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

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

The New York Times [9/13/2025 9:52 PM, Chris Cameron, 143795K] reports a federal judge on Saturday denounced the Trump administration for what she said appeared to be a deliberate scheme to ignore court-ordered protections for a group of deported immigrants who feared persecution in their home countries of Nigeria and Gambia. But Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia appeared reluctant to order the return of the five migrants to the United States, instead asking the government to submit a sworn statement detailing its efforts to prevent the deportations of the people to their home countries. Repatriating the migrants would violate the protections they had received from immigration judges in the United States. An emergency hearing in the case on Saturday demonstrated how the Supreme Court had paved the way for the deportation of the five migrants in the case, and for President Trump’s mass deportation campaign more broadly. Though she appeared highly skeptical of the government’s arguments, Judge Chutkan said that her “hands may be tied,” and expressed doubt that a ruling in the migrants’ favor would survive on appeal, pointing to several recent legal victories for the Trump administration’s deportation policies. Judge Chutkan ultimately did not instruct the government to take specific action on the five deported migrants, and gave lawyers in the case more time to prepare their arguments. It is unclear if more members of the group of deported migrants will soon be deported to their home countries. In a recent deal with the Trump administration, Ghana agreed to accept deported migrants with no connection to the West African nation. Federal officials then deported 14 migrants to Ghana last week, five of whom had judges’ orders preventing their deportation to their home countries of Nigeria and Gambia. But the five migrants were told by U.S. and Ghanaian officials that they would be sent to their home countries anyway, according to court filings. One of them — a bisexual man from Gambia, where same-sex relationships are criminalized — was sent on Wednesday from Ghana to his home country. The other four plaintiffs are still in Ghana, and have been told by officials there that their deportations were imminent. Even as Judge Chutkan scolded the Trump administration for allowing Ghanaian officials to violate orders by U.S. immigration judges, she also appeared to suggest that she had little power to compel the government to return the migrants, at least for now. “I have not been shy about saying that I think this is a very suspicious scheme,” she said during a hearing on Saturday, adding that the Supreme Court had blocked a lower court decision in a similar case earlier this year, “and there’s no point in getting decisions from me that are immediately going to be stayed.” The AP [9/13/2025 7:09 PM, Nicholas Riccardi, 2608K] reports that one of the plaintiffs has already been shipped from Ghana to his native Gambia, where a U.S. court found he could not be sent, Lee Gelernt of the ACLU told Chutkan. Elianis Perez of the Department of Justice acknowledged that she told Chutkan in court on Friday that Ghana had pledged that wouldn’t happen. But she argued that Chutkan had no power to control how another country treats deportees. She noted the U.S. Supreme Court this summer ruled the administration could continue sending immigrants to countries they are not from, even if they hadn’t had a chance to raise fears of torture. Gelernt, however, compared the case to that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the Trump administration mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite a court order prohibiting it, then argued it couldn’t get him back. After multiple courts directed the administration to “facilitate” his return, Abrego Garcia eventually came back to the U.S. where he is now fighting human trafficking charges and another Trump push to deport him. “This appears to be a specific plan to make an end run around these obligations,” Chutkan said of the administration shipping the immigrants to Ghana. “What does the government intend to do? And please don’t tell me you don’t have any control over Ghana because I know that.” Chutkan later issued an order giving the administration until 9 p.m. Eastern time to file a declaration detailing how they were trying to ensure the other immigrants weren’t improperly sent to their home countries from Ghana. The Washington Post [9/13/2025 7:19 PM, Gaya Gupta, 29079K] reports that the lawsuit, filed Friday by the civil rights advocacy group Asian Americans Advancing Justice, alleges that judges had granted fear-based immigration relief to the five plaintiffs, ruling that they faced persecution or torture if they returned to their home countries of Nigeria and Gambia. But during their deportation flight, the complaint said, the plaintiffs were told by an ICE officer that they would still be transferred to their home countries after landing in Ghana. “Defendants have enlisted the government of Ghana to do their dirty work,” reads AAAJ’s complaint, which was filed in federal court in D.C. “Despite the minimal, pass-through involvement of the Ghanaian government, Defendants’ objective is clear: deport individuals who have been granted fear-based relief from being sent to their countries of origin to those countries anyway, in contravention to the rulings of U.S. immigration judges and U.S. immigration law.” U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said at an emergency hearing Saturday afternoon that it appeared the Trump administration crafted a deal “to make an end run” around U.S. legal requirements, according to Reuters. Chutkan ordered the Trump administration to provide more information by Saturday night about what they’ve done or plan to do to prevent the plaintiffs from being moved to their home countries, according to court documents. The State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment. Todd M. Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wrote in a July memo that a Supreme Court ruling the previous month cleared the way for ICE officers to deport people to countries other than their own, with as little as six hours’ notice, even without assurances that the new arrivals will be safe from persecution or torture. In a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin denied the lawsuit’s allegation that the plaintiffs were in straitjackets. “This is more smears against our brave ICE law enforcement,” McLaughlin said. “This type of garbage is contributing to our officers facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them.” The president of Ghana, John Mahama, confirmed Wednesday that a group of 14 West Africans had arrived as part of President Donald Trump’s “third country” deportation policy. Noah Baron, assistant director of litigation at AAAJ, told Washington Post that one plaintiff has already been sent on to Gambia and that the other four remain in Ghana under “imminent threat of deportation at a time unknown.”

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CBS News [9/13/2025 7:59 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K]

Telemundo [9/13/2025 1:57 PM, Staff, 2782K] reports Venezuelans who are Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries have until midnight this Saturday to re-register on the Citizenship and Immigration Services website following a federal judge’s ruling ordering the Trump administration to update the USCIS portal. Beneficiaries with pending re-registration applications do not need to re-register, according to the organization, which also warned that Venezuelans who applied for the benefit in 2021 "will lose their status on November 7, 2025" if they do not register by the deadline. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen ruled that the Republican administration must change the USCIS website after plaintiffs’ attorneys claimed that TPS registrants remained in detention centers or were unable to return to work even after his September 5 ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. Chen said Thursday that his ruling in favor of TPS holders took effect immediately. That ruling determined that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had illegally canceled the TPS extensions granted by the Democratic administration of President Joe Biden for 1.1 million Venezuelans and Haitians. Univision [9/13/2025 11:48 AM, Staff, 4932K] reports the Venezuela TPS re-registration portal is open for 24 hours following a federal judge’s order, reported the National TPS Alliance, the organization suing the Trump administration to continue the temporary status program. The news comes after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to comply with its previous ruling restoring Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans, after the government failed to provide access to the re-registration portal. The National TPS Alliance reported this Friday that they were informed that "the Venezuela TPS re-registration portal will be open for 24 hours and will remain available all day Saturday, September 13, until midnight Eastern Time." Several statements filed with the court revealed cases of TPS holders who lost their jobs or were detained and at risk of deportation, despite their protected legal status. The lawsuit argues that then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem predetermined the termination of TPS for these three countries and sought subsequent justification to support that decision. The lawsuit alleges that DHS violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by failing to follow the rules required to review TPS designations. Furthermore, the lawsuit challenges these terminations as motivated by racial animus, which, even if only part of the motivation, would constitute a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection to the United States Constitution.

AP [9/13/2025 7:47 AM, Safiyah Riddle] reports ever since a massive immigration raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site swept up nearly 500 workers in southeast Georgia, Rosie Harrison said her organization’s phones have been ringing nonstop with panicked families in need of help. Since the raid, Harrison said, "families are experiencing a new level of crisis." A majority of the 475 people who were detained in the workplace raid — which U.S. officials have called the largest in two decades — were Korean and have returned to South Korea. But lawyers and social workers say many of the non-Korean immigrants ensnared in the crackdown remain in legal limbo or are otherwise unaccounted for. Throughout the day, people described federal agents taking cellphones from workers and putting them in long lines, Contreras said. Some workers hid for hours to avoid capture, in air ducts or remote areas of the sprawling property. The Department of Justice said some hid in a nearby sewage pond. Atlanta-based attorney Charles Kuck, who represents both Korean and non-Korean workers who were detained, said two of his clients were legally working under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was created by former President Barack Obama. One had been released and "should have never been arrested," he said, while the other was still being held because he was recently charged with driving under the influence. Another of Kuck’s clients was in the process of seeking asylum, he said, and had the same documents and job as her husband who was not arrested. Some even had valid Georgia driver’s licenses, which aren’t available to people in the country illegally, said Rosario Palacios, who has been assisting Migrant Equity Southeast.

Breitbart [9/13/2025 12:58 PM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick dismissed complaints by Korean companies about their workers getting caught at jobs in the United States without work permits. The dismissive response comes amid ample evidence that Korean companies have been smuggling ordinary construction workers into the United States on tourist visas. The law requires that foreign companies hire Americans and get L-1 visas for specialized trainers and equipment installers. There is no cap on the number of L-1 visas, so each has to be approved by embassy officials. More than 45,000 B-1/B-2 visas have been issued to Koreans in the last five years. Korean managers and employers also acknowledge their B-1/B-2 visa cheating. Labor smuggling via tourist visas "was a normal practice" and is "deeply rooted in business operations," a source from Korea’s battery industry told the AFP News service. "But this may have to change from now on," the source said. Last week’s raid has left business leaders with "a sense of betrayal and anxiety," a senior executive from the semiconductors industry told AFP. "Most of the companies follow similar practices so this could happen to any of them," he said on condition of anonymity.

