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.

Reuters [9/29/2025 6:11 AM, Brad Heath, 45746K] reports the number of people charged with breaking federal drug laws dropped to the lowest level in decades this year after the Trump administration ordered enforcement agencies to focus on deporting immigrants, a Reuters review of nearly 2 million federal court records found. So far this year, about 10% fewer people have been prosecuted for drug violations compared to the same period of 2024, court records show, a drop of about 1,200 cases and the slowest rate since at least the late 1990s. The pullback was more dramatic for the types of conspiracy and money-laundering cases often used to pursue higher-level traffickers. The number of people charged with money-laundering dropped by 24%, according to Reuters’ analysis. Shortly after taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump launched the broadest overhaul of U.S. law enforcement since the attacks of September 11, 2001. He ordered thousands of federal agents to focus on fending off what he described as an "invasion" of illegal immigration. The shift has produced a coast-to-coast slowdown in the types of investigations and prosecutions that the government had long viewed as central to taking on criminal networks, including the drug cartels whose products killed more than 80,000 people last year, as agents focused instead on quick-hit immigration raids, interviews and court documents show. "We’re seeing a reduced amount of time on long-term investigations so agents can go out in their raid gear and be seen supporting immigration raids," said a senior Justice Department official involved in those investigations, who, like others, asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [9/29/2025 7:04 AM, Brad Heath, 4779K]

New York Times [9/30/2025 2:34 AM, Farnaz Fassihi and Hamed Aleaziz, 330K] reports the Trump administration is deporting a planeload of around 100 Iranians back to Iran from the United States after a deal between the two governments, according to two senior Iranian officials involved in the negotiations and a U.S. official with knowledge of the plans. Iranian officials said that the plane, a U.S.-chartered flight, took off from Louisiana on Monday night and was scheduled to arrive in Iran by way of Qatar sometime on Tuesday. And the U.S. official confirmed that plans for the flight were in the final stages. All the officials spoke to New York Times on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details publicly. The deportation is one of the most stark efforts yet by the Trump administration to deport migrants no matter the human rights conditions they might be sent into. Earlier this year, the U.S. deported a group of Iranians, many of them converts to Christianity who face persecution at home, to both Costa Rica and Panama. The expanding deportation campaign has sparked lawsuits by immigrant advocates who have criticized the flights For decades, the United States had given shelter to Iranians fleeing their homeland, which has one of the harshest human rights records in the world. Iran persecutes women’s rights activists, political dissidents, journalists and lawyers, religious minorities and members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, among others. The identities of the Iranians and their reasons for trying to immigrate to the United States were not immediately clear. In the past several years, there has been an increase in Iranian migrants arriving at the southern U.S. border and crossing illegally, including many who have claimed fear of persecution back home for their political and religious beliefs. The United States had long hesitated or had trouble deporting migrants to certain countries like Iran because of a lack of regularized diplomatic relations and an inability to get travel documents in a timely manner. That had forced American officials to either hold migrants in detention for long periods or release them into the United States. The United States deported just more than two dozen Iranians back to the country in 2024, the highest total for years, over the course of several commercial flights. The two Iranian officials said the deportees included men and women, some of them couples. Some had volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not, they said. The officials said that in nearly every case, asylum requests had been denied or the people had not yet appeared before a judge for an asylum hearing. The deportation is a rare moment of cooperation between the United States and the Iranian government, and was the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries, the Iranian officials said.

NewsMax [9/29/2025 11:09 AM, Staff, 4779K] reports Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told Newsmax on Monday that protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities are becoming more sophisticated and coordinated — and federal agencies are working together to uncover who is bankrolling the unrest. In an interview on Newsmax’s "National Report," McLaughlin detailed how demonstrations in cities across the country are no longer just spontaneous gatherings. "We’re seeing that these protests, whether it be in Portland, whether it be in Los Angeles, whether it be in Chicago, they are becoming increasingly organized. There are people who are being bused in. They’re professional protesters. They do this as a full-time job for a living," McLaughlin said. "And so we’re following the money. We’re working as a whole-of-government approach that President Trump has directed. We’re working with the Treasury Department, Homeland Security Investigations, [and] FBI. Who is funding this chaos and violence?" McLaughlin highlighted a recent flashpoint in Broadview, Illinois, where ICE operates a detention facility. There, she said, agents recovered two firearms from protesters during an incident that could have turned deadly. "We just saw out of Broadview, which is a suburb out of Chicago. It’s a detention facility. We just took two firearms that were on protesters. Fortunately, no one was hurt," she said. The Illinois clash, McLaughlin added, is part of a pattern of escalating confrontations. She also referenced recent violence in Dallas as another example of how demonstrations have shifted from peaceful protest to what she called "chaos and violence.”

CBS News [9/30/2025 12:57 AM, Joe Walsh, 45245K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi signed a memo on Monday directing agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other Justice Department agencies to assist in guarding Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. The move by Bondi — which she hinted at on Friday — came after one detainee was killed and two others were injured in a shooting at an ICE field office in Dallas on Wednesday, the latest shooting or threat targeting an ICE facility or immigration agent in recent months. She cast that attack as the latest act of "extreme political violence.” In a memo shared on X, Bondi said the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should "immediately direct all necessary officers and agents to defend ICE facilities and personnel whenever and wherever they come under attack." She also announced the formation of a temporary "ICE Protection Task Force" that could include federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. She singled out Portland and Chicago for operations to protect ICE facilities, and said she’s directing federal prosecutors in both cities to seek charges against anybody accused of threatening or assaulting law enforcement. President Trump is also looking to deploy hundreds of troops to the two cities, drawing vehement opposition from local officials. ICE has said attacks on its agents have spiked this year, as the Trump administration uses the agency to dramatically increase arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants. In recent months, ICE operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York and elsewhere have drawn tense protests and clashes between agents and demonstrators. On Friday, Bondi also floated a broader crackdown on "repeated acts of violence and obstruction against federal agents." She directed the Joint Terrorism Task Forces — which are regional entities scattered throughout the country that work with the FBI and with state and local police — to look into what she described as "domestic terrorism.” "The Department of Justice will seek the most serious available charges against all participants in these criminal mobs, including conspiracy offenses, assault offenses, civil disorder offenses, and terrorism offenses," the attorney general wrote Friday. Last week, Mr. Trump signed a memo calling for investigations into "political violence and intimidation," led by the Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The White House pointed to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this month, last year’s assassination attempts against Mr. Trump, and an increase in attacks on ICE officers. The president also penned an executive order labeling antifa a domestic terrorist organization. The move’s legal implications aren’t clear. Antifa, short for "anti-fascist," generally refers to a loose collection of largely left-wing activists, not a cohesive organization with a leadership structure. Also, domestic terrorism isn’t a chargeable offense under federal law, and the government doesn’t have a formal list of domestic terrorist groups, unlike with foreign groups.

New York Times [9/29/2025 7:20 PM, Julie Bosman and Eric Schmitt, 153395K] reports one hundred National Guard troops will be deployed to Illinois at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. military officials said on Monday, a mobilization that would occur over the objections of Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a Democrat. President Trump has threatened for weeks to send the National Guard to the Chicago area, as he has done in Los Angeles and has promised to do in Portland, Ore., vowing to combat crime in cities led by Democrats. Mr. Pritzker denounced plans of a deployment, saying at a Monday afternoon news conference in Chicago that a D.H.S. memo had asserted that troops were needed to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities during a period in which federal authorities have intensified immigration arrests in the Chicago region. D.H.S. officials did not respond to a request for comment. “What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Mr. Pritzker said. “One thing is clear: None of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer.” Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago, a Democrat, also pushed back against the move, pointing out that violent crime in the city has dropped in recent years and the presence of National Guard troops would do little to assist local authorities in Chicago. It was unclear when troops would be deployed in Illinois or where they would be sent.

Breitbart [9/29/2025 3:43 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports dozens of Border Patrol agents walked a patrol in downtown Chicago in defiance of efforts to block immigration enforcement by Democrats Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker. The ICE walkabout, which netted a few arrests, is also a counterpoint to riots at the ICE center in Broadview, Ill. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino told the Chicago media that he and his agents are going forward with the consent of the U.S. Supreme Court to continue their immigration sweeps based on "many different factors," including, "agent experience, intelligence that indicates there’s illegal aliens in a particular place or location," and even "How do they look." Bovino also warned that he and his force of agents could fan out into the surrounding Chicago suburbs. The New York Post [9/29/2025 6:53 AM, Emily Crane, 43962K] reports armed federal agents in full tactical gear descended on downtown Chicago for the latest immigration crackdown — as President Trump warned, "Border Patrol will take no nonsense!". The scores of federalized troops were spotted patrolling the streets of some of the Windy City’s most prominent tourist and shopping hotspots during the ICE round-up starting Sunday afternoon. The surge targeted "the worst of the worst" illegal immigrants with criminal records, according to Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol chief. "We’ve always got a target that’s anyone who is here illegally," he insisted. It wasn’t immediately clear how many illegal migrants were nabbed in the Chicago operation. NewsNation [9/29/2025 4:37 PM, Ashlyn Wright, Michael Johnson, Brónagh Tumulty, Judy Wang, 6811K] reports WGN-TV crews observed agents in full uniform around 2 p.m., while Border Patrol boats patrolled the Chicago River nearby. The ongoing immigration enforcement effort in the Chicago area, which the Trump administration calls "Operation Midway Blitz," began in early September. On Sunday, Border Patrol agents in military fatigues were seen in and around locations like the Wrigley Building, Millennium Park, the Riverwalk, the Gold Coast and Clark Street in River North. The patrols were seemingly led by Gregory Bovino, Chief Patrol Agent for the U.S. Border Patrol El Centro Sector. He claimed the vast majority of residents were happy to see Border Patrol agents.

Blaze [9/29/2025 1:40 PM, Julio Rosas, 1559K] reports that U.S. Border Patrol agents, under Commander at Large Gregory Bovino, dispersed protesters who were blocking the road that leads to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building near Chicago on Saturday. The processing facility in Broadview has been heavily targeted in recent weeks by anti-ICE protesters in response to President Donald Trump ordering Operation Midway Blitz for the Chicago area. Until this past week, crowds have been able to form directly outside the facility, blocking the road and driveway in an attempt to prevent federal vehicles from entering or leaving. ICE installed temporary security fencing down the road from the building to prevent protesters and rioters from getting close. On Saturday, another anti-ICE crowd formed by the security fence and had to be ordered to clear the road multiple times by Border Patrol. During a lull in the confrontations, one woman was seen passing out large and small Mexican flags to protesters. The woman told Blaze News that someone else had come by to drop off the flags. After it became clear the crowd was not going to disperse and stop their attempts to impede federal law enforcement, Bovino and his agents came out for one final time to clear the crowd from the road. Agents used multiple canisters of tear gas, shot pepper balls, and confiscated homemade shields from the anti-ICE agitators. Border Patrol made multiple arrests as the formation moved down the road.

USA Today [9/29/2025 11:56 PM, Michael Loria, 64151K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters on Sept. 29 that he just learned that the Department of Homeland Security requested the National Guard deploy to the region, despite vociferous objections from local leaders. "What I have been warning of is now being realized," Pritzker said at a news conference. "This is not about fighting crime, this is about sowing fear and intimidation among Americans . . . This is about consolidating power in Donald Trump’s hands.” The governor said the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of War, formerly the Defense Department, requesting 100 troops from the Illinois National Guard. The troops, Pritzker said, are to be used to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out Trump’s Chicago-area immigration enforcement crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz. Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that the Department of War had received a request for troops. Parnell did not say if the National Guard would be deployed. "The Department of War has received a request for assistance to safeguard Federal personnel, property, and functions in the state of Illinois," Parnell told USA TODAY. "Any decisions will be made in accordance with established processes and announced at the appropriate time.” Trump has been saying since early September that he planned to send the National Guard to Chicago. But the White House has not deployed troops over the objections of local leaders. Illinois officials fear that Trump is using clashes between federal agents and anti-immigration enforcement protesters as justification to deploy soldiers. The president says the operation is aimed at catching "the worst of the worst" criminals who are immigrants. Illinois leaders say the Republican president’s goal is to take control of the heavily Democratic region. Illinois officials did not say when exactly National Guard members would deploy. Pritzker said the memo from Homeland Security to the War Department was the same avenue taken to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he was prepared to file a lawsuit against the White House if troops did deploy. In addition to Pritzker and Raoul, other local leaders at the Sept. 29 news conference included Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, whose village outside Chicago has become a hotbed of immigration enforcement and protest. The expected National Guard deployment comes about three weeks into the launch of Operation Midway Blitz. Department of Homeland Security officials said over 700 immigrants have been detained in connection with the operation. The federal immigration enforcement crackdown reflects a significant change of pace for the longtime sanctuary city of Chicago and surrounding areas. Research compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group that tracks immigration enforcement data, shows that over 6,000 detainees have gone through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the region, located in the Chicago suburb of Broadview. But the crackdown has sparked nearly around-the-clock protests at the immigration enforcement facility about 12 miles west of Chicago’s Willis Tower.

AP [9/30/2025 1:15 AM, Sophia Tareen, 27036K] reports that, the sight of armed, camouflaged and masked Border Patrol agents making arrests near famous downtown Chicago landmarks has amplified concerns about the Trump administration’s growing federal intervention across U.S. cities. As Illinois leaders warned Monday of a National Guard deployment, residents in the nation’s third-largest city met a brazen weekend escalation of immigration enforcement tactics with anger, fear and fresh claims of discrimination. "It looks un-American," said Chicago Alderman Brandon Reilly, who represents downtown on the City Council. He deemed the Sunday display a "photo opp" for President Donald Trump, echoing other leaders. Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon, also braced for a federal law enforcement surge. Meanwhile, Louisiana’s governor asked for a National Guard deployment to New Orleans and other cities. Trump has called the expansion of federal immigration agents and National Guard troops into American cities necessary, blasting Democrats for crime and lax immigration policies. Following a crime crackdown in the District of Columbia and immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, he’s referred to Portland as "war-ravaged" and threatened apocalyptic force in Chicago. "Whether it takes place here in the city or the suburbs, it’s all the same to us," Border Patrol agent Gregory Bovino said in Chicago. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a memo that also directs component agencies within the Justice Department, including the FBI, to help protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, including in Chicago and Portland. Here’s a snapshot of where things stand with federal law enforcement activity in Chicago, Portland, Memphis and New Orleans. Many Chicagoans were already uneasy after an immigration crackdown began earlier this month. Agents have targeted immigrant-heavy and largely Latino areas. Trump has waffled on sending the military, but Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday it appeared the federal government would deploy 100 troops. Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Defense Department requesting troops to protect ICE personnel and facilities.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [9/29/2025 8:35 PM, Heather Schlitz and Emily Schmall, 45746K]
Chicago Tribune [9/29/2025 4:31 PM, Jake Sheridan, Olivia Olander and Jeremy Gorner, 5352K]

Reuters [9/29/2025 4:42 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has requested its Department of War to deploy 100 military troops to Illinois, the state’s Governor JB Pritzker said at a news conference on Monday. The Illinois National Guard received word of a memo sent regarding the deployment of troops to Illinois, Pritzker said. The Department of Homeland Security could not be immediately reached for comment.

NBC News [9/29/2025 9:58 PM, Suzanne Gamboa, 43603K] reports Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker denounced the Trump administration’s deployment of armed Border Patrol and immigration officers, some wearing masks, in Chicago and other parts of the state at a news conference Monday. He called the moves "authoritarianism" and an attack on Americans. Bristling from weeks of what he labeled "chaos" — including a weekend of clashes between the agents and demonstrators — Pritzker condemned armed officers patrolling city streets and the Chicago River stopping and arresting people. His message to them: "Get out of Chicago. You are not helping us.” Pritzker warned the administration may be about to escalate its operation with the addition of military troops and equipment. Moments before the news conference, the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security had sent a memo to the Defense Department seeking deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, Pritzker said. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The presence of federal officers in the Chicago area is part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants and cities that President Donald Trump says are plagued by crime. He has claimed Chicago is a "hellhole.” Trump has deployed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York and may send about 200 to Portland, Oregon. The enforcement in and around Chicago turned deadly this month when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed an immigrant who tried to flee in his car when an officer pulled him over. The Department of Homeland Security has said the agent, who was standing by the passenger side of the vehicle, was dragged as the car was moving and injured. Pritzker and other state officials have been demanding more information and transparency about the investigation. The immigration officers and agents have been "waging war on our people" in an attempt to cause "chaos and mayhem in the hopes to deploy military troops against Chicago and Broadview and other suburbs," Pritzker said. "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists and protesters when unprovoked, what would we call it? If federal agents marched down busy streets harassing civilians and demanding their papers ... I don’t think we’d have any trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism," Pritzker said, referring to the presence of troops in downtown Chicago and a recent protest where ICE officers fired pepper spray at demonstrators and a tear gas canister was placed near media trucks. Pritzker was flanked by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, other elected officials and representatives of faith communities, business and other parts of state and local society. Pritzker said Trump and members of his administration are lying when they claim that the military and law enforcement deployments are improving public safety by leading to arrests of violent criminals and gang members.

FOX News [9/30/2025 4:26 AM, Bradford Betz, 40019K] reports Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Monday accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers of harassing people "for not being white." Speaking at a press conference alongside Chicago Mayor Brandon, the Democratic governor lambasted the Trump administration for sending in federal agents into the Windy City over the weekend. "Donald Trump and [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem and [White House Border Czar] said they were targeting the worst of the worst criminals. They lie and they continue to lie," Pritzker said, adding that "Sixty percent of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind." "ICE is running around the Loop harassing people for not being white. Just a year ago, that was illegal in the United States. Now, ICE is making it commonplace. That’s not making America great." The governor’s comments come after masked federal agents were spotted in downtown Chicago on Sunday – flouting the mayor’s recent executive order barring masks by all law enforcement – and the hundreds of immigrants that the federal government says it has detained in its sweep have underscored local leaders’ limitations against presidential authority.[Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Univision Chicago WGBO [9/29/2025 5:24 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports this Monday, September 29, Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul met to condemn the recent federal operations that have resulted in dozens of arrests in recent weeks. Officials agreed that the deployment of federal agents in the city poses a risk to the safety of residents and could become a strategy to justify the presence of the National Guard in Chicago. Attorney General Kwame Raoul explained that the Trump administration is seeking to follow the same pattern it used in Oregon, where military forces were deployed under the guise of combating crime. Raoul stressed that this strategy is illegal and that his office has already filed a lawsuit. Raoul added that the lawsuit also alleges the misuse of more than $100 million in funds intended for Illinois that were relocated to other states across the country, which were used to assist other departments.

NewsNation [9/29/2025 5:28 PM, Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports the increase in federal immigration agents and officers patrolling Chicago neighborhoods and the city’s downtown district will continue indefinitely as federal officials say they sense a "subtle" change in attitude from residents amid continued vocal opposition from leaders like Mayor Brandon Johnson. U.S. Border Patrol commander-at-large Gregory Bovino told NewsNation on Monday that Chicago residents can expect to continue to see federal officers "anywhere in Chicago" as a large-scale, multiagency federal focus on the region continues. Bovino told NewsNation Sunday that the operation will continue as long as it is needed, as he and other federal immigration officials insist they are making Chicago and its neighborhoods safer. That’s despite Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker saying their presence has nothing to do with public safety. Border Patrol agents were visibly noticeable in downtown Chicago on Sunday, as clashes between demonstrators and federal officers continued at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in suburban Broadview.

