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.

FOX News [9/14/2025 11:24 AM, Staff, 40019K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem weighs in on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Memphis and more during ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Signal [9/14/2025 3:20 PM, Olivia Pero, 558K] reports the last thing Charlie Kirk texted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a few days before his assassination was about how he wanted the mayors and governors of cities with high crime to be held accountable for how dangerous they were making it for people to live in those cities. During her appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo,” Noem also paid tribute to the conservative leader slain last week. “He was a special man who stood up and was bold enough to go speak to people that disagreed with him, and we need more of that today—more civil discourse, rather than some of the violence that we’ve seen,” Noem said. One of Kirk’s concerns was how unsafe most of America’s cities are, Noem said. However, President Donald Trump has made America “much safer than it was months ago before” he was in office through his efforts like sending the National Guard to Washington, D.C. “It doesn’t matter what community you’re in, what city you’re in, President Trump doesn’t treat anybody different,” Noem said. “He goes in there and uses every tool that he has to cooperate with those communities to help make their streets safe again.” Noem said it’s crucial to have local leaders who understand the importance of Trump’s efforts because a successful society depends on people feeling safe enough to “go out and pursue their dreams and … not have to worry about them [their kids] at night.”

FOX News [9/14/2025 2:20 PM, Staff, 40019K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin joins ‘Fox News Live’ to discuss Trump’s crime crackdown in Memphis, a violent attack against an ICE agent and more. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [9/14/2025 5:43 PM, Anna Kleiber, 75552K] reports approximately 100 protesters gathered outside the Milwaukee Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse to take part in a solidarity protest against expanded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Chicago. Alan Chavoya, an organizer for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it is important for community members to make their voices heard and for Milwaukee to step up and be ready to push back against ICE operations in the city. "We might be distinct movements, but we have a common enemy," Chavoya said. "We don’t need to see eye to eye ideologically but we do need to see eye to eye in our care for our city, our communities and our people." The protest, organized by the Milwaukee Fights Back Coalition, was planned in support of anti-ICE protests in Chicago, and comes just days after federal immigration agents fatally shot a man in an Northwest Chicago suburb. The fatal shooting of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez took place about a week into Operation Midway Blitz, a crackdown on immigration enforcement in the Chicago area ordered by President Donald Trump. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a press release on Sept. 12 that Villegas-Gonzalez ignored commands from federal agents when they attempted to conduct a vehicle stop as part of an "enforcement operation targeting a criminal illegal alien." “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,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press 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.”

FOX News [9/14/2025 10:53 PM, Sophia Compton, 40019K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday responded vaguely to questions about the possibilities of the U.S. striking mainland Venezuela as well as additional drug-smuggling boats amid rising tensions between the two countries. Trump answered several questions about Venezuela while speaking to reporters in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday — including the possibility of striking the country and whether he fears escalation from President Nicolás Maduro. "We’ll see what happens," Trump said on Sunday in response to a question about the likelihood of a U.S. strike on the Latin American nation. "Look, Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It’s not acceptable.” The president also said that the number of boats seen off the coast of Venezuela, where his administration recently bolstered the U.S. Navy’s presence, has decreased significantly. "We’ll see what happens," Trump told reporters for a second time when asked if he intends to launch additional strikes on Venezuelan drug-smuggling boats. "There’s certainly not a lot of boats out there. …. There’s been very little boat traffic.” When asked on Sunday if he was concerned about a possible escalation from Maduro, who has labeled some of Trump’s actions illegal, Trump pointed to the millions of drug deaths that occurred in the U.S. last year. "What’s illegal are the drugs on the boat, and the drugs that are being sent into our country and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs, that’s what’s illegal," Trump fired back. The remarks from Trump come amid escalating tensions after a U.S. military strike earlier this month blew apart a Venezuelan drug boat in the southern Caribbean, leaving nearly a dozen suspected Tren de Aragua (TdA) narco terrorists dead. On Saturday, Venezuela’s foreign minister accused U.S. Navy personnel of boarding a tuna boat with nine fishermen in Venezuelan waters, according to The Associated Press. "A lot of drugs are coming out of Venezuela. A lot of Tren de Aragua," Trump told reporters. "They’re trying to get out, but we’re stopping them successfully at the border in Venezuela.” In February, the Trump administration also designated drug cartel groups like Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel and others as foreign terrorist organizations.

The AP [9/14/2025 5:04 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports authorities in Utah say two men have been arrested on suspicion of placing an incendiary device under a news media vehicle in Salt Lake City. The bomb didn’t go off. Police and fire department bomb squads responded Friday when a suspicious device was found under the vehicle parked near an occupied building. Investigators determined the bomb "had been lit but failed to function as designed," according to court records cited by CBS affiliate KUTV. The FBI identified two suspects and served a search warrant at a home in the Magna neighborhood west of the city’s downtown. Two men, ages 58 and 31, were arrested and could face charges related to weapons possession and threats of terrorism, ABC affiliate KTVX reported Sunday. Neighboring homes were evacuated during the search, which turned up explosives and "explosive-related components," firearms, illegal narcotics and other paraphernalia, court records say. Authorities say they also found at least two devices that turned out to be hoax weapons of mass destruction. ABC News [9/14/2025 8:08 PM, Riley Hoffman, 27036K] reports "The FBI discovered what appeared to be potentially hazardous materials that could pose a threat to public safety," the FBI said in a statement to ABC News. After the FBI’s initial investigation, two suspects were associated with the incident and both resided at the same residence where the search warrant was served. The second individual was listed as Adil in Nasir’s probable cause summary, and arrest documents have not been found at this time. The relationship of the two individuals has not been released. "The initial FBI search warrant authorized the seizure of evidence specifically related to the incendiary devices," documents said. Squad members cleared the home and found two hoax weapons of mass destruction inside, along with two firearms and illegal narcotics. Neighboring homes were evacuated during the search due to the explosives found. There was no information about a possible motive. Nasir was booked into Salt Lake County Jail and ordered to be held without bail, according to documents. Axios [9/14/2025 11:50 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 14595K] reports that the FBI searched a home in Magna, Salt Lake County, along with the Salt Lake City Police Department and Unified Fire Authority Investigations bomb squads who were on hand to ensure no other explosive devices posed a danger in the area, per Fox 13. Unified Fire Authority Investigations spokesperson Kelly Bird said over the phone that bomb technicians working for the fire department were deployed to assist in the operation. What they’re saying: "FOX 13 News is working closely with law-enforcement and our risk management team, with the safety of our employees as our top priority," said FOX 13 Station Manager Leona Wood in a statement posted to the outlet’s site. Representatives for the Salt Lake City Police Department referred Axios for comment to the FBI, which is leading the case. The FBI referred Axios to the Unified Fire Authority Investigations. Representatives for the FBI did not immediately respond to Axios’ Sunday evening request for comment. CBS News [9/14/2025 10:24 PM, Lauren Fichten, 45245K] reports "Due to the nature of the device and its placement, this incident constituted a significant threat to public safety," Unified Fire Authority Investigations officer Jeffrey David Nelson said in the affidavit, noting a risk of mass casualties. The FBI, which is leading the investigation with assistance from the Unified Fire Authority bomb squad, identified and tracked the suspects to a home on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. At the residence, investigators located firearms, illegal narcotics and hoax weapons of mass destruction — devices that don’t contain anything harmful but appear legitimate. The suspects claimed those devices were real, prompting evacuations in neighboring residences. Both men had protective orders preventing them from legally owning firearms due to histories of illicit drug use. It’s unclear if the two suspects have obtained legal representation. A Unified Fire Authority official told CBS News that no further information will be shared at this time, citing the ongoing investigation. The death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot last week at an event at Utah Valley University, about 40 miles from Salt Lake City, has drawn a higher media presence than usual to the area. Investigators are still determining a motive for the attack and charges are expected to be filed this week against the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, according to the Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [9/14/2025 6:55 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 43962K]
FOX News [9/14/2025 11:06 PM, Staff, 40019K]

