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

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

The Wall Street Journal [10/6/2025 6:02 PM, Jess Bravin, John McCormick, and Victoria Albert, 646K] reports Illinois officials sued Monday to stop President Trump from deploying National Guard forces to Chicago, as the administration’s confrontation with Democratic-led states escalated nationwide. On Saturday, Trump ordered the federalization of 300 Illinois National Guardsmen over the objection of Gov. JB Pritzker, contending that emergency conditions beyond the control of civilian authorities are impeding the enforcement of federal immigration law. The administration over the weekend also ordered the federalization of 400 soldiers of the Texas National Guard for deployment “where needed,” including to Chicago and Portland, Ore., another of Trump’s targets. Monday’s lawsuit, filed by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, argues that Trump’s Chicago order reflects a longstanding hostility to the city and its leaders rather than a true emergency requiring a military response. It cited Trump’s comments stretching back more than a decade, including a 2013 social-media post where the future president said, “we need our troops on the streets of Chicago, not in Syria.” The judge overseeing the case set a hearing for Thursday on Illinois’ request for a temporary restraining order. Less than a mile west of the federal courthouse, Pritzker praised the lawsuit and rebutted Trump’s suggestions that military force is needed. “There is no insurrection here,” he said during a news conference. “Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities.” The Illinois governor said he asked Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a close Trump ally, to not allow his state’s National Guard to be mobilized in Illinois and “used in this way,” as is expected. “They should stay the hell out of Illinois,” Pritzker said. The new case follows an extraordinary weekend of legal maneuvering in Oregon. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut on Saturday halted the federalization of 200 Oregon National Guardsmen for similar purposes there. Trump then responded by ordering 300 federalized California Guard troops to Portland, spurring Immergut, a Trump appointee, to issue a broader order that temporarily blocked the president from deploying any National Guard troops to the state. In an emergency hearing Sunday, the judge accused the administration of defying the court, saying its attempted workaround was a “direct contravention” of her earlier ruling. The White House is already appealing the Oregon ruling. On Monday, it said the president would use his legal authority to protect federal assets and officers. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” a spokeswoman said. NBC News [10/6/2025 5:05 PM, Gary Grumbach, Dareh Gregorian and Selina Guevara, 43603K] reports “The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the Illinois attorney general’s office wrote in the filing, which names President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as defendants. “The Trump administration’s illegal actions already have subjected and are subjecting Illinois to serious and irreparable harm,” the suit says. The White House maintained Trump’s actions are lawful. “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like [Illinois Gov. JB] Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. A federal judge in Oregon issued two separate orders over the weekend temporarily blocking the Trump administration from sending federalized National Guard members from California — or any other state — to Portland, Oregon. Portland and Chicago are part of a wave of Democrat-run cities and states that Trump has targeted with federal troops. “This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, wrote in one of her rulings. The suit brought on behalf of Illinois and the city of Chicago makes similar arguments about federal overreach. “The Federalization Order’s deployment of federalized military forces to protect federal personal and property from ‘violent demonstrations’ that ‘are occurring or are likely to occur’ represents the exact type of intrusion on State power that is at the heart of the Tenth Amendment," it says. “The deployment of federalized National Guard, including from another state, infringes on Illinois’s sovereignty and right to self-governance. It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police. It also creates economic harm, depressing business activities and tourism that not only hurt Illinoisians but also hurt Illinois’s tax revenue,” the suit says. The AP [10/6/2025 6:36 PM, Christine Fernando, 19051K] reports White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson confirmed in a weekend statement that Trump authorized using Illinois National Guard members, citing what she called "ongoing violent riots and lawlessness" that local leaders have not quelled. Separately, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he signed an executive order barring federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property, such as parking lots, garages and vacant lots, as staging areas for enforcement operations. The Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that agents shot a woman Saturday morning on the southwest side of Chicago. A department statement said it happened after Border Patrol agents patrolling the area "were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.". No law enforcement officers were seriously injured, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

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The Hill [10/6/2025 1:33 PM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) signed an executive order Monday banning federal immigration officials from using city property in their operations. The order prevents Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from using city-owned parking lots, vacant lots and other locations for staging, processing and operations. It directs city departments to implement the measures within five days, requires city employees to immediately report violations and encourages local businesses and community organizations to adopt similar policies. Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) launched Operation Midway Blitz to target migrants without legal status in Chicago. Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) have criticized the surge in federal immigration enforcement to the city. "We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority," Johnson said in a release. The mayor also referenced ICE officers reportedly detaining Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes and utilizing tear gas on residents on Friday. "With this Executive Order, Chicago stands firm in protecting the Constitutional rights of our residents and immigrant communities and upholding our democracy," Johnson added. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), slammed Johnson in a statement, saying he was "demonizing ICE law enforcement." "Just this weekend, he and Governor Pritzker refused to allow the local police department to give our officers back up at the scene of a law enforcement attack — a growing and violent crowd began throwing rocks at our law enforcement, yet their chief of patrol ordered their officers not to help," she said. FOX News [10/6/2025 1:57 PM, Deirdre Heavey, 40621K] reports Johnson established the "ICE-free zones" — referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — as part of his Protecting Chicago Initiative, rejecting President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown and deportation rollout in the city. "Today, we are signing an executive order aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration," Johnson said during a news conference on Monday. "The order establishes ICE-free zones. That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids." As Chicago seeks to thwart ICE’s deportation efforts, Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker filed a lawsuit attempting to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Illinois. "The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago," Johnson said. "The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy." During his remarks, Johnson accused the "extreme right" of refusing to accept the results of the Civil War, when slavery was abolished. "They have repeatedly called for a rematch, but in the coming weeks, we will use this opportunity to build greater resistance. Chicagoans are clear that militarizing our troops in our city as justification to further escalate a war in Chicago will not be tolerated," he said. "The right wing in this country wants a rematch of the Civil War," Johnson repeated during the news conference. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

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NewsMax [10/6/2025 7:22 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to create "ICE-free zones," telling Newsmax on Monday that the move is "really unfortunate" and undermines Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ efforts to enforce immigration laws and protect Americans. Johnson, a Democrat, earlier Monday signed an executive order that created measures to prohibit federal immigration agents from using any city-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago. Noem told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" that Johnson’s order effectively bars ICE officers from entering city-owned property and pressures businesses to keep federal agents off their premises as well. "It sounds like he’s taking all of his city property and certain businesses that may agree with him and not allowing our ICE agents to be in their parking lots or their facilities," Noem said. "It’s really unfortunate because what they’re doing every day is going after individuals who have violated our laws, people who have committed crimes and hurt the American people.". Noem said many business owners in Chicago privately support ICE but are "bullied by their local leaders" who threaten to withhold cooperation from police and fire departments if they defy the city’s policy. "They know that if they have ICE vehicles in their parking lot, that’s not going to get them much goodwill with the local leadership," she said. Noem, who visited Chicago last week, said morale among agents remains high despite harassment from left-wing activists. She said threats against agents have grown more violent, including a car ramming and cartels’ offering $10,000 bounties to kill federal officers. "I told them that when I was there just a couple of days ago, I don’t know what it must be like to stand there and to have these paid activists and terrorists stand there and scream in your face all day and say the things that they say, the words that they use, and saying they wish that violence on them, call them names, threaten their families," she said.

FOX News [10/6/2025 6:10 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports following a weekend of violent anti-ICE protests in Portland and Chicago, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem shared a message to federal law enforcement officials who continued operations despite the danger: "I have your backs." In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Noem called the anti-ICE activists "violent anarchists" who she said would like to tear down the country. "Our brave men and women of law enforcement are being targeted and attacked by violent anarchists who seek to tear down America," said Noem. "I want each and every member of law enforcement to know this: President Trump and I have your backs," she went on, while urging others to "stand with ICE as they continue to protect and defend our homeland."

FOX News [10/6/2025 12:07 PM, Staff, 10085K] reports that DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin tells ‘Varney & Co.’ the administration will appeal Portland’s ‘absurd’ ruling endangering safety and vows to use every federal resource to protect law enforcement. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [10/6/2025 11:03 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Customs and Border Protection chief patrol agent Greg Bovino addresses what ‘feeds’ violence against I.C.E. agents and whether Chicago police was told not to help federal officers on ‘Hannity.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [10/6/2025 9:18 AM, Staff, 40019K] reports that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss Chicago rioters threatening the lives of federal agents cracking down on criminal illegal immigration amid reports that police were ordered to not help the agents. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 12:23 PM, Harold Hutchison, 835K] reports United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Acting Director Todd Lyons said Monday that his agents were facing an "uptick" in threats from drug cartels. ICE facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have been the scene of multiple riots as opposition to the agency’s operations targeting illegal immigrants has intensified. Lyons reacted to reports that Chicago police were ordered not to assist ICE agents who were ambushed Saturday. "It is sad. All law enforcement will respond to any other brother or sister in law enforcement that’s in need," Lyons said. "That’s what didn’t happen here in Chicago. You had 30 or 40 border patrol agents who were being swarmed, pinned in and attacked. "You have a domestic terrorist that was doxxing agents and officers. She had a firearm in the vehicle, they had to return fire, yet officers of the Chicago PD are told to stand down." "It shows where we are with the sad state of law enforcement in Illinois is the fact that you had other federal officers under attack, yet because of politics and the way people feel about immigration enforcement, they did not aid federal law enforcement officers," Lyons continued.

NewsMax [10/6/2025 8:59 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons on Monday called Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker "disgusting" for questioning the actions of federal officers after an armed woman was shot in Chicago over the weekend following a violent incident that involved ramming ICE vehicles. Speaking with "Rob Schmitt Tonight," Lyons defended the ICE officers’ use of force, telling Newsmax that elected officials who second-guess law enforcement in such situations are out of line. Pritzker told CNN it was hard to know the facts, accusing the Trump administration of "propaganda.” "It’s just disgusting," Lyons said. "Any elected official that wants to question what law enforcement has to do, and they have to use deadly force in a situation … you can’t ram a vehicle. You can’t drag a law enforcement officer for hundreds of feet. You can’t resist arrest. If you use that vehicle in a deadly force situation, then any law enforcement officer around the United States is going to use whatever force necessary to not only save their life, but to stop that act.” Lyons described the scene as extremely dangerous, saying Border Patrol and ICE officers were confronted with what amounted to a weaponized vehicle. "Well, Rob, you know, not only did she have a semiautomatic weapon, but she had a 14,000-pound vehicle that she was using as a weapon first," Lyons said. "So 10 vehicles surrounded the Border Patrol team and aggressively crashed into them, forced them off the road. And then now they’re boxed in. And at that point, we’re in a deadly force situation.” No law enforcement officers were seriously injured in the incident. The woman, a U.S. citizen who was not identified, drove herself to the hospital, according to a DHS statement. Lyons praised the agents on the scene, saying they acted within ICE policies and regulations and that they "went home at the end of the day.” "I’m extremely proud of the ICE officers that were out there that day. They acted within our policies and regulations," he said. "And I’m sorry if people don’t like immigration law or the way we do it, but the men and women of ICE will protect themselves and our other DHS partners.” Lyons argued there is no justification for resisting law enforcement or using a vehicle as a weapon, and he pushed back on what he framed as political theater from officials who question split-second decisions made under life-threatening conditions. "No one should be resisting law enforcement. No one should be ramming vehicles," Lyons said.

FOX News [10/6/2025 8:07 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports that, as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signs an executive order establishing "ICE-free zones," a federal special agent working on deportations said these types of measures are causing real complications and hampering ICE’s ability to crack down on criminal illegal immigrants. The special agent, who works deportations in New England, told Fox News Digital that sanctuary policies banning ICE agents from using police departments or other city areas for staging often forces agents to be exposed, having to prepare for missions in public areas. The agent explained that if ICE does not have a nearby office and is barred from using city grounds, "that means you’re stuck with, ‘Okay, I’m going to go to a supermarket. I’m going to go to some office park if I can find one, maybe a park while I don my vest and all that, and I’m getting briefed.” On Monday, Johnson, a Democrat, signed an executive order prohibiting the use of city parking lots and garages for civil immigration enforcement staging areas, processing locations or operations bases. Johnson touted the order as establishing "ICE-free zones." Speaking at a press conference for the signing on Monday, he said the order also enables "unwilling private businesses" to refuse ICE agents’ use of their property to stage for operations. He said the order is "aimed at reining in this out-of-control administration.” "If the federal government violates this executive order, we will take them to court," Johnson said, urging Trump to leave Chicago "the freak alone.” In a statement posted on X, Johnson accused ICE agents of "detaining elected officials, tear-gassing protestors, children, and Chicago police officers, and abusing Chicago residents.” "With this Executive Order, Chicago stands firm in protecting the Constitutional rights of our residents and immigrant communities and upholding our democracy," Johnson wrote. The White House responded by issuing a blistering statement in which it called the order "a disgusting betrayal of every law-abiding citizen.” The White House called the order a "sick policy" that "coddles criminal illegal alien killers, rapists, and gangbangers who prey on innocent Americans.” "Shielding the most depraved, violent criminal illegal aliens from justice is not only an insult to every Chicagoan, it’s also a dangerous intensification of Democrats’ lunatic ‘sanctuary’ agenda where criminal illegals come before American citizens," said the White House statement. According to the agent, Chicago is not the only sanctuary city that bars ICE from using municipal property to stage immigration enforcement operations. "What does that leave you with in an urban environment? You’re going to go to a supermarket. Who’s at a supermarket? Everyone and their grandmother," the agent said. The agent explained that preparing for missions in public spaces presents an operational risk because it allows anti-ICE activists to track and publicize their movements. "They can see us getting together and they put it on Facebook immediately because there’s different Facebook pages that we know they put us on," said the agent. The agent also expressed concern over sanctuary policies keeping police departments from being able to assist if protesters get violent. "Being in a sanctuary city, in the event this gets violent, or they get handsy or somebody gets hurt, either a government person or a protester. What are the local police going to do? Are they going to let us deal with it? I don’t know," said the agent. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [10/6/2025 1:19 PM, Alex Oliveira, 42219K] reports that the White House called the mayor of Chicago "sick" and accused him of defending "rapists" and "killers" after he barred ICE agents from operating on city-owned property. "Brandon Johnson just announced he signed an executive order creating ‘ICE Free Zones’ to ban ICE agents from city property," the White House’s X account Rapid Response 47 wrote Monday morning. "This is SICK. He is aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers," the account added. The furious post came shortly after Johnson announced an executive order blocking federal immigration officials from using city-owned spaces like parking lots — a response to Sunday’s news that President Trump had decided to deploy about 400 National Guard troops in the Windy City. Johnson’s order is intended to complicate immigration enforcement plans by keeping federal agents from staging their operations on city property. "Our school parking lots are not for ICE to load their weapons," Johnson said. "Our libraries are not for ICE to prepare for a raid," he added. "Our parks are not for ICE to set up checkpoints."

Chicago Tribune [10/6/2025 11:28 AM, Alice Yin, 4829K] reports Mayor Brandon Johnson delivered forceful rhetoric but few concrete answers Monday ahead of an expected deployment of hundreds of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, the latest escalation in President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign targeting the nation’s third-largest city. Speaking at a news conference on the West Side in which he signed an executive order he said would deter U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Johnson told Chicagoans to stand together against the White House’s mounting threats of a military occupation, which he dubbed "the war on Chicago.". His latest line in the sand came after weeks of roiling standoffs between federal immigration agents and protesters in Chicago and Broadview, where a suburban ICE facility has become ground zero for the local response against Trump’s "Operation Midway" deportation blitz. "In the coming days and weeks, we may be pushed, if not forced, to take even more dramatic action if this administration continues to escalate and provoke our people," Johnson told reporters. Pressed to elaborate, he said, "Everything. Everything, whatever is necessary to ensure that we’re protecting people.". The city and state’s struggle against the White House’s efforts again moved to the legal arena after Gov. JB Pritzker filed a lawsuit Monday seeking an emergency order blocking the deployment of the National Guard in Illinois. The city is also a plaintiff in the suit. At the same time, the mayor’s control over the local Police Department has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration raids. "Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X, incorrectly stating that the governor had jurisdiction over the Police Department. "There is a growing crowd and we are deploying special operations to control the scene."

NewsNation [10/6/2025 2:42 PM, Alex Caprariello and Jeff Arnold, 8017K] reports that the Chicago Police Department is pushing back against allegations that officers were told to "stand down" in response to weekend incidents involving federal immigration enforcement officers and agents, including one in which a woman was shot. The Fraternal Order of Police, an advocacy group for law enforcement that endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2024, alleged Chicago city police were ordered not to respond to assist a group of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers while they were being "physically threatened" by what appeared to be an angry group of people. A spokesperson for the National Fraternal Order of Police said that both the FOP and the Chicago chapter of the organization "believe that when an officer calls for assistance, you answer, no matter what." However, in a statement provided by a Chicago Police Department spokesperson, the agency said that officers did indeed respond to incidents involving federal agents and officers, including the scene of the shooting in which a woman was hospitalized after being shot by federal officers. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that a woman who had been threatening federal officers had a semiautomatic weapon and was in a vehicle that boxed federal officers in. DHS officials say the shooting occurred on the city’s Southwest Side after U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were ambushed by "domestic terrorists" who rammed federal police with vehicles. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [10/6/2025 5:44 PM, Molly Parks, 1394K] reports Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) gathered state and local leaders from Illinois to stand against the Trump administration’s move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, calling on federal officers to stay "the hell out of Chicago." "The state of Illinois is going to use every lever at our disposal to resist this power grab and get Noem’s thugs the hell out of Chicago. I’m not afraid. I am not afraid and I won’t back down," Pritzker said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Pritzker made the comments during a Monday afternoon press conference in which he detailed Illinois and Chicago’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for its ordered deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago. Pritzker accused President Donald Trump of wanting to incite chaos in the city "to create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act." Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if necessary.

