19-year-old Venezuelan woman, says she was in her apartment with her 4-year-old son and another couple with a baby when agents knocked down their door during the raid early Tuesday. Agents told them to put up their hands and pointed guns at them, she said. Naudelys, whose husband was arrested and detained by immigration authorities three months ago, said she tried to record the scene but an agent knocked away her phone The Spanish-speaking agents told them to go back to their country and made a sexualized remark about Venezuelan women, she said. One of the agents hit a man in front of her son, and she begged him to stop, she said. "My son was traumatized," said Naudelys, who requested her last name be withheld. She said authorities alleged her friend’s partner is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, something she disputes. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes Border Patrol, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Naudelys’ account of the raid.

Chicago Tribune [10/4/2025 6:00 AM, Jason Meisner, 4917K] reports in the most significant legal challenge to the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement blitz in Chicago, civil rights groups have alleged federal immigration agencies have illegally arrested and detained dozens of people, including some U.S. citizens, without probable cause. Now, a federal judge is set to rule whether those arrests constituted violations of a consent decree in place since 2022 that bars U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from making warrantless immigration arrests unless they have probable cause to believe someone is in the U.S. unlawfully and that the person is a flight risk. Among those added as recent alleged violations: a family from Ecuador, including a 5-year-old girl, arrested in the parking lot of a Humboldt Park shopping center; a man from Mexico with no criminal record arrested in a high-profile Elgin raid attended by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem; and a mother and her two young children detained in Millennium Park downtown in a case highlighted by the Tribune.

The Hill [10/3/2025 5:27 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports airspace in Chicago was restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this week at the request of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid immigration raids throughout the Windy City. Restrictions are set to remain in place until Oct. 12 for unspecified "special security reasons," according to an FAA notice. Individuals will be required to obtain an approved special government interest airspace waiver to fly drones or other aircraft, the notice adds. Those found violating the restriction face risk seizure, damage or destruction of their property. Upon inquiry, a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokesperson said measures were taken after the agency received a "credible threat of small, unmanned aircraft systems being used against law enforcement during Midway Blitz." Hundreds have been arrested at the raids, which began in early September. Local residents said they have been subject to the military’s removal of men, women and children from their apartment homes while they were naked, according to reports from WBEZ. However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the FAA restriction may limit potential documentation for journalists and residents alike.

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NBC News [10/3/2025 3:14 PM, Alex Dvorak]

NewsMax [10/3/2025 9:49 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4779K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly said her department will surge Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources after arrests and altercations outside an ICE facility in Portland, Oregon. Portland police on Thursday night arrested conservative journalist Nick Sortor during a protest outside an ICE facility. "IMPORTANT NEWS: I just spoke with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. She has been briefed on the attack and arrest of journalist Nick Sortor. Sec. Noem tells me DHS will surge ICE resources in Portland," conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X Friday morning. "‘Antifa is a terrorist group and will NOT control our streets.’"

San Francisco Chronicle [10/3/2025 10:45 PM, Sophia Bollag, 3790K] reports some California National Guard troops are being sent to Portland to help train soldiers deployed there by President Donald Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom told the Chronicle on Friday evening. He said his administration may sue over the move, depending on what the soldiers are asked to do there. Newsom said he was told Thursday that some of the troops currently deployed to Los Angeles would be sent to Portland "to help with training exercises." He said he didn’t know if they had already been sent or how many would be deployed. He called the move "deeply alarming.” "It’s very questionable that they’re being tasked to do that," Newsom said. "Our legal team has already been engaged on this for the last day … if they do it, we’re prepared to litigate.” Newsom is already suing the Trump administration over its deployment of National Guard troops and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles over the summer, arguing it violates federal law that restricts the use of the military on American soil. Trump sent more than 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June in response to protests of immigration raids, over Newsom’s objections. The Trump administration has argued that the troops quelled unrest in the city, even though protests grew in response to the deployment. Reporting by the Chronicle revealed that at one point less than 20% of those troops were actually on the ground in the city, raising questions about the necessity of the deployment. By the end of July, the Trump administration had recalled most of the soldiers from the deployment, but about 300 are still stationed in Los Angeles. Trump has since also sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. Over the weekend, he federalized about 200 Oregon National Guard troops to deploy them to Portland over the objections of the governor and mayor there. Troops had not yet arrived in the city as of Friday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. Normally, presidents deploy National Guard troops only at the request of governors. Trump said Tuesday that he wants to use liberal American cities as "training grounds for our military" in a speech to military generals he summoned to Virginia on short notice. "San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places," Trump said. "And we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within.” Democratic officials have called for a complete withdrawal of troops. They argue it is a wasteful show of force that took members of the National Guard away from important civilian jobs fighting fires and interdicting drugs at the border. A federal judge has ruled the Los Angeles deployment illegal. Newsom and California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a motion in court shortly after the ruling requesting that the remaining troops be removed. That case is still pending. On Thursday, Newsom and Bonta filed an amicus brief in support of Oregon’s attorney general, who is also challenging Trump’s decision to send troops to Portland. A federal judge heard arguments in the case in Portland Friday, and is expected to rule soon on a temporary restraining order to block the deployment.

Politico [10/3/2025 4:39 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy, 2100K] reports the White House is continuing to pressure Portland, surging federal law enforcement and floating plans to go after the city’s pocketbook on Friday as protests continue over President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard. The administration will review cutting federal funding to Portland, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a press briefing, citing what she said was elected officials’ refusal to work with the White House to crack down on street crime and immigration enforcement. “We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” said Leavitt. The president surprised city officials — and many in the Pentagon — by writing last Saturday on Truth Social that he was directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops “to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” He said he authorized “the use of full force” for “all necessary troops” in doing so, an extraordinary declaration for an American city. The next day, both Portland and Oregon sued to block Trump from federalizing the state’s National Guard, calling the measures “provocative and arbitrary” and arguing that they threatened to incite public backlash. A hearing for that case was scheduled for Friday.

FOX News [10/3/2025 2:32 PM, Greg Norman, 40019K] reports that the Trump administration announced a review Friday of federal funding to Portland, Oregon, following violent anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) clashes there, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt vowing, "We will not fund states that allow anarchy." The review comes after conservative journalist Nick Sortor was taken into custody late Thursday night while documenting the protests in Portland, something Leavitt described as an "extremely troubling incident." She said the Department of Justice spoke with Sortor Friday morning and "will be launching a full investigation into his arrest." "This incident is part of a troubling trend in Portland, where left-wing mobs believe they get to decide who can visit and live in their city. It is not their city. It is the American people’s city and President Trump is going to restore that," Leavitt said. "I just spoke with the president about this, and he has directed his team here at the White House to begin reviewing aid that can potentially be cut in Portland. We will not fund states that allow anarchy. "There will also be an additional surge of federal resources to Portland immediately, including enhanced Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resources. Law and order will prevail, and President Trump will make sure of it."

NewsNation [10/3/2025 2:06 PM, Staff, 6811K] reports that tensions are high in Portland as nightly protests outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility swell heading into the weekend. At least three people, including a prominent conservative influencer, were arrested during Thursday night’s demonstrations after police said fights broke out among protesters. Federal officers were also deploying chemical agents on the crowd. Since June, nearly 150 people have been arrested at the South Portland ICE facility, where protests have been nearly non-stop. While most demonstrators have remained peaceful, clashes have occasionally turned violent, prompting federal officials to consider a stronger response. President DonaldTrump has referred to the situation as a "war zone" and a "hellhole." Roughly 200 Oregon National Guard members are now under federal control and undergoing specialized training at a coastal base ahead of possible deployment. It remains unclear if they will be armed, but Trump has authorized the use of "full force." An Oregon judge is set to hear the state’s argument on Friday for a temporary restraining order, which could delay the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland. In opposition to the state’s court challenge, the Trump administration said the deployment is "tailored to the threat" at the ICE building, where "cruel activists" have used "vicious tactics." Meanwhile, Apple removed the app called "ICEBlock" from its App Store, which allowed users nationwide to report sightings of ICE officers. The removal was initiated at the request of the Department of Justice. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security argues that the apps put law enforcement officers in danger.

AP [10/3/2025 7:18 PM, Claire Rush and Mike Catalini, 37974K] reports five years after protests roiled Portland, Oregon, the city known for its history of civil disobedience is again at the center of a political maelstrom as it braces for the arrival of federal troops being deployed by President Donald Trump. Months of demonstrations outside Portland’s immigration detention facility have escalated since Trump said last week he was sending federal troops to the city, which he described as "War ravaged." Police made a few arrests late Thursday after fights broke out in the crowd, including of conservative influencer Nick Sortor on a disorderly conduct charge. On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency would send additional federal agents and the Justice Department was launching a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest, and whether the Portland Police Bureau engages in viewpoint discrimination. City leaders adamantly deny any such discrimination and said they don’t need the National Guard to help handle the single block outside the ICE facility where the protests have occurred. "Last night, the arrests that we made, we made based upon probable cause, not based upon individuals," Police Chief Bob Day told a news conference Friday. "There is no political bias associated with our enforcement.” Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments — but did not immediately rule — on whether to temporarily block Trump’s call-up of 200 Oregon National Guard members, which the administration said is needed to protect the ICE facility and other federal buildings. The escalation of federal law enforcement in Portland, population 636,000 and Oregon’s largest city, follows similar crackdowns to combat crime in other cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Memphis. He deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Sortor, 27, who’s a regular guest on Fox News and whose X profile has more than 1 million followers, was arrested Thursday night with two other people outside the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the case and would make a decision on whether to proceed with charges before Sortor’s arraignment Monday. In an X post, which reposted a video from the protest and a photo of Sortor being detained, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said there would be an immediate increase in federal resources to the city with enhanced Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources. "This violence will end under @POTUS Trump," McLaughlin wrote.

Daily Caller [10/3/2025 10:48 AM, Harold Hutchison, 985K] reports that Conservative journalist Nick Sortor was arrested by Portland police officers Thursday, even as local authorities apparently refused to arrest anti-ICE rioters around a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the city. ICE facilities in Dallas and Chicago were targeted by rioters or attacked in September, part of a trend of increasingly violent resistance to the agency’s efforts to take illegal immigrants into custody. Sortor was arrested by Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers on a disorderly conduct charge, according to multiple posts on X, including from Fox News reporter Bill Melugin. "Last night at the Portland ICE building, we witnessed anti-ICE protesters burning an American flag. @nicksortor then grabbed it from them, put the flames out, and took away what was left of the flag," Melugin posted. "Nick was arrested later in the night by Portland PD after videos appear to show him surrounded by anti-ICE protesters. It’s unclear what exactly happened, we are working on getting in touch with him once he is released from custody." "We had seen Nick get surrounded and verbally threatened by protesters the previous night. He posted on X that he felt Portland PD would arrest him if he tried to defend himself," Melugin continued. Melugin later reported that Sortor had been released by Portland police. In the post made early Thursday morning, Sortor called Portland a "third-world hellhole" while saying Antifa was "in full control" in the city.

Reported similarly:
Daily Wire [10/3/2025 8:04 AM, Jennie Taer, 3184K]

AP [10/3/2025 5:46 PM, Claire Rush and Mike Catalini, 37974K] reports months of demonstrations outside Portland’s immigration detention facility have escalated since Trump said last week he was sending federal troops to the city, which he described as "War ravaged." Police made a few arrests late Thursday after fights broke out in the crowd, including of conservative influencer Nick Sortor on a disorderly conduct charge. On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency would send additional federal agents and the Justice Department was launching a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest, and whether the Portland Police Bureau engages in viewpoint discrimination. City leaders adamantly deny any such discrimination and said they don’t need the National Guard to help handle the single block outside the ICE facility where the protests have occurred. Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments — but did not immediately rule — on whether to temporarily block Trump’s call-up of 200 Oregon National Guard members, which the administration said is needed to protect the ICE facility and other federal buildings.

