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

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

The New York Times [9/19/2025 9:08 PM, Charlie Savage and Robert Jimison, 143795K] reports that, for the third time this month, the United States military attacked a boat in the Caribbean Sea and killed suspected drug smugglers, President Trump announced on social media on Friday. The attack killed three people aboard the vessel, which was in international waters, he said. Mr. Trump described them as “narcoterrorists” but did not offer more details, such as their nationality or a specific alleged criminal organization. He also posted a one-minute surveillance video showing a speedboat being blown up. “Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage en route to poison Americans,” Mr. Trump wrote. The Coast Guard, with assistance from the Navy, has long treated drug smuggling in the Caribbean as a law enforcement problem, interdicting boats and arresting people for prosecution if suspicions of illicit cargo turn out to be correct. Mr. Trump has claimed that he can instead treat drug smuggling as an attack on the United States and, as a matter of national self-defense, lawfully order the military to summarily kill drug-running suspects as if they were combatants on a battlefield. A wide range of specialists in domestic and international law regulating the use of force have argued that Mr. Trump and Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, are giving the military illegal orders and causing Special Operations forces to deliberately target civilians — even if they are criminal suspects — in violation of murder laws. A draft bill circulated this week within the executive branch and Congress would provide sweeping legal authorization to Mr. Trump to use military force against people, groups and nations he deems linked to narcoterrorism. It is not clear whether it could pass the Republican-controlled Congress. Earlier this year, the Trump administration broke precedent when it began designating certain Latin American criminal gangs and drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.” In July, he signed a still-secret order directing the military to begin using armed force against such groups, while stepping up rhetorical attacks on Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, whom his administration called a cartel leader. It also moved a huge amount of naval firepower into the southern Caribbean Sea. The Washington Post [9/20/2025 1:14 AM, Andrew Jeong, 29079K] reports that the strike, which killed three “male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel,” occurred in international waters overseen by U.S. Southern Command, Trump said. The command is responsible for a broad area that encompasses the Caribbean Sea, Central America and South America. No U.S. service members were hurt during the operation, he added. The Trump administration carried out a similar operation Monday, which also killed three people, and a strike earlier this month that killed 11 people in the Caribbean. Trump said the people killed in the attacks were “positively identified … narcoterrorists” or affiliated with a criminal gang working under the direction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The attacks have raised questions about their legality. “The Trump administration now appears to have conducted three lethal strikes in the Caribbean without offering any serious legal justification for the premeditated killing of these people,” said Brian Finucane, the senior adviser to the International Crisis Group for its U.S. program. The United States “did not suffer an armed attack and is not in an armed conflict governed by the law of war,” he added. “In essence, the President is asserting a license to kill outside the law.” Trump asserted on Friday without proof that U.S. intelligence had “confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics” and was passing through “a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans.” Trump likewise did not offer proof showing that those killed were convicted criminals in his post, which also had an overhead recording of the strike that shows a vessel being blown up while traversing through what appears to be ocean waters. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that illicit drugs and their traffickers pose an immediate threat to the United States. “These are not stock brokers. These are not real estate agents who on the side deal a few drugs. These are organized corporate structured organizations who specialize in the trafficking of deadly drugs into the United States of America,” he said on Sept. 4. Congressional Democrats have pressured the administration to produce evidence proving its assertions. More than 20 petitioned the president on Sept. 10 to clarify a host of facts, after a closed-door briefing by the Pentagon that two people familiar with the matter described as vague and unsatisfying, The Washington Post previously reported.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/19/2025 10:19 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12414K]
AP [9/19/2025 8:46 PM, Aamer Madhani, 37974K]
ABC News [9/19/2025 9:50 PM, Staff, 27036K]

The Washington Post [9/20/2025 3:11 AM, Grace Moon, 29079K] reports the Trump administration announced Friday that it is terminating temporary protections for thousands of Syrian migrants in the United States, less than a year after rebels overthrew a decades-long dictatorship in Syria. According to a Department of Homeland Security news release, Syrian nationals will have 60 days to voluntarily depart the U.S., after which they will be subject to arrest and deportation. “Conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades.” Mai El-Sadany, executive director of the Washington-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the latest decision is “deeply premature.” “While the fall of the Assad regime is a significant development in Syria and will eventually allow a greater number of returns, the reality is that a country that underwent 14 years of harrowing conflict and 54 years of dictatorship needs time to stabilize,” El-Sadany said in an email to The Washington Post. “Many Syrians outside of Syria no longer have a home to return to,” Maya Atassi, the executive director of the Syrian Community Network, said in an email. “The jobs that were their livelihood may no longer exist, the health infrastructure has been diminished and their children are at risk of being unable to access quality education.” On Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to pause a federal judge’s order that ruled the administration broke the law by stripping protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants — the largest group to have received TPS. The New York Times [9/20/2025 3:18 AM, Hamed Aleaziz and Madeleine Ngo, 153395K] reports that about 6,000 Syrians are authorized to live and work in the United States through the program, known as Temporary Protected Status, which is meant to help migrants who cannot return to their countries because of unsafe conditions. About 1,000 more Syrians also had pending applications to join the program as of August, according to the Department of Homeland Security. “This is what restoring sanity to America’s immigration system looks like,” Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. “Conditions in Syria no longer prevent their nationals from returning home. Syria has been a hotbed of terrorism and extremism for nearly two decades, and it is contrary to our national interest to allow Syrians to remain in our country. T.P.S. is meant to be temporary.” Some immigration policy experts criticized the decision, saying that conditions in Syria were still unstable and that Syrians did not pose major terrorism risks. After more than a decade of civil war, rebels ended the Assad family’s brutal rule in Syria late last year. Although Syria’s new leaders have sought to move away from dictatorship, concerns over sectarian conflict and violence remain.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg Law News [9/19/2025 5:25 PM, Jay-Anne B. Casuga, 75K]
The Hill [9/19/2025 5:08 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 12414K]
Reuters [9/19/2025 5:23 PM, Christian Martinez and Maiya Keidan, 45746K]
CBS News [9/19/2025 5:05 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K]

Reuters [9/19/2025 4:28 PM, Andrew Chung, 45746K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to intervene for the second time in a case involving its bid to end deportation protections granted to hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the United States by his predecessor Joe Biden. The Justice Department filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift a federal judge’s ruling that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem lacked the authority to end the protections for Venezuelans under the temporary protected status, or TPS, program. The Supreme Court previously sided with the administration in May to lift a temporary order that U.S. Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco issued at an earlier stage of the case that had halted the TPS termination while the litigation played out in court. Chen issued a final ruling in the case on September 5, finding that Noem’s actions to terminate the program violated a federal law that governs the actions of federal agencies. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined on Wednesday to put Chen’s final ruling on hold, prompting criticism from the administration, which said it amounted to defiance of the Supreme Court given its prior action in the case. The New York Times [9/19/2025 5:07 PM, Adam Liptak, 143795K] reports that the case will be familiar to the justices. In May they temporarily paused a federal trial judge’s earlier order in the case, over the noted dissent of only one member of the court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. The trial judge, Edward M. Chen of the Federal District Court in San Francisco, had blocked the administration’s efforts to remove the protections while the case moved forward. The majority opinion in May, which was unsigned, gave no reasons. Nor did Justice Jackson’s dissent. The case then returned to Judge Chen, who in September again ruled in favor of the challengers after receiving additional evidence. He said he was not bound by the Supreme Court’s order in May, noting that it “did not provide any specific analysis.” In his emergency application asking the Supreme Court to pause that second ruling, D. John Sauer, the solicitor general, said that Judge Chen’s actions were another example of “the increasingly familiar and untenable phenomenon of lower courts disregarding this court’s orders on the emergency docket.” Bloomberg Law [9/19/2025 5:03 PM, Mallory Culhane, 790K] reports that a federal judge in California on Sept. 5 granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs who sued to challenge the cancellation, finding the action violated federal law. The judge restored protections for roughly 350,000 Venezuelans, which the Supreme Court had allowed DHS to remove in May. The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday rejected the administration’s bid to stay the lower court’s order pending its appeal, finding the government unlikely to prevail with claims under the Administrative Procedure Act. The high court’s May order didn’t control the Ninth Circuit’s ruling Wednesday, the panel said, because the litigation has since developed a fuller administrative record that revealed a "barebones process" that followed none of the typical procedures for deciding TPS designations. But the administration on Friday argued the Supreme Court’s ruling in May does control, because the justices "weighed the same threshold merits arguments and equities and found that the calculus favored a stay." And the district court "made no new factual findings as to the equities" in its summary judgment ruling, resting "on the same flawed legal grounds" as its preliminary injunction order. The DOJ also asserted it will suffer irreparable harm absent a stay, especially because Noem determined that "even a six-month extension of TPS would harm the United States’ ‘national security’ and ‘public safety.’"

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/19/2025 4:48 PM, Ian Swanson, 12414K]
AP [9/19/2025 4:04 PM, Mark Sherman]
CBS News [9/19/2025 4:13 PM, Kathryn Watson, 45245K]

Washington Post [9/19/2025 9:18 PM, Cat Zakrzewski, Lauren Kaori Gurley and David Nakamura, 29079K] reports President Donald Trump on Friday announced an annual $100,000 fee on successful applicants for a high-skilled worker visa program that is widely used in Silicon Valley, constraining a key path to legal immigration. The president also signed an executive order that would allow wealthy foreigners to pay $1 million for a “gold card” for U.S. residency and companies to pay $2 million for a “corporate gold card” that would permit them to sponsor one or more employees. “The main thing is we’re going to have great people coming in and they’re going to be paying,” Trump said. “We’re going to take that money and we’re going to be reducing taxes and we’re going to be reducing debt.” Both moves probably will face legal challenges. If upheld, however, they would dramatically tighten legal immigration systems while opening access to the United States for wealthy foreigners. That would deliver a win to outspoken members of Trump’s nationalist base who have argued for years that the H1-B program takes jobs from American workers. Left-leaning critics also have faulted the program, which they say can be used to exploit workers from overseas. The announcement is one of the steps that Trump has taken to restrict legal immigration to the U.S. in addition to his moves to deport those in the country illegally. The $100,000 payment for an H-1B visa could be made each year for six years, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an Oval Office ceremony unveiling the actions. Roughly half a million people in the U.S. work through H-1B visas, and most renew their status every three years. A significant number apply for green cards through their employer to receive legal permanent residency but confront significant delays because of backlogs in processing. “The company needs to decide … is the person valuable enough to have a $100,000-a-year payment to the government, or they should head home, and they should go hire an American,” Lutnick told reporters. “Stop the nonsense of letting people just come into this country on visas that were given away for free. The president is crystal clear: valuable people only for America.” The country’s largest tech companies were notably silent about the policy Friday night, in a dramatic departure from their frequent criticisms of Trump’s immigration policies during his first administration. If upheld, the restrictions on H-1B visas could upend the way Silicon Valley has operated since its beginnings. Many of the country’s most famous entrepreneurs, including Elon Musk, once held H-1B visas, and many tech founders attribute their companies’ success in part to the United States’ ability to attract the world’s best computer scientists and engineers. Some executives and spokespeople said they were still reviewing the implications of the policy. But the industry is remaining quiet as executives have largely supported Trump in his second presidency — working with Trump on major investment announcements or presenting him with lavish gifts. Applicants for Trump’s gold card would need to pay a processing fee and undergo Department of Homeland Security vetting, according to a government website beckoning users to “Unlock life in America.” If approved, gold-card applicants would have to “make a gift of $1 million, which has been determined to provide sufficient evidence that the individual will substantially benefit the United States,” the website says.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/19/2025 7:01 PM, Tyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz, 143795K]
New York Post [9/19/2025 6:29 PM, Diana Nerozzi, 43962K]
Breitbart [9/19/2025 11:26 PM, Staff, 2608K]
NPR [9/19/2025 7:36 PM, Adrian Florido, 34837K]
NewsNation [9/19/2025 6:14 PM, Damita Menezes, Libbey Dean, 6811K]
Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 8:41 PM, Naomi Lim, 1563K]