CBS Chicago [10/6/2025 6:22 PM, Todd Feurer, 39474K] Video: HERE reports Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson on Monday announced an executive order setting fixed protest hours outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in the village in Chicago’s west suburbs. Thompson’s order limits protests outside the ICE facility at 1930 Beach Street and the designated protest area at 2000 S. 25th Av. to between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. According to the order, the mayor decided to set a limit on protest times "due to the recent escalation of violence by ICE" outside the facility, including "needlessly deploying tear gas, pepper spray, mace, and rubber bullets at individuals and reporters, thereby injuring Village residents, Village police officers, and Village firefighters.". The mayor said the order is needed to balance the constitutional rights of protesters with the needs of Broadview residents and businesses. "People have to go to work, they have to get their children ready for school, our businesses have to serve their customers, and our residents with developmental disabilities, who have sensory issues, have suffered emotional meltdowns because of the chaotic environment when protests get disruptive," said Thompson. "I have repeatedly said that I intend to defend the protesters’ constitutionally protected free speech rights. I support their cause. But the repeated clashes with ICE agents in our town are causing enormous disruptions in the quality of life for my residents whose rights I have taken an oath to protect. We live here. Our residents live here and deserve dignity and respect.". CBS News Chicago legal analyst Irv Miller predicted, if the mayor’s order faces a court challenge, it would be ruled unconstitutional. "The First Amendment doesn’t say it can only be done during business hours, and I think that that order will be struck down by a judge somewhere along the line, because it’s clearly unconstitutional," he said. The Hill [10/6/2025 4:28 PM, Lee Ann Anderson, 12595K] reports that protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions at the facility have drawn hundreds of people, as well as an unprecedented amount of law enforcement from Broadview and neighboring cities, Illinois state troopers and Cook County sheriff’s deputies. Tensions hit a high point on Saturday after a woman was shot by a federal agent in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, not far from the Broadview facility. Demonstrators had boxed in a government vehicle, leading to the incident, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

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FOX News [10/6/2025 10:40 AM, Deirdre Heavey, 40621K] reports the White House ridiculed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, D-Ill., on Monday for rejecting President Donald Trump’s deployment of national guardsmen to Illinois to combat crime. "Chicago is descending into lawlessness and chaos because this slob cares more about boosting his anti-Trump creds on X than he does about making his city safe," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. "Pritzker should be ashamed of himself," she said. Pritzker, long considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, said he refused to comply with the Trump administration’s "ultimatum" to deploy Illinois National Guard troops, calling it "absolutely outrageous and un-American.". "We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion," Pritzker said. After Pritzker refused to deploy his own troops, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott authorized Trump to send 400 Texas National Guard members to Illinois and Oregon. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard troops to Chicago. Abbott said he deployed Texas troops to "ensure safety for federal officials" in the blue states where protesters have rejected the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) deportation efforts. "You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it," Abbott said.

Breitbart [10/6/2025 8:21 AM, Bob Price, 2608K] reports federal immigration agents in Chicago faced two vehicular assaults in a single day—the second taking place in Bensenville—when an illegal alien rammed an ICE vehicle and fled into a residence. The incident underscores what DHS officials say is a "1000 percent spike" in attacks and a growing climate of lawlessness fueled by Illinois’s sanctuary policies. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to a video posted on social media, purportedly showing an assault on ICE agents, in which ten vehicles were boxed in by an ICE vehicle, and a woman displayed a semi-automatic weapon, prompting officers to open fire. The secretary said the video actually depicts a second vehicular assault on federal law enforcement agents in a single day. Breitbart Texas reported on one attack, where a group of organized anti-ICE activists surrounded and rammed a federal law enforcement vehicle in the Chicago suburb of Broadview. DHS officials report that two additional attacks occurred in nearby Bensenville and Norridge, Illinois. "Criminal illegal aliens weaponized their vehicles in deliberate attempts to ram and injure officers carrying out their sworn duty to uphold our nation’s immigration laws," DHS officials reported. "Thankfully, none of our law enforcement officers were killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks on law enforcement. This is exactly what happens when Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "Our ICE law enforcement is facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults—including cars—being used as weapons against them. Secretary Noem has been clear: anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.".

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Duoage Policy Journal [6/10/2025 11:40 PM, K. F. Kirby]

FOX News [10/6/2025 8:13 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports federal agents in Chicago on Monday arrested a suspected Latin Kings leader accused of offering cash bounties to capture and kill a senior immigration officer working with "Operation Midway Blitz.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois unsealed a criminal complaint Monday charging 37-year-old Chicago resident Juan Espinoza Martinez with a single count of murder for hire. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the official Martinez allegedly placed a bounty on as Commander at Large of the U.S. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino. Martinez was taken into custody Monday morning, though his initial court appearance has not yet been scheduled. U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Boutros called the alleged plot "an attack on the rule of law.” "Putting a price on the life of a law enforcement officer is an attack on the rule of law," Boutros said. "The defendant’s actions in this case demonstrate a profound contempt for human life and public safety. Under my leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago will hold defendants accountable for their grave criminal actions and ensure that no federal officer has to fear for their life for doing their job.” According to the complaint, Martinez is a ranking member of the Latin Kings, a gang notorious for violent crimes and drug trafficking across Chicago. DHS said Martinez is from Mexico and entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown date and time. The complaint alleges Martinez sent Snapchat messages that read, "2k on information when you get him" and "10k if you take him down.” In the exchange, Martinez used the handle "monkeys---" and the name "Juan," according to investigators. The message included a photo of a senior Border Patrol officer involved in immigration enforcement operations in Chicago as part of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s "Operation Midway Blitz.” The complaint says a confidential source told investigators that after a police-involved shooting on Oct. 4, 2025, involving Border Patrol agents in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, Martinez sent Latin Kings members to 39th and Kedzie in response. The source said Martinez ordered members to obtain firearms and patrol the area around 26th Street and South Drake Avenue to defend Latin Kings territory. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case reflects the Justice Department’s renewed focus on combating gang violence. "Placing a bounty on the head of a federal officer is an attack on the rule of law and on every American who depends on law enforcement to keep them safe," Blanche said. "This case is exactly what we mean when we say Take Back America — taking back every neighborhood and street corner from violent thugs and criminal gangs and returning them to the law-abiding members of our communities.” The arrest followed a violent weekend in Chicago marked by multiple shootings and clashes with law enforcement. On Saturday, federal agents arrested two people accused of ramming government vehicles. One suspect, Marimar Martinez, was shot and wounded; the other, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, was taken into custody in a separate but similar incident. Marimar Martinez’s shooting was among 22 incidents between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday, leaving 29 people shot and four dead, according to Chicago police. The New York Times [10/6/2025 10:45 PM, Mitch Smith, 135475K] reports that an affidavit signed by a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations said agents learned last week that Mr. Martinez had sent a Snapchat message with a photo of the Border Patrol official and an offer for $2,000 for information on that official or “10k if u take him down.” “Putting a price on the life of a law enforcement officer is an attack on the rule of law,” said Andrew S. Boutros, the top federal prosecutor in Chicago, in a statement. That affidavit also said Mr. Martinez sent messages on Saturday directing members of a street gang to an area in Chicago where a federal agent shot a person. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Martinez had a lawyer. An official with the federal defender’s office in Chicago did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Homeland Security said Mr. Martinez is from Mexico and in the United States illegally. Mr. Bovino is outspoken on social media and has embraced public shows of force, making him a star among supporters of President Trump. Others have denounced his work and the operations he has helped direct. Among those efforts is the Chicago-area immigration enforcement campaign called Operation Midway Blitz, which has been met in recent weeks with protests and constitutional critiques from state and local officials. The Washington Times [10/6/2025 11:23 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports “Depraved individuals like Juan Espinoza Martinez – who do not value human life and threaten law enforcement – do not belong in this country,” said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. She cast the gang’s actions as part of a string of threats and violence against federal law enforcement. Illinois officials have been particularly pointed in identifying Chief Bovino as a major player in the administration’s plans. Indeed, his name was featured prominently in Illinois’ new lawsuit Monday challenging President Trump’s decision to federalize and deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area to quell protests hindering immigration enforcement. The lawsuit said Chief Bovino has provoked passions at the Broadview migrant processing facility in the western suburbs of the city by marching along with other agents in tactical gear, and refusing to take alternate routes to get to the location, which angered protesters who were trying to block access.

Daily Wire [10/6/2025 4:17 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3184K] reports the FBI arrested two individuals on Saturday after they allegedly rammed their vehicles into a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicle in Chicago, triggering a shooting. Marimar Martinez, 31, and Anthony Ian Santos, 21, were charged Sunday after federal authorities said they struck and boxed in a CBP vehicle to prevent it from escaping. Both were charged with forcibly assaulting, impeding, and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer. The incident occurred on Saturday morning as three CBP agents, driving a silver Chevrolet Tahoe, were acting as a mobile security detail for an immigration enforcement operation near southwest Chicago. While working the operation, a "convoy of civilian vehicles" started following them, according to a criminal complaint. Those vehicles ran red lights, blew by stop signs, and broke traffic laws to follow the Border Patrol vehicle. The complaint added that Martinez could be heard referring to those in the Border Patrol vehicle as "la migra," which is derogatory slang for immigration enforcement officers.

New York Post [10/6/2025 10:00 AM, Emily Crane, 43962K] reports shocking video captured the moment an unhinged driver rammed into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle in Chicago amid a spate of attacks on federal agents. The chaotic scene unfolded when the black SUV was caught on camera suddenly plowing into the back of the ICE truck in the middle of heavy traffic on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security said. The driver then chased the ICE vehicle before repeatedly slamming into its bumper in front of shocked bystanders. Scores of federal agents could be seen drawing their guns in a bid to prevent the driver from fleeing. It wasn’t immediately clear if the driver was apprehended. The assault came soon after Border Patrol agents shot a gun-toting woman elsewhere in the city when an angry mob of anti-ICE protesters ambushed federal agents and boxed them in with 10 vehicles. The woman, Marimar Martinez, as well as another driver, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, were both arrested and branded "domestic terrorists.". "The scene became increasingly violent as more domestic terrorists gathered and began throwing smoke, gas, rocks, and bottles at DHS law enforcement," DHS said. "These attacks on our brave law enforcement officers must END," DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has since deployed special operations teams to the city. "Secretary Noem has taken action to deploy additional resources to restore law and order. We will not allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement," McLaughlin said. "If you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.".

Univision [10/6/2025 6:15 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported that Border Patrol agents were ambushed by "domestic terrorists" who used vehicles "as weapons against federal officers." The incident occurred on the morning of October 4 at 39th and Kidzie, when Marimar Martínez was shot five times after an encounter with Border Patrol agents. According to a DHS statement, a group of vehicles was allegedly blocking the passage of Border Patrol agents when this incident occurred. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Sneeling confirmed that officers responded to the scene and that the woman claimed she had been injured by federal agents; Martinez was taken to a hospital to be treated for her injuries. DHS confirmed that one of its officers "was forced to use his weapon and fire defensive shots" because a U.S. citizen who was driving a vehicle had a gun. Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz was another person detained that day after the encounter with the agents. Family members say that the two men did not know each other. During the hearing held on Monday, October 6, the prosecution argued that both Martínez and Santos Ruiz allegedly participated in the attacks, repeatedly striking official vehicles and chasing officers for several minutes. However, the defense presented a very different narrative. It argued that Marimar Martínez, 30, has been a teacher’s assistant at a school for three years, has no criminal record, and has more than 30 letters of recommendation from her superiors and family members. Her lawyers asserted that she has a permit to carry a weapon, which was stored away and was never used or threatened to be used. Anthony Santos Ruiz, 21, works as a DJ and cares for his brother who has epilepsy. He also has no criminal record and, according to his defense, did not know Marimar and did not participate in the incident in a coordinated manner. They claimed that their vehicle was first hit by federal units and that he only stopped to complain about the damage when he was arrested. The judge in the case acknowledged that the operation could have ended in a greater tragedy, given the level of violence used in the arrests and the injuries suffered by Marimar, who was shot five times. The judge decided to release Martínez and Santos for the duration of the trial. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) CBS 2 News This Morning [10/6/2025 8:36 AM, Staff] reports that in Chicago, federal prosecutors are filing felony assault charges against a woman who was shot over the weekend by US Border Patrol, an incident which led to a heated confrontation between federal agents and around 100 protesters. According to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, federal agents resorted to defensive fire after Maria Martinez rammed her vehicle into theirs. The statement adds the 30-year-old was armed with a semiautomatic weapon at the time. She is not facing weapons charges. Martinez was treated at a local hospital and later discharged into FBI custody. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker described the federal government’s account of the events as propaganda. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described Chicago as a warzone and insists the city’s residents want federal intervention.

National Review [10/6/2025 10:18 AM, Noah Rothman, 109K] reports the events that unfolded over the weekend in Chicago were described by law enforcement as harrowing. U.S. Border Patrol agents were reportedly conducting a patrol of the city’s South Side when they were set upon and "attacked" by an organized convoy of ten vehicles that "boxed in" the CBP detachment. "The officers exited their trapped vehicle, when a suspect tried to run them over, forcing the officers to fire defensively," a Department of Homeland Security statement read. During that confrontation, one agent shot an armed woman already known to law enforcement "for doxing" and posting threats against immigration-enforcement agents. She escaped and drove herself to a hospital, where she was later arrested along with another attacker at a separate location. That sequence of events is backed up by independent reporting, which cites prosecutors’ accounts and video evidence of the aftermath of the ramming attack captured by witnesses. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, however, proposed an alternative theory of the case, seeming to justify the mayhem. "[Federal officers] fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it’s a war zone," he told CNN. "And they, you know, get people on the ground [who] are frankly incited to want do something about it, appropriately."

FOX News [10/6/2025 1:49 PM, Michael Ruiz, 40621K] reports that preliminary crime statistics from this past weekend show 22 shootings in Chicago in a three-day span, resulting in 29 victims and four murder cases, according to the city’s police department. The numbers are subject to change and include incidents reported between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Sunday. The victims include a 16-year-old with a gunshot wound to the hand who told police he had been the victim of a drive-by involving a black SUV, a 62-year-old man and 23-year-old woman who were both shot in the legs while sitting in a garage, and a 33-year-old man shot twice in the chest by an unidentified male after an argument. He died from his injuries. The grim statistics come as Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker continues to reject a plan from President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to quell violence, a plan the governor claims is "Trump’s invasion." The weekend violence also includes an incident involving federal officers after someone allegedly rammed a Homeland Security vehicle at a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. Pritzker is suing the Trump administration in a bid to block the National Guard deployment. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Two drivers were arrested in connection with the alleged ramming attack. One of them was carrying a semiautomatic firearm, according to Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who also said officers were unable to move and "were forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed U.S. citizen."

Blaze [10/6/2025 1:45 PM, Sebastian Pestritto, 1442K] reports that the Trump administration is deploying 400 troops from the Texas National Guard to Chicago amid escalating violence over Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the city. The move comes on the heels of an attack on ICE officers, allegedly by left-wing activists, and weeks of rolling protests and riots around ICE detention facilities in and around the city. The unrest has increased in response to Operation Midway Blitz, an immigration enforcement operation targeting illegal aliens in Chicago. The city has become a hotbed for illegal immigration due in large part to its status as a sanctuary city, meaning that law enforcement is not permitted to cooperate with federal personnel and city resources are open to illegal aliens. In a memo on Sunday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced he was activating the Texas National Guard, writing, "Violent incidents, as well as the credible threat of continued violence are impeding the execution of the laws of the United States.". Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, said that he "fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officers.". Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called the deployment "Trump’s invasion" in a post on X and said, "Every American must speak up and help stop this madness." He lamented the fact that "no officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.". In addressing the situation, Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, "We will not allow domestic terrorists to attack our law enforcement. If you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

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Daily Wire [10/6/2025 6:33 AM, Jennie Taer, 2494K]
Houston Chronicle [10/6/2025 6:34 PM, Bayliss Wagner, 2983K]

CBS News [10/6/2025 7:44 PM, Jeramie Bizzle and Sara Machi, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Sunday evening that President Trump has ordered National Guard members from Texas to be deployed to Illinois. In a statement, Pritzker said 400 members of the Texas National Guard will be deployed to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the U.S. "No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate," Pritzker said in the statement. "We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.". Pritzker called on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for the decision and refuse to coordinate. "There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation. The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props. This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness," Pritzker said in the statement. In response, Abbott said he "fully authorized" the deployment of his state’s troops "to ensure safety for federal officials.". "You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it," the Republican governor said on X. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [10/6/2025 8:47 AM, Randy Clark, 2608K] reports Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) confirmed Sunday that 400 Texas National Guard soldiers will be deployed to Illinois and other sanctuary states under a federal directive from President Trump, igniting a fierce interstate clash. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) denounced the move as "Trump’s Invasion" and called for immediate withdrawal. Governor Abbott confirmed a plan by President Trump to send Texas Army National Guard soldiers to Illinois and other parts of the country to protect federal law enforcement officials. The move, confirmed by Abbott in a social media post on Sunday, drew criticism from Illinois Governor Pritzker, who asked Abbott to refuse. Pritzker issued a statement on Sunday condemning the plan to send the contingent of Texas soldiers to his state, saying, "We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion. It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.". "I call on Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate," Pritzker continued. "There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.". Texas Governor Greg Abbott wasted no time responding to Pritzker’s request to refuse coordination with President Trump’s plan in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday evening. Abbott’s post read, "I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials. You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let (the) Texas Guard do it." Abbott added, "No Guard can match the training, skill, and expertise of the Texas National Guard. They defend our country with pride. America must also know that Texas still has thousands of National Guard assisting with the Border security."