USA Today [10/3/2025 10:59 AM, Jeanine Santucci, 64151K] reports federal authorities announced they have arrested 28 people in recent months at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland for charges including assault on officers and destruction of property as President Donald Trump says he has sent troops to the city. The arrests have been made amid protests outside the ICE field office in south Portland to oppose Trump’s mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. Though largely peaceful, in some cases, the protests have included clashes with law enforcement and the use of tear gas. The Justice Department said on Oct. 2 that a Portland woman made her first appearance in court on a charge of felony assault on a federal officer, making her the 28th arrest at the ICE office since June 13. Katherine Meagan Vogel, 39, was accused of applying red paint to the driveway at the ICE facility and, while being detained and processed, hitting an officer in the jaw with a closed fist, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said in a news release. "Violence and property damage at the ICE building or any other federal building will not be tolerated," U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Scott E. Bradford said. "If you assault a federal law enforcement officer or damage federal property, you will be arrested and federally prosecuted."

Blaze [10/3/2025 12:25 PM, Julio Rosas, 1559K] reports X journalist Nick Sortor was on the ground in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday night, documenting Antifa harassing federal agents at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, when he was attacked by the far-left crowd and ended up getting arrested by Portland police officers. During the night, Sortor took away a burning American flag and put out the flames, video showed. Once the flames were out, he carried the remnants of flag away from Antifa. This led to Sortor being targeted by the Antifa crowd. Sortor recalled that he was getting video of federal agents macing protesters when he was surrounded by the crowd, who then pushed him down into a flower bed and one of them threw a punch, Fox News national correspondent Bill Melugin reported. Sortor said he swung back and missed, but then disengaged and walked over to a group of Portland officers. It was at that point he was taken into custody by Portland police. "He says he was then shocked to be arrested by them, and he sat in the back of a police cruiser while officers figured out what to charge him with. I asked him about the female protester who was also arrested with him. He said he talked to her in the jail and she didn’t seem like she was the one who assaulted him," Melugin reported. Sortor was charged with disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail. He was released from custody early Friday morning. Sortor further claimed that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised to investigate his arrest. "Attorney General Pam Bondi has ORDERED a full investigation, led by Asst. AG Harmeet Dhillon, of the Portland Police Bureau, following my wrongful arrest last night, Bondi confirmed to me," Sortor posted to X Friday, noting that Bondi had contacted him "personally" to let him know. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia Mclaughlin said there is going to be a surge of federal personnel in response to Sortor being attacked and arrested. "This violence will end under [President] Trump," she added.

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 3:11 PM, Mabinty Quarshie, 1563K] reports President Donald Trump has asked members of his administration to investigate whether federal funds can be clawed back from Portland, Oregon, in the aftermath of violent antifa protests, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. Conservative influencer Nick Sortor was arrested on charges of second-degree disorderly conduct as violent protests broke out near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, drawing outrage from Leavitt and an investigation from the Justice Department. The president has already moved to deploy 200 Oregon National Guard soldiers to Portland to crack down on recent protests, although a federal judge is reviewing the legality of the deployment. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson (D-OR) pushed back against attempts from the Trump administration to bring in federal forces after Friday’s press briefing. Wilson’s office also claimed that the threat to withhold funding was made without giving the office a formal notice or directive requiring a response and did not provide a clear mission, justification, or timeline.

NewsMax [10/3/2025 12:18 PM, Jim Mishler, 4779K] reports that Attorney General Pam Bondi highlighted results from the new federal law enforcement surge in Memphis, Tennessee, with dozens of arrests overnight. In a Friday post on X, she said, "Last night, 60 arrests were made and 21 illegal firearms were seized. Arrests include a suspect wanted for rape of a child under 13." She added, "Since Monday, 153 arrests have been made, including 5 gang members, 48 guns seized, and 5 missing children recovered." President Donald Trump issued an executive order in mid-September, setting up the federal task force, indicating Memphis "is suffering from tremendous levels of violent crime that have overwhelmed its local government’s ability to respond effectively." Republican State Sen. Brent Taylor applauded the addition of a broad-based federal enforcement effort in the city. "If the federal agencies in the Memphis Safe Task Force can clean up Memphis the way they’ve done in Washington, D.C., then we can expect to live in a much safer and cleaner city very soon!" A city notice to residents about the federal enforcement surge reads, "The Memphis action is presented as a sustained campaign, rather than an emergency takeover as was ordered in DC. This mission includes many local, state and federal law enforcement agencies." Gov. Bill Lee noted in a release in September that the task force was considered an extension of an existing effort involving the FBI to reduce crime in Memphis. He confirmed that Tennessee National Guard troops would be deployed to Memphis to assist with the crackdown.

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 1:10 PM, Staff, 1563K] reports that lawyers for Kilmar Abrego Garcia say the government shutdown should not delay his immigration and deportation case. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for Maryland, requesting a stay after the shutdown. "Absent an appropriation, Department of Justice attorneys and employees of the federal Defendants are prohibited from working, even voluntarily, except in very limited circumstances, including ‘emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property,’" the motion said. Garcia’s lawyers said in a motion filed Thursday that the only reason for a delay is when "Cases of Rebellion or Invasion, the public Safety may require it." "That constitutional protection means that a lapse in appropriations cannot suspend habeas corpus proceedings," his attorneys said in court documents. Garcia was denied asylum by an immigration judge, who said in an order this week that there was not enough evidence to show that U.S. officials planned to deport Garcia to another country. Garcia’s attorneys have 30 days to appeal the order. The case drew national attention amid claims that Garcia was deported to El Salvador illegally in March. Republican lawmakers say Garcia should be deported. "Under no circumstances should Kilmar Abrego Garcia be granted asylum, and it is a victory for the rule of law that a judge denied his request to reopen his asylum application today," U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a post on social media. "This man belongs anywhere but the United States."

New York Times [10/3/2025 6:26 PM, Alan Feuer, 143795K] reports a federal judge in Nashville ruled on Friday that there was a “realistic likelihood” that the indictment filed against Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the immigrant who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March and then brought back to face criminal charges, amounted to a vindictive prosecution by the Justice Department. The ruling was an astonishing rebuke of both the department and some of its top officials, including Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general. Mr. Blanche was called out by name in the ruling for remarks he made about Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case on the same day in June he was returned to U.S. soil to face the charges in Federal District Court in Nashville. In a 16-page decision, Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr. said there was evidence that Mr. Abrego Garcia’s prosecution “may stem from retaliation” by the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. Judge Crenshaw found that Trump officials may have sought to punish Mr. Abrego Garcia for having filed a lawsuit successfully challenging his initial “unlawful deportation” to El Salvador. Moreover, Judge Crenshaw indicated how he was serious about getting to the bottom of the issue of vindictiveness. He said he intended to permit Mr. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to pry, at least in part, into the Trump administration’s process of deciding to bring an indictment in the first place and how the charges related to the deportation case. Vindictive prosecution motions are exceedingly difficult to win because of the high threshold required to prove that prosecutors acted improperly by filing criminal charges. Under the law, cases can be considered vindictive only if defendants can show that prosecutors displayed animus toward them while they were seeking to vindicate their rights in court, and that the charges would not have been brought except for the existence of that animus. While Judge Crenshaw has not yet made a final decision on the issue of vindictiveness, the fact that he is even considering doing so in Mr. Abrego Garcia’s case is a hugely embarrassing blow to the Trump administration. From the moment Trump officials acknowledged that they had mistakenly expelled Mr. Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, President Trump and his top aides began a relentless barrage of attacks against him, calling him a violent member of the street gang MS-13, a wife beater and even a terrorist, effectively blaming him for being the victim of their own administrative error. The judge’s ruling highlighted the ways in which the habit many Trump officials have of speaking out of court about legal cases has — or could — come back to haunt them.

NBC News [10/3/2025 8:33 PM, Gary Grumbach and Dareh Gregorian, 43603K] reports a federal judge on Friday ordered a hearing into whether the criminal case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was the result of a "vindictive" prosecution, finding there’s "some evidence" that it was. In his 16-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee noted that the investigation into Abrego was reopened shortly after he successfully challenged to the U.S. Supreme Court what the Trump administration acknowledged was his mistaken deportation to a prison in El Salvador. The investigation also came after numerous administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, repeatedly accused Abrego of being guilty of numerous crimes, and being a "gang member" and a "terrorist." His lawyers and family members have repeatedly denied the claims. "Actual vindictiveness may be apparent based on the Executive Official Defendants’ and their subordinates’ statements about Abrego from the time he filed his Maryland lawsuit" challenging his deportation "through his arrest in this District," the judge wrote. In his ruling granting Abrego’s request for a hearing on the vindictive prosecution claims, Crenshaw focused on comments that Bondi’s top deputy, Todd Blanche, made on Fox News the day of his June arrest on human trafficking charges, to which Abrego pleaded not guilty. "Strikingly, during a television interview Deputy Attorney General Blanche revealed that the government started ‘investigating’ Abrego after ‘a judge in Maryland . . . questioned’ the government’s decision, found that it ‘had no right to deport him,’ and ‘accus[ed] [the government] of doing something wrong,’" the judge wrote. "Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s remarkable statements," Crenshaw wrote, "could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights to bring suit against the Executive Official Defendants, rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct.” The judge, nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, said Abrego’s claims also appear to be supported by the timing of the reopening of the criminal investigation, which had started as the result of a traffic stop in 2022 and was deemed to be closed in March of this year, before Abrego was deported. Abrego was released without charges after the 2022 stop. The investigation was reopened a week after Abrego’s win in the Supreme Court in April. "This timeline suggests that Abrego’s prosecution may stem from retaliation by the DOJ and DHS due to Abrego’s successful challenge of his unlawful deportation in Maryland," the judge wrote. The judge ordered the government to turn over information and evidence being requested by Abrego and said he’ll hold a hearing after that. "After the parties conduct discovery, ‘[i]t may well be that no fire will be discovered under all the smoke[.]’ Indeed, the Government could produce evidence showing legitimate reasons for its prosecution of Abrego that are unrelated to his case in the District of Maryland," he wrote.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [10/3/2025 11:28 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K]
Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 6:58 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1563K]

Reuters [10/3/2025 6:39 PM, Nate Raymond, 45746K] reports President Donald Trump’s effort to curtail birthright citizenship was declared unconstitutional by a second U.S. appeals court on Friday, handing him another defeat on a core piece of his hardline immigration agenda whose ultimate fate may lay with the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an injunction won by Democratic-led states and immigrant rights advocates that stopped the Republican president’s executive order from taking effect. Trump’s order, issued on his first day back in office on January 20, directs agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of U.S.-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or lawful permanent resident, also known as a "green card" holder. The principle of birthright citizenship has been recognized in the U.S. for more than 150 years, deriving from the 14th Amendment that states that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen. Another appeals court, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in July similarly upheld a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s order from taking effect on the grounds that it violated the citizenship clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. The administration last week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal in that case and a related one. If the Supreme Court agrees, it would mark the second time the litigation is before the high court, after its 6-3 conservative majority in June limited the power of judges to block that and other actions by Trump on a nationwide basis. The Supreme Court at that time did not weigh in on the validity of Trump’s birthright citizenship order. But in three cases where judges had declared it unconstitutional, the court limited the ability of judges to issue so-called universal injunctions and directed lower courts that had blocked Trump’s policy nationally to reconsider the scope of their orders.

