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 [9/9/2025 2:11 AM, Tom Polansek and Ted Hesson, 45746K] reports after weeks of vowing to deploy National Guard troops to fight crime in Chicago, the Trump administration said on Monday it had launched a deportation crackdown in Illinois targeting hardened criminals among immigrants in the U.S. without legal status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in an online statement that "Operation Midway Blitz" was being conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, but details about its scope and nature were not immediately made clear. It remained to be seen whether President Donald Trump would send National Guard soldiers into Chicago to accompany ICE and other federal law enforcement officers, as he has in and around Los Angeles and the District of Columbia. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, each said their offices had received no official notice from federal authorities about the operation, which they decried as a political stunt designed to intimidate. DHS said its latest ICE operation was necessary because of city and state "sanctuary" laws that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the crackdown was aimed at convicted gang members, rapists, kidnappers and drug traffickers who she called "the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago." The Washington Post [9/8/2025 4:56 PM, Arelis R. Hernández and Marianne LeVine, 29079K] reports DHS said their latest enforcement is being dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” and staged “in honor” of an Illinois woman allegedly killed by an undocumented immigrant who had been driving drunk when he crashed into her vehicle. DHS republished an interview Monday with the parents of 20-year-old Katherine Abraham, who earlier this year was rear-ended by a vehicle authorities said was driven by Julio Cucul-Bol of Guatemala. “President Trump and Secretary Noem have a clear message: No city is a safe haven for criminal illegal aliens,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security. “If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.” The news of the operation was immediately met with rebuke from immigrant advocates and Democratic politicians who said the administration was using crime to target undocumented people who studies show do not commit crimes at a higher rate than U.S. citizens. Axios [9/9/2025 12:42 AM, Rebecca Falconer, 14595K] reports that despite Trump’s threats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) have doubled down on the state and city’s sanctuary city policies, which provide protections to undocumented people by barring local police from assisting federal law enforcement activity without a criminal warrant. The Department of Homeland Security said on X it was launching the blitz "in honor of Katie Abraham," a 20-year-old Illinois woman whom police say was killed along with a friend in a suspected drunken-driving, hit-and-run crash in Urbana in January. The suspect charged is a 29-year-old man from Guatemala, whom authorities say is an undocumented immigrant. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," the DHS X post said. The DHS did not outline details of the operation, such as how long it will run for, and representatives for the agency, the White House and ICE did not immediately respond to Axios’ requests for comment on the matter. Pritzker said on X the crackdown was not about fighting crime. "That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks," he said. "Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians." Johnson said on X the city of Chicago "received no notice of any enhanced immigration action by the Trump administration." He added: "We remain opposed to any potential militarized immigration enforcement without due process because of ICE’s track record of detaining and deporting American citizens and violating the human rights of hundreds of detainees." Meanwhile, Johnson wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday that sending in the National Guard would be "the wrong solution" to a real problem. "If President Trump had listened to the city’s leaders, he would recognize that Chicago just experienced record-low homicide numbers, making this the safest summer since the 1960s, a result of effective collaboration between communities and law enforcement," he said. "While the causes of crime and violence are complex, it is clear that poverty plays a central role."

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New York Times [9/8/2025 4:30 PM, Hamed Aleaziz and Julie Bosman, 153395K]
Bloomberg [9/8/2025 6:09 PM, Erin Ailworth and Miranda Davis, 19085K]
Breitbart [9/8/2025 8:20 PM, Staff, 2608K]
The Hill [9/8/2025 1:05 PM, Elizabeth Crisp, 12414K]
Reuters [9/8/2025 5:44 PM, Tom Polansek and Ted Hesson, 45746K]
AP [9/8/2025 5:45 PM, Sophia Tareen, 37974K]
NBC News [9/8/2025 10:23 PM, Phil Helsel, 43603K]
USA Today [9/8/2025 4:53 PM, Terry Collins, Michael Loria, 64151K]
Chicago Tribune [9/8/2025 6:36 PM, Rick Pearson, Olivia Olander, Cam’ron Hardy, 5352K]
Daily Caller [9/8/2025 3:51 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K]
National Review [9/8/2025 2:47 PM, Kamden Mulder, 109K]

NewsNation [9/8/2025 3:31 PM, Ali Bradley and Jeff Arnold, 6811K] reports that cities like Chicago and Boston remain center stage for increased immigration enforcement operations beginning this week, but Department of Homeland Security sources tell NewsNation that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is "everywhere" as the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration continues. White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday cities led by Democrats across the country can "absolutely" expect to see ramp-ups in ICE activity in the coming days. In Chicago, city leaders have been bracing for increased ICE activity for more than a week, and Monday, DHS officials announced that it would begin "Operation Midway Blitz" in honor of an Illinois woman who was killed in a hit-and-run accident involving an immigrant in the U.S. illegally, officials said. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," DHS officials wrote in a social media post announcing the operation. Meanwhile, in Boston, ICE launched Patriot 2.0 last week, with more than 300 arrests being made since Thursday, NewsNation previously reported. Although ICE is conducting operations all over the nation, sources told NewsNation that the highest concentration of officers and agency officials is in Chicago and Boston along with Washington, D.C., where President Donald Trump has continued to credit the presence of National Guard troops for drops in crime since troops have been patrolling the streets.

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NPR [9/8/2025 6:02 PM, Jaclyn Diaz, 34837K]

NewsMax [9/8/2025 7:23 PM, Solange Reyner, 4779K] reports the Trump administration on Sunday launched a new federal immigration enforcement effort in Massachusetts focused on deporting criminals who entered the country illegally, fulfilling one of President Donald Trump’s promises to prioritize sanctuary cities "because we know we have a problem there," border czar Tom Homan said on Newsmax on Monday. "I promised from day one, and the president said it two months ago. We’re going to prioritize sanctuary cities because we know we have a problem there," Homan told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "We know they’re releasing illegal aliens, public safety threats every day back in the community. So, we’re going to send the resources where we know we have a problem. Sanctuary cities are a sanctuary for criminals, but not under President [Donald] Trump. We’re going to increase resources in sanctuary cities and concentrate on those public safety threats. And not only arresting them but deporting them from the country," he added. On whether the city of Boston is doing anything to impede the Trump administration’s efforts, Homan said: "They better not impede." "They cross that line, then we’ll seek prosecution," he added. "I mean, I said from day one, you can protest all you want. You get your First Amendment rights. There’s a line you can’t cross. You can’t knowingly impede ICE officers from doing their duties. You can’t knowingly harbor or conceal illegal aliens from ICE. You certainly can’t put a hand on ICE officers. You can’t throw stones. So, President Trump said several weeks ago, zero tolerance on impeding ICE officers or assaulting them or anything such as that. U.S. Attorney’s Office got a zero- tolerance, too. We will federally prosecute."