Breitbart [9/13/2025 11:39 AM, Bob Price, 2608K] reports a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer was hospitalized Friday morning after being violently dragged by a criminal illegal alien during a targeted enforcement operation in Chicago. The suspect, identified as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced dead at the scene after resisting arrest and weaponizing his vehicle against federal agents. The Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) officer sustained multiple injuries as the suspect attacked him with the vehicle. Officials said the officer is in stable condition. ICE officials reported that the ERO officers attempted to stop the vehicle driven by Villegas-Gonzalez. They described the suspect as a "criminal illegal alien with a history of reckless driving." It is not clear when or where he entered the U.S. illegally. Officials also did not disclose his nationality. Officials state that Villegas-Gonzalez refused to follow the officers’ instructions and then drove his car directly at the officers. The vehicle then struck one of the officers, dragging him for a significant. Fearing for his life, the officer drew his service weapon and fired, striking the criminal alien. The illegal alien was pronounced deceased from his wounds. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin expressed concern for her officers’ safety as they carry out the president’s orders to round up criminal aliens. Villegas-Gonzalez had a criminal history and was targeted as part of an ongoing ICE operation focused on removing dangerous illegal aliens from U.S. communities. CNN [9/13/2025 10:35 PM, Priscilla Alvarez, 23245K] reports that the officer, who was not immediately identified, has been released from the hospital after suffering severe back injuries, lacerations to his hand and tears to his knee, an ICE spokesperson told CNN on Saturday. The incident happened during a vehicle stop in Franklin Park, a community about 20 miles west of downtown Chicago. Villegas-Gonzalez drove his car at law enforcement officers, hitting one of them and dragging that officer a “significant distance,” according to DHS. “We are praying for the speedy recovery of our law enforcement officer. He followed his training, used appropriate force, and properly enforced the law to protect the public and law enforcement,” Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a news release. “Viral social media videos and activists encouraging illegal aliens to resist law enforcement not only spread misinformation, but also undermine public safety, as well as the safety of our officers and those being apprehended,” she said.

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Daily Caller [9/13/2025 2:55 PM, Timothy Sekerak, 985K]
Univision Chicago WGBO [9/13/2025 12:49 PM, Staff, 4932K]

CBS Chicago [9/13/2025 4:15 PM, Sara Tenenbaum, 45245K] reports the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who was injured in Franklin Park, Illinois, after being dragged by a car has been released from the hospital, a Department Homeland Security official said. The driver, an undocumented immigrant, was shot and killed during the incident. The DHS official told CBS News the officer had "severe back injuries," as well as cuts to his hands and tears in his knee. ICE said agents had been trying to arrest a driver in the northwest suburb of Chicago when the man tried to run them over with his car. He was shot multiple times and died. He was identified as Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez. DHS said Saturday he was a Mexican national. ICE said he had a history of reckless driving, and entered the U.S. at an unknown date and time.

Bloomberg [9/13/2025 5:44 PM, Nicolle Yapur, 19085K] report the Mexican government requested a “rigorous investigation” into the death of man in a Chicago suburb who was shot by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Friday after allegedly trying to flee arrest. Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs filed the request through its general consulate in the US city, which confirmed on Friday that the deceased was a 38-year-old Mexican national named Silverio Villegas, who worked as a cook. “The consulate’s staff has been in contact with the relatives of Mr. Villegas to provide the legal counsel and support they require,” Mexico’s foreign ministry wrote in an X post on Saturday. The office “reiterates its commitment to the protection of Mexicans abroad.”

Washington Examiner [9/13/2025 9:48 AM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K] reports a federal appeals court ruled on Friday to allow the Trump administration to go forward with stripping protections away from around 430,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. A stay had been issued by a district court. With the ruling, the appeals court will lift the stay issued by the district court and allow the Trump administration to target thousands of migrants for deportation. The Justice Department had argued that it has the power to revoke the temporary protections and that the Department of Homeland Security should be able to do so without court interference. But plaintiffs argued that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem needed to end protections individually and not across the board.

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Univision [9/13/2025 9:21 AM, Staff, 4932K]

Reuters [9/13/2025 2:58 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports a U.S. federal judge extended a block on a Trump administration attempt to deport Guatemalan unaccompanied children with active immigration cases, keeping the policy frozen until Tuesday to provide more time to consider the dispute. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, based in Washington, D.C., issued the ruling after a September 10 hearing where he grilled a Justice Department attorney over a colleague’s inaccurate statement that all of the children’s parents had requested their return to Guatemala. The lawsuit stems from an attempt by President Donald Trump’s administration to suddenly deport 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors on August 31, waking the children in the predawn hours over a holiday weekend and hustling them onto planes only to be blocked by a judge’s emergency order. Drew Ensign, a Justice Department lawyer, told the judge during an emergency hearing that day that the parents had requested the deportations. Two days later, Reuters published a report by the Guatemalan attorney general’s office that said most of the parents of some 600 minors in U.S. custody could not be located. Of 115 located, many did not want their children returned to Guatemala. Kelly, a Trump appointee, cited the report in a September 10 hearing, leading a separate Justice Department lawyer to withdraw Ensign’s earlier statement. Lucrecia Prera, head of the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office for Children and Adolescents, which produced the report, said Guatemalan authorities regularly receive one or two unaccompanied minors per day from Mexico or the U.S., but had never been asked to accept as many as 100 at any given time. Most of the children the U.S. seeks to return are from Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Quiche and Alta Verapaz, she said. Those regions in Guatemala are characterized by a majority Indigenous population and farming communities with high rates of malnutrition and poverty. Prera said some families had mortgaged their homes to pay for their children’s trip to the United States.

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AP [9/13/2025 5:15 PM, Rebecca Santana, 37974K]

Reuters [9/13/2025 6:52 PM, Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports a U.S. judge on Saturday said it appeared that President Donald Trump’s administration intentionally circumvented immigration laws this week when it deported Nigerian and Gambian migrants to Ghana. Judge Tanya Chutkan, based in Washington, D.C., scheduled an emergency hearing after lawyers representing some of the migrants said their clients expected they could be moved to their home countries, where they fear torture or persecution. Chutkan later ordered the Trump administration to file a report by 9 p.m. EDT explaining how it was trying to stop Ghana from sending the migrants to Nigeria or Gambia. The deportations are part of Trump’s strategy to send migrants to "third countries" to speed their removal and pressure migrants in the U.S. illegally to leave. Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama said this week that his nation struck an agreement with the U.S. to accept West African deportees and had already received 14 people. Chutkan said it appeared the Trump administration crafted the deal as a way "to make an end run" around U.S. legal requirements that it refrain from sending migrants to danger in their home countries. "These are not speculative concerns," said Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama. "The concerns are real enough that the United States government agrees they shouldn’t be sent back to their home country.” A lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of five of the migrants said they were taken from a Louisiana immigration detention center, shackled and put on a U.S. military plane without being told their destination. Several migrants on the flight were placed in straitjackets for 16 hours, the complaint said. The five plaintiffs had U.S. legal protections against deportation to their home countries, the lawsuit said. One of the migrants, a bisexual man, has already been sent to Gambia and was in hiding, it said. The other four have been held in squalid conditions in an open-air detention facility operated by the Ghanaian military, it said. In a court filing, the U.S. Department of Justice said it no longer had custody of the migrants, that the court lacked authority to intervene in diplomatic actions and that a Supreme Court decision in June allowed the government to send migrants to nations other than their country of citizenship. U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said that detainees on the flight were not made to wear straitjackets. She did not comment on the allegations of circumventing immigration law. Plaintiffs are represented by two advocacy groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. The deportations have sparked criticism in Ghana. In a statement on Friday, opposition lawmakers called for the agreement to be suspended, saying it should have been approved by Ghana’s National Assembly. The deal "risks our country being perceived as aligning itself with the U.S. government’s current immigration enforcement regime, one which has been criticized as harsh and discriminatory," the statement said. A Ghana government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Los Angeles Times [9/13/2025 2:27 PM, Andrea Castillo and Rachel Uranga, 12715K] reports lawyers and advocates fear about 1,000 Central American children, including dozens in California, are at risk of being deported to dangerous situations in their home countries before finishing their immigration court proceedings. They believe the U.S. government is now expanding their list of hundreds of children across the country, which started with children from Guatemala, to include those from Honduras and El Salvador. Lawyers for some children saw their scheduled hearings disappear from the immigration court calendars in recent weeks. "It has been heartbreaking and infuriating these last two weeks to have to warn our child clients that our government seeks to violate their rights and return them to danger," said Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of legal services at the Los Angeles-based Immigrant Defenders Law Center, which represents unaccompanied minors. "The fact that the government is doubling down on this cruel scheme should shock everyone’s conscience." In the middle of the night over Labor Day weekend, the government removed 76 Guatemalan children from shelters in Arizona and Texas. Many of their cases had vanished from calendars before the Department of Homeland Security placed them on a plane set to return to Guatemala without telling their parents, according to court documents. A federal judge blocked the flight in an emergency order as the children sat aboard a plane on the tarmac. Many feared for their safety should they return to Guatemala, where attorneys say they face gang violence, physical abuse and neglect.

Univision [9/13/2025 8:31 AM, Marcos Martinez Chacon, 4932K] reports cash purchases worth thousands of dollars, erased serial numbers, and a network of front men who acquired hundreds of high-caliber rifles. These were the tactics used by a U.S.-Mexico arms trafficking network uncovered by U.S. prosecutors, according to a Justice Department report. Gerardo Rafael Pérez Jr., alias "Jerry," 24, coordinated the purchase of Barrett-type rifles and other models commonly used in armed conflicts through his network of accomplices in unlicensed gun shops and stores in San Antonio and other Texas cities, the U.S. government reported in early September. The network operated to increase the lethality of the Northeast Cartel, which operates primarily in the border state of Tamaulipas, bordering Texas, but has expanded its tentacles to other regions of northeastern Mexico. According to the DOJ, ten of his front men are in prison awaiting trial. From this fragmentation emerged the CDN, classified by the Trump administration as a terrorist organization along with six other Mexican cartels. Also, according to the DOJ itself, alongside its criminal expansion, it has benefited from arms trafficking from the United States through one of the main routes used for arms transfer identified by the U.S. government in a report released in January.