CBS News [9/19/2025 10:23 PM, Aaron Navarro and Joe Walsh, 45245K] Video: HERE reports President Trump signed an executive order Friday to offer up fast-track "Gold Card" visas to people willing to pay $1 million or more. "The Trump Gold Card is Here," reads a government website, which features a mock-up of a bright, gilded card embossed with a photo of Mr. Trump, his signature and images of a bald eagle and the Statue of Liberty: "Unlock life in America." Under the Gold Card program, which Mr. Trump first floated in February, non-Americans who give a gift of at least $1 million to the Commerce Department will be eligible for an "expedited process" to gain an immigrant visa, the executive order states. Corporations can sponsor people for Gold Cards if they give the government at least $2 million. Some 80,000 Gold Cards will be made available, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who said the program is still in the "implementation phase." People who are approved for a Gold Card after vetting by the State Department and Department of Homeland Security — and who pay a $15,000 "vetting fee" — will be considered lawful permanent residents, more commonly known as green-card holders, Lutnick told reporters Friday. He said Gold Cards will take the place of the existing EB-1 and EB-2 visa programs, which offer green cards to people with "exceptional ability" in business or other fields. "You can prove exceptional value for the United States of America by contributing $1 million to the United States of America. That’s a pretty good expectation that they’re highly valuable," he said. FOX News [9/19/2025 7:56 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40019K] reports that the card features a portrait of the president, the Statue of Liberty and the American flag underneath a gold background, with "Trump Gold Card" stamped on the left side. "For far too long, we have had millions of Illegal Aliens pouring into our Country, and our Immigration System was broken," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. "It is beyond time that the American People, and American Taxpayers, are benefitting from our LEGAL Immigration System." Individuals are now able to purchase the card for $1 million, and corporations will later be able to purchase a card for $2 million. "We anticipate THE TRUMP GOLD CARD will generate well over $100 Billion Dollars very quickly," Trump wrote. "This money will be used for reducing Taxes, Pro Growth Projects, and paying down our Debt." Interested parties can apply for the "exclusive privileges" on the official website, trumpcard.gov. According to the site, applicants will submit their documents and pay a nonrefundable processing fee, triggering an accelerated probe by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. From there, officials will conduct an in-depth background check and vet the potential cardholder. Once an applicant is approved, a Trump Gold Card will be available for use throughout all 50 states and territories. They will be given lawful permanent resident status as an EB-1 or EB-2 visa holder. The website notes that the Trump Gold Card status acts as a visa, and may be revoked due to national security and other risks. The administration also plans to roll out the Trump Platinum Card, which will allow individual applicants to reside in the country for up to 270 days per year, without being subject to tax on non-U.S. income. It will take the place of travel visas. While the platinum card has not yet been released, the website notes applicants should join the waitlist immediately, as they will be processed on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [9/19/2025 7:47 PM, Erica Brown, 45245K] Video: HERE
Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 8:31 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1563K]

AP [9/20/2025 1:25 AM, Christine Fernando and Corey Williams, 32099K] reports protesters tried to block vehicles Friday outside a federal immigration enforcement building in suburban Chicago, leading to a confrontation with authorities who arrested multiple people and used a chemical agent to disperse the crowd. The protest is part of steady pushback against an immigration enforcement surge focused on Chicago and surrounding communities, which has put more federal agents on the streets charged with delivering on President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations. The Department of Homeland Security said Friday that almost 550 people have been arrested as part of an operation that launched just under two weeks ago. Friday’s protest included dozens of people carrying American flags and signs with the words “Hands off Chicago.” Some participants tried to block a car from exiting the facility’s yard and were met with federal officers who deployed chemical agents that released white clouds that drove the protesters back, according to videos taken outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Chicago. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which provided legal observers for Friday’s protest, said at least 10 people were arrested by federal agents. They also reported that some people were injured and required hospitalization, according to Brad Thomson, an attorney with the guild. Earlier in the day, ICE Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin had said in a statement to the AP that three people were taken into custody.

AP [9/19/2025 6:48 PM, Rebecca Santana] reports immigration enforcement officials have arrested more than 400 people as part of an operation in the Chicago area that launched a little less than two weeks ago, a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday. Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, gave the figures during an interview with The Associated Press. The figure, which has not been widely reported, offers an early gauge of what is shaping up as a major enforcement effort that comes after similar operations were launched in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. When asked whether he thought that amount of arrests at this point in the operation was positive, Charles said 400 is a "solid number," adding that the figure includes arrests made by other federal agencies besides ICE who are assisting in the campaign. ICE launched its Chicago area operation on Sept. 8, drawing concern from activists and immigrant communities who say there’s been a noticeable uptick in immigration enforcement agents. That has deepened dread in communities already fearful of the large-scale arrests or aggressive tactics used in other cities targeted by President Donald Trump ‘s hardline immigration policies. The operation has brought allegations of excessive force and heavy-handed dragnets that have ensnared U.S. citizens, while gratifying Trump supporters who say he is delivering on a promise of mass deportations.

NBC News [9/19/2025 5:21 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 43603K] reports protests against the Trump administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement exploded Friday in the Chicago area, with federal officers in camouflage and riot gear using tear gas against the demonstrators. Footage by NBC 5 Chicago shows federal agents deploying tear gas as protesters blocked a vehicle trying to exit the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, a Chicago suburb. The Department of Homeland Security said the protesters — whom it labeled rioters — were to blame for the clash at Broadview. In a statement, DHS said over 100 rioters "surrounded" the facility, "assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building and trespassed on private property." DHS said local police "refused to answer multiple calls for assistance." Federal law enforcement arrested at least three people, according to DHS. Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary, blamed Gov. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for "villainizing" and "demonizing" ICE officers. NewsMax [9/19/2025 4:34 PM, Michael Katz, 4779K] reports that at about 8:30 a.m. CDT, agents launched gas canisters and fired pepper-spray balls as protesters attempted to block a van from exiting the property, according to the Chicago Tribune. At least one protester was pinned to the ground and taken behind the facility gates, while activists said two others were also detained. The Department of Homeland Security characterized the demonstration as an "organized effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement," alleging that protesters assaulted officers. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned the clashes, saying: "The violent targeting of law enforcement in Illinois by lawless rioters is despicable and Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson must call for it to end. The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect the people of Illinois and all Americans." Friday marked the second straight week of escalations outside the Broadview site. Activists staged hourslong demonstrations, and agents cleared the crowd multiple times throughout the morning. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who joined demonstrators at the facility, told WGN she and Pritzker have been left "in the dark" about the details of "Operation Midway Blitz." Although the operation has been met with criticism from state and local leaders, agents have made dozens of arrests in the weeks since the operation began. ICE officials reportedly said Friday that agents have made about 400 arrests in the Chicago area since launching the operation less than two weeks ago.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/19/2025 6:08 PM, Robert Chiarito and Julie Bosman, 143795K]
Reuters [9/19/2025 6:23 PM, Heather Schlitz, 45746K]
Chicago Tribune [9/19/2025 12:13 PM, Caroline Kubzansky and Rebecca Johnson, 5352K]

CBS Chicago [9/19/2025 7:58 PM, Darius Johnson, et al., 45245K] Video: HERE reports federal agents and protesters clashed Friday morning outside the Broadview ICE facility. Agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls. Multiple people have been arrested. In a statement, the U.S Department of Homeland Security said three people had been arrested. At about 4:15 p.m., a fourth person was taken into custody outside the facility. She was standing outside the gate when it opened and an SUV tried to leave. Federal agents can be seen firing a less-lethal munition at her, then pushing her out of the way and physically taking her into the facility. A short time later she comes back out, disoriented and missing a shoe, with the help of another demonstrator who walks her across the street to a grassy area. Protesters confront agents about her detention for a moment, before armed federal agents surround the woman and handcuff her, leading her back into the ICE facility. The protest initially began around 5 a.m. Demonstrators have gathered at this facility weekly since the Trump administration announced they would be stepping up immigration enforcement efforts with "Operation Midway Blitz." ICE agents dragged and tackled protesters outside the west suburban facility as the crowd blocked the parking lot entrance. Tensions escalated whenever the gate to the facility opened. ICE agents formed a wall to guard the gate as their vehicles entered and exited, and protesters tried to block cars from any movement. Popping sounds could be heard as agents on the roof and on the ground fired non-lethal ammunition to get the crowd out of the way. In one dramatic moment around 8:30 a.m. that played out live on our morning news, a tear gas container was deployed into the crowd and then thrown back at agents. The protester who threw it back was immediately taken down and arrested. Kat Abughazaleh, who is running for Congress in Illinois’ 9th district, said she was thrown by agents, and confirmed she saw a second protester taken into the ICE facility. "All of us joined arms, we did not let the van pass. ICE came in and tried to drive the car through us, they almost ran someone over," she said. "We did not move, we stood strong, and that’s when they brought out the pepper balls and the tear gas." "We have no weapons, we have signs and chants and songs," she added. "They are treating us like it’s a warzone." DHS claimed they called police for assistance but got no response. However, Broadview police responded in a statement saying they "did not receive ‘multiple calls for assistance’ from the leadership of the ICE detention facility in Broadview. That is false." The statement went on to stay the police department received one call from the facility at 11:39 a.m. to tell them about objects being thrown on the railway tracks behind the ICE facility, at which point police contacted the railroad to let them know so they could address those concerns. A spokesperson for the police department said BPD had an agreement with ICE to be informed before any chemical arms were sed, but said the department was not informed of that Friday morning. As a result, BPD said an officer was exposed to mace and tear gas used by ICE. In a statement, DHS claimed there were over 100 people at the protest, though video from CBS News Chicago’s SkyWatch showed only a few dozen. They said the demonstrators assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires and blocked the entrance of the building, characterizing them as "rioters."

Washington Post [9/19/2025 6:02 PM, Brianna Tucker and Amy B Wang, 29079K] reports federal agents clashed with protesters and threw a congressional candidate to the ground Friday morning during a protest outside a Chicago-area Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. The chaotic scene unfolded in Broadview, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago. Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old Democratic candidate running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District seat, was thrown to the ground by an armed and masked federal agent outside the ICE facility, according to video footage posted on her social media. Abughazaleh said about 100 demonstrators were at the facility to protest what the Trump administration has labeled “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago, a drastic ramp-up of immigration operations and ICE raids that began in early September. Video depicts what appears to be a mix of ICE agents and Customs and Border Protection officers on the scene. Several videos and images posted on X by local media outlets also depict officers deploying tear gas and removing protesters to clear a path for an ICE vehicle. In a statement Friday, the Department of Homeland Security accused protesters at the Broadview facility of assaulting law enforcement, slashing car tires, throwing cans of tear gas, blocking the entrance to the building and trespassing on private property. At least three rioters were arrested by federal law enforcement Friday morning, according to DHS. The DHS statement went on to criticize several Democratic politicians by name — including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — for having “villainized and demonized ICE law enforcement.”

The New York Post [9/19/2025 8:35 PM, Victor Nava, 43962K] reports federal agents deployed tear gas and pepper balls Friday to disperse an unruly mob of anti-ICE protesters — including a Democratic mayor — attempting to blockade an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility outside Chicago. More than 100 protesters surrounded the ICE Broadview Processing Center as they "assaulted law enforcement, threw tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private property," the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement. Federal law enforcement agents made three arrests related to the protest, according to DHS. Agents tossed several canisters of tear gas and fired less-lethal pepper or sting balls into the crowd as protesters attempted to stand in the way of ICE vehicles leaving the facility, a video posted on social media showed. The video shows authorities quickly apprehending one protester — donning a helmet, gas mask and Captain America shield — who hurled a canister of tear gas back at agents during the skirmish. DHS described the protest as an "organized effort to obstruct ICE law enforcement," and said throughout the day vans were observed picking up and dropping off protesters. Daniel Biss, the Democratic mayor of Evanston, Ill., was among those taking part in the demonstration. "We. Will. Not. Be. Intimidated," Biss wrote on X. The mayor also described the chaotic scene outside the facility as "terrifying" and attempt by the Trump administration to "intimidate" protesters. "It was impossible to breathe and really, really scary," Bliss said in a video accompanying his social media post. Local law enforcement "refused to answer multiple calls for assistance," DHS claimed, citing Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s sanctuary policies. "The violent targeting of law enforcement in Illinois by lawless rioters is despicable and Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson must call for it to end," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect the people of Illinois and all Americans.” McLaughlin went on to blame several Democrat politicians for "contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated dehumanizing and demonization of ICE.” "From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is going to get law enforcement killed," she argued. The clash comes as a crackdown on criminal migrants in Chicago, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, is underway. The ICE operation targeting illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds has resulted in "hundreds" of arrests, including Tren de Aragua gang members and migrants with previous convictions for murder, child sexual assault, drug trafficking, armed robbery and other violent crimes, according to DHS. Axios [9/19/2025 3:44 PM, Justin Kaufmann, 14595K] reports "These desperate politicians want their 15 minutes of fame and they’re willing to do it off the backs of our law enforcement," DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said on Fox News. "The violent targeting of law enforcement in Illinois by lawless rioters is despicable and Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson must call for it to end," McLaughlin later said in a press release. DHS says they’ve arrested over 400 people since "Operation Midway Blitz" began. That is in stark contrast to The Sun-Times estimate that only 30 undocumented immigrants have been detained since the surge began last week.

Reported similarly:
CNN [9/19/2025 12:41 PM, Alisha Ebrahimji, 23245K]
Chicago Tribune [9/19/2025 6:06 PM, A.D. Quig, 5352K]

FOX News [9/19/2025 11:34 AM, Staff, 40019K] Video: HERE reports DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin joins ‘Americas Newsroom’ to criticize Democrats for backing protests against ICE, warning their rhetoric puts agents at risk while shielding violent criminals.