NBC News [9/14/2025 3:43 PM, Scott Wong and Raquel Coronell Uribe, 43603K] reports the Trump administration is asking Congress to approve an additional $58 million for security to protect the executive and judicial branches following the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a leadership aide confirmed to NBC News on Sunday. The Trump administration supports adding more money to protect members of Congress, too, but deferred to the legislative branch on how to do that, the leadership aide told NBC News. The request comes as Republicans and Democrats negotiate a stopgap funding bill and as lawmakers have beefed up their personal security, moved events indoors or canceled them altogether following Kirk’s killing in Utah and an uptick in political violence overall. Kirk’s assassination was the latest in a string of incidents, including the killing of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and the wounding of her Democratic colleague and spouse, an arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence and the two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump last summer. Punchbowl News first reported the administration’s request. House Democrats are expected to hold a virtual briefing Sunday with the House sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police chief to discuss member security, according to an invitation obtained by NBC News. The invitation was also extended to members’ spouses or significant others. Reacting to the news of the additional funding request Sunday, some lawmakers expressed support for the measure, saying they hope Congress will "step up" and agree to bulk up funding for security, citing an uptick in political violence. "I hope we will invest in securing our public life, because incidents like this tragedy in Utah, like the murder of Melissa and her husband, Mark Hortman, in Minnesota, frankly, fuel further anger in our country. And the ways in which folks are then taking the horrific images of these incidents and propagating them on the internet adds fuel to the fire," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Sunday during a joint interview with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on CBS’ "Face the Nation.” Lankford agreed with Coons’ remarks, saying the funding goes beyond protecting individuals and also safeguards the country’s ability to have civil discourse. "When we’re talking about protecting judges and protecting individuals, it’s not just their personal safety. It is really declaring to the nation that we believe that these tasks are hard, that there should be intense debate, that we have very different perspectives," Lankford said.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/14/2025 1:02 PM, Robert Jimison, 143795K]

The Hill [9/14/2025 10:03 PM, Alex Gangitano, 12414K] reports President Trump on Sunday warned that left leaning groups will be investigated after the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, though he offered no details. "If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right, like some people like to share the right, the problem we have is on the left," Trump told reporters. "And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right.” When questioned on whom he plans to investigate, he added, "We’ll see. We’ll be announcing.” The president also suggested that some groups affiliated with the left are already under investigation, without specifying which he was referring to. "A lot of the people that you would traditionally say are on the left," he said when asked which groups will be investigated, adding, "they’re already under investigation.” The president on Saturday told NBC News that he wants to see the country heal, "but we’re dealing with a radical left group of lunatics.” On Sunday evening, Trump also said he plans to attend Kirk’s funeral in a week. "A very sad weekend," he said. "We lost a great person.” "I’ll be going on early Sunday morning," Trump said. "We’re going to Arizona, taking some people with us, on Air Force One. Maybe you people are going to be with us, I don’t know, but we’re going to be going… early on Sunday morning.” Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed Wednesday during an event on the campus of Utah Valley University. The alleged gunman, Tyler Robinson, was taken into custody by the FBI late Thursday evening. Trump blamed the "radical left" for the shooting during an address Thursday about Kirk, who was a close ally and played a critical role in his 2024 campaign.

The Hill [9/14/2025 12:00 PM, Staff, 12414K] reports the assassination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University has sparked fresh conversations about the security of speakers on campuses and what can be done to improve it as conservatives vow the incident will not scare them from universities. Both campus and Kirk’s private security were present at Wednesday’s debate event, but experts say completely securing an outdoor venue like the one he used is an impossible task that only is typically attempted by the U.S. Secret Service. After one shot from 150 yards away was fired to kill Kirk, experts say there will likely be discussions about speakers inside or upping security costs, but not without concerns the solutions could violate the First Amendment. "It’s very difficult to lock down, from a security standpoint, an area that large, particularly when there’s outlying buildings. And you’ll recall that when a shooter shot successfully at Donald Trump, hit him in the ear, that was the Secret Service who was supposed to check every single outline building, and somehow that shooter still got through. Someone like Charlie Kirk is not going to have that level of security that is securing every building," said Eric O’Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence operative. Authorities say 22-year-old Tyler Robinson scaled a building with single-bolt action rifle before taking the lethal shot at Kirk, who was outside surrounded by hundreds of Utah Valley students as part of his "American Comeback Tour.” "When you invite external speakers to come onto campus, there should be some consideration about a threat analysis done, what is the potential for this speaker to to endanger the campus, so to speak, because of the controversy surrounding that speech, and, if so, security needs to be built into the event," said Kenneth Gray, a former FBI agent and lecturer on homeland security, criminal justice and emergency management at the University of New Haven. Ben Shapiro, like Kirk a conservative firebrand and prominent speaker, emphasized after the shooting that he will not be pulling back in the face of threats.

AP [9/14/2025 11:49 AM, Nicholas Riccardi, 37974K] reports from the moment conservative activist and icon Charlie Kirk was felled by an assassin’s bullet, partisans began fighting over which side was to blame. President Donald Trump became the most prominent to do so, tying the attack to "the radical left" before a suspect was even identified. It was part of a new, grim tradition in a polarized country — trying to pin immediate responsibility for an act of public violence on one of two political sides. As the nation reels from a wave of physical attacks against both Republicans and Democrats, experts warn that the rush to blame sometimes ambiguous and irrational acts on political movements could lead to more conflict. "What you’re seeing now is exactly how the spiral of violence occurs," said Robert Pape, a political scientist and director of the Chicago Project on Security and Threats at the University of Chicago. On Friday, authorities announced they had arrested 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of Washington, Utah, in the shooting. While a registered voter, he was not affiliated with any party and had not voted in the last two general elections. Even so, officials said Robinson had recently grown more political and expressed negative views about Kirk. There was other initial evidence of Robinson’s potential influences. According to court papers, he carved taunting phrases into his ammunition — including one bullet casing marked with "Hey, fascist! Catch!" — and others from the irony-laden world of memes and online video games. Experts say political assassins don’t always fall into neatly sorted partisan categories. In some cases, like that of Thomas Mathew Crooks, who shot Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign rally last year, there is little record of any political stances whatsoever. The FBI has said Crooks also had researched then-President Joe Biden as a possible attack target. Bruce Hoffman, who studies terrorism at Georgetown University, noted that the FBI has created a new category, Nihilistic Violent Extremism, to track the increasing number of attacks that seem to have no clear political motivation. "Extremism is becoming a salad bowl of ideologies where you can pick whatever you want," Hoffman said, adding that the increasing number of lone wolf attacks means violence is increasingly unmoored from organizations with clear political goals. What’s more important than the attackers’ state of mind, experts stressed, is the broader political environment. The more heated the atmosphere, the more likely it’ll lead unstable people to commit violence.

NewsNation [9/14/2025 10:36 AM, Anna Kooiman, 6811K] Video: HERE reports law enforcement agencies are searching for ways to keep people safe in a divisive culture amid a trend of targeted political violence. Could drones be the next protection tool? As technology advances, drones are playing a bigger role in both national and domestic security, and threats are changing. This summer, the president signed an executive order to speed up drone production in the United States. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also announced the department will work with the drone industry to help maintain battlefield superiority. Matt Higgins, co-founder of Performance Drone Works, a drone manufacturing company, told NewsNation that drones should be "ubiquitous.” "We are being deployed by the Secret Service, by elite military institutions throughout the United States. I’ve been working on this problem (since) post-9/11 because it gave me the same feeling," Higgins said. "Once we started creating this technology, this capability, a drone that could fly 100 mph and reduce latency to nanoseconds, all these issues, I realized it’s either going to fall in the hands of terrorists, or it’s going to be a competitive advantage for the United States.”