AP [9/13/2025 6:20 PM, Jonathan Mattise, 43962K] reports Memphis’ mayor said Saturday that President Donald Trump’s TV announcement the day before was the first hard confirmation he received that the National Guard would be sent to the city an anti-crime mission. Speaking on CNN, Mayor Paul Young said he learned the idea was under consideration when Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s office informed him earlier in the week. The Democratic mayor said conversations continued throughout the week, and he had been talking about the possibility of getting more law enforcement presence through the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Then, on Friday morning, Trump made his announcement on Fox News. He said Memphis is “deeply troubled” and “we’re going to fix that just like we did Washington,” where he deployed the National Guard and surged federal law enforcement. Asked on CNN whether he had “hard confirmation” before Trump’s announcement, Young said: “No, that was the confirmation.” Days earlier Memphis police reported drops in every major crime category in the first eight months of 2025 compared with the same period in previous years. Overall crime hit a 25-year low, and murder a six-year low, police said. But Memphis has dealt with stubborn gun violence problems for years. In 2023 the city saw a record 390 homicides. The city also is still wrestling with fallout from the January 2023 death of Tyre Nichols after he was beaten by Memphis police officers. In December the Department of Justice under then-President Joe Biden found a host of civil rights violations in the police department, part of an investigation spurred by Nichols’ death. The findings included the use of excessive force, illegal traffic stops and disproportionate targeting of Black people in the majority-Black city. In May, now under the Trump administration, the department withdrew those findings. The governor has said how the guard will factor into efforts to tackle crime is still being ironed out. Lee and Trump talked Friday and plan to do so again early next coming week, his spokesperson Elizabeth Lane Johnson said. The governor has said the deployment would add momentum to an ongoing FBI operation alongside state and local law enforcement that “has already arrested hundreds of the most violent offenders.” The mayor said Saturday that the specifics remain unknown about how many troops will come and when, their exact role and more. He expects to learn more next week. Asked what he would recommend the National Guard focus on in Memphis, Young suggested tasks such as support for big events, including traffic assistance. He also said they could assist law enforcement in monitoring cameras and call in backup when they see criminal activity, or lend a hand with neighborhood “beautification.”

Reuters [9/13/2025 2:19 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration has drafted a proposal to deploy 1,000 Louisiana National Guard troops to conduct law enforcement operations in the state’s urban centers, Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing Pentagon planning documents it obtained. Trump has made crime a major focus of his administration even as violent crime rates have fallen in many U.S. cities. His crackdown on Democratic-led municipalities has fueled legal concerns and spurred protests, including a demonstration by several thousand people in Washington D.C. last weekend. Democratic leaders have said that the massive deployments are more a show of power by Trump, rather than a serious effort to fight crime. More than a dozen residents of Shreveport, Louisiana, told Reuters they viewed any deployment as more of a political stunt than a serious crime-fighting solution, and a way for Trump to blunt criticism that he’s only targeting Democratic-controlled cities and states. Among the documents is an unsigned, undated draft memo from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, which highlights the "unique advantage" of the Pentagon’s proposed approach to law enforcement in Louisiana, according to the Post.

Washington Post [9/13/2025 7:53 PM, Juan Benn Jr., 29079K] reports that, on a parcel of land along Morris Road SE in Washington’s Anacostia neighborhood Saturday morning, four D.C. National Guard members wearing orange vests over their fatigues worked in a thick grove of green trees. Some carried black garbage bags. Others held trash grabbers. Down the street were two more troops, scanning the ground for debris in front of D.C. Prep’s Anacostia Middle Campus. A woman pulled up behind them in a white sedan. “Thank you for your service,” she said. “Where are you from?” “The D.C. Guard,” the two soldiers shouted back, before the woman drove away, responding with a simple smile. That kind of interaction was exactly what leaders of the D.C. National Guard and Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8B were hoping for when they brought in 14 service members to help with a community cleanup. They wanted to counteract the narrative among some D.C. residents that the National Guard’s mission has been wasteful and has sown fear in the community since President Donald Trump called in troops last month to fight what he called a crime emergency in the District. On Monday, Marcus Hunt, director of D.C. government operations for the D.C. National Guard, sent out a request to advisory neighborhood commissioners across the District. He wanted help identifying beautification projects that Guard members could help out with. “Most importantly, we want to do this work together with the community — building relationships and strengthening the bond between the Guard and the community we proudly serve,” Hunt, who is also a civil engineer for the local Guard, wrote in an email. More than 40 ANCs — nonpartisan, locally elected bodies that represent neighborhood interests — operate in the District. D.C. Guard officials would not disclose how many commissions have accepted or declined help, but Hunt said Saturday the response has been overwhelmingly positive. ANC 8B, which represents residents of Southeast neighborhoods Hillcrest, Knox Hill, Garfield Heights, Skyland, Woodland and parts of Naylor Gardens, was willing to accept the offer. Commissioner Joseph Johnson, who is the chair of ANC 8B, said he and his fellow commissioners know areas where trash abounds and already had community cleanups planned for the rest of the year. Why not just invite the Guard? The commissioner also saw it as an opportunity to “bridge the gap” between the troops and locals who have become distrustful of their presence in the city. He said he doesn’t want to “fearmonger” residents and disagrees with those who believe Washington is experiencing a “hostile takeover.” He added that he’s more apprehensive about federal law enforcement agencies than the National Guard.

Washington Post [9/14/2025 5:00 AM, Dan Morse, 29079K] reports three armed teenagers in a stolen black Acura roamed through Washington on the night of June 30, police say, looking for rival gang members to shoot. Approaching the corner of Seventh and M Streets Northwest next to the convention center, they passed two young men aboard a rental e-bike. Within seconds, according to court records, the car pulled to a stop. The masked teens emerged, pointed two rifles and a third weapon, and opened fire toward the bike. At least 79 bullets flew through the busy city block. People scattered, running or dropping to the ground for cover, according to court records. The shooters climbed back into the car and sped away. Officers arrived to chaos. The 16-year-old bike passenger, shot twice, had hobbled away and left behind a trail of blood. A woman found more than a block away had been shot in the back of her thigh. A man who’d been sitting inside a nearby bus shelter bled from shattered glass wounds to his face. And 21-year-old Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, a congressional intern from Massachusetts, lay motionless on the sidewalk, hit by four rounds from up to 200 feet away that he likely never saw coming. Tarpinian-Jachym’s death would be the first in a trio of high-profile violent crimes this summer cited by President Donald Trump when he announced plans to take over the city police department and surge federal agents and National Guard troops into the city. A two-month investigation led police to the three teenagers they say jumped out of the car that night in June. They arrested 17-year-olds Kelvin Thomas and Jailen Lucas and are on the hunt for Lucas’s brother, 18-year-old Naqwan Lucas. All three have been charged with first-degree murder. Lawyers for Thomas and Jailen Lucas have suggested the case against them is poorly built. Details in a new 66-page police affidavit filed in court reveal how investigators studied hundreds of hours of surveillance video from Maryland and D.C., which they said enabled them to track movements of the Acura and the three suspects. The car, according to the document, had been stolen a day before the shooting from a Wegmans parking garage about 26 miles north in Germantown, Maryland. Detectives retraced its path into Washington and found surveillance video of a suspect in the car theft passing the key fob to an intermediary who then allegedly passed it to the suspects. Other video, according to the charging document, showed the three climbing into the car shortly before the shooting, after which investigators say they drove it back to Maryland, abandoning it in District Heights. The investigators say they obtained records of a ride-share account registered to Thomas and mapped the three traveling back into the city. Tarpinian-Jachym had two siblings, excelled at Latin and archery, and avidly fished the waters off Rhode Island. The rising senior at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was a summer intern for U.S. Rep. Ron Estes (R-Kansas). “He was a kind and friendly presence in my office, greeting everyone who came through the door with a smile,” Estes said in a tribute to him from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Washington Post [9/14/2025 5:00 AM, Olivia George, Meghan Hoyer, Steve Thompson and Emma Uber, 29079K] reports that, on President Donald Trump’s orders, thousands of local police, federal agents and camouflage-clad troops have fanned out across the nation’s capital every night for the past month. The surge sprawled across D.C., from its poorest pockets to its busiest commercial corridors and marbled monuments. The White House has touted the success of the operation, saying it drove down crime and took illegal guns off the streets. But they’ve offered little insight into who was being arrested, how, where and for what. To answer those questions, Washington Post gathered more than a thousand charging documents from local and federal courts, mapped the incidents and examined how they played out. The documents portray an expanded law enforcement presence that considered no crime too small while hunting for guns and employing tactics that have sparked community opposition in the past. More than a third of the 1,273 arrests examined by The Post from the first four weeks of Trump’s crackdown in D.C. involved federal law enforcement, a figure that doesn’t include arrests made by immigration officers. Those arrests occurred in all eight city wards, but were concentrated in the city’s poorest, least White and most crime-riddled neighborhoods. Still, many occurred in low-crime areas highly visible to the president and tourists: the National Mall, outside the White House and around Union Station. Of the 470 arrests where federal officers were present: Weapons charges were the most common, primarily illegal gun possession. One in 4 cases involved gun charges. Officers found firearms in cars, waistbands and a child’s backpack. About 1 in 7 cases accused people of having open containers of alcohol, in cars or parks or curbside. Almost two dozen cases involved public consumption of marijuana — possession of which, in small quantities, is legal in D.C. One in 8 cases involved people accused of assaulting a police officer or resisting arrest. Most involved other charges, but on 20 occasions, assaulting or resisting was the sole charge — including people who have screamed at, spat on and, in one viral case, hurled a sandwich at a federal officer. One in 12 arrests included solely minor charges, such as using marijuana in public, fare evasion and traffic offenses like driving without a valid license. Those arrested were overwhelmingly young, Black men. Black men have made up the majority of D.C. police arrests for years. The quarter of the D.C. census tracts with the highest violent crime rates were the site of nearly half of arrests, while the quarter with the lowest rates had 11 percent. Beyond the data reviewed by The Post, hundreds of people suspected of being in the country illegally have been collected by federal immigration agents. By the White House’s own tally, law enforcement officials have arrested more than 943 immigrants in D.C. — some 41 percent of all arrests it says have taken place during the month-long crackdown. Those cases are harder to trace.

