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.

ABC News [9/18/2025 4:19 PM, Armando Garcia and Ely Brown, 27036K] reports a federal judge on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Trump administration from deporting unaccompanied minors to Guatemala, saying the government’s claims that it was simply reuniting children with their parents "crumbled like a house of cards." The move came 18 days after government officials put dozens of children on planes destined for their home country. An emergency order prevented the children from being removed. During the initial emergency hearing on Aug. 31, the government claimed the children were being reunited with their parents in coordination with the Guatemalan government. "There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return," wrote Judge Kelly. "To the contrary, the Guatemalan Attorney General reports that officials could not even track down parents for most of the children whom Defendants found eligible for their ‘reunification’ plan. And none of those that were located had asked for their children to come back to Guatemala." Responding to the ruling, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, "This judge is blocking efforts to REUNIFY CHILDREN with their families. Now these children will have to go to shelters. All just to ‘get Trump.’ This is disgraceful and immoral." In his ruling, Kelly barred the administration from deporting any unaccompanied Guatemalan child who has not received a final order of removal or permission from the attorney general to voluntarily depart. Kelly says the government is blocked from deporting these children while the case continues. While Judge Kelly’s order only applies to Guatemalan children, attorneys for the minors had notified the court that other children from different countries could also be targeted for removal. The New York Times [9/19/2025 3:28 AM, Zach Montague, 330K] reports a federal judge on Thursday temporarily prevented the Trump administration from hastily deporting hundreds of Guatemalan children, faulting the government for relying on false pretexts that “crumbled like a house of cards” when presented in court. In a striking opinion, Judge Timothy J. Kelly, a Trump appointee, wrote that the government had misleadingly presented its actions as a “reunification” effort, bringing children back to their parents in Guatemala who it said had requested their return. But he noted that a series of revelations since the children had been “roused from their beds in the middle of the night and driven to an airport” during the Labor Day weekend had cast doubt on the government’s representations, suggesting a rushed attempt to remove as many as 327 minors before their lawyers could mount a response. The children came to the United States as unaccompanied minors and have been housed under the supervision of the government in shelters or with families in foster care. “There is no evidence before the court that the parents of these children sought their return,” he wrote. In a previous directive, Judge Kelly paused the government’s ability to deport the children until Thursday. The new order extends that block for the foreseeable future while the lawsuit over their fate continues. He also extended the prohibition to all minors from Guatemala who entered the United States alone and have not exhausted their immigration appeals. As the case has evolved since the holiday weekend, Judge Kelly has challenged a number of the government’s claims. During a hearing last week, Judge Kelly grew frustrated after lawyers representing the children presented a report by the Guatemalan attorney general’s office showing that when the Guatemalan government had sought to contact the families of the children, some could not be located but none of the others had sought their children’s return. According to the report, many believed their children were secure in the United States. Some expressed fear for their children’s safety if they were forced to return to conditions in Guatemala. In the opinion, Judge Kelly noted that additional questions had emerged this week, after a report submitted to Congress by anonymous whistle-blowers asserted that the office that monitors the children in the Department of Health and Human Services had ignored its own data showing that at least 30 had signs of having suffered child abuse and neglect in Guatemala. The AP [9/18/2025 6:24 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson in a statement said that “The lower court wrongly interjected itself into this effort” of reuniting families. Advocates for the children also submitted a whistleblower account to the court that suggests many of the children who were found eligible for deportation had likely been victims of child abuse, like death threats, gang violence, and human trafficking, Kelly noted in his order. “The court saw through the government’s repeated misrepresentations of critical facts to try to justify the indefensible targeting of vulnerable children who would have faced danger if forcibly sent to other countries,” Efrén C. Olivares, vice president of litigation & legal strategy at the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement. Politico [9/18/2025 3:21 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 2100K] reports that after Sooknanan’s ruling, Trump allies — including some in the White House — attacked the judge, contending she was blocking Guatemalan kids from reuniting with their parents. “The Biden judge is effectively kidnapping these migrant children and refusing to let them return home to their parents in their home country,” Trump aide Stephen Miller wrote on X that day. But Kelly, in his ruling Thursday, said that allegation was simply not true. Many of the administration’s claims, he noted, fell apart quickly when the Guatemalan government reported that it was unable to locate most of the children’s parents, and those it could find said they had not sought their children’s return and preferred for them to seek economic opportunity in the United States.

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Washington Post [9/18/2025 4:45 PM, Maria Sacchetti, 29079K] reports a Trump-appointed federal judge said Thursday that a Justice Department lawyer made false claims in court to justify a “hasty operation” to deport dozens of Guatemalan children in the middle of the night over the Labor Day weekend. Drew Ensign said the Trump administration had rousted 76 children from their beds at federal shelters and foster homes and loaded them onto airplanes because they and their parents wanted to reunite. Caretakers were given as little as two hours to prepare. In a 43-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly that wrote that the Justice Department’s claims that it was reuniting families quickly “crumbled like a house of cards.” The judge’s ruling comes as the Trump administration is under increasing scrutiny for its treatment of immigrant children amid its quest to carry out mass deportations. Trump officials have said they are searching for hundreds of thousands of minors they allege the Biden administration admitted and then lost track of inside the United States. But critics say the government is increasingly endangering children by separating them from their parents or attempting to swiftly expel them to countries they fled. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the operation on Thursday after the judge’s ruling. “This judge is blocking efforts to REUNIFY CHILDREN with their families,” she said in a statement. “Now these children will have to go to shelters. All just to ‘get Trump.’ This is disgraceful and immoral.”

Daily Wire [9/18/2025 3:33 PM, Jennie Taer, 3184K] reports the Trump administration has located roughly 25,000 migrant children who crossed the border alone and were "lost" under the Biden administration, Border Czar Tom Homan revealed Thursday. During President Joe Biden’s time in office, roughly 320,000 migrant kids went unaccounted for after they were released into the United States to poorly vetted sponsors, according to an inspector general’s report released last year. While some of the children were "fine" and hiding with their parents "because they didn’t want to be deported," many others "were in sex trafficking" and "found in forced labor" conditions, where they were enslaved to "work ungodly hours, not going to school … not being paid, being abused," Homan said on Fox News Thursday. "We’ve rescued thousands of children and President Trump is committed, I’m committed that we’re not gonna stop looking for these children ‘til we find every single one of them or run down the leads on them," Homan said. The former Immigration and Customs Enforcement chief also revealed that 27 of the children had "unfortunately" died. "So we’re not giving up. This is a major priority for the Trump administration, we’re gonna keep going at it.” There were 291,000 migrant children who came to the United States unaccompanied who were never given future court dates as of May 2024, leaving federal immigration authorities with no way to know their locations, the government watchdog found. An additional 32,000 migrant children who were released into the United States with hearing dates failed to appear in court, according to the report, which tracked cases from October 2018 to September 2023. Several federal whistleblowers came forward under the Biden administration to expose the faulty vetting system that placed migrant kids into the hands of "sponsors" who they believed were trafficking the children. One whistleblower testified to a Senate panel in July 2024 that the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services took her off the job and retaliated against her after she alerted supervisors to the fact that children were being placed with people who clearly were not their relatives and that there was evidence of sadistic abuse. The vetting procedure amounted to a single phone call to the children 30 days later, but by that point they couldn’t be reached. Deborah White, another HHS whistleblower, said the agency wasn’t able to investigate red flags, adding that they deliberately kept their heads in the sand. "Children were not going to their parents. Children were being trafficked with billions of taxpayer dollars by a contractor failing to vet sponsors and process children safely, with government officials complicit in it," she said, adding that it "will haunt me for the rest of my life."

Reuters [9/18/2025 1:27 PM, Nate Raymond, 45746K] reports a federal appeals court has rejected a bid by the Trump administration to set aside a judge’s order holding that it unlawfully rolled back temporary protections from deportation granted to 600,000 Venezuelans living in the U.S. A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a decision late on Wednesday declined to pause a judge’s September 5 ruling holding that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the authority to end the program, known as Temporary Protected Status. "Vacating and terminating Venezuela’s TPS status threw the future of these Venezuelan citizens into disarray, and exposed them to a substantial risk of wrongful removal, separation from their families, and loss of employment," the panel said. The panel, which included three judges appointed by Democratic presidents, said Congress did not contemplate such a result, and they declined to put on hold San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s ruling while the administration pursued an appeal. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that if a stay was denied it may take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in May put on hold an earlier injunction Chen issued and cleared the way for the administration to end temporary protections for about 348,000 of the Venezuelans at issue. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the 9th Circuit’s ruling "is nothing short of open defiance against the U.S. Supreme Court." The administration had contended that the Supreme Court’s May decision meant Chen’s latest ruling had to be similarly paused. "Luckily for us, and for all Americans, the Ninth Circuit is not the last stop," McLaughlin said.

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NewsMax [9/18/2025 4:34 PM, Jim Thomas, 4779K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in a predawn raid in Chicago on Tuesday that led to the arrests of five illegal immigrants, including individuals convicted of violent crimes and child endangerment, Breitbart reported. The Department of Homeland Security said the arrests targeted criminal offenders who posed a threat to public safety. The operation reflects President Donald Trump’s focus on stricter immigration enforcement, a hallmark of his administration’s policy. Community volunteers reported monitoring ICE operations near areas where day laborers gather. According to Fox 32 Chicago, volunteers reported being threatened while recording enforcement activity and have urged neighbors to deliver groceries to families too afraid to leave their homes. Organizers and state officials vowed continued support for immigrant households impacted by the arrests.

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AP [9/18/2025 7:01 PM, Sophia Tareen and Christine Fernando, 27036K] reports that, as encounters with federal immigration agents around Chicago increase, tactics used by activists and immigrant leaders to fight back are also escalating. The Trump administration has singled out Chicago as its latest mark for immigration enforcement, using traffic stops in immigrant-heavy areas and targeting day laborers outside hardware stores. "We will not back down," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted Thursday on X, recirculating dramatic footage of arrests at a suburban Chicago home days earlier. Activists and local leaders are also defiant, trying to deter agents, warn residents and keep attention on a man killed by an immigration officer last week. As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched a new operation this month, the focus appeared to be on traffic stops in largely immigrant and Latino neighborhoods and suburbs. This week, activists say arrests of day laborers are also on the rise, echoing what immigration agents have done elsewhere. Federal agents were spotted at roughly half a dozen Home Depot and Menards stores in the city and suburbs resulting in individual arrests, according to activists. "Our neighbors who build, paint, fix and beautify this city have been the target of these unwarranted attacks," said Miguel Alvelo Rivera with the Latino Union, which advocates for day laborers. He spoke Thursday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino and immigrant Brighton Park neighborhood where ICE agents were spotted a day earlier. The Chicago area has roughly 300 such workers, according to the Latino Union. In immigrant and activist circles, the arrests are commonly referred to as abductions because many agents wear masks, drive unmarked vehicles and don’t have insignia on their clothes. Giselle Maldonado, 23, said two of her uncles -- Gabriel Soto-Rivera, 40, and Eder Nicolas Jimenez Barrios, 37 -- were detained Monday by ICE on Chicago’s west side as they were driving to work as HVAC technicians. Her uncles have since told other family members that they believed they were being pulled over for a routine traffic stop. Maldonado found out her uncles had been detained when her mother sent her videos of the encounter posted to TikTok. In the videos, an agent wearing a vest with the words "Police Federal Agent" can be seen speaking to someone in a vehicle. Maldonado said she immediately thought of Gabriel’s two young children. "Who’s going to be there for them?" she said. "They’re babies.”

NewsNation [9/18/2025 6:34 PM, Jeff Arnold, 5801K] reports some residents in Chicago’s largely Latino neighborhoods have become literal whistleblowers as advocates try to put residents on alert that federal immigration enforcement officers, who have arrived by the hundreds this month, may be closing in. More than 250 people have been arrested by federal officers since “Operation Midway Blitz” began last week in Chicago, officials told NewsNation. “President Trump has been clear: if politicians will not put the safety of their citizens first, this administration will,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “I was on the ground in Chicago today to make clear we are not backing down.” In response, initiatives aimed at protecting migrants without legal immigration status in Chicago have ramped up. Community leaders and organizers say foot traffic at local restaurants, grocery stores and doctors’ offices in southwest-side neighborhoods including Pilsen, Little Village and Brighton Park has dwindled amid concerns that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies may be present in those areas to detain people on lists of targeted immigrants. In the suburbs, cities including Evanston and North Chicago have sent out e-mail blasts, alerting residents that local officials have been warned more federal officers will be patrolling local neighborhoods. The increased federal presence has sparked protests in areas around a suburban ICE processing center and around the U.S. Naval Base that serves as the command center for federal immigration officers. “It is not a time to be afraid, it is not a time to show fear or be silent,” Chicago Alderperson Bryon Sigcho-Lopez told NewsNation. “We are being attacked, our families are being torn apart … So it’s not enough to throw our hands in the air and say we need to accept the new norms.” Department of Homeland Security officials have decried efforts by individuals to identify and reveal the location of federal immigration officers. When an ICE officer fatally shot an immigrant who was targeted by ICE last week during a traffic stop, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that social media posts meant to empower migrants to fight back puts federal officers at risk.

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 1:15 PM, Staff, 1563K] reports that a temporary fence surrounding the federal courthouse in downtown Rockford, Illinois is drawing sharp criticism and competing explanations from federal and state officials. Illinois U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Rockford, said in a recent social media video that the Trump administration has not been transparent about why fencing went up around the building. "My office is also leading a letter to Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem, asking specific questions about the precise nature, the cost, the time these fences went up, but most importantly, she needs to answer what purpose," Sorensen said. "I’ve been in close contact with Mayor Tom McNamara, with Alderman Kevin Frost Bell, with other city leaders, state and federal leaders, to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can to protect the people of my hometown of Rockford, Illinois." State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, who also works for the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, pushed back sharply, saying Sorensen’s outreach to local officials shows a lack of understanding of how federal security matters are handled. "Congressman Sorensen’s an absolute idiot," Cabello said. "Number one, he calls the mayor of Rockford. The mayor of Rockford has no clue. You’re the congressman. You should know what’s going on."

Reuters [9/18/2025 9:27 PM, David Dee Delgado and Steve Gorman, 45746K] reports about a dozen New York state and local elected officials were arrested on Thursday during protests at a Manhattan building where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operate holding cells cited by a federal judge for inhumane conditions. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and 10 state lawmakers were taken into custody inside 26 Federal Plaza after they were denied entry to inspect the 10th-floor cells. A group was there to "ensure compliance" with a court order on Thursday requiring ICE to improve conditions at the lockup, protest organizers said. The city’s public advocate, Jumaane Williams, led another group of several dozen anti-ICE protesters who blocked the building’s garage entrance, sitting on the pavement with signs and chanting, "Say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.” Organizers said more than 75 people in all were detained by city police and federal agents at both gatherings. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for ICE’s parent agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, put the number of overall arrests at 71. The incident was the latest clash between federal authorities and Democratic politicians opposed to the immigration policies of President Donald Trump. Lander was detained in June inside the same building, where the government also operates an immigration court, while escorting a man who ICE wanted to arrest. In May, Representative LaMonica McIver, a New Jersey Democrat, and Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, were arrested during an altercation outside an immigration detention center in Newark. According to McLaughlin’s account of the incident inside the building, Lander showed up "with agitators and media and proceeded to obstruct law enforcement and cause a scene.” "He yelled inside the building that he was ‘not leaving’ until detainees were ‘released,’" McLaughlin said in a statement. "As a result of the chaos caused by Lander, officers of the New York Police Department and federal law enforcement arrested members of the group. She said the entire building was placed under a lockdown afterward because "someone called in a bomb threat.” Organizers said the comptroller, three state senators and seven state assembly members visited the building seeking to "conduct oversight" of conditions at the 10th-floor detention facility a day after a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring changes in its operation. The Washington Post [9/18/2025 9:31 PM, María Luisa Paúl, 29079K] reports that in a statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin called the officials’ protest “a stunt.” “Brad Lander’s obsession with attacking the brave men and women of law enforcement, physically and rhetorically, must stop NOW,” she said, adding that the building was on lockdown following a bomb threat. Lander said he and the 10 other officials inside the building have been charged with obstructing entrances and corridors, a misdemeanor. Immigration detention facilities fall under federal oversight, giving members of Congress the right to visit and inspect them. State and local lawmakers do not have that authority. ICE has previously denied Democratic lawmakers access to facilities in California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois — arguing they are temporary holding areas in a field office, rather than a detention center. At a news conference after his release, Lander said he and the group took an elevator to the 10th floor — which is off limits to the public — and demanded to see the conditions in which migrants were being held. They knocked on the door to the holding cells for about 20 minutes but were denied entry. “Not only would they not let us in, they duct-taped and wire-tied the door in what is surely a building violation,” Lander said. “When they refused, we made clear we weren’t leaving, and we were then arrested and detained by Federal Protective Service officers from the Department of Homeland Security.” Politico [9/18/2025 7:35 PM, Emily Ngo, 2100K] reports that a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said local and federal police arrested 71 “agitators and sanctuary politicians,” and the building was on lockdown due to a bomb threat. The AP [9/18/2025 9:17 PM, Yuki Iwamura and Michael R. Sisak, 37974K] reports Lander was previously arrested at the building in June after he linked arms with a person authorities were attempting to detain outside immigration court. “Another day, another sanctuary politician pulling a stunt in attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees,” McLaughlin said, adding that “Lander’s obsession with attacking the brave men and women of law enforcement, physically and rhetorically, must stop NOW.”