AP [9/19/2025 9:17 PM, Yuki Iwamura and Michael R. Sisak, 43962K] reports that more than a dozen elected officials were arrested Thursday while protesting conditions at a New York City immigration holding facility where a federal judge this week extended a court order requiring the government to shape up its treatment of detainees. The officials — including the city’s fiscal watchdog and state lawmakers — were among 77 people detained during protests at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. The government building, home to immigration court, the FBI’s New York field office and other federal offices, has become a hotbed of arrests and detention amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Eleven officials were arrested inside the building while attempting to inspect holding rooms on the 10th floor that are the subject of ongoing litigation alleging squalid conditions and overcrowding, according to a coalition of politicians, advocates and faith leaders involved in the protest. In a statement, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin singled out the city’s comptroller, Brad Lander. She accused the Democrat of showing up “unannounced with agitators and media” and yelling that he wouldn’t leave until detainees were released. 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.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/19/2025 10:25 AM, Filip Timotija, 12414K]
Daily Wire [9/19/2025 7:05 AM, Jennie Taer, 3184K]

Bloomberg News [9/19/2025 11:32 AM, Sam Skolnik, 75K] reports President Donald Trump can’t immediately deport Guatemalan children while they litigate their legal claims to stay in the US, a federal judge ruled. The group of unaccompanied children are entitled to a preliminary injunction that stops the administration from deporting them, and to certification of a narrowed proposed class, said Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a Thursday opinion. The children were “roused from their beds in the middle of the night” just before midnight Saturday of Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30, and driven to an airport, where some were loaded onto planes, said Kelly. Their lawyers, made aware of the “hasty operation” while it was unfolding, filed the lawsuit seeking emergency relief that Sunday at 1 a.m. “There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return,” said Kelly. None of those that were located had asked for their children to come back to Guatemala, the judge said in barring the children’s removal. The children deserve injunctive relief because they’re likely to succeed on the merits of their statutory claim. Plaintiffs, who contend that defendants’ “reunification” plan upends that statutory structure by removing them without complying with the TVPRA’s requirements, “very likely have the better of the argument,” the judge said.

AP [9/19/2025 10:44 AM, Staff, 37974K] reports a group of about 100 pro-democracy activists from Eswatini protested Friday at the U.S Embassy in South Africa’s capital over their country’s deal to receive five immigrants deported by the U.S. The activists likened the arrangement to human trafficking, and said their country’s absolute monarch, King Mswati III, entered into the deal without consulting parliament. They also alleged he is secretly obtaining benefits from the arrangement that are not being shared with the Eswatini people. The five men were deported to Eswatini in July and are currently being held at a maximum-security prison where their lawyers allege they have not been granted access to see them. The deportations are part of the US administration’s expanding third-country program to send migrants to countries in Africa that they have no ties with to get them off U.S. soil. The U.S. administration wants to deter immigrants from entering the country illegally and to deport those who already have done so, especially those with criminal records who cannot easily be sent to their home countries. The U.S. government has said that the five immigrants sent to Eswatini -- from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba, and Yemen -- all had been convicted of serious crimes, including murder and robbery. and that their home countries did not want them. Lawyers for the deportees have disputed that the home countries were unwilling to accept them. Since July, the U.S. has deported migrants to South Sudan, Eswatini and Rwanda, while a fourth African nation, Uganda, says it has agreed to a deal in principle with the U.S. to accept deportees.

AP [9/19/2025 11:50 AM, Gerald Imray, 3790K] reports that International rights group Amnesty International called Friday for urgent action from authorities in the African nation of Eswatini to give five men deported there by the United States access to lawyers and explain why they’ve been held in a maximum-security prison for two months without charges. Amnesty said it is raising the cases of the men from Jamaica, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam and Yemen, who in mid-July were sent to the southern African nation with a reputation for rights abuses, as part of the Trump administration’s third-country deportation program. The U.S. has said it also wants to deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Eswatini. His wrongful deportation to his native El Salvador has become a flashpoint in the administration’s immigration crackdown. Lawyers for the five men sent to Eswatini said they are being held at the Matsapha Correctional Centre, a maximum-security prison. Eswatini authorities have declined to say where they are, citing security reasons. "The Eswatini authorities must officially disclose the five men’s whereabouts, immediately grant them regular and confidential access to their lawyers, and provide legal grounds for their detention," Amnesty said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the five were all serious criminals who had been convicted of offenses including murder and child rape, and had all been in the U.S. illegally and had deportation orders. Their lawyers say they had served their criminal sentences in the U.S. before being sent to Eswatini to be held in a prison without charges. The men are being represented by three separate U.S.-based lawyers.

Breitbart [9/19/2025 10:07 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports the U.S. Department of the Treasury singled out several key leaders and businesses tied to the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel, including a former mayor in the Mexican state of Baja California. The move targets accounts and money laundering operations, including hotels, restaurants, and bars in the popular beach destination of Rosarito, Baja California. In their most recent move, U.S. Treasury officials moved to sanction several key leaders of the Mayos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel and their businesses. The sanctions not only freeze any accounts and assets they may have in the United States but also prohibit U.S. citizens and companies from doing business with them. In June, U.S. Treasury officials took similar actions against the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. The Sinaloa Cartel’s internal war erupted last year after Los Chapitos—sons of imprisoned kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán—allegedly orchestrated the arrest of longtime patriarch Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, triggering a violent split between the cartel’s two dominant factions and reshaping Mexico’s criminal landscape. The Trump Administration has labeled the Sinaloa Cartel as a foreign terrorist organization and accused it of being one of the leading producers and smugglers of fentanyl. Several members of the Sinaloa Cartel have pending indictments in the United States, not only for drug trafficking and money laundering charges, but specifically for fentanyl related cases. In their most recent action, the U.S. Treasury listed Juan Jose "El Ruso" Ponce Felix as the leader and founder of the main armed wing of the Mayos. Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of State announced a $5 million reward for his capture.

New York Times [9/19/202511:38 AM, Charlie Savage and Robert Jimison, 143795K] reports draft legislation is circulating at the White House and on Capitol Hill that would hand President Trump sweeping power to wage war against drug cartels he deems to be “terrorists,” as well as against any nation he says has harbored or aided them, according to people familiar with the matter. A wide range of legal specialists have said that U.S. military attacks this month on two boats suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea were illegal. But Mr. Trump has claimed that the Constitution gave him the power he needed to authorize them. It was not clear who wrote the draft congressional authorization or whether it could pass the Republican-led Congress, but the White House has been passing it around the executive branch. The broadly worded proposal, which would legally authorize the president to kill people he deems narco-terrorists and attack countries he says helped them, has set off alarm bells in some quarters of the executive branch and on Capitol Hill, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity about sensitive internal deliberations. Three people familiar with the matter said that Representative Cory Mills, a Florida Republican and combat veteran who sits on the Armed Services Committee, was involved in developing the draft. Mr. Mills, a staunch Trump ally, declined to comment on the potential legislation or his role. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, declined to comment, citing a policy against discussing “drafts that may or may not be circulating.” An administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said the draft originated with a member of Congress who had asked for technical assistance in improving it. The official portrayed its circulation for input by executive branch agencies as a routine courtesy that should not be interpreted as support for the idea. The measure has emerged amid an escalating debate in Washington over the president’s war-making power and Congress’s role in authorizing the use of American military force, after the Trump administration opened a deadly campaign against the boaters. The two boat attacks — killing what Mr. Trump has said were 14 people he accused of smuggling drugs toward the United States — were the latest in a series of military operations the president has taken without congressional authorization, raising constitutional concerns among some lawmakers in both parties, who say their branch should play a greater role in such decisions. Critics have also said that Mr. Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have given illegal orders, causing Special Operations troops to target civilians — even if they are suspected of crimes — in apparent violation of laws against murder.

Washington Post [9/19/2025 7:00 AM, Dan Lamothe and Ellen Nakashima, 29079K] reports Drug Enforcement Administration officials advocated for a series of military strikes in Mexico earlier this year, alarming some in the White House and Pentagon and presaging the fraught debate underway in Washington over the legality of this month’s deadly attacks on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, people familiar with the matter said. The discussion began in the opening weeks of President Donald Trump’s return to office, after he designated numerous Latin American cartels and criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. DEA officials suggested both targeted killings of cartel leadership in Mexico and attacks on infrastructure there, these people said. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of highly sensitive and private internal deliberations. The pushback on DEA’s advocacy, which has not been reported previously, illustrates the divisions that have arisen as the Trump administration has taken an aggressive posture toward combating what it says is a major adversary poisoning American citizens. And though DEA’s proposals for Mexico have not been acted upon, this month’s strikes on alleged drug boats from Venezuela show the administration’s determination to unleash deadly force despite internal legal concerns. DEA’s acting administrator at the time of these early conversations, Derek S. Maltz, told The Washington Post that he is “totally in favor” — and has been since Trump’s first term as president — “of hitting the production labs and command control leaders in Mexico.” A career DEA agent before retiring a decade ago, Maltz was appointed by Trump in January and led the agency until May. Its permanent administrator, Terrance C. Cole, took over in late July. “The cartels have killed more Americans than any terrorist organization in the history of America, so they need to be held accountable,” Maltz said. He credited the Mexican government under President Claudia Sheinbaum with “making substantial arrests and seizures and disrupting the cartels” but said “there must be way more done to stop them.” “My position was always to do it collaboratively and cooperatively with Mexico,” Maltz said, “but at the end of the day America has to stand up for Americans first.” He added that he supported carrying out drone strikes on drug labs and had the sense there was “some serious discussion over the authorities and options” needed to do so. Such efforts, he said, were not DEA’s area of expertise and required collaboration with the Pentagon. In a statement, DEA officials said the agency would not comment on “alleged conversations or internal deliberations” occurring before Cole’s tenure began. “What we can say is that under Administrator Cole, DEA remains committed to supporting the President of the United States and ensuring our mission is carried out within the framework of the law and in close coordination with our interagency partners.”

AP [9/19/2025 12:31 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports thousands will take to the streets in cities and towns across America this weekend for United Against Fentanyl’s inaugural Walk for Lives. This grassroots response to the fentanyl crisis will see each walk led by a bereaved mother, sibling, father, or grandparent who has lost a loved one to this epidemic. The synchronized walks represent an unprecedented mobilization of citizens demanding change. Every day, more than 200 Americans die from fentanyl poisoning or overdoses. "This crisis demands we face hard truths," said Paul Martin, founder of United Against Fentanyl. "A teenager who takes what they think is a prescription pill shouldn’t die. A college student experimenting once shouldn’t die. A person struggling with addiction deserves treatment, not a death sentence.” Participants will not only walk in unity. At each location, bereaved parents will lead participants through declaring aloud the United Against Fentanyl Manifesto. The declaration calls on citizens to stop stigmatizing substance use disorder. It demands parents stop thinking fentanyl can’t kill their children. It challenges dealers to stop dealing death. It confronts Mexican cartels manufacturing poison. It calls on China’s leaders to stop driving the fentanyl trade. "History teaches us that we have the power to change social injustices," Martin said. "This starts when ordinary people refuse to accept what is unacceptable, and when they unify around a call for change. Those who founded this nation didn’t merely crave freedom—they created it through organized action and resolve. Mothers Against Drunk Driving didn’t merely oppose drunk driving—they drove change by mobilizing communities nationwide.”

The Hill [9/19/2025 6:00 AM, Lexi Lonas Cochran, 12414K] reports that an immigration judge’s order for Mahmoud Khalil’s deportation Wednesday is not the end of the former Columbia University activist’s fight against the Trump administration. The deportation order, which found Khalil failed to disclose relevant information on his green card application, cannot go into effect due to another case the pro-Palestinian demonstrator brought against the federal government for allegedly violating his constitutional rights, and in which a district judge has ruled the Trump administration cannot currently deport him. And Khalil is all but certain to appeal immigration Judge Jamee Comans’s deportation decision. The district judge ruled Khalil "not be deported pending further order from the court in that case. So we’re heartened that that order remains in place, but to be clear, Mr. Khalil remains in danger of being deported if this administration continues its efforts," said Conor T. Fitzpatrick, supervising senior attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "Mr. Khalil will have the opportunity in immigration appeal proceedings to raise many of the constitutional issues he has not yet been allowed to raise in the immigration court, but the concern now is that the administration may try and deport him before those appeals have been decided," he added. "It is a privilege to be granted a visa or green card to live and study in the United States of America. When you advocate for violence, glorify and support terrorists that relish the killing of Americans, and harass Jews, take over buildings and deface property, that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

Daily Wire [9/19/2025 8:48 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3184K] reports that leaders of a Native American tribe fighting to close the Florida illegal alien detention center dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz" have batted down numerous allegations of domestic violence over the years as the tribe receives tens of millions in taxpayer dollars. The chair, treasurer, and a top adviser of the Miccosukee Tribe have all faced domestic violence charges over the past 30 years, according to a new report from the American Accountability Foundation. These allegations have ranged from misdemeanor battery to felony battery of a pregnant woman. The tribe has also been plagued by kidnapping accusations and battles with the IRS, according to the American Accountability Foundation. "While the Miccosukee Tribe wages a legal battle against Alligator Alcatraz, hoping to manufacture outrage, what they really want is to distract from their own sinister record," American Accountability Foundation President Tom Jones told The Daily Wire. "There’s a bleak history here: leadership tangled in a newborn baby abduction, repeated beatings on women, and a brazen refusal to pay federal taxes. The tribe’s latest public stunt is not about justice; it’s a smokescreen to keep Americans from asking tough questions about their dark trail of corruption and crime." "Despite repeated hoaxes peddled by the media and activist judges, Alligator Alcatraz is still open and housing some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, pedophiles, weapon traffickers, and drug dealers until they are swiftly removed from our country," said Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

AP [9/19/2025 4:44 PM, Rebecca Boone, 37974K] reports a judge has temporarily barred the federal government from collecting personal information about residents enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 21 states and Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney in California issued the temporary restraining order against the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday, and said a hearing would be held next month to determine if a longer-term prohibition is necessary. Chesney found that states were likely to succeed in their argument that the personal data can only be used for things like administering the food assistance program, and that it generally can’t be shared with other entities. The states said they feared that the data would be used to aid mass deportation efforts. The Trump administration has worked to collect data on millions of U.S. residents through various federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, sharing the information with the Department of Homeland Security to support deportation efforts. The USDA warned states in July that if they failed to turn over the information about people enrolled in the federal food assistance program, SNAP funding would be cut off. In response, the coalition of states sued, saying they feared the data would be used to aid mass deportations. They told the judge that the federal SNAP Act requires states to safeguard the information they receive from SNAP applicants, only releasing it for limited purposes related to administering or enforcing the food assistance program. In Thursday’s ruling, Chesney said the states’ argument was likely to succeed, and that the USDA had already announced it planned to share the data with other entities and use it for purposes not allowed by the SNAP Act. Some states have already turned over the data.