Washington Examiner [9/8/2025 12:08 PM, Staff, 1563K] reports that noncitizens in Massachusetts with prior arrests face escalating deportations under the Trump administration’s Operation Patriot 2.0. Modeled after its first round of mass roundups earlier this summer – particularly in sanctuary cities like Boston, New York and Los Angeles – Border Czar Tom Homan doubled down on his efforts to reduce migrant populations in blue states. Homan said during an address for the State Freedom Caucus Foundation, that 70% of ICE arrests have been of migrants with violent criminal histories, while the rest are national security threats, and to a smaller degree, people who have broken immigration laws without any other crimes committed – technically. "Where do we arrest most noncriminal nontargets? In sanctuary cities," Homan told the crowd. "And why is that? Because they won’t give us the bad guy in the jail. They release them back into the community, which means now we have to go the community and find that person. "And when we find them, many times they are with others. Others in the country illegally but are not a criminal target, but guess what? They’re coming too." Last month, Boston’s liberal immigration policy landed it on the federal government’s updated list of sanctuary jurisdictions. The designation means the state "impedes enforcement of federal immigration laws." It’s the only Massachusetts jurisdiction cited by the Department of Justice. However, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, the Bay State is one of a dozen sanctuary states, alongside five of its Northeast neighbors: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.

FOX News [9/8/2025 12:43 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports that with the Trump administration zeroing in on Boston’s sanctuary stance toward illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed it is reviewing the status of an African-born former councilwoman who was sentenced Friday in a corruption probe. Cape Verde-born Boston Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty earlier this year in relation to what the Boston Herald described as a kickback scheme she carried out in a City Hall bathroom. Libs of TikTok, a social media account known for criticizing liberal hypocrisy and run by activist Chaya Raichik, highlighted Anderson last week, and said that a source had told her DHS was investigating Anderson. "We are looking into this, yes," Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital when asked about the claim on Monday. After she was elected in 2021, Anderson spoke to WGBH about her Muslim and African background, mentioning that she had "been undocumented." "We always say the ‘ummah’ which means ‘community’. It doesn’t necessarily exclude non-Muslims." "As the person that I am – Muslim, Cape Verdean, someone who’s been undocumented, an African immigrant and now African American – I think that all of that is what makes me a very dynamic Black woman," Anderson said at the time.

AP [9/8/2025 10:25 PM, Sophia Tareen, 4779K] reports the Department of Homeland Security trumpeted the start of a new immigration operation Monday in Chicago, stirring up fresh confusion and anxiety as the city remained on alert for a federal intervention President Donald Trump has touted for days. The administration has blasted so-called sanctuary laws in Chicago and Illinois. The latest campaign targets people without legal permission to live in the U.S. who have criminal records. Like other Trump administration plans, it was stamped with a splashy name, "Operation Midway Blitz," and circulated on social media with the mugshots of 11 foreign-born men it said should be deported. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," said a statement from DHS. Pritzker, who has been locked in a back-and-forth with Trump for days, criticized the move. He and Mayor Brandon Johnson have defended the state and city’s extensive sanctuary laws which bar coordination between local police and immigration agents. They’ve accused the Trump administration of using scare tactics, particularly with Latino residents in the nation’s third-largest city. "Once again, this isn’t about fighting crime. That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks," Pritzker said in a statement. "Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians.” Chicago has been bracing for an influx of immigration agents and possibly the National Guard for two weeks. Numerous protests have cropped up downtown, outside a suburban military base DHS plans to use and at an immigration processing center that’s expected to be a hub of activity. "ICE has always operated in Chicago," the agency said in a statement. "We will continue our law enforcement and public safety mission, undeterred, as we surge ICE resources in the city in coordination with our federal partners.” DHS said the operation announced Monday would be in honor of Katie Abram, one of two Illinois women killed in a January fatal car crash. A grand jury indicted a 29-year-old man in the hit-and-run. The Guatemalan national also faces federal false identification crimes.

NPR [9/8/2025 4:56 PM, Kat Lonsdorf, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports after several days of uncertainty and tension in Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security announced it is launching an ICE operation in Illinois.

Breitbart [9/8/2025 4:03 PM, John Binder, 2608K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement is calling out Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), whom agency officials accuse of protecting criminal illegal aliens accused of kidnapping, rape, and gang membership, among other crimes. On Monday, ICE officials released a list of criminal illegal aliens across the sanctuary state of Illinois who have been shielded from arrest and deportation, and in some cases, released back onto the streets. With the list of illegal aliens protected by Illinois’s sanctuary state policy, ICE announced Operation Midway Blitz, which will focus its efforts on arresting illegals who have used such sanctuary policies to evade federal agents. The operation is in honor of 20-year-old Katie Abraham of Illinois, who was killed in a drunk driving crash allegedly caused by illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol of Guatemala. Abraham’s friend Chloe Polzin was also killed in the crash. "This operation will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago," the Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

CBS News [9/8/2025 5:45 PM, Tara Molina, Sabrina Franza, 45245K] reports the Department of Homeland Security said it was moving forward with ramped-up immigration enforcement in Chicago this week in an effort dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, as Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says the city "received no notice of any enhanced immigration action" ahead of the announcement. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American Streets," the department said in a statement Monday. Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the operation "will target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago." The department did not specify how long the operation is expected to last, but a spokesperson with ICE said, in a statement: "ICE has always operated in Chicago, targeting enforcement around the dangerous criminal aliens that are drawn to this sanctuary city. ... We will continue our law enforcement and public safety mission, undeterred, as we surge ICE resources in the city in coordination with our federal partners from across Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice." The department said the mission would be carried out "in honor of Katie Abraham," who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run crash that happened in Urbana, about 130 miles south of Chicago, earlier this year. Her friend, 20-year-old Chloe Polzin, also died in the crash. The driver was 29-year-old Julio Cucul Bol, a citizen of Guatemala who authorities caught in Texas days after the crash, and believed to have been trying to flee to Mexico. He is now in custody in Illinois.