Chicago Tribune [9/29/2025 12:48 PM, Jake Sheridan, 5352K] reports top Illinois elected officials and Chicago’s two downtown aldermen criticized Sunday’s patrolling of federal immigration agents through much of the area as a performative and intimidating disruption to the city. “On a beautiful weekend when families were out enjoying their day in Chicago, armed U.S. Border Patrol agents were downtown marching up and down Michigan Avenue, harassing and intimidating residents and tourists,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday of the camo-clad agents seen patrolling near some of the city’s most popular attractions. The governor’s comments came moments after he announced he had received a report saying federal officials sought to deploy troops to Illinois in support of President Donald Trump’s surge in illegal immigration enforcement. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the troops would be active duty or National Guard personnel, or when or where they might be deployed, Pritzker said. Pritzker joined Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, Attorney General Kwame Raoul and several other local officials and community representatives at the show-of-force news conference downtown Monday in response to the Trump administration’s escalations.

Axios [9/29/2025 5:49 PM, Justin Kaufmann, 14595K] reports this weekend, Chicagoans were shocked to see armed federal agents in military gear patrolling downtown and parts of River North, and Gov. JB Pritzker says the Department of Homeland Security is asking to send more federal troops here. These armed agents are part of the U.S. Border Patrol sent to help support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in their "Operation Midway Blitz" aimed at detaining undocumented immigrants in the Chicago area. They have not been, so far, members of the National Guard, but that could change quickly. Pritzker said at a press conference Monday that the Department of Homeland Security has asked the Department of War for more military personnel, including possibly National Guard troops, to aid in protecting ICE agents in the Chicago area.

FOX News [9/29/2025 1:40 PM, Staff, 40019K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin discusses the Democrats’ pushback on President Donald Trump’s National Guard deployment in Portland and more on ‘The Faulkner Focus.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [9/29/2025 8:07 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 4779K] reports state and city officials have filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump from deploying Oregon’s National Guard to Portland. Trump announced Saturday he would send troops to Oregon’s largest city to handle "domestic terrorists." He said protests were interfering with immigration enforcement. Two hundred members of the Oregon National Guard were being placed under federal control and deployed to protect immigration enforcement officers and government facilities, according to a War Department memo received by state leaders on Sunday. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield then announced the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Portland, against the Trump administration. He said the suit was filed because Trump was overstepping his authority. "Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference," Rayfield said, KGW reported. "Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal.” The court filing said, "Far from promoting public safety, Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions threaten to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry," Politico reported. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, took to social media during the weekend to say she objected to the deployment in a conversation with the president. While the War Department memo did not specifically cite Portland as the target of the proposed deployment, Trump, in a social media post on Saturday, said he directed the Pentagon, at the request of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, "to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.” The state’s attorneys said protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been small, usually featuring fewer than 30 people, and that there have been no arrests related to those protests from June until earlier this week, according to Politico. However, a White House official said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland had charged 26 people, through Sept. 8, with federal crimes tied to an ICE facility in the city. The charges included assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. The Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 5:34 AM, Staff, 1563K] reports Trump ordered the National Guard to Oregon after numerous protests targeting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, some of which have been reportedly violent. Trump ordered "all necessary troops" to Portland on Sunday. "I am directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists," Trump posted to his Truth Social on Saturday. "I am also authorizing Full Force, if necessary." Rayfield, Oregon Solicitor General Benjamin Gutman, and other state officials filed the lawsuit. They said deploying such troops for law enforcement duties violated federal law. "The ‘traditional and strong resistance of Americans to any military intrusion into civilian affairs’ has ‘deep roots in our history,’" the lawsuit read. "Our nation’s founders recognized that military rule — particularly by a remote authority indifferent to local needs — was incompatible with liberty and democracy. Foundational principles of American law therefore limit the President’s authority to involve the military in domestic affairs." The plaintiffs cited the 1972 court case Laird v. Tatum as evidence for their claim. They also said the Constitution prohibited the president from deploying such troops and that, typically, only Congress had the authority to do so.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [9/29/2025 6:03 AM, Staff, 2608K]
(B) NewsChannel 9 at Noon [9/29/2025 12:09 PM, Staff]

Politico [9/29/2025 8:48 PM, Aaron Pellish, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 14810K] reports mayors from the Portland metro area sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy National Guard troops to the city as an unnecessary act of aggression that could endanger residents of the region. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, appearing at a news conference Monday with mayors of nearby cities, echoed Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s declaration that the state’s largest city does not need assistance from the National Guard, despite Trump’s claim that the city has been “ravaged” and local immigration facilities are “under siege.” “The type of help that’s being offered isn’t being asked for,” Wilson said. “It’s not necessary. The number of troops that we want or need is zero.” Seventeen mayors from around the state formed a coalition committing to coordinating efforts to protect civil rights and public safety should the National Guard be deployed. In a joint statement, the mayors denounced using the military to support immigration enforcement. “Enforcement of civil immigration laws by militarized forces has no legitimate role in our community, no support from local elected leaders, and little public support,” the letter said. Trump’s depiction of Portland, rooted in a longstanding fixation with the city dating back to the city’s volatile protests following the killing by police of George Floyd in 2020, did not align with reality, several mayors said. “We stand here today to tell the president he’s listening to the wrong people,” said Mayor Lacey Beaty of Beaverton, Oregon. “The president cannot watch footage from over a half a decade ago and believe this is the Portland that we’re standing in today.” In an NBC News interview on Sunday, Trump himself appeared to question the narrative he used to justify the deployment following a phone call on Saturday with Kotek, who said Trump told her he’d seen videos of fires in the city that may have been from the 2020 protests. “I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said in the interview. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place...it looks like terrible.” Wilson and Kotek are suing to block the deployment to the city, which Trump administration officials have said would involve 200 Guard soldiers. During a scheduling call on Monday, U.S. District Judge Michael Simon set a hearing for Friday on the state and city’s request for a temporary restraining order against the deployment. A Justice Department attorney argued Monday that Oregon’s urgency to block the Guard deployment was “largely manufactured.” “What’s happening here is very limited in nature,” said the attorney, Christopher Edelman, who noted that the 200 troops amounted to just 3 percent of the state’s total Guard contingent.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 10:57 PM, Brady Knox, 1563K]

Washington Post [9/29/2025 5:00 AM, Justin Jouvenal, 29079K] reports President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would send troops to Portland, Oregon, and authorize them to use “full force, if necessary” marks a troubling — and possibly illegal — escalation of the president’s campaign to deploy the military to American cities, legal experts said. Much remains uncertain about Trump’s plans, including whether he would send the National Guard or active-duty troops and what exactly he means by full force. Early indications suggest that the deployment may be smaller and more limited than the president’s heated rhetoric implied. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent a memo to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) federalizing 200 members of the state’s National Guard “to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel.” The memo cited the same legal authority that Trump used to send 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June. That announcement drew a quick response from Oregon authorities — a suit in federal court by the state and the city of Portland challenging the federalization of the guard as “patently unlawful” and founded on a “baseless, wildly hyperbolic pretext.” It remains unclear whether the limited call-up is the full extent of what the administration intends. Legal experts said the broader implications of Trump’s plan seemed to go against long-standing traditions and laws that in most cases prohibit using troops for domestic law enforcement and restrict what soldiers can do when deployed on U.S. soil.

The Hill [9/29/2025 7:45 AM, Tara Suter, 12414K] reports hundreds of Oregon National Guard troops have been called up following President Trump saying over the weekend that he was sending troops to Portland, the state’s attorney general said. In a post Sunday on the social platform X, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield (D) said “the Secretary of Defense sent a memo to Governor Tina Kotek authorizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to perform federal functions for 60 days.” “Oregon communities are stable, and our local officials have been clear: we have the capacity to manage public safety without federal interference,” Rayfield added later. “Sending in 200 National Guard troops to guard a single building is not normal. If you had a concern about safety at your own home, you’d make a few calls and fill the gaps — not call in an army.” The Pentagon in a statement obtained by NewsNation on Monday confirmed the deployment. “On Sept. 28, 2025, at the direction of the President, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth informed the Adjutant General of the Oregon National Guard that 200 members of the Oregon National Guard will be called into Federal service immediately for a period of 60 days to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property in Oregon,” it said. “The President called forth these 200 Guardsmen to deter rampant lawlessness within Portland and to enable Federal law-enforcement officers to safely conduct their duties. These Guardsmen, while Federalized, will be under the command and control of the Commander of U.S. Northern Command.”

The Hill [9/29/2025 5:55 PM, Rebecca Beitsch and Ella Lee, 12414K] reports in sending the National Guard to Portland, Ore., President Trump has launched a battle with a city he’s often demonized as being the seat of the far left — a move likely to spur conflict as the White House looks to crack down on alleged radicalism. Trump over the weekend said he would "provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland," describing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) offices as being "under siege." But Trump’s interest in Portland comes as he has signed two different orders addressing antifa, labeling the ideology that opposes fascism as a domestic terror group. That was followed by another order on countering domestic political violence that encourages government agencies to pursue left-wing groups.

Blaze [9/29/2025 10:29 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1559K] reports President Donald Trump announced on Saturday — just days after a radical opened fire on an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas — that per Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s request, he was directing War Secretary Pete Hegseth "to provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland, and any of our ICE Facilities under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists." Trump, who on Sept. 17 designated Antifa as a "MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION," noted further that he was "authorizing Full Force, if necessary." Hegseth took action on Sunday, federalizing 200 members of the Oregon National Guard for a period of 60 days. Democrats, enraged by the prospect that the Trump administration will swoop in to protect federal agents and assets from "domestic terrorists" in the City of Roses — as it has in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — are desperately attempting to gloss over anti-ICE violence in the city and to portray federal action as unnecessary.

FOX News [9/29/2025 9:20 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports an illegal alien who left an obscenity-laden bomb threat to a member of Congress was arrested by ICE over the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, the DHS said that Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez, a 58-year-old Cuban illegal living in Tampa, was arrested by ICE over the weekend as part of its efforts to crack down on the "worst of the worst" criminal illegal aliens. DHS said that Albizar-Martinez threatened to bomb the office of Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. He was sentenced to a year in prison in May after being found guilty in December of leaving a "vulgar, racist, obscenity-laden voicemail" in which he threatened to plant a bomb in the congresswoman’s Tampa office, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. Local outlet WFLA reported that in his message, Albizar-Martinez said in Spanish, "I’m going to plant a bomb in your office. It’s a threat," and "It’s a threat, so take it however you want you son of a f****** b****." The outlet also reported that in the same message, Albizar-Martinez also attacked Democrats, black people and pro-Palestinian people. Commenting on his arrest by ICE, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News Digital that "there is no place for political violence in America." "Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez threatened to bomb a Congresswoman’s office," said McLaughlin. "Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE, this illegal alien and national security threat will be out of our country. "Nothing will deter us to remove the worst of the worst from America communities," she added.

FOX News [9/29/2025 2:20 PM, Pilar Arias and Brooke Taylor, 40019K] reports authorities in Dallas have identified one of the victims who died when a gunman opened fire on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility on Wednesday as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador. Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, was in custody when he was killed during a sniper assault on the ICE Dallas Field Office. Guzman had been held by local law enforcement when ICE picked him up. According to ICE records, it is unknown when and where Guzman illegally entered the United States. However, his criminal history dated back to Feb. 19, 2012, when the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in Palm Springs, Florida, arrested and charged him with battery, improper exhibit of a firearm or dangerous weapon and criminal mischief. All charges were dropped, except for the criminal. On Feb. 14, 2020, the Arlington Police Department in Arlington, Texas, arrested and charged Guzman with driving while intoxicated. Guzman bonded out of custody before ICE was able to lodge a detainer. On Aug. 25, the Dallas Police Department arrested Guzman, who was then charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He also had an outstanding warrant for driving while intoxicated. That day, ICE picked him up at the Dallas County Jail after his arrest and lodged an immigration detainer. On Sept. 24, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Dallas apprehended Guzman in accordance with a detainer for his apprehension. Upon arrival at the ERO Dallas Field Office, ICE officers encountered an active shooter at the facility, targeting immigration officials. Officials said the suspect, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn, wanted to incite terror by killing federal agents. Jahn fatally shot himself following the assault.

Reported similarly:
AP [9/29/2025 6:05 PM, Staff]
Daily Caller [9/29/2025 3:03 PM, Hudson Crozier, 985K]

New York Post [9/29/2025 3:40 PM, Anthony Blair, 43962K] reports an illegal immigrant who was shot at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Dallas last week is still fighting for his life, as his heavily pregnant wife says her fifth child is due any day. Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 31, a Mexican national, was one of three detainees shot in an ICE transport van at the Texas facility after sniper Joshua Jahn opened fire, NBC DFW reported. He is currently on life support at Dallas’ Parkland Memorial Hospital after being critically injured in last Wednesday’s shooting, his wife Stephany Gauffeny told NPR. Fellow detainee Norlan Guzman Fuentes, a 37-year-old from El Salvador, was killed in last week’s shooting, while Venezuelan national Jose Andre Bordones-Molina was injured, the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office told NBC DFW. ICE described all three as "criminal illegal aliens" in a statement to NPR confirming the identities of the victims.

Los Angeles Times [9/29/2025 7:51 PM, Kevin Rector, 12715K] reports California and other Democratic-led states sued the Trump administration on Monday for allegedly stripping them of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal security and disaster relief funding based on their unwillingness to aid in federal immigration enforcement. The lawsuit comes just days after a federal judge in a separate case barred the administration from conditioning similar federal grant funding on states rescinding their so-called "sanctuary" policies protecting immigrants. California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said the latest funding reduction — which the states were notified of over the weekend — flew in the face of last week’s ruling. He criticized it as an illegal effort to force Democratic states into complying with a federal immigration campaign they have no legal obligation to support. "Tell me, how does defunding California’s efforts to protect against terrorism make our communities safer?" Bonta said in a statement. "President Trump doesn’t like that we won’t be bullied into doing his bidding, ignoring our sovereign right to make decisions about how our law enforcement resources are best used to protect our communities.” The White House referred questions on the lawsuit to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. The funding, authorized by Congress in part after disasters such as September 11 and Hurricane Katrina, pays for things such as the salaries and training of first responders, testing of state computer systems for vulnerabilities to cyber attacks, mutual aid compacts among regional partners and emergency responses to disasters, the states said in their lawsuit. Bonta’s office said California expected about $165 million, but was notified it would receive $110 million, a cut of $55 million, or a third of its funding. Other blue states saw even greater reductions, with Illinois seeing a 69% reduction and New York receiving a 79% reduction, it said. Other states that are supporting the Trump administration’s immigration policies received large increases, and some more than 100% increases, the suing states said. They said the notifications provided no justification for the reductions, noting only that they were made at the direction of Homeland Security. And yet, the reason was clear, they said, including because of recent comments by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials who have stated outright that states who do not cooperate with federal immigration policies and that maintain sanctuary policies would see reduced funding. "The explanation for DHS and FEMA’s last-minute decision to reallocate $233 million in homeland security funds — the Reallocation Decision — is apparent. Although DHS has for decades administered federal grant programs in a fair and evenhanded manner, the current Administration is taking money from its enemies," the states wrote in their lawsuit. "Or, as defendant Secretary Noem put it succinctly in a February 19 internal memorandum, States whose policies she dislikes ‘should not receive a single dollar of the Department’s money.’". Joining California in Monday’s lawsuit were Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia. All were also party to the litigation challenging preconditions on such funding that was decided last week.

Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 3:18 PM, Jack Birle, 1563K] reports the Trump administration filed a pair of petitions to the Supreme Court asking the justices to hear appeals on its birthright citizenship order, which could add to the growing list of questions related to President Donald Trump’s actions that the high court will consider in its term. The two petitions appeared on the Supreme Court’s public docket on Monday after being filed late Friday, and they urged the justices to take appeals in both cases, which were brought by Democrat-led states and a group of people who could be affected by Trump’s order. The question presented to the high court in both petitions centers on the president’s January executive order claiming that birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment does not include children born on U.S. soil to parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis, such as on a visa. The order, which would not be retroactive, states that if one of the parents is a permanent resident or U.S. citizen at the time of the child’s birth, then the child would get citizenship at birth. The Supreme Court has been asked to determine if the executive order is lawful under the 14th Amendment.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/29/2025 9:24 AM, Zach Schonfeld, 12414K]

AP [9/29/2025 5:29 PM, Erik Verduzco and Gary D. Robertson, 20690K] reports U.S. House members visited North Carolina’s largest city on Monday to hear from family members of violent-crime victims who pleaded for tougher criminal justice policies in the wake of last month’s stabbing death of a Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte commuter train. A judiciary subcommittee meeting convened in Charlotte to listen to many speakers who described local court systems in North Carolina and South Carolina that they say have failed to protect the public and keep defendants in jail while awaiting trials. The meeting was prompted by the Aug. 22 stabbing death of Iryna Zarutska on a light rail car and the resulting apprehension of a suspect who had been previously arrested more than a dozen times, according to court records. "The same system that failed Mary failed Iryna. Our hearts are broken for her family and her friends and we grieve with them," Mia Alderman, the grandmother of 2020 murder victim 20-year-old Mary Santina Collins in Charlotte, told panelists. Alderman said defendants in her granddaughter’s case still haven’t been tried: "We need accountability. We need reform. We need to ensure that those accused of heinous crimes are swiftly prosecuted.” A magistrate had allowed the commuter train defendant, Decarlos Brown Jr., to be released on a misdemeanor charge in January on a written promise to appear, without any bond. Now Brown is jailed after being charged with both first-degree murder in state court and a federal count in connection with Zarutska’s death. Both crimes can be punishable by the death penalty.

Reuters [9/29/2025 4:49 PM, Simon Lewis, David Brunnstrom, 45746K] reports the U.S. State Department on Monday put Brazil and South Africa on a human trafficking watch list, citing what it said were failures of both countries to demonstrate progress on the issue, amid heightened tensions between their governments and the Trump administration. The annual Trafficking in Persons report assesses efforts to tackle forced labor, sex trafficking and other forms of modern-day slavery around the world. It was published on Monday, nearly three months after it was due to be delivered to Congress, after most of the staff in the office that prepares it were laid off. Brazil and South Africa were moved to the report’s "Tier 2 Watch List," meaning they must demonstrate greater efforts on the issue or face possible U.S. sanctions. For both South Africa and Brazil, the report noted significant efforts on human trafficking, but said those efforts were not sufficient.

New York Times [9/29/2025 5:00 AM, Jazmine Ulloa, Allison McCann, and Jennifer Medina, 153395K] reports U.S. citizens, many of them Latino men, have been stopped and in some cases taken into custody by law enforcement officers who are carrying out President Trump’s immigration crackdown and who suspect the men are living in the country illegally. While many of those detained have immediately declared their U.S. citizenship to officers, they have routinely been ignored, according to interviews with the men, their lawyers and court documents. In some cases they have been handcuffed, kept in holding cells and immigration facilities overnight, and in at least two cases held without access to a lawyer or even a phone call. How many U.S. citizens have been swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration sweeps is difficult to say. No comprehensive log of such encounters is available from the federal government, and immigration agents are not required to document stops of citizens. A review by The New York Times of publicly reported cases and court records found that since January, at least 15 U.S. citizens have been arrested or detained and questioned about their citizenship by immigration agents or local law enforcement officers enlisted to work with the federal authorities.