Washington Post [9/19/2025 7:45 AM, Marc A. Thiessen, 29079K] reports in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack against Israel, the outpouring of antisemitism on the left was shocking. On many U.S. campuses, students and professors alike celebrated violence against Jews and harassed Jewish students. On X, educated people — doctors, nurses, teachers and school administrators — spewed similar venom. For many, it was a revelation: We didn’t realize just how many people in our midst hated Jews. Well, something similar has happened since the assassination of Charlie Kirk. The outpouring of hatred on the left has been shocking, with people taking sick joy in his death. For conservatives, the vile response to the killing of an activist who respectfully engaged those with whom he disagreed has been eye-opening: Many on the left don’t simply disagree; they support violence against those they disagree with. That is not hyperbole. A YouGov poll conducted in the wake of Kirk’s killing asked Americans: “Do you generally consider it to be acceptable or unacceptable for a person to be happy about the death of a public figure they oppose?” Ninety-one percent of conservatives said it was “always or usually” not acceptable, as did 90 percent of those who are “very conservative.” But only 56 percent of those who are “very liberal” and 73 percent of liberals said celebrating the death of someone with whom they disagreed was unacceptable. It gets worse. YouGov asked: “Do you think it is ever justified for citizens to resort to violence in order to achieve political goals?” Eighty-three percent of conservatives and 88 percent of those who are very conservative said political violence is never justified. That is, in my opinion, lower than it should be. But on the left? Only 68 percent of liberals, and 55 percent of those who are “very liberal,” said political violence was never justified. Seventeen percent of the former and 25 percent of the latter said it was sometimes justified — shockingly high numbers. This poll is not an outlier. A survey from Rutgers University found that 56 percent of left-of-center respondents said the murder of President Donald Trump would be at least partially justified, while 50 percent said killing Elon Musk could be justified. These numbers should be a wake-up call. The acceptance, and even celebration, of political violence on the left is a serious problem for our democracy. And it is the responsibility of those on the left who don’t share that belief to take the lead in fighting this worrisome trend. To his credit, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) released a video in which he praised Charlie Kirk for engaging the other side, and declared that “every American, no matter what one’s political point-of-view may be, must condemn all forms of political violence.” Many on the left like to condemn Trump’s rhetoric but conveniently overlook the dehumanizing rhetoric of their own leaders. President Joe Biden came to office promising to put his “whole soul” into “bringing America together.” Instead, he called Trump supporters “garbage,” declared that Republicans in Congress supported “Jim Crow 2.0” and compared them to racists and traitors such as Bull Connor and Jefferson Davis. Vice President Kamala Harris said she agreed Trump is a fascist and warned that his election would threaten our very democracy. When politicians engage in this kind of rhetoric, they are saying that the other side is not simply wrong but evil. And when you declare someone is evil, that provides a justification for violence.

FOX News [9/19/25 7:02 PM, Brooke Taylor and Brie Stimson, 40019K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security on Friday released the names of some of the "worst of the worst" detainees being held at the Federal Plaza in New York City a day after security locked down the federal facility because of demonstrators. A group of Democratic lawmakers and protesters, including New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, staged a sit-in on the 10th floor of the facility on Thursday, demanding access to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices and holding cells. ICE sources claim officers had to secure doors with locks and zip ties after protesters pushed to enter, and additional security had to be added. In a statement to Fox News Digital, DHS called the detainees "some of the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, including MS-13 gang members and criminals convicted of illegal possession of a weapon, drug trafficking and serial drunk drivers." "Another day with more politicians pulling a stunt in an attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees," Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. She said Lander showed up at the plaza "unannounced 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’." As a result, she said Federal Protective Service called the NYPD, and local police and federal law enforcement and 71 arrests were made, including Lander, two New York State senators and nine New York State Assembly members. "MS-13 Gang members, drug traffickers, serial drunk drivers and illegal possession of a weapon. These are the criminal illegal aliens these sanctuary politicians were fighting to be released back onto the streets of New York City," McLaughlin said. "The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line every day to arrest violent criminal illegal aliens to protect and defend the lives of American citizens." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [9/19/2025 12:04 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports New York Democrats allegedly demanded the release of detainees at an immigration holding facility processing a convicted drug trafficker, a confirmed MS-13 gangbanger and other convicted criminals. Roughly a dozen Democratic elected officials were arrested Thursday for allegedly attempting to obstruct justice at 26 Federal Plaza in New York, New York, the location of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding facility. The elected officials were among the nearly 80 individuals arrested as they demanded access to holding rooms and staged a sit-in inside the building. "Another day, another sanctuary politician pulling a stunt in attempt to get their 15 minutes of fame while endangering DHS personnel and detainees," Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a subsequent public statement. The DHS spokeswoman particularly singled out NYC Comptroller Brad Lander, who was among those arrested. "Here are the facts: Brad Lander showed up to 26 Federal Plaza unannounced with agitators and media and proceeded to obstruct law enforcement and cause a scene," McLaughlin stated. "He yelled inside the building that he was ‘not leaving’ until detainees were ‘released.’".

(B) KTVU Mornings on 2 [9/19/2025 11:38 AM, Staff] reports ICE wants to expand by opening hundreds of new offices across the country. The Washington Post says ICE desperately needs more office space to house thousands of new deportation officers, lawyers, and other workers, mainly in big cities. ICE has already been expanding as the Trump administration increases its campaign to deport undocumented immigrants. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says ICE hopes to hire 10,000 new employees in the next few months.

Reuters [9/19/2025 6:05 AM, Ted Hesson and Suheir Sheikh, 45746K] reports that when U.S. immigration agents swooped down to arrest a Salvadoran man in Mount Pleasant, a Washington area known for its Hispanic immigrant population, residents alerted neighbors who flocked to the scene, chanting at officers to get out before the man was hauled away. And when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a Guatemalan man on Monday walking with a crutch who said he had no criminal record in nearby Petworth, another area with a sizable Hispanic population, people heading to work and walking dogs stopped to shout at them. After a back-and-forth with protesters, officers released the man. Such arrests, like the two witnessed by Reuters, are becoming increasingly common in the nation’s capital, according to immigration advocates and residents, who say the raids are fomenting distrust among some residents. Mount Pleasant has been home for decades to immigrants from El Salvador and other Central American countries who run restaurants and other businesses even as the area has gentrified. Riots broke out there in 1991 after a D.C. police officer shot a Salvadoran man. Nearby Petworth, a leafy residential neighborhood, also has a large Hispanic population. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump’s anti-crime push targeted all offenders, regardless of immigration status, and that allegations of racial profiling aimed to "smear law enforcement officers." “Many of the illegal aliens arrested as part of targeted enforcement operations have outstanding warrants or prior convictions for terrible crimes like murder, assault, rape, and sexually assaulting children," Jackson said.

AP [9/19/2025 5:22 PM, Kate Brumback] reports lawyers for a Spanish-language journalist who has been in immigration detention in Georgia since June said Friday they’re worried his deportation could be imminent after an appeals panel reopened an old immigration case against him and ordered him sent back to El Salvador. Local police just outside Atlanta arrested Mario Guevara while he was covering a protest on June 14, and he was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An immigration judge in July granted him bond, but he remained in custody while the government appealed. All criminal charges filed against Guevara after his arrest have been dismissed. An immigration case against him was administratively closed more than a decade ago, and his lawyers have said he was authorized to live and work in the U.S. He’s being punished for doing his work as a journalist — particularly filming ICE and other law enforcement activity — in violation of his constitutional rights, his lawyers have argued. The Board of Immigration Appeals, which hears appeals of immigration court rulings, on Friday dismissed the government’s appeal of the bond order, saying it was moot. The order says records show that the board had denied Guevara’s appeal of a previous deportation order. The board said the deportation order is now final and that neither an immigration judge nor the board has the authority to set a bond. But lawyers for Guevara argue that the board’s order is based on incorrect information. In a separate case they have filed in federal court, they asked a judge on Friday to hold an emergency hearing and issue an immediate order for his release. They said in a filing that they feared the Board of Immigration Appeals decision "could have immediate consequences."

CBS News [9/19/2025 4:44 PM, Dan Raby, 45245K] reports a journalist arrested during a protest in June in metro Atlanta could be deported in the near future after a federal judge ordered him to return to El Salvador, lawyers for the ACLU say. Mario Guevara has been in ICE custody for months following his arrest despite an immigration judge’s previous order granting him a bond. On Friday, the Board of Immigration Appeals declined to release Guevara on bond. Instead, it granted the government’s request to open the journalist’s 2012 immigration case, ordering him to leave the country. The board also denied a motion to return the removal proceeds to the previous judge so that Guevara could seek a green card. An emergency hearing is underway in federal court to see if the deportation order can be stopped by an emergency restraining order.

New York Post [9/19/2025 3:28 PM, Taylor Herzlich, 43962K] reports the ICE raid on Hyundai’s battery plant in Georgia was the largest single-site operation in the department’s history – but the automaker’s CEO said he only learned about it from the news. José Muñoz, who took the helm at the South Korean company in January, said he was working out of his California office when officials rounded up 475 workers at the Hyundai-LG factory on Sept. 4. More than 300 South Korean workers were detained by ICE during the raid and deported back to South Korea last week via a charter plane. Muñoz said he has been in touch with the Trump administration since the massive deportation effort. However, when asked if he was worried about the possibility of future raids, he added: "Nobody can say they are exempt (from) everything."

CBS News [9/19/2025 10:16 AM, Staff, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Protesters are clashing with federal agents in the Broadview area near Chicago. Video shows what appears to be tear gas being deployed against manifesters protesting the Trump administration’s ICE operations in Illinois. CBS News Chicago’s Darius Johnson reports.

Chicago Tribune [9/19/2025 6:44 PM, Caroline Kubzansky, Jason Meisner and Madeline Buckley, 5352K] reports after federal immigration agents broke down the front door of an Elgin home and detained four people this week, the Department of Homeland Security featured them in a news release that declared they were illegal immigrants with serious criminal records. But when one of the men appeared in court, a federal judge had a different take. "This is the shortest report I’ve ever seen on anybody," U.S. Magistrate Judge Keri Holleb Hoatling said, waving his pretrial report in her hand. "He has a criminal history of nothing…There is no danger that I see to the community whatsoever." A promised immigration enforcement surge in the Chicago area appeared to escalate throughout the past week, with arrests and sightings of federal agents reported near schools, courthouses, workplaces and other venues. Tensions have run high. Tear gas was deployed on protesters Friday outside an ICE holding facility in west suburban Broadview, and activists, politicians and even the Mexican government escalated calls for a full, independent investigation into the shooting death of a motorist by an ICE agent after a traffic stop in Franklin Park. Immigration and Customs Enforcement meanwhile, has touted the effort, dubbed "Operation Midway Blitz," as a smashing success, saying Friday it had made 400 arrests in the first two weeks of the mission. Marcos Charles, the acting head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, told the Associated Press that 400 was a "solid number," adding that the figure includes arrests made by other federal agencies besides ICE who are assisting in the campaign. Charles said roughly 50% to 60% of the Chicago operation arrests were targeted arrests, meaning they were specific people that ICE was trying to find because they had committed a crime, had a final order of removal or had done something that put them on ICE’s radar. The rest were what’s often referred to as "collateral arrests," meaning people that ICE comes across during their operations who aren’t the person they’re looking for but are in the country illegally, so ICE can arrest them. But much remains unclear about the scope and character of the arrests, and social media videos and press releases from both ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that appear to cherry pick the "worst of the worst" cases stand as the only easily-accessible public information on the surge. Without public accountability tools like body-worn cameras or a full accounting of names, dates and other information about detainees, advocates, community members and officials are left to question ICE’s tactics, including last week’s fatal shooting of a man in west suburban Franklin Park.

AP [9/19/2025 10:43 AM, Valerie Gonzalez, 6K] reports that new revelations about conditions at a Texas detention facility for immigrant families have stoked ongoing concerns from attorneys representing children. The details are part of a lawsuit where the government is attempting to end protections for children. Declarations from families held at the facility in Dilley, Texas, which was reopened in March, described persistently cloudy water, delayed medical attention and long periods of time children are being detained. Allegations of children fighting adults for clean water, distraught children and a protracted medical response first surfaced during the summer while the federal government asked a federal judge to end a policy protecting immigrant children. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles, who presides over the case, heard arguments from the government, which wants to end the Flores Settlement agreement. The policy limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires safe and sanitary conditions. After Gee told the government last month to provide detention times, Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported that the number of children in custody over 72 hours decreased from an average of six days to five days in June and July, respectively. The “vast majority” spent less than 72 hours in CBP custody, the report stated. Attorneys representing the children reviewed the report and said some children are still being held for several weeks or months and often without justification.