CBS Chicago [9/8/2025 6:33 PM, Sabrina Franza, 45245K] Video: HERE reports as the Department of Homeland Security on Monday officially announced a ramped-up immigration enforcement effort in Chicago, local community groups said the ICE operation is more about stoking fear than making the city safer. Activists in Chicago said the promises and warnings from the Trump administration of an immigration crackdown in Chicago are coming true on the Southwest Side and all across the city. They also said they want to remind immigrants in Chicago about their rights, and urged anyone who sees federal agents to take out their phones and start recording, following reports of people being arrested by ICE in the Archer Heights neigbhorhood on Sunday, including a local flower vendor. People living on the Southwest Side said the extra immigration agents the Trump administration has been planning to send to Chicago are officially here. Early Monday, local residents reported spotting Homeland Security agents in nearby West Lawn. "Many people were asking, ‘When is this going to start? When is this going to start?’ This has been happening. What we’re seeing today this is an escalation," said Rey Wences, senior director of deportation defense at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Neighbors said they are angry and on edge, with some relatives afraid to step outside their homes, for fear of being detained by ICE. "These abductions were seemingly random, with agents profiling and approaching them on the street," Wences said. "Chicago is fighting back. We will keep each other safe.” Local organizers said federal agents were spotted Monday in the West Lawn neighborhood in the shadow of Midway International Airport.

CBS Chicago [9/8/2025 1:26 PM, Todd Feurer, 45245K] Video: HERE President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is defending the president’s social media post that appeared to threaten to send troops to Chicago for a widespread immigration crackdown. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the president shared a screenshot that reads "‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning ...’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR." The AI-generated image appears to parody the movie "Apocalypse Now.” In a post on X, Gov. JB Pritzker accused Trump of "threatening to go to war with an American city." U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) told "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that President Trump President Trump "essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation.” But Homan claimed the president’s words "are being taken out of context.” "When I say we’re going to war, we’re going to war the criminal cartels. We’re going to war with illegal aliens, public safety threats that rape children, that raped citizens, that committed armed robberies, that distribute narcotics that kill Americans," Homan told CNN on "State of the Union" on Sunday. ". On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security announced "Operation Midway Blitz," an immigration enforcement operation in Chicago that the Trump administration had been hinting at for weeks. "This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets," DHS said in a post on X.

Chicago Tribune [9/8/2025 6:33 PM, Robert Channick, 5352K] reports in the wake of President Donald Trump seeming to declare war on Chicago in a social media post evoking the movie "Apocalypse Now," the city is fighting back with its own campaign advocating civic love, not war. On Thursday — two days before Trump’s "Chipocalypse Now" post showed helicopters flying past the city’s skyline ablaze — Choose Chicago fired off a preemptive social media strike as the president’s threatened military intervention and inflammatory rhetoric took aim at the city. The campaign, dubbed "All for the Love of Chicago" by the city’s tourism arm, invites residents and visitors alike to post photos, videos and stories on Instagram and TikTok depicting Chicago in a more flattering light. The intent is to refute Trump’s dystopian urban narrative that "Chicago is a hellhole right now," which the president proclaimed last week. "The only way to kind of counteract some of that negative narrative that always seems to hover over the brand of our city is to completely flood the feeds and the streams with the positive things going on," Kristen Reynolds, Choose Chicago’s new president and CEO, said Monday. "And we need the entire community to do it.” Reynolds, who took the helm at Choose Chicago in May after previously serving in the same role at Discover Long Island, oversaw the launch of the city’s broader marketing campaign, "Never Done. Never Outdone," in June. Getting Chicagoans to promote their city on social media has been high on her inaugural to-do list as well. Trump’s recent messaging may have accelerated the campaign, Reynolds said. Chicago has been in Trump’s sights for weeks as he has threatened to deploy the National Guard and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to the city as a show of force to crack down on crime and illegal immigration. On Monday, the administration announced the surge of immigration enforcement in Chicago was beginning.

AP [9/8/2025 5:26 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports as President Donald Trump ramps up threats of a sweeping immigration crackdown in Chicago, an immigration attorney is seeing people become more afraid to move through their everyday lives.

Los Angeles Times [9/8/2025 5:39 PM, Ana Ceballos, 12715K] reports Trump used war imagery and a reference to the movie ‘Apocalypse Now’ to suggest that the newly rebranded Department of War could descend upon the Democrat-run city. Trump said his post was meant to convey he wants to ‘clean up’ the city, and on Monday again floated the possibility of deploying federal agents to Chicago. President Trump on Monday continued to flirt with the idea of mobilizing National Guard troops to combat crime in Chicago, just a day after he had to clarify that he has no intent to "go to war" with the American city. Trump clarified Sunday that his post was meant to convey he wants to "clean up" the city, and on Monday once again floated the possibility of deploying federal agents to the city — a move that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has staunchly opposed. The White House did not respond when asked whether Trump would send National Guard troops to Chicago without the request from the governor. But the Department of Homeland Security announced in a news release Monday that it was launching an immigration enforcement operation to "target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens in Chicago."

Washington Post [9/9/2025 5:01 AM, Maeve Reston, 32099K] reports a group of Democratic senators is filing a friend of the court brief Tuesday in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s lawsuit against President Donald Trump, stepping up pressure to keep Trump from overriding Democratic leaders and sending National Guard troops into Democrat-led cities like Chicago. The 19 senators are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to overturn a temporary order issued by a three-judge panel in June that found that Trump had the authority to send National Guard troops into Los Angeles this summer over Newsom’s objections. The Democratic senators argue that the issue has gained greater salience since then, as Trump began threatening to go into other states and cities against the wishes of their governors and mayors. The senators are amplifying Newsom’s argument that the president’s use of the federal troops — at a moment when local law enforcement officials said they did not need federal support — violated the separation of powers doctrine by usurping Congress. A federal district court judge initially sided with Newsom on June 12. Then, on June 19, the three-judge panel issued their temporary ruling siding with Trump. California is waiting on a final ruling from the appeals court. “Our concern that President Trump will continue to act in bad faith and abuse his power is borne out by his recent deployment of state militias to Washington, D.C. and his stated intent to deploy state militias elsewhere (like Chicago and Baltimore),” the senators wrote in the brief obtained by The Washington Post that will be filed in court Tuesday. They warned that courts are the last resort to “prevent the President from exceeding his constitutional powers” and that failing to do so could “usher in an era of unprecedented, dangerous executive power.”