Reported similarly:
AP [10/3/2025 7:12 PM, Michael Casey, 37974K]
CBS Colorado [10/3/2025 5:45 PM, Kathryn Watson, 45245K]

Roll Call [10/3/2025 2:09 PM, Chris Johnson, 511K] reports that the Supreme Court’s term starting Monday could include major cases on President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, with the government now asking the justices to determine the lawfulness of his order to curtail birthright citizenship. The executive order from Trump, signed on the first day of his second term as part of a tough-on-immigration approach, sought to deny citizenship to children born in the United States if their parents were not current citizens or permanent residents. The Supreme Court last term heard oral arguments about how lower courts had blocked the administration from implementing the order. But the decision in June focused only on the process of how the order could be challenged and lower courts have once again blocked the policy. The Justice Department now has asked the Supreme Court to take up the legality of the order as part of two of those challenges, "to enable the issue to be decided this Term." The term, which already has consequential cases on election, LGBT rights and other Trump actions, concludes at the end of June. The Justice Department petition states that the birthright citizenship order "is a major policy of the current Administration" and "forms an integral part of the Administration’s broader effort to prevent illegal immigration." "Though these cases arise in a preliminary-injunction posture, further proceedings in the lower courts would have limited utility, given that the cases involve pure questions of law," the petition states.

AP [10/3/2025 6:56 PM, Edith M. Lederer, 20690K] reports the United States accused Colombia’s president on Friday of undermining progress to lasting peace and urged its government to make combating violence and drug trafficking by "narco-terrorist groups" a priority. U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz told a U.N. Security Council meeting that President Gustavo Petro’s policies in Colombia and around the world "are frankly irresponsible failures" that have led the country to greater instability and violence. Relations between the United States and Colombia reached a new low last week after Petro, a leftist, participated in a pro-Palestinian protest during the annual gathering of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. State Department revoked Petro’s visa after the protest. Petro has angered senior U.S. officials by denying American extradition requests as well as criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and its efforts to combat drug trafficking in neighboring Venezuela. The Security Council meeting took place as the Trump administration announced its fourth deadly strike in the Caribbean on boats it says were trafficking narcotics. Petro accused the U.S. of committing "murder" and said there were no "narco-terrorists" on the boats just "poor Caribbean youth.” "In recent months, Colombia has been rocked by attacks by narco-terrorist groups on Colombian security forces and civilians," the U.S. ambassador said. "The violence and drug trafficking perpetrated by these arms groups, if left unchecked, can spread and jeopardize the safety of Colombians, the safety of everyone in the region, and certainly of Americans.” Waltz said the United States urges Colombia’s government to prioritize addressing this threat, adding that the administration is deeply concerned about the prospect of peace negotiations that could give these groups impunity. The Security Council has been monitoring a 2016 peace accord between the government and what was then the largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, at the government’s request. The agreement ended more than 50 years of war in which over 220,000 people died and nearly 6 million people were displaced. Waltz warned the council that the Trump administration, which has veto-power on renewing the mandate of the U.N. political mission, is examining whether it merits continued support. "Unfortunately, over time, the mission’s mandate has broadened to reflect excessive political priorities, including transnational justice and supporting minority ethnic groups," Waltz said.

New York Times [10/4/2025 5:15 AM, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, 153395K] reports in June, Alex Padilla, the senior senator from California, found himself at the center of a defining moment in President Trump’s second term. Protests against Trump’s immigration policies had broken out on the streets of Los Angeles, and the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, was holding a news conference in the city to address the issue. When Padilla interrupted the conference to try to ask Noem a question, he was grabbed, hustled out of the room, pushed to the ground and handcuffed. That violent removal of a United States senator made headlines around the world. It also raised Padilla’s profile; before this, he was not a nationally known figure. The son of Mexican immigrants who worked low-wage jobs (his mother was a housekeeper, his father a short-order cook), Padilla first became politically active in an earlier moment of protest, working against a California ballot measure, Proposition 187, that aimed to restrict undocumented immigrants’ access to social services, including public school. Padilla rose through the ranks of California politics and became the state’s first Latino senator in 2021, when he was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace Kamala Harris. Now in his second term, Padilla told me that the lessons of that Prop 187 fight have stayed with him, though I was surprised to learn what those lessons are. We sat down in his Senate office this week, just before the government shutdown, to talk about that formative political experience, his run-in with Noem, the immigration raids that have roiled California and the country since, California’s outsize role in our national debates, and what he’s weighing as he considers a run for California governor next year.

Los Angeles Times [10/3/2025 3:44 PM, Tyrone Beason, 12715K] reports one of the key sticking points in the government shutdown is the White House’s claim that a "California loophole" gives Medicaid coverage to undocumented immigrants, at the expense of taxpayers. The Trump administration says this so-called loophole is being used by a number of Democrat-leaning states. Healthcare analysts in California say that this argument is nonsense because it hinges on policies that have nothing to do with state financing of healthcare coverage for undocumented people. Of all the finger-pointing and recriminations that come with the current federal government shutdown, one of the most striking elements is that the Trump administration blames it on Democratic support for granting taxpayer-funded healthcare coverage to undocumented immigrants. The White House has called out California specifically, saying the state exploits a legal "loophole" to pay for that coverage with federal dollars, and other states have followed suit.

New York Post [10/3/2025 9:11 PM, Staff, 43962K] reports it wasn’t just Tulsi Gabbard: The "quiet tyranny" under President Joe Biden saw no-fly lists used to punish countless average Americans. Simply resisting mask mandates was enough to get 19 Americans stuck on watchlists, more than half on no-fly lists, the Department of Homeland Security revealed Tuesday. This would be demented at any time, but the targeting of non-maskers under Biden’s Transportation Security Administration chief David Pekoske was part of "Operation Freedom to Breathe" (such a sick name), which launched in September 2021 — long after the worst of the pandemic was over, and nearly six months after the CDC relaxed its rules on indoor masking. So the Biden crew was penalizing Americans not for posing any danger to others, but for having the audacity to buck the regime’s obsessive micromanaging during COVID. The TSA put another 280 people on watchlists, and five on no-fly lists, for alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 protests — on the basis of half-baked "intelligence," such that one no-fly designation hit a National Guardsman who was deployed to DC for Biden’s inauguration and wasn’t even at the Capitol during the riot. The TSA ignored warnings from its own ranks, including its chief privacy officer’s reported email: "TSA is punishing people for the expression of their ideas when they haven’t been charged, let alone convicted of incitement or sedition.” The federal no-fly list is supposed to focus on people with suspected terror ties, and for good reason: Being barred from boarding any domestic flight can be life-altering, a consequence to mete out only in the most extreme cases — not because someone is on the wrong side of the party in power. Even being put on a watchlist is a pain, meaning at least constant hold-ups at airport security. And the creepy directives even had air marshals diverted to spying on these "suspects," often even as they left the airport. The Biden TSA’s abuses are obscene, but also completely in line with how the rest of the administration behaved. From the FBI pressing social-media sites to censor conservatives to its probing of right-wing organizations to the Justice Department’s relentless lawfare campaign against President Donald Trump, using state power to target political opponents was the norm under Biden. And "prestige" media completely ignored it all — because someone on their side was sitting in the Oval Office. Yes, the right as well as the left is capable of weaponizing the state against political enemies, but only Democrats get a pass. And the same media "watchdogs" are still turning a blind eye as the full truth slowly surfaces about the Biden team’s stomping on Americans’ freedoms.

Bloomberg [10/3/2025 7:00 AM, Patricia Lopez, 19085K] reports how exactly does a Guyanan immigrant alleged to be in the US illegally come to be superintendent of the largest school district in Iowa? Just as important, how did Ian Roberts get hired by a half-dozen public school districts in the US over the last 25 years before landing his $300,000-a-year job in Des Moines? These are questions that point to serious flaws in the public hiring and immigration processes that took decades to catch up to Roberts. His arrest on Friday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents set off an embarrassing set of revelations that have betrayed a community’s trust and illustrate the myriad flaws of the US immigration system — flaws highlighted by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Roberts was no victim here. He evaded immigration authorities for years, and hoodwinked a school board and community not only about his eligibility to work but also about his academic qualifications. Even before he was hired in Des Moines in 2023, there were red flags that should have prompted school officials to look deeper. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Roberts first entered the country on a student visa in 1999 — the same year he claimed to have graduated with a bachelor’s degree from a US university. He also claimed to have gotten a doctorate from Morgan State University in Maryland, which later said it had no such record. Visa overstays such as Roberts’ have been a persistent yet overlooked problem in the US immigration system: By some accounts, “overstayers” account for more than 40% of all undocumented immigrants. They can live and work undetected in the US for years — but seldom do they have careers as high-profile as Roberts’. A charismatic figure, Roberts was easily recognized in the district in his colorful suits, and over the years he had built a national reputation as an educator. He moved from teacher to principal to superintendent, working in public schools in New York City, Baltimore, St. Louis, Washington and Pennsylvania. He was registered to vote in Maryland, attesting under penalty of perjury that he was a US citizen. Employers are responsible for verifying that those they hire are either US citizens or authorized to work. Federal officials say that Roberts had no such authorization, and in May 2024, he was scheduled for a final deportation hearing. Failure to appear at such a hearing is a grave matter that can incur fines and even imprisonment prior to deportation. Nevertheless, Roberts, who at the time was less than a year into his job in Des Moines, skipped the hearing. The judge issued a deportation order that he leave the country. Roberts’ current lawyer says the case was “resolved successfully” in March 2025, but provided scant details.

FOX News [10/3/2025 5:00 AM, Thor Mortensen, 40019K] reports that, in September, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a military parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. During the ceremonies, Chairman Xi Jinping unveiled his vision for the next chapter of history. Dressed in homage to Mao Zedong — father of the CCP — he declared from Tiananmen Square that the world must now choose between "peace and war, dialogue and confrontation." Chairman Xi has clearly chosen. He is waging war on U.S. soil through his United Front strategy, a series of influence activities that shape how the American people behave and think, aspiring to manipulate us en masse. Xi has deployed every element of his malign influence in America’s homeland, intertwining China into food supplies, investment funds, schools, medicines, home life and more. While the federal government can act to secure the outer shells of national security broadly — the invasive nature of China’s plot must be met with on-the-ground counteractions. States must support their national partners by learning from each other how to best remove the CCP from our homeland. China has implanted itself in almost all industries that touch everyday life in this country. It has acquired Smithfield Foods, America’s largest pork supplier and purchased hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland, giving it a chokehold on food supply chains. It can weaponize investments in its companies in public pension funds. The CCP commands Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) on college campuses to quash free expression by disrupting speaker events it views in opposition to its worldview and Confucius Classrooms in K-12 schools to raise a generation sympathetic to its ideology. Most disturbing of all, China directly interferes in the American family unit through its proven control of TikTok. The CCP uses the social media app to promote self-harm and destructive behavior through advancing trends teaching users how to steal vehicles and destroy school property. Polling from The Vandenberg Coalition has shown that eighty-six percent of people who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024 support initiatives to prevent the CCP from purchasing American land. Ninety-two percent of seniors who voted for him support initiatives to divest public retirement funds from Chinese holdings. Ninety-one percent of young self-described MAGA voters expressed concern about the actions of CSSAs. On TikTok, nine out of ten of those respondents thirty and under are concerned about the app’s Chinese ownership. The president has made several moves that should please the grassroots. In July, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins rolled out the National Farm Security Action Plan, a seven-point program addressing the insecurity posed by China’s agricultural empire. Trump has placed pressure on pharmaceutical companies to halt the importation of Chinese ingredients in vital drugs. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced restrictions on visas for Central American nationals working on the CCP’s behalf.