Politico [10/6/2025 5:53 PM, Kyle Cheney, 2100K] reports Los Angeles. Washington, D.C. Memphis. Portland. Chicago. The militarization of American cities isn’t arriving with a parade of tanks. It’s a trickle of National Guard deployments — a slow-motion probing by President Donald Trump to test the resistance of the courts and their willingness to defer to the judgment of the commander-in-chief, even when his claims are “untethered” from reality. What began with a June 7 memo that appeared oriented toward suppressing immigration protests in Los Angeles — despite protestations from Gov. Gavin Newsom and local leaders — has now resulted in federal troops being on the ground or contemplated in a slew of America’s largest cities, sometimes with the cooperation of state officials, but often against their wishes. The effort has spawned a series of legal battles over whether the nation must accept this as a new way of life. Leaders in California, Illinois and Oregon are fighting to keep federal troops off their city streets, describing the battle in existential terms. “The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” attorneys for Illinois wrote in the opening lines of a lawsuit today against Trump’s bid to send troops to Chicago. That dynamic crystallized Saturday in the urgent warning by a Trump-appointed federal judge, not only about an immediate effort by Trump to send troops to Portland, Oregon, but by the implications of the administration’s argument about its legal basis for doing so. “This is a nation of Constitutional law, not martial law,” U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut wrote. “Defendants have made a range of arguments that, if accepted, risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.” Those arguments, she said, effectively boiled down to a limitless proposition: that “the President could send military troops virtually anywhere at any time.” Immergut’s ruling set off a furious reaction from the White House and its allies, particularly Trump aide Stephen Miller, who cast Immergut’s ruling as an “insurrection” aimed at preventing Trump from stopping an “organized terrorist attack” against federal immigration officials.

Politico [10/6/2025 6:09 PM, Jacob Wendler and Natalie Fertig, 2100K] reports the Trump administration’s move to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Democratic-led states was met with immediate backlash from state leaders who called the move unwarranted and un-American. The administration attempted to circumvent a Saturday court order blocking President Donald Trump’s call-up of 200 National Guard troops in Oregon by deploying guard troops from California and Texas to areas across the country, including near Chicago. But California Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly joined a lawsuit brought by state leaders in Oregon seeking to block the move. In a ruling that came late Sunday night, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — a Trump appointee — again blocked the deployment, finding that the move was “in direct contravention” of her previous decision. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield celebrated the decision late Sunday night, noting that the state was prepared for the Trump administration to appeal the decision. An appeals court could rule as early as Monday on Immergut’s decision. “It’s incredibly important that we don’t become that frog in boiling water,” Rayfield said Monday morning on MSNBC. “And that’s why I think you’re seeing folks rise up, whether it is Democrats or Republicans, saying, no, we got to draw a line in the sand. You need to stay in your lane, Mr. President, and operate under the Constitution and operate under the laws that Congress has given you.” Rayfield added that he was “patently offended” by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to deploy National Guard troops from Texas to other states, arguing the move “really crosses some stringent boundaries that we’ve set as a nation.”

Chicago Tribune [10/6/2025 4:32 PM, Robert McCoppin, 5352K] reports Chicago news media organizations have filed suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and federal officials, accusing the agency of using excessive force against reporters at protests of immigrant detention, and seeking a court order against such actions. Chicago Headline Club, Block Club Chicago, the Chicago Newspaper Guild Local 34071, the Illinois Press Association, and others filed the suit in federal court Monday against Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Customs and Border Patrol chief agent Gregory Bovino, the Department of Justice, President Donald Trump and others. The suit accuses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal agents of shooting, gassing and detaining people who were reporting on or peacefully protesting arrests of immigrants across the country. Specifically, the suit accuses federal agents of shooting tear gas and pepper spray into the face, hands or bodies of people who were reporting on or peacefully protesting the ICE processing facility in west suburban Broadview.

Chicago Tribune [10/6/2025 12:53 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports a woman shot by an immigration agent Saturday after she allegedly rammed his vehicle on Chicago’s Southwest Side over the weekend has not received proper medical attention and should be released immediately, her lawyer said in court Monday. Marimar Martinez, 30, of Chicago, was charged in a criminal complaint filed Sunday with forcibly assaulting, impeding and interfering with a federal law enforcement officer, which carries up to 20 years in prison. Also charged in the same incident was Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21. According to the charges, the agent who was driving was unable to move his vehicle and exited the car, at which point he fired approximately five shots from his service weapon at Martinez. Martinez was later taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she received treatment for gunshot wounds and was released into federal custody. At Martinez’s initial appearance Monday, prosecutors moved to have her detained pending trial as a danger to the community. Her attorney, Christopher Parente, asked for an immediate detention hearing, telling U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain his client has no prior criminal record and should be released to her family. McShain set a detention hearing for 2 p.m. for both Martinez and Ruiz, who also has no prior criminal record. Both Pritzker and Duckworth accused Trump and aggressive federal immigration enforcement of creating confrontation. But Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said the "attack" was part of a larger pattern of violence against immigration agents during the Trump administration’s ongoing "Operation Midway Blitz." "The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop," McLaughlin said in a statement.

Chicago Tribune [10/6/2025 6:00 AM, Olivia Olander, 5352K] reports as President Donald Trump’s federal agents continue raiding homes and businesses and marching on city streets to crack down on illegal immigration, many members of Illinois’ legislative branch - typically confined to the guardrails of government - have shifted into rabble-rouser mode. Working alongside community groups and advocates who usually lead the charge against arrests and sieges by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents, state lawmakers who often came up in politics through grassroots organizations have reaccelerated their activist origins as they have no role in broader immigration policymaking and find themselves unable to change things from within. The result has been several state lawmakers supporting rapid response efforts, assigning staff to respond to ICE sightings and even one state senator running down the street to warn residents of ICE’s presence nearby. Although Trump hasn’t opined about state lawmakers in Illinois, he has hurled insults at Illinois politicians in general, including Gov. JB Pritzker, for the governor’s resistance to federal agents being deployed into Chicago’s streets. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News recently that some higher-profile congressional candidates who protested against ICE were "desperate politicians (who) want their 15 minutes of fame." And in response to Pritzker’s criticisms of federal agents and the ramped-up raids, the Illinois GOP has cheered on ICE, even fundraising for the party by producing T-shirts and other merchandise that "celebrates the importance of strong borders and a safer America."

Daily Signal [10/6/2025 8:00 AM, Mike Gonzalez, 668K] reports "The issue is never the issue. The issue is the revolution," said the late David Horowitz, quoting a 1960s rebel. The Palestinian conflict, the climate, transgenderism, immigration, and abortion are all proximate causes for protests and now terrorism. But they are all also part of an amalgamated "omnicause" whose real purpose is to bring down the United States and the West.
Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and other recent tragedies that are rightly garnering worldwide attention, our leaders have finally woken up and are looking into who the perpetrators are and who organizes and finances them. After Kirk’s death, a liberal fired three bullets into an ABC News office in Sacramento, supposedly to protest the suspension of left-wing commentator Jimmy Kimmel. Last week, another radical shot inside a Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, killing two people. Law enforcement is investigating, and Congress is weighing hearings on whether we have a problem with leftwing violence in America. For years, I have called for investigations into Black Lives Matter. What they will find is that much of this support, not just financial but also ideological, comes from overseas, from countries that loathe the American way because its existence is a constant rebuke to their decrepit ideologies. Front and center are dark places run by communist parties, such as China and Cuba. They fund intricate radical networks inside American society because they benefit when chaos weakens us. It doesn’t matter what issue gets thousands out on the street to riot, or now, even kill.

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 11:00 AM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports leftist "antifa" activists have forced elderly homeless people to help confront law enforcement during ongoing protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Portland, Oregon, according to local police. Police have seen "several older transients that are being [coerced] into approaching the gate and causing a distraction or just told to [rattle] the gate" at an ICE facility, Portland Police Sergeant John Edwards warned his colleagues in a Sept. 4 email that was disclosed Thursday in federal court. The civil case centers around state and local officials challenging President Donald Trump’s plans to send National Guard troops to quell rioting in Portland. Leftist "instigators" were seen escorting the homeless individuals up to the building’s gate during the protests, Edwards wrote, citing reports from a colleague who was the assigned officer in charge at the scene. "[On] one occasion, [federal agents] took custody of an elderly man after he asked the agents if he could just come up to the gate and rattle it so the antifa instigators would leave him and others alone," Edwards alleged. "He told agents he and several other transients are being coerced to act on their behalf to instigate agent response," Edwards’ email said. "The subject was given a cite and released.". The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) and the FBI’s Portland field office declined to comment to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

DailySignal [10/6/2025 10:54 AM, Virginia Allen, 549K] reports a federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s move to send National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued an emergency temporary restraining order Sunday night after officials from California and Oregon asked the court to intervene. The order prevents National Guard troops from any state across the country and Washington, D.C., from being sent to Oregon. "We just won in court—again," Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., wrote on X Sunday night. "A federal judge BLOCKED Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to DEPLOY 300 OF OUR NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO PORTLAND." The court order follows Trump’s effort to deploy National Guard troops to Portland to guard federal property amid protests and riots outside an immigration detention center in the city. Federal and local law enforcement have made multiple arrests of protesters outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland in recent days. Asked about the judge’s order, Trump told press Monday his administration is going to "look at that." "Portland is burning to the ground. It’s insurrectionist all over the place," the president said. "DHS, under President Trump, will NOT ALLOW domestic terrorists to overrun our cities," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend. "We will bust their networks and bring every one of them to justice."

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The Hill [10/6/2025 7:41 AM, Max Rego, 12414K]
NewsNation [10/6/2025 3:04 PM, Nancy Loo, 8017K]

FOX News [10/6/2025 6:25 PM, Diana Stancy Fox, 40621K] reports the White House blasted a federal judge who temporarily blocked the Trump administration twice from dispatching National Guard troops to Oregon in October, asserting that President Donald Trump has "undisputed authority" to deploy troops to Portland amid ongoing immigration protests there. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a ruling late Sunday blocking the Trump administration from sending California National Guard troops to Oregon — or any other state as Trump advances his quest to deploy troops to major U.S. cities to tackle crime and to keep watch on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discredited Immergut’s ruling Monday and said that the Trump administration was appealing the decision. "I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law," Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing. "The president is using his authority as commander in chief, U.S. code 12 406, which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard and in cases where he deems it’s appropriate. … The ICE facility has been really under siege. And, by these anarchists outside, they have been, disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence.". Earlier Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said that Immergut, a Trump appointee, has no authority to bar the president from sending troops to Oregon, and blasted the decision as one of the most "egregious" orders he’s ever seen. "A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property," Miller said in a Monday X post. "Today’s judicial ruling is one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen — and is yet the latest example of unceasing efforts to nullify the 2024 election by fiat.". "Remember: all of this is about preventing the removal of illegal alien trespassers from the United States at any cost," Miller said.

CNN [10/6/2025 1:11 PM, Michael Williams, 606K] reports that the federal judge in Oregon who ruled against President Donald Trump by temporarily blocking his push to deploy troops to Portland has received bipartisan praise throughout her career and has issued rulings that could be viewed as benefiting both left- and right-wing causes. US District Judge Karin Immergut on Saturday issued a ruling that temporarily prevented the Trump administration from federalizing and deploying Oregon National Guard troops to protect an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility that has been the focus of recent protests in Portland. The Trump administration has portrayed the protests as violent riots that needs to be quelled by the military, while officials in Oregon have said that state and local law enforcement are capable of responding and that the push to introduce troops to the city could ratchet up tensions. In her ruling, Immergut said state and city officials "provide(d) substantial evidence that the protests at the Portland ICE facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days—or even weeks—leading up to the President’s directive" ordering the deployment of troops to Oregon late last month. The administration responded to Immergut’s ruling by attempting to deploy National Guard troops from California to Oregon. In a second ruling on Sunday, Immergut expanded on her earlier order, temporarily blocking the administration from deploying troops from any state to Portland, and pointedly questioning an administration attorney over what she characterized as an attempt to circumvent her earlier order. Top Trump adviser Stephen Miller described Immergut’s rulings as "legal insurrection," while the president said over the weekend the judge "ought to be ashamed of himself," misstating the judge’s gender.

FOX News [10/6/2025 1:25 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] reports that chaos continued to erupt in Portland as federal agents were captured in a dramatic video arresting multiple protesters and deploying tear gas late Sunday — minutes after a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to the city. In the footage, dozens of federal personnel in tactical gear, identified by markings from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Border Patrol, are seen detaining protesters amid thick clouds of gas. The Pentagon confirmed to Fox News Digital on Monday that "while federalized Oregon National Guard members remain under T10 status, there are no Oregon National Guard members on mission in or around the Portland area." A White House spokesperson also told Fox News Digital on Monday that President Donald Trump had ordered federal action to address the city’s "violent riots," which sparked following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. The administration added that they expect the Supreme Court to overturn the restraining order preventing the deployment of additional troops. "The facts haven’t changed: President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement. We expect to be vindicated by a higher court," spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [10/6/2025 5:19 PM, Ian Swanson, 12595K] reports President Trump on Monday said he was considering invoking the Insurrection Act to justify sending federal troops into Portland, Ore., and avoid any legal hurdles. Trump in remarks from the Oval Office likened the situation in Portland to an "insurrection," though he said he had yet to make a decision on invoking the Insurrection Act. Asked under what conditions he would invoke the Insurrection Act, Trump said he would do it "if it was necessary." Portland has been the focus of intensifying criticism from the Trump administration amid ongoing protests over immigration enforcement in the city. A federal judge in a ruling late Sunday temporarily blocked the administration from sending National Guard troops to Oregon. In response to Immergut’s initial ruling, Trump sought to deploy California National Guard troops to Portland, a move met with swift backlash from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Invoking the Insurrection Act could give Trump a way around the courts, but it likely would prompt widespread backlash amid concerns about the deployment of the military in American cities.

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USA Today [10/6/2025 6:06 PM, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, 67103K]

New York Post [10/6/2025 3:54 PM, Priscilla DeGregory, 42219K] reports a Maryland judge Monday rejected a bid by the Trump administration to delay alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation case because of the government shutdown. US District Judge Paula Xinis said during a hearing in Greenbelt federal court Monday that she was "duty bound" to keep the case moving since it touches upon the important topic of whether the Trump administration’s deportation policies are legal, according to a report by ABC News. The feds asked that all deadlines in Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit be suspended over the shutdown, claiming federal lawyers were only allowed to work — whether paid or even voluntarily — in emergency cases that effect human safety and protection of property. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers opposed the postponement and said their client should be released from Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, since the feds weren’t going to be making any immediate progress on their efforts to boot him from the country. Xinis repeatedly pressed government lawyers during Monday’s hearing about what steps they had taken in seeking to send Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national — to either third-party country, Uganda or Eswatini, but they were unable to come up with any clear answer. She gave the feds until Wednesday afternoon to update her and provide her potential witnesses who can speak to their efforts to ship Abrego Garcia to Eswatini. They are due back in court Friday. FOX News [10/6/2025 1:55 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 40621K] reports that the judge ordered both parties to return to court Friday, this time with a government official prepared to testify under oath, about plans to deport him to the southern African nation of Eswatini. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis issued the order during a Monday status hearing focused on Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in March in what Trump officials called an "administrative error." He was returned to the U.S. in June and later indicted on unrelated criminal charges in Tennessee. Xinis appeared to lose patience on several occasions with Trump administration lawyers after they repeatedly failed to answer the court’s questions about Abrego Garcia’s detention and plans to deport him to the third country of Eswatini. "You come to court prepared," she scolded lawyers for the Justice Department. "The government has the burden here, the way that I see it." Xinis rejected the government’s notion that the ongoing shutdown played a role in its failure to provide information. She grew especially frustrated when Justice Department lawyers returned from a 30-minute recess — granted at their request — without any new information for the court. CBS Baltimore [10/6/2025 6:46 PM, Kaicey Baylor, 39474K] Video: HERE reports that the judge on Monday also called for an evidentiary hearing to be held on Friday, Oct. 10, asking for government lawyers to present evidence on what discussions have taken place about Abrego Garcia’s removal to the African country of Eswatini. WJZ has reached out to the Justice Department for a statement and is awaiting a response. At the next hearing, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said they will request his immediate release. "The just and proper outcome would be that he’s allowed to live with his family, with his children right here in Maryland," said attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. Sandoval-Moshenberg said Abrego Garcia is willing to accept a removal to Costa Rica after the country offered assurance that he would not be sent back to his home country of El Salvador. "The decision to try to send Mr. Abrego Garcia across the Atlantic Ocean to a seemingly random African country when he’s already received an offer of refugee status in Costa Rica is purely punitive," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "His detention is completely impermissible. The only lawful purpose for ICE to detain someone is to carry out their removal. Here, there is no removal to be carried out.". According to Sandoval-Moshenberg, there are strict conditions for Abrego Garcia’s release from a Tennessee prison as he awaits his criminal trial. "They cannot use ICE detention to hold him over until trial when the criminal court already prohibited that," said Sandoval-Moshenberg.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [10/6/2025 4:31 PM, Minho Kim, 135475K]

Washington Post [10/6/2025 5:20 PM, Holly Bailey and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 24149K] reports President Donald Trump is taking National Guard deployments into unprecedented territory, seeking to send troops into multiple U.S. cities despite strong opposition from local officials and questions about the purpose and impact of the mission. Since June, the Trump administration has sent or pledged to send troops to more than half a dozen American cities, all led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, D.C. and Memphis. The administration has argued that military force is needed to address crime in those cities and to back up federal agents charged with enacting Trump’s aggressive push to deport suspected undocumented immigrants. Democratic leaders accuse Trump and his aides of falsely portraying their cities as unruly war zones as an excuse to send the military on partisan missions in ways they believe are also designed to chill political opposition. Some Republican governors, including Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, have welcomed Trump’s efforts, endorsing administration claims that troops are needed to back up beleaguered law enforcement even as crime has generally fallen from pandemic-era highs. Historians and experts on the Guard say Trump’s maneuvers are unlike any past use of military force and could impact troop readiness, training and morale for a force typically deployed to respond to the aftermath of deadly storms and other emergencies. They also worry about how deployments might affect the Guard’s reputation among Americans, especially in communities where residents mistrust law enforcement and where the militarization of immigration enforcement and local policing has stoked fear.