FOX News [9/8/2025 4:40 PM, Greg Wehner, 40019K] reports the U.S. ramped up its fight against Caribbean drug cartels Monday as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine touched down in Puerto Rico to bolster military operations. Puerto Rican Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón and First Gentleman Dr. José Yovín Vargas welcomed the pair, framing the visit as the Trump administration’s show of support for troops training on the island. The meeting took place at Muñiz Air Base in Carolina, outside San Juan, and drew top brass including Puerto Rico National Guard Adjutant General Carlos José Rivera-Román, Public Safety Secretary Brig. Gen. Arthur Garffer, and other senior military leaders. Hegseth spoke to nearly 300 soldiers at the base, thanking and describing them as "American warriors." The secretary of war also provided affirmation that those serving in the Armed Forces will be the best equipped and prepared in the world. The visit comes as the U.S. military expands its naval footprint near Venezuela, part of President Donald Trump’s push to choke off drug flows from Latin America. Naval and air assets have been dispatched to confront traffickers and secure key maritime routes, with some already used this week against alleged narco-terrorists. Reuters [9/8/2025 6:06 PM, Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Patricia Zengerle, 45746K] reports Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told sailors and Marines on a warship off Puerto Rico on Monday that they were not deployed to the Caribbean for training but instead sent to the "front lines" of a critical counter-narcotics mission. Hegseth’s remarks came during a surprise visit along with the top U.S. general to Puerto Rico amid escalating tensions with Venezuela, which U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration accuses of trafficking narcotics to the United States - allegations denied by Caracas. Trump has long accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of narco trafficking, allegations Caracas has always denied. The Trump administration has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, sources told Reuters on Friday. That deployment comes on top of an already bristling U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean, which the Trump administration says carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups funneling drugs into the United States. The Hill [9/8/2025 5:41 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12414K] reports President Trump last week claimed a military strike on a boat in the Caribbean killed 11 drug smugglers. Trump has asserted the vessel was carrying narcotics from Venezuela and headed to the United States. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied these accusations. The U.S. also in recent weeks has moved forces and lethal assets into the Caribbean, including at least eight warships, an attack submarine, and more than 4,000 sailors and Marines. In addition, 10 F-35s were sent to the island late last week and are reportedly meant to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations. The Pentagon did not announce Hegseth and Caine’s trip ahead of it happening and did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill. Reuters first reported the Pentagon is considering plans to use Puerto Rico in its operations against cartels in the region, including possibly conducting military flights out of the U.S. territory. In her post to the social platform X, González-Colón hinted at the plans by thanking Trump "for recognizing the strategic value Puerto Rico has to the national security of the United States and the fight against drug cartels in our hemisphere, perpetuated by narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro.” "We are proud to support America First policies that secure our borders and combat illicit activities to protect Americans and our homeland," she added.

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The Hill [9/8/2025 5:41 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 12414K]
AP [9/8/2025 8:27 PM, Dánica Coto, 37974K]
Univision [9/8/2025 6:46 PM, Staff, 4932K]

Washington Examiner [9/8/2025 7:53 PM, Samantha-Jo Roth, 1563K] reports the Trump administration is facing mounting pressure from lawmakers after ordering a U.S. military strike on a suspected Venezuelan drug-running vessel in the Caribbean Sea last week, with critics questioning whether the president has the authority to act without congressional approval. In a letter sent to congressional leaders on Sept. 4, obtained by the Washington Examiner, President Donald Trump said the Sept. 2 strike was carried out against a vessel “assessed to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and to be engaged in illicit drug trafficking activities.” He framed the action as self-defense under his Article II powers, writing that drug cartels designated as terrorist organizations “have reached a critical point where we must meet this threat to our citizens and our most vital national interests with United States military force.” Trump added that it is "not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that will be necessary," and said U.S. forces remain postured for further strikes. The administration’s justification has sparked a sharp debate on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers had been scheduled to receive a classified briefing on Friday, but it was canceled without explanation. According to congressional sources, senators have not been briefed as of Monday night, further inflaming demands for oversight. The issue also spilled into public view over the weekend when Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Vice President JD Vance traded barbs online. Paul accused the White House of "executive overreach" and warned that unilateral military action against suspected drug boats could spiral into unauthorized war. Vance countered that Trump’s actions were justified and said Congress should "stand with the president against cartels poisoning our communities.”

CNN [9/9/2025 2:33 AM, Stefano Pozzebon, Rocio Muñoz, 662K] reports Venezuela is not seeking a military confrontation with the United States or any other regional actor, its Foreign Minister Yván Gil told CNN in a rare interview, as tensions rise with Washington, including over the recent deadly US Navy strike on a vessel allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean. “We are not betting on conflict, nor do we want conflict,” Gil said during the interview from the Casa Amarilla, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry headquarters in Caracas, on Monday. The relationship between the US and Venezuela has long been precarious. But it has become particularly fraught under the two administrations of President Donald Trump who has taken a hardline against his counterpart Nicolas Maduro, including recognizing the country’s opposition leader following a widely criticized election. CNN interviewed Gil as US military ships deploy to the Caribbean and after Washington announced the doubling of the reward for the arrest of Maduro to $50 million. And on Tuesday 2 September the US carried out a lethal strike on a speedboat it said was carrying drugs in international waters and had departed from Venezuela, fueling suspicions in Caracas that Washington is trying to topple the regime of President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro has since mobilized some 4.5 million militiamen to defend the country, in response to what he calls US “imperialism.” Although he ruled out a military escalation of tensions, the Venezuelan foreign minister said his country is prepared to deter any possible threat. “We are denying the possibility of conflict because we are prepared to deter any deployment and we have a clear determination to defend our homeland,” he said. CNN asked Gil why he was calling for the United Nations human rights council to investigate the targeting of the boat, when Venezuela’s government has called the body “two-faced” over its multiple condemnations of Venezuela’s own human rights record. In response Gil said Venezuela had “never questioned” the defense of human rights, but admitted Venezuela had “criticized the actions of some bureaucrats” in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). OHCHR, the US and other countries have accused the Maduro government of frequent repression of its political opponents, human rights abuses in the country, and the undermining of democracy.