Breitbart [9/29/2025 12:51 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2608K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has put out a list of the 30 worst elected officials who are agitators on an "unhinged crusade" to protect illegal aliens, including Democrat Governors Tim Walz of Minnesota, JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Gavin Newsom of California. The accusations come after a "maniac with ‘ANTI-ICE’ ammo gunned down an ICE field office" in Dallas, Texas, a White House press release states. "Democrats have spent years vilifying ICE as ‘fascists,’ ‘the Gestapo,’ and ‘slave patrols,’ inciting a 1,000% surge in assaults on agents and a wave of Radical Left terror. Their words aren’t just reckless — they’re a battle cry for violence," the statement continued. Topping the list are three Democrat governors who have led the nation in violent, shrill, anti-ICE rhetoric.

FOX News [9/29/2025 5:00 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports South Texas Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido is being criticized for feeding a "sickness" and "spreading hate" through his rhetoric against President Donald Trump and Republicans, especially in light of a deadly anti-ICE shooting in Dallas this week. In an interview with Fox News Digital, former Texas Republican Rep. Mayra Flores, the first Mexican-born woman elected to Congress, criticized Pulido and other Democrats for "attacking our men and women serving this country for enforcing the laws.” "It’s this type of hateful rhetoric that is causing innocent lives to be lost," Flores said. "And because of that, we’re seeing all these shootings, and it will continue to happen because, at the end of the day, this hateful rhetoric is coming from members of Congress, from senators.” "They need to set an example," she went on. "Americans are looking up to these individuals. And so, if they’re seeing that they’re spreading hate, then that instills in them hate as well towards our men and women [in law enforcement].” This comes as the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) accused Pulido, who is a Tejano music star, of having a "lengthy history of engaging in violent, extreme political rhetoric.” The committee said that despite Pulido condemning political violence, such as Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and calling for a toning down in rhetoric on both sides, his own words through the years have not been consistent with this call. On Sept. 10, Pulido posted on X, "I don’t care what side of the political aisle you are, what happened to Charlie Kirk is abhorrent. The political rhetoric needs to be brought down on both sides. I pray for him, his family and also for our country.” According to the NRCC, however, Pulido’s inflammatory rhetoric goes back years, even including dressing up as a blood-soaked Trump for Halloween in 2015. A screenshot of the since-deleted post shared with Fox News Digital shows a bloodied Trump with a Spanish caption reading, "Years ago Donald Trump and Paquita had a son. Here is the exclusive image.”

Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 7:08 PM, Naomi Lim, 1563K] reports the White House and congressional Republicans are capitalizing on Democrats’ demands to help illegal immigrants access public services to blame them for a looming government shutdown. "Radical Democrats" are threatening to shut the government down if they do not get their almost $1.5 trillion wish list of demands in a short-term funding deal, "including free healthcare for illegal aliens," according to the White House. The reference is to Democrats’ requests to repeal One Big Beautiful Bill provisions that targeted illegal immigrants’ access to healthcare in exchange for their votes on a short-term government funding deal. "The Democrats’ radical agenda was rejected by the American people less than a year ago at the ballot box; now they’re trying to shut down the government and hold the American people hostage over it," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Washington Examiner. The White House’s funding deal and shutdown messaging strategy have been accompanied by action, including preparations for mass firings of government employees instead of the traditional furlough procedures. Simultaneously, the White House and congressional Republicans’ funding deal and shutdown messaging have not been consistent. Trump, for example, claim Democrats are trying to "force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors" and his canceling a meeting last week between himself, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) before rescheduling it for Monday. Trump’s transgender messaging stems from five states compelling Obamacare healthcare insurance plans to cover gender-reassignment surgeries for transgender enrollees, but, while that was politically potent before last year’s election, it creates political problems for centrist Republicans before next year’s midterm elections.

Wall Street Journal [9/29/2025 5:30 AM, Deborah Acosta, 646K] reports the two-story, terracotta-roof home in a gated community known as Doral Landings East seemed ideal for the Venezuelan family of four who moved in two years ago. Neighbors were surprised when one day the family disappeared, skipping out on rent, their landlord said, and leaving much of their furniture behind. One by one, Venezuelans and other immigrants are starting to disappear from Doral, a Miami suburb on the doorstep of the Everglades known for a Trump resort where President Trump plans to host the G-20 summit next year. Many Venezuelans are here with temporary legal permission to live and work in the U.S., part of a series of immigration programs expanded under the Biden administration. The Trump administration is trying to revoke that permission, leaving more than one million foreigners from various countries in some kind of legal limbo, depending on their type of status. Few, if any, places in the U.S. are feeling the effects of the immigration-policy change more acutely than Doral, where about 40% of its 80,000 residents were born in Venezuela or are of Venezuelan descent. Some Venezuelans have lived here for decades, eventually becoming American citizens and having American-born children. Others are more-recent arrivals who built lives here over the past few years under the government’s temporary programs. Vacancy rates for apartments in municipalities surrounding Doral are 4.3%. In Doral, that rate has ticked up to 6.5% from 5.6% late last year. In certain Doral buildings, the vacancy rate is much higher—more than 10% in some cases. Leasing agents at the buildings say the vacancies are driven by Venezuelans who have fled. Rents in Doral have dropped to their lowest level in three years.

Washington Times [9/29/2025 4:44 PM, Dale Wilcox and Matt O’Brien, 964K] reports eight months into President Trump’s second term, the relentless pace of his administration has caused his critics to recoil in horror. Efforts to restore law and order in our heartland and at the borders have been assailed as nothing short of Mussolini-like authoritarianism. The chief facilitators of this purported shredding of the Constitution have been Mr. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security and its leader, Kristi Noem. This narrative does not comport with the facts: Ms. Noem and her department have demonstrated exacting respect for the rule of law and the Constitution. Using laws already in the books, Ms. Noem and the Homeland Security Department have been remarkably effective at putting much-needed emphasis on securing our borders and removing foreign threats from the country. Ms. Noem’s most striking accomplishment is the transformation of the southern border from a zone of anarchy into a secure, effectively policed international boundary. Homeland Security data shows that daily encounters with illegal aliens have plummeted by an astonishing 93% while daily apprehensions have dropped by 96%. Perhaps most impressive, for the past four consecutive months, zero illegal aliens have been released into the country. Compare this with the Biden years, when images of a lawless, chaotic border with thousands of foreign nationals entering the country illegally became an almost daily occurrence. Many thought reversing the Biden administration’s excesses on illegal immigration would be impossible, yet it is happening rapidly under Ms. Noem’s management. In less than 250 days, the Homeland Security Department has facilitated the exit of more than 2 million illegal aliens, contributing to a 2.2-million-person decrease in the overall foreign-born population since Mr. Trump took office. Enforcement operations have reduced northbound illegal migration from Central America by 97%. The Trump administration is now on pace to break deportation records, potentially marking the highest number of deportations in a single year in U.S. history. Since Inauguration Day, the department has apprehended more than 422,000 illegal aliens, and 70% of those arrested by ICE have criminal charges or convictions. Among these arrests are nearly 1,000 known or suspected terrorists, neutralizing perhaps the most significant threat to American security in the 21st century. This targeted approach is consistent with the administration’s priority of removing the “worst of the worst” from U.S. soil.

New York Post [9/29/2025 6:25 PM, Staff, 43962K] reports last week President Donald Trump’s Justice Department notched another win for American-born college students who for years have been treated as second-class citizens by our public universities. But according to my research, many of our most prestigious private colleges are still providing financial benefits and other perks to undocumented students — shortchanging Americans in the process. On Sept. 22, Kentucky agreed to a tentative settlement with the Justice Department that will end in-state tuition benefits for illegal-immigrant students. The Bluegrass State’s policy — like those of many other states — allowed undocumented immigrants who graduate from a Kentucky high school to pay much lower in-state tuition rates at Kentucky’s state colleges. In June, Trump’s Justice Department took the state to court, arguing the policy violates federal law — by giving preferential treatment to non-citizens over out-of-state Americans who must pay three or more times the in-state rate. Kentucky’s cave-in followed similar decisions in Texas and Oklahoma, in response to Trump administration lawsuits; a case against Minnesota is pending. Trump is intent on putting an end to (at least some) discrimination against US citizens, 25 years after state-level DREAM Acts gave illegal-immigrant students a leg up. Yet private colleges and universities have apparently not gotten the memo. In recent years, the dramatic increase in international students has effectively eroded the core and character of our greatest educational institutions. The international student population has ballooned such that one out of every three students attending our universities today is a first- or second-generation immigrant, or an international student. Over 19 million such students are now attending our universities, with more than half a million of them undocumented. Our research at the Legal Insurrection Foundation’s Criticalrace.org revealed that international graduate students at our major universities have outpaced Americans — in many cases, to the detriment of American-born minorities. We found that every one of America’s 10 highest-ranked universities offer support programs designed to provide extensive financial assistance and legal help to undocumented students. These are not small or insignificant institutions: Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Yale, the California Institute of Technology, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and the University of Pennsylvania all provide avenues by which undocumented immigrants can receive financial assistance.

Wall Street Journal [9/29/2025 4:09 PM, Robert Krasner, 646K] reports as a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and medical officer with 25 years of service abroad, I have seen firsthand the diplomatic value of cross-border exchanges. I’m increasingly concerned that travel bans and restrictions are eroding trust and risk lasting damage (“Colleges Rush to Retain Foreign Students,” U.S. News, Sept. 23). Such policies deter future leaders in technology, diplomacy and business from coming to our shores, and threaten America’s economic competitiveness and reputation for openness. Cross-border collaboration in such critical areas as climate science and pandemic response will suffer if we don’t recognize that today’s international students and workers are tomorrow’s partners. To preserve our nation’s innovative spirit and global leadership, we must find a way to balance security with inclusivity. Only then can we sustain America’s role as a reliable and forward-thinking leader on the world stage.

Bloomberg [9/30/2025 5:00 AM, Patricia Lopez, 19085K] reports in a one-two punch at employers, the Trump administration is following up its hefty $100,000 skilled visa fee with Project Firewall, an aggressive new immigration enforcement program. It is being billed as a sweeping effort to root out abuse of the H-1B visa program by some of America’s largest employers. It’s rare for the federal government to systematically target companies for immigration enforcement; usually, any consequences fall on the immigrant workers, not their employers. The initiative shows the depth of President Trump’s intention to curb all forms of immigration. It could also, politically speaking, reestablish his populist bona fides. Voters under 30 continue to worry about the economy. Some of the young male voters so critical to Trump’s 2024 victory are drifting away. Trump’s signature legislative achievement, a mix of tax cuts and benefit cuts called the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” remains unpopular. Trump needs to regain some of that lost ground to retain Republican Congressional majorities in the midterms. Casting corporations as villains that are depriving skilled American workers of six-figure jobs by hiring foreigners — H-1B workers have a median wage of $108,000 — neatly fits his persona as a hero for “forgotten men and women.” Yet it remains to be seen how vigorously the administration will go after the companies that employ hundreds of thousands of foreign workers through various temporary visa programs. The president has a complex relationship with the business community. He has invited billionaires and tech titans to dine with him at Mar-a-Lago and attend his inauguration, but has also feuded and fallen out with some of them. And the largest corporations will have armies of lawyers ready to challenge any attempts to rein in H-1B visas.

The Hill [9/29/2025 9:30 AM, Staff, 12414K] reports before a recap of President Trump’s escalator ride at the United Nations, let’s take a non-partisan look at America’s recent foreign policy record. Yes, former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, brought peace to Northern Ireland through the Good Friday Agreement. He ended the war in Bosnia with the Dayton Accords. Yes, President Obama, another Democrat, ended the U.S. war in Iraq, a fight based on false claims of weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism. And, yes, former President Joe Biden, another Democrat, ended 20 years of war in Afghanistan. Biden also built an international coalition to resist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — without committing American troops. Yet over the years, polls show Americans saluting Republican presidents, not Democrats, as best at handling foreign policy and especially the use of America’s military might. Well, take a look at Trump making history last week at the United Nations. Having promised to end the war in Ukraine "on Day One" of his presidency, Trump did an about-face on his embrace of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he now believes Ukraine can defeat Putin and the Russian military. This reversal comes after Trump told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in February that he doesn’t "have the cards" to win the war.

USA Today [9/30/2025 4:31 AM, Nicole Russell, 75552K] reports they say the only things in life that are certain are death and taxes, but I think I could add a third axiom to that list: President Donald Trump will vow to fix a problem, Democrats will claim it isn’t a problem, or that he’s an authoritarian overreacting. Trump will fix it anyway; they’ll admit he was half-right, and the cycle will start over. This happened with the overrun border and a National Guard presence in Washington, DC, and it’s bound to happen in Portland, Oregon, too. Oregon and Portland have sued the Trump administration after the president announced on Sept. 27 that he was authorizing National Guard troops to the city to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities against anti-fascists and other "domestic terrorists." In a social media post, Trump called Portland "War ravaged." Trump has also said, "It’s like living in hell." Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, disagrees with Trump’s description of Portland and his crackdown.

USA Today [9/29/2025 1:56 PM, Bart Jansen, 64151K] reports that despite a potential government shutdown, the vast majority of immigration enforcement officers will be exempt and continue working, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s contingency plans. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is in the middle of a hiring surge, has 21,028 workers and would exempt 19,626 during a lapse in funding, according to the plan dated Sept. 27. Customs and Border Protection has 67,792 workers and would retain 63,243 during a shutdown, according to the plan. Most of the remaining workers could be furloughed in as little as four hours, the agencies said, although some may take a few days to handle last-minute responsibilities such as procurement and budgeting. Like the Pentagon, much of the Department of Homeland Security is considered "essential" to government operations and remains on duty during a temporary funding shutdown. In stark contrast, the White House Office of Management and Budget asked agencies for plans to lay off non-essential workers rather than simply furlough them, as in past shutdowns. Congress nearly tripled ICE’s funding this year − from $10 billion to $28.7 billion − as part of President Donald Trump’s top priority of increasing deportations. The extra funding included $50,000 bonuses to spur hiring 14,000 more agents. But immigration agents have also come under fire for stricter enforcement. Trump mobilized National Guard to quell protests in Los Angeles in June.

Breitbart [9/29/2025 3:43 PM, Amy Furr, 2608K] reports a small mistake turned into a terrible day for a leftist recently who pulled over to scold agents arresting an illegal alien in Upton, Massachusetts. The incident happened 40 miles outside of Boston, and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) source shared the clip along with an image of what happened with Fox News, the outlet reported Sunday. The woman had apparently forgotten to put her vehicle in park while she was ranting at the agents taking the individual into custody. Moments later, her car rolled into a nearby body of water and sank.

CBS Boston [9/29/2025 9:48 PM, Penny Kmitt and Paul Burton, 45245K] Video: HERE reports the mayor of a Massachusetts city is "declaring a war on human trafficking" after police shut down two Methuen spas that had allegedly been trafficking women. Police arrested the Beauty Garden Spa’s manager, Suping Zhu, 38, in New York after a neighbor reported suspicious activity at the business. Mayor D. J. Beauregard said he will create a human trafficking task force after Police Chief Scott McNamara said that there are similar operations happening in the city. "We believe it’s happening now," McNamara said. "We want them to know that we are coming for them next.” "We will work together to identify traffickers, shutter illegal businesses that profit from this evil, and hold landlords accountable if they harbor and profit from such activities," Beauregard said in a statement on Monday. Beauregard told reporters that there is a zero-tolerance policy for anyone operating or soliciting services from places like Beauty Garden Spa. "We are declaring a war on human trafficking in the city of Methuen," Mayor Beauregard said. McNamara said that they are currently looking at the building’s landlord and are searching for a suspected co-manager, 36-year-old Yi Yu Huang, who lives in Brooklyn, New York. As of right now, no patrons of the spa have been charged, but police said they had interviewed some who admitted to paying for sexual acts. Zhu has been charged with prostitution, keeper of a house of ill fame, and trafficking a person for sexual servitude. She was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on Monday. She is being held on $25,000 cash bail and was ordered not to contact the victims or witnesses. She also has to surrender her passport. She will be back in court on October 24.

CBS Boston [9/29/2025 6:20 PM, Louisa Moller, 45245K] Video: HERE reports Darnela Hernandez tries to hold back tears as she calls her partner, Jhon Palacio-Morales, 49. For over two weeks, the cellphone has been Hernandez’s only connection to Palacio-Morales, the father of her three-month-old baby. He has been held in ICE custody in facilities around the country while his family says ICE arrested the wrong person. According to Ring camera video provided to WBZ by the family, Palacio-Morales was arrested by ICE agents outside of his Lowell, Massachusetts home on September 8. His sister-in-law, Maria Pino, told WBZ that ICE told Palacio-Morales that he was wanted for a 2007 criminal charge and for missing an immigration hearing. Family says Palacio-Morales arrived in the United States from Colombia in 2022. He claimed asylum at the border and was legally allowed to enter the country. He also obtained a valid work permit. Palacio-Morales claims he has no criminal history, and he has never missed a check-in. His next immigration check in date is in April of 2026. Via video call, Palacio-Morales showed WBZ the wristband he has worn since being taken into custody. He says it has the date of birth and name of an individual that is not him. He has worn it as ICE transferred him from Burlington, Mass. to Buffalo, New York, to Texas, Arizona, California, and back to Arizona. Palacio-Morales also showed WBZ that he was recently given another ID that shows his proper birthdate and name. He continues to wear the wristband and has not been released from custody.

Daily Caller [9/29/2025 11:34 AM, Harold Hutchison, 985K] reports that a protester berating United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Massachusetts found her car in a lake, according to video posted by Fox News reporter Bill Melugin. The incident occurred in Upton, Massachusetts, where a woman began shouting at ICE agents who were taking at least one illegal immigrant into custody, according to Fox News. Melugin obtained the photo and 11-second video from a source within ICE. "Well, that sucks. Look at that, Lucy. Her car got lost," an agent said on the video after the car, a gray or silver crossover, rolled into the lake and began sinking as ICE agents marched a person in custody through the camera picture. ICE sources told Melugin that the woman apparently forgot to place the car in park before confronting the ICE agents. A riot broke out at an ICE facility in Illinois, as resistance to the agency’s operations to apprehend and deport illegal immigrants has intensified since President Donald Trump took office. Federal agents were forced to fire pepper balls at the rioters during that riot, according to video posted on X by multiple accounts, with some of the rioters being arrested as other rioters called for the ICE agents to be arrested or shot in another video posted online. At least one person was killed during a shooting at the ICE office in Dallas on Wednesday, with the gunman taking his own life.

CBS News [9/29/2025 5:09 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 45245K] reports an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who was initially relieved of his duties after being captured on video pushing a woman to the ground outside an immigration court in New York City has been returned to duty, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter told CBS News. The officials, who requested anonymity to discuss an internal move that has not been publicly announced, said the ICE officer was placed back on duty after a preliminary review of the incident. The move is a striking about-face, just a few days after the DHS released a statement denouncing the officer’s conduct as "unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE." The ICE officer’s actions garnered national attention last week, after videos surfaced on social media depicting his confrontation with a visibly upset Ecuadoran woman at the 26 Federal Plaza building, which houses Manhattan’s immigration court. ICE said the woman is also in the U.S. unlawfully and faces deportation proceedings.