Blaze [9/19/2025 12:15 PM, Julio Rosas, 1559K] reports the Department of Homeland Security fired back at Portland, Oregon’s accusations of "land use" violations at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the city during arresting operations. As previously reported by Blaze News, Mayor Keith Wilson (D) announced that his administration will be issuing the "land use violation" after 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.” Wilson’s office further took issue with wooden boards being placed over the building’s windows and doors, which were put in place by ICE to prevent damage from the numerous violent protests and riots by Antifa radicals. The DHS will be given an opportunity to appeal the city’s citation. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Blaze News the city’s investigation was not extensive enough to be taken seriously because it "amounts to nothing more than a FOIA request, without any effort to verify facts with ICE.” "Another day, another sanctuary politician attempting to prevent the brave men and women of ICE from removing the worst of the worst, including rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and gang members from the U.S. Mayor Wilson’s claims of substandard conditions at ICE facilities are categorically FALSE. All detainees receive proper meals, medical care, and access to family and legal counsel," McLaughlin continued. "Furthermore, the southwest Portland ICE facility is a processing center, not a detention center. Detainees are briefly processed before being transferred to detention facilities," she explained. "ICE has taken action to ensure that detainees are not held for more than 12 hours, including by increasing staffing and other resources provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill. Secretary Noem has called on states and local government to assist with bed and detention space — but Portland has not answered that call for its nation.”

Univision [9/19/2025 8: AM, Staff, 4932K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has revealed more information about the driver who hit a tree and killed six farmworkers for drunk driving. ICE shared with Univision 14 that Norberto Celerino, 53, has a criminal record, highlighting charges of possession of cocaine and driving under the influence of alcohol. In addition to being deported several times, the immigration agency said, the defendant would have used different aliases to evade justice. After the accident, Celerino was one of the survivors. However, since then, he has been hospitalized and in the custody of the authorities. According to the latest report, he will appear in court when he receives medical clearance. On the afternoon of September 7, Celerino was driving a Toyota minivan when he hit a tree along a vineyard on 6198 Pope Valley Road in Napa, California.

Los Angeles Times [9/20/2025 6:00 AM, Libor Jany and Hailey Wang, 14672K] reports at the same time that federal immigration enforcement ramped up across the Los Angeles area this summer, calls for help to local police plummeted. Emergency dispatch data reviewed by The Times show a major decrease in LAPD calls for service in June, during the weeks when sweeps by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies were met by large street protests in downtown Los Angeles. In a city where roughly a third of the population is foreign-born, the steep decline in calls adds to long-standing concerns from advocates that aggressive immigration enforcement leads to domestic abuse and other crimes going unreported because victims fear triggering deportations. In the two weeks after June 6, when the immigration raids kicked off, LAPD calls for service fell 28% compared with the same period last year — an average of roughly 1,200 fewer calls per day. LAPD officers responded to roughly 44,000 calls for service in that two-week span — versus nearly 61,000 calls during the same days in June 2024. The calls include reports of serious crimes, such as home break-ins and domestic disputes, along with instances when the public has sought help with noisy neighbors, loud parties and other routine matters. The data analyzed by The Times do not include all 911 calls — only LAPD calls for service, which are typically registered when a squad car is dispatched. Though multiple people may call 911 in connection with a single incident, in most cases only one LAPD call for service is recorded. The decrease was especially noticeable for LAPD calls responding to suspected domestic violence and other incidents related to family disputes, which fell this year by 7% and 16%, respectively, after the ICE activity increased. Although family-related calls later began to creep back to 2024 levels, those for domestic incidents kept declining.

Telemundo 52 [9/19/2025 1:43 PM, Dinorah Perez and Marvelia Alpizar, 93K] reports that Nory Sontay and her mother, Estela Ramos, went to their immigration appointment in Los Angeles last July, as they had done before. However, instead of returning home to Los Angeles, they were deported to Guatemala, their country of origin. Shortly after, her mother died of a liver condition she had suffered from for years. The young woman was an outstanding student at Manuel Contreras High School and had lived with her mother in Los Angeles for about 10 years. She says that, when she was detained, her mother’s medication was taken away. "They didn’t give her, her medication," Sontay says from Guatemala. "It was her medication that was giving her strength, and because she didn’t have it, she couldn’t take it anymore." Her mother was 45 years old at the time of her death. Mother and daughter left Guatemala after Estela Ramos was violently attacked by gang members as her son watched. They requested political asylum when the alleged perpetrator was released, but the request was rejected by an immigration judge due to lack of evidence. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told NBC that Estela Ramos received a medical evaluation and was prescribed medication during her brief stay at the Texas detention center. ICE adds that mother and daughter received due process and exhausted all legal options.

Newsmax [9/19/2025 10:36 PM, Mark Swanson, 4779K] reports the Department of Homeland Security released a 2025 study guide for migrants preparing for the U.S. citizenship test, dropping references to "diversity" and the phrase "nation of immigrants," Breitbart reported. The 88-page guide, issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and titled "One Nation, One People," presents national unity as a central theme. Each section promotes the idea of a single American identity, marking a shift that counters Democrat arguments that the United States is defined by global migration and competing cultural ties. "When applicants for naturalization take the Oath of Allegiance, they make important promises of loyalty to the United States. The promises that applicants make when they become a United States citizen are to: give up loyalty to other countries ... and be loyal to the United States," the study guide reads. The study guide scarcely mentions immigration, aside from a brief reference to Ellis Island. The word "immigrants" appears only a handful of times, while "citizen" and "citizenship" are cited more than 40 times, Breitbart reported.

Breitbart [9/19/2025 5:23 PM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) posted a 2025 study guide for migrants facing the U.S. citizenship test, and it notably excludes any progressive language about "Diversity" or a "Nation of Immigrants." Published by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the 88-page guide is titled "One Nation, One People." It spotlights the one nation theme on every page, rejecting Democrats’ claims that America’s homeland really belongs to global migrants along with their various cultural loyalties and rivalries. The administration’s post-diversity, citizen-centered "One Nation" theme is also being pushed via patriotic tweets from DHS.

New York Times [9/20/2025 3:00 AM, Amy Julia Harris, 153395K] reports every year, tens of thousands of young people scrape together money to obtain J-1 visas and travel to the United States, participating in a cultural exchange program that promises immersion in American life. But many of them have suffered abuse and mistreatment at the hands of their American employers in a poorly regulated program that is ripe for exploitation, a New York Times investigation has found. Some of the employers have forced visa workers to pack dog food on assembly lines in Iowa, hose out pig pens in Nebraska and pressure renters into signing leases in run-down apartment buildings in New York. The Times spent months reviewing thousands of pages of legal records and regulatory documents and talking to labor lawyers, researchers and J-1 visa workers. The investigation focused on the New York region, which draws more of the workers than nearly anywhere else in the country, and on the visa holders who experts say are most susceptible to abuse: seasonal workers, interns and trainees.

Washington Post [9/20/2025 6:00 AM, Maham Javaid, 32099K] reports the United States has begun applying an additional level of scrutiny to Palestinian asylum seekers requesting refuge after entering the country legally, documents show. The Department of Homeland Security directed last month that asylum applications by anyone of Palestinian identity regardless of their national origin be diverted for an additional review to the quality assurance office — a step lawyers said they had not encountered before as an across-the-board policy for an entire identity group. The process to seek asylum, a protected legal status for people fleeing violence or persecution, has all but ground to a halt under President Donald Trump at the U.S.-Mexico border. But the new directive affects “affirmative” cases, those filed by people already in the country legally, which continue to move through the system. The new policy applies to any Palestinian applicant or dependent “who holds a Palestinian refugee travel document or a Palestinian Authority passport,” “Was born in or has been a habitual resident of the Palestinian territories,” or “Otherwise affirmatively identifies as Palestinian,” according to an Aug. 14 email from the quality assurance office to the asylum office’s field and district leadership, reviewed by The Washington Post. The email advised asylum officers to “be on the lookout for Palestinian cases filed under other countries of citizenship, particularly Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and potentially other countries where the applicant holds a Palestinian travel document.” The quality assurance office reviews high-sensitivity or high-profile case and trains asylum officers, according to immigration attorneys.

AP [9/19/2025 2:03 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst, 37974K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to let it enforce a passport policy for transgender and nonbinary people that requires male or female sex designations based on birth certificates. The Justice Department appealed a lower-court order allowing people use the gender or “X” identification marker that lines up with their gender identity. It’s the latest in a series of emergency appeals from the Trump administration, many of which have resulted in victories amid litigation, including on banning transgender people from the military. The government argues it can’t be required to use sex designations it considers inaccurate on official documents. The plaintiffs, meanwhile, say the policy violates the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans. The State Department changed its passport rules after Trump, a Republican, handed down an executive order in January declaring the United States would “recognize two sexes, male and female,” based on what it called “an individual’s immutable biological classification.” Transgender actor Hunter Schafer, for example, said in February that her new passport had been issued with a male gender marker, even though she submitted the application with the female gender marker she’s used for years on her driver’s license and passport. A judge blocked the Trump administration policy in June after a lawsuit from nonbinary and transgender people, some of whom said they were afraid to submit applications. An appeals court left the judge’s order in place. The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to put the order on hold while the lawsuit plays out. “The Constitution does not prohibit the government from defining sex in terms of an individual’s biological classification,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. He pointed to the high court’s recent ruling upholding a ban on transition-related health care for transgender minors. The courts conservative majority found that law doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sex, and Sauer argued that finding also supports the Trump administration’s decision to change passport rules issued in 2021. An attorney for the plaintiffs, on the other hand, said the passport rules are discriminatory. “This administration has taken escalating steps to limit transgender people’s health care, speech, and other rights under the Constitution, and we are committed to defending those rights,” said Jon Davidson, senior counsel for the LGBTQ & HIV Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.

New York Times [9/20/2025 5:00 AM, Farnaz Fassihi, 153395K] reports when the United Nations General Assembly gathers in New York City next week, the war in Gaza and the issue of Palestinian statehood will dominate much of the debate. But notably absent will be the Palestinian leaders themselves. The Trump administration has denied visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his delegation. Because the United Nations headquarters is in New York City, the United States is the country that issues visas to the leaders and diplomats who travel to the event. The State Department said that the decision to deny Mr. Abbas a visa was made on grounds of national security. France, Britain, Canada and Australia are expected to announce their formal recognition of the state of Palestine on Sept. 22, at a conference with more 100 other countries about a two-state solution, a day before the General Assembly officially begins. The United States opposed the conference and says Palestinian statehood must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

USA Today [9/19/2025 4:46 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 64151K] reports an 11-year-old Texas girl recovering from brain surgery hasn’t been able to see her doctor for seven months. The girl, an American citizen, was arrested with her parents in February while driving to a doctor’s appointment for follow-up after surgery to remove a brain tumor. They were quickly deported to her parents’ native Mexico early in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. On Sept. 18, her lawyers stood with Democratic lawmakers outside the U.S. Capitol, asking that the girl, who they called "Sara," be allowed back into the country with her parents for treatment. The family, originally from the Rio Grande Valley, has sought humanitarian parole, which allows people outside the country to enter the United States for "urgent humanitarian reasons." They are waiting to hear back from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after submitting their application in June. The 11-year-old girl lacks Mexican citizenship, so she’s unable to access Mexico’s universal health care system, Woodward said. She’s only been able to receive two MRI scans. A recent scan came after the girl’s parents noticed behavioral changes and seizures, Woodward said, adding there aren’t specialized doctors nearby to treat her.

Reuters [9/20/2025 7:09 AM, Haripriya Suresh, 45746K] reports imposing a new $100,000 annual fee on H-1B visa applications could disrupt the global operations of Indian technology services companies that deploy skilled professionals to the United States, India’s IT industry body Nasscom said on Saturday. The White House announced the new fee on Friday, prompting some major U.S. tech firms to advise visa holders to either remain in the country or return there quickly. The new fee marks Washington’s most high-profile attempt to overhaul the country’s temporary employment visa system. Nasscom, representing India’s $283 billion IT and business process outsourcing industry, said the abrupt rollout of the policy would impact Indian nationals and disrupt continuity of ongoing onshore projects for the country’s technology services firms. The industry body said the one-day deadline for the new policy created "considerable uncertainty for businesses, professionals, and students across the world." It also said the new policy could have "ripple effects" on the U.S. innovation ecosystem and on global job markets, pointing out that for companies, "additional cost will require adjustments". Microsoft, JPMorgan, and Amazon responded to the announcement by advising employees holding H-1B visas to remain in the United States, according to internal emails reviewed by Reuters.

Reuters [9/20/2025 2:55 AM, Staff, 45746K] reports South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it will assess the impact of the U.S. H-1B visa worker changes on South Korean companies and professional workers seeking to enter the United States and with the U.S. side as needed. The Trump administration said on Friday it would ask companies to pay $100,000 per year for H-1B worker visas, prompting some big tech companies to warn visa holders to stay in the U.S. or return quickly if they were out of the country.