NewsMax [9/14/2025 12:30 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 4779K] reports releasing images of Tyler Robinson, the suspect in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was the turning point that led to his arrest, according to retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Todd Hulsey, who shared his analysis on Newsmax on Sunday. "It was a key piece of information that could lead to the capture of the suspect," Hulsey told Newsmax’s "Sunday Report." "You put a photo out of somebody and distribute it very widely, someone out there knows who that person is. And it just makes sense to have released the photo at that time.” Robinson remains in custody in Utah and is expected to face formal charges this week, likely including aggravated murder, which could carry the death penalty. Hulsey said investigators must still determine Robinson’s motive, noting reports that he allegedly had a relationship with a male-born transgender. "The motive is the key here," he said. "From a law enforcement perspective, I would love to see the FBI and Secret Service get together and start looking at this particular issue to find out if there is something going on here.” He added that markings on Robinson’s ammunition echoed patterns seen in past attacks. "When you look at the psyche of this particular individual, the shooter, and you see what he did with the writings on the ammunition, we have seen this in the past in a couple of other shootings," Hulsey said. "Hopefully they’ll study this case very closely, just like they did after the Vegas shooting.” Hulsey described the suspect as deliberate and evasive. "He did run away from the scene. He didn’t present himself to be a martyr. He did try to get away," he said. "Of course, he has the presumption of innocence, but that shows consciousness of guilt, that he planned to kill somebody, get away, and try to get away with it.” The suspect’s parents ultimately turned him in after recognizing him in FBI photos. "Absolutely, this is key," Hulsey said. "We know of a case a few years ago where the parents ended up going to jail because they assisted their son in getting a weapon. Here, the parents did the right thing and turned him in.”

NBC News [9/14/2025 9:07 PM, Ryan J. Reilly, Michael Kosnar and David Rohde, 43603K] reports FBI Director Kash Patel’s activities during the investigation of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination raise questions about his decision-making during a crisis, four former FBI officials and two administration officials told NBC News. From the shooting Wednesday to a suspect’s arrest Friday, Patel took steps that gave pause to some federal and local officials and raised questions about his judgment, the sources said. Several spoke on the condition of anonymity, some because they were not authorized to speak publicly and others citing fear of retaliation from the Trump administration. Those actions ranged from where Patel was on the evening of the assassination to what a former official described as his "grandstanding" about his own role after the arrest. "He has heard concerns about how this looks," an administration official said in a statement. "There are a lot of shaking heads.” Christopher O’Leary, a senior former FBI counterterrorism official, said Patel’s handling of the investigation showed that "he’s got zero leadership experience and capabilities.” A current law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the "horrific event" of Kirk’s killing showcased Patel’s "public inability to meet the moment as a leader.” A White House official defended Patel’s performance, saying in a statement that Patel "is working night and day" on the case. "Anyone who doubts his resolve and dedication — especially when Charlie was such a close friend to him — simply is using this extremely sad moment in a disgusting act of political gamesmanship," the official said. "The focus is justice, and this killer will face the full wrath of the justice system.” A senior White House official said in a separate statement Sunday that President Donald Trump has confidence in Patel and his handling of the investigation. "The president spoke on it this morning and said he thinks everyone has done an amazing job," the official said. Hours after the shooting at Utah Valley University, Patel dined at the exclusive New York restaurant Rao’s, two sources familiar with his whereabouts said. A reservation at Rao’s, on the Upper East Side, is famously difficult to obtain. Patel posted on X at 6:21 p.m. that "the subject" in Kirk’s killing was "in custody." Roughly 90 minutes later, at 7:59 p.m., he posted a follow-up message saying the "subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.” It is not clear whether Patel was at Rao’s, which opens at 7 p.m., when he published the second post. The restaurant did not respond to a request for comment. Four former senior FBI officials told NBC News that the posts were premature and unnecessary. O’Leary said they undermined public confidence in the bureau. "They gave the public the perception that the FBI is not that organized at a time when the public is concerned because there’s an unfolding crisis," said O’Leary, an MSNBC national security contributor. "They need to be reassured that the FBI and its partners have the situation under control, and that is done through accurate strategic messaging.”

Washington Post [9/14/2025 11:32 AM, Mariana Alfaro, 29079K] reports Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), a longtime lawmaker who has at times disagreed with President Donald Trump on foreign policy issues, will not seek reelection next year, he announced Sunday. McCaul, who joined the House in 2005 and previously chaired both the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, said in an interview with ABC News’s “This Week” that he is “looking for a new challenge.” “It’s been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress,” he said in the interview. “I’m going to serve the remainder of my term, but I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different realm.” McCaul joins two other Republicans — Reps. Morgan Luttrell (Texas) and Don Bacon (Nebraska) — who have said that they will not run for reelection in the 2026 midterms. An attorney with deep foreign policy experience, McCaul led the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2023 to 2025. He chaired the Homeland Security Committee between 2013 and 2019. The Texas Republican has at times disagreed with Trump and his administration, particularly on issues related to Ukraine and Afghanistan. McCaul has remained a steadfast supporter of Ukraine in its war with Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In July, he repeatedly urged the president to rescind his pause on sending weapons to the war-torn nation. Once the United States resumed sending some defensive weapons directly to Ukraine, McCaul thanked Trump, saying he was “projecting peace through strength in every corner of the globe.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/14/2025 4:04 PM, Robert Jimison, 143795K]

New York Times [9/14/2025 7:56 PM, Matt Stevens, 143795K] reports security for this year’s Emmy Awards will be at an elevated level after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. The person, who spoke Sunday on the condition of anonymity to discuss security, made clear that safety was always a top concern of the television academy, that the planning had been meticulous and that a robust plan was in place. Maury McIntyre, the president and chief executive of the Television Academy, told Variety on Thursday morning the he and other officials had re-examined their security plans after the shooting and spoken to law enforcement agencies in preparation for the event. “We’re absolutely re-looking at all of our security plans, but we always have a very robust security plan in place,” McIntyre said. He went on: “I know that basically once things happened yesterday, our security personnel all gathered together to just recheck things like that — sitting with the L.A. Police Department, sitting with our Department of Transportation, just to make sure that we felt buttoned up. We are confident in the plans we’ve got in place.” A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department said last week that the department would not discuss its security measures for special events, but she made clear that the authorities would be sufficiently deployed and prepared for the Emmys. The measures in place on Sunday night did not appear visibly different from that at other awards shows, where security has long been a concern of presenters.

Daily Caller [9/14/2025 2:36 PM, Luis Cornelio, 985K] reports when President Donald Trump announced Charlie Kirk’s death, he vowed to find those responsible for political violence, as well as the "organizations that fund it and support it." He need look no further than his predecessor and those in the Biden administration. Their attacks on legitimate political speech went far beyond a misuse of funds. They were criminal. The Media Research Center (MRC) has long warned about the reckless rhetoric coming from federal agencies aimed at destroying conservative leaders and movements, including Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA. Two years ago, the MRC released bombshell documents exposing how the Biden administration exploited tax dollars to smear Christians, conservatives and Republicans via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program (TVTP). Under a program supposedly aimed at combating "extremism," the DHS funneled funds to the University of Dayton that promoted a "pyramid of far-right radicalization.’. That pyramid outrageously lumped in Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, and other mainstream conservative groups with neo-Nazis and other extremists. The message is unmistakable: the federal government legitimized the idea that mainstream conservative groups paved the way for domestic terrorists. Among the groups included in the "radicalization" pyramid were the American Conservative Union Foundation, the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement, Breitbart, the Christian Broadcasting Network, Fox News, the Heritage Foundation, the Make America Great Again movement, the National Rifle Association, PragerU, the Republican Party and the Tea Party Patriots. Kirk himself shared MRC’s report on X under the caption, "Breaking: Biden DHS paid $40 million on ‘anti-terrorism’ program comparing TPUSA, Heritage, PragerU to Nazis, using Antifa propaganda.” The Biden administration repeatedly vilified, dehumanized and falsely associated with hate and violence Kirk, his organization, and the broader conservative and Christian movement.