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Breitbart [9/18/2025 9:50 AM, Joel B. Pollak, 2608K] reports a federal judge ordered Wednesday that immigrant Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist behind some of the radical protests at Columbia University, be deported — either to Algeria, or to his native Syria. Khalil was arrested in early March by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Trump administration sought to have him deported, despite the fact that he had become a legal permanent resident (though not yet a U.S. citizen). Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the arrest: "We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.” President Donald Trump had campaigned on a promise to deport foreign activists who had participated in the antisemitic "encampments" that sprung up across universities campuses in the late spring of 2024. Khalil’s arrest had been part of fulfilling that promise. The left rallied around him, and he was able to secure his release pending adjudication of his case. He also filed a $20 million lawsuit against the administration The Free Beacon [9/18/2025 12:30 PM, Matthew Xiao, 500K] reports Khalil must be "REMOVED from the United States to Algeria, or in the alternative to Syria," immigration judge Jamee Comans wrote in a Friday order, according to documents filed Wednesday by Khalil’s lawyers. The immigration court, which had already rejected Khalil’s asylum request in June, gave him 30 days from Friday’s order to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals. In the Wednesday filing, Khalil’s lawyers wrote that "they intend to appeal the deportation order, but expressed concern that the appeal process will likely be swift and unfavorable," Politico reported. The longtime anti-Semitic activist last year emerged as a prominent leader of anti-Israel protests that rocked Columbia’s campus. While the Trump administration earlier this year revoked Khalil’s visa and green card and detained the activist for national security reasons, a federal judge ordered his release in June. The administration then pursued Khalil’s deportation on separate grounds, leading to the ruling Friday. Democratic lawmakers and the mainstream media reacted angrily earlier this year when the Trump administration moved to deport Khalil, saying that Khalil’s campus activism was protected under the First Amendment. The activist in a July interview with CNN refused to condemn Hamas, lashing out at the interviewers for suggesting he should. NewsMax [9/18/2025 5:34 PM, Jim Thomas, 4779K] reports Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian-born Algerian citizen who entered the United States on a student visa in 2022, was denied a waiver to remain in the country after Immigration Judge Jamee Comans ruled he had misrepresented facts on his immigration application. The ruling, issued Friday and filed Wednesday, found Khalil in violation of his visa terms and ordered his removal. Khalil’s attorneys said they have 30 days to appeal. The administration has accused Khalil of hiding his affiliations with several groups, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of Palestine Refugees and Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest organization. Officials also claim he led a violent anti-Israel protest on campus that targeted Jewish students. "Mahmoud Khalil’s claim that DHS officials branded him as an antisemite and terrorized him and his family is absurd," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Homeland Security. "It was Khalil who terrorized Jewish students on campus. He ‘branded’ himself as an antisemite through his own hateful behavior and rhetoric." McLaughlin added: "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. The Trump administration acted well within its statutory and constitutional authority to detain Khalil, as it does with any alien who advocates for violence, glorifies and supports terrorists, harasses Jews, and damages property."

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New York Times [9/18/2025 5:49 PM, Jonah E. Bromwich, 143795K] reports lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil have asked a federal judge to intercede after an immigration court judge ordered last week that he be removed to Syria or Algeria. Mr. Khalil, who had recently graduated from Columbia University when he was abruptly arrested by the Trump administration this year, is not in imminent danger of deportation. A standing order from the federal judge, Michael E. Farbiarz, prohibits Mr. Khalil’s removal from the country. He has until October to appeal the immigration judge’s decision and further appeals could forestall his deportation. But several months after he was released from detention in Louisiana, his legal plight is growing more dire. Mr. Khalil’s case is progressing in two separate courts: A federal court in New Jersey, where Judge Farbiarz is scrutinizing constitutional issues, and an immigration court in Louisiana. Immigration judges are part of the executive branch, not the judicial, and Judge Jamee E. Comans, who works for the Justice Department, appears eager to speed the matter along. The tension between the judges has intensified, and the request by Mr. Khalil’s lawyers that Judge Farbiarz intervene, made in a court filing on Wednesday, could escalate the battle between the executive branch and the judiciary. Mr. Khalil’s lawyers asked Judge Farbiarz for permission to refile their initial complaint with arguments that would encompass Judge Comans’s latest action, which they characterized as part of a pattern of retaliation by the Trump administration. Mr. Khalil was a prominent presence at pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia campus. When he returned to the White House, Mr. Trump was quick to crack down on those demonstrations and the schools that hosted them. Since Mr. Khalil’s March arrest, the Trump administration has sought to deport him, although he is a legal permanent resident whose wife and infant son are American citizens. The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, cited a rarely used statute as the legal rationale for Mr. Khalil’s deportation, saying that his mere presence in the United States spread antisemitism.

Blaze [9/18/2025 3:10 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1559K] reports the former Columbia University grad student who is accused of supporting terrorism through his pro-Palestinian protesting has been ordered by an immigration judge to be deported. Mahmoud Khalil’s cause has been taken up by many on the left who accuse the Trump administration of unlawfully supporting Israel and discriminating against supporters of the Palestinian cause. The administration has argued that Khalil’s actions violated the provisions of his immigration status by terrorizing Jewish students. Immigration Judge Jamee Comans found that Khalil had "willfully misrepresented" material facts on an immigration application "for the sole purpose of circumventing the immigration process and reducing the likelihood his applications could be denied." Comans denied Khalil’s request for a waiver preventing his removal from the U.S., but Khalil’s attorneys said they have 30 days to file an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals. Khalil is a citizen of Algeria who came to the U.S. from Syria on a student visa in 2022. The administration accused him of withholding information about his membership to several groups, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of Palestine Refugees as well as the Columbia University Apartheid Divest organization.

NPR [9/18/2025 5:10 PM, Adrian Florido, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered the deportation of pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil to either Algeria or Syria saying he omitted information from a green card application.

New York Times [9/18/2025 6:19 PM, Ruth Maclean, 143795K] reports lawyers for 11 West African migrants sent by the United States to Ghana this month have filed a complaint against the Ghanaian authorities, saying they are being unlawfully detained, held in a secret location against their will and deprived of their rights. Fourteen people were taken from their cells in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in the middle of the night on Sept. 5 and put on a military cargo plane to Ghana, with some claiming they were placed in straitjackets, according to legal filings. Three of the migrants have since been sent back to their home countries, and 11 remain in Ghana. Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said that the West African country took the migrants in on humanitarian grounds, in a spirit of pan-African solidarity. But the court filing says that they were forced to go to Ghana “under the instruction or connivance of foreign and local actors” — meaning the United States. It also says they are being guarded by military personnel without having been formally charged and without access to local lawyers. While defending the deportations this month, Justice Department lawyers did not dispute that Ghana sending the migrants to their home countries would violate their court-ordered protections. The lawyers instead argued that once a migrant had been removed from the United States and was in foreign custody, the issue was out of their hands. “The United States is not saying that this is OK,” Elianis N. Pérez, a Justice Department lawyer, said during a hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “What the United States is saying is that the United States does not have the power to tell Ghana what to do.” The migrants’ filing adds that, for some of them, the risk of persecution if they are sent home has actually increased since they arrived in Ghana. Some of the migrants, being Nigerian, were forced to meet a Nigerian official, the filing said, “despite their explicit fears that contact with Nigerian authorities could expose them to reprisals or persecution upon return.” One of the Nigerians had said in a separate legal filing that he had been beaten and tortured by police officers and soldiers back home, and that they had threatened to kill him if they saw him again. According to that lawsuit, another migrant was deported from Ghana to Gambia, despite having been granted a legal protection in the United States preventing his deportation to Gambia because he is bisexual. Relationships between men are illegal there, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Lawyers for migrants say the case is the latest example of the Trump administration’s tactic of sending migrants to third countries when the migrants in question had protective orders preventing their deportation to their home countries.

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 3:31 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1563K] reports a House Democrat halted a committee hearing on illegal marijuana-growing operations with a call to subpoena Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for how the department’s law enforcement officers have been "terrorizing" illegal immigrants in the United States. During a House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability hearing, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) played two clips of arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they intercepted suspected illegal immigrants on the street, which she said also mandated oversight by the committee rather than the topic of the hearing. An unspecified Republican moved to table her motion, and Republicans defeated it by a 5-3 vote. Ramirez’s interruption follows other outbursts in recent months when Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have moved to subpoena Noem and other top Trump administration officials involved in crafting and implementing immigration policy. No such Democratic effort has been successful, given Republicans’ majority control of the committee.

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 5:00 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 5352K] reports Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the killing of a Mexican immigrant by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week in west suburban Franklin Park. This week, the Mexican government issued a diplomatic note to U.S. authorities demanding "a thorough investigation" into the Sept. 12 death of Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, 38, a native of Michoacan, Mexico. Sheinbaum said the Mexican government is demanding all the information regarding the fatal shooting from the U.S. government. The Mexican Consulate in Chicago and Mexico’s embassy in Washington will closely follow the case with federal authorities, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Villegas Gonzalez was shot and killed after he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop and struck an ICE officer with his vehicle. According to a GoFundMe organized to pay for his funeral expenses, he was shot and killed after he dropped his sons off at school. Federal officials, meanwhile, said the officer who opened fire acted appropriately and in fear for his life. He was recovering from severe leg injuries Friday at a local hospital, where his condition had stabilized. The Department of Homeland Security said in a written statement that Villegas Gonzalez is a citizen of Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally, though further details were not provided. According to DHS, immigration officers conducted a vehicle stop Friday morning to arrest Villegas Gonzalez, who has a record of reckless driving offenses. Both the agent and Villegas Gonzalez were taken to nearby Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where Villegas Gonzalez was pronounced dead, authorities said.

NBC News [9/18/2025 3:00 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 43603K] reports nearly a week after a Mexican immigrant was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area, his family in Mexico and community members continue to seek answers as they call for more transparency in the probe looking into the sequence of events surrounding his death. The Mexican Consulate in Chicago and local police confirmed the FBI is leading the investigation into the death of 38-year-old Silverio Villegas González, a single father of two boys. With law enforcement releasing little information about the ongoing probe, some community members in the Chicago area feel like they "have to stitch this together" themselves, with "no expectation of a real investigation," Brandon Lee, an organizer with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "The community is expected to do their own." According to ICE, two officers pulled Villegas González over, but he resisted arrest and attempted to flee the scene. Surveillance footage from a nearby nail salon broadcast by a local CBS News TV station shows an SUV blocking Villegas González’s car. Two ICE agents are seen by Villegas González’s car, one on the passenger side and the other on the driver’s side. Villegas González starts backing up. As he drives his car forward, the ICE officer standing by the passenger side attempts to go after Villegas González; the other officer is not visible in the video anymore. One ICE officer "was hit by the car and dragged a significant distance," according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which added the officer "sustained multiple injuries and is in stable condition." "Fearing for his own life, the officer fired his weapon," striking Villegas González, DHS stated. According to ICE, both Villegas González and the injured officer were taken to a hospital. Villegas González died of multiple gunshot wounds at the hospital. The ICE agent, who has not yet been named, was released from the hospital after receiving care for back injuries, lacerations to the hand and knee tears. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the injured officer "followed his training, used appropriate force, and properly enforced the law to protect the public and law enforcement." Neither of the officers involved in Villegas González’s death were wearing body cameras, a senior DHS official told NBC News. ICE did not say what the requirement was for the officers involved in Villegas González’s fatal shooting. Immigration authorities say they were after Villegas González because he was not legally present in the United States and had "a history of reckless driving."

Daily Wire [9/18/2025 10:43 AM, Jennie Taer, 3184K] reports the illegal immigrant shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Chicago last week was previously given a second chance of staying in the United States by the Biden administration, which granted him a deportation waiver despite a past arrest, federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire. The Biden administration granted Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez reprieve despite his 2013 arrest by the Chicago Police Department for reckless driving, assault, speeding, and lacking a license and insurance, the sources said. Villegas-Gonzalez struck the ICE agent with his vehicle on Friday while the feds were conducting an operation at Franklin Park. The suspect was asked to stop his vehicle, but continued driving, hitting the agent and "subsequently dragging him as he fled the scene," an ICE spokesman told NBC 5 Chicago. "Fearing for his life," the agent shot the driver. The ICE agent sustained severe injuries, but remained in stable condition after being dragged "a significant distance," said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. Former assistant ICE chief for New York Scott Mechkowski told The Daily Wire that Villegas-Gonzalez should’ve been deported more than a decade ago. "The ICE agent’s split second decision to shoot saved his own life and possibly other lives when Villegas-Gonzalez floored it, dragging him. It was pure self-defense against a man who’d been shielded for years by Chicago’s insane sanctuary policies letting a 2013 assault suspect roam free," said Mechkowski. "Sanctuary cities don’t protect innocent people, they shield killers in waiting, and when enforcement finally fights back like our agents did, it’s the only thing standing between us and blood on the streets. He should have been removed in 2013," Mechkowski added. The agent and suspect were taken to a hospital before Villegas-Gonzalez was pronounced dead.

The AP [9/18/2025 5:28 PM, Megan Janetsky, 37974K] reports the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned members of a Sinaloa cartel faction known as Los Mayos, one of the groups that has tormented Sinaloa’s capital in an ongoing war for control. The move came on the same day that U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley is visiting Mexico, and after the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa cartel as a terrorist group earlier this year. Hurley is meeting with Mexican authorities and business leaders to discuss strategies for combating drug trafficking, cartel operations and illicit financing. The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that the official’s main message will be that the department "will not allow Mexico-based drug cartels to access the U.S. financial system.” It’s part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to crack down on cartels. In addition to pressuring Mexico’s government to more aggressively pursue the criminal groups, the administration has also doled out rounds of sanctions to cartel leaders, banks it alleged facilitated money transfers for cartels and a rapper accused of laundering money for the groups. Reuters [9/18/2025 3:27PM, Staff, 45746K] reports that the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it had designated the El Mayo faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful wings of the sprawling crime group. It accused the faction of producing and trafficking fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid, as well as trafficking in other drugs like cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and methamphetamine. "The Sinaloa Cartel is a foreign terrorist organization that continues to traffic narcotics, launder its proceeds, and corrupt local officials," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley in the statement. The sanctions also included five individuals and 15 companies that U.S. authorities say are linked to the El Mayo faction. These included Hilda Araceli Brown Figueredo, a federal lawmaker representing Baja California for the ruling Morena party who was formerly mayor of Rosarito, a beachfront town about 15 miles south of the California border. It has in the past been extremely rare for the U.S. to sanction sitting lawmakers in Mexico. The U.S. Treasury Department accused her of having a close relationship with a cartel political operative, which gave the El Mayo faction control over parts of Rosarito municipal government and ensured protection for the group’s criminal activities. Brown, in a statement shared on social media, said: "I stand firm in any situation, before any authority. I will continue working as always.”

Washington Post [9/18/2025 12:59, Olivia George and Meagan Flynn, 29079K] reports D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and top city elected officials, arriving Thursday at a House hearing focused on crime in the nation’s capital, came armed with requests for more federal resources to boost public safety and the city’s economic engine. Republicans sought to grill them on crime while celebrating President Donald Trump’s crackdown. The hearing, which was continuing Thursday afternoon, unfolded as D.C. faces an escalating torrent of challenges to its already limited right to self-governance. This week alone, the Republican-led House passed four bills aimed at overhauling aspects of the city’s criminal justice system in line with Trump’s demands, as Republicans repeatedly assailed what they called the D.C. Council’s “soft-on-crime” policies. The votes followed the expiration of a crime emergency Trump declared, which allowed his administration to compel local police to cooperate with federal enforcement agencies, including immigration officers. Bowser decried the city’s lack of autonomy, which she said had come into sharp focus over the past several weeks. “We have all the responsibilities of citizenship but not the most important benefits: representation and full autonomy,” she said. But she also asked for federal partnerships to provide more funds to hire more police, house the homeless and commit to “fully funding the president’s, when it comes, request for beautification and safety efforts in D.C.” The mayor touted substantial reductions in crime over the past two years while acknowledging the federal surge since last month “accelerated” those efforts — echoing the collegial posture she’s had toward the federal government even amid the city’s most significant home-rule headwinds in decades.