FOX News [9/8/2025 1:55 PM, Ashley Oliver, Bill Mears and Shannon Bream, 40019K] reports the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to continue carrying out immigration raids in California after advocacy groups argued that federal authorities were stopping suspected illegal immigrants without a valid reason. The high court’s 6-3 decision, issued along ideological lines, is temporary while the case proceeds in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It came after a federal judge in July blocked Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting raids in Los Angeles County, finding the plaintiffs likely would succeed in their argument that the raids violated the Fourth Amendment. The Ninth Circuit upheld that order, leading the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court’s order is a major victory for the Trump administration as it enacts an aggressive deportation agenda across the country. California, one of four major southern border states, saw high-profile protests and riots crop up over the summer in response to ICE’s raids and the National Guard, which Trump deployed to Los Angeles in June at the objection of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The immigrant rights groups and labor unions who sued alleged that ICE was stopping individuals without reasonable suspicion. ICE authorities unconstitutionally showed up at farms and car washes and targeted people based on their race and language, the plaintiffs alleged. The Supreme Court’s majority did not include an explanation, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, offered a concurring opinion in which he said that the reasonable suspicion requirement was not a high bar and that ICE could have very well met that bar. A combination of factors, including race, could provide authorities with reasonable suspicion to stop a person and inquire about their immigration status, Kavanaugh said. "To be clear, apparent ethnicity alone cannot furnish reasonable suspicion; under this Court’s case law regarding immigration stops, however, it can be a ‘relevant factor’ when considered along with other salient factors," Kavanaugh wrote. The Department of Homeland Security celebrated the emergency decision on Monday in a statement, saying it would not allow Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, to protect illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds. "A win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law," a DHS spokesperson said. "DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement ICE would now be able to continue "roving patrols" without "judicial micromanagement.” The New York Times [9/9/2025 3:21 AM, Adam Liptak, 330K] reports that it is not the last word in the case, which is pending before a federal appeals court and may again reach the justices. The court’s three liberal members dissented. “We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish and appears to work a low wage job,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. “Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost,” Justice Sotomayor added, “I dissent.” The court’s ruling for now allows what critics say are roving patrols of masked agents routinely violating the Fourth Amendment and what supporters say is a vigorous but lawful effort to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. The majority’s failure to provide an explanation for the ruling means that it is hard to say whether its reasoning applies nationwide or is limited to the Los Angeles area, where the administration has said that the problems flowing from illegal immigration are especially pronounced. But there is little doubt that the ruling will have the practical effect of further emboldening the administration’s uncompromising efforts to deport unauthorized immigrants around the country. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said she expected the ruling to have sweeping consequences. “I want the entire nation to hear me when I say this isn’t just an attack on the people of Los Angeles, this is an attack on every person in every city in this country,” she said in a statement. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the ruling was “a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law,” adding that “D.H.S. law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor.” Aggressive enforcement operations in Los Angeles — including encounters captured on video that appeared to be roundups of random Hispanic people by armed agents — have become a flashpoint, setting off protests and clashes in the area. In a lengthy concurring opinion, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, the only member of the majority who offered an explanation for the court’s ruling, said demographic realities justified the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “About 10 percent of the people in the Los Angeles region are illegally in the United States — meaning about two million illegal immigrants out of a total population of 20 million,” he wrote. CNN [9/8/2025 11:41 AM, John Fritze, Hannah Rabinowitz, 662K] reports that the order drew a fiery dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic justice to serve on the Supreme Court. "We should not have to live in a country where the government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job," Sotomayor wrote in a dissent joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. "Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent.” Since a district court issued a ruling temporarily barring interrogations and arrests based only on a person’s apparent ethnicity, language or their presence at a particular location, members of the Trump administration have made clear they intend to proceed with their agenda as planned, the justice said. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem "has called the District Judge an ‘idiot’ and vowed that ‘none of [the government’s] operations are going to change,’" Sotomayor wrote. "The CBP Chief Patrol Agent in the Central District has stated that his division will ‘turn and burn’ and ‘go even harder now,’ and has posted videos on social media touting his agents’ continued efforts ‘[c]hasing, cuffing, [and] deporting’ people at car washes.”

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Wall Street Journal [9/8/2025 4:43 PM, Jess Bravin and Mariah Timms, 646K]
Washington Post [9/8/2025 3:38 PM, Justin Jouvenal, Arelis R. Hernández and Maria Sacchetti, 29079K]
Politico [9/8/2025 4:49 PM, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, 2100K]
Bloomberg [9/8/2025 2:44 PM, Greg Stohr, 19085K]
NPR [9/9/2025 5:03 AM, Adrian Florido and Leila Fadel, 34837K]
The Hill [9/8/2025 12:13 PM, Zach Schonfeld, 12414K]
AP [9/8/2025 3:34 PM, Lindsay Whitehurst, 37974K]
Axios [9/8/2025 7:14 PM, Rebecca Falconer, 14595K]

NewsMax [9/8/2025 9:01 PM, Staff, 4779K] reports Department of Homeland Security official Lauren Bis hailed the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling Monday, telling Newsmax it clears the way for federal immigration agents to resume large-scale raids in sanctuary cities, including Los Angeles. "This is a big win for the administration," Bis, DHS’ deputy assistant secretary for media relations, told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "We are going to sanctuary cities. We are going to places like Los Angeles. Today we announced an operation in Chicago. We are in Boston. We are going to sanctuary cities where these criminal illegal aliens flock because they know sanctuary politicians will protect them. "But under President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem, there is no safe haven for criminal illegal aliens anymore.” The high court’s decision lifted restrictions that had limited Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting sweeps in heavily immigrant neighborhoods. The three liberal justices dissented, warning the ruling could open the door to racial profiling. Bis insisted DHS is focused on public safety and pointed to what she described as "record lows" in border crossings. She credited the administration’s self-deportation initiative, which offers $1,000 to migrants who voluntarily depart the U.S. "The world is hearing our message," she said. "People know that if they are criminals, they are not welcome in the U.S., and that the easiest and safest option is to take the $1,000 and leave our country now, so you have the opportunity to return the right legal way.”

NPR [9/8/2025 5:37 PM, Nina Totenberg, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to resume immigration raids in Los Angeles. Chief Justice John Roberts also temporarily barred lower courts from reinstating a member of the FTC.