Wall Street Journal [10/6/2025 1:56 PM, Steve Fisher and Vera Bergengruen, 646K] reports a federal team in El Paso that once pursued child traffickers has been disbanded. A Kansas task force focused on stemming the flow of fentanyl has been redirected. Highway checkpoints near the southwest border—some on roads long identified as major drug-trafficking routes—have gone unstaffed. The shift reflects a broader realignment in federal law enforcement. Thousands of federal agents once tasked with investigating drug smuggling, sexual exploitation and organized crime have been redirected to immigration enforcement under President Trump’s second-term push to accelerate deportations, according to current and former officials. The administration has set a goal of removing 3,000 migrants a day who are in the country illegally. To help meet that number, officials say, Homeland Security Investigations agents, Customs and Border Protection officers, Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and even the Postal Service have been pulled from their traditional duties to help track, detain and deport undocumented immigrants. The change is reverberating across the federal law-enforcement system, especially in HSI, an agency in the Department of Homeland Security that has long had a focus on transnational gangs. “It’s not a very good time to be an HSI special agent,” said Oscar Hagelsieb, a former top HSI official who retired after two decades in the field. The Trump administration defends the pivot. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said immigration enforcement is central to public safety.

Washington Post [10/7/2025 2:01 AM, Martin Weil, 24149K] reports a woman was found fatally shot on Minnesota Avenue NE on Sunday in what appeared to be the third homicide in the District in three days, a seeming uptick in killings after weeks of substantial decline. In a separate incident that also appeared to reflect on the question of safety in the city, three youths carjacked a moped Saturday afternoon on a busy street on Capitol Hill. One of the youths had a gun, according a police report. The incidents appear, at least anecdotally, to suggest a persistence of violent crime in the city despite reductions achieved since President Donald Trump announced a surge of federal law enforcement here. A possible consequence of the surge was that arrests were quickly made in two of the four weekend incidents: the carjacking and one of the homicides. In the carjacking, the moped, was taken in a prominent spot, the east side of the 700 block of Eighth Street, across the street from the U.S. Marine Barracks and on the commercial strip of Eighth Street SE known as Barracks Row. No injuries were reported, and police said they arrested a 14-year-old shortly afterward, and charged him with armed robbery. The most recent of the three homicides was first reported Monday. In addition, new information has been made available about the first two. What appeared to be the latest of the three was discovered at about 7 p.m. Sunday inside a home in the 4000 block of Minnesota Avenue NE, according to the police. Maurisha Singletary, 33, had apparently been shot, the police said. She died on the scene. It was not clear just when she was shot. Officers went to the home to perform a welfare check, the police said. Such checks are typically requested when the victim has not been heard from. It was not immediately known what prompted the request for the check, or when the woman was last heard from. In the second of the three killings, a man was fatally shot at about 12:35 a.m. Saturday in the 1400 block of Clifton Street NW. He has since been identified as Jerome Myles, 26, of Northwest Washington. The gunshots brought officers to the site in time to see two people fleeing, the police said. Officers obtained emergency search warrants, and eventually Antone Whitaker, 35, of Northeast Washington, was arrested and charged with murder, the police said. A second person is being sought, police said. In the first of the three killings, a teenager was found fatally shot Friday night in the 600 block of Rhode Island Avenue NE, near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro stop. A preliminary account described the victim as an adult. He has since been identified by police as Jermaine Durbin, 17, of Northeast Washington. In the Saturday afternoon carjacking incident, the victim said he was on his moped at about 3:30 p.m. when three youths approached, one of them with a pistol. One of the three took the moped and drove it south on Eighth Street. A short time later, police saw three youths on a scooter matching the description of the one taken. The vehicle, described at times as both scooter and moped, was spotted in the 1100 block of Fourth Street SW, near the Waterfront Metro stop, and about a mile and a half from where it was allegedly taken.

AP [10/6/2025 1:00 PM, Nokukhanya Musi and Gerald Imray, 37974K] reports a group of 10 migrants deported from the United States arrived early Monday in the African nation of Eswatini, authorities there said. They are the latest of more than 40 deportees sent to Africa since July after the Trump administration struck largely secretive agreements with at least five nations there to take migrants under the new third-country deportation program that rights groups and others have protested. A lawyer for two of the latest deportees told The Associated Press earlier on Monday that their flight had arrived in the southern African kingdom after departing from Alexandria, Louisiana, and stopping in Puerto Rico, Senegal and Angola. Tin Thanh Nguyen, the U.S.-based lawyer, said he represents two Vietnamese nationals who were on the flight. He said they had been held at the Alexandria Staging Facility immigration detention center in Louisiana. Nguyen said he tracked their flight with help from rights group Human Rights First. The Eswatini government confirmed in a statement that 10 deportees had arrived and "have been securely accommodated in one of the country’s correctional facilities." It didn’t name them, give details on their nationalities or say where they are being held. It said they were "in good health and undergoing admission processes." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but has previously said that President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem “are using every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens out of American communities and out of our country.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [10/6/2025 4:30 PM, Tara Suter, 12414K]
Axios [10/6/2025 12:52 PM, Brittany Gibson, 12972K]

CNN [10/6/2025 7:00 AM, Priscilla Alvarez, 23245K] reports Shira Levine was on her third case of the day. By the afternoon, she had already presided over two immigration cases in a San Francisco courtroom and was in the middle of another — this one, about an asylum claim. As she took notes on her computer, a notification popped up on her screen. Levine had been terminated from her job as an immigration judge. "I see what it is. I ask for a quick break for the parties. I step out and decide for myself that this is unprecedented," she recalled in an interview with CNN. Asylum cases take years to resolve in immigration court and the one before Levine was no exception. It was about to end abruptly — with no resolution. "With my apologies, I’m going to end the case," she recalled saying when she re-entered the courtroom, then she read the termination letter into the record. "I explained through the interpreter that I was unfortunately not going to be able to finish the case," she said. "I packed up my office and walked out the door." Levine was let go in September, when such dismissals were a near-daily occurrence. Since Trump took office, 139 immigration judges have been fired, taken an early-out offer, or been involuntarily transferred, according to data provided by the National Association of Immigration Judges. September had the highest number of terminations, with 24 people dismissed. According to the Justice Department, there are more than 600 immigration judges located in 72 immigration courts nationwide. Ashley Tabaddor, who served as an immigration judge for 15 years as well as president of the union four years during the first Trump administration, described terminations in the past as "exceedingly rare," and usually based on performance. "You cannot look at this in a vacuum. This is part and parcel of a very, very grand scheme of creating a very frictionless deportation machine," Tabbador said.

AP [10/6/2025 12:01 PM, Mike Schneider, 31753K] reports U.S. government lawyers say that detainees at the immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades known as “Alligator Alcatraz” likely include people who have never been in removal proceedings, which is a direct contradiction to what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been saying since it opened in July. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice made that admission Thursday in a court filing arguing that the detainees at the facility in the Everglades wilderness don’t have enough in common to be certified as a class in a lawsuit over whether they’re getting proper access to attorneys. A removal proceeding is a legal process initiated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to determine if someone should be deported from the United States. The DOJ attorneys wrote that the detainees at the Everglades facility have too many different immigration statuses to be considered a class. Since the facility opened, DeSantis has been saying publicly that each detainee has gone through the process of determining that they can’t legally be in the United States.

NewsMax [10/6/2025 7:27 PM, Staff, 4109K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Newsmax on Monday that her department will have a strong presence at the Super Bowl in February, despite controversy over Latin music star Bad Bunny’s scheduled halftime performance and his public criticism of U.S. immigration enforcement. Noem told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" that the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for security at major national events, including the Super Bowl, World Cup, and Olympics. "Homeland Security and all of our components always engage for big events like that," she said. "We run the security operations, make sure that we have drone technology for surveillance and security. We run the magnetometers. We partner with the local police to make sure it’s safe.” The controversy stems from Bad Bunny’s outspoken opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and his refusal to tour in the U.S. over what he has called "anti-immigrant policies.” Critics have questioned whether ICE agents should be present at the event. Noem made clear she won’t rule that out. "We will be there. We will be everywhere," she said. "And I’m not going to guarantee that there’s not going to be ICE people there.” She added that those attending the Super Bowl deserve to enjoy it knowing their families are safe. "Everybody should make sure that when they go to a big event with their family and enjoy it, like they do the Super Bowl, that everybody’s a law-abiding American," she said. "They want to be there and follow our laws and respect them.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 11:07 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports a Republican California mayor says a lawsuit by state Democrats is merely a bullying tactic meant to force his city to "fall in line" with their liberal ideology. Democrat California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the city of El Cajon on Friday, claiming the city violated a state law that prohibits the sharing of license plate data with federal and out-of-state law enforcement agencies. The lawsuit follows escalating tensions between California and the Trump administration over federal immigration enforcement. El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells says his city is simply prioritizing public safety and won’t be backing down. "Let’s be clear — this is nothing more than a political stunt and an attempt to bully a conservative city for standing up for public safety," Wells said in a public statement. "For years, Sacramento has looked for ways to punish cities like ours because we refuse to fall in line with their ideology. "They’ve chosen politics over people, and now they’re using the courts to intimidate those of us who disagree with them," Wells continued. "I make no apologies for protecting our residents.".

AP [10/6/2025 8:31 PM, Staff, 19051K] reports the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday sanctioned a network of companies and their affiliates that allegedly supplied precursor chemicals to make fentanyl to a faction of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. A dozen Mexico-based companies and eight of the people managing them were accused of using their pharmaceutical, laboratory, chemical, cleaning and real estate businesses to purchase the chemicals and provide them to the Sinaloa cartel’s “Chapitos” faction, run by sons of the former Sinaloa leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. One of the businesses, Sumilab, previously faced sanctions in 2023 by the Biden administration, but was able to maintain its “corporate structure” through a number of other front companies, Treasury officials wrote in a statement. The Monday measures freeze all assets in the U.S. and block U.S. transactions with the businesses and people sanctioned. The cartel is among an expanding number of Latin American criminal groups that the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations, part of an ongoing effort to more aggressively go after drug-trafficking groups. “President Trump has made clear that stopping the deadly flow of drugs into our country is a top national security priority,” Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley wrote in a statement. “The Treasury Department is committed to dismantling the complex financial networks that support these terrorist organizations.”

Reported similarly:
Daily Wire [10/6/2025 6:17 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K]
Telemundo [10/6/2025 3:48 PM, Staff, 2218K]

AP [10/6/2025 5:33 PM, Fatima Hussein, 14862K] reports Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano was named to the newly created position of CEO of the IRS on Monday, making him the latest member of the Trump administration to be put in charge of multiple federal agencies. As IRS CEO, Bisignano will report to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who currently serves as acting commissioner of the IRS, the Treasury Department says. It is unclear whether Bisignano’s newly created role at the IRS will require Senate confirmation. The Treasury Department said in a statement that Bisignano will be responsible for overseeing all day-to-day IRS operations while also continuing to serve in his role as commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Bessent said in a statement that the IRS and SSA "share many of the same technological and customer service goals. This makes Mr. Bisignano a natural choice for this role.". The four acting commissioners who preceded Long in the job included one who resigned over a deal between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security to share immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another whose appointment led to a fight between former Trump adviser Elon Musk and Bessent.

Reuters [10/6/2025 11:31 AM, David Hood and Sarah N. Lynch, 36480K] reports a Democrat-led civil rights watchdog agency opened a sweeping investigation into how the federal government has responded to allegations of antisemitism on college campuses, a review that could bring a rare dose of official scrutiny to the Trump administration’s confrontations with Columbia and other universities. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan commission tasked with monitoring civil rights violations across the country and in government, has already rankled Trump administration officials for having Democrat Rochelle Garza as chairwoman. Now, with its wide-ranging requests for documents and communications between federal officials and the schools, seen by Reuters, the investigation has further riled administration officials and outside allies. In addition to seeking a trove of documents from the schools, the commission is scheduled to hold public hearings in November with witnesses at the direction of its Democratic leaders, culminating in a report on its findings, due in about a year. The commission, which includes four Democrats, three Republicans and an Independent, unanimously voted to begin the investigation in January, days before Trump took office. And while it will scrutinize federal action dating back to the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, while Joe Biden was president, the Trump administration’s response to claims of rampant antisemitism on America’s campuses will come under the microscope in ways that it has not yet. Just days into his presidency, Trump issued an executive order cracking down on antisemitism broadly, including how some student protests could be a pretext for investigation. Trump officials have used these allegations, disputed by university officials, to justify threats to withhold billions of dollars of federal funding while pressuring officials to sign legal agreements that experts in higher education say have undermined the traditional independence of private colleges and universities. The investigation will examine those pressure campaigns at a time when Trump has reshaped most, if not all, federal bodies tasked with overseeing civil rights violations within the federal government. The administration has even tried, unsuccessfully, to wrest control of the commission by trying to supplant its Democratic leaders. A White House official confirmed that the administration had tried to install longtime Republican Commissioner Peter Kirsanow to chair the panel earlier this year. "Members of the commission have been blocking this appointment from being confirmed and preventing the president’s agenda from being implemented,” the official said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

CNN [10/6/2025 5:35 PM, Natasha Bertrand, Zachary Cohen, 18595K] reports the Trump administration has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies lethal strikes against a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The opinion, which was produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and has not been previously reported, argues that the president is allowed to authorize deadly force against a broad range of cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans. The list of cartels goes beyond those the administration has publicly designated as terrorist organizations, the people familiar with the opinion said. The opinion is significant, legal experts said, because it appears to justify an open-ended war against a secret list of groups, giving the president power to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and have them summarily killed without legal review. Historically, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminals with due process rights, with the Coast Guard interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.

NewsMax [10/6/2025 9:34 PM, Eric Mack, 4109K] reports President Donald Trump has reportedly abruptly ended diplomatic efforts with Venezuela, a move that U.S. officials say could clear the way for potential military action against drug cartels or the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Richard Grenell, Trump’s special envoy who had been leading months of negotiations with Maduro, was directed last week to halt all talks after the president expressed frustration over Caracas’ refusal to relinquish power and continued denial of involvement in narcotics trafficking, New York Times reported Monday. The decision reflects a hardening U.S. stance. Secretary of State and acting National Security Adviser Marco Rubio has labeled Maduro an "illegitimate" leader and a "fugitive from American justice," citing a U.S. indictment on drug trafficking charges. The State Department recently increased its reward for Maduro’s capture to $50 million. Washington has already intensified military operations, launching four strikes against boats it claims were smuggling drugs near Venezuelan waters — the most recent on Friday, killing four men. A recent notice to Congress declared that the U.S. is in a formal "armed conflict" with drug cartels, labeling their members as "unlawful combatants." The shift away from diplomacy marks a victory for hawks within the administration who argue that engagement was futile and confusing. Critics warn that expanding operations into Venezuelan territory or attempting regime change could risk dragging the United States into a prolonged conflict — one Trump had long vowed to avoid.

Washington Examiner [10/6/2025 11:22 AM, Mike Brest, 1394K] reports Venezuela warned the U.S. government that the American Embassy in Caracas could be targeted in a "false-flag" operation, National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez said on Sunday. Rodríguez said the United States and an unspecified European embassy had been warned in three separate channels that "extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right" are looking to plant explosives at their locations. A "false flag" operation is when a perpetrator tries to make an incident look like another party was responsible. Rodríguez did not specify which extremist group would try to carry out the attack, who would be framed, or the motivation for such a plan. The U.S. Embassy in Caracas employs 150 locals and spends more than $6 million annually for upkeep of the embassy and other diplomatic properties in the Venezuelan capital, according to a September 2025 report from the State Department’s Office of Inspector General. The State Department suspended operations at its embassy in Caracas and evacuated all diplomats in March 2019, during President Donald Trump’s first administration. Trump’s second administration has taken a very aggressive posture toward Venezuela and its president, Nicholás Maduro, whom the U.S. does not recognize as the legitimate leader of the country. The administration has accused Maduro of being the head of the Cartel of the Suns and being directly involved in the cartel’s drug smuggling operations. The U.S. military has significantly increased its presence in the western hemisphere around Central America as the Department of War has taken a much larger role in stopping drug trafficking under Trump. U.S. forces have carried out at least four strikes on vessels in international waters that U.S. officials have said were cartel members smuggling drugs that would end up in the U.S. Traditionally, the U.S. Coast Guard would interdict these vessels, search them, and, if needed, arrest those on board and give them due process.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [10/6/2025 2:48 PM, Staff, 2416K]

New York Times [10/6/2025 5:29 PM, Charlie Savage, 135475K] reports tensions between the United States and Venezuela have escalated as the U.S. military attacks boats in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration says are smuggling drugs. There have been mounting signs that the administration may be engineering some kind of confrontation with Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, who was indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on drug trafficking and corruption charges in President Trump’s first term. Mr. Trump’s team has called Mr. Maduro an illegitimate leader.