Reuters [10/3/2025 9:12 PM, Christian Martinez, 45746K] reports the Trump administration is offering unaccompanied migrant children $2,500 to leave the U.S. voluntarily, according to a letter seen by Reuters that was sent to migrant shelters. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed a monetary offer was being made but did not specify an amount. The move is the latest financial offer made by the DHS under President Donald Trump aimed at encouraging voluntary deportations. In June, the State Department moved $250 million to DHS for voluntary deportations with the administration offering a $1,000 stipend to migrants who "self deported.” According to the letter sent to shelters on Friday by the DHS Office of Refugee Resettlement, the department will provide a "one-time resettlement support stipend of $2,500" to unaccompanied children 14 or older. An ICE official said the offer was first being made to 17-year-olds. Minors from Mexico are not eligible for the program but children who had already volunteered to leave the U.S. as of Friday would be covered, the letter says. Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, which provides legal services and support to unaccompanied children, called the move "a cruel tactic" that undermined "laws that guarantee" a process to determine if a child is eligible for U.S. protection. "Unaccompanied children seeking safety in the United States deserve our protection rather than being coerced into agreeing to return back to the very conditions that placed their lives and safety at risk," Young said in a statement. According to federal law, migrant children who arrive at U.S. borders without a parent or legal guardian are classified as unaccompanied and sent to federal government-run shelters until they can be placed with a family member or in foster care. More than 2,100 unaccompanied children were in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services as of Thursday, according to department data. HHS communications director Andrew Nixon said in a statement that the program "gives UACs a choice and allows them to make an informed decision about their future.” Any payment would be provided after an immigration judge approved the request and the child arrived in their country of origin, Nixon said. The administration’s efforts to swiftly deport unaccompanied children have faced legal challenges. Last month, a federal judge ordered that the administration refrain from deporting unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant children with active immigration cases while a legal challenge continued. More than 600,000 migrant children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or legal guardian since 2019, according to government data.

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Bloomberg [10/3/2025 6:15 PM, Myles Miller, Alicia A. Caldwell, and Hadriana Lowenkron, 19085K]
The Hill [10/3/2025 6:16 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K]
AP [10/3/2025 5:22 PM, Valerie Gonzalez, 37974K]
ABC News [10/3/2025 6:12 PM, Laura Romero, 27036K]

AP [10/3/2025 3:01 PM, Staff, 27036K] reports several Democratic state attorneys general say the Trump administration has backed away from requiring states to agree to cooperate with the president’s immigration agenda in order to access federal money for programs that help victims of crime. In a series of news releases Friday, several of the attorneys general announced that federal Victims of Crime Act money was being released, enabling the states to fund victim assistance grants to nonprofits as well as their state compensation programs that provide direct aid to victims of violent crime. Officials from 20 states and Washington, D.C., had signed on to a lawsuit filed in late August challenging the requirement. The federal conditions placed on the funds threatened to cut money to a state or subgrantee if it refused to honor civil immigration enforcement requests, denies U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers access to facilities or fails to provide advance notice of release dates of people possibly wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement because of their immigration status. New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement that the U.S. Department of Justice, which overseas the crime victims funds, would remove the conditions that had been placed on applying for the money. Platkin’s office declined to comment on the status of the lawsuit, though it still appeared active on the court website Friday. An automatic reply sent in response to an email to a spokesperson for the Office of Justice Programs Friday noted the office would not respond because of the federal shutdown. "Faced with our lawsuit, the Trump Administration has abandoned its cruel attempt to impose illegal conditions on nearly $1.4 billion in funding that supports victims and survivors of crime as they navigate their trauma and work to get back on their feet," Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell wrote in an e-mailed statement. The lawsuit filed in late August had asked a federal judge to declare the conditions were an administrative overstep as well as unconstitutional. Every state and territory has a victims compensation program that follows federal guidelines, but largely is set up under state law to provide financial help to crime victims, including medical expense reimbursement, paying for crime scene cleanup, counseling or helping with funeral costs for homicide victims. The federal Victims of Crime Act covers the cost of about 75% of state compensation program awards. The funds are also used to pay for other services, including testing rape kits, funding grants to domestic violence recovery organizations, trauma recovery centers and more. Advocates and others argue that the system needs to protect victims regardless of their immigration status and ensure that reporting a crime does not lead to deportation threats. They also say that marginalized communities, such as newly arrived immigrants, are more likely to be crime targets. The same group of state attorneys general filed a similar joint lawsuit this week challenging a bar on using money for programs for crime victims and violence against women for services to people who are in the country illegally, contending the restrictions are unconstitutional, but also create an undue burden on service providers to determine the immigration status of victims and witnesses.

Politico [10/3/2025 5:19 PM, Eric Bazail-Eimil, 2100K] reports the Trump administration is offering $2,500 to some minors who came by themselves to the United States to “voluntarily” self-deport and return to their home countries under a new program quietly rolled out on Friday. Asked about the program, the details of which were not spelled out in a public release, Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed to POLITICO on Friday that the agency and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugees and Resettlement are now offering a “strictly voluntary” self-deportation option. It would cover unaccompanied minors who are 17 years old — but haven’t turned 18 yet — who came to the U.S. by themselves and either remain in detention centers or have been placed with sponsor relatives or foster families. Under the new program, children who decide to waive their rights to pursue immigration relief under a law protecting victims of human trafficking and smuggling can opt to voluntarily return to their home countries, in exchange for a $2,500 payment from the U.S. government. But immigration advocates and lawyers say that calling the new program voluntary obscures how it will work in practice. Just receiving written notice of the new program, which is being referred to online by immigration advocates as “Freaky Friday,” might scare some children into self-deporting, advocates said. And U.S. authorities could threaten to arrest the minor’s family on charges they trafficked their children or threaten these unaccompanied children with immediate detention once they turn 18 unless they chose to self-deport, the advocates added. They said that would violate a nationwide injunction mandating the government pursue less restrictive detention options. “Those financial incentives have often been coercive, and they’ve often been presented as the only way for people to avoid punitive and terrorizing consequences even if they have legitimate claims to legal status in the United States,” said Nayna Gupta, policy director at the American Immigration Council advocacy group in Washington. “Does failure to take the money and return to a place you fled mean that you will be detained once you age out of the unaccompanied minors status?” An ICE spokesperson denied that the policy change is being dubbed “Freaky Friday,” accusing critics of the agency of trying to “instill fear and spread misinformation that drives the increased violence occurring against federal law enforcement.”

Blaze [10/3/2025 1:20 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1559K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested several violent criminals on Thursday, according to a Department of Homeland Security press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News. Despite the ongoing government shutdown, ICE has vowed to continue working "around the clock to arrest and remove" illegal alien criminals. "Nothing will deter us, not even a Democrat government shutdown, from fulfilling the president’s mandate from the American people to remove the worst of the worst," the release reads. Those arrested included child sex predators, rapists, and domestic abusers. The DHS highlighted five of the "worst of the worst" criminal illegal aliens removed from American streets across the country. "Every day — even when the government is shut down — our brave ICE law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens including pedophiles, rapists, and domestic abusers," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated. "Nothing will deter us from our mission to make America safe again. While the Democrats play politics, the deportation flights will continue."

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Breitbart [10/3/2025 3:59 PM, John Binder, 2608K]

The Hill [10/3/2025 2:09 PM, Brett Samuels, 12414K] reports that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday there was "no tangible plan" to deploy Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents to the Super Bowl in February after the NFL announced Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny would be the halftime performer. "As far as ICE being at the Super Bowl, as far as I’m aware there’s no tangible plan for that in store right now," Leavitt said. "However, of course this administration is always going to arrest and deport illegal immigrants when we find them if they are criminals. We’re going to do the right thing by our country." Leavitt said she would leave it to President Trump to offer his own thoughts on the halftime entertainment. Her comments came after Corey Lewandowski, an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, suggested earlier in the week the Super Bowl could be a target for immigration raids. "There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally. Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else," Lewandowski said Wednesday on "The Benny Show." The NFL announced Sunday that Bad Bunny, who is one of the most popular artists in the world, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show when the game is played in February in Santa Clara, Calif.

The AP [10/3/2025 7:46 PM, Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Matt O’brien and Kelvin Chan, 37974K] reports Apple and Google blocked downloads of phone apps that flag sightings of U.S. immigration agents, just hours after the Trump administration demanded that one particularly popular iPhone app be taken down. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said such tracking puts Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at risk. But users and developers of the apps say it’s their First Amendment right to capture what ICE is doing in their neighborhoods — and maintain that most users turn to these platforms in an effort to protect their own safety as President Donald Trump steps up aggressive immigration enforcement across the country. ICEBlock, the most widely used of the ICE-tracking apps in Apple’s app store, is among the apps that have been taken down. Bondi said her office reached out to Apple on Thursday “demanding that they remove ICEBlock” and claiming that it “is designed to put ICE agents at risk just for doing their jobs.” Apple soon complied, sending an email Thursday to the app’s creator, Joshua Aaron, that said it would block further downloads of the app because new information “provided to Apple by law enforcement” showed the app broke the app store rules. According to the email, which Aaron shared with The Associated Press, Apple said the app violated the company’s policies “because its purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group.” In a Friday interview, Aaron decried the company for bending to what he described as “an authoritarian regime.” And immigration rights advocates like Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, added that these actions marked “a disturbing example of how tech companies are capitulating to Trump.” “These apps are a lifeline for communities living in uncertainty and fear of when ICE might show up to tear their families apart,” Matos said in a statement. While not specifying details on the total number of platforms removed, Apple confirmed to the AP on Friday that they removed “similar apps” due to potential safety risks that were raised by law enforcement. Google followed their move, saying that several similar apps violated their policies for Android platforms. While some advocates don’t find all of these apps particularly useful — pointing to potential misinformation and false alarms — they echoed criticism of moves to suppress them. “What really worries me is the kind of precedent that this sets” where the government can “basically dictate what kinds of apps people have on their phones,” said civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo, who works at Harvard University’s Cyberlaw Clinic. The Daily Caller [10/3/2025 11:59 AM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons in June publicly ripped CNN for promoting ICEBlock, claiming the app "basically paints a target on federal law enforcement officers’ backs" at a time when his agents are already facing an all-time high in assaults. "ICE tracking apps put the lives of the men and women of law enforcement in danger as they go after terrorists, vicious gangs and violent criminal rings," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told DCNF. "But, of course, the media spins this correct decision for Apple to remove these apps as them caving to pressure instead of preventing further bloodshed and stopping law enforcement from getting killed."