The Hill [9/8/2025 3:38 PM, Ella Lee, 12414K] reports Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday blasted the Supreme Court’s decision to lift restrictions on Los Angeles-area immigration stops based on criteria like speaking Spanish or working in a certain profession, calling the ruling "unconscionably irreconcilable with our Nation’s constitutional guarantees.” "We should not have to live in a country where the Government can seize anyone who looks Latino, speaks Spanish, and appears to work a low wage job," Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion joined by the court’s other two liberal justices, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. "Rather than stand idly by while our constitutional freedoms are lost, I dissent," she said. The high court’s decision came after the Trump administration sought emergency intervention. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong imposed the limits in July after finding the administration likely violated the Fourth Amendment by stopping people without reasonable suspicion. She barred immigration authorities from relying on four factors to conduct immigration stops and arrests: race, use of Spanish, type of work or physical presence at a location where migrants in the country unlawfully are known to gather. The ruling applied to the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles and surrounding cities such as Riverside, San Bernardino and San Luis Obispo. More than 20 million people live in the area. But on Monday, the justices lifted the restrictions without explanation in a one-paragraph order. Sotomayor said the decision was "yet another grave misuse" of the court’s emergency docket. "There may be good justification for issuing an unreasoned order in some circumstances," Sotomayor wrote. "Yet, some situations simply cry out for an explanation, such as when the Government’s conduct flagrantly violates the law, or when lower courts and litigants need guidance about the issues on which they should focus.” Kavanaugh wrote in his concurrence that the plaintiffs likely lack standing to bring the legal challenge, contending the administration is likely to succeed in defeating the lawsuit. He also said that while "apparent ethnicity alone" cannot amount to reasonable suspicion, it can be a relevant factor when considered alongside other "salient" factors.

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Washington Examiner [9/8/2025 3:27 PM, Annabella Rosciglione, 1563K]

Los Angeles Times [9/8/2025 8:24 PM, Brittny Mejia, Rachel Uranga and Ruben Vives, 12715K] reports that, in a county where one in three residents are immigrants, a sense of anger and dread erupted Monday as noncitizens and their families realized the immigration raids that rocked their lives this summer could become a never-ending nightmare. Monday’s Supreme Court order gave the green light to what critics called "indiscriminate" immigration stops that led to thousands of arrests and set off days of protests in the Los Angeles area. The federal government now says it will continue in earnest. "DHS law enforcement will continue to FLOOD THE ZONE in Los Angeles," the Department of Homeland Security declared on X shortly after the ruling. A raft of immigrant rights groups, Democratic politicians and lawyers denounced the ruling. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it "dangerous" and an "attack on every person in every city in this country." Gov. Gavin Newsom said the "hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles.” Some fear agents could become even more aggressive during the raids — which have led to at least two documented deaths. The order comes just as the Trump administration vows to ramp up raids in sanctuary cities across the country, including Chicago this week. "They’ve been given carte blanche to go after anyone," said Maegan Ortiz, the executive director of a nonprofit group that works with day laborers. "My real concern is that it’s going to get ugly.” In Los Angeles, nowhere was the sting felt more keenly than at the car washes and Home Depots targeted by Border Patrol agents throughout the late spring and summer — where they have continued to arrest people even after a federal judge ordered a temporary halt to sweeps that use race as a factor to stop individuals. The ruling Monday gave authorities the go-ahead to continue operating with those tactics, while the issues are litigated in the lower courts. The administration touted going after "the worst of the worst," but an analysis from The Times showed that the majority of those arrested had no criminal conviction. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the ruling was "a win for the safety of Californians and the rule of law.” "DHS law enforcement will not be slowed down and will continue to arrest and remove the murderers, rapists, gang members and other criminal illegal aliens that Karen Bass continues to give safe harbor," she said in a statement. Gregory Bovino, a top Border Patrol agent who has been leading the effort, posted on X that his agents "are going hard in Los Angeles today," and he mocked the ruling on sweeps in Los Angeles as a "poorly written" temporary restraining order, the "worst I’ve ever seen.” Bovino wrote in another post that "these are lawful stops based on a hundred years of case law and Border Patrol expertise.”

The Hill [9/8/2025 5:47 PM, Brett Samuels, Rebecca Beitsch and Zach Schonfeld, 12414K] reports the Trump administration is escalating its immigration operations in Democratic cities in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling giving the government the ability to conduct immigration stops based on an individual’s ethnicity or whether they speak Spanish. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Monday morning announced "Operation Patriot 2.0" in Massachusetts and announced "Operation Midway Blitz" in Chicago roughly an hour after the Supreme Court decision came down. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to lift a lower court’s ruling that barred racial profiling as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers roved Los Angeles. The timing of the announcements appeared to be coincidental; President Trump has for weeks floated surging resources into Chicago to crack down on crime. But the high court’s ruling provides additional momentum for an administration that has repeatedly pushed the envelope with its deportation efforts. The planned ICE raids build on action earlier this summer in Los Angeles that sparked a court battle over the agency’s enforcement policies, with a judge blocking officers from using race, language or even someone’s profession as a basis for targeting them.

National Review [9/8/2025 2:07 PM, Dan McLaughlin, 109K] reports once again, the Supreme Court has stepped in to prevent a rogue district judge from hamstringing the executive branch in performing core executive functions under Donald Trump. And once again, the Court’s conservative majority has dispatched this order without explanation, over an angry and overwrought dissent from the Court’s liberals. This time, however, Justice Brett Kavanaugh stepped up to explain what was going on. The Court’s order this morning in Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo stayed an August 1 order by district judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong of the Central District of California, a Biden appointee and former Obama Justice Department official.

New York Times [9/8/2025 5:21 PM, Charlie Savage, 143795K] reports the Supreme Court on Monday overturned a federal judge’s order that had prohibited federal agents in Los Angeles from stopping people and questioning them about their immigration status based solely on factors like their ethnicity. The ruling is not the final word in the case, which stems from the Trump administration’s attempt to carry out mass deportations. But the court’s Republican-appointed majority will allow the government to continue using aggressive — and unconstitutional, in the eyes of its critics — tactics in immigration sweeps as the litigation slowly plays out. For now, federal agents in Los Angeles carrying out the immigration crackdown can continue to decide which people to stop and at least briefly detain for questioning based solely on one or a combination of four factors that a lower-court judge had deemed unconstitutional. Those factors are people’s apparent race or ethnicity; the fact that they speak English with an accent or speak Spanish; their presence at particular locations like farms or pickup sites for day laborers; and the type of work they do. For the Trump administration, that means federal agents can make stops to carry out the immigration crackdown without the potential chilling effect of fearing they could be accused of violating a court order and held in contempt. For American citizens of Hispanic descent in Los Angeles — especially people who speak with an accent or work as manual laborers — that means they will continue to risk being stopped and questioned whenever they go out. They may see it as a necessary precaution to always carry documents with them in a way that other Americans need not. Under the Fourth Amendment, government agents may not stop and detain people without reasonable suspicion that there is a legal basis to do so. A large-scale effort to round up undocumented migrants living in the Los Angeles area has raised the question of whether the Trump administration is violating that restriction. For now, the issue is what should happen as litigation slowly plays out: Should federal agents be stopped from using such tactics in the interim, or should they be permitted to continue using them unless and until there is any final judgment?