Wall Street Journal [9/14/2025 10:57 AM, Nicholas Eberstadt, 646K] reports Karen Elliott House rightly warns that South Koreans are worrying about the reliability of their American ally (“Will South Korea Want a Nuclear Weapon of Its Own?,” op-ed, Sept. 10). Unfortunately, an additional risk to the U.S.-ROK alliance now emanates from Seoul. President Lee Jae Myung, elected in June, comes from the far-left wing of the left-leaning Minju (Democracy) Party, a faction predisposed to appeasing the countries U.S. forces are stationed in South Korea to defend against: North Korea and China. Though the case has been postponed for the duration of his presidency, Mr. Lee faces criminal charges for allegedly instructing businesses to channel millions of dollars to the North while he was governor of Gyeonggi province in 2018-21. Since assuming the presidency, Mr. Lee has welcomed back pro-North officials last seen in the bad old days of U.S.-ROK tensions 20 years ago. South Korea’s new intelligence chief, former ringleader of a Blue House cadre dubbed “the Taliban” by the South Korean press, is a longtime proponent of the “self-reliance theory”: an ideology that aims to increase South Korea’s “autonomy” by hedging against its U.S. ally.

New York Post [9/14/2025 12:49 PM, Christopher F. Rufo and Ryan Thorpe, 43962K] reports last month in Minneapolis, Robin Westman, a 23-year-old man who had identified as a transgender woman, drove to the Annunciation Catholic Church with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. He fired more than 100 rounds through the windows during the back-to-school Mass, leaving two children dead and nearly 20 people injured. The media wasted little time muddying the waters. The New York Times proclaimed that "we may never know" Westman’s true motivation and dutifully identified him as a woman with "she" and "her" pronouns. At a press conference held the day after the attack, Joe Thompson, the acting US Attorney for the District of Minnesota, curiously began his remarks by pointing out that Westman had expressed hatred toward other groups besides Catholics. Reporting in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on the shooting seemed more concerned about a potential backlash against the transgender community than the fact that Catholics had been gunned down in their place of worship. We have spoken with parishioners at Annunciation who are shocked by the media’s attempt to downplay the shooter’s anti-Catholic sentiments and the role of transgender ideology in the shooting. The anti-Catholic nature of the massacre should be obvious. Westman deliberately targeted Catholic children and, prior to the massacre, had drawn an upside down cross on his weaponry and pinned a photo of Christ on a paper target hanging on the wall of his room. We have discovered new evidence that, in what may have been his final act before turning the gun on himself, Westman shot three rounds into a statue of the Holy Family outside the church. The photographs we have obtained reveal that the statute, showing Saint Joseph and the Virgin Mary, each holding the hand of the Christ child, now has three bullet holes in it: two near the Virgin Mary’s heart, one in Saint Joseph’s staff. According to our sources, given the statue’s location on church grounds, it is likely the rounds were intentionally fired.

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [9/14/2025 11:29 AM, Staff] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem weighs in on the assassination of Charlie Kirk, President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Memphis and more during ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’

FOX News Sunday [9/14/2025 11:29 AM, Staff] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson discusses Charlie Kirk’s assassination, how to bring together a politically divided country and more on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

CBS’ Face The Nation [9/14/2025 11:49 AM, Staff, 3735K] reports the burdens of speakership are always manifold. He knows that. Previous speakers covered know that, but they feel particularly heavy after the events of this week. Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson is asked...how is he doing? "No question, it was a difficult week for the country. Certainly, it was felt on Capitol Hill. There’s a mixture of anger and sadness and fear, frankly, on the part of a lot of people. It cast a large shadow across the country and the nation’s capital. But what I do know, is that my good friend Charlie would not want any of us to be consumed by despair. He would want us to go forward boldly. That was his message, and to do it in love. And I think that, I hope, is the message that continues in the days ahead. " Speaker Johnson states. Will there be, Capitol Hill, a method to forge any sort of bipartisan remembrance of Charlie Kirk? "There will be. We had a moment of prayer and silent reflection on the floor on Wednesday, within an hour of his passing. There will be – I participated in a large vigil here in Baton Rouge at LSU, my alma mater, on Friday night. Tonight, we will have a big, I hope, bipartisan prayer and reflection vigil in Capitol Hill, at the Kennedy Center. There will be a members reflection and prayer moment that I will lead on Monday night. This will continue. I think that the country needs to see leaders in Congress and leaders with platforms all around the country speaking truth and bringing calm to the situation." Speaker Johnson stated.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [9/14/2025 9:50 AM, Staff, reports there are rising questions this weekend about the challenges facing America. A suspect is in custody charged with the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, but Kirk’s horrible death, the political reaction to it amid fears of more violence, and the social media cesspool that traps too many of our neighbors and friends, these are all problems without an easy answer. President Trump and his allies are offering one solution, telling Americans, your problems are caused by the radical left. Utah Republican Governor Spencer Cox is offering something else, urging people to unplug, talk to each other, learn how to disagree better. The question is whether there’s an appetite among Americans to do that. Utah Governor Spencer Cox told "The Wall Street Journal" that it is -- quote -- "very clear to us" and to the investigators that this was a person who was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. Governor Cox says that the information come from the people who were close to the suspect and that charges are to be filed on Tuesday with more evidence and information. Some outlets are reporting that the suspect lived with a transgender partner. Is that accurate? And are investigators looking at this part of his life as a possible motivation? "Yes, definitely. And, yes, I can confirm that. I know that has been reported and that the FBI has confirmed that as well, that the roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female. I can say that he has been very cooperative. This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening and is working with investigators right now. " Governor Cox stated.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [9/14/2025 9:50 AM, Staff, 422K] reports FBI Director Kash Patel said: "Against all law enforcement recommendations, we demanded the video footage and enhanced stills of the suspect be released to the public." Who was recommending against releasing that video? Was it Utah law enforcement? " No, again, this was just an internal discussion that was happening between everyone. We certainly never recommended against that. I just want everyone to know how all of this came together. This was a co-lead operation. So the FBI was co-lead with the state. We worked very closely together. I think Director Patel would tell you it was flawless on the cooperation between the feds and the state and the locals. I know there was a discussion, and it wasn’t the state versus the feds or the locals versus the feds. It was the feds and the locals and the state versus the feds and the locals and the state. It was everybody just trying to decide, is this a good idea? The reasons to release it, I think, are pretty obvious, right? It makes it easier for lots of people to see it and maybe find someone. The reasons not to is, you immediately get 10,000 tips and 50 different leads, and you have to chase all of them down. So that’s the discussion, nothing out of the ordinary.” Governor Cox stated.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [9/14/2025 10:57 AM, Staff, 2118K] reports Matt Gutman his latest reporting in “The New York Times” said some of the suspect’s acquaintances were allegedly talking to him online and joking and thought they recognized him from those early photos. Governor Spencer Cox says that all he can confirm is that there were conversations definitely happening and that they did not believe it was him at first. Governor Cox says that the suspect has not confessed to authorities and he is not cooperating. Cox told “The Wall Street Journal” that Tyler Robinson was deeply indoctrinated with leftist ideology. Have investigators uncovered evidence to show that? "Well, so far that -- that has come from his acquaintance and his family members. That’s where that initial information has come from. Certainly, there will be much more information that is released in the charging documents as they’re bringing all of that together. I’d just like to remind people that -- that -- that -- that press conference on Friday, we had been up all night trying to get as much as we could in a very short amount of time. We’re collecting much more, including forensic evidence that is coming back from Quantico that help us tie the shooter to the weapon and everything else. So, that’s all being processed right now. And there will be much, much more information on Tuesday when that’s -- when that document is filed with the -- with the courts." Cox states.