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CBS News [10/3/2025 7:13 PM, Brian New, 45245K] Video: HERE
CNN [10/3/2025 9:16 AM, Clare Duffy, 23245K]
(B) Oregon News Now Midday [10/3/2025 2:20 PM, Staff]

FOX Business [10/3/2025 3:30 PM, Cameron Arcand, 9194K] reports Apple’s decision to comply with the Department of Justice’s request to remove apps that monitor the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, like ICEBlock, triggered mixed reactions on social media. Conservatives praised the decision as a necessary step to protecting law enforcement officers as mass deportation efforts continue under the Trump administration. "Following last week’s tragic shooting at the Dallas ICE facility, authorities said the suspect used tracking apps, including ICEBlock, before opening fire," Rep. Roger Williams, R-Texas, posted to X. "Thank you, [Attorney General Pam Bondi] for applying necessary pressure to protect our law enforcement and have the app removed," Williams continued. "Good, but this took WAY too long," Conservative journalist Nick Sortor wrote on X. "The Trump DOJ intervened, pushing Apple to make the move.” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed a headline from New York Times that said "Apple Takes Down ICE Tracking Apps Amid Trump Pressure Campaign.” "Our men and women of ICE are being doxxed, stalked, their families’ personal information is being put on the dark web, they are facing a 1000%increase in assaults, a terrorist just tried to kill them a week ago. But that’s not newsworthy to New York Times, McLaughlin told Fox News Digital in a statement, in addition to posting "What a joke" to X with a screenshot on the headline. "When Apple made the correct call to take down these apps that are going to get someone killed, the NYT spins it as caving to political pressure— A disgrace to journalism," she continued. Meanwhile, some criticized Apple’s decision to take down the app. "Wait. Now it’s okay that the government demands that a tech company delete something? If memory serves, just a short time ago this very action was described in the most heated terms (and not entirely without reason) as a totalitarian violation of the right to free speech," NPR "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep posted to X.

The New York Times [10/3/2025 7:53 PM, Neil Vigdor, 143795K] reports a Spanish-language journalist known for livestreaming immigration raids was deported on Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being held for more than 100 days in Georgia. The reporter, Mario Guevara, was flown to his native El Salvador around 4 a.m., according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and the American Civil Liberties Union, which condemned the action by the Trump administration. Speaking to a group of reporters in Olocuilta, El Salvador, where he emerged from a Salvadoran border patrol pickup, Mr. Guevara said that he was heartbroken because half of his family was in the United States, including his wife and three children. Mr. Guevara said that he had lost more than 25 pounds during his more than three months in custody and had marks from being kept in handcuffs “like a criminal” during his deportation. “This was not how I wanted to come to my land, but thank you, God,” Mr. Guevara said. On June 14, Mr. Guevara was arrested while livestreaming a “No Kings” protest against the Trump administration’s policies that was taking place outside Atlanta. Charges filed in connection to his arrest were dropped, his lawyers said. Press freedom groups and civil liberties activists had spent months pushing for Mr. Guevara’s release, accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress independent journalism and coverage that it deemed unflattering. “Make no mistake, this is not a simple immigration case as authorities would have the public believe,” Katherine Jacobsen, a program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement on Friday. “Guevara was first detained in retaliation for his reporting, and throughout his prolonged detention the government argued that he was being held because his livestreaming activity posed a danger to law enforcement activity.” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, disputed that Mr. Guevara’s work as a journalist had led to his being deported. “This has absolutely nothing to do with the First Amendment, and any suggestion otherwise is laughable,” Ms. Jackson wrote in an email on Friday. The Hill [10/3/2025 6:09 PM, Surina Venkat, 12414K] reports that a leader with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonprofit organization that defends worldwide press freedom, said Guevara’s deportation from the U.S. Friday morning was the first time the organization “has documented this type of retaliation related to reporting activity.” “Make no mistake, this is not a simple immigration case as authorities would have the public believe,” said Katherine Jacobsen, the CPJ’s U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator. Guevara arrived Friday in El Salvador, where he was released by Salvadoran immigration authorities. “I feel sad, but I also feel happy to be in my homeland,” Guevara told journalists in El Salvador, according to CNN. “I mean, they didn’t execute me. Perhaps the racist government wanted to execute me.” “And I’m here in my homeland,” he said. “So, at the end of the day, I think it’s a blessing.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Hill that DHS is “happy to report Mario Guevara is back home in El Salvador.” “If you come to our country and break our laws, we will arrest you and you will NEVER return,” McLaughlin added. The Wall Street Journal [10/3/2025 6:25 PM, Victoria Albert, 646K] reports Guevara sued the Trump administration in federal court in August, alleging that his detention was retaliation for his reporting. “Mario’s treatment should terrify any person in this country that cares about a free press,” Scarlet Kim, one of his attorneys, said Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly denied that Guevara was targeted for his journalism. The department said previously that he was held in ICE custody because of his immigration status.

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CBS News [10/3/2025 11:58 AM, Dan Raby, 45245K]
Univision [10/3/2025 10:07 AM, Mariana Rambaldi, 4932K]

CNN [10/3/2025 6:28 AM, Staff, 23245K] reports there have been more incidents this year of ICE impersonators than during the prior four presidential terms combined, a CNN review finds. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [10/3/2025 2:52 PM, Lauren Villagran, 64151K] reports that an Alabama man is suing the Trump administration after immigration agents arrested him twice in three weeks despite having a valid REAL ID and U.S. citizenship. The new lawsuit alleges that masked immigration agents are targeting people based on their race, ethnicity or occupation and terrorizing U.S. citizens who fit a certain profile. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY that "allegations that DHS law enforcement officers engage in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE." Reports of Americans being detained in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown are rising, from the Iraq War veteran held for three days in Southern California to the citizens whose apartments were ransacked in a recent Chicago raid. "I’m suing because it’s not right what they did to me," Leonardo Garcia Venegas told USA TODAY. "I don’t want it to happen to anyone else." The lawsuit is asking a judge to block DHS policies that allegedly permit agents to target people on private property without a warrant, who fit a racial or ethnic profile. Garcia Venegas is also seeking unspecified damages. McLaughlin, the DHS assistant secretary, said DHS "enforces federal immigration law without fear, favor or prejudice." "What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the U.S. – NOT their skin color, race or ethnicity," McLaughlin said. "Under the fourth amendment of the U.S. Constitution, DHS law enforcement uses ‘reasonable suspicion’ to make arrests. There are no ‘indiscriminate stops’ being made."

Breitbart [10/3/2025 6:20 PM, Amy Furr, 2608K] reports three non-citizens were arrested recently for illegally voting in Arkansas elections, as state officials are working to ensure only American citizens can vote. In his statement issued Thursday, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said, "Investigators in my office have arrested three noncitizens for illegally voting in our elections despite not having the status to do so. Arkansas’s elections are sound and secure, which is why we deal swiftly and decisively when rare infractions like these come to our attention. I am committed to preserving the integrity of our democratic process.” Griffin said an investigation was launched earlier this year when federal officials alerted state authorities about certain people whose voting records appeared incongruent with their citizenship status, adding Arkansas authorities partnered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on the issue. One of the suspects identified was 59-year-old Cecilia Castellanos who is from Cuba. She has been charged with one count of perjury, and one felony count for violating state election laws. "Castellanos is a Cuban national who has a pending order of removal by an immigration judge from 1999. She also has three prior felony convictions in New York state. Her perjury charge stems from her marking on a voter registration form that she was a citizen of the United States and that she did not have any prior felony convictions. The election law violation arises from her illegally voting in the 2024 general election despite not being a U.S. citizen," the attorney general’s office said.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 9:22 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports that a woman from Mexico who entered the country illegally managed to avoid justice for over a year on child indecency charges after a judge in McAllen set her bond at $2,500, allowing her to bond out and go on the run. Biden-era immigration officers granted her a voluntary release from their detainer. A year later, federal authorities arrested the woman in Ohio, and she is now in custody awaiting trial. The case began on April 4, 2024, when McAllen Police arrested Yolanda Salinas on child indecency charges. Following the arrest, a magistrate judge in McAllen set her bond at $2,500. Two days later, U.S. immigration authorities placed an immigration detainer on her. Information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed that on April 21, Salinas was released from the Hidalgo County jail, and federal authorities, under Biden-era immigration policies, granted her a voluntary departure. That same day, she crossed into Mexico despite having a pending case against her in McAllen. Case information provided to Breitbart Texas by a private investigator who tracked down the fugitive revealed that Salinas spent some time in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, where her relatives wired her money to arrange for a human smuggling organization tied to the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas to help her get back into the United States. At an unknown date, the human smugglers moved her across the Rio Grande into Laredo, Texas, and then drove her to various stash houses to avoid detection. Eventually, Salinas arrived in Dayton, Ohio, where she began living with relatives and worked illegally in a meatpacking plant.

Chicago Tribune [10/3/2025 7:23 PM, Gloria Casas, 5352K] reports Gail Borden Public Library’s newly renovated KidSpace at its main downtown Elgin building was buzzing with activity Friday afternoon as families picked out books, did crafts and played games. In a corner of the room, a Latino man sat with his toddler. He admitted that he wondered if it was wise to come to the library given all the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions taking place in the city. His partner was worried, too, he said, and urged him to be careful when he decided to make the trip. This is the new reality for many Latino families, who fear they could be taken into custody regardless of where they are or their status as an immigrant or a resident. Elgin has become such an ICE target, with detentions occurring almost every day, the Elgin City Council felt compelled to issue a public statement pledging its support for its immigrant community. "The mayor and city council are disheartened by the aggressive tactics of federal immigration enforcement, which are creating anxiety and uncertainty for many of Elgin’s residents, workforce and visitors," the statement said. "(Elgin) remains committed to standing with its immigrant community" and rejects the tactics that "create fear, divide communities and make it harder for residents to feel safe when reaching out to police for help.” Because the Gail Borden Public Library’s main and branch libraries in Elgin and branch in South Elgin are public facilities, nothing prevents ICE agents from coming inside to make arrests or being on their grounds, officials said. Because library staff has received so many questions and concerns about the situation, they felt compelled to make sure the public was aware of its policies and procedures and what they cannot do and will not do, spokeswoman Natalie Kiburg said. A "public message" has been posted on the library’s website. One thing they want to stress, she said, is they remain a welcoming place and library employees will not ask for nor will they collect any information on a patron’s immigration status. "Gail Borden library does not assist or collaborate with U.S. ICE agents in any way unless we are legally obligated to provide information in compliance with a valid court order," the online message says. "We also maintain the privacy of customer records per the Illinois Library Records Confidentiality Act.” That said, "because the library is a public space, we are unfortunately limited in our ability to keep ICE agents from entering our parking lot and/or public areas of our buildings.” If an ICE officer were to come onto library property and attempt to arrest and employee, a library official would ask for the person’s name, badge number and agency affiliation but they "will not provide any information or access to employee records without authorization" and they will "refer ICE officers to the library’s designated contacts," the statement says. If the library is presented with a warrant, officials will contact the library’s lawyer and "respond appropriately and in compliance with the law.”

(B) NBC News Daily [10/3/2025 1:24 PM, Staff] reports that there is a new designated protest zone surrounded by concrete barriers outside of the ICE facility in suburban Broadview. State police in riot gear, federal agents, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem were spotted on the rooftop of the ICE facility. Border Patrol’s Greg Bovino was also spotted. A group comprised of some congressional candidates, local older people, and activists demanded more transparency about conditions inside the processing center, arrest protocols, and removal of the fencing put up last week.