New York Times [9/8/2025 3:45 PM, Ana Ley, 153395K] reports immigration officers forced their way into a confectionery plant near Syracuse on Thursday morning and detained dozens of workers in what appeared to be one of the biggest workplace raids in New York since President Trump’s deportation crackdown began. The operation spanned hours and at one point involved as many as 75 law enforcement officers from the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office, according to witnesses. Three days after the raid, a spokeswoman with the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement had arrested 57 people. The spokeswoman said that some of the detained workers had prior criminal convictions or pending charges including child endangerment, driving while impaired and entering the country illegally. “These operations target illegal employment networks that undermine American workers, destabilize labor markets and threaten American communities,” the spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, said. Brian Schenck, the Cayuga County sheriff, said that his agency had assisted in the raid but he declined to give details, referring questions to the federal Homeland Security Investigations agency. A spokeswoman there did not respond to requests for information.

New York Times [9/8/2025 7:28 PM, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, 143795K] reports a New York state judge struck down an executive order issued by the administration of Mayor Eric Adams that sought to allow federal immigration authorities into the Rikers Island jail complex, calling it “illegal.” The judge ruled that the order permitting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to open offices at the jail was barred by an “impermissible appearance of a conflict of interest” between Mr. Adams and President Trump. The judge said that the apparent conflict had become clear because of discussions between the mayor’s lawyers and federal prosecutors this year as the Department of Justice moved to drop corruption charges against the mayor in exchange for cooperation with Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda. Mr. Adams, the judge noted, announced he would allow federal agents into Rikers three days after the deputy attorney general at the time, Emil Bove III, directed prosecutors to dismiss the charges against Mr. Adams. The ruling on Monday was a victory for the City Council, which had sued the mayor after his administration issued the executive order in April. The Trump administration had hoped to get access to Rikers Island to accelerate immigration enforcement in New York City, which has so-called sanctuary provisions that limit cooperation between the city and federal immigration authorities. The judge, Justice Mary V. Rosado of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, had consistently handed setbacks to Mr. Adams this year by issuing short-term rulings that indefinitely blocked ICE from entering Rikers. Her ruling on Monday was the final decision in the lawsuit brought by the City Council. “The court need not reach whether there actually was a conflict of interest because the timeline of public statements and the ongoing criminal prosecution so clearly demonstrate an impermissible appearance of a conflict of interest,” she wrote in a seven-page decision.

FOX Business [9/8/2025 2:17 PM, Caitlin McFall, 9194K] reports South Korea’s foreign minister departed for the U.S. on Monday following the mass immigration raid by U.S. government officials on the Hyundai-LG battery factory in Georgia last week when some 300 South Koreans were detained. While speaking with reporters ahead of his trip to the U.S., South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called it "a grave situation" and said he was in communication with Washington after U.S. immigration authorities on Friday arrested 475 individuals from the plant near Savannah in what federal officials called the "largest-ever" workplace raid. Details of the immigration-related violations remain unclear, but on Monday South Korean officials suggested workers may have surpassed their 90-day visa waivers, violating the terms of their temporary visa. According to a Reuters report, Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol said he was made aware that some experts may have traveled to the U.S. to assist with a test run of the electric car factory which was set to begin production in October ahead of obtaining the appropriate documentation. "You need to get a visa to do a test run, but it’s very difficult to get an official visa. Time was running out, and I think experts went to the United States," he said.

CNN [9/9/2025 3:20 AM, Brad Lendon, Yoonjung Seo, Mike Valerio, Marianna Kim, 662K] reports the detention of hundreds of South Korean nationals after a immigration raid on a factory in Georgia last week was an “unjust infringement” on the rights of South Korean people and businesses operating in the United States, the Asian nation’s president said Tuesday. Some 300 South Korean nationals were detained – some taken away in handcuffs and leg chains – last Thursday in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on the Hyundai-LG facility, which is under construction in southern Georgia. “They must have been greatly shocked by this sudden event,” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said, adding that he felt “a profound sense of responsibility” for the safety of the Korean citizens. To that end, hours earlier the government announced that the detained Koreans will return to Incheon International Airport, near the capital Seoul, on a chartered flight later this week following negotiations with the US. Korean Air on Tuesday confirmed one of the airline’s Boeing 747s will leave South Korea as early as Wednesday and head to Atlanta to assist in the repatriation the detained South Koreans. The plane, which will leave carrying no passengers, is capable of accommodating 368 people, a spokesperson for Korean Air said. The raid last Thursday was one of the largest by US immigration enforcement agencies in recent years. Images of workers, many of them Korean, being shackled and led away into detention have circulated widely across South Korea and sparked criticism at a time when the country is pouring multi-billion-dollar investments into the US, much of it at the behest of US President Donald Trump. Last month South Korea business heavyweights including Korean Air and Hyundai unveiled multibillion-dollar deals in the US following the summit between the two countries’ leaders. The plant in Georgia, which is supposed to be operating next year, is a massive investment for the state and projected to employ up to 8,500 people when complete. But the immigration raid has tarnished those plans. “I hope that such unjust infringements on the activities of our people and businesses, who contribute to the mutual growth of Korea and the US, will not happen again,” Lee, the South Korean president, said Tuesday. On Monday, he dispatched Foreign Minister Cho Hyun to Washington, DC, for talks. What the foreign minister’s role in the repatriation process would be was unclear, but the Lee government was trying to quickly contain simmering discontent in the country about how its nationals were being treated by US law enforcement.