NBC’s Meet the Press [9/14/2025 11:29 AM, Staff, 2200K] reports the nation is once again reeling, after a horrific act of political violence. Conservative activist and influential Trump supporter Charlie Kirk shot and killed on a college campus in Utah, while answering questions about mass shootings. After a 33-hour manhunt, the suspected killer now in custody, a 22-year-old Utah resident, who was turned in by his family. In the last decade there have been a growing number of acts of political violence, impacting Democrats and Republicans. Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox casting this moment as a dangerous crossroads. Governor Cox says that Tuesday there will be more information when charges are filed. "They are gathering evidence, interviewing known friends, people around the suspect. What we know so far, there are a couple things that we can confirm that have been reported, we can confirm that again according to family and people that we’re interviewing, he does come from a conservative family. But his ideology was very different than his family, and so that’s part of it. We do know that the roommate that we had originally talked about, we can confirm that that roommate is a boyfriend who is transitioning from male to female. So we know that piece. I will say that that person has been very cooperative with authorities. And we have additional evidence, forensic evidence, that has been processed. We’ll be sharing that when charges are filed on Tuesday. So everything that we know confirms that this is the person. The why behind this, again we’re all drawing lots of conclusions on how someone like this could be radicalized, and I think that those are important questions for us to ask and important questions for us to answer." Cox states.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [9/14/2025 9:50 AM, Staff, 422K] reports Charlie Kirk’s assassination is the latest tragedy in an alarming rise in political violence, a growing trend that has many Americans worried that something really is fundamentally broken in the United States. So, what can be done to help fix it? Congress is concerned that political violence is the new normal and they’re worried about their own safety. Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma says he too is worried. "Yes, I have to pay attention to it. We have had 14,000 threats against members of Congress just this calendar year. So, the numbers are rising dramatically. Obviously, we have had a home invasion of legislators in Minnesota, where they were murdered in their own home in the middle of the night. We have had -- the Democratic governor in Pennsylvania, his home was set on fire. There are things that are occurring now that are different than what we have seen just two or three years ago. So, yes, we have to pay attention to this. But we also understand that it’s important for all of us to be able to make sure that we’re modeling rhetoric to be able to bring volume down. But each person, if they’re carrying out acts of violence, they are personally responsible for that act of violence. It’s not just a cultural thing that’s given them permission. That might have given them ideas, but that person is always culpable for their own decisions. Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, says: "My message is to all of the domestic terrorists in this country spreading this evil hate, you want us to live in fear. We will not live in fear, but you will live in exile, because the power of law enforcement under President Trump’s leadership will be used to find you, will be used to take away your money, take away your power and, if you have broken the law, to take away your freedom." Senator Lankford had this to say: " I would say if there’s someone preparing to be able to take out an aggressive act against someone or to be able to violate the law, that is the role of law enforcement to be able to protect Americans. We need to be careful now we talk about this, whether it is talking about white nationalists and preparing to be able to attack and to be able to carry out an attack, or to somebody like Timothy McVeigh that hated the government intensely and in my state 30 years ago murdered 168 people in Oklahoma City, or whether it is a leftist group that is interested in actually attacking a pro-life center that we saw several years ago, or whether it’s carrying out some other act of terrorism or trying to be able to intimidate people. We should have equal application of the law to saying, if you’re choosing to be able to carry out an aggressive, violent act, that should be something that we actually try to interdict any time that we possibly can. Again, thinking something, talking about something is very different than carrying out that action. We have freedom of speech, but you do not have the freedom to be able to plan, prepare, and carry out an attack against another American, no matter what your ideology."

Univision [9/14/2025 11:21 AM, Staff, 4932K] reports when an immigrant is arrested by ICE and has no money to pay for a lawyer, his family often faces doubts and fears about what to do. Such is the case of Leopoldo Alvizu, a young man who remains in custody by ICE in Georgia even though he requested his deportation more than two months ago and his mom cannot afford a lawyer in the United States. A lawyer told Univision that even in a deportation there are negotiating options that could include leaving on a commercial flight, but that requires a lawyer to run the process, he said. "The case cost $15,000... when he said that, we couldn’t," Alvizu’s family said.

Reuters [9/15/2025 3:31 AM, Gursimran Kaur, 45746K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would call a national emergency and federalize Washington, D.C. after Mayor Muriel Bowser said its police would not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At issue is the provision of information on individuals living in, or entering, the United States illegally. Trump’s threat adds to a move critics have seen as federal overreach, with more than 2,000 troops patrolling the city. The comments come after several thousand protesters hit the streets this month over Trump’s August deployment of National Guard troops to "re-establish law, order, and public safety," after calling crime a blight on the capital. "In just a few weeks. The "place" is absolutely booming... for the first time in decades, virtually NO CRIME," Trump said on Truth Social. Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s post. Earlier he had put the metropolitan police department under direct federal control and sent federal law enforcement, including members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to police the streets. It is unclear when their mission will end. Trump blamed "Radical Left Democrats" for pressuring Bowser to inform the government about the non-cooperation with ICE, adding that if the police halted cooperation with ICE, "Crime would come roaring back.” He added, "To the people and businesses of Washington, D.C., DON’T WORRY, I AM WITH YOU, AND WON’T ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!". Bowser, who has previously praised Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement, bringing a sharp decline in crime, earlier signed an order for the city to coordinate with federal law enforcement. The National Guard serves as a militia answering to the governors of the 50 states, except when called into federal service. The D.C. National Guard reports directly to the president.

Reuters [9/14/2025 5:15 AM, Ju-min Park, 43603K] reports a top U.S. diplomat expressed regret on Sunday over an immigration raid in the state of Georgia that detained hundreds of South Korean workers and proposed making the event a turning point to strengthen bilateral relations, South Korea said. In a meeting in Seoul, First Vice Foreign Minister Park Yoon-joo urged Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau to push forward bilateral discussions on follow-up measures, including a new visa category, the foreign ministry said in a statement. Some 300 South Korean workers returned home to cheers and emotional reunions on Friday, a week after being detained in the massive immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor battery plant — an event that sent shockwaves across South Korea, a key U.S. ally. "Deputy Secretary Landau expressed deep regret over the incident and proposed using it as a turning point to improve the system and strengthen the South Korea-U.S. relationship," the ministry said, adding that Landau said President Donald Trump had "high interest" in the case. After the raid, Trump had suggested that the Koreans stay in the U.S. if they wished, and the negotiations with U.S. officials were straightforward, South Korea’s top security adviser said on Friday. To prevent the recurrence of such an incident, Seoul has called on the U.S. to provide clear guidelines for existing business visas and create a new visa category for Korean professionals to support massive investment projects by Korean businesses in the U.S. In Sunday’s meeting, Landau called for Washington and Seoul to speed up working-level consultations to ensure the issuance of visas commensurate with the contributions of Korean workers, noting that Korean investments help rebuild manufacturing in the U.S., the ministry said. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul could not immediately be reached for comment. Park called Landau’s visit "timely" in the wake of the raid, the ministry said, quoting Landau as mentioning President Donald Trump’s decision that the Korean workers would not face any disadvantages when they re-enter the U.S.

Axios [9/14/2025 1:20 PM, Carrie Shepherd, 14595K] reports Illinois elected officials and immigrant rights advocates are calling for a transparent investigation of a fatal shooting by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Immigrants are on edge with the increased presence of ICE in the Chicago area, especially after President Trump’s recent Operation Midway Blitz promised to bring even more raids. That tension came to a deadly head after an ICE officer shot and killed a man, who the agency said was resisting arrest, on Friday in west suburban Franklin Park. ICE officers were conducting a traffic stop of a man, who family members and officials have identified as Silverio Villegas-González, when Villegas-González attempted to flee and dragged one of the ICE officers, Franklin Park police said. An ICE officer shot and killed Villegas-González, ICE reported. An ICE officer sustained "severe back injuries, lacerations to the hand, and substantial tears on his knee," an ICE spokesperson told Axios, and has been released from the hospital. Chicago’s FBI Field Office is in charge of the ongoing investigation into the fatal incident. Mayor Brandon Johnson, Gov. JB Pritzker, U.S. Reps. Delia Ramirez (IL-D) and Chuy García (IL-D) and a group of Latino state lawmakers and alders are calling for the release of body camera footage, any arrest warrants for Villegas-González and other relevant information. "While the investigation is ongoing, we know that a traffic violation should never amount to a death sentence," Ramirez and other lawmakers said in a statement.