CBS Chicago [10/3/2025 7:47 PM, Todd Feurer, 45245K] Video: HERE reports a Chicago alderwoman was arrested by ICE agents on Friday afternoon inside a hospital in the Humboldt Park neighborhood. Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) had gone to the Humboldt Park Health to check on someone who was injured during an immigration arrest, when ICE agents demanded she leave before grabbing her and handcuffing her. The encounter was recorded on cell phone video shared on social media. "This is a hospital. Do you have a signed judicial warrant for him? I am asking. I am asking. I did not touch you. I did not touch you," she said as she was handcuffed. "I did not touch you. I asked you if you had a signed judicial warrant for him. It is very simple. It is very simple. That man has constitutional rights. I did not touch you. It is a public space. I am not trespassing. I am asking you do you have a signed judicial warrant?". "We told you to leave. You are impeding. Now you are under arrest for impeding," said the agent who handcuffed her. Fuentes was released from custody a short time later. "I simply asked, ‘Well, what did I do wrong, outside of ask you if you have a signed judicial warrant. I want you to articulate to me what law did I break? They had to take those handcuffs off, because we have constitutional rights, and in the city of Chicago, every single elected official is going to protect those constitutional rights," she said. Fuentes said she had gone to the hospital to check on a man who suffered a broken leg after ICE agents chased him.

Washington Post [10/3/2025 4:22 PM, María Luisa Paúl, 29079K] reports that, when a judge told him “Welcome to the United States,” Claudio David Balcane González began to sob. His petition for asylum had been approved, and his fight seemed to be over. Instead, officers held Balcane for 63 more days at a Wisconsin immigration detention center where he had already spent three months in custody. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had detained the 27-year-old Venezuelan singer, known online as Davicito59, in April — shortly after he went viral with a song pleading with President Donald Trump not to deport immigrants like him. “I just didn’t understand and thought, ‘What more can they want with me if I already won my case? Why can’t they see that all I want is a chance to live and make music without fearing the government?’” Balcane said in his first interview since being released. It was striking that Balcane was granted asylum at a time when the vast majority of such cases are being rejected, several immigration attorneys told Washington Post. But it wasn’t until the singer was re-interrogated, had his phone searched and the government unsuccessfully petitioned to reopen his case that officers at Dodge Detention Facility informed Balcane that he was being released. That was on Sept. 9 — 33 days after he was supposed to be released. The delay in releasing Balcane after he was granted legal status was unlawful, three immigration attorneys and an expert said. Though prosecutors had reserved the right to appeal his case, they had a 30-day deadline to do so. “After that time is up, he had legal status in the United States, so keeping him in detention is not only a waste of resources but illegal,” said Briana Carlson, a Virginia-based immigration attorney who was not involved in Balcane’s case. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Balcane “has had full due process.” The agency declined to explain why he remained in detention for an extended period. “Any assertions that Claudio David Balcane Gonzalez was targeted because of a Tik Tok video, a song, or any attempted clickbait are false. He was targeted because he is an illegal alien and our law enforcement assessments had at the time determined he was a public safety threat with ties to [the Venezuelan gang] Tren de Aragua,” the statement said, invoking a justification DHS has increasingly used in detaining and deporting Venezuelans. A search by The Post found no federal, state or local criminal charges filed against Balcane. Under U.S. law, people convicted of a “particularly serious crime” — such as an aggravated felony or participation in a terrorist group — are barred from receiving asylum.

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 4:50 PM, David Zimmermann, 1563K] reports a public school district in Des Moines, Iowa, sued a consulting firm on Friday for "failing to properly vet" a former superintendent detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week. The lawsuit, filed by the Des Moines Public Schools Board in state court, blames JG Consulting for facilitating the 2022-2023 superintendent search that led to the hiring of Ian Roberts, an illegal immigrant from Guyana with an extensive criminal record. The school board alleges the firm breached an executive search agreement by neglecting to disclose "all known information of a positive or negative nature regarding any candidate," namely, Roberts. "JG Consulting materially breached the Agreement by, among other things, failing to properly vet Roberts and by referring Roberts as a candidate when he could not lawfully hold the position," the lawsuit states. Jackie Norris, chairwoman of the school board, announced the legal action during a Friday meeting. She said the consulting firm should have done a better background check on Roberts, considering public reporting has unearthed his criminal history and immigration status since his arrest. "It’s clear that people are identifying and finding information in a matter of hours," Norris said. "And so it’s probably something that they should have caught, and that was our expectation.” The lawsuit says the district has sustained damages and reputational harm as a result of the former superintendent’s arrest and the backlash that came with it. "We are pursuing legal action as allowed by law. This is about accountability, taxpayer dollars, and we are seeking accountability," Norris added. "As the facts revealed themselves over the past several days, it was crystal clear that the search firm did not do its job.” His rap sheet includes multiple charges related to firearms violations, criminal possession of narcotics, and reckless driving over the past 30 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security. "Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien with multiple weapons charges and a drug trafficking charge, should have never been able to work around children," DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said. "When ICE officers arrested this Superintendent, he was in possession of an illegal handgun, a hunting knife, and nearly $3,000 in cash," she added. "This criminal illegal alien is now in U.S. Marshals custody and facing charges for being an illegal alien in possession of a firearms. Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue to arrest the worst of the worst and put the safety of America’s children FIRST.”

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ABC News [10/3/2025 4:30 PM, James Hill and Meredith Deliso, 27036K] Video: HERE

FOX News [10/4/2025 7:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security on Friday detailed a list of all the shocking charges and convictions against illegal alien Ian Andre Roberts, who was working as the head of Des Moines, Iowa, public schools until his recent arrest by ICE. Roberts is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Polk County jail, according to a Homeland Security statement. In the statement, DHS said that Roberts’ "rap sheet and immigration history reveal a long record of criminal conduct in the United States," which the agency said proves "he should never have been serving in a role overseeing children in Iowa’s largest school district." He is currently facing illegal weapons possession charges. The DOJ said a search warrant of Roberts’ home uncovered three guns, a loaded and chambered 9mm pistol was found underneath a seat cushion in the living room, a loaded rifle was wound in the master bedroom closet and a shotgun was found behind the master bedroom headboard. According to DHS, Roberts was previously convicted of reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding in Maryland in 2012. The statement also said he was convicted in Pennsylvania of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in 2022. Besides these, he also has charges of criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of narcotics, criminal possession of a forgery instrument and possession of a forged instrument in New York dating back to 1996 and charges of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon and fourth-degree weapon charges in 2020. Commenting on the revelations since his arrest, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "Ian Andre Roberts, a criminal illegal alien with multiple weapons charges and a drug trafficking charge, should have never been able to work around children." "Under Secretary Noem, ICE will continue to arrest the worst of the worst and put the safety of America’s children FIRST," said McLaughlin. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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Daily Wire [10/3/2025 12:10 PM, Jennie Taer, 3184K] r
Blaze [10/4/2025 6:25 PM, Staff, 1805K]

Washington Times [10/3/2025 2:23 PM, Stephen Dinan, 964K] reports Ian Roberts, the illegal immigrant who had been serving as superintendent of Iowa’s largest school system until his arrest on immigration charges, also had an “extensive criminal history,” ICE said, pointing to drug, weapons and reckless driving offenses. “Roberts’ rap sheet and immigration history reveal a long record of criminal conduct in the United States. He should never have been serving in a role overseeing children in Iowa’s largest school district,” ICE said Friday. Mr. Roberts was an illegal immigrant and didn’t have legal permission to work in the U.S. as of 2020, but somehow still got hired as the top official by Des Moines Public Schools. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said he first entered the U.S. in 1994 on a visitor’s visa and notched a drug arrest in New York in 1996. He had various comings and goings over the next few decades, as well as additional charges. They included a conviction for reckless driving in Maryland in 2012, weapons charges in 2020, a weapons conviction in 2022, and then his latest incident of being found with a gun when ICE officers arrested him late last month. Possessing a firearm is prohibited for illegal immigrants. Mr. Roberts was four times rejected for a green card, or permanent legal residency. He was granted a student visa in 2020. And he was granted three employment authorizations to work, covering as little more than three years of the three decades he was here. The last authorization expired in 2020, or three years before Des Moines hired him. Des Moines school officials have said they used a third party to conduct a background check and school officials were satisfied enough to hire him. They also said Mr. Roberts claimed to be a citizen at his hiring, and showed a Social Security card and a driver’s license to satisfy the I-9 form requirements for proving work authorization. Experts say both of those documents could have been obtained by dint of his previous work authorization and student status, and didn’t actually prove he was eligible to work. Des Moines schools are not signed up for E-Verify, the federal government’s electronic — but voluntary — system that allows employers to check government databases to determine whether new hires are in fact eligible to work. The school board on Friday announced it will sue JG Consulting, the firm it used, saying it “failed” in its duty to vet applicants properly. “Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a finalist,” said board Chairwoman Jackie Norris. “If we knew what we knew now, he would never have been hired.”

CNN [10/3/2025 8:50 AM, Andy Rose, 23245K] reports a conservative influencer who this week posted videos of clashes outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, has been released without bond after he was arrested late Thursday night during what police characterized as a fight. Nick Sortor, 27, of Washington, DC, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, along with two people from Oregon, the Portland Police Bureau said early Friday in a news release. Now, the Justice Department is investigating Sortor’s arrest near the South Portland facility that has become the latest flashpoint in a city with a long history of loud protests and is now in a key target of the Trump administration’s broader crime crackdown in large Democratic-led cities. A Portland Police Bureau Rapid Response Team arrested Sortor and the two Oregonians after an earlier incident in which federal law enforcement briefly detained two others during a scuffle, it said, adding the police team had “continued to monitor the situation and responded after seeing additional fights break out.” In Sortor’s view, local police “made a big freaking mistake,” he wrote of the arrest Friday morning on his X account. “You PROVED what we’ve all been saying for years: you’re CORRUPT and CONTROLLED by vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.” Sortor was called by Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday morning and told the Justice Department will investigate what Sortor called his “wrongful arrest,” according to a post on his X account. The Justice Department confirmed the investigation to CNN, saying it will be supervised by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, whose official X account reposted Sortor’s message and advised Portland: “Buckle up.” The Portland Police Bureau denied politics had anything to do with Sortor’s case: “Among those arrested was an individual known to have a significant social media presence, as well as others representing a range of political viewpoints,” the agency said in a statement midday Friday. “As with all such situations, arrests are based on observed behavior and probable cause – not political affiliation or public profile.” The Trump administration cited Sortor’s arrest Friday in a new threat to federal funding for the city: “I just spoke with the president about this, and he has directed his team here at the White House to begin reviewing aid that can potentially be cut in Portland,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “We will not fund states that allow anarchy.” While police did not detail the altercation that led to Sortor’s arrests, his case immediately created a stir against Portland police in conservative social media: “They will arrest an independent journalist but not violent antifa members who assault cops and journalists,” posted the account founded by influencer Chaya Raichik. “Maybe we just need to shut down Portland for good,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas wrote on X. Not all potential criminal violations at the protest site will result in immediate arrests, the Portland Police Bureau said, adding, “That does not mean that people are not being charged with crimes later.” Sortor was detained just hours before a federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments on whether to block President Donald Trump’s National Guard callout in Portland, citing the need to protect ICE facilities from protesters.