Daily Caller [9/19/2025 4:18 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports the Trump administration has gone four straight months without paroling a single illegal migrant into the country as the southern border remains historically quiet. Border Patrol agents made 6,319 apprehensions along the U.S.-Mexico border during August, resulting in an average of just 204 arrests per day, according to the latest figures released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Slightly under 26,200 border encounters were made nationwide during the entire month, a figure that is 93% lower than the monthly national average during the Biden administration era. The low border numbers in August resulted in no need for "parole," in which illegal migrants are caught by border agents and then quickly released from custody when detention centers are too overcrowded. The Trump administration has boasted of zero parole releases in May, June, July and August. The sharp turnaround began soon after President Donald Trump started work on several initiatives aimed at reducing illegal immigration and tightening border security. While the border has become quiet, the Trump administration has stepped up enforcement in the interior of the country.

DailySignal [9/19/2025 5:35 PM, Virginia Allen, 668K] reports retired Border Patrol agents are returning to the agency amid soaring morale levels, according to U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks. The chief, speaking at an event in Washington, D.C., on Friday hosted by the Center for Immigration Studies, said that after more than 30 years in the Border Patrol, he has "never seen morale this high." Additionally, thousands of agents who had submitted forms to retire have now pulled their paperwork back and decided to remain in the Border Patrol after President Donald Trump’s election victory, the chief said. Border Patrol has also launched a program for agents to return who left the Border Patrol during the Biden administration and went to other law enforcement jobs. For agents who joined the Border Patrol during the Biden administration, a new program called Back to the Basics is "pairing up these younger agents that have only been allowed to process for four years with those seasoned agents," Banks said.

Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 5:49 PM, Emily Hallas, 1563K] reports President Donald Trump’s tough enforcement of immigration laws could push illegal border crossings down to zero, a top Homeland Security official suggested on Friday. Border crossings have already tanked in the seven months since Trump took office. Banks outlined a number of changes pushed by the White House that could make numbers drop even further, including enforcing existing immigration laws, expanding federal and state partnerships, and working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the military to target those in the country without legal status. In the wake of the top-down shift from Washington, there has been a dramatic surge in prosecution rates for crossing the border illegally, Banks said. Meanwhile, recruitment levels at Border Patrol have broken records every month since Trump took office, giving the government additional manpower, along with a higher-quality pool of candidates, to detain illegal immigrants. And attrition rates are improving, with "thousands" of agents pulling their retirement paperwork since January, Banks said.

Washington Times [9/19/2025 11:36 AM, Stephen Dinan, 964K] reports the number of illegal immigrants detected crossing the southern border rose in August, though the numbers are still far below any month under President Biden. Border Patrol agents nabbed 6,321 people along the U.S.-Mexico boundary last month, up from 4,596 in July — an increase of 38%. Even with that increase, it’s still the third-best number on record, and well below the more than 58,000 people whom agents apprehended in August 2024 under Mr. Biden. Customs and Border Protection officials also said August marked the fourth straight month that the Border Patrol didn’t have to use “parole,” a form of catch-and-release, on any illegal immigrants. By contrast, the Biden administration paroled more than 10,000 migrants in August 2024. Nationwide, CBP reported encountering 26,191 unauthorized migrants. That includes the Border Patrol arrests at the northern and southern boundaries as well as migrants who lack visas but show up at official border crossings or airports and seaports demanding entry. That figure is up from about 24,600 the previous month.

Univision [9/20/2025 3:24 AM, Francisco Cobos, 4932K] reports the Border Patrol reiterated that the border with Mexico remains closed and warned about fake videos on social media encouraging immigrants to cross illegally. Authorities warn that those attempting to enter the US without authorization will be detained and could face criminal charges. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Detroit Free Press [9/19/2025 8:51 AM, Christina Hall, 3744K] reports a plea hearing and sentencing are set for November for a Chinese national accused of smuggling into the United States a fungus that federal prosecutors said can causes a disease in crops. Yunqing Jian, 33, was arraigned Sept. 18 after a new criminal information was filed a day earlier charging her in U.S. District Court in Detroit with conspiracy, smuggling and making false statements. A not guilty plea was entered at the arraignment, according to court records. They indicate the case will be resolved in a plea hearing and sentencing on Nov. 13. One of Jian’s attorneys, James Gerometta, said her lawyers had no comment. Jian, who was conducting research at a University of Michigan lab, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, who prior court documents say worked at Zhejiang University in China and conducted research on the same biological pathogen, were charged in federal court in June. Liu allegedly smuggled the fungus into the country at Detroit Metro Airport in clear plastic baggies in his backpack in July 2024. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers denied him entry and processed him for expedited removal back to China, according to an earlier affidavit filed in court. Court records say that around August 2022, Jian sought advice from Liu about how to hide seeds when going through airport security upon entering the U.S.

NewsNation [9/19/2025 5:11 PM, Ali Bradley, Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports as multiple federal immigration agencies work together to go after what the Trump administration considers the "worst of the worst," advanced planning remains critical for officers and agents carrying out their mission. NewsNation got an exclusive look at U.S. Border Patrol agents arresting two migrants being targeted by federal agents in suburban Mount Prospect, Illinois, as part of Operation Midway Blitz. One of the men, a Mexican national, was taken into custody after previously being convicted of felony counterfeiting, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Another man was also taken into custody as a what federal officials consider a collateral arrest because officials say he has remained in the United States illegally. The arrests were completed Thursday in less than five minutes, which Border Patrol officials told NewsNation is a testimony to the prep work that goes into their targeted enforcement operations. Both men will remain in federal custody pending immigration proceedings.

FOX News [9/19/2025 11:15 AM, Brooke Taylor, 40019K] reports four people are facing charges in a shocking child-smuggling case out of El Paso, Texas. The four are accused of smuggling unaccompanied children between five and 13 years old from Juárez, Mexico, into the United States, posing as the children’s parents at Border Patrol checkpoints and sedating them with marijuana gummies. Mexican nationals Susana Guadian and Daniel Guadian, their daughter, Dianne Guadian, a U.S. citizen; and Manuel Valenzuela, a legal U.S. resident living in El Paso, were charged in the Western District of Texas with conspiracy to transport aliens and bringing aliens to the U.S. for financial gain. Officials are working on extraditing the Mexican nationals to the U.S. to face their charges, according to Jason Stevens, the Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso. "They would have the drivers pose as their parents and provide U.S. documents, falsely claiming that the documents belong to those children that were being smuggled," Stevens said. According to the criminal complaint, the smuggling events happened between May 1, 2024, and Oct. 18, 2024. During at least one smuggling event, one child was taken to the hospital after taking gummy candies laced with marijuana. "We’ve seen everything from Benadryl to now these gummies being used to be able to sedate the children," Stevens added. "They would normally bring them in overnight between 10 a.m. and 4 or 5 a.m., when the children would be sleeping anyway. They use that to ensure that they stay sedated, and that way they’re less likely to answer questions or provide anything that’s going to be inconsistent or contrary to what the smuggler’s saying.” The criminal complaint includes text messages to the suspect, which translate to English, "Young lady, are you working today? I have a boy 7 and 8. They are small," and another text reads, "Also Fanny, I have two little girls ages 4 and 5.” Proof-of-life pictures of some of the children were found on the suspects’ phones.

AP [9/19/2025 6:30 PM, Staff, 27036K] reports lawyers for an Oregon firefighter who was taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol agents while fighting a Washington state wildfire filed a petition in federal court Friday asking a judge to order his release from an immigration detention facility. The Oregon man, Rigoberto Hernandez Hernandez, and one other firefighter were part of a 44-person crew fighting a blaze in the Olympic National Forest on Aug. 27 when the agents took them into custody during a multiagency criminal investigation into the two contractors for whom the men were employed. Lawyers with the Innovation Law Lab said during a press conference that his arrest was illegal and violated U.S. Department of Homeland Security polices that say immigration enforcement must not be conducted at locations where emergency responses are happening. The Bear Gulch Fire, one of the largest in the state, had burned 29 square miles (75 square kilometers) by Friday and was 9% contained. The Border Patrol said at the time that the two workers were in the U.S. illegally so they were detained. Federal authorities did not provide information about the investigation into the contractors. Lawyer Rodrigo Fernandez-Ortega said they filed a petition for habeas corpus and a motion for a temporary restraining order that seeks the man’s release from the Northwest ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to The Associated Press that the two men were not firefighters — they were working in a support role cutting logs into firewood. “The firefighting response remained uninterrupted the entire time,” she said. “U.S. Border Patrol’s actions did not prevent or interfere with any personnel actively engaged in firefighting efforts.” A spokesperson for the Border Patrol declined to comment, saying they don’t comment on active or pending litigation. Six Democratic Oregon Congressional leaders sent a press release late Friday calling on the release of the firefighter. “It’s outrageous for the Trump Administration to trample on the due process rights of emergency responders who put their lives on the line to protect Oregonians’ safety,” said Sen. Ron Wyden. Sen. Jeff Merkley and four representatives said the arrests put communities in danger and stoke fear. After Hernandez was taken into custody in August, his lawyers were unable to locate him for 48 hours, which caused distress for his family, Fernandez-Ortega said. He has been in the Tacoma facility ever since, they said.

Los Angeles Times [9/20/2025 6:00 AM, Brittny Mejia, 14672K] reports the lights never dimmed and Angel Minguela Palacios couldn’t sleep. He pulled what felt like a large sheet of aluminum foil over his head, but couldn’t adjust to lying on a concrete floor and using his tennis shoes as a pillow. He could smell unwashed bodies in the cramped room he shared with 40 detainees. He listened as men, many of them arrested at car washes or outside Home Depots, cried in the night for their loved ones. Minguela, 48, lay in the chilly downtown Los Angeles ICE facility known as B 18 and thought about his partner of eight years and their three children. In his 10 years in the United States, he had built a secure life he had only dreamed of in Mexico, ensconced in their humble one-bedroom rented home, framed photos of the family at Christmas, his “#1 Dad” figurine. Now it was all falling apart. The morning of Aug. 14, Minguela had been on his last delivery of the day, dropping off strawberries to a tearoom in Little Tokyo. He didn’t know that Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a news conference there to inveigh against President Trump’s efforts to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives through redistricting in Texas. U.S. Border Patrol agents were massing nearby, creating a show of force outside the event. As they moved in, one agent narrowed in on Minguela’s delivery van. Soon, he was in handcuffs, arrested for overstaying a tourist visa. As his lawyer put it, Minguela became “political, collateral damage.” Over the six days he spent in B 18, a temporary immigration processing center, Minguela watched as several detainees chose to self-deport rather than remain in detention. The harsh conditions, Minguela said, felt intentional. He knew he needed to stay for his family. But he wondered if he’d make it.

San Francisco Chronicle [9/19/2025 9:01 AM, Aileen Teague, 3790K] reports that a new plan to dismantle cartel-run drug-smuggling corridors along the U.S. southern border was announced by the U.S. administration in mid-August 2025 to great fanfare. "Project Portero" will see the Drug Enforcement Administration collaborate with Mexican law enforcement, prosecutors, defense officials and members of the intelligence community to establish a coordinated strategy striking at the heart of drug gangs’ command-and-control. DEA Administrator Terrance Cole described the initiative as "a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement," adding: "We will pursue it relentlessly until these violent organizations are dismantled." The problem? Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, denied that any such initiative exists. "The DEA issues the statement, we don’t know based on what," said Sheinbaum on Aug. 19. "We haven’t reached any agreement — none of the security institutions have — with the DEA." The United States’ and Mexico’s seemingly divergent positions against the drug trade raise doubts about the nations’ ability to work together meaningfully to curb the fentanyl trade. And any concerns Mexican authorities may have harbored about working with President Donald Trump will surely not have been assuaged by U.S. unilateral military strikes on Venezuelan boats the White House alleges were trafficking fentanyl. Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, condemned the action as a "military attack on civilians not at war."

Bloomberg [9/19/2025 10:30 AM, Jason Leopold, 19085K] reports FEMA has long been a punching bag for certain individuals with a political axe to grind. Last year, following twin hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida that resulted in at least 250 deaths and a combined $113 billion in damage, the agency became the subject of a misinformation campaign that played out on social media over its hurricane relief efforts. In the Oct. 25, 2024 edition of FOIA Files, I spotlighted a handful of pages of documents I obtained from the US Forest Service that revealed how misinformation associated with Hurricane Milton led armed militia to threaten and hunt down FEMA workers in North Carolina. The menacing behavior temporarily hampered relief efforts. I knew there were many more documents that could expose the extent of the threats FEMA personnel confronted. In the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes, I filed a Freedom of Information Act request with FEMA for a wide-range of documents about the threats and the agency’s response. Nearly a year later, FEMA sent me more than 500 pages. As Zahra, Davey and I reported yesterday, the documents are chilling and contain details of previously unreported threats, such as the “swatting” of then-FEMA Director Deanne Criswell and the doxxing of at least seven senior FEMA staffers. The torrent of intimidating social media posts directed at Criswell and other FEMA personnel led the agency’s security team to hire the cybersecurity firm ZeroFox to track social media platforms to identify threatening posts and request that the companies remove them, according to the documents. (FEMA’s contract with ZeroFox was canceled in April, an agency spokesperson said.)