New York Times [10/6/2025 6:29 PM, Julian E. BarnesTyler Pager and Maria Abi-Habib, 36480K] reports President Trump has called off efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Venezuela, according to U.S. officials, paving the way for a potential military escalation against drug traffickers or the government of Nicolás Maduro. Richard Grenell, a special presidential envoy and executive director of the Kennedy Center, had been leading negotiations with Mr. Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials. But during a meeting with senior military leaders on Thursday, Mr. Trump called Mr. Grenell and instructed him that all diplomatic outreach, including his talks with Mr. Maduro, was to stop, the officials said on Monday. Mr. Trump has grown frustrated with Mr. Maduro’s failure to accede to American demands to give up power voluntarily and the continued insistence by Venezuelan officials that they have no part in drug trafficking. American officials have said that the Trump administration has drawn up multiple military plans for an escalation. Those operations could also include plans designed to force Mr. Maduro from power. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and national security adviser, has called Mr. Maduro an “illegitimate” leader and repeatedly cited a U.S. indictment of him on drug trafficking charges. Mr. Rubio had described Mr. Maduro as a “fugitive from American justice,” and the United States increased the reward for Mr. Maduro to $50 million. A White House official said Mr. Trump was prepared to use “every element of American power” to stop drugs from entering the United States and had been clear in his messages to Mr. Maduro to end Venezuelan narcotics trafficking. Mr. Grenell declined to comment, as did a senior Venezuelan official.

Breitbart [10/6/2025 5:28 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 2416K] reports Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) said his forcible removal in June from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press conference after officials said he "lunged" toward Secretary Kristi Noem should have been a "wake-up call." In an interview with the New York Times’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro last week, the far-left senator said, "Never would I have imagined that that would have happened — that that would be a response to a question, especially to a senator trying to ask a question." A video clip that began after the scuffle incident had started shows U.S. Secret Service agents grabbing Padilla, who was walking towards the podium where Noem was speaking, and shoving him out of the Los Angeles press conference as he tried to push his way back in.

Los Angeles Times [10/6/2025 6:01 AM, Raul A. Reyes, 12715K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement held a hiring fair last month in Provo, Utah, that drew hundreds of job seekers — in part with signing bonuses up to $50,000 and salaries of $50,000 to $100,000 a year. This follows recruiting events in Arlington, Texas, in August and Chantilly, Va., in June. Despite polls showing that most Americans do not like how the agency is doing its job, these expos were quite popular. "This is a highly desired career," an ICE official told reporters at the Texas event. "A lot of people want to do this job.". That seems to be true, which makes recent changes in ICE’s hiring and recruiting practices all the more troubling. Flush with cash from Congress, the agency is ramping up hiring while lowering standards for employment. ICE is using controversial slogans and imagery to attract new recruits. In its rush to expand, ICE is placing immigrants, citizens and its own agents in harm’s way. Under the terms of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that the president signed into law in July, Congress has given ICE an additional $75 billion in funding. The agency wants to hire at least 10,000 new agents as the administration seeks to fulfill its promise of deporting a million immigrants a year. To meet this goal, ICE is lowering hiring standards. ICE agents can now be as young as 18, and there is no longer an age cap for new hires. The agency has also cut training time for recruits from 13 to eight weeks, by reducing Spanish lessons, firearms training and classroom hours. Working for ICE does not require a high school diploma, a military background or any law enforcement experience. An aspiring ICE agent only has to pass a background check, meet physical and medical requirements, and complete the abbreviated training course. In contrast, many local police and sheriff’s departments have stricter hiring requirements. The Los Angeles Police Department requires its applicants to have a high school diploma, to complete six months of training and to be 21 at the time of police academy graduation. ICE’s lower standards are alarming, given that agents have the power to make decisions with life-altering consequences.

NewsMax [10/6/2025 10:17 AM, Michael Dorstewitz, 4109K] reports we’ve heard a lot of talk lately, but no actual communication — no debate, no exchange of ideas. It’s been mostly name-calling — the sort of thing that nearly led to President Trump’s assassination, and got Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk murdered. The idea of resorting to name-calling your opponent and his supporters took root with President Obama, when he dismissed small-town "flyover country" conservatives. "It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he claimed. But it really took off in 2016, when then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton put half of her Republican opponent’s supporters into what she called her "basket of deplorables.". She explained that Donald Trump followers were "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it.". Two years later she told CNN that Democrats had to keep up the pressure. "You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about," Clinton told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. "That’s why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that’s when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.". They’ve won both chambers of Congress several times since then, but nothing has changed. In fact, it’s gotten worse. Today, Republican candidates are typically called fascist or dictator, and compared to Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini. If you repeatedly call someone Hitler long enough, someone will eventually decide to save the world and kill Hitler.

Wall Street Journal [10/6/2025 4:58 PM, Edward Blum, 6346K] reports America asks for competence, courage and character from the young men and women who choose to serve their country. It shouldn’t ask for a particular skin color. Yet the U.S. Coast Guard’s flagship scholarship for students—the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative—draws a bright line through all American colleges based on racial and ethnic head counts. On Tuesday Students for Fair Admissions will file a lawsuit to put an end to that practice. Our complaint simply asks the federal government to stop tying opportunities to race. Under the Coast Guard’s scholarship, most students can’t even apply unless they attend a federally designated “minority-serving institution” or a campus where less than half the students are white. If a student’s university enrolls the “right” racial mix, he is eligible for a fully funded scholarship, paid active-duty status while in school, and an automatic slot at Officer Candidate School. If the applicant’s school fails to meet these racial quotas, he is out of luck. The Supreme Court said in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (2023): “Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” Although the court noted it wasn’t deciding whether the ruling applies to military academies, the constitutional logic is the same. Consider how the Coast Guard’s scholarship restrictions work in the real world. Students for Fair Admissions has a member who is an ideal candidate for Coast Guard service. He has the grades, the character and the desire to lead. But the Coast Guard denies his application because his university isn’t a “minority-serving institution.” If he transfers to a qualifying school less than a mile away, he would instantly become eligible. Nothing about his qualifications would change—only the racial demographics of his campus. This is illegal and unfair. Moreover, it harms black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American students who don’t attend a “minority-serving institution.”

Blaze [10/6/2025 1:00 PM, Chuck De Caro, 1442K] reports that the United States faces an existential threat from the accelerating military power of communist China — a buildup fueled by decades of massive economic expansion. If America intends to counter Beijing’s ambitions, it must grow faster, leaner, and more efficient. Economic strength is national security. The ongoing government shutdown may not be popular, but it gives President Trump a rare opportunity to make good on his campaign pledge to drain — and redesign — "the swamp." Streamlining the federal government isn’t just good politics. It’s a matter of survival. The Labor Department was carved from the Commerce Department to appease the unions. Lyndon Johnson invented the Department of Transportation. Jimmy Carter established the Department of Energy in response to the Arab oil embargo. The Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence emerged after 9/11. The result is a patchwork of agencies wired together with duct tape, overlap, and patronage. A government designed for crisis management has become a permanent crisis unto itself. Homeland Security should be absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard, which already functions as a paramilitary force with both military and police authority, much like Italy’s Carabinieri. Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, DHS personnel would share discipline, training, and accountability. FEMA would cease to be a dumping ground for political hacks. Any discrimination in disaster aid — such as punishing Trump voters — would trigger a court-martial. The Secret Service would focus solely on protective duties, handing its financial-crime work to the FBI. The secretary of the Coast Guard would gain a seat in the Cabinet.

The Hill [10/6/2025 1:30 PM, Lynne Russo, 12595K] reports that on Sept. 27, Western North Carolina marked one year since Hurricane Helene tore through our mountain communities. It didn’t just wash away roads and bridges — it washed away livelihoods. A recent study found the average economic loss was $322,000 per business. For family-owned shops, farms and restaurants, which are the backbone of our economy, those losses are nearly impossible to overcome without help. And yet, a full year later, the help we were promised has not arrived. The Governor’s Advisory Committee on Western North Carolina Recovery, Grow NC, reports that Helene has received only 9 percent of the federal recovery funding requested. That is the lowest in U.S. history. To compare: Hurricane Sandy received 78 percent of its funding request. Helene was estimated to require $60 billion to rebuild, yet Washington has delivered only a fraction of that. The message to rural mountain communities is clear: our recovery doesn’t matter as much. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Now that the anniversary of Helene has passed, Congress has the chance to pass the FEMA Act of 2025, a bipartisan bill that would finally fix the broken disaster response system. Approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the bill would make long-overdue changes to how recovery happens on the ground. The reforms in the FEMA Act are designed to fix the very problems we’ve seen here in Western North Carolina. Instead of waiting months or years for reimbursement, communities would finally see recovery money up front, allowing rebuilding to begin right away.

Houston Chronicle [10/6/2025 12:00 PM, Charles C. Foster, 2983K] reports one-third of Houston’s workforce was born in another country. Whether doctors from India, programmers from Taiwan or engineers from Nigeria, our city’s economic success relies on our ability to recruit the best and brightest from around the world — and to hire top foreign students graduating from our universities. President Donald Trump is essentially waging war on Houston’s economic success by undermining our ability to hire those top recruits. Anyone who cares about our city needs to start pushing back. Here’s what’s going on. Last month, Trump issued an executive order imposing a $100,000 filing fee on all new H-1B visas. These visas are the most important legal pathway for foreign-born workers to get jobs in the United States. By adding a six-figure fee to the process — more than 128 times higher than the current $780 fee — the White House is essentially taxing the process into oblivion. That is a terrible decision. While semi-skilled workers have few options to come to our country lawfully, our immigration system has largely functioned for college graduates seeking employment in key fields — notably science, technology, engineering and medicine. The process is convoluted and riddled with flaws, but it has also helped the United States. become the envy of the world by allowing us to attract and keep the very best of the brightest. These foreign workers contribute immensely to the U.S. economy — benefitting everyone who lives here through economic growth, jobs created and new innovations. In fact, about half of all of the current Fortune 500 companies were started by immigrants or their children. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley has also asked Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security, to stop issuing Optional Practical Training work authorization for foreign students graduating from our schools.

Bloomberg [10/6/2025 4:00 PM, Juliana Liu, 18207K] reports the immigration raid at a South Korean-owned electric battery plant in Georgia last month shocked the world with its overreach. At a time when the Trump administration is trying to re-industrialize America, why humiliate hundreds of business travelers? As the injured party, Seoul ought to capitalize on the widespread public outcry to strike the best trade deal it can with Washington. In the aftermath of the Sept. 4 crackdown on the jointly owned Hyundai Motor Co. and LG Energy Solution Ltd. factory outside Savannah — the biggest-ever Homeland Security enforcement action at a single location — US officials sought to justify the operation by saying the 300 South Koreans arrested were working illegally. But that logic now appears to be on shaky ground. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau expressed “deep regret” about the case during a visit to Seoul following the return of the detainees. And last week, an inaugural meeting in Washington between the two sides to thrash out a solution on working visas ended up affirming that South Koreans on short-term permits had every right to be doing the kind of work they were brought in to do. The US agreed that visitors bearing the B-1 visa or arriving with an ESTA visa waiver are permitted to install, service, and repair imported equipment related to investment projects. No immediate progress was made on Seoul’s efforts to establish a more formal visa category for temporary employees, which workers in Australia and Singapore enjoy. That would require Congressional approval. Still, the assurances were enough to enable LGES, the primary operator of the facility, to resume sending specialist workers to Georgia after the autumn harvest holiday, which ends later this week. As I’ve written before, there is no doubt Korea Inc. is eager to move on from the unpleasantries and return to business as usual in its biggest and most profitable market, where tens of billions of dollars in investment have already been committed. But that doesn’t mean it should. It’s precisely because of the primacy of the US that Asian economies such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan should make a stand now and draw a proverbial line in the sand regarding how they engage with Washington on trade.

Washington Post [10/7/2025 5:01 AM, David Nakamura, 32099K] reports as President Donald Trump moves to deploy National Guard troops and federal immigration officers to cities with “sanctuary” policies, Democratic leaders in Chicago and elsewhere are responding with their own message: We will not capitulate. Since taking office, the Trump administration has sued 14 jurisdictions, threatened criminal charges against local officials who do not comply with federal demands, conducted large-scale immigration operations and deployed troops over the objection of mayors and governors. Just two jurisdictions — Louisville and the state of Nevada — have agreed to drop key policies that had restricted police and sheriffs from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in making arrests. And Trump has faced a string of losses in court. A federal judge on Sunday blocked the president’s plan to send troops to Portland, and leaders in Illinois filed a similar lawsuit Monday to block Trump’s attempt to deploy soldiers to Chicago. “We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights, nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said Monday. He announced an executive order barring ICE from using city property after reports the agency had used a school parking lot as a staging area. Leaders of sanctuary jurisdictions said the lawsuits in Chicago and Portland show Democratic leaders are overwhelmingly deciding to fight back. Trump and his allies, meanwhile, accuse sanctuary city leaders of harboring violent criminals and refusing to cooperate in removing them from the country. And despite the pushback, the administration is still ramping up pressure through unilateral actions like launching ICE operations and deploying surge teams in sanctuary cities.

AP [10/6/2025 12:38 PM, Thomas Beaumont and Rebecca Santana, 852K] reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending millions of dollars on television advertising in select metro areas around the country, an Associated Press tally found, aimed at recruiting local officers frustrated with their cities’ restrictions on immigration enforcement into President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. “You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city, safe,” the narrator says, as images of the cities targeted and ICE agents arresting people move across the screen. “But in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free.” The campaign — airing in more than a dozen cities, including Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta — is part of ICE’s $30 billion initiative to hire 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year to supercharge deportations. The money is part of the $76.5 billion sought by Trump’s Republican administration for ICE — a 10-fold increase in its current budget — as part of the sweeping, multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts bill enacted in July. ICE is already offering bonuses of up to $50,000 for new recruits and other benefits such as tuition reimbursement as it seeks to fast-track hiring. And while some parts of the federal government are shut down as the result of Congress’ failure to pass a spending measure last week, the ICE ads reflect that the push for mass deportations, the Trump administration’s top priority, is still flush with cash. The ads open with video of each metro’s familiar skyline and the narrator’s voice announcing, for example, “Attention, Miami law enforcement.” Beyond that, the spots are identical, inviting officers to “join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst. Drug traffickers. Gang members. Predators,” according to a review of the ads on the ad-tracking service AdImpact.

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 12:27 PM, Nicole Silverio, 835K] reports a CNN panel falsely insinuated on Saturday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a young child in a zip tie after citing a TikTok video that had been proven fake. A viral TikTok video showed a small child being handcuffed and taken away in what was said to be an ICE arrest, though it was a parody video mocking juvenile crime, Fox News’ Bill Melugin confirmed. Left-wing podcaster Van Lathan said on "CNN NewsNight" that ICE is dragging and detaining black Americans out of their homes. "You also had American citizens, black American citizens that were [dragged] outside of their homes and detained and put through something that they should not have had to go through and when we have the conversation about how customary it is to detain someone, I want people to remember the historic implications of that for black people," Lathan said. CNN’s chyron even stated that ICE’s raid in Chicago included "kids in zip ties." CNN did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

CBS Philadelphia [10/6/2025 6:05 PM, Joe Holden and Nate Sylves, 39474K] Video: HERE reports Gina DeCosmo and Jeffery DeCristofaro say the mood is tense in Camden, New Jersey, for many of the families they represent. "This is something that popped up mid-to-late last week," DeCosmo said. "So those letters could be arriving this week or next.". They say their concern comes as word that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is allegedly sending letters to teenagers about returning to their home countries. The staff at Camden Center for Law and Social Justice writes that the ICE notifications, which they say the community has labeled "Freaky Friday Letters," might contain financial offers or strong and threatening language. "They started being given to youth already in immigration detention starting last Tuesday or Wednesday. They may actually be mailed out now," DeCristofaro said. CBS News Philadelphia also obtained a letter from the Camden School District. Officials there are trying to clear up confusion, recommending families still send their children to school, and in the event they receive a letter from ICE, consult a trusted adult, an advocate or a lawyer. "Now they’re going to be getting letters saying we want you to give up these protections and return home, and those will be frightening for these kids," DeCristofaro said. Attorneys say they haven’t seen one of the letters yet. CBS News Philadelphia reached out to a spokesperson for ICE. They responded in part, "These allegations are categorically false. The anti-ICE activists have made up a ridiculous term, ‘Freaky Friday,’ to instill fear and spread misinformation.".

CBS News [10/6/2025 2:35 PM, Dan Raby and Alexa Liacko, 39474K] reports that Journalist Mario Guevara has vowed to continue his work reporting despite his deportation to El Salvador following his arrest while covering a protest in Georgia. Guevara landed in the South American country early Friday morning, just days after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that his deportation could go forward. Speaking to CBS News Atlanta on Monday, Guevara said he was grateful to be out of ICE custody, but that the separation from his family has left him devastated. "I was in jail 110 days, and now finally I’m not a prisoner anymore. I’m free, but I am away from my family. I am here, working in the area, trying to think about my situation," Guevara said. "I have a second chance to be better, obviously, because I miss my family. I miss the United States." While in custody, Guevara said he was placed in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day. He said he lost weight and sank into a depression. "In my mind, I believed the U.S. government is trying to destroy me. I have a lot of nightmares," he said. "In my cell, I have the light on all day, 24 hours. I never know exactly what is the time until I ask someone. It’s something horrible." He said when he was deported, he was given only his bulletproof vest, helmet, watch, and belt before being placed on the plane. Over the weekend, Guevara livestreamed his reunion with his two sons, who had not been able to say goodbye to him before he was removed from the United States. Guevara acknowledged that the reunion was only temporary and that some members of his family remained in the United States and could only talk to him online. Now his family must decide whether to leave everything they’ve grown up accustomed to behind to join their father in El Salvador or stay apart from him.