ABC News [9/18/2025 2:40 PM, Beatrice Peterson, 27036K] reports Republicans pressed Washington, D.C.’s top elected officials on crime in the District Thursday while Democrats focused on the White House’s law enforcement surge into the capital, the Epstein files and D.C. statehood during a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday. D.C. leaders warned that Trump’s federal law enforcement surge has undermined public trust and threatened the city’s autonomy, even as they pressed Congress to help the District rebuild its police force and fill critical judicial vacancies. "Sending masked agents in unmarked cars to pick people up off the streets; flooding our neighborhoods with armed national guardsmen untrained in local policing; attempting a federal takeover of our police force -- none of these are durable, lasting solutions for driving down crime," D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. "In fact, this threatens to destroy critical trust between local communities and police, which is essential to effective, efficient policing and prosecution." D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson called the Trump’s emergency declaration "a manufactured crime crisis to justify an intrusion on the District’s autonomy." "At a time when violent crime is at the lowest rate we’ve seen in 30 years, there is no federal emergency that the District needs the president to address," he said, adding that National Guard troops lack law-enforcement training and have instead been "picking up trash and doing landscaping." D.C. officials have maintained that crime in D.C. has fallen dramatically over the last few years, even before the surge, but several Republicans on the committee suggested that D.C. was “cooking the books” on its crime rates as they touted the success of the surge.

AP [9/18/2025 5:39 PM, Gary Fields and Matt Brown, 37974K] reports D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday defended her policies to Congress as President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge is in its second month and lawmakers act to further limit the city’s authority. She was invited to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to answer questions about crime in the nation’s capital. Trump issued an emergency order last month that federalized the city’s police department and launched a surge of law enforcement. The emergency order expired earlier this month but federal agencies and the National Guard continue their operations in the city. Bowser listed off the city’s accomplishments in reducing crime, acknowledging that the federal intervention had enhanced those achievements. "Any crime is too much crime," Bowser said. "But we’re trending in the right direction.” Bowser is leading the city at a time when the district’s self-governance is being challenged in ways never before seen since the passage of the Home Rule Act of 1973, which grants the district some autonomy. Federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including the approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

The Hill [9/18/2025 2:28 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K] reports that District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard has not contributed to weeks of lower crime rates. Instead, during her Thursday appearance before the committee, she lauded an increase in the presence of law enforcement backing the local Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). "What has worked is not the National Guard in helping enhance MPD services. What has worked is more DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration], more FBI," she told Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a retired Army National Guard brigadier general. He criticized Bowser for not calling in the National Guard sooner, alleging crime rates were soaring despite city statistics documenting violent crime remains at the lowest numbers in 30 years. "We don’t regard the guard as a law enforcement agent. It’s not a law enforcement [agency] so we wouldn’t call on them," the three-term mayor told lawmakers. In early August, the president deployed hundreds of National Guard soldiers to the District in addition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, narcotics officers and FBI officials to sweep the nation’s capital. Two days after Trump announced that he would send soldiers to D.C., there was a homicide. However, the 13 days following were homicide-free.

Reuters [9/19/2025 12:49 AM, Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang, 45746K] reports South Korea’s LG Energy Solution was using workarounds to U.S. visa restrictions well before Donald Trump returned as president and his administration launched a massive crackdown that detained hundreds of LG workers, internal documents show. LG Energy Solution’s (373220.KS) reliance on a visa waiver programme started under Trump’s predecessors, reflecting long-running problems South Korean companies say they face in getting short-term visas for specialists they need for their high-tech plants in the U.S. Company guidelines, detailed in the August 2023 LG documents seen by Reuters, advise employees and subcontractors to use the short-term Electronic System for Travel Authorization waiver programme, avoiding business visa procedures, after many visa applications had been rejected. More than 300 Koreans, including 250 LG employees and contractors, were detained this month at LG’s car battery venture with Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s biggest immigration raid ever. The globally publicised raid near Savannah, Georgia, including videos of shackled workers, sent shockwaves through South Korea, a major U.S. investor and one of Washington’s closest Asian allies. The Trump administration has signalled it wants to revise visa policy to accommodate South Korean investment. But the entrenched use of ESTA waivers, rather than applying for B-1 or other work visas, highlights risks for South Korean companies building factories in the U.S. as they seek to avoid Trump’s tariffs and send more skilled workers to support the expansion, even as Trump tightens immigration enforcement. The LG guidelines for employees and subcontractors cite increasing U.S. rejections of B-1 business visa requests by South Koreans, recommending instead the ESTA visa-free travel option. The guidelines provide tips, such as advising workers to dress neatly for U.S. customs interviews, bring invitation letters from their U.S. business partners and avoid saying "work" in the interviews. "Using the word ‘work’ to describe the purpose of your visit can cause suspicion and lead to U.S. entry denial," the guidelines say. They caution against excessive use of ESTA, warning that those who use it to enter the U.S. frequently and stay for two to three months per visit could be denied entry at the airport. U.S. officials say the detained workers were engaged in activities beyond the scope of their visa authorisation or overstayed their visas. A U.S. immigration lawyer representing some of the detained LG workers has said they were doing legally authorised activities. The workers were released and returned home to cheers and emotional reunions last week. "We advised employees to utilise ESTA for business trips, given the high rejection rate of B-1 visas at the time and the fact that a B-1 visa denial would also block ESTA eligibility," LG told Reuters in a statement responding to questions on its guidelines.

Reuters [9/19/2025 3:23 AM, Heejin Kim and Cynthia Kim, 45746K] reports South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Friday the government will work to address problems faced by Korean workers with U.S. visas before proceeding with a $350 billion investment package that is part of a bilateral trade deal. His remarks come after a recent U.S. immigration raid resulted in the arrest of hundreds of South Korean workers at a Hyundai Motor battery plant in the state of Georgia. Most of the workers returned to South Korea last week, but the incident prompted calls from companies for a new visa category to make it easier for skilled Korean workers to help set up new factories and train U.S. workers. Still, visa policy was not "a precondition" to make the U.S. investments in strategic U.S. industries, Cho said at a press conference in Seoul on Friday. Cho said he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend a leaders’ summit at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which is being hosted by South Korea in late October. Cho, who returned from a trip to Beijing for talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week, said he relayed a message on South Korea’s willingness to discuss cultural cooperation with China at the APEC meetings. China has maintained restrictions on importing Korean entertainment content, such as K-pop, for nearly a decade to protest against the installation of a U.S.-led missile shield in South Korea. Beijing has contended that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system’s powerful radar could peer into its airspace, straining ties between the countries.

CNN [9/18/2025 4:50 PM, Vanessa Yurkevich, 23245K] reports when the US Department of Homeland Security conducted its largest single-site enforcement operation in history at the Hyundai – LG Battery Plant in Georgia earlier this month, Hyundai’s CEO was working out of his California office. He said he found out about it on the news. Muñoz said that the EV battery plant in Ellabell, Georgia, is operated by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution, which is likely why he wasn’t notified right away. More than 300 South Korean workers were detained by ICE during a raid at the joint venture on September 4th and were deported back to South Korea last week. Muñoz says he’s been in touch with the Trump administration since the raid. Muñoz previously said the raid would delay the opening of the battery plant, which is still under construction, by two to three months. But Hyundai recommitted its investment plans Thursday to phase two of the Georgia complex, totaling $2.7 billion and 3,000 new jobs. The South Korean workers that were deported were specialized workers in the joint venture battery plant. Muñoz told reporters Thursday that the company has had to move workers from other plants to make up for the lost labor. Muñoz said foreign workers needed for specialized work should have a special visa and the ability to come in and out of the United States. Countries like Canada, Mexico, Singapore and Chile have such visas for specialized workers with the US, but South Korea does not.

AP [9/18/2025 4:05 PM, Jeff Amy, 37974K] reports Hyundai Motor Group on Thursday confirmed it is going forward with previously announced plans to expand its Georgia plant, just weeks after an immigration raid delayed the startup of an electric vehicle battery plant at the site. As part of a broader investment strategy, Hyundai said it would spend $2.7 billion to increase production capacity at the Ellabell site by 200,000 over the next three years, to a total of 500,000 vehicles a year. The company first announced the expansion in March at the grand opening of the plant west of Savannah, and had said in August that it would invest an additional $5 billion in United States overall. But the raid, which included arrests of more than 300 South Korean citizens, led to questions about the wisdom of the Asian nation investing in the U.S. The company said it now plans to produce 10 models of electric and hybrid gas-electric vehicles in Georgia, up from the current two the plant has been assembling as it ramps up production. Hyundai says it’s still on track to expand production worldwide to 5.6 million vehicles a year by 2030. The automaker pledged that 60% of those vehicles will be electric or hybrid powered, targeting sales in South Korea, North America and Europe. Hyundai said that it plans to make more than 80% of vehicles sold in the United States domestically by 2030, with total domestic content increasing from 60% to 80%. For the first time, the vehicles would include a mid-sized pickup truck, a key vehicle class in the U.S. market. The company already makes the Santa Cruz model, a four-door compact pickup, that it started selling in 2021. Hyundai CEO José Muñoz has said the immigration raid will delay opening the battery plant by at least two to three months. Spokesperson Michael Stewart said Thursday that the facility will open in the first half of 2026. Both Hyundai executives and Georgia officials have been trying to calm the situation since the raid, which mushroomed into a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and the United States. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters Tuesday at a ceremony marking the groundbreaking of a Rivian Automotive electric vehicle plant that he remains confident Georgia’s business advantages would "win out" in terms of foreign investment. The raid may even wind up smoothing the way for South Korean employees to more easily obtain legal permission to help build and operate facilities in the United States, he said. "I’ve had good conversations with companies that are here doing business in Georgia, companies that are looking to do business here," Kemp said. "And I’ve had good conversations with people in the White House about the visa issue.”

Breitbart [9/18/2025 6:20 PM, John Hayward, 2608K] reports President Donald Trump submitted a "Presidential Determination" document to Congress on Monday that identified 23 nations – including Afghanistan, India, China, Venezuela, and Pakistan – as major producers of illegal drugs, or important transit points on the drug supply pipeline. The full list of 23 nations included Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. The document noted that a country’s inclusion on the list "is not necessarily a reflection of its government’s counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the United States.” "The reason countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to be transited or produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures," the document explained. President Trump’s determination went on to identify several countries that have "failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements," including Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, and Venezuela, "and to take the measures required by section 489(a)(1) of the FAA.” The document made the case for treating illegal drug operations as a threat to American national security, "including a public health crisis in the United States that remains the leading cause of death for Americans ages 18 to 44.” "More than 40 percent of Americans know someone who has died from an opioid overdose, and in 2024 the United States averaged over 200 deaths daily due to illicit drugs," the presidential determination pointed out.

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 6:45 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1563K] reports federal action must be taken to stop the Chinese entities behind a burgeoning black market of marijuana across the United States, according to law enforcement and drug experts. The House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability was briefed on the extent to which the Chinese Communist Party is aware of and funding illicit drug operations in the U.S., and lawmakers were implored to take swift action to wipe out the expansive criminal network. Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics Director Donnie Anderson testified on Thursday that the impact of the marijuana black market in Oklahoma and throughout the country has had in recent years was "unlike anything I’ve ever encountered in my career.” Paul Larkin, a senior legal research fellow in legal and judicial studies at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank, said addressing Chinese-fueled marijuana grows is "a matter not just of public health … it’s a matter of domestic and homeland national security.” In 2018, Oklahoma voters approved a measure that eradicated limits on medical marijuana grow operations, effectively allowing any resident of at least two years to grow unlimited marijuana in the state. Foreign entities quickly began offering Oklahoma residents cash to use their name and property to stand up mass marijuana grow operations in greenhouses and inside houses. Between March 2024 and March 2025, Anderson estimated 87 million plants were grown within the state’s borders. However, Oklahoma dispensaries reported selling roughly 2% of that amount. "Over 85 million plants are unaccounted for, representing an estimated $153 billion in missing product," Anderson said, adding that it was shipped across the country and sold on the black market, undercutting legitimate businesses. The loosening of marijuana grow policies, such as in Oklahoma, have also occurred in states like California and Maine, fueling similar grow operations across the country. The problem is not limited to drug cultivation and sales. The Chinese organized crime rings and money launderers who facilitate the entire operation coast to coast are responsible for bringing workers in from abroad to staff the grow sites, according to lawmakers.

ABC News [9/18/2025 4:10 PM, Luke Barr and Kayna Whitworth, 27036K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has designated the upcoming funeral and memorial service for conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) Level 1 event, a DHS official told ABC News. The funeral will have the same level of security as the Super Bowl or the Boston Marathon. President Donald Trump and other members of the cabinet are expected to attend the service at State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, on Sunday. William Mack, the Secret Service special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office, said in a statement that the Secret Service has been designated as the federal coordinator for the funeral. "Our teams are already on the ground in Phoenix and Glendale, working side-by-side with state, local, and federal partners," Mack said. "Together, we are fully committed to ensuring that these solemn events receive the comprehensive protection and support they require." The department is navigating a heightened security threat amid expectations of a massive crowd at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday. The Department of Public Safety and Secret Service will be running the show inside State Farm Stadium.

NewsMax [9/18/2025 9:28 PM, Mark Swanson, 4779K] reports the Secret Service is taking the lead in providing security for Sunday’s memorial service for Charlie Kirk at a football stadium in Glendale, Arizona, an event that has been designated as having the "highest national significance," The Hill reported Thursday. The service, which is expected to feature remarks from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, will be held at State Farm Stadium west of Phoenix, home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. The service has been classified as a Special Event Assessment Rating Level 1 gathering, the highest federal rating, which typically triggers Super Bowl-level security. "This designation is reserved for events of the highest national significance and enables the federal government to provide the full range of law enforcement and security resources necessary to support local officials in ensuring a safe and successful event," a Department of Homeland Security official told NewsNation, sister network of The Hill. Kirk was assassinated last week at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University, which is under scrutiny for not providing the level of security Kirk enjoyed at other campuses. That will not be the case Sunday. "The U.S. Secret Service has been designated as the Federal Coordinator for this effort. Our teams are already on the ground in Phoenix and Glendale, working side-by-side with state, local, and federal partners," William Mack, special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Phoenix field office, told NewsNation on Thursday. The memorial is expected to draw tens of thousands of mourners; State Farm Stadium can seat more than 63,000 people. Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, the new CEO and chair of Turning Point USA, will also give remarks. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also expected to speak. In live remarks last week, two days after Kirk was killed, Erika Kirk took aim at the "evildoers responsible" for her husband’s death. "They killed Charlie because he preached a message of patriotism, faith, and of God’s merciful love," Erika Kirk said. "They should all know this: If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. "You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.”

The Hill [9/18/2025 12:33 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12414K] reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the “disgusting” and “false” rumors that aim to connect Israel to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. In a video statement posted Thursday, Netanyahu defended Kirk as a fierce ally of Israel and rejected suggestions that the country would want him killed. “This is insane. It is false. It is outrageous,” Netanyahu said in his statement. “Charlie Kirk was a giant, a once-in-a-century talent, who defended freedom, defended America, defended our common Judeo-Christian civilization.” “Charlie loved Israel,” he continued. “He loved the Jewish people.” The Israeli leader said he received a letter a few months ago from Kirk, who reportedly wrote, “One of my greatest joys as a Christian … is advocating for Israel and forming alliances with Jews to protect Judeo Christian civilization.” The Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 11:52 AM, Molly Parks, 1563K] reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the rumors that Israel was involved in the murder of Charlie Kirk "a monstrous big lie" in a statement on Wednesday. Netanyahu said Kirk "loved Israel" and sent the prime minister a letter several months ago. Netanyahu also said that he spoke with Kirk over the phone a few weeks before his assassination and invited him to visit Israel. "He encouraged me to make the case directly to the American people about how vital Israel is to U.S. national security. He told me, ‘The Holy Land is so important to my life, it pains me to see support for Israel slip away,’" Netanyahu said of Kirk.

The Hill [9/18/2025 9:06 AM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12414K] reports the man suspected of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk agreed to turn himself in because he thought it was "inevitable" that he would be caught and feared being shot by law enforcement, Washington County Sheriff Nate Brooksby said Wednesday. Brooksby, who was involved in the surrender but not the broader investigation, addressed lingering questions about what motivated 22-year-old Tyler Robinson to turn himself in last week, during a press conference with reporters. "Tyler knew it was just inevitable, with all the law enforcement pressure that he — you know, his picture in the news, the gun on the news — he knew it was inevitable that he would be caught," Brooksby said. "He was fearful of a SWAT team hit on his house, or he was fearful of being shot by law enforcement." That concern motivated Robinson to come in voluntarily, he added. "So, part of the negotiation and getting him to bring himself in was that: That we would treat it as delicate and as soft as possible to make him feel comfortable to where he would show up at my office," Brooksby continued. "And that’s exactly what happened."