FOX News [9/29/2025 9:20 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports an illegal alien who left an obscenity-laden bomb threat to a member of Congress was arrested by ICE over the weekend, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, the DHS said that Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez, a 58-year-old Cuban illegal living in Tampa, was arrested by ICE over the weekend as part of its efforts to crack down on the "worst of the worst" criminal illegal aliens. DHS said that Albizar-Martinez threatened to bomb the office of Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. He was sentenced to a year in prison in May after being found guilty in December of leaving a "vulgar, racist, obscenity-laden voicemail" in which he threatened to plant a bomb in the congresswoman’s Tampa office, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. Local outlet WFLA reported that in his message, Albizar-Martinez said in Spanish, "I’m going to plant a bomb in your office. It’s a threat," and "It’s a threat, so take it however you want you son of a f****** b****.” The outlet also reported that in the same message, Albizar-Martinez also attacked Democrats, black people and pro-Palestinian people. Commenting on his arrest by ICE, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Fox News Digital that "there is no place for political violence in America.” "Rigoberto Albizar-Martinez threatened to bomb a Congresswoman’s office," said McLaughlin. "Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE, this illegal alien and national security threat will be out of our country. "Nothing will deter us to remove the worst of the worst from America communities," she added. Castor did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. This comes as many Democrats have criticized ICE agents for carrying out immigration enforcement operations, accusing them of racially profiling people, using "Gestapo tactics" and terrorizing communities. DHS said that over the weekend, it also arrested several other criminal illegal aliens, including child rapists, gang members and a human smuggler. Among those arrested was Jorge German Aglony, a Chilean illegal in California, who was convicted of inflicting pain and suffering on a dependent adult or elder, as well as receipt and possession of child pornography. Another illegal arrested, Leonardo Velazquez-Marin, from Mexico, was also convicted of possession of child pornography in Dallas County, Texas. Also in Texas, ICE arrested Jose Elias Mejia-Orellana, a Honduran national who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 in Collin County. "Ramped-up immigration enforcement targeting the worst of the worst is removing more and more criminal illegal aliens off our streets every day and is sending a clear message to anyone else in this country illegally: Self-deport or we will arrest and deport you," said McLaughlin.

WTSP CBS 10 Tampa [9/29/2025 5:02 PM, S.G. de León y León] reports the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said Friday that the agency will give money to Florida for its participation in the 287(g) agreement, a program that turns select local law enforcement into ICE collaborators. According to the announcement, the 287(g) local partners in Florida will be awarded $10,005,665. State-level partners will be awarded $28,570,240. The financial support is for: Local agencies, Transportation funding: $2.7 million, Funding for equipment for 974 local officers: $7.3 million, State-level partners, Transportation funding: $1 million, Equipment funding for 3,676 state-level officers: $27.5 million. “At a time when ICE officers and law enforcement personnel face unprecedented challenges and threats, these partnerships are more vital than ever to protect our neighborhoods and uphold the rule of law,” ICE said in a press release. “Florida state and local law enforcement agencies have demonstrated exceptional commitment as essential partners in ICE’s 287(g) program," ICE Deputy Director Madison D. Sheahan said. Sheahan also thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, as well as the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Sheriffs Association. “Thank you to the Trump Administration and our federal partners at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for choosing Florida as the first stop for presenting reimbursements for our dedicated law enforcement officers across the state," DeSantis said.

Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 3:27 PM, David Zimmermann, 1563K] reports at least four people are facing federal criminal charges due to their involvement in a violent protest over the weekend outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility near Chicago. ICE locations have become increasingly targeted in violent attacks over the last several months, including last week’s shooting at an ICE Dallas office that killed one detainee and wounded two others. No officers were injured in the attack. Three protesters are being charged with forcibly assaulting federal officers in Illinois, while the other one is being charged with forcibly resisting federal officers, according to criminal complaints filed Sunday and shared by the Chicago Sun-Times. Two of the charged suspects were allegedly carrying firearms with lawful permits during the protest on Saturday in Broadview, Illinois. The following morning, the Department of Homeland Security announced two guns were recovered near the detention center, and an investigation into what appeared to be an explosive device was underway. In total, 11 protesters were arrested during the clash with federal officers.

CNN [9/29/2025 3:57 PM, Bill Kirkos] reports after clashes with law enforcement at an ICE facility in suburban Chicago over the weekend, four protesters are facing federal charges, including one who threatened to kill an agent, according to the criminal complaints. Dozens of federal law enforcement officers in tactical gear deployed non-lethal munitions while pushing back a crowd of protesters outside the facility Saturday evening. For weeks, protesters have gathered at that location, about 10 miles west of Chicago, to protest ramped-up ICE enforcement and aggressive tactics. In recent days, agents stationed at that facility on the ground and from the roof have used pepper balls, rubber bullets, and tear gas to clear out protesters. Three people are facing charges for assaulting federal law enforcement, according to the complaints filed Sunday in the Northern District of Illinois federal court. One person is facing charges for resisting arrest. In one case, a Homeland Security Investigations agent alleges protester Paul Ivery admitted to threatening to kill a Border Patrol Aagent, shouting words to the effect of "I’ll f*cking kill you right now" and "do something," according to the criminal complaint. Ivery then resisted arrest when he ran from police, then jumped on a car. The complaint also accuses Ivery of assaulting a federal agent by grabbing his helmet. Another cased filed by an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives accuses Ray Collins and Jocelyne Robledo, a married couple, according to the complaint, of assaulting federal agents. The FBI has charged a fourth person, Hubert Mazur, with resisting arrest after failing to move back after agents ordered him to move.

Daily Caller [9/29/2025 2:32 PM, Derek VanBuskirk, 985K] reports that Paul Ivery allegedly threatened and assaulted a U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) officer outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility near Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday, according to court documents. The documents, shared by Fox News, alleged Ivery yelled, "I’ll [expletive] kill you right now," and "do something," to the officers. He allegedly fled the scene and "forcibly pulled a pursuing USBP agent’s helmet" to resist detention, according to documents. While attempting to flee, one officer said Ivery jumped onto a civilian vehicle before being tackled to the ground, the documents show. The two began to tussle, with Ivery allegedly pulling the back of the officer’s helmet down, restricting his movement and vision. The alleged action also caused pain and exposed the officer to pepper spray deployed in the vicinity, according to the court documents. Ivery was eventually detained by law enforcement. 11 violent rioters were arrested last night in Chicago outside the ICE detention facility: These are two guns that were taken off rioters in Chicago right against the fence at our ICE detention facility. He had allegedly been participating in a protest against immigration enforcement at the ICE facility in Chicago, while USBP agents were assigned to ensure the safe passage of vehicles in and out of the facility. Ivery was charged with forcibly assaulting, opposing, resisting, impeding and interfering with a federal officer, Fox 32 reported. Three other protesters in attendance were also charged with federal crimes. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not responded to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.

Axios [9/29/2025 7:20 AM, Monica Eng, 14595K] reports tensions between ICE and locals hit a new peak this weekend as federal agents ramped up tear gas use, allegedly threatened to bring a "sh*t show" to west suburban Broadview and deployed armed agents downtown. The escalating tactics are "terrorizing our communities" and making Chicagoans afraid to go to work and school, according to local leaders who gathered Sunday afternoon to speak out. Friday morning, hundreds who protested at the Broadview ICE facility to demand more transparency and better conditions there were tear gassed and pepper sprayed by federal agents. Friday morning, Axios observed demonstrators singing, chanting, yelling and allowing ICE vehicles to proceed. Subsequent reports, however, note at least three times demonstrators unsuccessfully tried to block ICE cars. Friday afternoon Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson issued a letter decrying ICE’s use of tear gas and its effect on local police, firefighters, residents and protesters. Saturday morning, Broadview officials said ICE agents verbally threatened to bring a "sh*t show" to the suburb. Saturday night ICE officers emerged from the facility and deployed tear gas, pepper projectiles and rubber bullets against about 75 protesters, journalists and lawyers. Sunday afternoon, dozens of armed Border Patrol agents marched through downtown Chicago, apprehending people including, what appeared to be a family in Millennium Park. "We will not bow to a wannabe dictator," Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said at a Sunday afternoon press conference. "We will not back down. They want us to be silent. We will raise our voices and we will speak out against what’s happening." The other side: In a press statement, ICE officials characterized the Friday protesters as "rioters" who blocked access to one of the facility gates and attempted to illegally trespass on federal property.

Chicago Tribune [9/29/2025 4:40 PM, Adriana Pérez and Cam’ron Hardy, 5352K] reports the Broadview Police Department has opened a criminal investigation after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent allegedly shot a pepper ball at a WBBM-Ch. 2 reporter’s truck Sunday morning outside the agency’s holding facility, which has been at the center of heated protests from concerned citizens and politicians. It happened the same day an independent journalist was released after being detained by federal immigration agents while covering a protest outside the facility Saturday evening. Broadview police Chief Thomas Mills said in a statement that the Police Department "expects the full cooperation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation.” The CBS reporter, Asal Rezaei, posted on social media shortly after the pepper ball incident Sunday, saying, "An ICE agent took a direct shot at my car today. Absolutely unprovoked. My window was open and chemicals went all over my face. Been puking for two hours." Mills said the reporter declined medical attention. According to Rezaei, there were no protesters present when was driving past the facility, about 50 feet from the entrance, to check for activity.

CBS Chicago [9/29/2025 6:27 PM, Sabrina Franza, 45245K] reports multiple protesters were arrested by federal agents over the weekend and they appeared in court Monday. The protesters were charged with assaulting a federal officer. Some of those protesters were released Monday, while two were held in jail. Two of the defendants are a couple who are engaged to be married. Prosecutors said that couple brought guns to the ICE protest Saturday. The Department of Homeland Security claimed 11 people were taken into custody Saturday, and CBS News Chicago capture video of some of those people being detained. However, only five defendants faced criminal charges in federal court Monday. Jocelyn Robledo and Ray Collins, who are engaged, were both charged with assault to a federal officer. Robledo was charged with assault for allegedly shoving a federal officer, and prosecutors said she had a firearm on her at the time. The government said that gun was taken from her when she was detained. Collins, her partner, is accused of charging at federal officers and also had a gun on him at the time. Both have valid FOID cards and concealed carry licenses and were carrying the guns legally, police said. Collins’ attorney said he ran towards the federal officers when he saw them scuffling with his fiancé. The government claims Collins injured the thumb of an ATF special agent.

CBS Chicago [9/30/2025 12:29 AM, Charlie De Mar, 45245K] reports five people arrested during a protest outside the Broadview ICE facility appeared in court on Monday, charged with assaulting or resisting federal agents. Three were released while two others were ordered held. One of the people released. The relationship between ICE and the village of Broadview remains tense. Tuesday morning, village leaders, including the mayor and police chief, plan on addressing what they call ICE’s unprovoked, repeated use of chemical weapons. Five people are now facing federal charges stemming from ongoing protests outside this ICE facility in Broadview—including 70-year-old Dana Briggs, who was pushed to the ground by an agent on Saturday. The charging documents said the Air Force veteran ignored orders to clear the street, and when he attempted to hand his cell phone to another protester, Briggs was accused of swinging his arm, which made contact with an officer. "They didn’t give me time to move," he said. "All I saw was a hand coming at me after I handed my phone off.” He was released on Monday from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop—still wearing the same clothes, with injuries from his fall and arrest. "I’m more appalled that they are going after normal everyday people. Did we say some things they probably didn’t like? Fine, but free speech," he said. Jocelyne Robledo and Ray Collins are engaged and both face federal assault charges against a federal officer. Both are accused of carrying loaded guns during the arrest. They both have valid FOID and concealed carry licenses. Meanwhile, Briggs, who doesn’t have a prior criminal history, was released without supervision until his next court date in October. "I’ve been protesting these kinds of injustices for decades, and this is the first time I’ve ever come close to this kind of thing," he said. The villages of Oak Park and Forest Park have sent officers to back up police in Broadview. The local police departments are making it clear that they are not assisting ICE but rather working to help with crowd control. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [9/29/2025 7:28 PM, Laura Rodríguez Presa, 5352K] reports Dasha Ramirez, 8, and her little brother were playing with the water at the Crown Fountain in Chicago’s Millennium Park when federal agents approached their parents on a sunny Sunday afternoon. She ran toward her father, Jaime Ramirez, who was suddenly surrounded by a group of heavily armed agents in full camouflage. A second group encircled her mother, Noemi Chavez, who had been sitting quietly on a nearby bench, helping her 3-year-old son put on his shoes. "They approached me and asked me if I had my documents," said Noemi Chavez during a phone call to the Tribune Sunday night following their detention. "I told them I was not going to answer any questions and demanded a warrant.” Her request, she said, was ignored. Cradling her son in her arms, Chavez was escorted toward her husband, who remained surrounded by agents. Dasha clutched her doll, crying at the sight of her parents under arrest. Bystanders watched silently. No one intervened, Chavez recalled. Despite the couple’s repeated demands to see a warrant, agents loaded the entire family into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle parked along Michigan Avenue without much resistance — a scene captured on cellphones as tourists and residents strolled past the arrest in one of the city’s most popular destinations. Their arrest came as dozens of federal immigration agents — most wearing camouflage uniforms marked with Border Patrol patches — patrolled downtown Chicago on Sunday unannounced, surprising onlookers and detaining construction workers near Tribune Tower, a street vendor and a passerby along with the Ramirez family. Chavez and her two children are now confined to a room at O’Hare International Airport, awaiting transfer to a detention facility in Texas before deportation to Guatemala, she said. There are no detention centers in Illinois, which has forbidden local jails from holding ICE detainees under the state’s Way Forward Act. Neither ICE or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could immediately be reached for comment.

AP [9/29/2025 8:13 PM, Ryan J. Foley, 27036K] reports a state agency revoked the professional license of the leader of Iowa’s largest school district on Monday, days after federal agents arrested him on accusations that he was living and working in the country illegally. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said in a letter to Des Moines public schools Superintendent Ian Roberts that he was ineligible to hold a license because "you no longer possess legal presence in the United States.” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained Roberts on Friday, saying he was subject to a final removal order that an immigration judge signed in May 2024. Roberts is a native of Guyana who entered the United States on a student visa in 1999, according to ICE. He’s being held at an Iowa jail. ICE said that Roberts fled after a traffic stop in Des Moines, and that he was apprehended with the assistance of the Iowa State Patrol. The agency said that Roberts, 54, had possessed a loaded handgun in his district-issued vehicle, a hunting knife and $3,000 cash when arrested. Des Moines school officials said they had known nothing about Roberts being in the country illegally. They said that he had signed a form verifying that he was a citizen when he was hired in 2023 and submitted a driver’s license and Social Security card to verify his eligibility. The school board voted 6-0 Monday evening to put Roberts on unpaid leave from his job, which has an annual salary of $286,716. His contract, which the board had voted to extend in May through June 30, 2028, requires that he hold a state certification to serve as superintendent. Board chair Jackie Norris said the district received notice Monday afternoon from the Department of Homeland Security that Roberts was unauthorized to work in the country, and a copy of the removal order issued by the Department of Justice. Norris said the board would give Roberts’ attorney until noon on Tuesday to challenge those facts, and would otherwise move to fire him. "We need to understand what happened and why," she said. Roberts’ attorney, Alfredo Parrish, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The district, which has more than 30,000 students and nearly 5,000 employees, has said Roberts was identified as a candidate for the job by a search firm and that a "comprehensive background check" was completed as part of the process. The state board that granted Roberts a license to serve as superintendent said the process included background checks by the state police and FBI. The Iowa Department of Education said it was the school district’s responsibility to verify employees’ eligibility to work, and that it would investigate the district’s practices.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/29/2025 8:30 PM, Mitch Smith and Ann Hinga Klein, 143795K]
USA Today [9/30/2025 1:38 AM, Samantha Hernandez, 64151K]

FOX News [9/29/2025 7:42 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40019K] reports that, after an illegal alien, Ian Andre Roberts, the superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa, was arrested by ICE, Republicans blew the whistle on the fact that he was a registered active Democrat voter in the state of Maryland. According to the official website for the Maryland State Board of Elections, Roberts, who overstayed a student visa from 1999, has an active voter status and is registered as a Democrat in Maryland. The development was first reported on by columnist Dustin Grage. Republican state Delegate Matt Morgan, who is chair of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News Digital that Roberts’ registration means that he is eligible to vote in all federal, state and local elections despite not being a U.S. citizen, and also despite likely not having lived in Maryland for the past decade. Morgan explained that there is nothing in Maryland law allowing for non-citizens to be registered to vote in federal or state elections even if Roberts were still a legal resident. Now, the House Freedom Caucus is demanding answers from the Maryland State Board of Elections about "gaping holes" in the state’s election integrity systems. In a letter sent to the elections board on Monday, the Freedom Caucus also demanded answers on why the board has been "obstructing a valid request by the Department of Justice to ensure compliance with federal election laws, citing immigration enforcement as a primary concern. Morgan pointed to a letter the elections board sent to the Justice Department in August in which State Administrator of Elections Jared DeMarinis expressed concern that if the board gave over voter information to the federal government that data would be used for "used for enforcement of immigration laws against Maryland residents.” Commenting on the letter, Morgan asked, "If illegal aliens are not allowed to vote, why would they be on the voter rolls in the first place? And how would that enhance immigration enforcement? I don’t know, but that’s the excuse that they wrote to the DOJ.” "It’s ridiculous," he went on, adding that "everyone reasonable wants a safe and secure election.” Before his arrest by ICE, Roberts headed the Des Moines Public Schools, the largest school district in the state, despite not being legally authorized to work in the U.S. after his employment authorization card expired in 2020, according to authorities. He was taken into custody on a fugitive warrant last week. ICE agents arrested Roberts after he attempted to flee and was found hiding in brush. The vehicle Roberts was driving was found with $3,000 in cash, a fixed-blade hunting knife, and a loaded Glock 19 firearm, ICE said. Roberts also had illegal weapons possession charges from 2020 and was given a final order of removal in 2024. The state of Iowa revoked Roberts’ education license on Sunday, triggering the Des Moines School Board to place him on unpaid leave. "We were notified that the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Doctor Roberts’ license to practice as a superintendent in the state of Iowa. Without such a license, Doctor Roberts is not in compliance with his contract," said Jackie Norris, chair of the school board. Morgan said that though Roberts’ case is baffling, he fears he may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to illegal aliens registered to vote in Maryland. "We have no idea how widespread this is. We hear rumors, but we have no idea," he said. "This is uncharted territory," he added.

Washington Examiner [9/30/2025 5:00 AM, Kaelan Deese, 1563K] reports the arrest of Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts last week has ignited a firestorm in Iowa’s capital, as federal officials allege the longtime educator was living and working in the country illegally, despite holding one of the state’s most prominent and well-compensated public sector jobs. Roberts, 54, was detained Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after fleeing a traffic stop and abandoning his district-issued vehicle near a wooded area. Authorities say they found him carrying a loaded handgun, a hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Roberts is a native of Guyana who overstayed a student visa and was ordered deported by an immigration judge in May of last year. “This should be a wake-up call for our communities,” said ICE St. Paul Field Office Director Sam Olson. “How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district.” Des Moines school officials placed Roberts on paid administrative leave during an emergency meeting Saturday, one day after his arrest. At the time, Roberts was operating under a new contract effective July 1, 2025, which provides an annual salary of $286,000 and requires him to maintain a valid state-issued education license through June 30, 2028.