AP [9/13/2025 3:50 AM, Staff, 6811K] reports personnel from a U.S. warship boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters, Venezuela’s foreign minister said on Saturday, underlining strained relations with the United States. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Tensions between the two nations escalated after U.S. President Donald Trump in August ordered the deployment of warships in the Caribbean, off the coast of the South American country, citing the fight against Latin American drug cartels. While reading a statement on Saturday, Foreign Minister Yván Gil told journalists the Venezuelan tuna boat was “illegally and hostilely boarded by a United States Navy destroyer” and 18 armed personnel who remained on the vessel for eight hours, preventing communication and the fishermen’s normal activities. They were then released under escort by the Venezuelan navy. The fishing boat had authorization from the Ministry of Fisheries to carry out its work, Gil said at a press conference, during which he presented photos of the incident. Along with the statement, Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry distributed a short video, taken, according to the ministry, by the Venezuelan fishermen. In the video, it is alleged that part of the fishing boat, U.S. Navy personnel and the U.S. warship can be seen. “Those who give the order to carry out such provocations are seeking an incident that would justify a military escalation in the Caribbean,” Gil said, adding that the objective is to “persist in their failed policy” of regime change in Venezuela. Gil said the incident was “illegal” and “illegitimate” and warned that Venezuela will defend its sovereignty against any “provocation.” The Venezuelan foreign minister’s complaint comes days after Trump said that his country had attacked a drug-laden vessel and killed 11 people on board. Trump said the vessel had departed from Venezuela and was carrying members of the Tren de Aragua gang, but his administration has not presented any evidence to support that claim. Venezuela accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings. The South American country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said Washington’s version is “a tremendous lie” and suggested that, according to Venezuelan government investigations, the incident could be linked to the disappearance of some individuals in a coastal region of the country who had no ties to drug trafficking. The Trump administration has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a cartel to flood the U.S. with drugs, and doubled the reward for his capture from $25 million to $50 million. The U.S. government has given no indication that it plans to carry out a ground incursion with the more than 4,000 troops being deployed in the area.

ABC News [9/13/2025 7:57 PM, Luis Martinez and Victoria Beaule, 27036K] reports the Venezuelan government accused U.S. personnel of boarding and occupying a civilian fishing boat on Friday, in the latest example of tensions as the U.S. carries out "counter narco-terror operations" in the Caribbean. A U.S. official told ABC News that Coast Guard personnel stationed aboard the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Jason Dunham searched the fishing boat for drugs following a tip but did not locate any contraband. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry office claimed Saturday that the U.S. Navy deployed "eighteen personnel with long-range weapons who boarded and occupied" the Venezuelan fishing vessel in waters within Venezuela’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). "This operation lacks any strategic proportionality and constitutes a direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means," the foreign ministry said in a statement. A U.S. official with knowledge of the incident confirmed to ABC News that the Jason Dunham received information to board the Venezuelan small craft to see if it was carrying drugs. The law enforcement detachment aboard the destroyer boarded the Venezuelan craft and carried out a search that turned up no drugs, according to the official. The U.S. official disputed claims from the Venezuelan foreign ministry that the search took eight hours and they contended the boat was in international waters. Trump announced earlier this month that he ordered more military presence in the ocean to tackle illegal drug smuggling. On Sept. 2, he announced that the U.S. ordered a strike on an alleged drug boat that originated from South America and "positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists." The president said 11 alleged terrorists were killed. Earlier this month, the Pentagon said two Venezuelan military aircraft flew near the same U.S. Navy vessel -- the USS Jason Dunham -- in international waters in a "highly provocative move" that it said aimed to disrupt the U.S. operations.

NewsNation [9/13/2025 4:29 PM, Jorge Ventura, Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports the Trump administration is working to take down one of the most dangerous and powerful transnational criminal organizations in the world, which officials say is responsible for flooding the United States with fentanyl, methamphetamine and other illicit drugs. But sources within Mexico tell NewsNation that the targeted enforcement effort to take down Sinaloa operations could mean “the beginning of the end” of the cartel organization, as both the U.S. and Mexican governments are working together to dismantle the criminal organization’s operation. However, the focus is not solely on closing the cartel’s criminal operations in Mexico, but around the world. The ongoing effort comes after the Drug Enforcement Administration recently reported the results of a historic week-long operation in New England last month, when more than 600 cartel operatives around the world were arrested. In addition to making 617 arrests of suspected Sinaloa operatives, DEA agents were able to seize 480 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 714,707 counterfeit pills, more than 2,200 kilograms of methamphetamine, as well as 7,469 kilograms of cocaine and more than 16 ½ kilograms of heroin, the federal agency announced. The DEA also seized more than $11.1 million in drug proceeds, 420 guns and nearly $1,700 in other assets. The operation spanned 23 U.S. domestic field divisions and seven foreign regions, which came as part of a coordinated effort between various federal agencies. Mexican authorities this year have stepped up cooperation with the U.S. to dismantle cartel operations in Mexico, including allowing U.S. spy planes in Mexico, in a recent successful operation targeting the Sinaloa cartel. In August, Mexico’s Secretary of Defense said that the Sinaloa cartel is quickly losing its power, territories and influence in Mexico, adding that its downfall began in earnest when one of its leaders, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was arrested in the United States last year. Zambada pleaded guilty to federal charges in federal court in late August after previously claiming he was not guilty to criminal charges of racketeering conspiracy and continuing a criminal enterprise. Tens of thousands of suspected Sinaloa members and associates are believed to be working in more than 40 countries around the world, DEA officials said. Together, they are responsible for the production, manufacturing, distribution and other activities that are linked to drug trafficking operations.

New York Times [9/14/2025 5:02 AM, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz, 153395K] reports President Trump entered the White House in January promising both the “largest deportation program in American history” and a “golden age” for American businesses. But in recent weeks, the tension between those two promises has spilled out into the open, leading Mr. Trump to reverse or contradict some of his most significant anti-immigration policies when they threatened to disrupt the economy. Mr. Trump has celebrated his success in driving down illegal border crossings and in cracking down on immigration more broadly. But he walks a careful line when his hard-line policies collide with his economic agenda — particularly when it comes to foreign workers, student visas and industries that rely on immigrant labor. The changing positions have not only infuriated his far-right allies, but have also confused those aiming to carry out his deportation policies. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that Mr. Trump “has been incredibly consistent with his immigration policies.” To suggest otherwise, she added, “demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of the president’s agenda.” Ms. Jackson said that “while anyone in the country illegally is eligible for deportation, the priority remains criminal illegals who terrorize American communities.”

Daily Wire [9/13/2025 11:17 AM, Virginia Kruta, 3184K] reports the response from the Left to the assassination of conservative commentator and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has been nothing short of sickening. They have justified and even celebrated his death — and some have begun to face consequences for their actions. MSNBC’s Matthew Dowd was the first domino to fall, after he essentially argued during live coverage of the assassination that Kirk had encouraged the politically-motivated violence that claimed his life. Following Dowd’s ouster, MSNBC sent a letter to all employees urging them to "do better," Matthew Foldi reported. "A letter was sent to all MSNBC staff admonishing them & saying they ‘need to do better’ following Matthew Dowd’s firing for his heinous comments about Charlie Kirk," he posted. An Office Depot employee was also terminated over the weekend for refusing to print a poster of Kirk for a prayer vigil, telling members of the group Michigan Forward that the poster was "political propaganda." The poster in question featured a photo of Kirk along with the words, "The Legendary Charlie Kirk, 1993-2025." A Secret Service agent who said that Kirk deserved to be killed was placed on leave and is expected to be fired, Nick Sorter reported, citing a source within the Department of Homeland Security.

The Hill [9/13/2025 9:48 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports President Trump, in a Saturday interview, said he hopes the nation heals after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but blamed the "radical left" for being an obstacle in that healing. "I’d like to see it [the nation] heal," the president said in a brief telephone interview with NBC News. "But we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics, and they don’t play fair and they never did.” Police said Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old resident of Utah, is being investigated as the alleged gunman in the fatal shooting of the Turning Point USA founder. Robinson had become "more political" before the shooting and mentioned during a dinner with family that Kirk would be visiting Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox (R) said at a Friday news conference. Cox also revealed that bullet casings uncovered as part of the investigation into Kirk’s assassination had several messages inscribed on them. He is registered as an unaffiliated voter and does not appear to have a prior criminal record, according to the Associated Press. Trump’s comments on Saturday echoed those from days prior, where he has claimed the "radical left" for the "rhetoric that is directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today.” Others in the GOP pointed their finger to the left in the wake of Kirk’s assassination. On Friday, a group of Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus called for a select committee to investigate "the money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law" in the wake of the assassination of conservative powerhouse Kirk. Meanwhile, some Democrats have suggested that Republicans are the ones who have promoted rhetoric that led to the shooting on the campus of Utah Valley University. Others, including Cox, have asked Americans and politicians to turn down the temperature. In Trump’s Saturday interview with NBC News, he said: "We’ll see what happens. They [the left] don’t like what’s been happening. We’ve been winning very big.” Trump, however, has blamed Democratic mega-donor George Soros for the political act of violence and said his administration would investigate the hedge fund investor on RICO charges following Kirk’s killing. Soros founded the Open Society Foundations in 1993 to support human rights initiatives aimed at promoting democracy. For his efforts, Trump told NBC Soros was a "bad guy" who deserved to be "put in jail.” The Open Society Foundations responded to Trump’s late August comments suggesting Soros and his son were a part of the "radical left" in a late August post. "The Open Society Foundations, founded by George Soros and chaired by Alex Soros, do not support or fund violent protests. Allegations to the contrary are false, and the threats against our founder and chair are outrageous. Our mission is to advance human rights, justice, and democratic principles in the United States and around the world," the organization wrote in a statement on X. "We stand for fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, including the rights to free speech and peaceful protest that are hallmarks of any vibrant democracy.”