Reuters [9/15/2025 1:28 AM, Renee Hickman and Heather Schlitz, 45746K] reports that, Rudy Repa, a 27-year-old resident of Franklin Park, Illinois, placed a single marigold at a makeshift memorial near the spot where a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a man from Mexico during an attempted arrest in the Chicago suburb. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said an officer shot Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, 38, during a traffic stop on Friday in Franklin Park. In a statement, the agency said Villegas-Gonzalez was in the country illegally and had attempted to flee in his car, dragging and injuring the officer. An ICE spokesperson said the agent, who they did not name, had been released from the hospital after suffering back injuries, lacerations to the hand, and knee tears. The death of Villegas-Gonzalez has angered community members like Repa and heightened safety fears among the region’s Latino residents. On Saturday, about 100 people, including Repa, turned out for a vigil for Villegas-Gonzalez in Franklin Park, a community in which around half of the residents are Hispanic or Latino. "I’m incredibly mad and I want justice for our community," said Repa. DHS on September 8 launched a deportation crackdown in Illinois that it said was targeting criminals among immigrants in the U.S. without legal status. The department said the operation was necessary because of city and state "sanctuary" laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have called for an accounting of the incident involving Villegas-Gonzalez. On Saturday, Johnson said on X it was an "avoidable tragedy." U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez said at a press conference Villegas-Gonzalez was shot immediately after dropping off his children at a nearby school. ICE declined to provide more details on the incident over the weekend. It referred to a press release that said Villegas-Gonzalez had a history of reckless driving and the ICE agent fired his weapon because he feared for his life. Alexandra Calleja, 34, teared up as she spoke at Saturday’s vigil about the killing. "I think he might have gotten scared," she said. "He might have wanted to leave because it crossed his mind that, ‘If I get taken away I’ll never see my kids again’."

Chicago Tribune [9/14/2025 4:57 PM, Jason Meisner, 5352K] reports a Chicago day laborer arrested by immigration officials as part of the Trump administration’s "Operation Midway Blitz" campaign filed a petition in federal court Sunday asking a judge to bar his deportation and release him on bond. Willian Alberto Giménez González, who came to Chicago from Venezuela in 2023, was detained Friday when he went to a barbershop in the Little Village neighborhood, according to the petition filed in U.S. District Court. He’s being housed at the Department of Homeland Security’s processing center in west suburban Broadview, the petition stated. Kevin Herrera, Giménez González’s lawyer, said Saturday he believes the arrest was related to his client’s 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. That lawsuit is pending at the same Dirksen U.S. Courthouse where Giménez González filed his petition Sunday. Federal authorities said in a statement Saturday that Giménez González was in the country illegally and had been ordered deported by an immigration judge last year after he failed to show up to court. "There is nothing unjust about enforcing the law and ensuring this illegal alien adheres to the laws of the United States," Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a written statement. "ICE arrested Willian Alberto Giménez González for being in the country illegally."

Chicago Tribune [9/14/2025 5:11 PM, Meredith Colias-Pete, 5352K] reports the 101st annual Mexican Independence Day parade went on peacefully Sunday in East Chicago in the face of heightened federal immigration enforcement nationwide. "Can’t nobody steal our joy," Mayor Anthony Copeland said just as he hopped into a parade car. "This country is made of immigrants.” Along the route, Mexican flags lined the streets. One float had Ballet Folklorico Yolotzin dancers and was followed at the end with horses. "As a Mexican, it’s like a family reunion," said Rolando Ruiz, 48, of Valparaiso. Sitting at his parents’ home on Parrish Avenue, he said they were going to a neighbor’s cookout. He estimated since the late 1990s, the crowds have become "less and less," he said. A lot of that had to do with East Chicago’s population gradually shrinking over the years. "People are traveling," he said. "They are afraid of the situation with ICE.” Opinions varied on crowd size, whether more people stayed home than last year. Others said the crowds were about the same. Those who can come out and celebrate their culture should show up and be a "voice for the voiceless," Unión Benéfica Mexicana President Marino Solorio said afterwards by phone. The current immigration climate was his generation’s "call to action," he said. When the parade began a century ago, the community was organizing as they faced deportations. It shouldn’t be taken for granted, Solorio said, hoping a future UBM leader was somewhere "in that parade.”

FOX News [9/15/2025 12:36 AM, Christina Shaw, 40019K] reports President Donald Trump says the killing of Chandra Mouli Nagamallaiah in Dallas, Texas is a "terrible" crime and the result of immigration enforcement failures. The Truth Social post names 37-year-old Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, a Cuban national with a history of arrests in the U.S. Trump says the crime was carried out by an "illegal alien from Cuba who should have never been in our country.” Cobos-Martinez allegedly attacked Nagamallaiah with a machete at a downtown motel, stabbing and beheading him in front of his wife and son. Witnesses say the violence began after a dispute over a broken washing machine and a language barrier. Cobos-Martinez was arrested at the scene and charged with capital murder. Trump alleges he should never have been released after prior convictions and deportation attempts, blaming former President Joe Biden. "This individual was previously arrested for terrible crimes, including child sex abuse, grand theft auto and false imprisonment, but was released back into our homeland under incompetent Joe Biden because Cuba did not want such an evil person in their country. Rest assured, the time for being soft on these illegal immigrant criminals is OVER under my watch!" Trump wrote. Cobos-Martinez had a prior final order of removal to Cuba and was most recently held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Dallas before being released on an order of supervision on Jan. 13, 2025, during the Biden administration. The release occurred because Cuba declined to accept his return due to his criminal record, according to ICE. The issue is a recurring problem in U.S. immigration enforcement. Trump also praised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi for "doing an incredible job" of strengthening enforcement, while vowing that offenders will face prosecution "to the fullest extent of the law.”

New York Times [9/14/2025 8:00 AM, Laurel Rosenhall, 330K] reports California state lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday that would bar most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while interacting with the public, a direct response to immigration raids by masked agents who have been difficult to identify. California’s Legislature is believed to be the first to pass such a bill, though similar proposals have been introduced in other states and Congress. The legislation now goes to Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose support is not certain. The legislation, passed by Democratic lawmakers who control both houses of the State Legislature, would apply to local and federal agencies, and questions have been raised about whether the state has the legal ability to regulate federal agents. “We’re looking at the constitutionality of it,” Mr. Newsom said in July in an interview with the Tennessee Holler, a liberal news site. The Democratic governor explained at the time that he understood that officers may need masks to protect their safety in limited circumstances, but that he thought it was “insane” how widespread the practice had become. Supporters of the bill said on Thursday that the ban was even more urgent in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this week that allowed federal agents to resume immigration stops based on factors including ethnicity and if someone is speaking Spanish. “We are in a truly disaster of a situation where we have secret police, effectively, on our streets,” said Scott Wiener, a Democratic state senator from San Francisco who wrote the bill. “It’s tearing apart the fabric of society,” he added. “You have communities in Southern California where people are scared to go out on the street, they’re scared to go to work, they’re scared to bring their kids to school. And now is the time for us to say what the rules are.” Mr. Wiener’s legislation would bar officers from wearing face coverings that shield their identities, such as the ski masks, balaclavas and neck gaiters that have become common in recent months during President Trump’s immigration crackdown. It does not apply to medical masks, clear plastic face shields, respirators, eye protection or other safety devices.

NewsMax [9/14/2025 3:41 PM, Eric Mack, 4779K] reports after the immigration enforcement at a South Korean-owned battery factory in Georgia, President Donald Trump is signaling a softening tone on permitting "people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people.” "When foreign companies who are building extremely complex products, machines, and various other ‘things,’ come into the United States with massive investments, I want them to bring their people of expertise for a period of time to teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our country, and back into their land," Trump wrote in a detailed Truth Social post Sunday. "If we didn’t do this, all of that massive investment will never come in the first place — chips, semiconductors, computers, ships, trains, and so many other products that we have to learn from others how to make, or, in many cases, relearn, because we used to be great at it, but not anymore. "For example, shipbuilding, where we used to build a ship a day and now, we barely build a ship a year. I don’t want to frighten off or disincentivize investment into America by outside countries or companies. "We welcome them, we welcome their employees, and we are willing to proudly say we will learn from them, and do even better than them at their own ‘game,’ sometime into the not too distant future!". South Korea threatened to cut back on U.S. investment in precisely that vein after the Georgia immigration raid this past week. Federal agents detained more than 300 workers — including 316 South Koreans — on allegations of visa violations. Video footage of workers being handcuffed and led away sparked anger in Seoul, where officials called the treatment humiliating and a threat to bilateral economic ties. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has demanded reforms to U.S. visa rules, warning that Korean companies will hesitate to expand in America unless their skilled employees are guaranteed lawful, temporary status to carry out high-value work.