Washington Times [9/29/2025 4:02 PM, Stephen Dinan, 964K] reports the arrest of an illegal immigrant serving as the Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent of schools has exposed a broader problem in America’s public education system: Few of them are using E-Verify, the federal government’s tool to weed out people not authorized to work. Iowa has revoked the education license of Ian Andre Roberts, the Guyanese immigrant who was helming the state’s largest school system despite his defiance of a deportation order issued more than a year ago. Late Monday, the school board voted to put him on unpaid leave, and said unless he proves his work status by Tuesday, he’ll be fired. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mr. Roberts on Friday, moving to enforce a final deportation order an immigration judge issued last year. Authorities said Mr. Roberts fled in his Des Moines-issued vehicle, then abandoned it and ran before being tracked down. When officers later searched his vehicle, they found a handgun, which illegal immigrants cannot possess under the law. ICE said the case should be a “wake-up call” to communities to better check their hires. “How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” said Sam Olson, director of the ICE deportation field office that covers Des Moines. Jackie Norris, chair of the school board, said Mr. Roberts claimed to be a citizen. She said he presented a driver’s license and Social Security card and filled out Homeland Security’s I-9 form, the paper-based process for verifying someone is eligible to work. She said the school system had no reason to doubt his claims until last week. But experts said if the school system had used E-Verify, it could have blocked him and avoided the embarrassing black eye. “Every school district in the United States should be using E-Verify, if simply to protect the children they are responsible for,” said Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project. E-Verify is voluntary at the federal level, though some states make it mandatory for employers within their borders. A bill to add Iowa to that list cleared the state Senate last year but did not make it through final passage. Of the more than 10,000 school districts in the U.S., only a few hundred are listed as users of E-Verify in the program’s database, run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 5:09 PM, Molly Parks, 1563K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, as the victim who was killed in the Dallas ICE facility shooting on Wednesday. Guzman-Fuentes, 37, was apprehended by Dallas ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers on the day of the attack at the ICE facility. Joshua Jahn, the suspected sniper in the attack who is dead, was aiming to "give ICE agents real terror," FBI Director Kash Patel said. Jahn killed Guzman-Fuentes and injured two other illegal immigrants. Guzman-Fuentes was first arrested in the United States in Palm Springs, Florida, in 2012 under charges of battery, improper exhibit of a firearm or dangerous weapon, and criminal mischief, according to ICE. Law enforcement dropped the charges except for criminal mischief. He was arrested again in 2020 in Arlington, Texas, and charged with a DUI, but bonded out of Arlington Police Department custody. On Aug. 25, Dallas Police Department officers arrested Guzman-Fuentes and charged him with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and an outstanding warrant for driving while intoxicated, according to ICE. Guzman-Fuentes’s aggravated assault charge was dropped on Sept. 10. It was after his August arrest that ICE agents lodged an immigration detainer and subsequently apprehended him. The two other injured victims of the shooting were Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez of Mexico and Jose Andres Bordones-Molina of Venezuela, a Department of Homeland Security official told NBC News.

Daily Caller [9/29/2025 11:14 AM, Hudson Crozier, 985K] reports a PAC that has steered millions of dollars toward electing far-left Democrats is blaming Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for a deadly shooting at its Dallas, Texas, facility, saying the loss of life occurred "in ICE custody." The anti-ICE sniper who fired indiscriminately at agents and hit multiple detainees on Wednesday is another example of how ICE is "killing immigrants," the Justice Democrats PAC told supporters in a Thursday email one day after the attack. The PAC has spent millions of dollars in recent years on helping to elect Democrats such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the first of a far-left faction in Congress known informally as "The Squad." Justice Democrats did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. "Since [President] Donald Trump took back the White House and launched his cruel mass-deportation agenda, at least 17 people have died in ICE custody," the PAC wrote Thursday. Its list included "two detainees who were cruelly shot and killed by a gunman at a Dallas ICE facility yesterday." Officials initially said two detainees were killed, then clarified that one died and two were in critical condition. "How sick for politicians to be fundraising over a horrific and politically motivated shooting against our brave ICE law enforcement," Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the DCNF. "These politicians are fanning the flames of division with their lies, demonizing, and dehumanization." The email quoted Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois saying, "Every death at the hands of ICE, every family separated by ICE, every orphan created by ICE is [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem’s responsibility. She must come to the committee and account for ICE’s unlawfulness."

Univision [9/29/2025 2:29 PM, Patricia Clarembaux, 4932K] reports in February, an immigration judge granted Andrea Tepeque Jiménez a stay of deportation to her home country of Guatemala, where she fled after three Barrio 18 gang members raped her multiple times because she was transgender. She welcomed the court’s decision. The third country Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is considering is Mexico. The federal agency took custody of this 31-year-old transgender woman in August 2024, after she spent several months detained on charges of animal abuse against her two dogs. She denies this accusation, claiming she had to accept it to avoid a heavier sentence. She was then taken to the Krome North Service Processing Center in Florida, a male-only facility. Univision News requested information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and ICE regarding the Guatemalan woman’s case: "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law—by throwing deadly explosives and committing multiple animal cruelty crimes—you will face consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States," DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email. She did not respond to questions related to the attacks the Guatemalan woman has suffered in more than a year in federal custody or about her possible deportation to a third country.

Los Angeles Times [9/29/2025 6:00 AM, Rachel Uranga, 12715K] reports men sleep in locked cells every night on bunk beds with thin cotton blankets. They walk in straight lines with hands behind their back to the razor wire-enclosed "yard." Guards carrying handcuffs pat them down. There are head counts, lockdowns and "segregation" units. California’s newest and largest immigration detention center looks, sounds and feels a lot like a prison. Some say it’s worse. Behind the walls of California City Detention Facility, more than a hundred men staged hunger strikes during several days this month and refused to go back to their cells, protesting poor conditions. Men with diabetes or psychiatric conditions who arrived late last month complained they couldn’t get their medication. Others, who had never committed crimes or been in jails, found themselves locked behind metal doors in cold cells for most of the day. Toilets backed up and sinks clogged for days. Some who talked back were placed in handcuffs and punished with isolation. Advocates say one hunger striker was taken out on a stretcher after coughing up blood the night before. "They say it is a detention center. It is a prison with a name change," said an asylum seeker who arrived weeks earlier from Golden State Annex in McFarland. The man, who asked to be identified as H.S., said he can’t sleep at night in the two-man cell where detainees say air constantly blows through a vent. He has no medication for an injury that he alerted them about. He misses his wife and has no idea what will happen to him. "I’ve never been in prison. It’s very hard and day by day, it’s getting worse," he said. "Every day is like one year." Detention officials and the administration say that those being held are being treated fairly. "ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," said Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman. "Everyone receives soap, nobody is locked in cells all day, no one, in retaliation, is put in solitary confinement," she said. "All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members." That is not what half a dozen detainees recalled. Some said they spent most of their days in their cells, while guards shuffle them in and out for head counts every couple of hours. It took weeks to get a nail clipper, said one man, for their unit of dozens of men. And when one detainee asked for soap, a guard pointed to a used bar on a table that he could pick up.

Blaze [9/29/2025 3:30 PM, Staff, 1559K] reports days before a deadly shooting at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was spouting off virulently anti-ICE political propaganda and demonizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

AP [9/29/2025 1:40 PM, Staff, 1648K] reports that three activists opposed to President Donald Trump’s immigration raids in Los Angeles have been indicted on charges of illegally " doxing " a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, federal prosecutors said. Investigators said the women followed the agent home, livestreamed their pursuit and then posted the agent’s address online, according to a statement Friday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Once they arrived at the agent’s home, prosecutors allege the women shouted "ICE lives on your street and you should know," according to the indictment. The defendants are each charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of publicly disclosing the personal information of a federal agent, the statement said. Prosecutors said a 25-year-old woman from Panorama City, California, is free on $5,000 bond. A 38-year-old resident of Aurora, Colorado, who is also charged in a separate case with assault on a federal officer, is in custody without bond. And authorities are searching for the third defendant, a 37-year-old woman from Riverside, California. "Our brave federal agents put their lives on the line every day to keep our nation safe," Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. "The conduct of these defendants are deeply offensive to law enforcement officers and their families. If you threaten, dox, or harm in any manner one of our agents or employees, you will face prosecution and prison time."

Breitbart [9/29/2025 6:15 PM, Neil Munro, 2608K] reports Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) will introduce a bill on Tuesday that would sharply reduce the number of H-1B migrants working in U.S. white-collar jobs. The bill, to be announced Tuesday morning, would begin to count visa renewals as new visas, so ending the current practice of allowing unlimited renewals for most of the 85,000 visas granted to companies each year. The unlimited renewals policy allows roughly 750,000 H-1B visa holders to retain white-collar, career-track jobs that would otherwise have gone to young U.S. graduates. Without the exemption, the number of company-employed H-1B visa holders would drop to roughly 250,000. The Cotton bill would also end the policy of exempting H-1B visas from the 85,000 limit if they are awarded to non-profits, which include corporate-affiliated research centers, universities, hospitals, and government K-12 teaching jobs. The non-profit H-1B workforce is large and growing, and is also harming many young Americans who are both skilled and eager for careers in laboratories, hospitals, lecture halls, and classrooms. A 2016 count by Breitbart News showed that roughly 100,000 H-1B and J-1 visa workers were employed by the non-profit sector. "Colleges and universities shouldn’t get special treatment for bringing in woke and anti-American professors from around the world. My bill closes that universities have abused for far too long," Cotton said in a press statement. Cotton’s draft bill would pressure companies to accept job applications from the growing lack of underemployed and unemployed American STEM graduates.

Reuters [9/29/2025 6:07 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports the top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday reintroduced legislation to tighten rules on the H-1B and L-1 worker visa programs, targeting what they called loopholes and abuse by major employers. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, and Democratic ranking member Dick Durbin of Illinois said the bill tightens rules by raising wage and hiring standards, mandating public job postings, and narrowing visa eligibility, among others. The H-1B visa program, widely used by the U.S. technology sector to hire skilled workers from India and China, has been under the spotlight after the Trump administration earlier this month imposed a $100,000 fee on new applications. Unlike the H-1B program for skilled foreign hires, the L-1 visa allows multinational companies to transfer existing employees from overseas offices to the U.S. The two senators, who first introduced similar legislation in 2007, said they sent letters last week to 10 major U.S. employers including Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O) and Meta Platforms (META.O) scrutinizing their reliance on H-1B visas while laying off staff.

Washington Times [9/29/2025 5:07 PM, Natalia Siniawski, 964K] reports President Trump’s battle to get America’s borders under control is going extremely well. The percentage of illegal immigrants in the workforce has already plunged, border crossings are minuscule, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids have become the stuff of pop culture legend. As a nation, we’ve finally rediscovered the idea that we get to choose who comes into our nation. They don’t get to choose for us. We must also ask an exciting and sobering question: How should we choose? Mr. Trump has had great success in enforcing our laws against illegal immigration. Are there comparable parts of immigration law he can expand or use as a model for our system? Personally, I want us to drain the brainpower of every nation on earth. Get the smartest, most entrepreneurial people to America, and soon we won’t just outthink everyone but outproduce them as well. The titan industries of the future must come from America. Only then will we have the leverage to ensure the global marketplace runs according to American principles of freedom and openness. We can no longer afford to let in criminals, menial laborers and duds. We have to be selective. We have to be smart. One visa program manages to be both: the EB-5 program, aka the Immigrant Investor Program. When they say “investor,” they mean investor. You can’t get an EB-5 visa without first offering to invest at least $800,000 in the American economy and promising to preserve and/or create at least 10 full-time jobs for Americans. It works. In fact, it overperforms relative to the requirements. From 2016 to 2019, EB-5 created 1.7 million American jobs, generated $75 billion in revenue, created $122 billion in wages for American citizens, and contributed $184 billion to gross domestic product. Every EB-5 investor created, on average, 45 American jobs. Every $500,000 investment the program took in generated an additional $1.6 million in private investment. Taxpayers, meanwhile, paid nothing. In fact, the program generated $14.5 billion in revenue. You would have an easier time getting St. Thomas Aquinas to subscribe to an OnlyFans model than finding a U.S. immigration program with those results. The requirements are set to get steeper with time. In January 2027, the minimum investment required to obtain an EB-5 visa will go up in line with what consumers pay for goods and services. In other words, this isn’t a policy that inflation will make it easy for people to game down the road. It will always be at least this hard to get an EB-5. At least.

NPR [9/30/2025 5:00 AM, Leila Fadel, 34837K] reports before the U.S. suspended visitor visas for Palestinians in August, one helped change a young woman’s life. NPR speaks to her and the American surgeon who saved her leg. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

FOX News [9/29/2025 4:55 PM, Ashley J., 40019K] reports as the popularity of "golden" visas continues to rise, more locations — including some unexpected ones — are appealing to elite Americans who are looking for a "Plan B" residency. Latin America and Asia are among the latest regions of interest in the spotlight. Mo Bennis, an associate vice president at Arton Capital, a global financial advisory and consultancy firm, told Fox News Digital that Americans are looking beyond Europe for secondary citizenship. "For years, Europe was the go-to choice for Americans seeking a ‘Plan B’ passport — Portugal, Malta and Greece all saw sustained interest," said Bennis. Now, he added, "Latin America is booming. Costa Rica, Panama and Uruguay are drawing record numbers of U.S. applicants who want affordability, proximity and flexibility.” There was a 660% spike in U.S. citizens applying for residency in Costa Rica, according to Business Insider. Bennis, who is based in Canada, said he also sees Asia rising quickly — with "Thailand and Singapore emerging as strategic relocation hubs thanks to their combination of business-friendly environments, world-class healthcare and lifestyle opportunities.” "Many Americans are realizing that a second residency or citizenship is the ultimate insurance policy against uncertainty," said Bennis. While critics of "golden" visas argue these programs favor the affluent over ordinary people and can push up the prices of local housing, some African nations are also now appealing to well-off U.S. citizens.

Bloomberg [9/29/2025 2:02 PM, Mallory Culhane, 75K] reports that the US Department of Homeland Security escaped a lawsuit challenging its H-1B petition requirement that prospective employers attest that they haven’t coordinated with other companies to increase a beneficiary’s chances of being selected in the lottery. The worker who brought the suit lacks standing to bring any of his claims against the agency because his purported injuries are traceable to his employer’s alleged fraud and subsequent withdrawal of its H-1B petition, Judge Paul G. Gardephe of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York wrote in a Monday order dismissing the case without prejudice. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

Daily Caller [9/29/2025 11:23 AM, Jason Cohen, 985K] reports Ghanaian-American comedian Michael Blackson on "The Breakfast Club" Monday dismissed radio host Charlamagne tha God’s assertions that President Donald Trump could deport him. Naturalized citizens can only be deported if their citizenship status is revoked for attaining naturalization illegally or breaching specific immigration laws, but revoking the citizenship of such an individual is exceptionally rare, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Charlamagne told Blackson on the show that Trump was deporting American citizens, but the comedian said that was not relevant to him and that he was not concerned. "I’m American. He can’t just deport me now," Blackson said. "I have no criminal record." "Well, no. That’s part of what he’s been doing," Charlamagne claimed. "He’s been deporting people who are actually U.S. citizens or people who’ve been going through the process." Blackson said he would need a criminal record to be deported, but Charlamgagne responded that Trump would "find something" on him. The comedian expressed skepticism. "I’m not worried about Trump, man," Blackson said.

Chicago Tribune [9/29/2025 6:00 AM, Kate Armanini, 5352K] reports in a sprawling lab in Evanston, Michaël Elbaz watched a tiny mouse scamper across its cage. The Northwestern University postdoctoral researcher has spent hundreds of hours monitoring the animals — tracing the intricate interplay of neuronal activity and decision-making processes. "You could spend your whole life trying to understand just one part of this," he said, gesturing to a diagram of a rodent brain. The research has consumed nearly five years of Elbaz’s life. But a new federal policy may cut his study short. The French national came to the U.S. with an exchange visitor visa, which is soon set to expire. To remain in the country, he planned to petition for an H-1B visa, the primary employment pathway for foreign professionals. Then, earlier this month, the Trump administration announced each new application would cost the sponsoring organization $100,000, rather than the previous fees of roughly $1,000. The move has unleashed panic across local business and universities, which rely on the H-1B program to fill thousands of positions. It’s an abrupt overhaul to a 30-year program that has steadily built up the country’s research and technology infrastructure. "It’s quite stressful, because I don’t know whether, in three months, I will have to pack my things and go back to Europe," Elbaz said. Experts say the fee is too high for most businesses and universities to pay commonly, effectively ending the visa for entry-level positions. "It could have really catastrophic consequences for potential H-1B visa holders, but also for companies and the U.S. economy as a whole," said Nicole Hallett, a clinical professor of law at the University of Chicago.

CBS Los Angeles [9/29/2025 8:57 AM, Laurie Perez, 45245K] Video: HERE reports a man from Pasadena is speaking out and asking for help after his wife was detained by federal agents at the end of a scheduled green card hearing in downtown Los Angeles in early September. Tucker May says that his wife, Barbara Gomes Marques, 38, was on her way to becoming a U.S. citizen when they headed to the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building almost two weeks ago. He says that at the end of her meeting for her green card, someone asked his wife to accompany them down a hallway to make a copy of her passport, which they thought was the next step in her gaining citizenship after they were married last year. Now, he believes it was a trick to get the two separated before she was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. He says that Marques is a documentarian without a criminal record who came to the U.S. on a tourist visa seven years ago. "They put her in hand shackles and in leg shackles, and around the waist as well, like she’s some hardened criminal. She had tears streaming down her face, and she told me one of the ICE agents pulled out his cell phone, laughing, and took a selfie," May said. CBS News Los Angeles has reached out to both ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for further information on the incident. May said that they told his wife she was arrested for missing a court date regarding her status in 2019, something he says they were completely unaware of.

Bloomberg [9/29/2025 4:57 PM, Patricia Laya, 19085K] reports Colombia’s finance chief, foreign affairs minister and other senior officials said they would renounce their US visas after Washington revoked President Gustavo Petro’s permit. Finance Minister Germán Ávila said he was giving up his visa in “solidarity” with Petro. Foreign Minister Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio called her decision an “act of dignity,” while Interior Minister Armando Benedetti urged the entire cabinet and other officials “committed to President Petro” to follow suit. Energy Minister Edwin Palma shared what appeared to be an email from the US Embassy on X showing his government official and tourist US visas had been canceled. A press official at the US embassy in Bogotá declined to say whether other Petro officials had lost their visas, citing confidentiality rules around visa decisions. The US government said Friday it would cancel Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian protest on the sidelines of last week’s UN General Assembly in New York. The State Department described his behavior as “reckless and incendiary” after he urged US troops to disobey orders from Donald Trump. The decisions mean neither Petro, his top diplomat nor his finance chief can travel to the US, the country’s largest trading partner and main supplier of military aid, complicating relations with investors. “It is very concerning that these ministers are waiving their right to travel to the country with which Colombia has the deepest relationship in commercial, military, and political affairs in the hemisphere,” said Sergio Guzmán, director of Colombia Risk Analysis. “This seems like a shot in the foot when cool heads, diplomatic efforts, and great prudence are needed to uphold Colombia’s interests,” he added.