FOX News [9/13/2025 10:34 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40019K] reports federal prosecutors have indicted the founder and several leaders of the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America, accusing the Georgia-based ministry of running a decades-long, $22 million fraud scheme that targeted U.S. military members and veterans. Following the indictment, the FBI on Wednesday conducted a raid near Augusta, Georgia, arresting leaders after years of allegations that the church operated like a cult and preyed on military communities nationwide. FBI Atlanta public affairs specialist Jenna Sellitto confirmed to Fox News Digital it carried out a raid at a home in Columbia County, Georgia, and made authorized arrests related to the church investigation. Sellitto said she could not immediately release the identities of those taken into custody. The charges come after the FBI in June 2022 raided at least three churches associated with the House of Prayer Christian Churches in Georgia and Texas, established just miles from Fort Gordon, Fort Stewart and Fort Hood. Following the 2022 raid, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a forfeiture motion for almost $150,000 claiming the church and its Bible seminary swindled hundreds of military members out of more than $22 million. The indictment, filed Thursday in the Southern District of Georgia, charges church founder Rony Denis and church leaders Anthony Oloans, 54, Joseph Fryar, 51, Dennis Nostrand, 55, Gerard Robertson, 57, David Reip, 52, Marcus Labat, 42, and Omar Garcia, 40, with a series of crimes including bank fraud, wire fraud, misuse of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) education benefits and false tax returns. Denis, whose true identity remains unknown but who obtained U.S. citizenship in 2002, is accused of exercising strict control over members through intimidation, manipulation and forced obedience, according to the indictment. Leaders allegedly aided in the manipulation by maintaining members’ personal information, controlling their finances and orchestrating divorces and property transfers. Dating back to at least 2004, prosecutors allege the church orchestrated "straw buyer real estate purchases," using church members’ names to obtain mortgages under false pretenses and then transferring the properties to entities under its control. Church leaders allegedly collected more than $5.2 million in rental income from 2018 to 2020 while allowing mortgages to default, according to the indictment. Prosecutors also accuse the leaders of defrauding the VA by falsely certifying students for GI Bill benefits through HOPCC-affiliated Bible seminaries. Funds intended for veterans’ education were instead diverted to church leaders and affiliated entities, according to the indictment. The Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for additional information about Denis’ citizenship status and identity.

The Hill [9/13/2025 2:00 PM, Nicole Bibbins Sedaca and Laura Collins, 12414K] reports the recently released U.S. Department of State Human Rights Reports have stirred significant controversy about notable cuts in length and issue coverage, delayed release, and perceived bias, particularly on countries like Hungary, Brazil and South Africa. Equally concerning is the disconnect between migration policy and the reports’ coverage of countries like Haiti, Ukraine and Afghanistan and the unduly rosy reporting of countries like El Salvador. Each case highlights this troubling inconsistency, as well as the willingness to deport people to dangerous situations, and — more broadly — a significant divergence from American foreign policy. The State Department should seriously review the concerns voiced by journalists and democracy defenders about the mischaracterization of human rights situations in countries aligned with the U.S. and those with which tensions exist. The Department of Homeland Security should carefully review those past or pending deportation cases to highly insecure countries. Given its important oversight responsibility, Congress should investigate whether deported migrants face life-threatening situations due to U.S. deportation, since that would be both inhumane and counter to America’s democratic values.

New York Post [9/13/2025 9:15 PM, Michael Goodwin, 43962K] reports a predictable reaction to the horrible murder of Charlie Kirk among legacy media outlets has been to condemn the ugly tenor of America’s political debate and call for a timeout. On its face, the plea sounds reasonable enough, but it rests on the false idea of both-sidesism, as if left and right are equally to blame for the frightening rise of political violence. Count that as another Big Media lie and a repugnant effort to obscure the actual source and motivation of the assassination scourge. There are not two sides contributing to the horror and equally responsible for it. The single truth is that we are witnessing the inevitable result of a decade of Trump Derangement Syndrome. Kirk’s death is another piece of poisoned fruit growing out of the far left’s hysteria and its fetish-like obsession about killing the president. The cancer declaring that Trump was fair game appeared in 2015, soon after he entered the presidential sweepstakes. And it has never stopped spreading, even during the four years when he was out of office. Now it has clearly metastasized to where Trump is not the only target and words are not the only weapons. The accused killer of Kirk, Tyler Robinson, was "deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology," according to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. Robinson, a stellar student in high school, dropped out of college after just one semester, and seems to have gotten drunk on the social media Kool-Aid about the evils of Trump, Kirk and everyone who subscribes to any conservative principles. The penchant for calling Trump the devil incarnate has put a target on his back and given would be assassins a license to kill him and others in his circle. Even among otherwise intelligent and decent people, the president is often declared to be the second coming of Hitler, a fascist, an authoritarian, a despot and a power-mad dictator. These are among the vile words Democrats and their media running dogs, including New York Times and Washington Post, vomit out around the clock. Their hyper caricatures of the man and fanciful distortions of his motives have helped to turn political disagreement into a license to kill.

USA Today [9/14/2025 5:01 AM, Chuck Raasch, 64151K] reports "There will never be amnesty under President Trump. The president is very clear that he doesn’t believe that the law should apply to some people and not to others, and that there should be consequences for some people and not for others." – Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, when asked about leniency for undocumented farm workers. In the rowdy HBO series "Deadwood," the imminent annexation of the Black Hills to Dakota Territory is depicted in a conversation between the profane brothel owner Al Swearengen and a corrupt politician from the territorial capital in Yankton. The aptly named Swearengen (based on a real character) knew that he and the speculators, gold-panners, outlaws and miners pouring into the Black Hills were violating the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty that gave the Sioux "absolute and undisturbed use" of its pine-cloaked, granite-spired mountains and lush valleys. Once George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry discovered gold in the Black Hills in 1874, the rush was on. But after the June 1876 annihilation of Custer and his cavalry at the Little Bighorn more than 200 miles northwest of Deadwood, the Sioux were on the run from the U.S. military or being pushed onto smaller reservations. The government abandoned the 1868 treaty and seized the Black Hills. The Yankton politician had come to Deadwood with an amnesty loophole for Swearengen and his fellow treaty breakers. Citing the Northwest Ordinance, a 1787 law setting legal guidelines for forming new states out of unceded territory, the politician hypothesized that "a citizen can have title to any land unclaimed or unincorporated by simple usage. Essentially, if you’re on it and you improve it, you own it.” Swearingen knew the game: "So who needs to get paid?" The politician grabbed a pencil and started writing a list of other crooked politicians. In the century and a half since, what became in 1889 South Dakota ‒ where Noem was twice elected governor ‒ has benefitted bountifully from what began as illegal migration.

CNN [9/14/2025 5:00 AM, Zoe Sottile, 23245K] reports that, as the Trump administration has continued its monthslong immigration enforcement blitz, its tactics – including large-scale workplace raids and the use of masked officers – have sparked condemnation from advocates and civil rights groups. Amid the ongoing campaign to deport tens of thousands of immigrants, "Know Your Rights" trainings and programs have proliferated, with small fliers popping up on the doors of businesses around the country. "ICE and Homeland Security cannot enter without a warrant signed by a judge," read some of the fliers, reflecting a growing movement to educate the public about their rights as immigration authorities have taken increasingly aggressive tactics during President Donald Trump’s second term. The warrant guidance largely stems from the Fourth Amendment, which protects people – citizens and noncitizens alike – from "unreasonable searches and seizures.” The amendment "ensures everyone’s privacy is protected, regardless of immigration status," said Ana Valenzuela, senior attorney at Minsky McCormick & Hallagan, P.C., a Chicago-based immigration law firm. "Law enforcement does not have the right to just enter" a home or a private business unless they have a warrant signed by a judge, Valenzuela told CNN. CNN talked with immigration lawyers about the different kinds of warrants – and what an ICE agent needs to enter a person’s home or business. What is an administrative warrant? The administrative warrants ICE may serve while making civil immigration arrests are distinct from the criminal warrants local and federal police typically use, immigration lawyers told CNN. The administrative warrant typically used by ICE, a "Warrant for Alien Arrest," is a civil document typically issued by the Department of Homeland Security. It usually lists the person the agency is trying to find, according to Valenzuela, and may include the person’s picture. This type of warrant can be used to arrest a person in public, she said. Administrative warrants are signed by authorized ICE officers – not judges, according to Maureen Sweeney, a professor at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law who specializes in immigration law. They don’t require the same evidence as a judicial warrant, Sweeney said. And an administrative warrant doesn’t allow an ICE officer to enter a person’s home or a private business without consent, Charles Kuck, an Atlanta-based immigration lawyer, said. "If ICE knocks on the door and says, ‘We want to come in,’ you should ask for a judicial warrant," Kuck explained.