Telemundo 20 [10/3/2025 2:12 PM, Staff, 51K] reports that a former Navy detective and former El Cajon police officer sentenced earlier this year for using excessive force against a sailor detained at Naval Base San Diego pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of conspiracy to distribute child sexual abuse material. Prosecutors filed sex charges against Jonathan Christopher Laroche, 42, shortly before he was scheduled to report to prison to serve a 15-month sentence for strangling a handcuffed sailor unconscious. His plea in the excessive force case included an agreement to resign from his commission and a ban from seeking employment in law enforcement. He also admitted to lying on his application to the Navy’s Criminal Investigation Division by concealing several previous incidents of excessive force that led to his resignation from the El Cajon Police Department. In the sex crime case, an affidavit written by a Homeland Security Investigations agent states that an email address used by Laroche was identified by law enforcement in the Netherlands, who were investigating a darknet email provider used to share child sexual abuse material. A darknet user told Laroche that he ran a business that paid people to share or create child sexual abuse material, according to the affidavit. In ongoing communications with the darknet user, Laroche described sexually abusing an underage victim and his intent to create child sexual abuse material with the minor, according to the affidavit.

FOX News [10/3/2025 6:07 PM, Louis Casiano, 40019K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said immigration authorities will enforce the law at Super Bowl 60 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, before criticizing the NFL, which she said was "so weak." Noem was speaking with Benny Johnson on "The Benny Show" when she was asked about Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican reggaeton artist slated to perform at the halftime show, and the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "I have the responsibility to make sure everybody who goes to the Super Bowl has the opportunity to enjoy it and to leave safely. That’s what America’s about," she told Johnson. "We’ll be all over that place." Noem said those going to the big game should be law-abiding Americans "who love this country." Earlier in the week, Trump advisor Corey Lewandowski warned ICE agents would be present at the game.

Reuters [10/3/2025 11:29 PM, Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing to set a refugee admissions cap at 7,500 people this fiscal year, a record low that prioritizes white South Africans of Afrikaner ethnicity, three people familiar with the matter said. If finalized, the planned cap would be a steep drop from the 125,000 put in place last year under former President Joe Biden and reflect Trump’s restrictive view of immigration and humanitarian protection. Trump, a Republican, slashed refugee levels during his 2017-2021 presidency as part of a broad crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration. After returning to office in January 2025, he froze refugee admissions, saying they could only resume if it was determined to be in the interest of the U.S. Weeks later, Trump issued an executive order prioritizing refugee entries from South Africa’s Dutch-descended Afrikaner minority, saying the white minority group suffered racial discrimination and violence in majority-Black South Africa. South Africa’s government has rejected those claims. The first group of 59 South Africans arrived in May, reaching a total of 138 by early September, Reuters reported previously. The White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the planned 7,500-person refugee ceiling in fiscal year 2026, which began on Wednesday. New York Times first reported the plans. John Slocum, executive director of Refugee Council USA, urged other elected officials to push Trump to bring in more refugees, saying in a statement that such a low limit would be "jeopardizing people’s lives, separating families, and undermining our national security and economic growth.” Trump officials had previously discussed annual refugee admissions ranging from 40,000 to 60,000, Reuters reported in recent months. At a side event at the United Nations General Assembly last week, top Trump administration officials urged other nations to join a global campaign to roll back asylum protections, a major shift that would seek to reshape the post-World War Two framework around humanitarian migration.

New York Times [10/4/2025 3:22 AM, Madeleine Ngo and Hamed Aleaziz, 330K] reports a group of unions, higher education professionals, religious organizations and others sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to charge a $100,000 fee for visas granted to skilled foreign workers. The suit, which appears to be the first major challenge to the new fee for H-1B visas, argued that the change was unlawful because the president had no authority to unilaterally impose taxes or other requirements to generate revenue through the program, a power that is granted to Congress. The plaintiffs also said the administration did not go through the required regulatory process to institute the fee, which they called “arbitrary and capricious.” And they asserted that the federal government failed to consider how the steep fee would harm hospitals, churches, schools, small businesses and nonprofits across the country. The suit, which was filed in the Northern District of California, comes after President Trump signed a proclamation last month imposing a $100,000 fee for each new H-1B visa. The change set off immediate confusion and chaos, with many companies urging workers outside the United States to return before the change went into effect. The White House later clarified that the fee applied only to new visas, and that existing visa holders would not be affected. The Trump administration has argued that the visa program has historically hurt domestic workers, and federal officials say the new fee will help discourage companies from using H-1B visas to bring in foreign workers to replace Americans. Some policy experts and immigration hard-liners have applauded the change, which they say will make companies prioritize which foreign workers they want to hire. But tech start-ups, higher education leaders and school districts have criticized the new fee, which they say will hurt their ability to fill critical roles and stay competitive. Health care associations have also said the fee would exacerbate physician shortages and worsen patient care. The plaintiff group was represented by several immigration lawyers and advocacy groups, including the Justice Action Center, Democracy Forward and the South Asian American Justice Collaborative. The suit also argued that the president’s ability to restrict entry under the Immigration and Nationality Act did not allow Mr. Trump to impose the fee. Under the law, the president can suspend the entry of migrants if that would be “detrimental” to the interests of the United States. But the groups argued that the power was meant to “regulate and influence conduct abroad,” and that the proclamation “makes clear that it is concerned with domestic policy.”

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Bloomberg [10/3/2025 7:32 PM, Maggie Eastland, 19085K]
AP [10/3/2025 6:39 PM, Martha Bellisle, 37974K]

NPR [10/3/2025 5:29 PM, Wailin Wong and Darian Woods, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports an economist explains the impact the H-1B visa program has had on the U.S. economy and native-born workers. And what the new hundred thousand dollar fee could mean for the future of the program.

Reuters [10/3/2025 12:42 PM, Anna Mehler Paperny, 45746K] reports Canada this week updated its travel advisory for the United States, warning travelers with an "X" gender marker on their passports that they may not be allowed to enter the country. "While the Government of Canada issues passports with a ‘X’ gender identifier, it cannot guarantee your entry or transit through other countries," the new warning reads. The warning says travelers may still be asked to provide sex or gender information as either male or female. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an e-mailed statement that foreign travelers’ gender as indicated on their passport and their personal beliefs about sexuality do not render them inadmissible to the United States.

Reuters [10/3/2025 6:33 PM, Kanishka Singh, 45746K] reports the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency said on Friday it stopped distributing funds for emergency preparedness to states until they provide updated population counts that account for migrants deported since President Donald Trump took office. The emergency preparedness funds put on hold, called emergency management performance grants, help local communities to prepare for disasters. The website for FEMA, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, notes that the program was allocated $319.5 million for fiscal year 2025. The Trump administration has said it will not provide DHS funding to local governments unless they agree to support federal immigration enforcement, end programs that support diversity or that provide benefits to immigrants in the U.S. illegally, and comply with Trump’s other executive orders. Trump ordered the Commerce Department in August to begin work on a new census that excludes immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, revisiting a push from his first term that was later rejected by the courts. The Trump administration has maintained a hard-line immigration agenda, which was a key part of Trump’s campaign promises, and engaged in a deportation drive that has drawn criticism from human rights advocates. FEMA has raised concerns about what it calls inflated payments. An agency spokesperson said on Friday the emergency preparedness grant was awarded "based solely on population data." The spokesperson added that recent population shifts, including deportations of immigrants, had created a need for updated data to ensure equitable distribution. "This requirement applies to all states and is unrelated to recent federal court rulings," the spokesperson said. On Tuesday, a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting $233 million in grant funds for Democratic-led states.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/3/2025 3:35 PM, Scott Dance, 153395K]

(B) CNN News Central [10/3/2025 9:40 AM, Staff] reports states are scrambling to respond after FEMA halted hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency preparedness grants. The agency is holding the money until states recount their populations, taking into account the number of people who have been deported. Until the Department of Homeland Security reviews that updated tally and decides that the count is accurate, states cannot access these funds.

Chicago Tribune [10/3/2025 6:00 AM, Talia Soglin, 5352K] reports the CTA and Metra have been awarded federal counterterrorism grants that could require them to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, although it’s unclear if the agencies plan to take the money. The grants, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, are used by mass transit agencies around the country to fund security and counterterrorism measures. But transit agencies that accept the funds this year could be agreeing to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement operations down the road. The decision that the CTA and Metra must make comes as Chicago finds itself in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security, which earlier this year updated its grant terms and conditions to include provisions requiring cooperation with immigration enforcement. Illinois and a coalition of other states sued over those grant terms and won a permanent injunction in their favor last week. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit won’t be subject to the grant’s immigration conditions while the injunction is in place, according to FEMA documents. However, the terms would apply immediately should the injunction be stayed or vacated, the documents say. In previous years, the CTA has received funds from the Transit Security Grant Program for projects including video monitoring of train stations and "collaboration" with Chicago police, including canine units, according to the agency’s most recent budget. The CTA was allocated $15.7 million in transit security money this year, spokesperson Manny Gonzales confirmed. The region’s commuter rail system, Metra, received a grant of about $688,000, said agency spokesperson Michael Gillis. Gillis said Metra was still deciding whether or not to take the grant, which would be used by the Metra Police Department to test out the use of drones to respond to threats and emergencies, he said. The CTA would not say whether it planned to accept the money or what it would be used for. "CTA can confirm that it has received an Award Letter for the Department of Homeland Security’s Transit Security Grant in the amount of $15.7 million," Gonzales said in an email. "CTA has 30 days from receipt to respond." The immigration-related conditions laid out by DHS state that grant recipients must "honor requests for cooperation, such as participation in joint operations, sharing of information, or requests for short term detention of an alien pursuant to a valid detainer." They must also agree not to "leak or otherwise publicize" immigration enforcement operations. The lawsuit filed by Illinois alleged those conditions are unconstitutional and accused the federal government of operating a "grant funding hostage scheme" and "hanging a halt in this critical funding over States like a sword of Damocles."

Blaze [10/3/2025 11:15 AM, Steve Baker and Joseph M. Hanneman, 1559K] reports the discovery of SIM farms that threatened cellular networks in New York City is only the tip of a massive nationwide network run by the Chinese Communist government that poses an immediate threat to critical American infrastructure and has led to terrorist acts including hoax SWAT raids at the homes of national leaders, Blaze News has learned. Sources in the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. intelligence community said these SIM card networks were operating in the United States as early as 2004. They have proliferated exponentially since President Donald J. Trump was re-elected to the presidency in November 2024. "This is something that is a direct threat to our nation right now," a top intelligence official told Blaze News. "A direct threat to our nation, and it needs to be shut down today — like ASAP. Only five of them have been taken down so far.” The owner of the five sites raided in the New York City area is cooperating with Homeland Security Investigations and the Secret Service, the intelligence expert said.

Washington Times [10/3/2025 11:04 AM, Mike Glenn, 964K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard’s official relief society, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, is offering financial relief to Coast Guard families impacted by a lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security from the government shutdown. The relief group will provide up to a month of basic allowance for housing for military members and an equivalent amount for Coast Guard civilians. The loans must be repaid within three months once regular pay has been reinstated, officials said. “As we face the challenges ahead, I’m reminded of the resilience and dedication of our Coast Guard family. Now, they need us to have their backs,” said Jason Wong, the CGMA’s chief operating officer and a retired Coast Guard master chief petty officer.