Los Angeles Times [9/18/2025 6:00 AM, Jenny Jarvie, Salvador Hernandez, and Richard Winton, 12715K] reports just before Tyler Robinson turned himself in for the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, authorities say he appeared to leave a trail of incriminating messages on the online gaming platform Discord. At first, his messages were playful. When a friend on a group chat noticed his likeness to the skinny white man in the grainy photos released by the FBI of the Utah Valley University shooting suspect — asking Robinson "wya," an abbreviation of "where you at?" — Robinson was quick to joke: "My doppelganger is trying to get me in trouble." But in a later Discord chat, Robinson appeared to confess. "Hey guys, I have bad news for you all," Robinson said just before he went to a police station the next day to surrender: "It was me at UVU yesterday." Discord, the gaming messaging platform used by more than 200 million people, now finds itself at the center of the Charlie Kirk murder investigation and a roiling, heavily politicized national discussion about the internet’s role in fermenting violent extremism. Some lawmakers are threatening to impose more aggressive regulations and oversight on social media platforms. After federal agents served Discord with a search warrant, FBI Director Kash Patel said Tuesday at a Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing that agents are investigating "anyone and everyone" who interacted with Robinson on the platform. Asked if they were investigating more than 20 Discord users, Patel said, "It’s a lot more than that."

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 7:00 AM, Mia Cathell, 1563K]

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 6:00 AM, Staff, 5352K] reports here is something all Americans can agree on, whatever their feelings on immigration enforcement: United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement should not be harassing, let alone detaining, citizens of the United States. Nor should that agency be harassing, let alone detaining, green card holders, officially known as lawful permanent residents (LPRs). Yet that is what happened early Tuesday in Elgin, the Tribune reported. Joe Botello, 37, a U.S. citizen, told this newspaper he was "jolted awake" and then handcuffed, questioned and placed in a Customs and Border Protection vehicle before dawn on Tuesday. Just to make it crystal clear, Botello was born here, this paper and other outlets reported. Worse, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, or her surrogate, then shared a video of the Elgin operation on social media, presumably part of the ICE deterrence campaign to persuade immigrants in the U.S. without legal permission to self-deport. The video showed four men — one of whom appeared to be Botello — being handcuffed and led away from a residence in that far northwest suburb. Botello was released shortly thereafter. Nonetheless, Noem should have been more careful as to what was filmed and shared. She owes Botello an apology — you know, American to American — at the very least.

The Hill [9/18/2025 3:00 PM, Nolan Rappaport, 12414K] reports why are we still encouraging parents from other countries to send their children here in the care of smugglers? These children are exposed to unacceptable risks when they travel to the U.S. without a parent or someone else who can be trusted to protect them. This has been known for a long time. On June 23, 2014, former President Barack Obama’s Homeland Security secretary, Jeh C. Johnson, published an open letter to Central American parents to warn them of these risks. "In the hands of smugglers," he wrote, "many children are traumatized and psychologically abused by their journey, or worse, beaten, starved, sexually assaulted or sold into the sex trade. … The desire to see a child have a better life in the United States is understandable. But, the risks of illegal migration by an unaccompanied child to achieve that dream are far too great.” Notwithstanding these warnings, parents continued to send unaccompanied children to cross the U.S. border. In fact, in the year Johnson’s letter was published, the number of border apprehensions of these children reached a record high of 68,541 — and that number went on to increase. Between fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2023, apprehensions exceeded 130,000 each year, and there were 87,475 in the first 10 months of fiscal 2024. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 requires the Border Patrol to transfer children apprehended after making an illegal crossing to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. If they are determined to be from Mexico or Canada, they are to be screened within 48 hours of apprehension and returned to their country of origin, unless there is credible evidence that they would be at risk of being trafficked or persecuted in their native country. The HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement is responsible for the care of these children until they are released to a sponsor. Once released, the sponsor becomes responsible for their care; however, Immigration and Customs Enforcement remains responsible for managing and monitoring their immigration proceedings. This March, a report from Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General stated that ICE is unable to monitor unaccompanied alien children effectively when they are released from the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s custody, as the agency does not always know where the children are located. From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2023, more than 31,000 of the children’s release addresses were "blank, undeliverable, or missing apartment numbers.”

Breitbart [9/18/2025 4:28 PM, Hannah Knudsen, 2608K] reports an illegal immigrant beheaded a man in Dallas, Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, discussing the reality if the crimes his men and women in uniform are dealing with. Deeming it a "heinous crime," Lyons said he wished that it got "more play in mainstream media" because "these are the animals we’re dealing with." Lyons said that this illegal alien got in an argument with a motel owner and beheaded him in front of his family. The criminal illegal alien then "kicked his head around like a soccer ball and then threw it in the dumpster." "This guy should never [have] been on the street, but I think what you’re seeing now, though, is under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we’re finding the option to remove these people. We’re no longer just going to release them and say, ‘Oh, sorry, you can’t go back to your home country,’" he said, explaining they are finding other countries to send them to or forcing their home countries to take them back.”

Daily Caller [9/18/2025 5:27 PM, Reagan Reese, 985K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals since January, with five major criminals coming on Thursday alone, the Daily Caller has learned. Since the start of the Trump administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has arrested more than 417,000 illegal aliens, an official shared with the Caller. ICE alone has arrested more than 210,000, 70% of which are criminal illegal aliens with pending charges or convictions, the official added. On Thursday, ICE arrested illegal aliens convicted of aggravated sexual assault, attempted murder and other gruesome crimes. "Attempted Murderers, Rapists, and Animal Abusers. These are the dirtbags ICE is arresting and removing from American communities," Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Caller in a statement. "We should be thanking our law enforcement for risking their lives to arrest these criminals. Instead, sanctuary politicians and activists continue to demonize ICE law enforcement—comparing them to slave patrols, the Gestapo, and the Secret Police. This dangerous rhetoric is contributing to ICE law enforcement officers facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them as they carry out enforcement operations," she added.

Washington Post [9/18/2025 5:47 PM, Hannah Natanson and Robert Klemko, 29079K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking new office spaces in hundreds of locations across the United States to support plans to hire thousands of new lawyers and immigration enforcement officers, according to six federal officials familiar with the matter and records obtained by The Washington Post. The office spaces are being sought on ICE’s behalf by the General Services Administration, the agency responsible for managing federal real estate, according to the officials and the records. In recent weeks, high-level staffers with ICE approached the GSA and said the government needed to secure roughly 300 new office sites as fast as possible nationwide, in a bid to house more than 10,000 new employees, the officials and the records show. The GSA has formed special planning teams to facilitate ICE’s expansion, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal personnel matters they were not authorized to discuss publicly. Records obtained by The Post show there are now standing meetings within the GSA to discuss the “ICE Surge.” ICE has said it plans to hire more than 10,000 new immigration officers, as well as additional lawyers to prosecute removal cases. Those new staffers will be located at offices spread across the country, some in red cities and red states, including in the South and the Midwest, according to one federal official with direct knowledge of the expansion efforts. No leases have yet been signed, as the initiative is still in the procurement phase, according to another official directly familiar with the project.

Reported similarly:
NPR [9/18/2025 4:21 PM, Jenna McLaughlin, Ximena Bustillo, Stephen Fowler, 34837K]

Breitbart [9/19/2025 2:38 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports there is a mixed crowd lining up outside the ICE recruitment fair in Utah, where hundreds of people are eager to join US President Donald Trump’s vast deportation effort. John Wolworth drove eight hours from neighboring Colorado, and was desperate to sign up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "I’m here to defend my country," he said. "Our borders are a big deal, our culture is a big deal and we have a right, as a people, to uphold that culture," the 33-year-old told AFP. An unemployed former soldier, Wolworth had with him his resume, a nursing diploma, army medals, a certificate of proficiency in shooting, and another in jujitsu. "I think I have the right profile," he said. "As men, it is almost in our DNA to rise to the occasion.” With his "Big, Beautiful Bill," Trump allocated $170 billion to border protection and the fight against illegal immigration. ICE, the federal agency tasked with carrying out the mass deportations the Republican promised on the election campaign trail, is one of the major beneficiaries of this extra cash, and says it wants to recruit 10,000 additional agents. The Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part, has begun holding recruitment fairs like the one in Provo all across the United States. On ICE’s website, the WWI-era figure of Uncle Sam issues an urgent plea to potential recruits: "America has been invaded by criminals and predators. We need YOU to get them out.” The muscular rhetoric results in a crowd that slants heavily male, but runs across age groups. "We finally have a president who wants to make America great again, so this is why I’m here," said a man in his 60s, who did not want to give his name. While perhaps the majority of those lining up for the recruitment fair were white men, the crowd also included a significant number of African-American and Hispanic candidates. Allan Marquez is an employee of a private security company who works in a prison where ICE regularly brings detainees. The mass deportations promised by Trump "are necessary," said the 29-year-old American, who added that his Mexican grandparents immigrated legally to the United States decades earlier. "It’s part of the job of keeping the nation safe," he said. Eddie — who did not want to give his full name –is also of Mexican descent and acknowledged qualms about the raids carried out by ICE this summer around Los Angeles. Footage showed masked agents bumrushing hardware stores, car washes and farms, in what appeared to be a sweep of anyone Hispanic. ICE officials said they were targeted actions. Official figures show the majority of those arrested by ICE had no criminal record. Eddie said as a former child protective services officer, he hoped to be able to bring some humanity to the role of ICE agent. "I come from a Hispanic background, but it’s a job that has to be done. So I’d rather do it myself, to make sure that they’re treated properly, even though they’re getting deported," he said.

Daily Wire [9/18/2025 12:34 PM, Jennie Taer, 3184K] reports a boxcutter-wielding Guatemalan man accused of violently raping a young jogger in New Haven, Connecticut, last month is an illegal immigrant who has already been deported twice, The Daily Wire has learned. Guatemalan illegal immigrant Ludvi Carias-Interiano, 34, allegedly tackled the female victim to the ground 30 minutes into her marathon training on August 9, according to the New Haven Register. The man held a boxcutter to her throat as he "repeatedly" raped her before running away. Carias-Interiano admitted to investigators that he engaged in sexual activity, but claimed it was consensual, the report noted. The feds deported Carias-Interiano twice during President Donald Trump’s first term in office, but he later snuck back in undetected, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. Police finally nabbed Carias-Interiano at his home in nearby West Haven last week thanks to DNA evidence, which gave them a "hit" and also tied him to an unsolved sexual assault in Plano, Texas, according to the local news outlet. He was also arrested in 2016 in Texas for allegedly assaulting a child. New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson earlier this month said that the victim was "shaken," but still came forward to help law enforcement hunt down her attacker. "She’s doing well, but it’s a long process," Jacobson said.

CBS New York [9/18/2025 4:14 PM, Jesse Zanger, 45245K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued an immigration detainer against the suspect accused of intentionally ran over a 16-year-old girl, killing her. It happened early Saturday morning in Elmhurst, Queens. Edwin Cruz Gomez, 38, faces a host of charges, including murder, attempted murder, assault, vehicular manslaughter, and driving under the influence. If convicted of murder, he could face 25 years to life in prison. Prosecutors say Cruz Gomez was outside a restaurant and encountered 16-year-old Jhoanny Alvarez and her boyfriend, as well as her mother and stepfather. They say he offered the teen and her mother money in exchange for sex acts, which led to an argument and fight. After bystanders separated Cruz Gomez, Alvaerz’s boyfriend and stepfather, Cruz Gomez allegedly got into his SUV and rammed into the four of them, killing Alvarez. His blood alcohol content was nearly twice the legal limit. ICE has lodged a detainer against Cruz Gomez. They say he’s originally from Honduras and is in the country illegally. ICE says Cruz Gomez has repeatedly entered the U.S illegally in the past, and was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2005. He was arrested on Long Island in 2013 for DUI, but "subsequently absconded and all attempts to locate him were unsuccessful," ICE said. "Another young family is dealing with an unimaginable and all-too-preventable tragedy due to soft-on-crime sanctuary policies and prior open-border policies that let criminal aliens pour into our country with impunity," Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said.

(B) Good Morning America [9/18/2025 7:56 AM, Staff] reports that the state budget committee has approved more than $15 million to help prepare the Miami County correctional facility to serve as a federal immigration detention center. The Indiana Department of Correction asked for the money to upgrade the facility and buy equipment. The state expects to get reimbursed for the money approved for the facility. The facility is set to start on September 30. It says that ICE will be provided with 1000 beds and Indiana will be compensated for detainees and for paying on call guards. Governor Braun’s office says that the state will get at least $79 million as part of the agreement.

CBS Chicago [9/18/2025 5:47 PM, Sabrina Franza, 45245K] Video: HERE reports as the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, reports have started coming in that ICE agents have targeted places like Home Depot, where migrant workers are known to gather for for-hire jobs. Rapid response teams formed by immigrant rights groups have said Home Depot stores have become a target, something the Department of Homeland Security promised they would not do. "ICE has targeted Home Depot corner hiring sites … where day laborers – our neighbors who build, paint, fix, and beautify this city – have been the target of these unwarranted attacks," said Miguel Avelo Rivera with Latino Union of Chicago, which represents day laborers. Volunteers said, in the last two days, multiple undocumented neighbors working at Home Depot sites were detained by ICE. On the Northwest Side, immigrant advocates said five people were arrested as part of an immigration enforcement mission as they traveled to work. Video from the Home Depot at 47th and Western appears to show uniformed federal agents conducting an immigration enforcement mission on Wednesday afternoon. At a rally on the Northwest Side on Thursday, activists pointed to the same type of activity at other Home Depots. "Time and time again, we have seen that a united neighborhood is a safe neighborhood," said Sandra Puebla, with the Northwest Side Rapid Response Team. The head of ICE’s deportation branch in the Chicago area previously told CBS News they would not target Home Depot as part of "Operation Midway Blitz." Officials said the goal rather is to target people living in the Chicago area who are non-citizens with pending criminal charges or convictions. ICE has said anyone else who is undocumented that is found during that mission is also eligible for deportation, regardless of their criminal record.

The Hill [9/18/2025 9:43 AM, Jeff Arnold and Ali Bradley, 12414K] reports an ongoing large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation continues to focus on targeting what the Trump administration considers the "worst of the worst" in the greater Chicago area, despite ongoing opposition from elected officials. NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, got an exclusive look at how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively working to take migrants who entered the U.S. illegally and who have criminal convictions off the streets as part of "Operation Midway Blitz." On Tuesday, ICE arrested Arturas Pivoras, who first entered the U.S. in 2001. Pivoras appeared before an immigration judge who, in August, revoked his bond, ordered him back into custody and gave him 30 days to appeal. Officials said he never did. The authorities added that the 41-year-old Lithuanian national was convicted of aggravated assault on a police officer, burglary, criminal trespass and drug possession. That made him a priority for ICE, officials told NewsNation during an exclusive ride-along this week. Pivoras was arrested without incident after his wife convinced him to surrender to federal officers. "This is definitely a success," Marcos Charles, the acting executive associate director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team, told NewsNation. "Any time we have a cooperative individual, we have to wait on them a little bit longer, but it’s cooperative. It’s safe for our officers, it’s safe for the individual, (and) that’s a win."

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 5:14 PM, Carolyn Stein and Rebecca Johnson, 5352K] reports activists said at a news conference that agents have also begun targeting day laborers in Chicago as part of the Trump administration’s "Operation Midway Blitz," calling it an "unwarranted attack." Miguel Alvelo Rivera, the executive director of Latino Union Chicago, said Thursday he believes about five day laborers were detained in the past two days, including three people at a Home Depot in the Montclare neighborhood. He said activists are still working to learn who the workers are and exactly where they were taken. Others reported heightened patrols at home improvement stores in Cicero and Berwyn. Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said the police department was not contacted by federal authorities in advance of Wednesday’s immigration enforcement in Naperville. Naperville police officers were not involved in any of the arrests, he said. U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, a Naperville Democrat, said in a news release that she had been briefed Monday on ICE’s actions in the Chicago area as a ranking member of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Appropriations and was disturbed by what was happening. She said detainees who have been arrested and processed are being taken to locations in Indiana and Wisconsin. Also in Naperville Wednesday, ICE officers detained roofers working at a home in the Cress Creek subdivision, in what neighbors described as a chaotic and "irresponsible" situation, as reported in WGN-TV.

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 5:51 PM, Addison Wright, 5352K] reports when a Blue Island resident was detained Tuesday morning near the city’s Vermont Street Metra station by federal immigration enforcement officers, local police responded to assist the man’s family, officials said. Blue Island officials said Thursday a resident was detained by federal immigration enforcement officers Tuesday morning in the area of Vermont Street and Irving Avenue in Blue Island. They said after receiving reports of possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity they confirmed that federal agents conducted a stop in the area. Officials also said Blue Island police assisted the family of the detained person by ensuring the safety of family members, helping them recover important documents from their vehicle and making sure the vehicle was not towed. "The city of Blue Island remains committed to the safety and well-being of all residents while respecting the jurisdiction of federal authorities," an official said Thursday. Officials said local law enforcement was not involved in the federal stop.