NewsMax [9/19/2025 9:32 PM, Michael Katz, 4779K] reports the prosecution rested Friday in the trial of Ryan Routh, accused of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September 2024. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kimberly McGreevy was the government’s final witness, testifying throughout the day about the digital trail Routh left as he allegedly planned to shoot Trump at the Trump International Golf Club, ABC News reported. Jurors have heard more than a week of testimony from law enforcement officers, expert witnesses and others who described what prosecutors said was an elaborate plot. McGreevy said Routh, 59, spent the month before the incident living out of a gas station in Palm Beach County, with receipts, cell tower data and license plate reader evidence showing his movements. "He was living at the truck stop, conducting physical and electronic surveillance, stalking the president," McGreevy told jurors. Prosecutors said Routh, a construction worker from North Carolina, was hiding near the course on Sept. 15, 2024, when a Secret Service agent spotted him with a rifle barrel protruding through a fence line. Routh allegedly fled in a black Nissan Xterra and was arrested later that day on a nearby interstate. Representing himself, Routh will begin his defense Monday before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who previously oversaw the Biden administration’s classified documents prosecution against Trump before dismissing it. Routh is expected to call three witnesses, including a firearms expert, and told the court testimony would likely take less than a day, according to the Palm Beach Post. Cannon said closing arguments are expected Tuesday, meaning jurors could begin deliberating as early as next week. Routh faces five charges: attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer, using a firearm in furtherance of a crime, possessing a firearm as a felon, and possessing a firearm with a defaced serial number. The most serious charge carries a potential life sentence. After prosecutors rested, Routh moved for acquittal on four of the five charges, arguing the government had not proved intent. "The gun was never fired, and nothing ever happened as far as taking a substantial step to kill the former president," he said, according to the Post. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley countered that Routh purchased a rifle in the weeks before the incident and loaded it on the day in question, pointing it through a fence as Trump played golf. Routh also argued he had a right to protest at the golf course. Shipley rejected that claim: "Peaceful protest is one thing. An assassination attempt is another.” Cannon denied Routh’s acquittal motions, ruling that all five charges will go to the jury.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [9/19/2025 7:25 PM, Peter Charalambous, 27036K]
NPR [9/19/2025 6:47 PM, Greg Allen, 34837K]

FOX News [9/19/2025 6:33 AM, Staff, 40019K] reports federal law enforcement agencies are monitoring for threats ahead of Charlie Kirk’s memorial service in Arizona this weekend, according to a new report. They are "tracking several threats of unknown credibility," according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by ABC News. "Violent extremists and unaffiliated lone offenders may view the memorial service or related events as attractive attack targets due to the attendance of these individuals, other senior U.S. government officials, state and local government officials, and political activists and due to major international media attention," the memo reportedly says. Federal authorities have long warned about potential lone wolf attackers. "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," the U.S. Secret Service’s Special Agent in Charge of Phoenix William Mack said in a statement. "Together, we are fully committed to ensuring that these solemn events receive the comprehensive protection and support they require.” The Department of Homeland Security also designated the memorial as a Special Event Assessment Rating Level 1, "reserved for events of the highest national significance" and the same severity as the Super Bowl.

Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 9:15 AM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K] reports Federal law enforcement agencies said they are "tracking several threats of unknown credibility" against attendees of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday. The memorial service is open to the public and will be held at the massive State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, in Glendale, Arizona, a large suburb of Phoenix. President Donald Trump, high-level administration officials, and Republican lawmakers are expected to attend. "Violent extremists and unaffiliated lone offenders may view the memorial service or related events as attractive attack targets due to the attendance of these individuals, other senior US government officials, state and local government officials, and political activists and due to major international media attention," according to the memo obtained by ABC News issued by federal agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The memorial service has been designated a Special Event Assessment Rating Level 1 event, DHS confirmed to the Washington Examiner. Federal law enforcement said there is no evidence of a verified, credible plot against the memorial. Lone actors remain the top threats, the memo said. The stadium has a capacity of about 63,000 people. Members of the public can register for the event using their name, email, phone number, and ZIP code. The event is already a high-security affair, and the Secret Service is set to face a major test of its abilities at a time of increased scrutiny. William Mack, the Secret Service special agent in charge of the Phoenix field office, told ABC News that the agency is designated as the federal coordinator for the memorial.

FOX News [9/19/2025 12:29 PM, Diana Stancy, 40019K] reports that President Donald Trump’s security is under the spotlight in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination — just a year after two assassination attempts against the president. While the Secret Service has initiated a host of changes to the agency to prevent another assassination attempt on the president in the past year, the president is constantly under threat. And he’s poised to visit a huge stadium Sunday for Kirk’s memorial service, which is fertile ground for more threats. Trump is slated to attend Kirk’s memorial service at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The venue has the capacity to host 63,400 people and can accommodate up to 73,000 for "mega-events," according to its website. A senior administration official confirmed to Fox News Digital Friday that federal law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, distributed a report Thursday warning that they are monitoring "several threats of unknown credibility" against Trump, Vice President JD Vance and others planning to attend Kirk’s memorial service. The assessment claims that the memorial may be an attractive target for violent extremists or lone wolf actors due to the significant media coverage it’s expected to attract. Tim Miller, who served as a Secret Service agent during Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s administrations, said that Secret Service knows that the "threat picture" has likely never been higher for any other president and will be providing the highest level of protection possible during the memorial event. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

(B) NBC News Daily [9/19/2025 1:01 PM, Staff] reports that a funeral and massive memorial to honor Charlie Kirk will take place at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday. The Department of Homeland Security is categorizing it as one of the highest levels of federal security needed for an event, comparing it to the Super Bowl. Top officials from the White House are expected to attend, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

The Hill [9/19/2025 3:23 PM, Ella Lee, 12414K] reports federal authorities are tracking "several threats of unknown credibility" against people planning to attend a Sunday memorial service in Arizona for Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was fatally shot last week in Utah. Threats to President Trump, Vice President Vance and members of Kirk’s family were among those being investigated, two law enforcement sources confirmed to The Hill’s sister network, NewsNation. The threats were neither verified nor conclusively credible, but threats of unknown credibility must still be thoroughly investigated, the sources said. The details about potential threats emerged in a law enforcement assessment circulated by federal agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Secret Service. The memorial will be held Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., where the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals play. Some 70,000 people are expected to attend the service. DHS designated the service as a Special Event Assessment Rating (SEAR) Level 1 event, meaning the event will have Super Bowl-level security.

(B) CNN News Central [9/19/2025 3:32 PM, Staff] reports that video released from the Department of Homeland Security shows members of the Coast Guard jumping onto a boat suspected of being involved in narco-trafficking. DHS says Operation Pacific Viper has resulted in the arrest of nearly 60 people for suspected drug trafficking since early August. More than 75,000 pounds of cocaine have been seized from the drug enforcement operation, according to DHS.

DefenseScoop [9/19/2025 3:30 PM, Brandi Vincent, 150K] reports as the Trump administration unleashes a new strategy targeting Latin American drug cartels determined to be “narcoterrorists” with direct military action, the Pentagon is moving to buy nonkinetic weapons that can disrupt, disable, or prevent the operation of small watercraft with minimal collateral damage or potential harm to nearby civilians and boat operators. Submissions from interested companies are due by Sept. 30 for the Defense Innovation Unit’s new Show Stopper commercial solutions opening (CSO) initiative. In it, DIU calls for prototypes that can be deployed by small Coast Guard boats while underway and are developed to the point where the government can begin testing in 60 days or less. “The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of War (DOW) are seeking solutions capable of reliably stopping non-compliant small watercraft without placing undue risk to the DHS/DOW personnel conducting these interdictions, operators/passengers onboard the non-compliant vessel (NCV), and nearby innocent civilians on the water,” the solicitation states. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order authorizing the Department of Defense and its leadership to rebrand and use “Department of War” as a secondary title. A formal, legal name change requires an act of Congress. The new CSO was released in the wake of multiple reports about the U.S. government using deadly force against alleged maritime drug traffickers at sea in recent weeks.

Axios [9/19/2025 5:39 PM, Sam Sabin, 14595K] reports a key cybersecurity law with broad bipartisan backing is in danger of expiring because of last-minute demands from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who seems reluctant to engage with the private sector or other committee members on the issue, congressional aides from both parties tell Axios. The authorities that expire in late September underpin most information sharing on cyber threats between the private sector and the U.S. government. If they lapse, that trading of information could cease next month, lawmakers and private sector executives have warned. The Senate Homeland Security Committee canceled a markup planned for Thursday on a bill that Paul, the committee’s chair, was introducing that would make major changes to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015. The law provides liability protections for companies that share threat intelligence with the U.S. government, including information that might suggest their own security was lacking. Paul’s draft bill, obtained by Axios, has proposed removing liability protections for companies if their security incidents are found to have violated their own user agreements and privacy policies.

Washington Post [9/20/2025 6:00 AM, Joseph Menn, 32099K] reports while many business sectors are still weighing the pluses and minuses of generative AI, criminal hackers are jumping in with both feet. They have figured out how to turn the artificial intelligence programs proliferating on most computers against users to devastating effect, say cybersecurity experts who express deepening concerns about their ability to fend off cyberattacks. Hackers can now turn AI into a kind of sorcerer’s apprentice, threat analysts say. Something as simple and innocuous as a Google calendar invite or an Outlook email can be used to task connected AI programs with spiriting away sensitive files without tripping any security alarms. Compounding the problem is the rapid and sometimes ill-considered pace of new AI product deployments, whether by executives eager to please investors or employees on their own initiative, even in defiance of their IT departments. “It’s kind of unfair that we’re having AI pushed on us in every single product when it introduces new risks,” said Alex Delamotte, a threat researcher at security company SentinelOne. Security often lags in the adoption of any new technology, such as cloud computing, which likewise grew popular based on the advantages it offered. But because generative artificial intelligence can do much more than even that breakthrough technology, its powers can cause more damage when abused.

CBS News [9/19/2025 10:18 AM, Melissa Quinn, 45245K] reports President Trump announced on social media Wednesday that he’s designating antifa as a "major terrorist organization." But what that action would mean for the movement remains unclear, given that antifa has no official leadership or organization structure, and the president lacks authority to designate domestic terrorist organizations, experts say. The president’s announcement comes as he and his supporters continue to denounce "radical left wing political violence" following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week. After Kirk’s killing, Mr. Trump blamed rhetoric from the "radical left," saying that it is "directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today, and it must stop right now.” Officials described the attack on Kirk as "targeted," and family members of the suspected shooter, Tyler Robinson, said he had "become more political" in recent years. Robinson wrote in text messages to his roommate that he had carried out the attack because he "had enough of [Kirk’s] hatred," according to court filings. There has not been evidence presented to the public linking Robinson to antifa. This is not the first time Mr. Trump has argued antifa poses a threat — in his first term, he claimed the movement was behind looting and rioting during protests against police brutality in 2020. A November 2021 report on anarchist and left-wing violence in the U.S. from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism and the National Counterrorism, Innovation, Technology and Education Center noted that the first Trump administration largely labeled the threat from anarchist violent extremists as originating from antifa. Luke Baumgartner, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, said the president does not have the authority to designate domestic terrorist organizations, even if this were an "organization.” "There is no legal mechanism that I’m aware of within U.S. code that would give the president or the federal government the power to declare a domestic ‘group’ as a major terrorist organization or a major terrorist group," he said. The administration could, however, shift antifa to a higher priority for federal law enforcement, Baumgartner said, which could lead to more frequent investigations or arrests. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security don’t officially designate U.S. extremist groups as "domestic terrorist organizations," in part because of First Amendment concerns, according to CRS.

Washington Examiner [9/19/2025 8:59 AM, Brady Knox, 1563K] reports President Donald Trump has made liberal use of terrorist designations during his second term, giving the designation to 14 different groups and networks. These militant groups range from far-left anarchists in the U.S. to Central American drug cartels and Iranian-backed militias. The designations give Trump greater leeway to combat the groups. Here are the 14 groups and networks Trump has designated as terrorist organizations: Following the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a gunman with terms and slogans associated with antifa, short for Anti-Fascist Action, Trump announced that he would be designating the network a terrorist organization. “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 practice,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Known for its unmatched brutality among cartels, MS-13 was created by former Salvadoran commandos trained by the U.S. during the Salvadoran government’s struggle against communist insurgents. Originating in Los Angeles, the gang moved its center of operations back to its home country in the 1990s after the end of the Salvadoran Civil War. It quickly transformed El Salvador into the murder capital of the world, effectively running the country in a reign of terror. Tren de Aragua took MS-13’s place during Trump’s second term as his most focused-on gang. Beginning in a Venezuelan prison, it soon became the largest gang in crime-ridden Venezuela, exporting operations to the U.S. The same day he designated MS-13 and Tren de Aragua FTOs, Trump also gave the designation to six Mexican drug cartels: Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), Cártel de Golfo (CDG), and Cárteles Unidos (CU). What originally began as a pacifist movement has evolved into one of the most potent militias on Earth, boasting hundreds of thousands of fighters, high-tech missiles and drones, and controlling one of the most strategically valuable regions on the planet. So far, they have staved off attacks from dozens of nations, including neighboring Saudi Arabia and a U.S.-led coalition. Combating Iranian influence has been one of Trump’s main foreign policy goals during both his administrations. He continued this on Wednesday, designating four Iraqi militias as FTOs: Harakat al-Nujaba, Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, and Kata’ib al-Imam.