AP [10/6/2025 3:08 PM, Jim Mustian and Sara Cline, 19051K] reports the immigration detainees sent to a notorious Louisiana prison last month are being punished for crimes for which they have already served time, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday in a lawsuit challenging the government’s decision to hold what it calls the “worst of the worst” there. The lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump’s administration of selecting the former slave plantation known as Angola for its “uniquely horrifying history” and intentionally subjecting immigrant detainees to inhumane conditions — including foul water and lacking basic necessities — in violation of the Double Jeopardy clause, which protects people from being punished twice for the same crime. The ACLU also alleges some immigrants detained at the newly opened “Louisiana Lockup” should be released because the government failed to deport them within six months of a removal order. The lawsuit cites a 2001 Supreme Court ruling raised in several recent immigration cases, including that of the Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, that says immigration detention should be “nonpunitive.” “The anti-immigrant campaign under the guise of ‘Making America Safe Again’ does not remotely outweigh or justify indefinite detention in ‘America’s Bloodiest Prison’ without any of the rights afforded to criminal defendants,” ACLU attorneys argue in a petition reviewed by The Associated Press. The AP sent requests for comment to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. The lawsuit comes a month after state and federal authorities gathered at the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary to announce that the previously shuttered prison complex had been refurbished to house up to 400 immigrant detainees that officials said would include some of the most violent in ICE custody. The complex had been nicknamed “the dungeon” because it previously held inmates in solitary cells for more than 23 hours a day. ICE repurposed the facility amid an ongoing legal battle over an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” and as Trump continues his large-scale attempt to remove millions of people suspected of entering the country illegally. The federal government has been racing to to expand its deportation infrastructure and, with state allies, has announced other new facilities, including what it calls the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana and the “Cornhusker Clink” in Nebraska. ICE is seeking to detain 100,000 people under a $45 billion expansion Trump signed into law in July.

FOX News [10/6/2025 9:21 PM, Emma Bussey, 40621K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have arrested a slew of Chicago’s "worst-of-the-worst" offenders, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday. The statement came as violence and unrest engulfed parts of the city which is suffering from mounting street violence and protests against federal operations. The string of arrests, DHS said, targeted violent gang members, child abusers, and drug traffickers as part of Operation Midway Blitz, an ongoing crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants across Illinois. The DHS statement, titled "Despite Multiple Vehicle Attacks by Domestic Terrorists, DHS Law Enforcement Arrests Worst of Worst" listed several suspects taken into custody. Among them was Wilmer Alexander Gonzalez Garaban, an alleged member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang with a criminal history of theft and resisting an officer. Ricardo Gervasio-Gervasio was included as a repeat offender convicted of drug crimes and DUI. Jorge Mario Ramirez-Lopez, a criminal illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was also listed and has a conviction for larceny. Ricardo Gervasio-Gervasio, from Mexico, who has convictions for cocaine possession, driving under the influence of liquor and dangerous drugs was also referenced. Officials cited other individuals who were apprehended for assault, fraud, illegal reentry, and aggravated assault. Secretary Kristi Noem praised agents and officers’ persistence in the statement and said their efforts were despite violent resistance. "We will not let violence by domestic terrorists and lawless rioters in Chicago slow us down from fulfilling the President’s mandate to arrest the worst of the worst," Noem declared. DHS claims that Operation Midway Blitz, launched in early September, has already led to over 1,000 arrests statewide, representing a major escalation in federal enforcement. One of the most dramatic incidents occurred on October 4 in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood, where agents were reportedly surrounded by several vehicles, one of which rammed a federal car. In the chaos, agents opened fire, striking a driver who was hospitalized and later charged. In a separate case in Franklin Park, ICE agents shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, who authorities said attempted to flee and dragged an officer during a vehicle stop. The killing sparked fresh outrage and protests, with activists questioning the proportionality of the agents’ actions.

New York Times [10/6/2025 6:30 PM, Julie Bosman, 135475K] reports the signs in Spanish are taped to windows in storefronts all over Chicago: “ICE NO ES BIENVENIDO AQUÍ.” Warning networks have been operating all day, every day, as people who spot agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the streets text friends and neighbors or begin streaming urgent cautions on Facebook Live. Even tourists have been drawn into the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, startled by the sight of federal agents marching in camouflage last weekend through the upscale city’s Gold Coast, near the famed Magnificent Mile. What began quietly in Chicago one month ago as a promise by the Trump administration to increase arrests of illegal immigrants is now being felt all over this city of 2.7 million people and in the broader metropolitan area encompassing millions more. Tensions are flaring up like small, intense wildfires. At elementary schools on the West Side, parents have organized to stand guard at dismissal time. Some construction businesses are keeping their warehouse doors open to keep an eye out for ICE agents. Owners of small businesses are doing their own deliveries, to protect their Latino employees from driving through the city streets. In Edgewater, on the Far North Side along Lake Michigan, a neighborhood listserv lit up with worries on Sunday over a helicopter circling the area. Could it be ICE, one person asked. Is there anything we can do, asked another. Neighbors came out onto the streets of the Southwest Side on Saturday after a car crash involving federal agents and two motorists, who the Department of Homeland Security said were pursuing the agents recklessly. ICE agents responded with pepper balls and tear gas; the crowd, shouting and waving anti-ICE signs, remained until the federal agents finally left. Restaurants have cut back hours or stopped making deliveries altogether, unwilling to risk the arrest of their employees. “We can’t ask anyone to risk their safety just to serve bagels,” one restaurant, Bagel Miller, explained in a Facebook post explaining its closure last weekend. Berto Aguayo, a lawyer and advocate for immigrants, described a month of rising tensions, political organizing and outright fear, as Mr. Trump’s dragnet ensnared U.S. citizens alongside illegal immigrants. “Our family gatherings are filled with crying and trying to figure out how we get past this moment,” Mr. Aguayo said. “People are being terrorized. People are being attacked. That’s what it feels like.”

Breitbart [10/6/2025 4:49 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports the White House is highlighting recent arrests of "predators" by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the sanctuary city of Chicago, Illinois, as Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) declares certain spaces "ICE-free zones." On Monday, Johnson signed an executive order that bans ICE agents from using city-owned properties and urges Chicago businesses to declare similar bans at their establishments. Thanks to Operation Midway Blitz, ICE agents have arrested more than 800 illegal aliens across the sanctuary state of Illinois in spite of Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s (D) efforts to obstruct federal immigration enforcement.

Breitbart [10/6/2025 12:14 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2416K] reports Sanctuary city Chicago has reportedly ordered its police force to refuse calls for help from ICE agents who are under siege by increasingly violent protesters in support of criminal illegal aliens. Several police unions have denounced Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and his police leadership for allegedly ordering officers on the street to refuse to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and other federal law enforcement officers as they face protesters, some of whom are now using automobiles as weapons to attack agents. According to the New York Post, when ICE officers made calls over the radio for assistance on Sunday, a Chicago Police dispatcher replied, "We’re not sending anybody out to that location.". It was also reported that Chicago Police vehicles sat immobile nearby as ICE agents were attacked. The inaction infuriated the nation’s largest national police union, which said in a statement that it was "shocked and appalled" at the Chicago Police Department leadership’s refusal to help ICE agents who were under siege. The presidents of the National Fraternal Order of Police and Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) blasted Chicago’s chief of patrol who reportedly directed officers not to assist ICE agents, Fox News reported. "Details are still emerging, but it appears that officers from the Chicago Police Department were ordered not to assist a group of ICE agents while they were physically threatened by what appeared to be an angry mob," National FOP President Patrick Yoes said. "Let me be clear, both the National FOP and the Illinois FOP believe that when an officer calls for assistance, you answer, no matter what." Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security is blaming the increasing violence that ICE faces in Chicago and other cities on "sanctuary" politicians who are stirring insurrection to achieve their political goals. "Thankfully none of our law enforcement was killed because of these deranged criminals’ attacks on law enforcement," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Sunday. "This is exactly what happens when Governor [J.B.] Pritzker, Mayor [Brandon] Johnson, and other sanctuary politicians demonize ICE and encourage illegal aliens to resist law enforcement."

FOX News [10/6/2025 4:36 PM, Alec Schemmel, 40621K] reports Iowa’s largest public school district is suing the firm that helped it hire an illegal immigrant - Ian Roberts, who is now in Department of Justice custody - for negligence and breach of contract. One-Fourth Consulting, which operates under its brand JG Consulting, was sued in the Iowa District Court for Polk County last week by the Des Moines Independent Community School District (DMICSD) for its role in hiring Roberts. Last month, Roberts was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He was subsequently charged with possession of illegal weapons after a loaded handgun was found in his car following his arrest. Roberts is currently facing federal charges and is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service in Polk County jail, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement from last week. 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." 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. Additionally, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, its civil division served Roberts a sealed restraining order from Jackson County, Missouri, in August 2023. It is unclear what prompted the restraining order since the order was sealed. He was also discovered to be illegally registered to vote as a Democrat in Maryland, raising serious questions about the state’s voter registration system.

Federalist [10/6/2025 7:40 AM, Beth Brelje, 982K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released new criminal information in the case of Ian Andre Roberts, the illegal alien hired as superintendent to lead the K-12 Des Moines Independent Community School District. The criminal history calls into question how he passed an employment background check to work in a school. The district brought a lawsuit Friday against the firm that vetted Roberts, but this employment is not all on one company. Board members should have done their due diligence, personally examined his background, and had more interaction with him. Democrats have been protesting his removal, but as The Federalist’s Executive Editor Joy Pullman recently wrote, "He’s the inevitable product of a system the Left has built for rewarding people for pushing hateful, un-American ideology at public expense and punishing excellence." Roberts has been in the U.S. 29 years, and in that time he has been convicted of reckless driving and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm. He was also charged in separate incidents with criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of a forgery instrument, unauthorized use of a vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm, and most recently, being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, according to DHS. DHS also released information on the status of his presence in the U.S. as it changed over the years. Roberts was repeatedly denied for a green card, but he had several renewals for work visas that kept him in the U.S. However, it appears that once he had a serious weapons conviction, he stopped seeking work visas and conned his way through obstacles. Here is a timeline of his crimes, charges, and immigration status.

Univision [10/6/2025 4:36 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports Reyna González Ortega’s husband just needed help. She was having another bout of schizophrenia, and they needed to take her to the hospital. They called the Houston Police, as they had done before. But this time, the officer’s arrival created more problems for the low-income family: he filed assault charges against the woman, transferred her custody to immigration, and deported her to Mexico. On August 11, the charges against Reyna Gonzalez were dismissed by the Harris County Court at her husband’s request, a court document states. He went to jail to wait for her, but she never left. When she called the bail bondsman to pay part of the $5,000, she learned that the county had transferred her custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and that she could be deported. Univision News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about González Ortega’s case and the agency’s knowledge of her medical condition. Spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded in an email: "Reyna González Ortega, an illegal criminal alien from Mexico, entered the United States illegally on an unknown date. In July, she was charged with assault resulting in bodily injury to a family member."

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 5:04 PM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports federal immigration authorities nabbed nearly 100 illegal migrants driving 18-wheelers off a single highway as the Trump administration continues to crack down on migrant commercial drivers. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, working alongside the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, arrested 91 illegal migrants operating a commercial motor vehicle with commercial driver licenses (CDL) during a three-day operation along I-40, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) revealed to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Altogether, deportation officers took 120 illegal migrants into custody for immigration violations. The Trump administration is crediting the 287(g) program, a partnership between local law enforcement and ICE, for the successful haul. The operation — which spanned between September 22 and 25 — nabbed illegal migrants allegedly associated with money laundering, human smuggling, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, illegal re-entry into the U.S. and a litany of other alleged crimes, according to DHS. In addition to the highway operation, two illegal migrants were apprehended at a nearby marijuana grow operation.

FOX News [10/6/2025 4:33 PM, Adam Sabes, 40621K] reports a man accused of murdering six people in California was deported several times previously, according to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Norberto Celerino, 53, faces six counts of murder in relation to a Sept. 7 crash while allegedly driving under the influence in Napa County, California, according to the district attorney, who said this would be Celerino’s fourth DUI charge. An ICE spokesperson told KRON4 that Celerino has been deported several times. Pedro Lopez Gomez, 57, Fernando Silverio, 34, Demetrio Celerino Francisco, 39, Beymar Reynosa Rodriguez, 32, Aaron Ruiz, 39, and Loreto Ricardo Hernandez, 42, were killed in the crash.

San Diego Union Tribune [10/6/2025 8:44 PM, Alex Riggins, 1538K] reports FBI personnel in San Diego made 76 arrests during a roughly three-month operation dubbed "Summer Heat," the agency announced Monday. All FBI field offices participated in the nationwide operation between June 24 and Sept. 20. The agency described the initiative as a "nationwide effort to crush violent crime" and said that as part of "Summer Heat," FBI personnel seized more than 2,280 weapons and nearly 100,000 pounds of cocaine. Agency officials in San Diego provided very few details about the local arrests made during the operation, which resulted in 8,629 arrests across the country. The FBI’s San Diego field office said in a news release that as part of the initiative, agents arrested "a violent fugitive from Mexico" who is suspected of supplying more than one ton of drugs — including methamphetamine, fentanyl and cocaine — to distribution cells in San Diego and Los Angeles. "Summer Heat" also resulted in agents in San Diego seizing five weapons, more than 235 pounds of cocaine and more than 163 pounds of methamphetamine, according to the news release. "The San Diego Field Office works diligently every day towards our mission of protecting the American public," Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis said in a statement. "The results of the FBI’s Summer Heat operations are proof that surging resources with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners can, and did, make a significant impact on violent crime in our region. FBI San Diego will continue to aggressively investigate violent criminals while leveraging all available resources to keep our communities safe.” On the San Diego field office’s Facebook post accompanying the news release, the agency included photos that it had previously posted in recent months showing FBI agents armed with long guns and dressed in tactical gear detaining three individuals. In those photos, the FBI personnel were accompanied by officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO. In the original Facebook post accompanying one of the photos from early August, the FBI wrote that its "Homeland Security Team assisted our ERO San Diego partners in the arrest of two alleged sexual predators and a violent offender as part of our ongoing fight to crush violent crime and keep our communities safe." In another of the original posts from Sept. 29, more than a week after the "Summer Heat" operation was said to have ended, the FBI said it had worked with ICE ERO to arrest "a documented gang member with prior convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, witness intimidation, and child abuse.” In a statement from FBI San Diego, the agency said its summer crime initiative was not focused on immigration enforcement. "Operation Summer Heat targeted the most violent and dangerous criminals in our community, and if arrested subjects happened to be out of status, then we coordinated with ICE ERO on potential removal," the agency said in its statement. It was unclear if the individuals seen being arrested in the photos were charged criminally or put in civil immigration proceedings.

The Hill [10/6/2025 6:00 AM, Surina Venkat, 12414K] reports more than 200 international students caught up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown are suing the State Department to get their visas reinstated, court documents reviewed by The Hill show. Although the Trump administration restored students’ records in the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) after judges ruled in favor of students across dozens of lawsuits, the government has continued to withhold many students’ visas. SEVIS records allow students to stay in the U.S. after entering, while visas are needed to freely leave and return to the U.S. — meaning international students with revoked visas are likely to be denied reentry, even if they are legally permitted to study in the country through SEVIS. “I can’t visit home because of my visa revocation,” an international student, who requested anonymity fearing repercussions, told The Hill. “It feels like I’m trapped here.” Lawyers told The Hill some students who had left the U.S. were already facing issues trying to come back to the country, despite having their SEVIS statuses restored. Several of their clients had to reapply for visas only to be denied. Immigration lawyers representing 217 students in total have filed two lawsuits against Secretary of State Marco Rubio challenging their visa terminations in the past two months. Both suits argue that the State Department’s revocation of students’ visas was unlawful. Lawyers plan to seek class action status for the lawsuit filed in August. A lack of public awareness over the difference between SEVIS and visas has led to general confusion over the plight of students with revoked visas, lawyers said. The government’s public statements may have also contributed to the confusion. “We have not reversed course on a single visa revocation,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in April after the reinstatement of SEVIS records for students. “What we did is restore SEVIS access for people who had not had their visa revoked.” But McLaughlin’s remarks don’t match what immigration lawyers such as Kuck, Banias, and Greg Siskind have seen. Their clients — many of whom had both their visas and SEVIS status terminated — did see their SEVIS records reactivated.

FOX News [10/6/2025 2:54 PM, Ashley J., 40621K] reports with the increasing interest in "golden" visa programs, Portugal has now become the latest country to hop on the trend by exclusively targeting Americans. The LXL Ventures Fund offers a five-year residence-by-investment program for non-EU nationals. The special visa allows people to live, work and study in Portugal along with enjoying visa-free travel across the Schengen Area. Visas only require an average of seven days per year spent in Portugal, per the program. The specialized private equity fund offers "secure and familiar assets matching U.S. investor preference," and "structure for NHR [Non-Habitual Resident tax] 2.0 compliance," according to the fund’s website. Lisbon-based Vida Capital has seen a 571% increase in traffic from the U.S. in the first half of 2025 compared to the first half of 2024, Forbes reported. Portugal’s new program requires prospective visa holders to put about $500,000 into qualifying investment, venture capital funds and scientific or technological research. About $250,000 of that can be invested in cultural heritage preservation, or in creating at least 10 full-time jobs in Portugal, according to the country’s site.

AP [10/6/2025 12:19 PM, Jamey Keaten, 13945K] reports that the head of the U.N. refugee agency suggested Monday that President Donald Trump’s America has carried out deportation practices that violate international law, and criticized a wider "backlash" in some countries against migrants and refugees. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, used a speech to lament that drastic funding cuts and shortages have forced his agency, UNHCR, to slash nearly 5,000 jobs this year, or nearly a quarter of its workforce. The cuts may not be finished, he said. "This was certainly not an easy year for any of us," Grandi told the opening of UNHCR’s executive committee. "But remember, please: There has never been an easy year to be a refugee – and there never will be." He did cite some bright spots and praised the Trump administration-led peace efforts in Congo, where conflict has displaced millions of people. At the U.N. General Assembly last month, the Trump administration — which has slashed support this year for international humanitarian aid — pitched other countries on its view that the global system of seeking asylum has been abused and needs to be revamped, in part by cracking down on migration. Other traditional donors have cut back their aid outlays for UNHCR this year.