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 8:58 AM, Rhonda Gillespie, 5352K] reports nearly a dozen people in the audience of the Lincolnwood Village Board meeting Tuesday were there to call on leaders to adopt a sanctuary status for the village - especially, they say, since several board members are themselves immigrants or descendants of them. With the backdrop of recent Chicago area immigration-related arrests, along with the shooting death in Franklin Park of a Hispanic man by a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agent, at least one north suburban area activist group is asking that Lincolnwood leaders declare the town a sanctuary municipality. "Trustees, many of you are immigrants or children of immigrants," Pam Lefkowitz said, before naming specific board members whose families immigrated to the country. "You owe it to your constituents to protect them … to make sure they feel welcome and safe here." There was also a call for the village to get rid of license plate readers and make a public promise that local police will not aid federal immigration authorities.

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 6:57 PM, Kate Perez and Adriana Pérez, 5352K] reports a suburban Chicago student is in custody after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers at Elgin Community College Thursday morning, the college said, two days after a U.S. citizen from the suburb was briefly detained in what the government is calling an immigration enforcement blitz in the Chicago area. The student was taken into custody in the parking lot of Building K, a statement to the school community said. The building houses the college’s Adult Basic Education Center, which offers English as a second language classes, GED preparation, citizenship classes and workforce development resources. "We know that news of ICE activity can cause stress and fear. Elgin Community College remains deeply committed to supporting all students and their families, regardless of immigration status," the college’s statement said. The college does not engage in immigration enforcement, does not voluntarily share information about students’ immigration status, and ECC police do not engage in immigration-related enforcement either, it stated. It also has a liaison team that provides confidential support to undocumented students. "ECC strives to be a safe, welcoming place for every student to learn, grow, and thrive," the college’s statement said.

Bloomberg Law [9/18/2025 3:14 PM, Daniel Seiden Senior, 790K] reports the US Army is cleared to move forward with its plan to get Acquisition Logistics LLC to build a $1.3 billion Texas immigration detention facility for ICE, despite a challenge from a rival contractor. Gemini Tech Services LLC failed to show the Army erroneously disregarded contract protest procedures when it directed the awardee to proceed with its task order, without first letting Gemini make its case against the award decision, Judge Edward J. Damich of the US Court of Federal Claims said in an opinion made public Thursday. The Army reasonably explained that urgent and compelling circumstances concerning the government’s ability to manage "the influx of detainee apprehensions" required the awardee’s immediate performance, the court said in its decision to deny Gemini’s motion for a preliminary injunction, and to dismiss its complaint. Gemini protested Acquisition Logistics’ selection at the Government Accountability Office in July.

Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 1:29 PM, Gloria Casas, 5352K] reports that prayers were mixed with calls to action Wednesday night during an Elgin interfaith candlelight vigil held in response to what community leaders say have been "inhumane" ICE raids using military-style vehicles and a helicopter. "We gather in prayer in unity and in love for our immigrant community," said Amairani Jarvis, a community organizer for Centro de Informació in Elgin. "We also gather in strength because while our people are being targeted because of the color of their skin, our culture and even the language we speak, we are not standing by quietly but we are rising together." Centro de Informació and Elgin Cooperative Ministry organized the event at First Presbyterian Church of Elgin, which was attended by about 100 people. Reports of agents for the U.S. Immgration and Customs Enforcement carrying out detention raids in Chicago, Elgin and other Chicago suburbs stem from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s "Operation Midway Blitz," which started earlier this month. Among the homes targeted in Elgin was one on Chippewa Drive in which five people were taken into custody early Monday morning. Two of them were later identified as U.S. citizens and released. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was on the scene and appeared in a video of the raid. "We gather this afternoon across traditions, across faiths, across cultures and across languages because our hearts are heavy," said the Rev. Thea Kornelius, pastor of First Presbyterian Church. "We come to lament, but we also come to stand in solidarity and to commit ourselves to love and justice."

AP [9/18/2025 1:19 PM, Ryan J. Foley, 37974K] reports an immigration judge has denied bond to a man who has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since he sought police help as the victim of a near-fatal shooting in Iowa months ago. The ruling issued Wednesday means Felipe de Jesus Hernandez Marcelo, 28, will remain behind bars pending deportation proceedings. He acknowledges that he entered the country illegally in 2021 from his native Mexico. Hernandez has been in ICE’s custody since June 24, three days after he nearly died from gunshot wounds he sustained when two people tried to rob him in Muscatine, Iowa. He is moving to apply for a special visa under a longstanding program passed by Congress to encourage victims to report crimes without fear of deportation. But ICE rescinded a policy that shielded crime victims in January, and a growing number of them face arrest and deportation as the Trump administration prioritizes its crackdown on illegal immigration. A quick emergency response by police and doctors at two hospitals saved Hernandez’s life after a bullet traveled through his wrist and thigh in the early morning of June 21. When Hernandez went to the police station to ask for his car, money and other belongings back days later, Muscatine police arrested him on a months-old warrant for failing to pay traffic tickets. Hours later, the county jail turned him over to ICE. While in jail, Hernandez has missed medical appointments needed to rehabilitate his leg, he’s been separated from the 9-year-old son he’s raising as a single father, and he’s been out of the construction job that supported his extended family. An immigration judge in Omaha, Nebraska agreed last month with ICE that he’s subject to mandatory detention. A federal judge overturned that ruling last week, finding that Hernandez was entitled to a bond hearing and was suffering "irreparable harm" in custody. Hernandez’s lawyer Emily Rebelskey argued at the hearing Wednesday that her client is not a flight risk or danger to the community, and should be released pending further proceedings. She noted that he’s in the process of applying for a U visa while serving as a key witness in the criminal case against his two assailants. One of them has pleaded guilty while the other is awaiting trial. Immigration Judge Alexandra Larsen, however, wrote in her ruling denying bond Wednesday that it is "speculative at best" whether Hernandez will qualify for the visa. She noted that the Muscatine County prosecutor is waiting for criminal proceedings to conclude before certifying Hernandez’s eligibility.

Blaze [9/18/2025 4:40 PM, Julio Rosas, 1559K] reports Portland, Oregon, Mayor Keith Wilson (D) announced his administration will be issuing a "land use violation" to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the southern portion of the city for alleged violations surrounding Antifa constantly protesting the building. According to Wilson’s office, an overview of federal records "from a 10-month period show more than two dozen detention policy violations of the facility’s land use conditions of approval with the city, which does not allow detainees to be kept overnight or held for more than 12 hours." The crowds often stand in front of the driveway in an attempt to prevent federal vehicles from entering or leaving. The city is also taking issue with a "second violation related to boarded windows, which is not associated with the land use approval." Wooden boards have had to be placed over the building’s windows and doors to prevent damage to the glass and walls due to the ongoing protests, riots, and vandalism from Antifa and far-left activists. The Department of Homeland Security will be given 30 days after receiving the notice of violation "to correct the issue. If there is substantial evidence of violation, a fine can be issued."

FOX News [9/18/2025 9:18 AM, Michael Dorgan Fox, 40019K] reports the sanctuary city of Portland has announced it will issue a land use violation notice on Thursday to a local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building, accusing it of repeatedly holding detainees longer than permitted and escalating a fight over a building that has already drawn months of protests, some of which have turned violent. Officials said the notice will start a review of whether the Macadam Avenue facility is following the rules of its 2011 land use permit, which bars keeping people overnight or for more than 12 hours. It follows a report by a local non-profit group accusing the facility of holding people for longer than permitted 25 times between Oct. 1 and July 27. The report by the Deportation Data Project was generated using ICE documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The city will also issue a second violation regarding boarded-up windows at the facility, which is not associated with the land use approval. ICE did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment. "U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement made clear detention limitation commitments to our community, and we believe they broke those policies more than two dozen times," Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, a Democrat, said in a statement. "I am proud of our team for conducting a thorough, thoughtful investigation and referring the matter to the next steps in the land use violation process." Under land use permitting rules, a landowner or operator has 30 days after receiving a notice of violation to correct the issue. If substantial evidence of a violation exists, a fine can be issued. The city can also initiate a "reconsideration" of a land use approval by scheduling a hearing at least 60 days after the notice. The facility has become a major flashpoint for President Donald Trump’s immigration clampdown as left-wing protesters and agitators have descended on the facility several times.

San Diego Union Tribune [9/18/2025 5:53 PM, Barbara Henry, 1648K] reports on the advice of its attorney, the Encinitas City Council voted late Wednesday night to rescind the "emergency" actions it look last month in response to federal immigration agents’ arrest of a father near an elementary school. Shortly after making the decision to rescind, the council then reaffirmed most of its Aug. 20 decisions, including starting a "know your rights" program and sending letters to federal officials expressing concern about U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents using "fear-inducing tactics" when arresting immigrants in the U.S. without authorization. Council members also added a new item calling for the city to pursue a memorandum of understanding with federal officials that would give the city some advance notice of ICE activities, plus some information afterward about who was arrested, what the charges were and where the person had been taken. Wednesday night’s two unanimous votes came in response to "cure and correct" letters sent by J. Garvin Walsh, a Cardiff resident who serves on the Republican Party of San Diego County’s Central Committee. In his letters, Walsh wrote that he believes the council’s Aug. 20 emergency actions — decisions that occurred the day ICE agents arrested a Guatemalan man several blocks from Park Dale Lane Elementary during the school’s morning drop-off period — violated state public meeting laws. Walsh wrote that there was no "emergency" on the night of Aug. 20, saying federal immigration enforcement plans have been widely reported nationally, and the council should have put its proposed responses on a future, properly noticed agenda, instead of taking immediate action that night. Council members said Wednesday night that they disagreed with Walsh’s position, but supported rescinding their Aug. 20 vote and redoing the process to avoid a lawsuit.

San Diego Union Tribune [9/18/2025 9:00 AM, Amy Reichert, 1648K] reports ICE agents of its Homeland Security Investigations division stood at the entrance of a business in the city of El Cajon on March 27, 2025. (U-T FILE). You’ve seen the viral videos: ICE officers in tactical gear making arrests in San Diego. Almost instantly, the outrage machine kicks in. Politicians up for reelection rush to their social media accounts, paid activists flood social media and the same words get repeated: Nazis. Terrorists. Gestapo. Kidnappers. The narrative is that ICE agents are supposedly hunting down innocent parents on school grounds. But I wanted to get the perspective of those facing this torrent of criticism. So I sat down for an exclusive interview with Patrick Divver, the man in charge of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for ICE in San Diego. He is the top official overseeing arrests, detention and deportation across our region. What I learned is far different from the misinformation being spread. "The mission of ICE is simple," Divver told me. "We safeguard our borders and enforce immigration laws as written by Congress. Our officers make targeted arrests of people who are in the U.S. illegally, especially those with serious criminal records.” Those criminals aren’t hypothetical. In just the past three months, San Diego ICE agents have arrested four murderers, multiple convicted gang members and sex offenders. One of the most chilling cases came just days ago. Officers discovered a convicted sex offender, an unregistered sex offender with a long criminal record, living inside a San Diego home daycare. That man is now gone from our community. If not for ICE, he could still be there, surrounded by children. And yet the rhetoric against ICE has never been more reckless, or more dangerous. "Calling our officers kidnappers or Gestapo doesn’t just put them at risk, it puts the public at risk too," Divver said. "We’ve had people interfere with arrests because they believe this false narrative. They’re endangering themselves, our officers and the very communities we’re trying to protect.” It’s not just words. The Department of Homeland Security reports assaults against ICE officers are up more than 1,000%. These are federal law enforcement agents sworn to uphold laws passed by Congress. They aren’t outsiders; they live in our neighborhoods, send their kids to our schools and go home every night to the same San Diego communities they’re working to protect. When activists paint them as monsters, they aren’t just undermining trust, they’re painting a target on officers’ backs.

San Diego Union Tribune [9/18/2025 5:25 PM, Phil Diehl, 1648K] reports Oceanside’s City Council approved a "community trust" resolution Wednesday directing staffers not to assist federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts in several specific ways. Most of the things the city does already, such as protecting residents’ sensitive information, limiting access to city spaces not open to the public, and providing people with information about their personal civil rights. More than 60 people spoke on the issue. A few opposed the resolution, saying the city should not be involved.

Blaze [9/18/2025 7:30 AM, Julio Rosas, 1559K] reports if there was any day to show the Trump administration that the local population is still ardently resisting federal agents arresting illegal aliens, Tuesday night would have been the perfect time to have their show of force. Instead, barely 100 protesters showed up at MacArthur Park outside the Mexican Consulate before heading to the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles for Mexican Independence Day. The event was shared on social media by some far-left groups who have been active in the city, but given the significance of the day, the flyer was not widely shared compared to past protests. A source familiar with the situation told Blaze News that the Los Angeles Police Department, which monitors online chatter in case of mass disturbances, did not need to issue a tactical alert for the downtown area because the event had such a small crowd. The lack of any meaningful attendance is shocking considering the wave of riots in response to immigration enforcement started in Los Angeles. The Federal Building was under siege for days, surrounded by thousands of people, back in June. Larger crowds showed up on days like Independence Day for the United States to harass federal agents, soldiers, and Marines guarding the building. Tuesday’s showing is an indicator of how concerned would-be agitators are about getting swept up in the crackdown on violent leftist groups and street actors in the aftermath of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk being assassinated last week.

Telemundo [9/18/2025 4:55 PM, Alejandra Arteaga, 2782K] reports when Pedro Colorado, 30, arrived in Mexico City on September 4, he recorded a video: it was his first day as a self-deportee; he seemed happy. “Finally, I’m not an immigrant anymore,” he declared. The fear of being detained due to his immigration status, his family says, caused a bout of depression that motivated him to return to Mexico. But four days after his arrival, he was found dead. Reyna recounted that Pedro had suffered from depression since adolescence due to a series of difficult experiences he endured as an undocumented immigrant and that he struggled with substance abuse. Over the past nine months, she said, he had been sober and stable, but the increase in migrant raids and persecution during the Donald Trump administration allegedly caused a relapse that prompted him to self-deport to Mexico. She claims that her brother was diagnosed with depression in the United States, but they didn’t have the resources to pay for medical treatment and didn’t seek government support because of his legal status.

Daily Caller [9/18/2025 6:56 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports an American woman seeking an annulment from her foreign-born husband could end up turbocharging the government’s crackdown on marriage fraud. For the first time in U.S. history, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) will decide if Americans can appeal previously-approved I-130 petitions based on new evidence of marriage fraud, according to legal documents exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The case — which involves a naturalized American citizen who claims her Chinese husband married her solely for a green card — could carry enormous national impact. Marriage-based petitions are the single largest category of green cards, according to government data. The BIA, tasked with reviewing decisions by the U.S. immigration court system, has only ever been used to help foreign nationals appeal denials — until now. "The Board of Immigration Appeals will decide whether its regulation allows U.S. citizens to challenge previously approved marriage petitions based on newly discovered fraud — bringing needed sunlight to a secretive process that has allowed fraud to fester inside DHS [Department of Homeland Security] for decades," Cody Brown, the attorney for the petitioner, stated to the Daily Caller News Foundation. The wife — who agreed to share her appeal with the DCNF on the condition of anonymity — is seeking an annulment from her husband based on alleged marriage fraud. In legal filings to the BIA, she presented evidence that alleges her husband had a premeditated plan to obtain legal permanent status while on a temporary visa, took advantage of her while she was healing from an injury and was heavily medicated, but showed no interest in the marriage one he obtained a green card. What makes her case unique is that she is appealing an already-approved I-130 petition, which is a form filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by an American citizen or lawful permanent resident for a relative who wishes to immigrate to the U.S. Throughout its history, the BIA has only considered petitions that were denied by USCIS.