Univision [9/13/2025 11:36 AM, Staff, 4932K] reports a Cuban father living in Orlando whose 2-year-old daughter has a serious heart condition said he will return to the island of his own free will, or as U.S. authorities call it, by "self-deportation ," after ICE told him he must leave the country by Sunday, September 14, or face detention and eventual deportation, possibly to a country in Africa. Deivy Alemán Oropesa arrived in the United States seven years ago and now has to leave, leaving his family and not knowing when he will be able to return. Oropesa has a deportation order after crossing the border illegally to reach the United States. He and his wife, a U.S. citizen, have asked that the humanitarian case of little Keira, whose health is delicate, be taken into account. He also said that when he arrived in the country, he was detained by ICE for over a year and has no intention of returning to this type of prison. Furthermore, officials told him they could deport him to a third country, which could be Mexico, but also one in Africa. Now he just hopes he eventually receives a pardon and can be reunited with his family.

Univision [9/13/2025 7:22 PM, Staff] reports the city of Chicago and its suburbs have become the epicenter of a significant increase in federal immigration enforcement operations. However, the local community and immigrant advocacy leaders claim that the operations also affect Latino workers with no criminal records. Around 300 agents, operating from the Great Lakes Naval Station in North Chicago, are participating in an operation called Midway Blitz, ordered by the administration of former President Donald Trump, with the alleged aim of detaining people with criminal records. In recent hours, the streets of neighborhoods such as Little Village and La Villita have been the scene of prolonged protests. Dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of ICE processing centers, demanding the release of detained immigrants and denouncing what they consider to be arbitrary and violent detentions. At these demonstrations, federal agents have had to disperse the crowd to allow vans carrying immigrants to possible deportation to leave. The most recent protest lasted more than 12 hours and involved the use of tear gas, with several protesters taken to hospitals. One of the most critical cases involves Willian Gimenez, a day laborer seeking asylum in the United States whose detention sparked outrage among advocates and neighbors. His lawyers claim that ICE has not disclosed his location. Gimenez is a plaintiff in a case against Home Depot and Chicago police officers for harassing immigrant day laborers, which his advocates believe may have motivated his detention. The situation escalated further with the death of immigrant Silverio Villegas in Franklin Park, a suburb near Chicago. According to local authorities, the Mexican man was detained while driving and allegedly resisted arrest, striking an ICE agent with his vehicle. The agent fired his weapon and the immigrant died. This incident has generated fear and concern in the community, which is demanding thorough investigations and transparency regarding the operations. Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García participated in the protests and has called for accountability, denouncing that ICE’s actions affect peaceful people and create a climate of fear in the city. “If ICE can act violently in the middle of the street, anyone could be a victim of arbitrary detention,” he said during a live broadcast from La Villita. The operations have also impacted the daily and cultural life of the community. Some Mexican national holidays have been canceled, while commercial activity on major streets, such as Zermatt and 26th Street, has been significantly reduced. Neighbors and merchants express fear and mistrust, affecting the local economy and social interaction in traditionally Latino neighborhoods. Community organizations, local leaders, and immigrant rights advocates continue to hold vigils and protests, while ICE maintains its operations in the city. Tension between federal authorities and the immigrant community seems far from abating, and civil society is demanding measures to guarantee the safety and rights of Latino residents in Chicago.

Bloomberg [9/13/2025 10:00 AM, Erin Ailworth, Daniela Sirtori, and Isis Almeida, 19085K] reports Chicago’s Dulcelandia candy store is usually packed with shoppers loading up on traditional sweets ahead of Mexican Independence Day. But just a few days before this weekend’s festivities, it was completely empty. With President Donald Trump’s immigration raids spreading through the city, a large number of street vendors vanished from Little Village, an area known as “Mexico of the Midwest” that houses the second-busiest retail corridor in Chicago. Some workers have so far opted to stay home and tourists from neighboring states decided to skip the events this year. Trump started his long-awaited Chicago crackdown this week, part of an escalating campaign against Democratic-run cities that the White House says are suffering from rampant crime and disorder. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents launched an operation in the third-largest US city on Sept. 8. The president had also threatened to send in the National Guard, but eventually decided against it because his advisers warned him that going in without the cooperation of the state governor would create legal hurdles, CNN reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources.

AP [9/13/2025 7:17 PM, Staff, 27036K] reports latino leaders expressed dismay Saturday over recent immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that resulted in a fatal shooting during a traffic stop, the arrest of an immigrant at a barbershop and a tense standoff between protesters and agents at an immigration processing facility. An Immigration, Customs and Enforcement officer fatally shot a man who tried to evade arrest Friday by driving his car at officers and dragging one of them, officials said. The man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, was pronounced dead at a hospital. On the same day, Willian Gimenez was pulled over while driving in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood and detained by ICE agents. Kevin Herrera, Gimenez’s attorney, said he believes it was retaliation for his involvement in a lawsuit against Chicago leaders, Home Depot and an off-duty police officer for their actions toward immigrant workers. Herrera said Gimenez has a work permit and is going through the process of pursuing an asylum claim. In a statement Saturday, immigration authorities said Gimenez was arrested for being in the country illegally. "No one is above the law. Gimenez Gonzalez is an illegal alien with charges for criminal trespassing and a history of not showing up to court, including when he failed to appear in immigration court in April of last year, after which an immigration judge ordered him removed from the country," the statement said. During a morning news conference outside an ICE facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview, Rep. Chuy Garcia, a Democrat, said the incidents are troubling. "These incidents make us all ask, if ICE can kill one of our neighbors in broad daylight … if they can arrest someone for joining a lawsuit or simply for being Latino, what’s to stop them from getting any one of us?" Garcia said. A planned 12-hour protest Friday outside the facility included several clashes between participants and officers wearing face coverings, helmets and later gas masks. The facility has seen regular demonstrations in response to increased immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security’s campaign, labeled " Operation Midway Blitz," targets so-called sanctuary laws in the state. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," DHS said in a statement.

Chicago Tribune [9/13/2025 8:24 PM, Kate Perez and Rebecca Johnson, 5352K] reports a day after authorities deployed pepper spray against demonstrators outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, a group of workers, community members and lawmakers gathered there to call for the release of a day laborer detained while walking to a barbershop in the Little Village neighborhood. Willian Giménez González, who came to Chicago from Venezuela in 2023, was with his wife when he was detained Friday, attorney Kevin Herrera said in Broadview. Neither Herrera nor Giménez González’s wife have heard from him since, Herrera said, and they do not know where he is. "These are trying times for the legal system and the rights it protects," Herrera said. "But the community assembled here knows that people hold the powerful to account. We will fight for Willian, and we will see to it that he is free to be with us in Chicago and to contribute to the city in all of the ways he has since he arrived. That’s a promise." Herrera and others at the Saturday news conference said they think Giménez González’s arrest was related to his participation in a 2024 lawsuit against Home Depot, Inc. and the city of Chicago that contends security personnel profiled and struck Giménez González while he was outside a store seeking day work. Reaction to his detainment reflects the fear and uncertainty that many people are facing right now, said Jonás Mendoza, Giménez González’s friend and a day labor organizer for the Latino Union of Chicago. "For this to happen to a person, a friend, companion and member who has been there for the fight and for the fight of others to raise their voice, this is an injustice," Mendoza said in Spanish. For Geovanni Celaya, a Latino Union suburban outreach specialist, the detainment is part of "a broader effort to silence or harm workers, activists, community leaders who dare to resist exploitation." "You’re talking about working families that have to go out there," Celaya said. "They don’t have the privilege to stay home and not worry about these struggles. They’re directly impacted, and they’re directly involved on a day-to-day basis in trying to defy this administration." Giménez González’s plight comes nearly a week after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced a Chicago-based immigration crackdown dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz." It’s unclear how many people have been arrested in the area, but advocates have said the number of calls to their hotlines has been unusually high. The administration of President Donald Trump contends it has detained the "worst of the worst" in the operation. An ICE spokesperson provided a statement Saturday confirming that Giménez González was arrested. "There is nothing unjust about enforcing the law and ensuring this illegal alien adheres to the laws of the United States," the statement said. "ICE arrested Willian Alberto Gimenez Gonzalez for being in the country illegally."

FOX News [9/13/2025 10:15 PM, Sophia Compton, 40019K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Friday it lodged a detainer for the federal arrest and removal of an illegal immigrant after he allegedly used a machete to decapitate a Texas merchant. Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, a Cuban national, was arrested on Wednesday by Dallas police on homicide charges after he allegedly used a machete to behead a merchant during an argument in front of the victim’s family, according to a news release from ICE. He then allegedly proceeded to kick the victim’s head "around like a soccer ball," the release said. Cobos-Martinez is currently being held in custody at the Dallas County Jail. He has a lengthy criminal history, including crimes child sexual abuse, grand theft auto, false imprisonment and carjacking, according to ICE. He has a prior final order of removal to Cuba, and was most recently held in ICE Dallas custody before being released on an order of supervision on January 13, 2025, during the Biden administration, as noted in the release. The release of Cobos-Martinez occurred because Cuba declined to accept his return due to his criminal record, according to ICE. "This vile monster beheaded this man in front of his wife and child and proceeded to kick the victims’ head on the ground," Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "This gruesome, savage slaying of a victim at a motel by Yordanis Cobos-Martinez was completely preventable if this criminal illegal alien was not released into our country by the Biden Administration since Cuba would not take him back.” McLaughlin added, "This is exactly why we are removing criminal illegal aliens to third countries. President Trump and Secretary Noem are no longer allowing barbaric criminals to indefinitely remain in America. If you come to our country illegally, you could end up in Eswatini, Uganda, South Sudan, or CECOT.” ICE and the Dallas Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Los Angeles Times [9/13/2025 2:44 PM, Laurence Darmiento, 12715K] reports the FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of a man believed to have fired a gun at officers during a chaotic immigration sweep at a Camarillo pot farm. The federal law enforcement agency doubled its reward for a man who it said was apparently a protester at the July 10 raid and "appeared to point a firearm and possibly fired a pistol at federal law enforcement officers." The immigration action led to the arrests of more than 300 suspected undocumented workers during raids at the Camarillo and Carpinteria operations of Glass House Farms, a large publicly traded cannabis producer.