CBS Philadelphia [9/19/2025 1:03 PM, Jessica MacAulay, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Philadelphia police have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with a mass shooting in the city’s Grays Ferry neighborhood that left three people dead and nine others injured just days after the Fourth of July. The 17-year-old suspect was arrested inside a home on the 1500 block of South 25th Street in Grays Ferry after investigators executed a search warrant at the residence earlier Friday morning. Police said the suspect will be charged with murder, attempted murder, firearm violations and other related offenses in connection with the July 7 mass shooting. This is the fourth arrest Philadelphia police have made in the mass shooting, which happened on the 1500 block of South Etting Street just before 1 a.m. on July 7. Last month, police arrested 35-year-old Jihad Gray in South Philadelphia. Investigators recovered two handguns and a rifle during Gray’s arrest. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, weapons offenses and more, according to police. Just one week before Gray’s arrest, police arrested 21-year-old Daquon Brown in connection with the shooting. Brown was also charged with murder, attempted murder and gun offenses, police previously said.

NBC News [9/20/2025 5:00 AM, Allan Smith, Michael Kosnar, Kelly O’Donnell, and Ryan J. Reilly, 43603K] reports the federal investigation into the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has yet to find a link between the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, and left-wing groups on which President Donald Trump and his administration have pledged to crack down after the killing, three sources familiar with the probe told NBC News. One person familiar with the federal investigation said that "thus far, there is no evidence connecting the suspect with any left-wing groups." "Every indication so far is that this was one guy who did one really bad thing because he found Kirk’s ideology personally offensive," this person continued. In addition, two of the people familiar with the probe said it may be difficult to charge Robinson at the federal level for Kirk’s killing, while the third source said there is still an expectation that some kind of federal charge is filed against Robinson. Factors that have complicated the effort to bring charges at the federal level include that Robinsin, a Utah resident, did not travel from out of state; Kirk was shot during an open campus debate at Utah Valley University. Additionally, Kirk himself is not a federal officer or elected official, further complicating the matter. A Justice Department spokesperson said, "The investigation is ongoing and beyond that we decline to comment.”

Washington Post [9/19/2025 7:00 PM, Dan Lamothe and Ellen Nakashima, 110819K] reports that Drug Enforcement Administration officials advocated for a series of military strikes in Mexico earlier this year, alarming some in the White House and Pentagon and presaging the fraught debate underway in Washington over the legality of this month’s deadly attacks on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, people familiar with the matter said. The discussion began in the opening weeks of President Donald Trump’s return to office, after he designated numerous Latin American cartels and criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. DEA officials suggested both targeted killings of cartel leadership in Mexico and attacks on infrastructure there, these people said. Some spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of highly sensitive and private internal deliberations. The pushback on DEA’s advocacy, which has not been reported previously, illustrates the divisions that have arisen as the Trump administration has taken an aggressive posture toward combating what it says is a major adversary poisoning American citizens. And though DEA’s proposals for Mexico have not been acted upon, this month’s strikes on alleged drug boats from Venezuela show the administration’s determination to unleash deadly force despite internal legal concerns. DEA’s acting administrator at the time of these early conversations, Derek S. Maltz, told The Washington Post that he is "totally in favor" — and has been since Trump’s first term as president — "of hitting the production labs and command control leaders in Mexico."

Reuters [9/19/2025 12:12 PM, Alexander Cornwell, 45746K] reports that the United States has held talks with Gulf Arab states about the possibility that they could administer Gaza once the war is over, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told Reuters on Friday. Huckabee said there had been conversations around an interim governing structure involving Gulf Arab states, potentially with the U.S. taking on a supervisory role, with a decision on a permanent arrangement to be made later. "It’s a discussion. It’s not something that has been accepted by the administration, by Israel, by anyone. I’m not familiar with anything that is ready for signature," he said. After nearly two years of war, Israel has not clearly outlined how it wants Gaza to be governed, although there is broad international consensus that the militant group Hamas, heavily diminished by Israel’s siege, cannot remain in charge. Huckabee did not say when the talks took place or which Gulf states had been involved. The Gulf states did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside normal business hours. Reuters reported in January that the UAE had discussed with the U.S. and Israel participating in an interim post-war Gaza administration that included the Palestinian Authority. In May, it reported the U.S. had separately discussed the possibility of itself leading a temporary post-war administration. The PA, which exercises limited civic rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was forced out of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has said it is ready to govern Gaza with international support.

Wall Street Journal [9/19/2025 4:21 PM, Lara Seligman and Michael R. Gordon, 646K] reports Trump administration officials are in discussions with the Taliban about re-establishing a small U.S. military presence at Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base as a launch point for counterterrorism operations, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations. President Trump’s surprise announcement Thursday that he is seeking to reclaim Bagram Air Base is a potential component of a broader diplomatic effort to normalize relations with the Taliban, the people said. The talks—which are led by special envoy for hostage response Adam Boehler—include a potential prisoner exchange, a possible economic deal and a security component, according to a U.S. official. U.S. officials and the Taliban have discussed allowing the U.S. military to use Bagram as a “launch point” for counterterrorism operations, the U.S. official said. This could involve basing manned military aircraft or drones at the sprawling installation north of Kabul, which was the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan for the duration of a 20-year war that ended in 2021. A senior official in Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry, Zakir Jalaly, rejected the possible return of U.S. troops to Afghanistan in a social-media post, though he left the door open to other forms of cooperation. “Afghanistan and America need to engage with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common benefits, without America having military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” Jalaly wrote. “Military presence has never been accepted by Afghans in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but doors to other engagements have been opened.”

Reported similarly:
(B) KTVU FOX 2 News at Noon [9/19/2025 3:39 PM, Staff]

Washington Times [9/19/2025 7:34 AM, Ben Wolfgang, 964K] reports Taliban officials on Friday seemingly rejected the idea that American troops could return to Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base, a key military facility and regional hub for U.S. troops for nearly two decades but one that was given up during the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. The comments from Zakir Jalaly, an Afghan Foreign Ministry official, came just hours after President Trump told reporters that the U.S. is “trying to get it back,” referring to Bagram. “Donald Trump has mentioned the issue of a deal regarding Bagram. He is a successful businessman and dealmaker beyond politics, and he also refers to the retrieval of Bagram through a deal,” Mr. Jalaly wrote on X. “Afghanistan and America need to engage with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common benefits, without America having military presence in any part of Afghanistan,” he said. “Military presence has never been accepted by Afghans in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the [U.S.-Taliban] Doha talks and agreement, but doors to other engagements have been opened.” On Thursday, Mr. Trump raised the notion of returning U.S. troops to Afghanistan. He said such a step could be needed to combat Chinese aggression in the region. Mr. Trump, whose first administration negotiated the initial diplomatic deal with the Taliban that led to the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, stressed that his plan to leave Afghanistan after nearly two decades of war would’ve seen America keep control of the site. “We were going to leave Afghanistan, but we were going to leave it with strength and dignity, and we were going to keep Bagram, the big air base — one of the biggest air bases in the world,” Mr. Trump said during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday. “We’re trying to get it back by the way.” “One of the reasons we want the base is, as you know, it’s an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons,” Mr. Trump said. The president also said America has leverage over the Taliban that could force them to transfer the base back to the U.S. The Taliban has struggled with an economic crisis, international legitimacy and rival militant groups. But Mr. Jalaly’s comments seem to rule out any kind of deal with Washington.

NBC News [9/19/2025 12:00 PM, Chantal Da Silva, 43603K] reports that President Donald Trump has said he hopes to see Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan returned to U.S. control, suggesting a renewed American presence in the country now again ruled by the Taliban. "We’re trying to get it back," Trump said of Bagram during a news conference Thursday alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that capped a whirlwind state visit to the United Kingdom. Taking aim at the Biden administration’s fraught withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as a "total disaster," Trump criticized the decision to relinquish Bagram Airfield, which quickly fell under the control of the Taliban as they swept back into power in 2021. "We gave it to them for nothing," said Trump, who has long criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. "We want that base back," he said. About an hour’s drive north of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Bagram served for years as a crucial hub in the war against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. At its peak around 2012, the sprawling airfield saw more than 100,000 U.S. troops pass through its compound. Late Thursday, Zakir Jalaly, an official at the Afghan Foreign Ministry, dismissed the idea of Bagram returning to the U.S. "Afghanistan and the U.S. need to interact with each other and can have economic and political relations based on mutual respect and common interests," Jalaly said on the social platform X. "The Afghans have not accepted a military presence in history, and this possibility was completely rejected during the Doha talks and agreement, but the door is open for further interaction."

New York Times [9/19/2025 2:59 PM, Russell Goldman, 143795K] reports three Russian fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace on Friday for an unusually long period, some 12 minutes, in what Estonia’s foreign minister called an “unprecedentedly brazen” intrusion over the NATO country. NATO responded to intercept the Russian jets, Allison Hart, the military alliance’s spokeswoman, said in a statement on X. “This is yet another example of reckless Russian behavior and NATO’s ability to respond,” she said. Tensions were already high after at least 21 Russian drones flew in Polish airspace 10 days ago, prompting NATO to scramble fighter jets to shoot down some of them. That incursion was regarded by Polish officials, who provided an updated count of the drones, as a deliberate effort to test the alliance’s readiness and a dangerous escalation of the war in Ukraine. The alliance conducts air policing over Estonia and the other Baltic nations in a mission called Baltic Sentry, and Russia has intruded into Estonian air space many times, but usually for very short periods. Friday’s incursion by three MIG-31 fighters was different and more prolonged, said Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna. The Russian jets filed no flight plans with the Estonian air authorities, their transponders were switched off and they were not in radio communication with Estonian air traffic control, according to an Estonian government statement. Finnish jets intercepted the Russian fighters over the Gulf of Finland, and once inside Estonian airspace, Italian F-35s deployed under Baltic Sentry took over and escorted out the Russian aircraft. “Russia has violated Estonian airspace four times already this year, which is unacceptable in itself, but today’s violation, during which three fighter jets entered our airspace, is unprecedentedly brazen,” Mr. Tsahkna said in a statement, which he issued in slightly different form on X. He called it “clear proof of Russia’s growing aggression.” Members of NATO should respond with more pressure on Moscow, Mr. Tsahkna said. “Russia’s ever-increasing testing of borders and aggressiveness must be responded to by rapidly strengthening political and economic pressure,” he said. Estonia summoned the Russian chargé d’affaires to protest the flights, the ministry said. Estonia’s prime minister, Kristen Michal, said he would seek urgent talks with his NATO allies.

Los Angeles Times [9/19/2025 12:52 PM, Wendy Lee, 12715K] reports that President Trump said Friday that he has reached a deal with China to keep the popular social video app TikTok running in the U.S. Trump said on his social media platform that he had a “very productive call” Friday morning with China’s President Xi Jinping. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance, a fact that prompted U.S. national security concerns over data protection. He suggested that Xi had approved the planned takeover of TikTok in the U.S., but did not provide details on what the leader’s sign-off entailed.

“We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote Friday. He added: “The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval, and both look forward to meeting at APEC!” Trump had signaled earlier this week that an agreement was coming. For months, TikTok’s future had been uncertain in the U.S., due to the national security worries. Trump in his social media post did not reveal much detail about the deal, but said this week that TikTok’s U.S. operations would be owned by American investors. “TikTok has tremendous value,” Trump said at a news conference Thursday, adding that the U.S. will be getting a “fee-plus” for making the deal. “I’d rather reap the benefits. The kind of money we are talking about is very substantial. It will be owned by all American investors.”

New York Times [9/19/2025 1:48 PM, Emmett Lindner, 143795K] reports President Trump appeared to suggest on Friday that a deal to separate TikTok from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, had been approved by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. In a post on Truth Social after a call with Mr. Xi, Mr. Trump wrote, “The call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval.” But he also said, “we made progress on many very important issues” including the approval of the TikTok deal. He did not elaborate on what the approval entailed. A readout of the call from a Chinese state-run news agency was similarly vague, but Mr. Xi appeared to support a commercial solution to TikTok. It reported that Mr. Xi said the Chinese government “respects the wishes of the company in question and is glad to see business negotiations in line with market rules and a solution that conforms to Chinese laws and regulations and takes into account the interests of both sides.” TikTok’s future has been in limbo in the United States since January, when a federal law took effect requiring the company to find a non-Chinese owner or face a ban in the United States. The law was intended to address national security concerns that the app’s ownership could give Beijing a channel to spread propaganda or to collect sensitive data about Americans. Mr. Trump has extended the deadline four times. ByteDance has for months been in talks to spin out the app’s American operations into a new company, and to bring on new U.S. investors, like the software giant Oracle, to dilute its Chinese ownership and satisfy the law’s requirements. The list of other potential investors has been in flux, two people familiar with the talks said. In a statement on Friday, ByteDance thanked the two leaders for “their efforts to preserve TikTok in the United States.” The company added that it would “work in accordance with applicable laws to ensure TikTok remains available to American users through TikTok U.S.” The fate of the app has also become entangled with trade negotiations between the United States and China, as the two sides have haggled over tariffs, China’s supply of minerals and other topics. In his post Friday, Mr. Trump said that he would meet Mr. Xi at a summit in South Korea this fall and go to China early next year, and that Mr. Xi would reciprocate. Mr. Trump has in the past heralded major deals that ended up falling short. The president has announced a flurry of trade deals this year, only to have some foreign trading partners subsequently dispute the terms he described. Some, like the trade agreements Mr. Trump announced with Vietnam and South Korea in July, have yet to be completed.

{End of Report} RETURN TO TOP