AP [9/18/2025 4:09 PM, Daniel Walters, 37974K] reports the first time Denys’s children heard fireworks go off in Spokane, Washington, they were terrified. His kids had grown up about 20 miles from the Russian border, in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and they knew too well the booms of Russian missile attacks and screeching sounds of Ukrainian air defenses. In 2023, after Russians attacked the hospital where his youngest daughter, Olivia, had recently been born, Denys knew he needed a way out, and fast. That’s when a former neighbor, living in an American city on the other side of the world, offered him an escape: "He called me and said, ‘We have a nice program — Uniting for Ukraine,’" Denys recalled. "If you want to come, grab your family and move.” Denys, who asked his last name not be used, leapt at the opportunity. He’s stayed in Spokane for the past three years, getting used to a place where explosions are simply celebrations of freedom. He’d spent a half year learning English, and then drawing on his Ukrainian experience making boilers, he swiftly got a job welding construction beams at Metals Fabrication Co. Like so many of the 240,000 Ukrainians who have immigrated to this country through the Uniting for Ukraine program, his future here is precarious. Launched by former President Joe Biden in 2022, Uniting for Ukraine is a "humanitarian parole" program. It allowed Ukrainian immigrants to temporarily stay and work in America, two years at a time, so long as they found an American sponsor willing to help support them. In June, however, Denys lost his job — not because he did anything wrong, but because the federal government failed to reauthorize his right to work. Under Donald Trump’s administration, which is targeting humanitarian parole programs affecting nearly 1.8 million migrants, renewals have ground to a halt. "I’m very worried about my family," Denys said. "I need to buy food. I have three kids.” Along with freezing the Biden-era parole programs for Ukrainian refugees, the administration completely withdrew parole protections for more than 530,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, and over 9,000 from Afghanistan. Many Ukrainians are taking notice of what’s happening to other refugees. In Spokane, two Venezuelan immigrants who had come here legally through humanitarian parole programs were jailed and slated for deportation, despite applying for asylum. When they showed up for a scheduled meeting in June with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they were arrested by ICE and carted off to Tacoma’s immigration detention center. A mass protest resulted in 30 arrests, federal charges for nine demonstrators, and national media attention. Unlike Latin American, Haitian and Afghan immigrants, most Ukrainians don’t have to worry about racial profiling. They haven’t been tarred with wild falsehoods about eating pets from the presidential debate stage. But while Ukrainians were never the primary target of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Biden’s immigration legacy, they’ve been caught in the crossfire. At the mercy of a rapidly changing and dysfunctional federal bureaucracy, many are paralyzed by the uncertainty — faced with a choice of waiting for a government response, working illegally, surviving on charity, or leaving America entirely. "There’s this no man’s land," said Spokane immigration attorney Sam Smith. "There’s this in-between that they’re stuck in. There’s no good solution for them.”

Bloomberg Law [9/18/2025 11:10 AM, Mallory Culhane, 790K] reports federal officials failed to escape a lawsuit brought by Democrat-led states challenging provisions of President Donald Trump’s executive order on elections, including his directive to require proof of citizenship to register to vote. The 19 states suing over the president’s order plausibly alleged concrete injuries—including the potential loss of millions of dollars in federal funding—to pursue their claims, Chief Judge Denise J. Casper of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts wrote in a Wednesday order denying the administration’s bid to toss the suit. Trump’s March executive order directs the Election Assistance Commission to "take appropriate action" to require proof of citizenship in national mail voter registration applications, and mandates the defense secretary to update voter applications for servicemembers and other US citizens overseas to require the same. It also requires the attorney general to take action against states that allow the counting of mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day but received afterward. States that don’t comply with Trump’s order could face federal investigations and the loss of funding. The states sued Trump and other administration officials in April, alleging the order violates the US Constitution and states’ authority to manage elections. Washington and Oregon also challenged the order, along with the Democratic National Committee and a slew of nonprofits in separate lawsuits.

UPI [9/18/2025 12:37 PM, Joe Fisher, 2608K] reports the fall semester has arrived with fewer international students on campuses in the United States. NAFSA: National Association of International Educators estimates that the United States will lose $7 billion in revenue and produce about 60,000 fewer jobs due to a 15% drop in overall enrollment this academic year. Contributing to the enrollment decrease is a projected 30-40% decline in new international students. The estimates are based on State Department and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System information, which is published monthly. There are a few factors contributing to the decline in international students and the primary drivers are related to U.S. visa and immigration policies. Since its initial revocation of student visas, the Trump administration has begun restricting visas from 19 countries. In late May, the State Department paused student visa processing for three weeks, causing delays for students trying to come to the United States. International Student and Scholar Services personnel told UPI that some international students were arriving late to campus due to issues with the visa application process over the summer. Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff of the American Council on Education, told UPI visa processing was paused during the peak time when the State Department would normally be processing applications. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has proposed a new rule that would limit the duration of time visa holders, including international students, can remain in the United States. The proposal would require students to complete their academic program in no longer than four years. "I’m worried that these are continuing to send messages to prospective international students that it’s going to be difficult to get here, when you’re in the United States there may not be certainty how long you’re going to have your visa and as a result I think we’re going to see drops in our international enrollment for this academic year," Spreitzer said.

New York Times [9/18/2025 10:02 AM, Jenny Gross, 43962K] reports the U.S. government will reinstate a harder citizenship test that contains more complex questions than the current version, the Trump administration said Wednesday, part of the president’s tightening of the legal pathways to settle in the United States. The test is one of the final hurdles for the hundreds of thousands of people who become American citizens each year. The new test will be administered to those who file their applications on or after Oct. 20, according a notice from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Matthew Tragesser, a U.S.C.I.S. spokesman, said in a statement that the revised test would ensure that new citizens are “fully assimilated and will contribute to America’s greatness. These critical changes are the first of many,” he said.

Daily Caller [9/18/2025 11:16 AM, John Loftus, 985K] reports the Trump administration introduced a new citizenship test Wednesday, a reversal from the Biden years; however, the test is still far too easy for aspiring Americans. In 2021, President Joe Biden’s administration reverted to the 2008 version of the oral test that required immigrants to correctly answer at least 12 out of 20 questions, selected by administrators out of a total of 100 questions. On Wednesday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it was returning to the 2020 naturalization test, which featured 128 possible questions on American history and civics, the Daily Signal first reported. USCIS is overhauling its Naturalization Civics Test to ensure that citizenship is reserved for aliens who fully embrace our values and principles as a nation. The passing score of 12 out of 20 will remain the same and administrators are allowed to stop the test once the immigrant has either correctly answered 12 or incorrectly answered at least nine. Applicants are given two chances to pass this exam; failure to succeed on either attempt will result in the denial of their citizenship application. "American citizenship is the most sacred citizenship in the world and should only be reserved for aliens who will fully embrace our values and principles as a nation. By ensuring only those aliens who meet all eligibility requirements, including the ability to read, write, and speak English and understand U.S. government and civics, are able to naturalize, the American people can be assured that those joining us as fellow citizens are fully assimilated and will contribute to America’s greatness. These critical changes are the first of many," USCIS Spokesperson Matthew Tragesser said.

Federalist [9/18/2025 7:14 AM, Nick Pietrowicz, 982K] reports a recent U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo announced that foreigners aspiring to become American citizens must meet a "Good Moral Character" standard. This directive is a return to policies that existed before the loosening of naturalization requirements in the early 1990s. That USCIS is now again requiring foreigners to demonstrate "character commensurate with the standards of average citizens" is positive. Critics argue the change will make acquiring citizenship too difficult or political. But as the USCIS memo relates, naturalization is not simply "a procedural immigration benefit." And the grant of citizenship has never been completely apolitical. Naturalization is a gift from the American people, not a status earned by ticking administrative boxes. So important is that gift that a congressional grant of mere honorary citizenship to the universally esteemed Winston Churchill in 1963 engendered thoughtful, bipartisan debate before its passage.

Reuters [9/18/2025 8:25 AM, Staff, 45746K] reports the U.S. embassy in New Delhi has revoked and subsequently denied visas for some Indian business executives and corporate leaders based on their involvement in trafficking fentanyl precursors, the embassy said in a statement on Thursday. Fentanyl precursors refer to the basic or parent chemicals that form fentanyl, a leading cause of U.S. overdose deaths. The statement from the embassy did not name the people affected, but a spokesperson said they were Indian nationals. Indian government officials have been closely cooperating with U.S. counterparts to combat the challenge of drug trafficking, the U.S. embassy added in its statement. India’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the U.S. visa measures. U.S. President Donald Trump, whose punitive 50% tariffs on Indian imports hurt bilateral ties, has previously imposed additional levies on imports from China, Mexico and Canada, saying they facilitated the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. In a statement to U.S. Congress this week, Trump listed India as one of 23 major drug transit or illicit drug-producing countries, though he added the presence of any country on the list was not necessarily a reflection of its government’s counter-drug efforts.

New York Post [9/18/2025 8:28 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 43962K] reports a traveler passing through customs at a Florida airport was caught with suspected human bones wrapped in tinfoil that they claimed to use for "rituals.” The passenger with the macabre merchandise declared a small collection at Tampa International Airport’s station for Customs and Border Patrol, which everyone is required to pass through when reentering the United States. Still, authorities dug through his belongings and discovered a literal skeleton in his luggage. The cigars, as the traveler stated, were among the bizarre findings. Part of what appeared to be a human skull and several bones was packed alongside "prohibited plants," Carlos Martel, the airport’s director of field operations, said. CBP determined that the remains posed "serious health risks" and were destroyed, much to the passenger’s chagrin. "At @CBP, we never know what baggage may hold, but smugglers should know we’ll always have a bone to pick," Martel wrote on X. Authorities launched an investigation into the oddball find and are probing whether or not the remains were bona fide. The Tampa airport, like many others located in the Sunshine State, is no stranger to jarring discoveries. In 2023, one passenger tried to smuggle their 4-foot "emotional support" boa constrictor named Bartholomew through security. In the first four months of 2024, more than 1,500 firearms were confiscated by TSA at airports nationwide — with the Tampa International making the top 10 alongside two other major Florida travel hubs. Even so, Tampa International seems to be turning a corner as it tied for third-best "large" airport based on passenger satisfaction in September. Other disturbing incidents at airports range from faux bomb threats made by disgruntled passengers to even discovering corpses in unassuming places like baggage claim.

(B) NBC News Daily [9/18/2025 1:53 PM, Staff] reports that a Kingsport man is facing child porn charges in Florida following a cruise. He was arrested after arriving at the cruise port in Miami. According to court documents, Jason Alan Miller was charged with transportation of child pornography and possession of child pornography. When Miller arrived at the cruise ship port, he was selected for a secondary inspection by Customs and Border Protection. The paperwork states that Miller was traveling with his pregnant wife and eight children, ages 5 to 12 years old, and seven of those children have been adopted through the foster care system. Miller has fostered approximately 20 children in Tennessee. He is now being held in the Broward County Jail in Florida.

Houston Chronicle [9/18/2025 3:33 PM, Julián Aguilar, 2356K] reports a child with U.S. citizenship who was sent to Mexico urgently needs medical care that could be made possible if the Trump administration grants humanitarian relief available under current law, attorneys for the family said Thursday. The 11-year-old child was traveling with her siblings and parents from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston in February following surgery to remove a brain tumor. The children are U.S. citizens, but their parents were living in the country without authorization and were detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The family has been living in Mexico since their removal from the U.S., but the girl’s condition has deteriorated. The family asked to be identified by pseudonyms out of safety concerns, and their advocates referred to the girl as "Sara." The family had made the trip to Houston several times prior to their detention in February. They were able to travel beyond the checkpoints by providing Border Patrol agents with letters from doctors and proof that they applied for visas. That changed earlier this year when they were detained and given a choice: The parents could be deported and the children could stay in the U.S. under government supervision, or the family could leave the country together. They chose to remain together, but Sara’s condition has gradually deteriorated since, including seizures and other complications, Woodward said.

Bloomberg [9/18/2025 7:30 AM, Mathieu Dion, Alicia A. Caldwell, and Paula Sambo, 19085K] reports Canada is seeing a sharp increase in asylum-seekers entering through a border crossing between New York and the province of Quebec, as President Donald Trump’s policies drive away migrants and even some US citizens. Canadian officials have received more than 5,500 asylum claims since the beginning of July at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle border crossing, south of Montreal. That’s a 263% increase from the same period last year, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency. The summertime spike underscores how President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration approach is reverberating beyond US borders. His administration has rolled back protections for hundreds of thousands of people who once held temporary legal status and expanded raids that now routinely sweep up people without criminal records. This week, Trump authorized the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, adding to earlier deployments in Los Angeles and Washington and ones threatened in Chicago and elsewhere. The White House is pressing agencies to hit deportation targets. Across Canada, the number of asylum claims made at the country’s land border posts jumped 30% in the first half of the year, even though the overall number of claims declined, with tightening entry requirements resulting in fewer asylum-seekers at airports. Haitians are by far the largest group, followed by US citizens — often the American-born children of undocumented parents, according to experts — and Venezuelans.

Reuters [9/18/2025 11:25 AM, Anna Mehler Paperny, 45746K] reports Canada’s government is sending more asylum-seekers hoping to file claims in Canada back to the U.S. under a bilateral pact, even as the U.S. says it may deport them to third countries. Some of the people Canada is turning back should be eligible to file refugee claims in Canada, lawyers say, under exemptions to the Safe Third Country Agreement. The agreement broadly requires asylum-seekers at the Canada-U.S. border to be sent back to the first of the two countries they entered but allows some people - for example those with close family in Canada or stateless persons - to file claims. Canada turned back 3,282 people under the agreement in the first eight months of 2025, up from 2,481 in the first eight months of 2024, according to data from the Canada Border Services Agency. It turned back 789 people in July, the highest month of 2025 so far and the highest single month in at least a decade. The agreement was expanded in 2023. A Canada Border Services Agency spokesperson declined to say why the number of asylum-seekers turned back is rising. Meanwhile the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it intends to deport some asylum-seekers Canada turns back to countries not their own if their asylum claims are not successful and their home countries will not accept them. "If their home country will not take them, we will make arrangements for them to go to another country," department assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in an email in response to questions about asylum-seekers turned back from Canada.

New York Post [9/18/2025 9:45 AM, Brooke Steinberg, 43962K] reports plane passengers who use wheelchairs will soon have to take one more step before boarding. Southwest Airlines announced that anyone using a lithium-powered mobility device will have to remove the batteries and carry them into the cabin before checking in their wheelchair. The new policy, taking effect on Sept. 25, puts Southwest in line with international safety standards and is part of a continued effort to reduce the risk of fire onboard. "Lithium batteries have become one of the most common sources of smoke and fire incidents on aircraft," Dave Hunt, Southwest’s vice president for safety and security, said in a message to employees on Sept. 12, USA Today reported. "While these events are rare, quick access and visibility are critical to keeping everyone onboard safe. By taking proactive steps now, Southwest will be among the first US carriers to adopt these higher standards." The carried-on wheelchair battery won’t count toward a passenger’s carry-on allowance.

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 11:46 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K] reports a pair of Democratic governors criticized President Donald Trump for not approving federal disaster relief for states led by those with whom he has political disagreements. Both Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), whose state was recently denied disaster relief for severe flooding with little explanation, and Washington’s former democratic governor, Jay Inslee, whose state was denied disaster relief in June for bomb cyclones, voiced their frustrations with the Trump administration. "In both cases, President Trump eventually denied disaster relief for communities in our states," the pair wrote in an op-ed published in the Hill. "The federal government’s job is clear: to protect people from disaster and help communities recover. At Trump’s direction, FEMA has done the opposite, abandoning its responsibility and shifting the burden onto states like Maryland and Washington," they added. The denial of aid to Maryland and Washington came as the Trump White House approved disaster relief for storms that hit Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia. The Trump administration has told states to create their own agencies to handle disaster relief, as it considers the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s future after Trump proposed eliminating it after the 2025 hurricane season. The governors wrote that their states, "already strained by tight budgets, cannot realistically respond to multimillion-dollar disasters by themselves.”

Bloomberg [9/18/2025 9:00 AM, Zahra Hirji, Davey Alba, and Jason Leopold, 790K] reports as a major storm rushed toward Florida last October, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the time faced a different kind of threat. Police had shown up in force to a rental property she owned as a result of a prank call, in a potentially dangerous attack known as "swatting." Back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton had sparked a torrent of online conspiracies, with FEMA officials enduring harassment and death threats, according to hundreds of pages of agency emails and other documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by Bloomberg News. The records shed new light on how disaster-related misinformation affects the government’s emergency response, sucks up internal resources, and puts staff at risk. Deanne Criswell, who ran FEMA under President Joe Biden, learned about the swatting situation as she was about to brief TV viewers on Milton, one of the most powerful storms on record to develop in the Gulf of Mexico. “It was a very unsettling feeling,” she said in a recent interview, thinking back on how she juggled her concern for her renters along with preparing Floridians for the storm. Many of the attacks outlined in the documents have not previously been reported, including the doxxing of at least seven senior FEMA staffers. In those incidents sensitive personal information, such as home addresses, was published online for the purpose of harassment. The records also reveal challenges the agency faced as it tried to control the situation. The incidents followed an online wave of disinformation suggesting FEMA was mishandling the response to the hurricanes that pummeled Florida and North Carolina in the lead up to the presidential election. Among the debunked claims swirling at the time were reports that agency workers had seized property from survivors and confiscated donations. The offensive diverted agency time and resources to set the record straight and protect personnel. “It made my staff nervous,” said Criswell. “It made people in the community nervous. They didn’t know who to believe. They didn’t know who to trust.” The threat of misinformation continues to loom over the agency at a time when President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have made steep cuts to its staffing and funding, including pulling back on some of the resources FEMA used last fall to combat threats. In the aftermath of deadly Texas floods in July, for example, conspiracy theories online blamed cloud seeding. “The profit-driven platform model, where sensational falsehoods outperform factual updates in emergencies, ensures this problem persists across political cycles and it can put lives at risk,” said Callum Hood, head of research at the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. A FEMA spokesperson said in an email the agency “uses internal DHS resources to identify and mitigate any personal threats to employees.”