Breitbart [9/14/2025 5:20 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 2608K] reports the California State Senate passed a bill Thursday co-sponsored by radical Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) that aims to prevent federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers from wearing masks. As Breitbart News noted when the State Assembly passed the bill earlier in the week, the bill is part of a nationwide effort to make it easier for radical left-wing activists to target ICE officers and their families. The legislation, which heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, is unconstitutional: state police cannot enforce the law against federal law enforcement officers due to the Supremacy Clause. It also unlawfully exempts the California Highway Patrol, the force that Newsom has dispatched to protect former Vice President Kamala Harris; discriminating against federal officers violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. But like many symbolic pieces of legislation in California, the goal of lawmakers is to send a message — in this case, a message of opposition to federal immigration law, and support for radical protesters and rioters. The legislation does not do anything about protesters who wear masks, or anti-ICE activists who commit crimes against law enforcement officers while wearing masks, or who target federal law enforcement.

FOX News [9/13/2025 12:00 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40019K] reports people who are not proficient in English could be shut out of taking the U.S. citizenship test under a new House Republican proposal. Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., plans to introduce a bill that would mandate the citizenship test be taken entirely in English, Fox News Digital has learned. There are several different components to the U.S. citizenship exam. While most portions are English-only, the civics test — in which the applicant is asked 10 out of 100 possible questions on U.S. history and government — can currently be taken in other languages, provided that certain criteria are met. Fine’s bill would eliminate those exceptions. The bill would likely run into opposition from immigrant advocacy groups, however.

DailySignal [9/13/2025 11:00 AM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports the U.S. northern border spans more than 5,500 miles, including Canada’s border with Alaska, making it the longest land border in the world—and historically challenging to patrol. But now, for the "first time in years, we’ve been able to redeploy agents from processing centers back to the field, patrolling the land, and catching illegal aliens we simply couldn’t get to before," Hilton Beckham, Customs and Border Protection assistant commissioner, told The Daily Signal. Patrol efforts include "at-large operations targeting those already in the country," Beckham said. While every sector along the southern border has seen a decline in the number of illegal alien encounters, a handful of northern border sectors are reporting an increase in encounter numbers, including the in Detroit Sector. In fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol encountered 624 illegal aliens in the Detroit Sector, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. So far in fiscal year 2025, Border Patrol has encountered twice as many, 1,281, illegal aliens in the sector.

Washington Examiner [9/14/2025 5:00 AM, Anna Giaritelli, 1563K] reports Mexico has made thousands of arrests and seized tens of thousands of pounds of illegal drugs, numbers that its embassy is emphasizing as President Donald Trump pressures the country to step up its border crackdown. Since Trump levied 25% tariffs on Mexico in February, citing cross-border crime, Mexico has sought to highlight its cooperation with the United States, and on Friday shared statistics on how it has addressed the smuggling of narcotics and migrants into the country. The Mexican government has arrested more than 7,100 suspects since early February, the embassy reported, as well as seized 5,541 guns and 980,000 rounds of ammunition; taken custody of 4,768 vehicles and 861 properties; and interdicted 208,000 pounds of drugs, including 850 pounds of fentanyl. "Mexico’s Security Cabinet continues to deliver consistent results in the fight against organized crime through Operation Northern Border. During the period reported, coordinated actions led to major arrests, seizures of firearms, ammunition, narcotics, vehicles, and dismantling of synthetic drug facilities," the Mexican Embassy said in a statement. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the seizures are the result of the country’s ongoing nationwide crackdown on cartels, with the State Department announcing in September additional security cooperation to target organized crime. "President Trump has followed through on his promises to secure the southern border and end the flow of illicit drugs into our homeland," Kelly said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. "His successful strategy includes coordinating with the Mexican government to root out corruption and resolve security issues that threaten American citizens.” On Feb. 1, Trump issued an executive order that threatened to institute a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico. Hours before the tariffs were set to go into place, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she would work with the White House to address border security and crime. Trump ended up imposing the 25% tariffs, but he has held back from higher duties as the two countries negotiate a trade deal. The crackdown is part of Sheinbaum’s pledge to stop drugs and people from being smuggled to the U.S. Since Trump took office, the number of people illegally crossing the border has dropped from the spike under President Joe Biden to 60-year lows since February. In Mexico’s Sinaloa state, where the Sinaloa Cartel has a stronghold, police and the military have dismantled four synthetic drug storage facilities and $63 million worth of methamphetamine and its precursor ingredients. In Chihuahua, authorities seized six improvised explosive devices, while officials in the Sonoran state seized more than 200 packages of marijuana and 124 packages of meth. The Mexican Embassy did not provide details on how the seizures and arrests compare to previous periods in national records. Simon Hankinson, senior research fellow in the border security and immigration center at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said statistics without historical context make it difficult to know the significance of the seizures. "What is the number of journalists who got killed this month compared to a year ago? Are there any reductions in the metrics that indicate that the Mexican government is gaining control over territory, or is this just an attempt to make it look like they’re making an effort to the Trump administration, which is not to say that they’re not making an effort, but is it actually making a difference in the amount of drugs coming into the U.S., the amount of Americans dying of drug overdoses, you know, things that really matter?" said Hankinson, who works for a conservative think tank. In relative terms, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the federal agency that inspects people and goods at all U.S. border crossings and ports of entry, seized 573,000 pounds of drugs, including nearly 22,000 pounds of fentanyl, in fiscal 2024. The large majority of Mexico’s drug seizures were not fentanyl. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

CBS Colorado [9/13/2025 4:49 PM, Christa Swanson, 45245K] Video: HERE reports storms moving through Colorado on Saturday brought areas of heavy rain and wind. According to the National Weather Service, multiple possible tornadoes formed, and some areas in western Colorado have seen flash flooding. The NWS said the stationary front will bring heavy to excessive rainfall to the southern Rockies into the northern Plains through Saturday. A flood watch is in place for southwest and west-central Colorado through this evening and NWS Grand Junction issued a flash flood warning for Rio Blanco County until 4:15 p.m. Multiple tornado warnings were issued by the NWS on Saturday, including areas of Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel Counties. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Los Angeles Times [9/13/2025 8:00 AM, Steve Lopez, 12715K] reports the crew had just poured a concrete foundation on a vacant lot in Altadena when I pulled up the other day. Two workers were loading equipment onto trucks and a third was hosing the fresh cement that will sit under a new house. I asked how things were going, and if there were any problems finding enough workers because of ongoing immigration raids. "Oh, yeah," said one worker, shaking his head. "Everybody’s worried.” The other said that when fresh concrete is poured on a job this big, you need a crew of 10 or more, but that’s been hard to come by. "We’re still working," he said. "But as you can see, it’s just going very slowly.” Eight months after thousands of homes were destroyed by wildfires, Altadena is still a ways off from any major rebuilding, and so is Pacific Palisades. But immigration raids have hammered the California economy, including the construction industry. And the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week that green-lights racial profiling has raised new fears that "deportations will deplete the construction workforce," as the UCLA Anderson Forecast warned us in March. There was already a labor shortage in the construction industry, in which 25% to 40% of workers are immigrants, by various estimates. As deportations slow construction, and tariffs and trade wars make supplies scarcer and more expensive, the housing shortage becomes an even deeper crisis. And it’s not just deportations that matter, but the threat of them, says Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist at the Anderson Forecast. If undocumented people are afraid to show up to install drywall, Nickelsburg told me, it "means you finish homes much more slowly, and that means fewer people are employed.” Now look, I’m no economist, but it seems to me that after President Trump promised the entire country we were headed for a "golden age" of American prosperity, it might not have been in his best interest to stifle the state with the largest economy in the nation. Especially when many national economic indicators aren’t exactly rosy, when we have not seen the promised decrease in the price of groceries and consumer goods, and when the labor statistics were so embarrassing he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and replaced her with another one, only to see more grim jobs numbers a month later. I had just one economics class in college, but I don’t recall a section on the value of deporting construction workers, car washers, elder-care workers, housekeepers, nannies, gardeners and other people whose only crime — unlike the violent offenders we were allegedly going to round up — is a desire to show up for work. Now here, let me give you my email address. It’s steve.lopez@latimes.com. And why am I telling you that? Because I know from experience that some of you are frothing, foaming and itching to reach out and tell me that illegal means illegal. So go ahead and email me if you must, but here’s my response: We’ve been living a lie for decades.

USA Today [9/13/2025 3:43 PM, Jonathan Limehouse, 64151K] reports a Secret Service agent was put on immediate leave after posting disparaging remarks on social media about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the federal law enforcement agency confirmed. Kirk became the victim of what officials called a "political assassination" on Wednesday, Sept. 10, while speaking to roughly 3,000 people at Utah Valley University’s campus. Authorities arrested Tyler Robinson, 22, on Friday, Sept. 12, and he is facing charges of aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm and obstruction of justice, according to court records obtained by USA TODAY. Prosecutors are expected to formally file charges against Robinson at his first court appearance on Tuesday, Sept. 16, according to Christopher Ballard of the Utah County Attorney’s Office. Following Kirk’s murder, many gave their condolences, including President Donald Trump, while others did the opposite and shared negative opinions about the 31-year-old Turning Point USA co-founder. One of the naysayers was Anthony Pough, a Secret Service agent who wrote in a Facebook post on Sept. 10 that Kirk "spewed hate and racism on his show," which is called "The Charlie Kirk Show," CBS News and Fox News reported. "At the end of the day, you answer to GOD, and speak things into existence. You can only circumvent karma, she doesnt leave," Pough’s post about Kirk read, per the outlets. In a statement emailed to USA TODAY on Saturday, Sept. 13, the U.S. Secret Service said the agency "will not tolerate behavior that violates our code of conduct. This employee was immediately put on administrative leave, and an investigation has begun." USA TODAY could not immediately reach Pough for comment on Saturday, Sept. 13. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-TN, called for Pough’s immediate termination in a letter to Secret Service Director Sean Curran on Thursday, Sept. 11, according to her X post. "As our nation mourns the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, a rogue @SecretService agent posted on Facebook suggesting that he deserved to be murdered," said Blackburn’s X post, accompanied by a screenshot of her letter to Curran. "I am calling for this agent’s immediate termination. It’s time to root out the rot in the Secret Service."