USA Today [9/15/2025 5:04 AM, Deborah Barfield Berry, 75552K] reports L. got a call one recent Friday from a friend, desperate to talk and pleading to meet. She hesitated. She hardly ventures out anymore. That evening she risked it and for two hours shared slices of cheese pizza and worries. Both are Haitian immigrants whose temporary legal status in the United States is set to expire soon. Like many Haitians living in America, neither L. nor her friend has decided yet what to do: Return to their tumultuous country, 700 miles from Miami, stay illegally in the United States or relocate to another country altogether. L., who asked to be identified only by her first initial because of her risk for early deportation, left the pizza shop angry, frustrated, stressed. “If my country was okay, we wouldn’t be in this situation,’’ she thought. For at least three years, Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince has been overrun by armed gangs, and political turmoil has extended into many of the Caribbean nation’s villages and towns. United Nations officials said in July that the country "nears collapse" and Haitians face a national humanitarian crisis. L., who has been here for two years, is among the more than 500,000 Haitians in the United States living and working legally in offices, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and factories under a Temporary Protected Status that is soon to disappear. “I tell myself, ‘Everything will be fine. Everything will be fine,’” said the 32-year-old office worker. “We are living day by day … It’s a hard situation.” The U.S. State Department still warns American citizens to stay away from Haiti, "due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care." But the Trump administration said the situation has improved enough in Haiti that the temporary program is no longer necessary. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem ended Haitian TPS effective Sept. 2, though a District Court judge ruled the program has to remain in place until at least Feb. 3, 2026. Leaders of the House Haiti Caucus argue the situation in Haiti remains far from safe and that the program should be extended or permanent legal status granted to the families, many whom have been in the United States for years and are now part of the fabric of the nation. Some Haitians living under TPS aren’t leaving their homes, afraid to go to work, church and school, activists said. Families are weighing their limited options. Some are considering moving to Canada, which has an asylum process for Haitian refugees. L. doesn’t want to stay in the United States if she can’t live and work here legally. She thought about returning to Haiti, but friends and family warned against it. Gangs have been spotted near her hometown. She considered going north to Canada, but she would have to start all over and there is no guarantee she could secure legal status there.

San Diego Union Tribune [9/14/2025 8:02 AM, Alex Riggins, 1648K] reports when President Donald Trump came back into office in January, his administration immediately directed federal prosecutors across the country to charge potential criminal defendants with the most serious provable crimes, placing a special emphasis on immigration-related prosecutions. "The Department of Justice shall use all available criminal statutes to combat the flood of illegal immigration that took place over the last four years," Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a memo to federal prosecutors shortly after she was sworn in. Since that time, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, which covers San Diego and Imperial counties, appears to be faithfully carrying out the administration’s directives. At a time when immigrant apprehensions along the border have plummeted, federal criminal prosecutions of undocumented border-crossers in the San Diego and Imperial Valley region have spiked, according to data from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "The Department of Justice’s guidance from January and February 2025 contributed to a remarkable achievement — the securing of the border," the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a statement. "Encounters reaching historic lows demonstrate the powerful deterrent effect of increased criminal prosecutions on those who would consider attempting to illegally enter the country.” The decrease in immigrant apprehensions at ports of entry and areas in between by Border Patrol agents and customs officers began last year when President Joe Biden enacted stricter asylum restrictions, but those encounters fell at an even higher rate when Trump took office. Meanwhile, the increase in prosecutions and the directives from DOJ to charge more individuals with immigration offenses is reminiscent of Trump’s first term, when he enacted a zero-tolerance policy aimed at criminally charging all undocumented immigrants. Though total prosecution numbers were much higher during Trump’s first term because of increased apprehensions, a recent report from Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that the proportion of people being charged criminally after they’re apprehended at the border is higher now than even during the height of "zero tolerance.” "The administration considers this to be a top priority, so this is the result — huge numbers of prosecutions," said David Bier, the director of immigration studies and the Selz Foundation chair in immigration policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Breitbart [9/14/2025 1:00 PM, Amy Furr, 2608K] Video: HERE reports a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official was reportedly fired after he was caught sharing his revolting reactions to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination, according to undercover video footage of the conversation. O’Keefe Media Group reported the conversation on Friday and identified the man in the video as FEMA Section Chief Sean C. Kelly. The group was founded by journalist James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas. "He [Sean C. Kelly] is being terminated," a senior DHS spokesperson told O’Keefe Media, the outlet announced Friday. When asked about how his agency feels about Kirk’s assassination, he said, "Everybody’s kind of laughing," before calling those in charge "dipshits." He then said he believes there was "not a ton of empathy for the guy.” Kirk was fatally shot on Wednesday during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. His murder shocked the world and people are mourning his death, while some leftists celebrate it.

AP [9/14/2025 4:38 PM, Staff, 20690K] reports tornadoes destroyed several homes in southeastern Utah over the weekend, but authorities said there were no reports of people injured. A storm produced two tornadoes in San Juan County in southeastern Utah over the span of an hour starting around 12:35 p.m. Saturday, according to meteorologist Kris Sanders with the National Weather Service’s office in Grand Junction, Colorado. The paths of the tornadoes that touched down near Montezuma Creek likely covered less than 10 miles (16 kilometers), but the weather service hadn’t yet determined their exact tracks or wind speeds, Sanders said by telephone. A survey may be conducted Monday, he said Sunday. Three homes in the area were demolished in the storm, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in a social media post. The 27,000-square-mile (70,000-square-kilometer) reservation stretches into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and is the largest of any Native American tribe. No injuries were reported, but an unknown number of livestock and pets were reported missing, the Navajo Police Department said in a social media post. Images posted by the department showed the towering column of a tornado surrounded by dark clouds and also a flattened home surrounded by debris. Tornadoes are pretty unusual in that part of Utah, Sanders said, noting that the weather service had only confirmed two there since 1950.

NewsNation [9/14/2025 2:31 PM, Emmy Victor and Gabriel Castillo, 6811K] Video: HERE reports three bodies were found in Lake Michigan on Chicago’s South Side on Saturday, sparking death investigations and plenty of yet-to-be answered questions. According to Chicago police, the first discovery incident unfolded just before 11:30 a.m. near 57th Street Beach in the 5700 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive in Woodlawn. Police said a baby girl died after divers pulled her from the water near a South Side beach. While it is unclear exactly what led to the incident, officers said the female infant was pronounced dead on the scene shortly after divers pulled her from the water. Rescue attempts included multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard. "They brought her in, and they came up on the dock to put her on the stretcher. Her little hands were so stiff," one witness told WGN-TV. "She was purple and the foam was all in her nose, all over her lips, and all of the women just hollered," said another witness.

Bloomberg [9/14/2025 8:15 PM, Jane Lanhee Lee, 19085K] reports a suspected North Korean state-sponsored hacking group used ChatGPT to create a deepfake of a military ID document to attack a target in South Korea, according to cybersecurity researchers. Attackers used the artificial intelligence tool to craft a fake draft of a South Korean military identification card in order to create a realistic-looking image meant to make a phishing attempt seem more credible, according to research published Sunday by Genians, a South Korean cybersecurity firm. Instead of including a real image, the email linked to malware capable of extracting data from recipients’ devices, according to Genians. The group responsible for the attack, which researchers have dubbed Kimsuky, is a suspected North Korea-sponsored cyber-espionage unit previously linked to other spying efforts against South Korean targets. The US Department of Homeland Security said Kimsuky “is most likely tasked by the North Korean regime with a global intelligence-gathering mission,” according to a 2020 advisory. The findings by Genians in July are the latest example of suspected North Korean operatives deploying AI as part of their intelligence-gathering work. Anthropic said in August it discovered North Korean hackers used the Claude Code tool to get hired and work remotely for US Fortune 500 tech companies. In that case, Claude helped them build up elaborate fake identities, pass coding assessments and deliver actual technical work once hired. OpenAI representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal hours. The company said in February it had banned suspected North Korean accounts that had used the service to create fraudulent résumés, cover letters and social media posts to try recruiting people to aid their schemes.