AP [10/3/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 27036K] reports all six people hospitalized after a coastal North Carolina shooting last weekend that left three dead at a waterfront bar have been released, officials announced Friday. Southport officials initially said five people were wounded in the rifle attack on the American Fish Company on Saturday. But city spokesperson ChyAnn Ketchum said a sixth victim had "self-admitted to a hospital.” Nigel Max Edge, 40, a veteran wounded in the Iraq War, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder. Killed in the shooting were Solomon Banjo, 36, of Charlottesville, Virginia; Joy Rogers, 64, of Southport; and Michael Durbin, 56, of Galena, Ohio. Edge is also charged with attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Authorities allege Edge, a former Marine from Oak Island, motored up to the crowded wharf about 9:30 p.m. and opened fire with an AR-style rifle equipped with a scope and silencer. He was apprehended shortly afterward by Coast Guard officers who recognized him from a witness description. Edge, who changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, told police he was injured in combat and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, Southport police Chief Todd Coring said this week. Edge is being held without bond pending a probable cause hearing on Oct. 13 in a Brunswick County court. Coring asked the public for their patience as the investigation continues and said police presence will be higher, particularly on the waterfront. "Officers from across the county will be assisting Southport officers to increase police presence to restore a sense of safety in and around our city," he said Friday.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 9:47 AM, Randy Clark, 2608K] reports following a seizure in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Seneca offloaded more than 12,750 pounds of illicit narcotics with a street value estimated to be worth more than $94 million at Port Everglades, Florida, on Tuesday. The crew also transferred 29 smugglers to federal agents for prosecution. The seizures were part of an ongoing operation that utilizes multiple Coast Guard vessels and aircraft to interdict contraband and smugglers in international waters. Coast Guard crews working under Operation Pacific Viper, launched in early August, partner with global and interagency partners to conduct maritime narcotics interdiction operations. Through Operation Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard is accelerating counter-drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, where the transport of illicit narcotics continues from Central and South America. The Coast Guard utilized cutters, aircraft, and tactical teams to interdict, seize, and disrupt transshipments of the cocaine and other bulk illicit drugs offloaded at Port Everglades on Tuesday. According to a Coast Guard press release, Operation Pacific Viper has resulted in the seizure of more than 80,000 pounds of cocaine.

CyberScoop [10/3/2025 3:30 PM, Tim Starks] reports federal courts are upgrading their cybersecurity on a number of fronts, but multifactor authentication for the system that gives the public access to court data poses “unique challenges,” the Administrative Office of the United States Courts told Sen. Ron Wyden in a letter this week. Wyden, D-Ore., wrote a scathing August letter to the Supreme Court in response to the latest major breach of the federal judiciary’s electronic case filing system. The director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts responded on behalf of the Supreme Court. It is “simply not the case” that the courts have, in the words of Wyden, “ignored” advice from experts on securing the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system, wrote Robert Conrad Jr., director of the office. “Substantial planning for the modernization effort began in 2022, and we are now approaching the development and implementation phase of the project,” he wrote in the Sept. 30 letter. “We expect implementation will begin in the next two years in a modular and iterative manner.”

Daily Wire [10/3/2025 4:05 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3184K] reports President Donald Trump has "determined" that the United States is in an "armed conflict" with drug cartels that he has designated as terrorist organizations, according to a memo to Congress. The memo reportedly sent this week said that the American military remained ready to eliminate drug smugglers and that the country was at a "critical point" requiring the use of force. It comes as the Trump administration has conducted multiple strikes on boats the president said were filled with narcoterrorists bound for the United States. "The President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States," the memo said, according to NBC News. "In response, based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States and friendly foreign nations, the President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations.” Violent gangs like Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have all been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the State Department. The memo added that the administration remained "postured to carry out military operations as necessary to prevent further deaths or injury to American citizens by eliminating the threat.” "The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations," the memo said. Last month, the Trump administration carried out a series of strikes on drug-running boats, the president said. The first, on September 2, targeted a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua that had departed Venezuela loaded with "a lot of drugs," according to Trump. Another strike was conducted on September 15 that killed three male drug traffickers operating a boat carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea, according to the Department of War. The Trump administration has said the strikes are necessary to protect the country from dangerous drugs. "As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said on the memo to Congress.

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 7:15 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 1563K] reports that, brushing aside concerns of experts in the law of war, President Donald Trump has declared the United States in a state of "non-international armed conflict" with Venezuelan drug cartels operating in the Caribbean, according to a confidential memo to Congress first obtained by New York Times, and subsequently from numerous media outlets. The memo provides the justification for treating suspected drug smugglers spotted on the high seas as "unlawful enemy combatants," who can be killed on sight, instead of criminals subject to arrest and prosecution. "Based upon the cumulative effects of these hostile acts against the citizens and interests of the United States and friendly foreign nations, the president determined that the United States is in a noninternational armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations," the memo reportedly said. "[The] president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans," Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, said in an email to the Times. President Trump has accused the Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua drug cartel — designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department in February — of being responsible for hundreds of thousands of American deaths, and has authorized the use of lethal force on boats suspected of carrying fentanyl and other deadly drugs bound for the U.S. "You know, you see these boats, they’re stacked up with bags of white powder. That’s mostly fentanyl, and other drugs too," Trump said in his speech to senior military officers at Quantico on Tuesday. "We take them out, and we’ve taken out four," he said. "Not that we like to do that. But every boat kills 25,000 [people] on average.” "We lost 300,000 people last year. Everybody knows friends, many friends probably, you lost a child, or adults too, but you lost a son or daughter because of what’s coming into our border," Trump said. "And we’re making it very hard. Oh, and we haven’t even started yet.” Trump expressed frustration that "We can’t find any more boats," noting that even fishing boats are afraid to ply their trade, in waters the U.S. military has turned into a free-fire kill zone. "They don’t want to go fishing, I don’t blame them," Trump said. "It’s amazing what strength will do, because all we want to do is stop drugs from flowing into our country.” Trump cited four attacks, but only three so far have been publicly acknowledged, beginning with a Sept. 3 drone strike that killed 11 people, and a Sept. 15 attack that killed three suspected drug traffickers. While Republican leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committee have had little to say about the declaration of war, which under the Constitution is under the Article I powers of Congress, Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, has been a vocal critic of the Trump’s war on the cartels.

Breitbart [10/3/2025 8:03 PM, Staff, 2608K] reports the would-be assassin of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was sentenced Friday to just over eight years in prison — far less than the 30 years prosecutors had sought. US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the government would appeal what she called a "woefully insufficient sentence.” Sophie Roske — who was listed under her birth name Nicholas Roske in court documents but has since chosen to identify as a woman and use female pronouns — traveled to the justice’s home in June 2022. After spotting two US Marshals standing guard, she walked away and called emergency services on herself. That decision weighed in Roske’s favor during sentencing. "Anyone who thinks they can intimidate a judge or her family by threatening to harm or engage in violence against them is mistaken and they will be caught and punished," US Judge Deborah Boardman said, according to broadcaster WUSA9. But she added: "It’s truly remarkable, extraordinary, that Sophie Roske called 911 on her own, asked for help, and told the police about her crime.” Roske, then 26, told officials she had traveled from California with a gun and other weapons because she was upset about a looming Supreme Court ruling overturning abortion rights that had been leaked to the press. She pleaded guilty this past April. The Department of Justice sought 30 years to life in prison, arguing: "The conduct falls within the quintessential definition of terrorism: the use of violence or threats of violence to achieve a political goal.” The government’s sentencing memo also cited a Discord message in which Roske wrote: "I am shooting for 3" — indicating she had considered targeting additional justices beyond Kavanaugh. "This attempt against the life of a Supreme Court Justice was an attack on the entire judicial system that cannot go unpunished," Bondi said in a statement last month. Defense attorneys countered that her actions were mitigated by her voluntary abandonment of the plan, disclosure of the offense, peaceful surrender, cooperation with authorities, and history of mental illness. They had urged Boardman, appointed by former president Joe Biden, to go below sentencing guidelines, writing: "Sophie’s offense conduct stands in stark contrast to the rest of her personal history.” "I sincerely apologize to the justice and his family," Roske said in court, according to CNN. Appointed by Donald Trump during his first term as president, Kavanaugh is one of six justices in the court’s conservative wing, against three progressives. The sentencing comes at a time when political violence is in the spotlight, following the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last month.

AP [10/3/2025 3:51 PM, Isabella Volmert and Ed White, 964K] reports that police responding to a mass shooting at a Michigan church quickly encountered the gunman and killed him after repeatedly demanding, “Drop the gun! Drop it now!” according to bodycam video released Friday. A 47-second video was released by police, five days after four people were killed inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, near Flint. The gunman, Thomas “Jake” Sanford, also died. Chief William Renye praised the “very courageous actions” of a state conservation officer and another local officer who ran to the sounds of gunfire. “This is what law enforcement is trained to do, and this is how law enforcement should respond to these incidents,” Renye said. The video shows only brief images from outside the chapel. Renye did not release video showing police with Sanford after he was killed, saying it wasn’t appropriate. The video shows police yelling, “Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Drop it now!” One of the officers tells the other officer, “I’ve got your back... Shoot him.” Renye said at least eight shots were fired at Sanford. He said the entire incident lasted less than four minutes from the time of the first 911 call, not eight as initially reported. Sanford had rammed his pickup truck into the chapel, repeatedly fired shots and set the building on fire last Sunday. Besides the deaths, eight people were injured. Four white crosses with blue hearts were set up down the street from the ruins of the church property. Each cross has the name of someone who died: Craig Hayden, William “Pat” Howard, John Bond and Thelma Armstrong. Flower bouquets were placed there, and votive candles burned Friday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 11:49 AM, Timothy Nerozzi, 1563K] reports that President Donald Trump has set a firm deadline for the terrorist group Hamas to accept the peace deal he crafted with Israel and a coalition of Arab nations. The president published a statement on Truth Social on Friday morning, putting a time limit on accepting the 20-point peace plan he calls Hamas’s "last chance.” "An Agreement must be reached with Hamas by Sunday Evening at SIX (6) P.M., Washington, D.C. time. Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas." He added, "THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER." The announcement gives Hamas a few extra days to deliberate its next move, as Trump estimated earlier this week that the terrorist group had "three or four" days to decide — a time frame that has already elapsed. Reports in Saudi outlets suggest that Hamas leadership is torn over the deal, with officials prepared to "not reject the plan entirely" but instead "accept it in part, with the addition of amendments related to certain issues, particularly those related to the handover of the hostages, the withdrawal of the IDF, and other matters." Such a lukewarm response will be a tough sell for the Trump administration, which has expressed a "take it or leave it" attitude regarding this final offer. Failing to accept the plan could also lose Hamas its last remaining allies, neighboring Arab nations that have grown tired of the terrorist group’s unwillingness to establish peace. Trump specifically shouted out the "great, powerful, and very rich Nations of the Middle East, and the surrounding areas beyond" that worked with the United States to craft his plan.

Washington Examiner [10/3/2025 2:48 PM, Tom Rogan, 1563K] reports that President Donald Trump’s executive order providing Qatar with a de facto U.S. security guarantee is absurd when assessed against U.S. interests. Qatar is a U.S. ally, but only a nominal one. It circulates tens of billions of dollars a year to malevolent Sunni-Salafist political organizations. It allows too many Qatari citizens to fund terrorist groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda. It also hosts terrorists from Hamas and other groups. Trump’s order, issued this week, declares that "The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States… In the event of such an attack, the United States shall take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar and to restore peace and stability." Qatar has not earned this special privilege. Not by a long shot. Although not a treaty of the kind that formally situates America’s defensive alliances with NATO, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, for example, this executive order is a de facto grant of American protection for Qatar. It will encourage Qatar to behave in ways that are sometimes antithetical to U.S. and allied interests (most notably, Israeli interests) in the belief that doing so will result in no serious countermeasures. Qatar’s comfortable relationship with Iran already underlines how it is willing to act against U.S. interests.

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