AP [10/6/2025 6:29 PM, Scott Bauer, 19051K] reports the Wisconsin Department of Justice on Monday asked a judge to immediately put on hold his order that would require elections officials to verify the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered Wisconsin voters before the next statewide election in February. The state justice department, which represents the Wisconsin Elections Commission, is seeking the stay of Friday’s ruling pending an appeal. The fight over verifying the citizenship status of voters in battleground Wisconsin comes as President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has sought voter records from at least 19 states, including Wisconsin. Trump’s Justice Department is taking steps to crack down on voter fraud and noncitizen voting, both of which are rare but have been the subject of years of false claims from Trump and his allies. The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in August 2024 in the lead-up to the November presidential election by two suburban Milwaukee voters, including a longtime critic of how elections are run in the state. They sought a court order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission and state Department of Transportation to verify the citizenship of all applicants registering to vote. They argued that the state elections commission is failing to investigate unlawful voter registrations and not taking steps to ensure that noncitizens are not voting. The state justice department argued that there is no requirement or duty under Wisconsin law for the elections commission and transportation department to share and match data to remove non-citizens from the statewide voter list. Wisconsin law requires voters to certify that they are U.S. citizens but does not require election officials to obtain proof or require voters to present any. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell ruled on Friday that the elections commission is "violating state and federal statutes by maintaining an election system that potentially allows individuals on to the voter rolls who may not be lawfully entitled to cast a vote in Wisconsin.".

Bloomberg [10/6/2025 1:11 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 91K] reports that Trump administration plans to limit how long foreign journalists can remain in the US would chill press freedom and damage international news coverage of the country, media groups warned. Department of Homeland Security proposed regulations would mandate that foreign media employed on I visas renew their lawful status every 240 days, or about eight months. If finalized, that requirement would give DHS a more active role in reviewing journalists’ work in the US, potentially leading to retaliatory denials of extension of stay requests, said Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press…. [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

AP [10/6/2025 12:51 PM, Matthew Lee, Lisa Mascaro, and Chris Megerian, 19051K] reports that President Donald Trump is considering admitting far fewer refugees into the U.S. this year — as few as 7,500, and mostly white South Africans, officials say — a dramatic new low as the administration is conducting sweeping immigration raids as part of its mass deportation agenda. The new figures have not been finalized by the Trump administration or officially transmitted in a notification to Congress as required by last week’s deadline, according to two people familiar with the situation who were granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss it with the media. The decreased numbers of refugees would be a stark departure from the higher figures traditionally allowed into the U.S. — the Biden administration last year set a target of 125,000 refugee admissions. And advocates warn it would essentially bump from the line those who have already been vetted and are awaiting approvals. It all comes as the Department of Homeland Security is engaged in a crackdown on immigrants in American cities, including this past weekend in Chicago, and recruiting officers with a social media campaign to "recapture our national identity.". "This would be a monumental shift in U.S. refugee policy, not just in terms of reducing admissions, but also in terms of disproportionately privileging one group over every other," said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the resettlement organization, Global Refuge. "Our concern is that this could turn what has long been a globally responsive humanitarian system into one that overwhelmingly favors a single group," Vignarajah said.

AP [10/6/2025 4:44 PM, Gerald Imray, 31753K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump is considering prioritizing white South Africans in a dramatically decreased quota of refugees allowed into the United States this fiscal year. Trump is considering cutting the number of refugee places to as few as 7,500 from a target of 125,000 refugee admissions last year under the Biden administration, according to officials, with the places mostly going to members of the Afrikaner white minority from South Africa. Around 70 white South Africans were relocated to the U.S. in two groups in May and June in what U.S. officials described as the start of the new program. They said more would be relocated. The executive order instructed U.S. agencies including the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to prioritize humanitarian relief and the relocation of Afrikaners to the U.S. under the United States Refugee Admissions Program. It’s not clear how many South Africans have applied for refugee status, and the Afrikaner lobby groups critical of the South African government have called for Afrikaners to stay in their country. The South African government has refused to recognize them as refugees, saying they aren’t being persecuted but it also won’t stop them leaving. The U.S. has extended the refugee program to other racial minorities in South Africa, meaning South Africans of Indian or mixed-race heritage could also apply if they can show they have been discriminated against by affirmative action laws or other policies. The U.S. Embassy in South Africa said last month that there was a “sizable volume of submissions” to work through, without saying exactly how many.

CBS News [10/6/2025 11:06 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 39474K] reports unlawful crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border in fiscal year 2025 plummeted to the lowest annual level since the early 1970s, amid the Trump administration’s sweeping clampdown on illegal immigration, internal federal statistics obtained by CBS News show. U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded nearly 238,000 apprehensions of migrants crossing the southern border illegally in fiscal year 2025, which began in October of last year and ended on Sept. 30, according to the preliminary Department of Homeland Security data, which has not been previously reported. The number is the lowest annual tally recorded by Border Patrol since fiscal year 1970, when the agency reported roughly 202,000 apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border, historical figures indicate. It also represents a seismic change from the record-high levels of Border Patrol apprehensions recorded under the Biden administration, which faced an unprecedented humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. In fiscal year 2022, Border Patrol made 2.2 million apprehensions there — a record, and almost 10 times the levels recorded in 2025. More than 60% of the apprehensions made by Border Patrol in fiscal year 2025 along the U.S.-Mexico border were recorded in the last full three months of the Biden administration, the preliminary data shows. Government fiscal years start in October and end in September, and some of them encompass different administrations. Over President Trump’s first full eight months in office, Border Patrol agents assigned to the southern border have recorded fewer than 9,000 apprehensions each month — a number that the agency recorded in 24-hour periods during some days under former President Joe Biden. The internal DHS figures show Border Patrol made nearly 8,400 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border in September, an increase from 6,300 in August and 4,600 in July, a monthly record low. Border Patrol apprehensions denote the number of times agents intercepted and processed migrants entering the country between official ports of entry, which is illegal. Some migrants can be counted multiple times, if they attempt to enter the U.S. more than once after being turned back to Mexico. In a statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, "President Trump has overwhelmingly delivered on his promise to secure our Southern Border.” "As a result, Americans are safer — unvetted criminal illegal aliens and dangerous drugs are no longer pouring over our border unchecked," Jackson added. "And for all the Democrats who claimed it was impossible to secure the border or that they needed new policy, turns out all we needed was a new President.”

Politico [10/6/2025 5:55 AM, Will Bredderman, 13586K] reports that, late in the afternoon of Monday, April 21, roughly 20 miles east of here in Berkshire, Customs and Border Protection agents arrived at one of the dozens of dairy farms sprawling over the verdant Vermont landscape that hugs southern Canada. The raid was part of a search operation pursuing a complaint that day about two people having crossed over the border into American territory. According to the agency and local news reports, Border Protection entered one of the trailers on the property where migrant laborers reside and arrested eight men. But according to area priest Father Luis Barrera, who heard the story from parishioners, the tip that catalyzed it all was wrong: The pair spotted emerging from the woods near the border weren’t recent arrivals from Canada. Rather, Barrera said, they were agricultural laborers who had long worked on the farm, and the eight detained included some who had participated in his Spanish-language services. “They were just walking on a field and somebody contacted immigration. They were carrying backpacks, so the individual assumed that these guys were just coming from Canada,” Barrera said. He said they had actually been working on maple sap lines in the woods. An immigrant advocacy group in Vermont told POLITICO Magazine that six of the men were ultimately deported, while two have been released on bond. This distinction — between long-term migrant workers and transient recent crossers — is key for the people in these communities along the border, which in recent years experienced a dramatic surge in illegal entries. In the 2024 fiscal year, CBP reported apprehending nearly 20,000 people crossing illegally between Canada and the United States in the Swanton Sector, a 205-mile swath of the border running from northern New York to Maine, named for the town at its core. This represented 10 percent of all 198,929 people caught along the entire 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border, and obliterated records for the sector for the previous 17 years combined, including 2023, which itself saw unprecedented numbers of apprehensions. Federal authorities in both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations attributed the surge to “transnational criminal organizations” operating in both nations. In the 2024 election, the towns along Vermont’s Canadian border — Alburgh, Swanton, Franklin, Berkshire, Richford, Jay, Troy, Newport Town, Derby, Holland, Norton and Canaan — became a solid red wall for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s 49-state landslide 40 years before. Swanton itself swung almost five points to Trump from 2020 to 2024. Most of the dozen-plus people I spoke to for this story — farmers, business owners, activists, local officials and migrant laborers — agreed that concerns about the illicit traffic of people and narcotics over the border played a significant role in flipping places that backed Biden in 2020 and have favored Democrats for most of their history. But predominantly undocumented migrant workers, most from Mexico, also constitute a crucial part of the local agricultural economy. “This is a rural area, farming, and a big number of people are highly conservative and Republican,” Barrera said. “But there is a contradiction, because if you talk to the farmers, they will tell you they need that labor.”

Chicago Tribune [10/6/2025 6:39 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports an alleged high-ranking Chicago gang member has been charged with soliciting the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino, the tough-talking commander at the forefront of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement push "Operation Midway Blitz." Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, of Chicago, was arrested Monday morning and charged in a criminal complaint unsealed Monday with one count of solicitation of murder-for-hire. According to the complaint, Martinez, a ranking member of the Latin Kings, told a law enforcement source after an immigration agent shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood "that he had dispatched members of the Latin Kings to the area of the 39th and Kedzie…in response to the shooting." The law enforcement source also shared Snapchat messages from Martinez saying, "2k on information when you get him" and "10k if u take him down," according to the complaint. Included in the message was a photo of Bovino, who has recently participated in immigration enforcement operations in Chicago on behalf of the U.S. Border Patrol, according to a law enforcement source and the complaint, which identifies Bovino only as a senior Border Patrol official.

USA Today [10/6/2025 1:44 PM, Zach Wichter, 64151K] reports as the government shutdown drags into a second calendar week, travelers may start to worry about how it will impact their airport plans. Transportation Security Administration officers and Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers are considered essential employees, which means they’re supposed to work without pay during the shutdown, with promises of receiving back-pay from the government once funding is restored. Impacts on air travel have been negligible so far. USA TODAY journalists who traveled over the weekend reported that lines at TSA checkpoints were normal at multiple airports. Data from FlightAware showed just 32 flight cancellations nationwide on Saturday and 70 on Sunday. Still, the longer the shutdown drags on, the more likely disruptions become. In a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Oct. 6, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said some air traffic control facilities were already seeing increased numbers of sick calls. Though he added that the absences were isolated, and the agency is prepared to slow air traffic as needed to meet controller staffing levels. "One facility one day, another facility another day, some areas have seen a 50% reduction in some of the staffing," Duffy said. "We take the appropriate action to make sure our skies are safe ... If we see those issues in the tower that are affecting controllers’ ability to effectively control the airspace, we’ll reduce the rate, and you can see more delays or you can see a cancellation." Duffy also warned that a prolonged shutdown could impact the Essential Air Service, which helps maintain flights to smaller communities nationwide, and could hinder training for new air traffic controllers, slowing the DOT’s efforts to increase staffing levels across the national airspace system. The DOT does not oversee the TSA, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security; however, that agency is also preparing for potential issues if the shutdown continues. "While TSA is prepared to continue screening about 2.5M passengers a day, an extended shutdown could mean longer wait times at airports. We kindly ask for our passengers’ patience during this time," a social media post from the agency said.

Reuters [10/6/2025 4:07 PM, Doyinsola Oladipo and David Shepardson, 36480K] reports the number of air traffic controllers calling in sick since the government shutdown began has seen a slight "tick up", U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Monday, at times cutting air traffic staffing by 50% in some areas. Duffy did not specify where the staffing issues were occurring, but some 13,000 air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers must still turn up for work during the shutdown. They are not being paid and controllers are set to miss their first paycheck on Oct. 14. Delays will result from the reduced staffing, Duffy said, adding that if sick calls increase, air traffic flow will be cut to a rate that maintains air safety. In some airports, there was a 50% reduction in air traffic staffing on certain days, he added. Denver, Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix on Monday saw a rise in sick calls from air traffic controllers, according to the USDOT. President Donald Trump has made transportation a focal point in a government shutdown battle with the Democrats, cutting off more than $28 billion of aid for climate programs, subways, tunnels and mass transit in Democratic-leaning states like New York and Illinois. Duffy and the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association spoke at a press conference at Newark Liberty International Airport to discuss the effects of the shutdown. The airport is one of three serving the heavily Democratic-leaning New York metropolitan area and is a major United Airlines (UAL.O). The Federal News Network [10/6/2025 5:03 PM, Justin Doubleday, 986K] reports Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Federal Aviation Administration is seeing some call outs, as 13,200 air traffic controllers work without pay during the ongoing shutdown. Approximately 61,000 employees at the Transportation Security Administration are also required to work without pay during the shutdown. Joe Shuker, the president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 333, speculated the shutdown would lead to TSA employees taking sick leave.

CNN [10/7/2025 1:38 AM, Pete Muntean, Alexandra Skores, Aaron Cooper, 18595K] reports a pilot preparing to take off Monday from Hollywood Burbank Airport in California took the routine step of radioing the air traffic control tower. But instead of the usual back-and-forth conversation of coordinating departure, the pilot received a different response: "The tower is closed due to staffing," according to audio recorded by LiveATC.net. The exchange is one example of the impact the ongoing government shutdown is having on travelers across the US as air traffic controller staffing issues have led to delays at major airports and forced pilots in some areas to pivot to alternative workflows. Controllers are considered essential workers, so they must work during the shutdown, but are not being paid. Twelve Federal Aviation Administration facilities saw staffing shortages Monday night. The control towers in Burbank, Phoenix and Denver had so called "staffing triggers" reported in the public FAA operations plan. Other facilities that handle air traffic around airports in Newark, New Jersey; Jacksonville, Florida; Chicago, Washington, DC, and Indianapolis also were short staffed. Perhaps the most dramatic impact was at the Burbank airport where the control tower was entirely shut down around 4:15 p.m. Monday afternoon. Flights could take off and land but had to follow procedures typically used at small airports without control towers. Delays of more than two and a half hours were reported at one point. Denver International and Newark Liberty International airports saw ground delays where flights were prohibited from taking off until controllers were able to handle them. Both airports are major hubs for United Airlines; the airline did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. The number of controllers calling out sick has increased since the start of the shutdown, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a news conference Monday after talking with controllers in the tower at Newark. "So now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace, is, ‘How am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment?’" he said. "Do I think they’re more stressed right now in our towers? Yes. Is our airspace unsafe? No.” During this shutdown, Duffy said, the government will do what is necessary to keep the airspace safe. "If we have additional sick calls, we will reduce the flow consistent with a rate that’s safe for the American people," he said, foreshadowing the delays seen later in the day.

Reported similarly:
Axios [10/7/2025 1:28 AM, Rebecca Falconer, 12972K]

USA Today [10/6/2025 12:51 PM, Zach Wichter and Thao Nguyen, 67103K] reports transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Oct. 6 that the government shutdown is adding stress to already overworked and understaffed air traffic controllers, as some areas have seen an uptick in controllers calling in sick. Though Duffy said the nation’s airspace remains safe, he noted that some air traffic control facilities were experiencing an increase in sick calls — with some missing as many as 50% of employees on any given day since the shutdown started last week. Duffy warned that understaffed facilities could result in flight delays and cancellations as the Federal Aviation Administration limits capacity through some sectors of the airspace. Duffy said controllers, who are mandatory federal employees, are worried about how to pay their bills while keeping the airspace safe. Thousands of controllers are expected to show up for work during the shutdown. They are not being paid and are set to miss their first paycheck on Oct. 14. "Now, what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, how am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home. How do I put food on the table? I’m working six days a week," Duffy said during a news conference at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. "Do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about how I can make extra money because the government may not provide me a paycheck?" he continued. The FAA said air traffic control staffing issues were affecting flights at several airports, including Newark, New Jersey, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, and Burbank, California. FlightAware reported that more than 5,000 flights in the U.S. on Oct. 6 have been delayed, including 31% arriving flights at Denver, 21% at Newark, and 18% at Las Vegas. Weather issues are also impacting flights. California governor blames Trump for lack of air traffic controllers at Los Angeles area airport. In a post on X, California Gov. Gavin Newsom blamed President Donald Trump for the lack of air traffic controllers at the Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County. "Thanks, @realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15pm to 10pm today because of YOUR government shutdown," the governor wrote in the post on Oct. 6. The FAA had warned that the air traffic control tower for the Burbank Airport would be unmanned due to staffing shortages. Duffy warns that prolonged government shutdown could have long-term impacts. During the news conference, Duffy said a prolonged shutdown could have longer-term impacts on air traffic controller training, because some of the support staff at the agency could be laid off. He added that the Essential Air Service, which brings flights to underserved rural communities, will run out funding on Oct. 12 if the shutdown continues. The U.S. Department of Transportation does not oversee the TSA, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, but that agency is also preparing for issues if the shutdown drags on.

Axios [10/6/2025 6:20 AM, Steph Solis, 14595K] reports Massachusetts’ latest legal fight against the Trump administration is over $6.9 million that the state lost in federal public safety funds. State leaders say they lost the funds because they wouldn’t reallocate "core" resources to support the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up immigration enforcement. DHS and FEMA recently awarded the state $15.3 million in homeland security grants, Gov. Maura Healey’s office said. The state had previously received $22.2 million. "The Biden administration used FEMA as its own personal piggy bank to fund far-left radical organizations, house criminal illegal aliens and support pseudo-science," Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release announcing the funding awards. "It is no longer open season [on] the American taxpayer at DHS."