USA Today [9/18/2025 7:52 AM, Gabe Hauari and Doyle Rice, 64151K] reports Tropical Storm Gabrielle is struggling in the central Atlantic Ocean currently but is expected to strengthen into a hurricane late this upcoming weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters said in an advisory on Sept. 18 that Gabrielle was located about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds near 50 mph with higher gusts. The hurricane center said "little change in strength" is forecast during the next 48 hours, however some gradual intensification is forecast late in the weekend. Gabrielle is moving west-northwest near 15 mph, and a west-northwest or northwest motion is expected during the next few days, forecasters said.

Bloomberg [9/18/2025 2:10 PM, Cecilia D’Anastasio and Myles Miller, 19085K] reports suspected Charlie Kirk shooter Tyler Robinson used Donald Trump’s name as a pseudonym on Valve Corp.’s Steam video-game platform, a fact that’s become part of a profile US law enforcement is building on the alleged assailant. The US Secret Service has joined the investigation into the shooting, even though Kirk wasn’t under the agency’s protection, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Agents are working with the FBI to study Robinson’s behavior and online activity, including his use of Trump’s name on Steam, as part of a profile they are building, according one of the people, asked not to be identified discussing the investigation. The aim is to understand how suspects form grievances, how they select targets and whether their actions signal broader risks to current or former officeholders. Since the Sept. 10 shooting, law enforcement has combed through Robinson’s social-media presence looking for clues about his motives.

CBS News [9/18/2025 5:24 PM, Jennifer Jacobs, Arden Farhi] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was given a U.S. Secret Service protective detail in recent days, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The move comes in the wake of the shooting of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk, which sparked a conversation about the safety of high-profile individuals in public settings. Congress is currently considering providing $58 million in additional funding to increase security for officials in the executive and judicial branches.

AP [9/18/2025 8:09 PM, David Fischer, 37974K] reports an FBI sniper testified Thursday about the effectiveness of a hiding spot chosen by a man accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year. FBI Special Agent Nicholas Schnelle said the sniper set up along the fence of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach was about 126 feet (38 meters) away from the sixth hole, and it was well hidden by vegetation. “It’s close and unobstructed,” Schnelle said. Schnelle testified that the SKS rifle recovered from the scene has an effective range of about 350 meters (1,150 feet), nearly 10 times the distance from the hiding spot to the green. Any competent marksman would have been able to hit a human-sized target on the green with the rifle’s basic iron sights, but the scope recovered from the scene would have made the shot even easier, Schnelle said. Thursday was the sixth day of testimony in the trial of Ryan Routh, who prosecutors said spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had initially blocked off more than three weeks for the trial at the Fort Pierce federal courthouse. But prosecutors said they expect to rest their case Friday, and Routh, who is representing himself, is set to begin his case on Monday. Routh has indicated he plans to call a firearms expert, as well as two character witnesses. He hasn’t said whether he plans to testify himself. Also Thursday, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detective testified that a man who looked like Routh visited the Palm Beach International Airport about a week before the alleged assassination attempt and spent time in an atrium where he could watch the Trump plane take off. Detective Kenny Smith described watching a series of security videos that followed the man’s path as he drove into the parking garage, walked to the atrium, watched the plane fly away and then left the airport. During cross examination, Routh asked, “Is it illegal to go to the airport and take pictures of airplanes?” Smith responded that it was legal. Routh also asked Smith if he had watched the part of the video that showed the man speaking with a security guard about an unattended bag that was eventually retrieved. Smith acknowledged that he had seen that, but it wasn’t included with the prosecution’s questioning.

NewsNation [9/18/2025 3:48 PM, Brooke Shafer, Sean Noone, 6811K] reports federal agents in the trial against a man accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year testified Thursday that the safety on the suspect’s rifle was in the "off" position. Thursday was the sixth day of testimony in the trial of Ryan Routh, who prosecutors said spent weeks plotting to kill Trump before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as Trump played golf on Sept. 15, 2024, at his West Palm Beach country club. On Wednesday, a pair of North Carolina brothers testified about a box left with them by Routh. Samuel and Lazaro Plata described in Spanish through translators how Routh left the container filled with pipes, bullets, wires and other items at Lazaro Plata’s home in Greensboro, North Carolina, in April 2024 — about five months before the alleged attempt. Both men have known Routh for about 30 years and had previously worked at his roofing business. They contacted authorities last September after seeing news of Routh’s arrest. Trump had survived an earlier attempt on his life while campaigning in Pennsylvania. That gunman had fired eight shots, with one bullet grazing Trump’s ear. The gunman was then fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper. Routh has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and several firearm violations. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had initially blocked off more than three weeks for trial at the Fort Pierce federal courthouse. But prosecutors have said they should be able to rest their case by Thursday or Friday, and Routh’s witnesses have been subpoenaed to appear by Friday.

New York Post [9/18/2025 9:33 AM, David Propper, 43962K] reports a Florida woman who keeps claiming she’s married to President Trump has been arrested while trying to get onto his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to authorities. Christy Renee Kimbrell, 49, has contended for the last several months that she’s actually "Christy Renee Trump" and that she recently tied the knot with the 47th president, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WPTV. She was arrested Tuesday when Palm Beach cops were alerted to an "unwanted guest" who wanted to drop off a letter to Trump around noon. A US Secret Service agent told cops that Kimbrell — who is known to local authorities — wanted to meet with the president, according to court docs. She’s facing a misdemeanor trespassing charge and remains in Palm Beach County jail, according to the newspaper.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [9/18/2025 11:49 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4779K]

Washington Times [9/18/2025 7:02 PM, Mike Glenn, 964K] reports the Coast Guard has seized more than 75,000 pounds of cocaine since early August, when it launched Operation Pacific Viper, a mission to crack down on narcotics coming from South America through the eastern Pacific Ocean, officials said Thursday. Working alongside other government law enforcement agencies, the Coast Guard said it has taken about 60 suspected traffickers into custody during more than 80 maritime operations since Aug. 8. The haul of contraband drugs averages about 1,800 pounds, nearly a ton, daily. “The Coast Guard is surging additional assets - cutters, aircraft, and tactical teams - to interdict, seize, and disrupt transshipments of cocaine and other bulk illicit drugs,” Coast Guard officials said in a statement. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Jeffrey Novak, deputy commander of the Pacific area, said the latest milestone underscores their commitment to dismantling foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations that are engaged in narco-trafficking. “The Coast Guard is bringing every authority and every capability at our disposal to disrupt cartels and criminal organizations, stop the flow of deadly drugs into the U.S., and secure U.S. borders and maritime approaches,” Rear Adm. Novak said in a statement. U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force-South, based in Key West, Florida, detects and monitors suspected aerial and maritime transit of narcotics coming from Latin America. The Coast Guard takes over when it becomes a law enforcement operation that ends with the interdiction and apprehension of smuggling suspects, officials said. “Operation Pacific Viper continues the Coast Guard’s efforts to protect the homeland, counter narco-terroism, and disrupt foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations and cartels seeking to produce and traffic illicit drugs into the United States, Coast Guard officials said.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [9/18/2025 11:17 AM, Diana Stancy Fox, 40019K] Video: HERE

CyberScoop [9/18/2025 4:15 PM, Tim Starks] reports federal agencies are increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence into the cyberdefenses of government networks, and there’s more still to come, acting Federal Chief Information Security Officer Michael Duffy said Thursday. “We’re at an exciting time in the federal government to see that we’re not only putting AI in production, but we’re finding ways to accelerate emerging technology across the government, across all missions and all angles,” Duffy said at FedTalks, produced by Scoop News Group. In his “role overseeing federal cybersecurity policy,” he said, he is “able to see these at the ground level, as agencies bring excitement and enthusiasm and hope for what they can optimize through artificial intelligence.” Cyber attackers are moving faster than ever, and on a much larger scale than before, he said. They’re also using technology in new ways. But it’s not all “doom and gloom” when it comes to the cybersecurity of federal networks, especially because of feds’ move toward AI, Duffy said. “I’m pleased to say that the advancements that we’ve made over the past decade in the federal government have brought us to this point: Agencies are poised now, postured, positioned, to take advantage of new capabilities, bring them into federal agencies and make them work for the mission,” he said. The next decade is important, and needs a “clear vision” of the available technologies and the threat landscape, “and how AI-interconnected digital ecosystems will both strengthen and strain that defensive posture,” Duffy said. The focus now is on protecting sensitive information and making sure the government has efficient and secure interactions with the general public, he said. That includes “leveraging AI to identify vulnerabilities at scale,” Duffy said.

DefenseScoop [9/18/2025 6:15 PM, Jon Harper, 150K] reports the Pentagon is getting a new cyber policy leader after the Senate voted to confirm Katherine Sutton and a slew of other nominees for high-level government jobs on Thursday. After she’s sworn in, Sutton will be only the second Senate-confirmed official to ever hold the role of assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. That office was officially created last year at the behest of Congress. The Trump administration recently rebranded it as assistant secretary of war for cyber policy. The person holding the ASD role “establishes and oversees the implementation of [Department of War] cyberspace policy and strategy,” integrates national cyberspace policy and guidance with the department’s cyberspace policy, and “provides guidance and oversight on DOW cyberspace activities as they relate to foreign cyberspace threats, international cooperation, engagement with foreign partners and international organizations, and implementation of DoW cyberspace strategy and plans, including those related to cyberspace forces, capabilities, and their employment,” according to the Pentagon. Sutton most recently served at U.S. Cyber Command as chief technology advisor to the commander and director of Pentagon operations. Previously, she worked on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member for the Senate Armed Services Committee.

ABC News [9/18/2025 12:48 PM, Isabella Murray, 27036K] reports President Donald Trump said he would seek to designate antifa as a "major terrorist organization," saying that the far-left-wing group was "sick" and "dangerous.” The president in a social media post said he would also "strongly recommend" that whoever funds the actions of antifa groups should be investigated. "I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," Trump said. He added, "I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!". It was not immediately clear how such a designation would be made for antifa, which is an umbrella description for far-left-leaning militant groups opposing fascists and neo-Nazis. Antifa does not have a publicly known centralized structure or leadership. The U.S. does not maintain a public list of domestic terrorist groups, although the State Department does maintain a list of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Nor was it immediately clear how federal law enforcement authorities might make use of such a designation. The Congressional Research Service, which collects and analyzes policy details for Congress, said in a 2023 report that while federal law enforcement plays a "significant role" in combating domestic terrorism, there exists a grey area between combating potential violence associated with domestic terrorism and publicly identifying those with extreme beliefs. Holding extreme beliefs is not, in itself, criminal in the United States, since those beliefs are protected under the First Amendment, the report said.

FOX News [9/18/2025 5:43 PM, Stephanie Samsel, 40019K] reports President Donald Trump defended his latest efforts to crack down on far-left extremism following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on "The Story" Thursday. A week after Kirk’s assassination, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that he would designate the radical left-wing, anti-fascist antifa group as a "terrorist organization." Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspect in Kirk’s assassination, has been charged with aggravated murder and six other felonies by Utah prosecutors. His mother said Robinson had "become more political," leaning left and supporting "pro-gay and trans rights," according to court documents. No motive has been confirmed in the investigation. And there is no reported evidence that Robinson is a member of antifa.

FOX News [9/18/2025 6:17 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 40019K] Video: HERE reports House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., and other Republican lawmakers expressed strong support for President Donald Trump’s decision to label Antifa a terrorist organization and recommend investigating the group’s financial supporters. "I am pleased to inform our many U.S.A. Patriots that I am designating ANTIFA, A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER, AS A MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" the president declared on Truth Social. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [9/18/2025 11:15 AM, Niha Masih and Vivian Ho, 29079K] reports President Donald Trump said late Wednesday in a Truth Social post that he is designating “antifa,” a decentralized, leftist ideology adhered to by various individuals and groups, as a terrorist organization, days after raising the prospect in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting. Trump described the far-left movement as “SICK” and “DANGEROUS” but did not explain what specific groups would be targeted or how he would do it. The United States has no legal mechanism for labeling domestic organizations as terrorist groups. Experts also said it remains unclear how such a designation would work for a broad movement rather than a distinct group and expressed concern that it could be used to justify a crackdown on the political left more generally. Trump added a warning: “I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices.” The White House and Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/18/2025 3:41 PM, Charlie Savage, 143795K]

CNN [9/18/2025 1:24 PM, Elizabeth Wolfe, 662K] reports that a prominent Jewish advocacy group filed a lawsuit on Thursday against Hamas and other armed groups, as well as Iran, Syria and North Korea, seeking billions in damages over the October 7 attacks in Israel. The suit, brought on behalf of more than 140 plaintiffs, including US victims and their family members, was filed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and law firm Crowell & Moring in the US District Court in Washington, DC, just weeks before the two-year anniversary of the attack. The lawsuit seeks at least $7 billion in damages from the armed groups and from the three foreign countries, which it accuses of providing Hamas with "support and resources" for the terror attacks. The lawsuit appears to be largely symbolic in nature and it’s not clear how those bringing the case plan to serve papers on foreign states or Hamas, an Islamist movement that has been majorly diminished and had much of its leadership eliminated during the war in Gaza. Many of the plaintiffs and defendants are also parties in a lawsuit filed by the ADL in the same court last year against Iran, Syria and North Korea, which similarly accused the states of providing support to Hamas. The plaintiffs in that case were able to serve papers to Iran with diplomatic help from Switzerland, but they have not successfully served Syria or North Korea and none of the countries have responded in court. "The victims of the October 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability and redress," said ADL CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt. "This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons, and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities."

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 12:30 PM, Mike Brest, 1563K] reports a group of American victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack is suing several Gaza-based terrorist groups who carried it out and the state actors who support them. The Anti-Defamation League and Crowell & Moring filed the federal lawsuit on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of the more than 140 U.S. citizen victims and family members who are plaintiffs. They are suing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, and more for the attack. Iran, Syria, and North Korea are also listed as defendants, and they do not have sovereign immunity because each has been designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism. "The world must never forget what happened on October 7," said David and Hazel Brief, whose son, Yona, was killed in the Oct. 7 attack. "Our son’s life was senselessly cut short. We believe it is critical that those responsible for the horrific terror inflicted that day are held accountable in a court of law, to ensure the record is clear as to who helped support, plan, and carry out the violence that day. We are hopeful that this type of litigation will help prevent attacks like these in the future, so that no other families have to go through losing a loved one as a result of such violence." This suit relies on two federal statutes that allow Americans to seek justice against state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations themselves. The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act allows victims to sue state sponsors of terrorism, while the Anti-Terrorism Act enables lawsuits against foreign terrorist organizations.

FOX News [9/18/2025 9:29 PM, Emma Bussey, 40019K] reports a 16-year-old student at Benjamin Cardozo High School in New York City was arrested Thursday after posting online threats about carrying out a school shooting, officials said. The Queens student was then found on campus with a loaded semiautomatic handgun, and the NYPD swept in, stopping a potential tragedy. The FBI confirmed in a statement to Fox News Digital that it had passed information on to the NYPD about the teenager’s plans and took swift action. "Earlier today, the FBI informed the NYPD of a threat to life involving the Benjamin Cardozo High School in Queens," the statement said. "The NYPD deployed to the high school to address this potential threat, which led to a successful outcome. This swift response demonstrates the importance of close partnerships and the critical need for information-sharing to ensure our city and students are protected against unnecessary acts of violence.” According to reports, Instagram moderators had alerted the FBI after the teen allegedly posted a photo online of a mannequin sketch with the caption, "TS GMT boutta shoot the school up.” Investigators traced the account to the student and alerted the NYPD. Within hours, school safety officers and responding police located the teen inside the school with the firearm and multiple cell phones, including one locked inside a school-issued pouch. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch also confirmed at a press conference that the 10th grader had no prior criminal history but was carrying a loaded handgun when taken into custody without incident. "I’ll be honest. As a mother of two young school-aged boys, I am shaken," Tisch said. "But as your police commissioner, I am resolute in ensuring that the NYPD does everything in our power to keep our children safe.” Mayor Eric Adams also praised law enforcement’s quick work, calling it "the perfect example of the system working properly.” But he also warned that the incident highlights a deeper societal problem. "We could’ve had a very different press conference today. There was a 16-year-old prepared to shoot people at his school," Adams said. "Our young people are going down dangerous paths, and all of us must step in to guide them. They cannot be taken from us by bad influences online. "We potentially saved the lives of a lot of students and staff today, and I don’t want to imagine a world where we would be making a different announcement right now. This is a real wake-up call for our city, for our country.”