Reported similarly:
AP [9/29/2025 6:03 PM, Astrid Suárez and Manuel Rueda, 37974K]

AP [9/30/2025 12:19 AM, Staff, 37974K] reports Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday referred to his US counterpart, Donald Trump, as an ‘accomplice to genocide’ in the Gaza Strip and insisted that the army disobey him. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [9/30/2025 4:54 AM, Sai Ishwarbharath B, Haripriya Suresh and Rishika Sadam, 45746K] reports Donald Trump’s H-1B visa crackdown will hasten U.S. firms’ shift of critical work to India, turbocharging the growth of global capability centres (GCCs) that handle operations from finance to research and development, economists and industry insiders say. The world’s fifth-largest economy is home to 1,700 GCCs, or more than half the global tally, having outgrown its tech support origins to become a hub of high-value innovation in areas from design of luxury car dashboards to drug discovery. Trends such as growing adoption of artificial intelligence and increasing curbs on visas are pushing U.S. firms to redraw labour strategies, with GCCs in India emerging as resilient hubs blending global skills with strong domestic leadership. "GCCs are uniquely positioned for this moment. They serve as a ready in-house engine," said Rohan Lobo, partner and GCC industry leader at Deloitte India, who said he knew of several U.S. firms reassessing their workforce needs. "Plans are already underway" for such a shift, he added, pointing to greater activity in areas such as financial services and tech, and particularly among firms with exposure to U.S. federal contracts. Lobo said he expected GCCs to "take on more strategic, innovation-led mandates" in time. U.S. President Trump raised the cost of new H-1B visa applications this month to $100,000, from an existing range of $2,000 to $5,000, adding pressure on U.S. firms that relied on skilled foreign workers to bridge critical talent gaps. On Monday, U.S. senators reintroduced a bill to tighten rules on the H-1B and L-1 worker visa programmes, targeting what they called loopholes and abuse by major employers. If Trump’s visa curbs go unchallenged, industry experts expect U.S. firms to shift high-end work tied to AI, product development, cybersecurity, and analytics to their India GCCs, choosing to keep strategic functions in-house over outsourcing. Growing uncertainty fuelled by the recent changes has given fresh impetus to discussions about shifting high-value work to GCCs that many firms were already engaged in. "There is a sense of urgency," said Lalit Ahuja, founder and CEO of ANSR, which helped FedEx (FDX.N), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.N), Target (TGT.N) and Lowe’s (LOW.N) set up their GCCs. Such a rush could lead to "extreme offshoring" in some cases, said Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, a former managing director of Cognizant India, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic had shown key tech tasks could be done from anywhere.

Axios [9/29/2025 10:06 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 14595K] reports the U.S. government seized 14 ancient Egyptian artifacts that were "illegally smuggled" into the country, prosecutors announced Monday. A federal court in Maryland granted a default judgment completing the forfeiture of the artifacts that included a limestone statue valued at around $6 million, per a post on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore. In addition to the "Old Kingdom Limestone Funerary Statue," other smuggled artifacts include amulets, stone figurines and a vase, per the post. Customs and Border Protection officers seized the artifacts from August 2020 to April 2021 after "inspecting numerous parcels from overseas shippers transiting through airports in Anchorage, Alaska, Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City," according to the post They were destined for private collections, with the attorney’s office noting the "ultimate destination for at least one of these shipments was a private collector in Edgewater, Maryland." Shipping paperwork for the artifacts’ parcels contained "deceptive and inaccurate descriptions of their contents," including "home décor," "stone garden statue," or "decoration," according to the post. They did not state the true origin or value of the ancient artifacts. "Historians and antique appraisers, working with CBP, later confirmed the true nature of each ancient Egyptian artifact," the post said. "In similar cases, the Justice Department has worked through appropriate channels to return smuggled ancient artifacts to their rightful owners — the people of the country of origin." What they’re saying: "These ancient artifacts are more than just relics of the past; they are irreplaceable pieces of global cultural heritage that tell the story of human civilization," said Evan Campanella, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore. "The deceptive practices used to smuggle these treasures into the United States not only violate our import laws but also undermine efforts to preserve and protect the integrity of cultural history."

UPI [9/29/2025 6:19 PM, Staff, 2608K] reports U.S. border agents in Minnesota spotted and seized a million-dollar shipment of more than 100,000 illegal Chinese vape products destined to a California nicotine wholesaler. On Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area recently uncovered and later took control over scores of pallets that contained vaping items, including some 90,000 illicit Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems products and 75,000 refill cartridges. "The excellent intelligence sharing helped our officers identify and intercept these shipments that could potentially harm the health and wellbeing of people within our communities," according to LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, field operations director at CBP’s Chicago office. Federal officials stated the shipment containing roughly 165,000 illegal nicotine vape products and violated federal law under the FDA’s Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Authorities seized the pallets in alleged violation of the FD&C Act and due to a perceived "lack of required FDA marketing authorization," adding the tobacco products were found to be "adulterated" and "misbranded.” Experts suggested the shipments transferring vaping flavors such Blue Razz, Iced Lush, Blue Lightning, Gum Mint, Turkish Tobacco and Classic Tobacco held a total estimated retail value of at least $1.47 million. The successful sting started by field intelligence gathered by local CBP officers in Chicago, according tot border officials in Illinois.

Reuters [9/29/2025 10:08 AM, Catherine Early, 45746K] reports in 2020, palm oil produced by Malaysian giant Sime Darby, the world’s biggest producer of palm oil certified by Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, was banned from the U.S. after its Customs and Border Protection flagged forced labour in its supply chain. International brands including Kraft Heinz, Nestle and Unilever shunned the supplier in response. It was one of several Malaysian companies that have been banned by the United States over forced labour allegations – considered rife in the country’s palm oil sector, which relies heavily on migrant workers from Indonesia. Sime Darby, since renamed SD Guthrie Berhad, undertook an audit of its plantations, and in 2022 set aside around $20 million to compensate workers who paid recruitment fees to secure jobs. The U.S. lifted its ban on Sime Darby in 2023, citing evidence it had seen that the company no longer used forced labour. In the wake of this and similar scandals, RSPO has increased its focus on human rights. The latest version of its standards, approved in November 2024, has strengthened an existing ban on forced labour, explains Leena Ghosh, the RSPO’s head of human rights and social standards. "The 2018 standard already prohibited recruitment fees, but what was lacking was a mandate to repay recruitment fees, or any money that workers may have paid to third parties to get a job," she says.

Reuters [9/29/2025 7:33 PM, David Shepardson, 20690K] reports U.S. airlines warned on Monday that a partial federal government shutdown could strain American aviation and slow flights, as air traffic controllers and security officers would be forced to work without pay and other functions would be halted. Airline trade group Airlines for America, which represents United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and others, warned that if funding lapses, "the system may need to slow down, reducing efficiency" and impacting travelers. The warning about air travel highlights the latest potential collateral damage from the political dispute in Washington over government funding. "When federal employees who manage air traffic, inspect aircraft and secure our nation’s aviation system are furloughed or working without pay, the entire industry and millions of Americans feel the strain," the group said. Air traffic controllers and about 50,000 Transportation Security Administration employees who staff airport checkpoints are among the government workers who would be required to keep working but would not be paid. In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. The Federal Aviation Administration was forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff. The shutdown is expected to begin on Wednesday unless there is an agreement between the Democrats and Republicans on a government funding bill. Congressional Democratic leaders left a meeting with President Donald Trump on Monday without reaching a deal. In a separate letter, airline groups, aviation unions, manufacturers, airports and other aviation groups warned shutdowns force the FAA to "suspend air traffic controller and technician hiring and training, delay the implementation of safety initiatives, postpone maintenance and repair work to critical air traffic equipment, suspend air carrier pilot check rides, delay airworthy inspections for aircraft, defer the analysis of voluntary safety reporting, and suspend work on modernization programs.”

NewsMax [9/29/2025 7:32 PM, Solange Reyner, 4779K] reports the Government Accountability Office said Monday that the Trump administration violated the Impoundment Control Act when it withheld funds appropriated for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Because FEMA has de-obligated and delayed the obligation or expenditure of funds without providing any justification or indicating a plan to implement these programs and move forward with the obligation and expenditure of funds, the withdrawals, holds, and reviews discussed below cannot be considered programmatic delays," the report said. The Trump administration has repeatedly violated the Impoundment Control Act, which was enacted in 1974 to limit the president’s ability to withhold or delay spending funds that Congress has appropriated. This includes money for electric vehicle charging stations, museum and library programs, the Head Start early childhood education program, and FEMA’s emergency food and shelter funds, according to the GAO. The Hill [9/29/2025 4:49 PM, Rachel Frazin, 12414K] reports Monday’s report specifically knocked FEMA’s actions related to the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, the Shelter and Services Program and the Next Generation Warning System Grant Program. The GAO report comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to hold up or cancel various grants across the federal government. At FEMA specifically, as well as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees it, expenditures worth more than $100,000 have to be reviewed personally by Secretary Kristi Noem. Separately, the Trump administration has flirted with the idea of eliminating the emergency management agency altogether, though more recently it has talked about reforming it. The report notes that for the grant programs in question, the Trump administration axed previously issued grants. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an email to The Hill that the GAO’s decision “is simply incorrect.”

Bloomberg [9/29/2025 12:00 PM, Leslie Kaufman, 19085K] reports two Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration about its management of the National Flood Insurance Program after cuts at the agency that runs it, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In a letter to FEMA’s Acting Administrator David Richardson that was shared with Bloomberg News, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Andy Kim of New Jersey said the agency’s shifting priorities and loss of staff could destabilize a program that 4.7 million Americans rely on. “FEMA is failing to adequately manage NFIP,” the lawmakers wrote. They asked Richardson to explain how staff changes at the agency are affecting the insurance program. The letter comes as the NFIP is also facing another major risk: the law authorizing its operation is set to expire on September 30th. That deadline coincides with the date Congress must reauthorize the entire federal budget. Currently, there are not the votes and Washington D.C. is bracing for shutdown. FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

DailySignal [9/29/2025 11:02 AM, Olivia Pero, 668K] reports Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., warned his Democrat colleagues to not let the government shut down as two storms potentially threaten the East Coast. Fetterman said he’s concerned that pausing government funding could harm response efforts to Hurricane Humberto and Tropical Storm Imelda, according to the New York Post. "If you have a Cat 5 storm that’s now facing our nation, why would you even have that conversation right now?" said Fetterman on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures." "I sure [hope] things work out, and we don’t shut our government down.” There will be a partial shutdown after 11:59 p.m. Tuesday if Congress doesn’t pass the fiscal year 2026 budget or a continuing resolution. However, Democrats and Republicans are in a gridlock over key health care policies. If the government does partially shut down, Federal Emergency Management Agency employees must still work, but the agency won’t be able to renew or sell vital flood insurance policies. "I’m at, where I have always been, and I will always remain on is, it is always, always wrong to shut our government down," Fetterman said. "That is a core responsibility. I’m always going to vote against those things. … And if it’s the Republican side or now it’s our side, I’m going to condemn it."

CNN [9/29/2025 2:28 PM, Briana Waxman, 23245K] reports Tropical Storm Imelda is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane as it moves off the Southeast coast this week, kicking up dangerous surf, rip currents, coastal flooding and beach erosion from Florida through the Carolinas. At the same time, Hurricane Humberto, which briefly exploded into a rare Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds Saturday, is now a large Category 4 hurricane. Located a few hundred miles east of Imelda, Humberto’s massive size will compound the hazards for US beaches this week, driving deadly rip currents and big waves farther north along the East Coast than Imelda alone. Imelda’s center is expected to stay well off the US coast – a significant change in the forecast from over the weekend – but its wide-reaching storminess will still bring wet weather to some. Localized flash flooding is possible in the coastal Carolinas through Tuesday, but forecast rainfall totals have decreased substantially to an inch or less in most areas. Coastal flooding is also possible from Florida’s Space Coast to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where onshore winds could push water 1 to 2 feet above normally dry ground at high tide. The Bahamas are still enduring Imelda’s winds and heavy rain after being soaked over the weekend. Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for parts of the islands, with 4 to 8 inches of rain expected to trigger flash flooding. Storm surge of 1 to 3 feet is also possible, while eastern Cuba could see 2 to 4 inches of additional rainfall and localized mudslides in higher terrain. As of early Monday, Imelda had sustained winds of 50 mph and was centered 265 miles east-southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to intensify into a hurricane Tuesday as it parallels Florida’s Atlantic Coast, before making an abrupt turn eastward into open water. That turn is thanks to Humberto: Imelda’s slower than expected northward movement means Humberto will win a tropical tug-of-war and pull Imelda away from the shoreline. This anticipated interaction between the two storms is the main reason threats of flooding rain and damaging winds are decreasing for the US compared to concerns over the weekend. Officials in the Southeast had geared up to deal with the storm while the forecast looked more threatening. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster issued a state of emergency Friday, activating statewide response plans, while the City of Charleston declared a local state of emergency Saturday and began distributing sandbags and clearing storm drains. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein also issued a state of emergency Saturday to mobilize resources.

Bloomberg [9/29/2025 8:53 AM, Brian K. Sullivan, 19085K] reports Hurricane Humberto will likely bulldoze a path for Tropical Storm Imelda to veer away from the coastal US Southeast, sparing the region from a direct strike. Category 4 Humberto’s winds rose to 145 miles (233 kilometers) per hour as of 8 a.m. local time, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Humberto will wear down a ridge of high pressure in the Atlantic, “causing an abrupt turn of Imelda” away from landfall on the US coast between North Carolina and Florida, Eric Blake, a senior hurricane specialist with the center, wrote in a forecast. Imelda is currently 265 miles east-southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and is expected to become a hurricane by Tuesday, according to the center. “There is increasing confidence in the storm staying well offshore of the southeastern United States coast,” Blake wrote. Humberto and Imelda will still make themselves felt across the region. Humberto’s winds will likely swipe at Bermuda as it passes the island and generate dangerous surf along the US East Coast through the week. Meanwhile, Imelda is expected to unleash heavy rain across the Carolinas, Bahamas and Cuba, where it could also cause mudslides given mountainous terrain there.

Washington Post [9/29/2025 6:10 AM, Ben Noll, 29079K] reports thanks to the powerful, once Category 5 Hurricane Humberto churning over the open waters of the Atlantic, the United States will avoid a direct hit from Tropical Storm Imelda this week. Because it was slow to organize and move northward, Imelda will become swept up in Humberto’s atmospheric steering flow, pulled out to sea like a fish on a line. And what could have been a week of catastrophic flooding in the Southeast is now expected to be a few days of rain, wind, big waves and rip currents from eastern Florida to southern Virginia, with adverse impacts expected to be localized rather than widespread. The weather up and down the East Coast will greatly improve later in the week, as sinking air, or subsidence, on the backside of Imelda and Humberto delivers a stretch of sunny fall days — including in D.C. But for Bermuda, it will be a different story. Humberto will pass to the west of the small island in the middle of the vast Atlantic late Tuesday, bringing a round of heavy rain, wind and huge waves. Then, a strengthening Imelda could reach the island Wednesday night or early Thursday, bringing more serious impacts.

Bloomberg Law [9/29/2025 12:00 PM, Leslie Kaufman, 790K] reports that two Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration about its management of the National Flood Insurance Program after cuts at the agency that runs it, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In a letter to FEMA’s Acting Administrator David Richardson that was shared with Bloomberg News, Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Andy Kim of New Jersey said the agency’s shifting priorities and loss of staff could destabilize a program that 4.7 million Americans rely on. Homes surrounded by floodwaters from Hurricane Beryl in Sargent, Texas, on July 8, 2024. "FEMA is failing to adequately manage NFIP," the lawmakers wrote. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

Wall Street Journal [9/29/2025 9:00 PM, Scott Patterson and Tarini Parti, 646K] reports minutes after a mile-wide tornado struck this city on an otherwise beautiful day this spring, Ali Rand heard her husband shout as he surveyed the devastation surrounding their tony neighborhood of historical homes. “Everything is gone,” Rand, 38, remembers him saying. The tornado, packing winds of 152 miles an hour, hit the city with blunt force, killing five people. In the weeks following the storm, Rand and other private citizens mobilized teams of residents whose neighborhoods had been destroyed to clean up debris, remove fallen trees and rebuild shattered homes. Largely missing from the recovery efforts, according to Rand, city officials and other residents: the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “I’ve never seen someone from FEMA out on the streets,” Rand said. That is by design. St. Louis is a test case for the Trump administration’s new policy of shifting more responsibility for natural disasters to states and cities. City officials and local residents who are still clearing rubble from destroyed buildings four months after the tornado struck said the experiment isn’t going well. Many of FEMA’s core functions related to preparing for natural disasters and leading recovery efforts after they strike have ground to a halt as the Trump administration redefines the agency, according to more than a dozen FEMA employees and local officials, as well as a review of internal government documents. Crucial contracts and grants haven’t been approved, caught up in layers of new bureaucracy. A wave of senior staff departed the agency when Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency offered buyouts, taking decades of experience with them. Around 400 FEMA employees have been detailed to work at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as that agency rapidly expands. And the administration has started dismantling the agency’s disaster-response infrastructure, which was strengthened in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The scaled-back federal response has left places like St. Louis in a bind. The city doesn’t have the finances, institutional knowledge or equipment to rapidly respond to catastrophic disasters like the tornado that struck in May, which the city estimates caused $1.6 billion in damage. St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer—a Democrat, who had been in office for just a month when the tornado hit—pointed in an interview to the rapid federal response to a tornado that struck Joplin, Mo., in 2011. “That didn’t happen here,” she said. “We’re running the response ourselves.”

CBS Colorado [9/29/2025 5:13 PM, Austen Erblat, 45245K] Video: HERE reports every member of Colorado’s congressional delegation -- four Democrats and four Republicans -- and both Democratic senators are calling on President Trump to issue a major disaster declaration and offer public assistance to Rio Blanco County residents who have been impacted by the Lee and Elk fires. They sent a letter to the White House on Monday, supporting the governor’s call for help. The fires burned 150,000 acres between them and caused over $27.4 million in damage, according to state and federal fire officials. Three homes were destroyed in the Lee Fire, and two were burned in the Elk Fire, and several other government buildings and critical infrastructure were destroyed or damaged. The Lee Fire is also now the fifth-largest wildfire in state history, just 2 acres shy of the fourth-largest, the Hayman Fire. Investigators say both fires, along with several others at the time, were sparked by lightning. Gov. Jared Polis, on Friday, formally requested support from FEMA to help residents’ and business owners’ recovery efforts. "Damage from these fires and the subsequent flash flooding puts Colorado families, major energy production, and the local economy at risk. This is why Colorado is asking the federal government to continue supporting the state through these recovery efforts," he said in a statement on Friday. "By joining us in partnership, we can help communities in Rio Blanco recover from this disaster as fast as possible.” On Monday, Colorado’s congressional delegation echoed that call for help, writing to the White House that residents are struggling and the local economy could collapse under the costs of recovery. "Successful recovery is essential to restoring the County’s economy, which depends on oil and gas, agriculture, outdoor recreation, and hunting and fishing," they wrote in the joint letter. "Without additional support, residents could face increased electricity costs, oil and gas production could slow, and important habitat and grazing lands could be lost.”