CNN [10/6/2025 2:01 PM, Mary Gilbert, 18595K] reports that a rare, monstrous EF5 tornado that struck the United States more than three months ago was the first of its kind in more than a decade, experts announced Monday. A tornado that roared through part of eastern North Dakota in June and killed three people was upgraded Monday to an EF5 with winds greater than 210 mph, the National Weather Service in Grand Forks, North Dakota, confirmed. EF5 tornadoes pack winds of at least 201 mph and are the highest level of the Enhanced Fujita Scale, the scale used to determine tornado strength. Tornadoes this strong are rare. Only 60 tornadoes of EF5 strength – including this one – have been recorded since 1950, according to NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center. The tornado first hit near Enderlin, North Dakota – located about 40 miles southwest of Fargo – and tracked north for nearly 20 minutes and about 12 miles before ending near Alice. Tornadoes are rated after they’ve occurred based on the degree of damage they cause. The Enderlin tornado was originally rated an EF3 with winds of 160 mph. Additional investigation by weather service meteorologists in consultation with other scientists led to the upgrade, mainly based on the damage the tornado did to a freight train. The last EF5 tornado in the US roared through Moore, Oklahoma, on May 20, 2013. Twenty-four people were killed and more than 200 were injured after the tornado turned the city to rubble in a matter of moments.

Reported similarly:
AP [10/6/2025 5:42 PM, Sarah Raza, 1538K]
CBS News [10/6/2025 6:32 PM, Nick Lentz and Nikki Nolan, 39474K] Video: HERE
USA Today [10/6/2025 5:28 PM, Doyle Rice, 67103K]

Professional Mariner [10/6/2025 9:33 AM, Staff, 12K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Storis (WAGB 21), the service’s newest commissioned icebreaker, arrived in Seattle on Friday after completing its 112-day inaugural patrol. Storis departed Pascagoula, Miss., on June 1, then transited the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean en route to conduct its first Arctic patrol operating north of the Bering Strait to control, secure and defend the northern U.S. border and maritime approaches. Storis operated under the Coast Guard Arctic District, supporting Operation Frontier Sentinel to counter foreign malign influences in or near Alaskan and U.S. Arctic waters. The vessel is the former Aiviq, acquired by the Coast Guard last year. The U.S.-registered ship was originally built to serve as an Arctic oil exploration support vessel. In early September, Storis entered the ice for the first time as a Coast Guard cutter to relieve Coast Guard cutter Healy (WAGB 20) and monitor the Chinese-flagged research vessels Jidi and Xue Long 2. The Arctic is a zone of strategic global competition. Five China-affiliated research vessels operated in the Arctic region over the summer and Storis was one of several Coast Guard assets deployed to the U.S. Arctic to control, secure and defend U.S. territory and sovereign interests. The Coast Guard is the only U.S. surface presence in the Arctic and works in conjunction with U.S. Northern Command and Alaskan Command to constantly monitor foreign vessels operating in and near U.S. waters in support of U.S. homeland defense and security operations.

San Francisco Chronicle [10/6/2025 11:55 AM, Aidin Vaziri, 4722K] reports authorities have suspended the search for Sunshine Borjas, the 47-year-old Santa Rosa woman who disappeared last week after setting out for a solo hike at Bodega Head on the Sonoma County coast. The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said Monday morning that its Search and Rescue Team spent the weekend combing the area by air, land, and sea before halting active operations as investigators await new leads. "Over the weekend, our Search and Rescue Team spent countless hours searching the Bodega Head area with help from Henry-1, U.S. Coast Guard planes and boats, SAR canines, ground searchers, Marine Unit boats, and drones," the sheriff’s office said in an update. "Search efforts were suspended Sunday as teams await new leads on where to continue looking.". The case has now been turned back over to the Santa Rosa Police Department. Borjas was last seen on Wednesday, when she left home around 1:30 p.m. to hike alone at Bodega Head, a windswept bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Her white Subaru was found the next morning in the parking lot near the trailhead, but no trace of her has been discovered.

CyberScoop [10/6/2025 2:30 PM, Tim Starks] reports three House Democrats questioned the Department of Homeland Security on Monday over a reported Immigration and Customs Enforcement contract with a spyware provider that they warn potentially “threatens Americans’ freedom of movement and freedom of speech.” Their letter follows publication of a notice that ICE had lifted a stop-work order on a $2 million deal with Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions, a contract that the Biden administration had frozen one year ago pending a review of its compliance with a spyware executive order. Paragon is the maker of Graphite, and advertises it as having more safeguards than competitors that have received more public and legal scrutiny, such as NSO Group’s Pegasus, a claim researchers have challenged. A report earlier this year found suspected deployments of Graphite in countries across the globe, with targets including journalists and activists. WhatsApp also notified users this year about a Paragon-linked campaign targeting them. The tool can infect phones without its target having to click on any malicious lure, then mine data from them. “Given the Trump Administration’s disregard for constitutional rights and civil liberties in pursuit of rapid mass deportation, we are seriously concerned that ICE will abuse Graphite software to target immigrants, people of color, and individuals who express opposition to ICE’s repeated attacks on the rule of law,” the three congressional Democrats, two of whom serve as ranking members of House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittees, wrote Monday. The trio behind the letter are Reps. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, top Democrat on the Subcommittee on Federal Law Enforcement; Ohio Rep. Shontel Brown, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology and Government Innovation; and Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona.

CyberScoop [10/6/2025 3:25 PM, Matt Kapko] reports federal cyber authorities and threat hunters are on edge following Oracle’s Saturday disclosure of an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability the Clop ransomware group used to initiate a widespread data theft and extortion campaign researchers initially warned about last week. Oracle addressed the critical vulnerability — CVE-2025-61882 affecting Oracle E-Business Suite — in a security advisory Saturday and advised customers to apply the patch as soon as possible. The tech giant previously said it was aware some customers had received extortion emails and said vulnerabilities it addressed in its July security update were potentially involved. Rob Duhart, chief security officer at Oracle Security, updated his blog post Saturday to alert customers to the zero-day. Oracle did not say the zero-day is actively exploited but it provided indicators of compromise, which indirectly confirm the defect has been exploited in the wild. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency added CVE-2025-61882 to its known exploited vulnerabilities catalog Monday, noting that it has been used in ransomware campaigns. Brett Leatherman, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, described the zero-day as an emergency putting Oracle E-Business Suite environments at risk of full compromise.

NPR [10/6/2025 5:59 PM, Staff, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports nearly a quarter century after the September 11th attacks, the Trump administration is using the language of terrorism to target a new enemy: Latin American drug cartels. The president says we’re in armed conflict with drug cartels. We talk to a Bush-era lawyer who says the powers of war are too extraordinary to use against crime.

Federalist [10/6/2025 12:20 PM, Brianna Lyman, 785K] reports that days after the man who tried to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was given a light sentence, police arrested a 41-year-old man on bomb charges after he showed up to a mass traditionally attended by Supreme Court justices to mark the beginning of the high court’s annual term. According to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, authorities "engaged an individual who set up a tent on the steps" of Saint Matthew’s Cathedral ahead of the Red Mass. Louis Geri refused to vacate the premises and was arrested. During the arrest, "officers observed multiple suspicious items, including vials of liquid and possible fireworks, inside of the suspect’s tent," the department stated. Geri was charged with unlawful entry, threats to kidnap or injure a person, and possession of a Molotov cocktail. The incident unfolded as the church was set to celebrate its 73rd annual Red Mass. The mass, according to the church’s website, "marks the opening of the Supreme Court’s annual term." Several Supreme Court justices traditionally attend the mass. "Its purpose is to invoke God’s blessings on those responsible for the administration of justice as well as on all public officials," according to the website. The incident comes just days after Biden-appointed Judge Deborah Boardman sentenced Nicholas Roske — who now goes by "Sophie" — to just eight years in prison for nearly assassinating Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Roske showed up to Kavanaugh’s Maryland home with a Glock 17 pistol, ammunition, lock picks, duct tape, pepper spray and other burglary items.

FOX News [10/6/2025 9:47 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 40019K] Video: HERE reports White House deputy chief of staff for policy and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller lambasted Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York after the congressman blamed a fire at a South Carolina Circuit Court judge’s property on the political right. Goldman blamed "the extreme right" for the inferno at the home of Judge Diane Schafer Goodstein, asserting that it was an act of arson. "Trump, @StephenM and MAGA-world have been doxxing and threatening judges who rule against Trump, including Judge Goodstein. Today, someone committed arson on the Judge’s home, severely injuring her husband and son. Will Trump speak out against the extreme right that did this??" Goldman said in a post on X. Miller fired back, excoriating the Democratic lawmaker in a scathing rebuke. "You are vile. Deeply warped and vile. While the Trump Administration has launched the first-ever government-wide effort to combat and prosecute illegal doxing, sinister threats and political violence you continue to push despicable lies, demented smears, malicious defamation and foment unrest. Despicable," Miller declared.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [10/6/2025 12:15 PM, Ryan King, 42219K]

NewsMax [10/6/2025 10:26 AM, Jonathan Stempel, 4109K] reports that the U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, to avoid a lawsuit brought under an American anti-terrorism law alleging that it did business with a group blamed for downing a Malaysia Airlines jetliner over Ukraine in 2014. The justices turned away Sberbank’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling letting the family of Quinn Schansman, an 18-year-old American passenger who was killed in the crash, sue the state-controlled lender. Schansman’s family sued under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which lets U.S. nationals injured by an "act of international terrorism" seek damages in private civil lawsuits. In February, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Sberbank was not entitled to sovereign immunity against claims it used the U.S. banking system to funnel donor money to Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR, a Russia-backed separatist group. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam was shot down by a surface-to-air missile on July 17, 2014, over DPR-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board were killed including Schansman, who was traveling for a planned family vacation. The Russian government has denied involvement. Ukraine had previously declared the DPR a terrorist organization, and the United States had imposed sanctions on the group. Russia’s Ministry of Finance acquired a majority stake in Sberbank in 2020. Sberbank said it deserved a presumption of immunity as a "foreign state" under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

Blaze [10/6/2025 9:00 AM, Edward Woodson, 1559K] reports in June, Israel embarrassed Iran’s ruling class, killing generals, politicians, and nuclear scientists with precision strikes. Tehran’s top brass thought they were safe. They weren’t. Why? Their bodyguards and drivers carried cell phones that gave them away. That’s all it took for Israel to trace them and unleash devastation. The supreme leader only survived because President Donald Trump ordered Israel not to pull the trigger on him. The Israelis achieved this feat by identifying the weak link and exploiting it. "We know senior officials and commanders did not carry phones, but their interlocutors, security guards, and drivers had phones; they did not take precautions seriously, and this is how most of them were traced," an Iranian analyst told New York Times. Iran’s failure should be America’s wake-up call — because we share the same blind spots. The U.S. government spends billions on cybersecurity. All that it takes is one careless employee with a smartphone in his pocket to blow it all up.

Axios [10/6/2025 2:39 PM, Courtenay Brown, 12972K] reports that President Trump said on Monday that trucks imported into the U.S. would be hit with a 25% tariff rate starting on Nov. 1. Why it matters: The previously telegraphed tariffs are the latest blow to the global automakers, whose trucks had previously skirted sector-wide tariffs. What they’re saying: "Beginning November 1st, 2025, all Medium and Heavy Duty Trucks coming into the United States from other Countries will be Tariffed at the Rate of 25%," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. In late September, Trump signaled that the big-truck tariffs were coming at the start of October, an effort to "protect our Great Heavy Truck Manufacturers from unfair outside competition," he wrote on social media. The White House did not release a fact sheet further detailing the tariffs. Until now, foreign trucks manufactured in Mexico could be imported tariff-free — assuming they complied with the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement negotiated by Trump during his first term. A separate 50% tariff on imported aluminum and steel have raised costs for American truck makers. Between the lines: Trump’s piecemeal approach to tariffs is frustrating to auto industry leaders, who want the administration to focus on renegotiating the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, so that all companies will face a level playing field when it comes to tariffs.

Houston Chronicle [10/6/2025 2:40 PM, Evan MacDonald, 2983K] reports that Harris Health is notifying roughly 5,000 patients that a former employee improperly accessed their medical records and leaked them to unauthorized individuals. Harris Health fired the employee after discovering the misconduct in February 2021, but the FBI required the health system to delay notifying patients while it investigated the incident, a spokesman for the health system said. The FBI recently gave permission for Harris Health to notify its patients. The health system did not identify the former employee, and it directed questions about the investigation to the FBI. An FBI spokesman declined to comment, saying the agency’s operations will be focused on "national security, violations of federal law and critical public safety functions" until lawmakers reach a deal to end the federal government shutdown. Harris Health and the FBI determined the employee disclosed patients’ personal and medical information to "unauthorized individuals," the health system said in a news release. The health system did not identify those individuals or say why the employee disclosed the information to them. Harris Health hired a forensic firm to investigate the incident and determined the employee improperly accessed medical records between 2011 and 2021. The employee may have leaked demographic information, such as dates of birth and addresses; clinical information, such as diagnoses and medical history; and insurance information, which may have contained Social Security numbers.

Free Beacon [10/6/2025 3:45 PM, Adam Kredo, 411K] reports Israel and Hamas on Monday met in Egypt to begin intensive negotiations to finalize a U.S.-backed peace accord that will end the war in Gaza, free the remaining hostages, and set the stage for an international coalition to assume control of the coastal territory. President Donald Trump said the talks should conclude later "this week," but urged Hamas to "move fast" or face "massive bloodshed.". Significant gaps still remain even as the two parties work within the terms of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, which requires Hamas to fully disarm and abdicate its rule over Gaza. The terror group on Sunday reportedly agreed to hand over its weapons "to a joint Palestinian-Egyptian committee under international supervision," but the veracity of the terror group’s assertion is unclear, as is the degree to which it satisfies U.S. and Israeli demands. Trump said on Sunday that the discussions are "proceeding rapidly," even as they drag well past the president’s initial deadline of 6 p.m. EDT that same day. Trump signaled he will not wait much longer, saying in a Truth Social post that "time is of the essence or massive bloodshed will follow.". Trump also wrote on Truth Social that Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is in the region "to help work through and clarify the final details," though those details still remain fuzzy as of Monday afternoon. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he expects a deal to take shape by Thursday, potentially setting the stage for the 48 remaining hostages to return home within the following 72 hours. Under the terms of Trump’s deal, Israeli military forces will fall back to a buffer zone that runs through the middle of Gaza, giving Hamas breathing room to gather the hostages and initiate the second phase of the ceasefire, which will see Israel fully withdraw.

Washington Examiner [10/6/2025 5:30 AM, Beth Bailey, 1563K] reports after the Taliban returned the wrongfully detained American Amir Amiry to the United States on Sept. 28, news of further prisoner trades has percolated. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Amiry’s release was "an important step forward" to getting freedom for "additional Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan." At the time of Amiry’s release, a U.S. official told New York Times that there were three Americans in Taliban custody. The most widely known detainee is Mahmood Habibi, whom the Taliban continue to claim is not in their custody. The claim is easily refuted, including by witnesses who saw Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence members arrest Habibi in August 2022, by witnesses who have seen Habibi at GDI headquarters, and by technical evidence that Habibi’s phone was turned on inside GDI headquarters as recently as August 2023. Journalist Sami Yousafzai said the Taliban have named only two Americans in their custody: Polynesis Idren and Dennis Walter Koyle.

AP [10/6/2025 10:13 AM, Vladimir Isachenkov, 20690K] reports that the Kremlin on Monday welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments about Russia’s offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States, saying it raises hope for keeping the pact alive after it expires in February. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared his readiness to adhere to nuclear arms limits under the 2010 New START arms reduction treaty for one more year, and he urged Washington to follow suit. When asked about the proposal, Trump said Sunday it “sounds like a good idea to me.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Trump’s statement, noting that “it gives grounds for optimism that the United States will support President Putin’s initiative.” While offering to extend the New START agreement, Putin said its expiration would be destabilizing and could fuel proliferation of nuclear weapons. He also argued that maintaining limits on nuclear weapons could also be an important step in “creating an atmosphere conducive to substantive strategic dialogue with the U.S.” The Russian leader reaffirmed the offer Thursday, noting that Russia and the U.S. could use the one-year extension to work on a possible successor pact. Such an agreement will involve complex talks that could deal with battlefield nuclear weapons and prospective strategic weapons systems that Russia has developed, Putin said. “We haven’t forgotten about anything that we have planned, the work is ongoing and it will produce results,” he declared at a forum of international foreign policy experts. He mentioned the longtime U.S. push for including China in any prospective nuclear arms control pact but emphasized that it’s up to Washington to try to persuade Beijing to do so. China has rejected the idea, arguing that its nuclear arsenals are far smaller than those of the U.S. and Russia.

Daily Caller [10/6/2025 8:18 AM, Philip Lenczycki, 985K] reports Chinese illegal immigrants are obtaining commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) and landing jobs in the U.S. trucking industry with support from a Chinese government-linked network, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation discovered. The Chinese American Trucker Organization USA Inc. (CATOU) is a New York-based nonprofit trade organization registered as a 501(c)6 that has allegedly helped over 1,000 Chinese students obtain CDLs and has a 100% pass rate, according to its business filings, social media posts and website. Videos posted on social media by an individual who crossed the U.S. southern border illegally shows they were able to rapidly obtain California CDLs after taking courses taught by CATOU instructors. The public safety concern presented by truckers with unknown criminal backgrounds and driving records is compounded by CATOU’s board chairwoman, Geng Hang, who has held leadership roles within organizations operating as arms of the Chinese government and a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence and intelligence agency called the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to DCNF translations of announcements from those entities. "No way American citizens voted for the California gateway for illegal migrants to operate heavy vehicles throughout America. That of itself is a public safety and homeland security concern," Steve Yates, senior research fellow for China and national security policy at the Heritage Foundation, told the DCNF.

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