New York Post [9/14/2025 12:53 PM, Brandon Cruz, 43962K] reports a Long Island school district abruptly canceled its board meeting last week after receiving threatening phone calls they said praised the assassination of Charlie Kirk — but authorities called the hoopla hogwash. Nassau County cops had rushed to Locust Valley High School during Wednesday night’s school board meeting, after the district’s Board of Education reported what it said were back-to-back calls from an unidentified 72-year-old drunken man who threatened them with violence and applauded Kirk’s shooter in Utah, police said. "We have received this evening two back-to-back voicemails threatening gun violence to all of us here," board President George Vasiliou announced to the audience minutes into the meeting, according to a now-deleted livestream from the night. Vasiliou then canceled the meeting, telling people that the caller "complained" specifically about the board members and administrators present in the room as he "praised the terrible actions that happened in Utah and explained explicitly that he’d like to put us on the news as well.” But in a bizarre twist, Nassau police said they believe district leadership heard the caller wrong. Law-enforcement officials revealed that no threats were actually made by the intoxicated elderly man on either of his phone messages to the school — and that he was actually attempting to call back and confront a prankster who had spoofed their number as the school’s and was harassing him.

Washington Examiner [9/14/2025 11:31 AM, Molly Parks, 1563K] reports the 16-year-old suspect in the Evergreen High School shooting was radicalized by online posts about white supremacy and mass shootings, according to a report from the Anti-Defamation League. The suspected shooter, Desmond Holly, opened fire at the Denver-area high school on Wednesday, critically injuring two other students before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Before the shooting, Holly posted neo-Nazi views on his social media accounts and was active on online threads that depicted extremely graphic violence, the ADL’s Center on Extremism said in a published analysis. Spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Jacki Kelley said in a media press conference that the suspect was "radicalized by some extremist network." The sheriff’s office did not specify which type of extremist network this was. "The details of that will be down the road, but we wanted to at least give you that much about maybe mindset for him," Kelley said in the media press conference on Thursday. The ADL Center on Extremism report says Holly spent time on an online gore forum that has "served as a gateway" for three teenage school shooters, including Holly. He appears to have joined the forum in December 2024 following the Abundant Life Christian School shooting in Wisconsin. He also posted content on his TikTok account that promoted white supremacist extremist language and imagery and idealized other school shooters, such as the perpetrators of the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Columbine High School is also located in Jefferson County. According to the ADL report, Holly posted imagery on his TikTok and X pages of himself wearing a shirt he created to mimic one of the Columbine attackers, of a revolver and ammunition hours before the shooting, and of a skull mask he wore adorned with antisemitic and school-shooting related language.

Reuters [9/14/2025 6:05 PM, Ron Popeski and Bogdan Kochubey, 45746K] reports President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Ukrainian forces had advanced in border districts of northern Sumy region, an area where Russian troops have tried for months to establish a foothold. Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, also quoted Ukraine’s top commander as saying Moscow’s forces had suffered significant losses in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions along the 1,000-km (620-mile) frontline. Zelenskiy was speaking after a week of Russian statements underscoring what Moscow described as gains in central Dnipropetrovsk region. Russian troops are engaged in a slow push across eastern Ukraine, with nearly daily announcements of captured villages. Moscow has annexed four regions it has partially occupied -- Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson -- but not Dnipropetrovsk where it has so far said it has taken a string of villages along the edge of its administrative border. "There are good results in border areas of Sumy region," Zelenskiy said, citing top commander Oleksandr Syrskyi. "Our units are continuing to advance in the direction of Ukraine’s state border." Since evicting Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region earlier this year, Russian troops have tried to set up what the Kremlin calls a buffer zone in Sumy region. Russia regularly shells larger towns, including the city of Sumy. Zelenskiy said Russian forces had suffered notable losses near Kupiansk, an area in northeast Kharkiv region under sustained Russian pressure for months. "We continue to operate in the Dobropillia direction," he said, referring to a town near Pokrovsk, one of the focal points of Russia’s long-running drive through Donetsk region. "It is important that Russian assaults are being repelled by our boys." The Russia-appointed head of parts of Donetsk region under Moscow’s control, Denis Pushilin, said in a video posted online that Russian forces were pressing on with a pincer movement near villages around Pokrovsk. Further to the west, the governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram that two people had died in shelling and drone attacks in different parts of the region.

New York Times [9/15/2025 3:35 AM, Alan Rappeport, 330K] reports officials from the United States and China met in Madrid on Sunday for their fourth round of talks aiming to extend a truce in President Trump’s trade war. The trade war rocked the global economy earlier this year, but relations have stabilized after a series of temporary truces. The latest pause on U.S. tariffs placed on imports from China is scheduled to expire in November, and officials from both countries are under pressure to prevent relations from backsliding. Mr. Trump’s tariffs have added pressure on inflation, which remains elevated. The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates this week, a move intended to encourage economic growth that can also boost inflation. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, are leading the negotiations on behalf of the United States, and He Lifeng, the vice premier for economic policy, is leading the talks for China. The talks are focusing on “national security, economic and trade issues of mutual interest, including TikTok and cooperating on money-laundering networks that threaten both the United States and China,” a statement from the Treasury Department said. China’s state media agency, Xinhua, said the two sides would discuss economic and trade issues including “the U.S. unilateral tariff measures, the abuse of export controls and TikTok.” Mr. Trump has until Wednesday to enforce or delay a law requiring TikTok to be separated from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States. The president has already delayed enforcing the law three times. Congress passed the bipartisan legislation last year to ban TikTok in the country unless it found a non-Chinese owner because of concerns that the social media app’s ties to China made it a national security threat to the United States. The talks lasted more than six hours on Sunday and are expected to continue into Monday or Tuesday. Mr. Bessent plans to join Mr. Trump for a state visit in London on Wednesday. Officials from countries around the world have been working to reach trade deals with the United States since April, when Mr. Trump imposed “reciprocal” tariffs on virtually all of America’s trading partners. Talks with China have been more complicated. Mr. Trump imposed 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports in April, essentially halting trade, before lowering that levy to 30 percent. China put 10 percent tariffs on American products.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [9/14/2025 7:06 PM, Daniel Flatley, 19085K]

Reuters [9/15/2025 4:58 AM, David Lawder and Pietro Lombardi, 45746K] reports the United States and China are close to reaching an agreement on social media platform TikTok but a deal could hinge on Chinese demands for trade concessions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday before entering a second day of talks in Madrid. The U.S. and China delegations are discussing the divestment from TikTok by Chinese owner Bytedance as part of broader talks on tariffs and economic policy. "Our Chinese counterparts have come with a very aggressive ask," Bessent told reporters alongside U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. "We will see if we can get there at present. We are not willing to sacrifice national security for a social media app," he said. U.S. and Chinese officials, led by Vice Premier He Lifeng, concluded a first day of talks in Madrid on Sunday on their strained trade ties, a looming divestiture deadline for TikTok, amid Washington’s demands that its allies place tariffs on imports from China over its purchases of Russian oil. TikTok faces a potential ban in the U.S. unless it moves to U.S. ownership. The most likely result of the Madrid talks is seen as another extension of a deadline for TikTok owner ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations by September 17 or face a U.S. shutdown.

Reuters [9/15/2025 4:58 AM, Liz Lee, 45746K] reports China on Monday said it firmly opposed the United States calling on the G7 and NATO countries to impose secondary tariffs over purchases of Russian oil, pledging to take measures to safeguard its rights and interests. The Chinese commerce ministry urged the U.S. to be "prudent in words and deeds", and to solve differences through equal dialogue.

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