CBS San Francisco [9/29/2025 4:23 PM, Chelsea Hylton, 45245K] reports two Los Angeles-area men and a woman from Louisiana have been charged with fraud after they allegedly received more than $40,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during the LA wildfire recovery. The individuals are accused of falsely claiming they were residents in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades in order to receive disaster assistance from FEMA that was intended for wildfire victims. Jerry Lee Clay Jr. of LA is charged with one felony count of procuring and offering a false or forged instrument; one felony count of grand theft; and two felony counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information. Matthew Garnet O’Brien of LA, one felony count of offering a forged or false instrument and one felony count of grand theft. Maricka Marie Gilmore of Marrero, La., is charged with one felony count each of procuring and offering a false or forged instrument and grand theft. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office alleges Clay submitted a fraudulent application to FEMA using a Pacific Palisades address for an apartment where he did not live. Through his application, Clay received $14,919.30 in federal disaster assistance between January and February 2025. The district attorney’s office said the money was deposited into his personal account. Clay is also being accused of "impersonating individuals he falsely claimed were his landlords in documents submitted to FEMA to verify tenancy claims and further his scheme.”

Washington Times [9/29/2025 4:53 PM, Stephen Dinan, 964K] reports it was bad enough that fraudsters stole tens of billions of dollars in bogus pandemic-era unemployment benefits — now it turns out states forgave much of that money without even trying to claw it back. The exact amount won’t ever be known, though it could stretch into billions. The Labor Department’s inspector general blamed poor decision-making and antiquated systems in the states, which administer the unemployment program with federal backstop funds during the pandemic. Investigators did a deep dive into Michigan and Massachusetts, which they identified as particular offenders, and found the states forgave people who were using clearly stolen Social Security numbers or suspicious emails or physical addresses that kept popping up in other fraud cases. Among the claims paid out by Michigan — and later forgiven — was one where the person used an out-of-state Social Security number, gave an address in Alabama, and hadn’t reported any earnings before the pandemic. The state had confirmed that it was a fraudulent application, yet still forgave the money, meaning the fraudster wasn’t asked to pay it back. In another case, Michigan determined a claim was the result of identity theft. A year later, it still forgave that money. The inspector general said Michigan waived recovery for nearly 18,000 cases of confirmed fraud. Massachusetts, meanwhile, set up an “honor system” for some people to ask to be excused from sending back overpayments in pandemic unemployment benefits. It turned out to be a mistake, the new audit said Monday. Investigators sampled 121 claims that used the state’s “one-click” waiver request program and found none of them had any documentation to prove they met the hardship standards for keeping taxpayers’ money. What documentation existed in the files showed the people were “at fault” and shouldn’t have qualified anyway. That included some people who voluntarily quit, some who actually had jobs even as they were collecting unemployment and others who were fired for deliberate misconduct. Like Michigan, Massachusetts also paid out money — and then waived repayment requirements — to applications that reeked of fraud. That included one claim, paid $6,804, that used a Social Security number and physical address that were also used in three other states. One of those was Michigan. “Massachusetts waived the recovery of overpayments that had a high probability of fraud,” the inspector general concluded.

NewsMax [9/29/2025 12:00 PM, Eric Mack, 4779K] reports a Secret Service vehicle caught fire outside of the White House on Monday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit, resulting in street closures, Just the News reported. The back seat of the SUV went up in flames at the corner of 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, with no immediate casualties, according to the report. There was no foul play suspected, according to a reported Secret Service spokesman’s statement. "We are grateful that no personnel were injured and we appreciate the response from DC Fire and EMS, who assisted in extinguishing the fire. There were no impacts to our protective operations."

Breitbart [9/29/2025 11:23 PM, Paul Bois, 2608K] reports the U.S. Secret Service on Monday arrested a man allegedly attempting to scale the White House fence while President Donald Trump was in residence. Photos shared online showed the man wearing a blazer and blue-tinted sunglasses as authorities escorted him away in handcuffs. A U.S. Secret Service spokesperson said that the man was arrested by agents for "unlawful entry.” "An individual scaled the fence on the southeast side of the U.S. Treasury Building and was arrested by U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers for unlawful entry," the spokesperson said. "He was subsequently transported to Metropolitan Police Department’s 2nd District for processing. There was no impact to our protective operations.” According to the Daily Mail, the trespass occurred "as a group of protesters in Washington DC railed against the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” It remains unknown if the man posed any threat to President Trump or intended to harm Benjamin Netanyahu. The last serious breach of White House security occurred during the Biden administration in 2023 when 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula crashed a U-Haul truck into a security fence. A Nazi flag was recovered from the vehicle, and he later told investigators that he intended to kill then-President Joe Biden. In 2014, during the Obama administration, Iraq war veteran Omar J. Gonzalez, armed with a pocket knife, jumped the fence and penetrated the executive mansion before agents finally subdued him. As the Guardian reported at the time, the intrusion was a massive breach of security that led to several reforms. "Witnesses have told the House oversight committee that Omar Gonzalez overpowered an officer at the front door and was not stopped until he reached a separate room toward the back of the White House," wrote the Guardian. "After running past a stairway leading to the first family’s living quarters, Gonzalez, a former army sniper, sprinted the 80-foot length of the East Room and was finally apprehended at the doorway to the Green Room – another formal room overlooking the South Lawn," it added. President Donald Trump has survived two assassination attempts.

USA Today [9/29/2025 6:20 PM, Cybele Mayes-Osterman, 64151K] reports they’re coming to take a loyalty oath. To hear a speech about "warrior ethos." To take a physical fitness test. These are among the array of theories outsiders have floated in their attempts to explain a mysterious mass gathering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hastily ordered last week, summoning hundreds of top military commanders to Quantico, Virginia, on Sept. 30. The Pentagon isn’t dropping hints about why it ordered its highest-level officers from around the world to report to the base for an 8 a.m. meeting, which will likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars and create security challenges at home and abroad. Preparations for the gathering have ratcheted up since President Donald Trump revealed that he would make an appearance at what he called a "very nice meeting.” "It’s really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things," Trump told NBC on Sept. 28. "It’s just a good message.” Commanders had about a week’s notice they were expected at Quantico, according to news reports and a defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly. Normally, a meeting of this importance would be scheduled months in advance.

CBS Philadelphia [9/29/2025 6:40 PM, Madeleine Wright, 45245K] Video: HERE reports when trouble strikes at sea, every second matters. From medical emergencies to overdue vessels, the crew at Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City stands ready to launch into action, often at a moment’s notice and in dangerous conditions. For Commander Ryan Popiel, those missions aren’t just part of the job. They’re personal. "Saving lives is the most rewarding thing you can do with an aircraft," he said. Popiel grew up in Thornbury Township, Delaware County, and spent his childhood summers along the Jersey Shore. Now, after years of serving at Coast Guard posts around the country, he’s back home, this time, with his wife and children, flying missions over the same waters he once visited as a kid. "It’s pretty exciting to be able to fly in an area you kind of grew up in," Popiel said. As the executive officer at the air station, Popiel leads a team responsible for search and rescue missions along a vast stretch of coastline, from the southern end of the Long Island Sound down to the Chesapeake Bay, and as far as 100 miles offshore. "We’ll conduct medevacs off cruise ships, commercial fishing vessels, recreational vessels," he said. "We could also be asked to be searching for people in the water.” A typical crew includes a pilot, co-pilot, a flight mechanic and a rescue swimmer trained to deploy into rough seas. The team must be ready to respond in extreme weather. Low visibility, high winds and heavy seas are sometimes part of the job. "We are asked to go out in pretty poor weather conditions occasionally," Popiel said. While search and rescue is the station’s top priority, their mission doesn’t end there. The air station also plays a key role in national security by protecting restricted airspace around the president and Washington, D.C., 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

San Diego Union Tribune [9/29/2025 9:16 PM, Teri Figueroa, 1648K] reports seven Mexican men were taken into custody after the boat they were on ran into a Coast Guard vessel after trying to outrun it Sunday evening, officials said. The crew shot out the engine to stop the fleeing boat. About 5:10 p.m. the crew spotted a 25-foot cuddy cabin boat in the ocean about 7 miles off Mission Bay, the Coast Guard said in a news release. The boat appeared to be disabled. But when the Coast Guard approached on a 45-foot response boat, authorities said, the cuddy cabin boat began racing south to evade arrest. The Coast Guard crew fired warning shots, but the boat kept going, so the crew fired 15 pepper-ball rounds. The smaller boat then "rammed" the Coast Guard boat, causing cosmetic damage, authorities said. The crew then fired three rounds into the starboard engine, disabling the boat about four miles southwest of Point Loma. Authorities said no one was seriously injured, but some of the men on the boat "experienced minor irritation" from the pepper-ball rounds. The Coast Guard said all seven men aboard the boat were handed over to Department of Homeland Security.

Bloomberg [9/29/2025 7:07 PM, Margi Murphy, 75K] reports a hacker gained access to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s computer networks for several months earlier this year and stole information about FEMA and US Customs and Border Protection employees, according to an overview of the incident. The Department of Homeland Security notified FEMA on July 7 that a hacker had gained access to its network through Citrix Systems Inc.’s remote desktop software using compromised credentials, according to the summary, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News. The intruder breached FEMA’s Region 6, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, and the data was stolen from servers. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

MeriTalk [9/29/2025 2:24 PM, Grace Dille] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) component on Monday announced the official beginning of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025. CISA will administer the national campaign throughout the month of October, providing partner agencies and private sector partners with tools and resources to bolster their defenses. This year’s theme is Building a Cyber Strong America. The campaign will focus on the government entities and small and medium businesses that protect the nation’s critical infrastructure. “Cybersecurity is a critical theater in defending our homeland,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “Every day, bad actors are trying to steal information, sabotage critical infrastructure, and use cyberspace to exploit American citizens.” “Taking down these threats requires a whole-of-society approach, and the reforms we’ve implemented at CISA have empowered them to work with all of our partners to take down these threats and make America cyber secure again,” she added. “This Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the time for us to continue our efforts to build a cyber strong America.” CISA is calling on all U.S. small and medium businesses and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments to take basic steps to improve their cybersecurity. These steps include turning on multi-factor authentication (MFA), updating software, requiring strong passwords, and reporting phishing. Additionally, CISA said organizations can boost their cyber resilience by enabling system logging on their systems, backing up data, and encrypting sensitive information.

CyberScoop [9/29/2025 6:22 AM, Kevin E. Greene] reports a critical, longstanding piece of America’s cybersecurity infrastructure is perilously close to vanishing overnight. On Tuesday, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) expires — and with it, the legal protections that enable countless organizations to share threat intelligence with the federal government. Without swift congressional action, we risk dismantling years of progress in collaborative cyber defense at the precise moment we need it most. As we approach CISA’s 10-year anniversary, we’re confronted with the reality that today’s threat landscape is virtually unrecognizable from a decade ago. In 2015, we worried about data breaches and website defacements. Today, we face AI-powered attacks, the proliferation of cybercrime-as-a-service, supply chain compromises that ripple across entire sectors, undetected cyberattacks that pre-positions adversaries, and sophisticated ransomware ecosystems where criminals and nation-states share resources to scale their cyber operations. The recent Salt Typhoon intrusions into U.S. telecommunications infrastructure underscore a harsh reality: our adversaries have evolved faster than our defenses.

CyberScoop [9/29/2025 5:23 PM, Tim Starks] reports the Department of Homeland Security estimated over the weekend that it would send home about two-thirds of employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in the event of a government shutdown. It’s the first time that the second Trump administration has released its contingency plan in response to what would happen if Congress doesn’t keep the government funded after Oct. 1 — something that looks likely at the moment. The furlough of two-thirds of CISA employees is also relatively close to the last time the Biden administration produced shutdown guidance in 2023. According to the DHS document, 889 of CISA’s 2,540 personnel would keep working through a government funding lapse. That workforce estimate is from May, and could be smaller now. In 2023, DHS anticipated that it would keep 960 of its then-3,117 employees at work. The Biden administration said that year that it would have had the ability to recall another 790 CISA employees if needed. The latest DHS guidance doesn’t include any information on recallable employees, and CISA didn’t immediately respond to a request for that figure Monday. Furloughs of cyber personnel could have a whole host of potentially negative consequences, government officials and outside cyber experts have warned. Those consequences could be even worse as the Trump administration slashes the federal workforce, some say.

StateScoop [9/29/2025 7:25 PM, Colin Wood] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Monday announced that its cooperative agreement with the Center for Internet Security, the Upstate New York nonprofit that runs the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, will conclude Tuesday. The federal cybersecurity agency said that the end of the agreement, which had been planned for the end of the fiscal year at the close of the month Tuesday, marks a transition to “a new model” of supporting state and local government agencies in protecting their systems against digital threats. “CISA is supporting our SLTT partners with access to grant funding, no-cost tools, and cybersecurity expertise to be resilient and lead at the local level,” CISA’s announcement reads. CISA’s announcement also refers to the decision not to renew the Center’s funding as reflective of its “focused approach emphasizes CISA’s role as the nation’s leading cyber defense agency.” The news confirms what many state and local cybersecurity officials had feared in recent months as CISA has incrementally diminished support not only for its own divisions, but also at the Center for Internet Security, which has for the past two decades provided state and local governments with free and low-cost cybersecurity services, along with access to a nationwide threat information-sharing network.

FOX News [9/29/2025 1:42 PM, Kurt Knutsson, 40019K] reports when you search Google for apps, it feels natural to trust the first results you see. They’re supposed to be the most reliable, right? Unfortunately, hackers know this too. They’re sneaking fake websites into search results that look just like the real thing. If you click and download from one of these sites, you could end up with malware instead of the app you wanted. In other words, the top search results aren’t always safe, and that’s exactly how scammers trick people. Researchers at FortiGuard Labs found that attackers are setting up websites that look almost identical to trusted providers. These sites host installers for apps like Signal, WhatsApp, Deepl, Chrome, Telegram, Line, VPN services and WPS Office. The catch is that these downloads include both the real app and hidden malware. Once you run one, the malware drops files into your system, asks for administrator access and quietly starts spying. It can collect personal information, log everything you type, monitor your screen and even disable your antivirus. Some versions were designed to snoop on Telegram messages. All of this is possible because hackers use a tactic called SEO poisoning, which manipulates Google’s search results so their fake websites appear near the top. Even if you stick to "safe-looking" search links, you could still land on a fraudulent page. So how do these fake sites end up in your search results in the first place? The attackers use a technique called SEO poisoning. They register lookalike domains, use plugins to game search algorithms and then climb up Google’s rankings. That way, when you search for a trusted app, the fake site may appear as one of the first results. According to FortiGuard Labs, this particular campaign mainly targeted Chinese-speaking users, but the method is being used everywhere. In fact, earlier reports from Cisco Talos showed ransomware groups pushing fake downloads of AI tools like ChatGPT or InVideo. Others used spoofed sites for PayPal, Microsoft, Netflix and Apple. Sometimes, attackers even buy sponsored ads so that their malicious links appear right at the top. The scary part is that you might not even realize you installed something dangerous. Because the fake installer includes the real app, everything seems to work fine. Meanwhile, the hidden malware is already active on your device. That makes it harder to detect and much easier for attackers to steal your data.

AP [9/29/2025 5:41 PM, Carolyn Thompson and Allen G. Breed, 27036K] reports a decorated Marine veteran charged with firing an assault rifle from a boat at a waterfront bar in North Carolina, killing three people and wounding five, appeared subdued in court Monday as prosecutors said they may seek the death penalty. Nigel Edge, 40, a Purple Heart recipient whose last assignment was with a Wounded Warrior battalion, made his first court appearance via video link after Saturday’s mass shooting. He’s charged with murder, attempted murder and assault. Law enforcement officers "got the confession" from the suspect following his arrest, said North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Director Chip Hawley at a news conference Monday. He did not elaborate. Five people remained hospitalized from the violence in Southport, a historic port town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Wilmington. None of the victims’ identities have been released. On Sunday, another 40-year-old former Marine crashed a pickup into a Michigan church during services, shot into the building and set it ablaze, killing four people and wounding eight. It was the second mass shooting in the U.S. in less than 24 hours. District Attorney Jon David said his office had yet to review medical records but described Edge as having "significant mental health issues" after experiencing a traumatic brain injury, according to WECT News. Authorities said Edge piloted a boat close to shore, stopped briefly and opened fire at a crowd of vacationers and other patrons in what Southport Police Chief Todd Coring called a "highly premeditated" targeted attack. A charging document says he used an AR-style rifle with a silencer and scope. He was arrested about a half an hour later after a U.S. Coast Guard crew spotted him pulling a boat from the water at a public ramp on Oak Island, where he lives. Edge requested a court-appointed attorney and declined to comment during his appearance in Brunswick County Court, WECT News reported. He showed no obvious emotion as the district attorney said his office would review whether the death penalty is appropriate. No plea was entered. Edge was ordered to remain in custody pending his next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 13. Edge, who was born in Suffern, New York, and changed his name from Sean DeBevoise in 2023, told police he was injured in combat and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, Southport’s police chief said. Oak Island Police Chief Charles Morris said Edge was known to officers who frequently saw him by the town pier, and that Edge filed "numerous lawsuits" against the department and town in recent years. In one, he sought body camera video from an encounter after his boat trailer was vandalized.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [9/29/2025 12:32 PM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K]

NewsMax [9/29/2025 6:52 AM, Staff, 4779K] reports a former Marine smashed a pickup into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in Michigan, opened fire, and set the building ablaze during a crowded Sunday service and then was fatally shot by police. At least four people were killed and eight wounded, and authorities were searching the building ruins for more victims. The attack occurred about 10:25 a.m. while hundreds of people were in the building in Grand Blanc Township, outside Flint. The man got out of the pickup with two American flags raised in the truck bed and started shooting, Police Chief William Renye told reporters. The attacker apparently used gas to start the fire and also had explosive devices but it wasn’t clear if he used them, said James Dier of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Authorities identified the shooter as Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of the neighboring small town of Burton. The FBI is leading the investigation and considered it an "act of targeted violence," said Ruben Coleman, a special agent in charge for the bureau. ABC News [9/29/2025 6:24 PM, Staff, 27036K] reports "We mourn with our members who have lost loved ones, and we join in prayer for comfort with others around the world who are suffering from similar tragedies," Dallin H. Oaks, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a statement. "We all seek answers and understanding in the wake of trauma, shock, and grief. We are grateful to all who are reaching out with service, prayers, and words of support during this difficult time," Oaks said. John Bond -- a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- was among the four people killed in the shooting, his family confirmed to ABC News. A nine-year veteran of the US Navy, Bond was a "well-known and loved member of his family and active in his community," his family said.