The Hill [9/13/2025 5:00 PM, Caroline Vakil and Julia Manchester, 12414K] reports the gruesome assassination of conservative activist and Trump ally Charlie Kirk is putting candidates on edge, creating a chilling effect among those meeting with constituents on the campaign trail as the nation grapples with a troubling rise in political violence. Kirk’s murder while speaking at an event at a Utah college on Wednesday reverberated across the country, with both parties quickly condemning the violence and expressing their sympathies to the prominent conservative commentator. Less than 24 hours later, the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) headquarters were targeted by a bomb threat that turned out to not be credible, yet the incident shook an already rattled country. The recent events have struck a nerve with those campaigning for office, who are contending with heightening security measures and changing safety protocols as acts of violence against politicians and other prominent figures show few signs of waning. "I think that we’ve all got to rethink how you do events outdoors," House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer told The Hill. Yet, Comer acknowledged that most lawmakers wouldn’t have access to the kind of security needed to avoid similar attacks to the one that happened to Kirk. "Someone said, ‘Do you need to increase the security budget?’" Comer said. "You could’ve had all the security in the world and not notice that. That’s like a Secret Service kind of security, and … members aren’t going to have that.”

Los Angeles Times [9/13/2025 9:30 AM, Andrew J. Campa, 12715K] reports Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson called Tuesday’s calamity at the Port of Long Beach "rare," while Gary Herrera, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 13, went a half step further, labeling it "super rare." Noting that no one was seriously injured, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Stacey Crecy spoke of a "miracle." Those were some of the comments during a roughly 35-minute news conference Wednesday at the Port of Long Beach, where personnel from the Coast Guard, the city of Long Beach, the port and worker representatives tried to explain how 75 cargo containers dramatically slipped off a vessel docked at the port and into the nearby water or on top of an adjacent barge. Still, no one could definitively put a finger on the cause of the bizarre mishap. Crecy said that the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board were leading the investigation into how and why the containers fell off the Mississippi. Richardson confirmed no one was seriously injured. One worker aboard the barge sprained an ankle fleeing the falling containers. That worker was assessed and treated at the scene and did not require immediate hospitalization. Crecy said the barge suffered damage, but didn’t explain the severity. She noted that an oil spill response team was working to contain the sheen’s spread. The Coast Guard said it was working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to create a list of affected cargo and containers.

FOX News [9/13/2025 7:45 AM, Kurt Knutsson, 40019K] reports a hacker has pulled off one of the most alarming AI-powered cyberattacks ever documented. According to Anthropic, the company behind Claude, a hacker used its artificial intelligence chatbot to research, hack, and extort at least 17 organizations. This marks the first public case where a leading AI system automated nearly every stage of a cybercrime campaign, an evolution that experts now call "vibe hacking." Targets included a defense contractor, a financial institution and multiple healthcare providers. The stolen data included Social Security numbers, financial records and government-regulated defense files. Ransom demands ranged from $75,000 to over $500,000. AI isn’t just powering helpful tools; it’s also arming hackers. This case proves that cybercriminals can now automate attacks in ways once thought impossible. The good news is, you can take practical steps today to reduce your risk. By making smart moves, such as enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), updating devices, and using protective tools, you can stay one step ahead.

AP [9/13/2025 2:46 PM, Josh Boak, 37974K] reports President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum. Trump posted on his social media site that NATO’S commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100%" and the purchase of Russian oil by some members of the alliance is “shocking.” As if speaking with NATO members, he said: “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.” Since 2023, NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in purchasing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia. It’s unclear whether Trump would want to directly confront Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. That leaves uncertain whether the threats might actually lead to new tariffs or a ban on Russian oil purchases. Trump’s post arrives after the Wednesday flight of multiple Russian drones into Poland, an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland shot down the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incursion and Russia’s motives by saying it “could have been a mistake.” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the drone incursion was “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous” as he judged NATO’s response so far to be appropriate. Still, Rubio said it was unclear if the drones were intentionally sent to Poland. “The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically,” Rubio said. “If that’s the case, that the evidence leads us there, then obviously that would be a highly escalatory move.”

Reported similarly:
Axios [9/13/2025 8:50 AM, Barak Ravid, 14595K]

Washington Post [9/13/2025 3:08 AM, Matt Viser and Michael Birnbaum, 29079K] reports President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he would impose major additional U.S. sanctions on Russia only after all NATO countries increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by halting purchases of Russian oil. His proposal, announced on social media, is unlikely to land with several members of the 32-country alliance. Turkey is one of Russia’s major customers and has sought to preserve ties to the Kremlin despite the war. Hungary and Slovakia, two other customers of Russian oil that are led by Trump allies, have worked to shield their economies from the disruption of finding other energy suppliers. “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday morning. He also said he wanted the bloc to impose significant tariffs on China. He admonished NATO for not doing more to counter Russia — “the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking!” he wrote — and he said it was weakening the bloc’s ability to persuade Putin to end the war. “Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are,” he wrote. “Just say when?” It was the latest return to his threats to impose sanctions on Russia after he expressed frustration with Putin’s continued aggression against Ukraine following an unusual meeting between the two that Trump hosted in Anchorage last month. Trump has taken a mercurial approach to his efforts to halt Russia’s war, sometimes blasting Putin and sometimes seeking his friendship. But some Russia hawks in both Washington and Europe said Saturday that Trump’s latest demand felt like a tactic for him to avoid taking steps against Russia, even though they also agreed that Europe should put a final stop to buying Russian energy. “Instead of looking for a solution, it reminds me of looking for a way out,” said former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said that he supported the push for Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey to halt Russian energy imports. But Trump is friendly with the leaders of those countries, he said, and the president could push them directly without waiting to move on further U.S. sanctions. Trump in the post also hinted at his frustration over the growing alliance between China and Russia, and the ways in which that could prolong the war, saying that the NATO alliance should target China with tariffs of 50 percent to 100 percent. “China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip,” he wrote. “If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States.”

AP [9/13/2025 2:46 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports the Taliban said Saturday they reached agreement with U.S. envoys on an exchange of prisoners as part of an effort to normalize relations between the United States and Afghanistan. They gave no details of a detainee swap and the White House did not comment on the meeting in Kabul or the results described in a Taliban statement. The Taliban released photographs from their talks, showing their foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, with President Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler. On the issue of prisoners, Boehler “confirmed that the two sides would undertake an exchange of detainees,” the Taliban statement said. No information was provided on how many people are being held in each country, who they are or why they were imprisoned. The meeting came after the Taliban, in March, released U.S. citizen George Glezmann, who was abducted while traveling through Afghanistan as a tourist. He was the third detainee freed by the Taliban since Trump took office. The talks also came after the Taliban sharply criticized Trump’s new travel ban that bars Afghans from entering the United States. “Comprehensive discussions were held on ways to develop bilateral relations between the two countries, issues related to citizens, and investment opportunities in Afghanistan,” the Taliban said. The statement added that the U.S. delegation also expressed condolences over the devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan late last month.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [9/13/2025 3:35 PM, Staff, 45245K]

AP [9/14/2025 1:47 AM, Simina Mistreanu, 43603K] reports China launched two probes targeting the U.S. semiconductor sector Saturday ahead of talks between the two nations in Spain this week on trade, national security and the ownership of social media platform TikTok. China’s Ministry of Commerce announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain analog IC chips imported from the U.S. The investigation will target some commodity interface IC chips and gate driver IC chips, which are commonly made by U.S. companies such as Texas Instruments and ON Semiconductor. The ministry separately announced an anti-discrimination probe into U.S. measures against China’s chip sector. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is set to meet Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Madrid between Sunday and Wednesday, He’s office said. U.S. measures such as export curbs and tariffs “constitute the containment and suppression of China’s development of high-tech industries” such as advanced computer chips and artificial intelligence, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said. The announcements of the probes follow the U.S. on Friday adding 23 Chinese companies to an “entity list” of businesses that will face restrictions for allegedly acting against U.S. national security and foreign policy interests. The list includes two Chinese companies accused of acquiring chipmaking equipment for major Chinese chipmaker SMIC. The meetings between Bessent and He in Madrid will be the latest in a series of negotiations aimed at reducing trade tensions and postponing the enactment of higher tariffs on each other’s goods. U.S. and Chinese counterparts previously held discussions in Geneva in May, London in June and Stockholm in July. The two governments have agreed to several 90-day pauses on a series of increasing reciprocal tariffs, staving off an all-out trade war. Bessent described the talks during the last round in Stockholm as “very fulsome.” “We just need to de-risk with certain, strategic industries, whether it’s the rare earths, semiconductors, medicines, and we talked about what we could do together to get into balance within the relationship,” Bessent said at the time. U.S. President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden placed curbs on China’s access to advanced semiconductors including restrictions on the sale of chipmaking equipment to the country. While Washington cites national security concerns, China argues the curbs are part of a U.S. strategy to contain its growth.

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