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NBC News [9/18/2025 7:09 PM, Tim Stelloh, Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst, 43603K]
Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 11:00 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K]

CBS Chicago [9/18/2025 5:13 PM, Todd Feurer, 45245K] reports a former U.S. Navy sailor on Thursday was sentenced to 12 years in prison for a 2022 terrorist plot to attack Naval Station Great Lakes in Chicago’s northern suburbs in retaliation for the assassination of an Iranian general. Xuanyu Harry Pang pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to and attempting to willfully injure and destroy national defense material, national defense premises, and national defense utilities, with the intent to injure, interfere with, and obstruct the national defense of the United States. At a hearing on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jeremy C. Daniel sentenced Pang to 12 years in prison. Pang, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, moved to the U.S. in 1998, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 2022, and was stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes for his training. He was charged in the alleged terrorist plot under seal in 2022, and pleaded guilty in November in federal court in Chicago. The charges and plea agreement were unsealed on Thursday. According to the charges, Pang discussed smuggling radioactive polonium into the U.S. to further the plot, took surveillance photos and videos of the outside and inside of Naval Station Great Lakes, and agreed to provide two military uniforms and a cell phone that could be used as a detonator for an explosive device. According to court records, the FBI began investigating Pang in the summer of 2021, when he communicated with an individual in Colombia about potentially carrying out an attack on the U.S. to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, Iran’s most elite military unit.

Reported similarly:
Chicago Tribune [9/18/2025 4:54 PM, Jason Meisner, 5352K]

New York Times [9/18/2025 4:11 PM, Julian E. Barnes and Chris Cameron, 143795K] reports Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, accused the Trump administration on Thursday of politicizing intelligence and undermining national security professionals inside the government. Speaking on the Senate floor, Mr. Warner, the vice chairman of the committee, said the actions of the Trump administration were undermining the independence of the nation’s intelligence agencies. He said cuts and firings inside the nation’s intelligence agencies were “dismantling trust in institutions that literally took generations to build,” undermining morale and threatening the ability of analysts to deliver unvarnished, apolitical analysis to the White House. “Why is this administration going to war against the very professionals sworn to keep our country safe?” Mr. Warner asked in remarks on the Senate floor. “Why are decades of service and sacrifice tossed aside? Well, I think because they believe still they are obliged to provide the truth and speak truth to power.” During Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation hearing to become the director of national intelligence, Mr. Warner said, she made repeated promises to depoliticize the spy agencies. And she cited the flawed information about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction before the U.S. invasion of the dangers when intelligence is bent to agree with policymakers. “She pledged that she would never allow those mistakes to be repeated on her watch,” Mr. Warner said in his speech on Thursday. But since her confirmation, Mr. Warner has said Ms. Gabbard has done the opposite. “Careers were ended, and decades of expertise were discarded, just for doing the job they were entrusted to,” he said. He went on to note that the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council had been dismissed after issuing a report on the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua that conflicted with the Trump administration’s statements. Mr. Warner added that Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse was pushed out from the Defense Intelligence Agency last month after his agency produced an assessment of Iran’s nuclear program that contradicted Mr. Trump’s contention that it had been “obliterated” by U.S. strikes. “Rather than face those facts, the administration decided to punish the messenger,” Mr. Warner said. Aides to Ms. Gabbard have repeatedly denied accusations that they are politicizing intelligence. They have instead argued that Ms. Gabbard is trying to promote politically neutral people, removing people who are not using “common sense” in their intelligence analysis.

Wall Street Journal [9/18/2025 9:05 PM, Santiago Pérez and Vipal Monga, 646K] reports President Trump’s trade war almost broke Mexico and Canada’s relationship. Now they are trying to repair the damage ahead of tough negotiations with the U.S. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met Thursday with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the ornate National Palace in Mexico City, where the two leaders agreed to develop a strategic alliance to bolster security and trade. Their goal: preserve North America’s deep economic ties in key sectors such as the automotive industry as Trump tries to remake trade across the world. “One of the priorities is to strengthen the USMCA,” Sheinbaum said at a joint news conference alongside Carney after the meeting, referring to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. For Carney, the trip offered Canada a chance to repair a relationship that was damaged earlier this year, when Canadian leaders—including former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—said they were ready to make a trade deal with Trump and cut Mexico out. Mexico didn’t react well to the suggestions and opted to proceed with trade talks with the U.S. government without Canada’s input. “Canada and Mexico have the best trading agreements with the U.S.,” Carney said. “Our efforts will strengthen by working together.”

New York Times [9/19/2025 3:28 AM, Lara Jakes, 330K] reports drone swarms that have deluged Ukraine for years — and crossed the border into Poland last week — have sent NATO militaries in Europe rushing to upgrade air defenses in case they ever face a similar threat. Soon they will have a new solution: lasers. Scientists have for decades sought to harness directed energy beams into weapon systems that would be cheaper and more efficient than missiles or rockets. A growing number of countries are developing or deploying their own laser air defenses, and some have already been used in war, by Israel and Ukraine. A NATO nation in Europe is now buying an air defense laser from an Australian company, which officials, experts and industry executives said appears to be the highest-power direct energy system to be sold on the global weapons market. That is a sign that they are becoming more widely available and could be a mainstay for future warfare. The Australian laser’s maker, Electro Optic Systems, advertises it as able to shoot down 20 drones a minute, at a cost of less than 10 cents per shot. Nicknamed “Apollo” for the Greek god of light, it has about the same level of power as Israel’s highly anticipated Iron Beam air defense laser, which is being built for its own military. “The Ukrainian war and the Gaza war were key trigger events that everybody thought, ‘It’s the time now to make this operational. We should not spend any more years in doing demonstrations, tests and prototyping,’” Andreas Schwer, Electro Optic Systems’ chief executive, said in a recent interview. “We have some clients which are so much under actual threat that they say, ‘Listen, we can’t wait — we need something tomorrow,’” Mr. Schwer added. He declined to say which NATO nation is buying the laser. Air defenses have been in high demand for years, particularly to protect targets in the Middle East, East Asia and the United States. Houthi fighters in Yemen have long used low-cost drones and cheap cruise missiles against Israel and Saudi Arabia. The advanced drone swarms in Ukraine showed other European countries that they would also be vulnerable if they failed to quickly ramp up protection, experts said. Days before Russian drones entered Polish airspace, Moscow launched more than 800 exploding drones and decoys across Ukraine, its largest such assault of the war.

Washington Examiner [9/18/2025 4:10 PM, Mike Brest, 1563K] reports NORTHCOM and NORAD, tasked with defending the homeland, have been conducting a military exercise at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida over the last week and a half to test available counter-drone technology. This experiment, known as Falcon 25.2, began on Sept. 8, and remarks from senior officials involved in it were livestreamed on Thursday. Another component of the exercise is the Defense Innovation Unit’s low-cost sensing challenge, in which 10 finalists were selected out of 118 applicants. The challenge aims to identify affordable architectures that complement higher-end systems and can be deployed around large perimeters.

Breitbart [9/19/2025 5:00 AM, Democrats have introduced a first-of-its kind bill into the U.S. Senate to call on President Donald Trump to recognize a Palestinian state., 2608K]
reports Democrats have introduced a first-of-its kind bill into the U.S. Senate to call on President Donald Trump to recognize a Palestinian state. The non-binding resolution, unveiled Thursday by Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon specifically, calls on the president to recognize a demilitarized State of Palestine that is consistent with the principle of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It also reaffirms the principles of the two-state solution, while calling on the Iran-backed Hamas militant group to “end its campaign of terrorism.” In passing the bill, the Senate would be declaring that there is a “historic opportunity” to pursue a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a comprehensive regional peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. “Recognition of a Palestinian state is not only a practical step the United States can take to help build a future where Palestinians and Israelis can live in freedom, dignity and security, but it is the right thing to do,” Merkley said in a statement. “America has a responsibility to lead, and the time to act is now.”

CNN [9/18/2025 12:42 PM, Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen, 662K] reports President Donald Trump has been quietly pushing his national security officials for months to find a way to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban, three people familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump hinted at those discussions publicly for the first time on Thursday, telling reporters that his administration is working to regain control of the base, which lies an hour north of Kabul. The Taliban took it over following the collapse of the Afghan government and the US military withdrawal in 2021. "We gave it to (the Taliban) for nothing," Trump said during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer on Thursday. "We’re trying to get it back, by the way.” The sources told CNN that the conversations about returning the base to US control date back at least to March. Trump and his senior national security officials believe the base is needed for several reasons, including to surveil China, whose border is under 500 miles away; gain access to rare earth elements and mining in Afghanistan; establish a counterterrorism node to target ISIS; and possibly reopen a diplomatic facility, the sources said. But all of those objectives would require a US military presence, one of the sources said. And a deal that Trump stuck with the Taliban in 2020, during his first term, mandated a full withdrawal of US troops from the country. It’s not clear whether or how the Taliban has been engaging with the US on relinquishing control of the key airfield. But Trump suggested on Thursday that the US has leverage over the group. "We’re trying to get it back because (the Taliban) need things from us," Trump told reporters in Buckinghamshire. "We want that base back.” Trump has previously indicated that if the US withdrawal in 2021 had happened under his administration, he’d have kept control of Bagram, citing its strategic importance near the border between Afghanistan and China. Earlier this month he said that the Biden administration was "so stupid" for withdrawing US troops from the base in 2021.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [9/18/2025 2:53 PM, Adam Taylor and Susannah George, 29079K]
The Hill [9/18/2025 1:24 PM, Alex Gangitano, 12414K]
FOX News [9/18/2025 11:38 AM, Caitlin McFall, 40019K]

New York Times [9/19/2025 4:17 AM, Elian Peltier, 153395K] reports Taliban officials late Thursday rejected a suggestion by President Trump that the United States might regain control of the last base it abandoned during its withdrawal from Afghanistan, but they left open the possibility of talks to improve ties between the two countries. During a news conference on Thursday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, Mr. Trump said that his administration had been working to reclaim the facility, the Bagram Air Base outside Kabul, which U.S. forces abandoned in 2021 shortly before the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan. “We’re trying to get it back because they need things from us,” Mr. Trump said. He added that Bagram was strategically important for the United States because “it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons.” Mr. Trump has said in the past that the United States should not have abandoned the air base, but his comments on Thursday were the first public acknowledgment that negotiations to reclaim it might be underway. The Taliban government was quick to respond, suggesting that it was open to conversation but not the return of U.S. security personnel. “Without the U.S. having any military presence in Afghanistan, both Afghanistan and the U.S. need to engage with each other, and they can have political and economic relations based on mutual respect and shared interests,” Zakir Jalaly, an Afghan foreign ministry official, said on social media. “Afghans have never accepted the military presence of anyone throughout history,” Mr. Jalaly added. “But for other kinds of engagement, all paths remain open for them.” He called Mr. Trump “a good businessman and negotiator, more than just a politician.”

Wall Street Journal [9/18/2025 3:53 PM, Omar Abdel-Baqui, 646K] reports Saudi Arabia relied on the U.S. for military protection for decades. Now it is looking elsewhere. The Arab Gulf state signed a defense pact on Wednesday with Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons. The deal was announced a week after Israel carried out a missile attack targeting Hamas political officials in Qatar, another key U.S. Arab Gulf partner. The deal could shift the regional balance of power. It is the first recent significant example of a longstanding U.S. partner in the Middle East seeking to move away from dependence on Washington for national security. In this case, Saudi Arabia turned to a regional military powerhouse that is aligned with Russia and China while maintaining ties to the U.S. The move marks a blow for a U.S.-led plan to integrate Israel more closely into a Middle East security partnership to contain Iran. Those efforts—which included Arab country demands that Israel engage in a peace process with Palestinians in exchange for diplomatic recognition—were gaining steam until the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, the war in Gaza and now the strike on Qatari soil. Talks for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel have since fizzled as regional and international criticism of Israel’s military conduct mounts. “People are concerned that Israel seems to be wielding undue influence and is getting away with whatever it wants to get away with in the region,” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi political commentator close to the kingdom’s leaders. The Saudi-Pakistani pact isn’t intended to and couldn’t replace the American firepower in the region, and the Saudis and Americans continue to closely coordinate on security and intelligence. But it does send a message to the U.S. and Israel that the Gulf is looking elsewhere for security, Shihabi said. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been discussing the pact for the past couple of years, Shihabi said. The State Department didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Wall Street Journal [9/18/2025 5:05 AM, Brian Spegele, 646K] reports China played down its rapidly rising military might for years. In the past few weeks, Beijing has broadcast a steady drumbeat of firepower displays and muscular rhetoric, carrying an unmistakable warning for the U.S. It began on Sept. 3, when Chinese leader Xi Jinping brandished his country’s full nuclear triad—the means to deliver nuclear weapons by land, sea and air—together for the first time at an extravagant parade of military hardware and personnel. Defense Minister Dong Jun followed up six days later with a warning to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that “acts of containment or deterrence against China will not succeed,” according to a Chinese account of a video call between the two men. Then, on Friday, China’s navy went to the effort of announcing that its newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, had sailed through the waters between China and Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own and has threatened to seize by force. The Fujian was on its way to the South China Sea, where Beijing has aggressively sought to enforce disputed territorial claims, risking conflict with the Philippines, a U.S. ally. China’s military advancements were again in the spotlight this week at an international security conference in Beijing—where officials convened representatives from more than 100 countries to press their vision for a new international system in which China gets more say. Dong, the defense minister, told the international attendees on Thursday that China is a global force for peace and stability. On issues such as Taiwan, however, Dong said China wouldn’t back down. “We will never allow any separatist plot for Taiwan independence to succeed, and we are always ready to thwart any external use of force,” he said in a speech at the event, the Xiangshan Forum. The hardening of Beijing’s posture comes as the U.S. and China pursue negotiations over trade and other issues and explore the possibility of a meeting between Xi and President Trump as soon as in the next few weeks.

NBC News [9/19/2025 4:18 AM, Jennifer Jett, 43603K] reports President Donald Trump is set to speak with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday as they try to finalize a deal to keep popular short-video app TikTok operating in the United States. The call, which China has not yet confirmed, is expected to take place around 9 a.m. ET. It will also focus on the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies, and could set the stage for the leaders of the rival superpowers to hold their first in-person meeting since Trump returned to office. Trump told Fox News on Thursday that the two sides were “very close to deals on all of it,” adding that his relationship with China is “very good” and “it sounds like they’ve approved TikTok.” The app, which is estimated to have about 170 million active users in the U.S., faces a ban unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, agrees to sell the app’s U.S. assets to U.S. owners. The sale is required under a law Congress passed last year, citing national security concerns. On Tuesday, Trump formally extended the deadline for a TikTok deal for a fourth time, until Dec. 16, a day after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Beijing and Washington had struck a “framework” for an agreement, without providing details such as who would be taking over TikTok’s U.S. operations. Trump has gone back and forth on the ban, but he credits TikTok with helping him win last year’s presidential election and has expressed concern about alienating its huge and youthful user base. He said Thursday during a visit to the U.K. that the app “has tremendous value” and that “very rich people and companies are going to be owning it.” Earlier Thursday, China confirmed the two sides had reached a “basic framework consensus” on TikTok but repeated its opposition to the “politicization, instrumentalization and weaponization of technology and economic and trade issues.”

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Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 2:31 AM, Staff, 1563K]

Washington Post [9/19/2025 5:01 AM, Katrina Northrop, Michael Birnbaum and Lyric Li, 32099K] reports the stakes will be high on Friday when President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have only their second conversation since Trump returned to the White House and quickly set about inciting another trade war. Xi is continuing to bet he can find painful leverage points to counter Washington’s trade and technology pressure campaign. And Trump, who places great stock in his ability to broker international deals through direct talks with fellow leaders, wants a face-to-face meeting with Xi, even as his administration has sought to isolate Beijing and pull manufacturing back inside U.S. borders. The discussion — which is set to address a potential TikTok deal reached by negotiators in Spain on Monday — comes after China has flexed its power across technology, agriculture and critical supply chains in recent months. Analysts say these moves demonstrate Beijing’s willingness to play tough in a showdown with Washington, even as it struggles with economic troubles at home. “For China, a going principle this round with the Trump administration is: We’re willing to negotiate, and we’re even willing to have a deal,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington. “But if you use tariffs, if you use sanctions on us to force our hand, we’re going to retaliate in kind — and you are going to find those retaliations unacceptable.” Washington telegraphed significant progress in the negotiations Monday, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying that a “framework” of a TikTok deal was in place, though no details were released. Trump said the talks in Spain went “VERY WELL” and the U.S.-China relationship “remains a very strong one,” fueling speculation that he may meet Xi in person as soon as next month, when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will convene in South Korea. With Xi accelerating his efforts to be seen as a global statesman and Trump engaging in a generational shift in how Washington projects power in the world, the relationship between the two leaders could shape global affairs for decades.

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