Detroit Free Press [9/29/2025 2:02 PM, Kristi Tanner, 3744K] reports at least four people were killed and eight others injured in a mass shooting on Sunday in Grand Blanc Township, when a 40-year-old man crashed a truck into a church chapel and fired at the congregation with an assault rifle. The incident was one of a dozen mass shootings in Michigan this year and the deadliest among six mass shootings reported in the U.S. last weekend. The number of mass shootings peaked in Michigan and across the country in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. As of Sept. 28, there have been 324 mass shootings this year in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive. The suspect in Grand Blanc died in a confrontation with police. Three mass shootings occurred on Sunday, September 28 — at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan; in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in Eagle Pass, Texas. One person was killed and three were injured in the 100 block of Bourbon Street in New Orleans. And at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border, two people were killed and six were injured.

AP [9/29/2025 5:41 PM, Steve Karnowski, 11503K] reports a Minnesota man accused of trying to join the Islamic State group pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Abdisatar Ahmed Hassan, 23, changed his plea to guilty during an appearance before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank in St. Paul. When Hassan was charged in February, prosecutors said he had expressed admiration on social media for the man who carried out a Jan. 1 truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans that killed 14 people. That attacker was killed by police. His truck bore the flag of the militant Islamic State group. Prosecutors say Hassan tried twice in December to travel from Minnesota to Somalia to join the group and fight on its behalf but failed both times. The FBI had been tipped beforehand about a social media user who had expressed support for the Islamic State group and the Somali militant group al-Shabab, and agents conducted surveillance of Hassan on both attempts. The first time Hassan tried to travel to Somalia, according to court documents, the airline denied him boarding because he lacked the proper travel documents. He missed the second flight while federal officers questioned him, but he wasn’t detained until his arrest in February. The FBI said it observed Hassan driving with the group’s flag the day before his arrest. "There is no margin for error when it comes to terrorism," Acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said in a statement. "Hassan flew the ISIS flag, venerated attacks on the homeland, and wanted to kill Americans. We are not taking chances. We will not let Minnesota become a safe haven for terrorists.” Hassan, a naturalized U.S. citizen, remains in custody. A sentencing date has not been set. Under a plea agreement, the government agreed not to seek a sentence longer than 17 years, while the defense is free to recommend anything it wants. The final decision is up to the judge.

FOX News [9/29/2025 7:00 AM, Diana Stancy and Morgan Phillips, 40019K] reports the Pentagon is gathering hundreds of top U.S. military leaders for an unusual meeting — one that comes as President Donald Trump has ramped up his criticism of Russia and as the Pentagon gears up a new national defense strategy prioritizing homeland defense. Several War Department officials confirmed to Fox News that the Pentagon requested top military commanders to convene in Virginia for the meeting this week. However, the topic of the discussion remains unclear. The Pentagon confirmed the meeting but did not offer details. "The Secretary of War will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week," chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement last week. The unusual meeting would involve approximately 800 generals and admirals who are based all throughout the U.S. and stationed in various parts of the world. Those invited to the meeting say they’ve been told little, sources told Fox News Digital. Generals on Thursday exchanged messages from across the globe speculating on why the secretary might want to see them face-to-face.

Breitbart [9/30/2025 2:18 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports President Donald Trump will on Tuesday speak at a rare gathering of hundreds of senior US military officers summoned, without public explanation, from around the world to meet at a base near Washington. No official reason has been given for the highly unusual meeting at Quantico. It comes as the military has faced controversy both at home and abroad, with Trump deploying troops in two Democratic-run US cities and ordering lethal strikes on small, alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. Trump, who oversaw a rare purge of senior officers after taking office, has also ordered strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran-backed Yemeni rebels. The White House’s daily press guidance lists the 79-year-old Republican as delivering "remarks to the Department of War" at 9:00 am (1300 GMT). The US president hailed the meeting when asked about it last week, saying in the Oval Office: "I love it. I mean, I think it’s great.” "Let him be friendly with the generals and admirals from all over the world," the president said, referring to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, who organized the event and will speak there. Amid speculation over reasons for gathering all the top brass in one place, Vice President JD Vance insisted it was "actually not unusual at all," and told reporters "it’s odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.” The Pentagon has not given a public explanation for the session, with spokesman Sean Parnell only saying in a statement that Hegseth "will be addressing his senior military leaders early next week.” It will reportedly bring together officers in command positions with one-star rank and above — pulling a large number of personnel in key roles from their duties around the world. But the lack of clarity has fed speculation that a major announcement will be made. In May, Hegseth ordered major cuts to the number of general and flag officers in the US military, including at least a 20 percent reduction in the number of active-duty four-star generals and admirals. That came after the Pentagon announced in February that it aimed to reduce the number of its civilian employees by at least five percent.

Washington Times [9/29/2025 10:07 AM, Tom Howell Jr., 964K] reports President Trump revived his threat Monday to impose a 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S., saying a once-iconic industry has been taken from Americans like “candy from a baby.” Mr. Trump’s proposal combined his nostalgia for golden age America, his mission to keep jobs in the U.S. and his general disdain for California Gov. Gavin Newsom and foreign films. “California, with its weak and incompetent Governor, has been particularly hard hit!” he wrote on Truth Social about Hollywood. “Therefore, in order to solve this long time, never ending problem, I will be imposing a 100% Tariff on any and all movies that are made outside of the United States.” Mr. Trump threatened in May to place tariffs on foreign-made movies. On Monday, the president did not say when the tariff would take effect. Nor did he outline what aspect of film or film production would be subject to a levy. Still, the push reflects Mr. Trump’s wide-ranging use of tariffs and his hope to revive Hollywood and the U.S. movie industry. Canada and other countries use tax incentives to siphon production from the U.S., and American box office receipts have recently sagged. Mr. Trump has also complained about the outsize influence of foreign films. When South Korean movie “Parasite” won the Oscar for best picture in 2020, he said: “What the hell was that all about?” “We’ve got enough problems with South Korea with trade. On top of that, they give them ‘best movie of the year,’” he said at the time. “Was it good? I don’t know.” Tariffs are taxes imposed on foreign products as they enter U.S. markets, yet Mr. Trump’s targeting of movies is unique. Unlike a simple, physical product, films often involve entities from several countries and multiple layers of intellectual property and digital production. It was unclear whether movies would be taxed simply for shooting scenes overseas — foreign landscapes may be essential to the visuals or plot of the film, such as in the James Bond or “Mission Impossible” movies — or whether the tariff would apply only to films that accept financial incentives from favored filming locales such as Canada, New Zealand and Britain. “Any tariffs would require films to have a clear national identity,” film industry analyst Stephen Follows wrote on his website after Mr. Trump issued his tariff threat in May. “Currently, the United States has no formal definition of what makes a film American. There is no certification process, no threshold of domestic content, and no single agency responsible for determining national status.” Mr. Follows, using IMDB’s “country of origin” data, found that roughly one-third of all movies in the 2000-2024 period could be classified as American. However, Mr. Trump’s threat reflects a clear and real concern about the offshoring of entertainment gigs. Some film industry groups say the foreign incentives have caused certain film jobs, including camera operators and other crew positions, to dry up in the U.S. “Our movie-making business has been stolen from the United States of America, by other Countries, just like stealing ‘candy from a baby,’” Mr. Trump wrote Monday. Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, has pushed to increase funding for the state’s tax incentive program, hoping to lure moviemaking back to its epicenter. The governor wasn’t impressed by Mr. Trump’s pitch to tax foreign films. He said the costs would trickle down to moviegoers. “You’re already paying more for eggs, coffee, toys, shoes, electricity, furniture, cars, and flights,” Mr. Newsom wrote on X. “Now, Trump wants to raise taxes to see the movies. PAY MORE AND ENJOY NOTHING. That’s Donald Trump’s America.”

CNN [9/29/2025 12:44 PM, Avery Schmitz, Norma Galeana, David Culver, and Evelio Contreras, 23245K] reports at 20, the young woman was struggling. She’d just given birth and had tuition, rent and baby formula to pay for. A single mother in Phoenix, she was trying to make ends meet and build a future, studying for her psychology degree. "It kind of gets (to be) so much that you can’t ask somebody for help," she told CNN. Then one night, a Snapchat post seemed to offer a way out: "5-10k in a day lmk.” "I said, ‘What is this for? What you guys doing?’ And they had explained to me, ‘You’re going to be picking up people.’ And I’m like, ‘People? Do they need a ride? What’s going on?’" She didn’t have a car or even a license, so she was convinced she couldn’t do the job anyway. But she couldn’t stop thinking about the money. A week later she had another idea: Her friend had a car and could drive. Could they split the money? She didn’t stop to think much about the dangers or whether the offer was too good to be true — or legal. Her friend headed south, collected a group of migrants near the border, and drove back again. Later that night, a man handed the young woman a wad of cash. She was now involved in migrant smuggling, enlisted by a Mexican cartel recruiter through social media. An American operating entirely inside the United States, she was nevertheless extending the reach of cross-border gangs making money from trading people and drugs. CNN has spent six months investigating how the cartels recruit, how people get sucked in and how law enforcement is tackling the problem which can, at first glance, look as innocent as a young, licensed person taking a drive through the desert.

Reuters [9/29/2025 7:18 PM, Deisy Buitrago, 20690K] reports Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree granting him additional security powers in case of a military incursion into the country, the nation’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, said on Monday. The decree would allow Maduro to mobilize armed forces throughout the country and give the military authority over public services and the oil industry. Maduro last week said he would submit the decree for consideration. It was unclear when it was signed. The powers would be valid for 90 days, with the option to be renewed for 90 more, according to the nation’s constitution. The measure comes as the U.S. has deployed a fleet of warships in the Caribbean, which Washington says is to combat drug trafficking through the region. Maduro’s government alleges that the U.S. is plotting to remove him from power.

Reuters [9/29/2025 11:14 AM, Anna Koper and Barbara Erling, 45746K] reports Ukraine has proposed building a joint air defence shield with allies to protect against threats from Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday, after a series of airspace incursions that caused alarm on NATO’s eastern flank. NATO leaders have said that Russia has been testing the alliance’s readiness and resolve with airspace incursions in Poland and the Baltic states, and Kyiv says its experience in dealing with aerial threats would be valuable. "Ukraine proposes to Poland and all our partners to build a joint, fully reliable shield against Russian aerial threats," he said in an address to the Warsaw Security Forum delivered via video link. "This is possible. Ukraine can counter all kinds of Russian drones and missiles and if we act together in the region we will have enough weapons and production capacity." Ukraine has already said that its troops and engineers will train Polish counterparts on countering drones. Romania, meanwhile, aims to partner with Ukraine to build drones under a new European Union defence funding mechanism. Romanian Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu told the Warsaw Security Forum that new drone fragments were found in the eastern Romanian county of Tulcea, neighbouring Ukraine, on Monday.

CBS News [9/30/2025 12:10 AM, Joe Walsh, 45245K] reports President Trump offered up a 20-point plan Monday that he cast as a roadmap to end the Israel-Hamas war, a proposal that was backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — though it remains unclear how Hamas will respond. The plan — which was presented as Netanyahu visited the White House — calls for Hamas to return all Israeli hostages within 72 hours, and for Israel’s military to begin withdrawing from parts of the Gaza Strip in phases. It proposes handing over parts of Gaza to a "technocratic" committee and deploying a temporary security force backed by Arab states. Mr. Trump said in a joint press conference with Netanyahu that his goal is to ensure a "sustainable, long-term peace.” Israel and Hamas have been at war since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Since then, Israel has waged an intense aerial bombardment and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which does not specify how many of the dead were civilians or militants. Netanyahu said Monday he supports the plan, which "achieves our war aims." He said if Hamas does not accept the offer, "Israel will finish the job by itself.” Hamas has not yet responded to the proposal. Qatar’s prime minister and Egypt’s intelligence chief met with negotiators from Hamas, who said they would review the proposal "in good faith" and provide a response, a White House official told CBS News. Some unanswered questions about the plan still linger, including the exact timing of possible Israeli withdrawals from Gaza and the involvement of different international partners. Israel and Hamas would stop fighting, trade hostages and prisoners. The plan calls for an immediate end to fighting if both Israel and Hamas agree to the plan, with Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip immediately withdrawing to an "agreed upon line.” "During this time, all military operations, including aerial and artillery bombardment, will be suspended, and battle lines will remain frozen until conditions are met for the complete staged withdrawal," the plan states. Within 72 hours of Israel accepting the deal, which Netanyahu appeared to do Monday, Hamas is expected to free all remaining hostages. Some 50 hostages are still in Gaza, fewer than half of whom are believed to be alive, according to Israeli authorities. In exchange, Israel is expected to release 250 Palestinians serving life sentences, as well as 1,700 other Gazans who were detained following the start of the current conflict. The plan calls for the remains of 15 deceased Gazans to be returned for every one deceased hostage. The Israeli releases would take place after the hostages are released by Hamas. The plan calls for Gaza to be demilitarized "under the supervision of independent monitors," with any weapons factories and tunnels destroyed and weapons decommissioned. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Wire [9/29/2025 3:25 PM, Tim Pearce, 3184K] reports a group of Arab states on Monday publicly backed President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza and create a pathway for a Palestinian state. The governments of Qatar, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt released a joint statement on Monday backing the plan after Trump rolled it out in a White House event alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The joint statement of the Arab states was signed by the foreign minister of each. The Arab states "welcome President Donald J Trump’s leadership and his sincere efforts to end the war in Gaza, and assert their confidence in his ability to find a path to peace," the joint statement said. "The ministers welcome the announcement by President Trump regarding his proposal to end the war, rebuild Gaza, prevent the displacement of the Palestinian people and advance a comprehensive peace, as well as his announcement that he will not allow the annexation of the West Bank," the statement continued. "The ministers affirm their readiness to engage positively and constructively with the United States and the parties toward finalizing the agreement and ensuring its implementation, in a manner that ensures peace, security, and stability for the peoples of the region," it said. Trump announced the plan on Monday, celebrating "a historic day for peace." The president said that, in addition to providing a pathway to peace between Israel and Gaza and laying the groundwork for a Palestinian state, the framework could create "eternal peace in the Middle East.” The wide support for the agreement among Arab states places additional pressure on Hamas to agree to the deal. Under the terms of the agreement, the terror group, and others like it, would be demilitarized, dismantled, and blocked from having administrative control over the Gaza Strip. "If Hamas rejects the deal, which is always possible – they’re the only one left, everyone else has accepted it – but I have a feeling we’re going to have a positive answer. But if not, you know, Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you have to do," said Trump. Netanyahu echoed Trump’s threat in remarks following the U.S. president. "If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr. President, or if they supposedly accept it, and then, basically, do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. But it will be done," the prime minister said.

The Hill [9/29/2025 10:59 AM, Laura Kelly, 12414K] reports the Trump administration announced on Sunday it had secured the release of an American, Amir Amiry, who was wrongfully detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Trump officials said Qatar helped facilitate Amiry’s release alongside the State Department’s bureau for hostage affairs and the National Security Council counterterrorism directorate. "While this marks an important step forward, additional Americans remain unjustly detained in Afghanistan. President Trump will not rest until all our captive citizens are back home," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. Rubio, who also serves as national security advisor to Trump, said the release marked a "significant step by the administration in Kabul" to move forward on releasing other Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan.

FOX News [9/29/2025 9:00 AM, Caitlin McFall, 40019K] Video: HERE reports President Donald Trump made the shocking announcement this month that the U.S. is "trying" to take back Bagram Airfield from the Taliban in Afghanistan after abandoning it more than four years ago. There’s just one problem with Trump’s latest ambition — China will see to it that Washington does not accomplish this goal, warned Bill Roggio, expert analyst and senior editor of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ "Long War Journal.” "First of all, the Taliban will never accept the return to the US. I’d sooner…believe the Taliban would give up on its Sharia or Islamic law before I’d believe that it would let the U.S. return," Roggio told Fox News Digital. "But let’s say the Trump administration could convince the Taliban to consider allowing the U.S. to return to Bagram," he continued. "The Chinese would come down hard.” Roggio explained that China and Russia have a vested interest in the U.S. staying out of the region. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [9/29/2025 11:56 AM, Lucas Nolan, 2608K] reports Vice President J.D. Vance expressed confidence that the Trump administration’s TikTok deal will effectively separate the app from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and ensure the security of U.S. users’ data. In a recent interview with Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance addressed concerns about the potential vulnerability of TikTok’s U.S. spinoff to Chinese propaganda and data usage. His comments come in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order approving plans to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. under new ownership. "I feel very confident that we have successfully separated this company from TikTok global and actually made it so that we can control people’s data security," Vance stated. "We can ensure that the algorithm is not being used as a propaganda tool by a foreign government." Under the terms of the deal, a new joint-venture will operate TikTok’s U.S. business, with ByteDance holding a minority stake of less than 20 percent. The remaining investors include Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi investment fund MGX. President Trump has also indicated that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and tech entrepreneur Michael Dell will be part of the takeover group. A key aspect of the arrangement involves ByteDance leasing its algorithm to the new U.S. entity, with Oracle tasked with retraining it. Additionally, Oracle will manage a secure cloud containing U.S. users’ data, implementing controls to prevent other countries from accessing it. This move aims to address long-standing concerns about who would control TikTok’s powerful recommendation software and the associated security and data privacy risks.

Wall Street Journal [9/29/2025 5:30 AM, Drew FitzGerald and Lara Seligman, 646K] reports the Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, is urging its missile suppliers to double or even quadruple production rates on a breakneck schedule. The push to speed production of the critical weapons in the highest demand has played out through a series of high-level meetings between Pentagon leaders and senior representatives from several U.S. missile makers, according to people familiar with the matter. Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg is taking an unusually hands-on role in the effort, called the Munitions Acceleration Council, and calls some company executives weekly to discuss it, some of the people said. The department summoned top missile suppliers to a June roundtable at the Pentagon to kick off the industry effort. The meeting, attended by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, drew executives from several weapons makers, new market entrants like Anduril Industries, and a handful of suppliers of important parts like rocket propellant and batteries. “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are exploring extraordinary avenues to expand our military might and accelerate the production of munitions,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, when asked about the efforts. “This effort has been a collaboration between defense industry leaders and senior Pentagon officials.” Some people involved in the effort both inside and outside of the government worry that the government’s targets aren’t realistic. Individual missiles can take two years to fully assemble. It can take several months and hundreds of millions of dollars to test and qualify weapons from new suppliers as safe and reliable enough for U.S. service members to use. There are also questions about the money needed to accelerate production. The Trump administration’s Big, Beautiful Bill, signed in July, provided an additional $25 billion in five-year munitions funding, but analysts say that hitting the Pentagon’s aggressive targets would cost tens of billions more.

CNN [9/30/2025 4:23 AM, John Liu, 23245K] reports the Trump Administration ramped up its pressure on Chinese tech firms on Monday by expanding restrictions imposed on certain companies to also cover their subsidiaries, a move that’s drawn the ire of Beijing as the two powers remain locked in a technology race. The US action aims to stop sanctioned companies – including technology champion Huawei, memory chip giant YMTC and drone maker DJI – from evading export controls by funnelling restricted technologies through their subsidiaries. The new rule “closes a significant loophole,” the US Department of Commerce said, by making any subsidiary at least 50% owned by a firm already on the export controls list face the same restrictions as the parent company – a shift that could affect tens of thousands of companies. In response, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce called the move “extremely malicious,” adding that the country would “take necessary measures” to protect the rights and interests of its companies. “Beijing urges Washington to immediately correct its wrongdoing and stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies,” the spokesperson said.

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