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AP [9/8/2025 6:56 AM, Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung, 37974K]

Reuters [9/9/2025 3:31 AM, Ju-min Park and Jack Kim, 45746K] reports South Korea will send a chartered plane to Atlanta as early as Wednesday to bring back workers detained in a huge immigration raid last week on a car battery plant in the U.S. state of Georgia, a Korean Air spokesperson said on Tuesday. President Lee Jae Myung said Seoul would negotiate with Washington to achieve a reasonable resolution to the situation based on the spirit of their alliance, adding at a cabinet meeting that he felt a "heavy responsibility" for the detained nationals. A Korean Air Boeing 747-8i plane with 368 seats will fly from South Korea’s Incheon to Atlanta, according to the spokesperson. During the U.S. immigration raid about 300 South Koreans were arrested along with 175 others at the site of the $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) and LG Energy Solution (373220.KS) project to build batteries for electric cars. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun is in Washington to negotiate on points such as seeking assurances that the Koreans returned home will be allowed to re-enter the United States. The raid - the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative operations - sent shockwaves through South Korea, a U.S. ally that has been trying to finalise a trade deal agreed with Washington in July. A Realmeter opinion poll published on Tuesday showed that nearly 60% of South Koreans felt disappointed by what they viewed as excessive action by U.S. authorities in the raid, while about 30% regarded the action as unavoidable. Two Japanese nationals and up to nine Chinese citizens were among the detainees, the Nikkei business daily reported. James Rim, who heads the Korean-American Association of Southeast Georgia and runs guesthouses used by Korean workers near the Hyundai plant, said two of his residents had been detained after being found to be on a visa-waiver programme that prohibits employment in the country. On Thursday evening after the raid they did not come back for dinner, Rim said, noting two other colleagues had made it back to the guesthouse after screening during the raid. "I heard two of them saw an officer that didn’t let them go, while the other two managed to leave after talking to another officer," said Rim. Details on how U.S. immigration rules may have been breached have not been released by the authorities or companies involved, but South Korean lawmakers say some may have overstepped the boundaries of a 90-day visa-waiver programme or a B-1 temporary business visa.

Washington Post [9/8/2025 7:38 AM, Michelle Ye Hee Lee, 29079K] reports the large-scale immigration raid on a Hyundai-LG battery factory in Georgia has sent shock waves across South Korea, a U.S. security ally that has this year pledged to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States and is now balking at what many here view as the Trump administration’s bad-faith actions. Opposition lawmakers, former government officials and newspapers across the ideological spectrum are expressing outrage at the raid in which more than 300 South Korean nationals were arrested, calling the administration “unusual,” “impulsive” and “contradictory.” “I’m really speechless and furious,” said Choi Jong Kun, a former vice foreign minister. “We spend a lot of money in the United States and we get slapped in the face.” The arrest of 475 workers last week at the plant in Ellabell, Georgia, was the largest worksite enforcement operation to take place so far in President Donald Trump’s second term. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun was scheduled to travel to Washington on Monday amid fallout from the raid on Thursday (Eastern time). The Foreign Ministry said Cho would work toward the “voluntary departure,” rather than deportation, of all South Korean citizens so that they can be repatriated on chartered flights as soon as possible. The employees are expected to return to South Korea as early as this week. But there is broader alarm here about what the actions mean for South Korean companies that have invested in the U.S., drawn in large part by Washington’s efforts to boost economic cooperation between the two nations as a strategy to counter China’s growing economic dominance. And there is frustration at “America First” sentiments that say South Korean companies are taking part in a “bait-and-switch,” promising jobs for Americans but illegally hiring their own nationals instead — an allegation made by Tori Branum, a Georgia Republican running for Congress in 2026.

Bloomberg [9/9/2025 2:03 AM, Soo-Hyang Choi, 19085K] reports the detention of hundreds of South Koreans in a US immigration raid sent shock waves through the Asian nation and plunged Lee Jae Myung into the biggest diplomatic challenge of his young presidency. Lee, who’s won accolades at home and around the world for his deft handling of his US counterpart, was caught off guard by the raid at an under-construction Hyundai Motor Co.-LG Energy Solution Ltd. battery plant in the state of Georgia. Trying to contain the fallout, he quickly dispatched his top diplomat, to seek the return of about 300 workers. Lee said Tuesday that the detainees will return home soon, as South Korea prepares to send a chartered plane to pick them up. But Foreign Minister Cho Hyun’s mission will go beyond the immediate fire fighting. The incident trains the spotlight on a multibillion-dollar investment plan and the carefully calibrated diplomacy that helped South Korea land one of the most favorable tariff deals in the world. As part of that agreement reached in July, the country pledged a $350 billion investment package — now suddenly a perilous proposition for companies reliant on Korean workers and subcontractors to get manufacturing sites up and running. “This incident has exposed the limits of what the government can actually do,” said Kim Tae-Hyung, a political science professor at Soongsil University. “Trump’s unpredictability and the tendency to act on his own whims are very annoying, but this is the reality that cannot be ignored. The government must be deeply embarrassed.” South Korea is caught between two of US President Donald Trump’s key policies: re-industrialization and curbing immigration. That creates a treacherous terrain, where the usual tactics may be ineffective on such core issues for the president’s base. The fact that border czar Tom Homan was the US administration’s main voice on the Georgia raid shows the type of framing and attention the White House was seeking. And while there are no signs that the incident will undo the trade agreement and prompt Trump to hike tariffs, it risks undermining his drive to bring manufacturing to the US by making companies more reluctant to invest as they struggle to find easy visa options to bring their workers in legally and flexibly. Koreans were transfixed by the images of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents corralling their countrymen shackled at the wrist, waist and ankles. That sense of shared humiliation threatens to undermine a close military and economic alliance. For Lee, who took office in June, it’s an unexpected hurdle as he looks to leverage his growing rapport with Trump into defense commitments. The images “will do lasting damage to America’s credibility,” said John Delury, a senior fellow at the Asia Society. “How can a government that treats Koreans this way be relied upon as an ‘ironclad’ ally in a crisis?” “This is not the end of the alliance but it sure doesn’t look like ‘katchi kapshida,’” he said, referring to a military slogan that means “we go together” in Korean.

AP [9/8/2025 6:31 PM, Russ Bynum, Kate Brumback and Hyung-Jin Kim, 37974K] reports a lawyer for several workers detained at a Hyundai factory in Georgia says many of the South Koreans rounded up in the immigration raid are engineers and equipment installers brought in for the highly specialized work of getting an electric battery plant online. Atlanta immigration attorney Charles Kuck, who represents four of the detained South Korean nationals, told The Associated Press on Monday that many were doing work that is authorized under the B-1 business visitor visa program. They had planned to be in the U.S. for just a couple of weeks and “never longer than 75 days,” he said. “The vast majority of the individuals that were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that were South Korean were either there as engineers or were involved in after-sales service and installation,” Kuck said. South Korea’s foreign minister was flying to the U.S. on Monday to secure his citizens’ return on a charter flight to South Korea, where many people have expressed confusion, shock and a sense of betrayal.

Politico [9/8/2025 4:47 PM, Daniella Cheslow and Eric Bazail-Eimil, 2100K] reports while Democrats and Republicans are (predictably) divided on whether last week’s immigration round-up of South Korean nationals at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will damage U.S.-Seoul relations, some do agree on one thing: More of these raids will be bad news. On the Republican side, HARRY HARRIS, who served as ambassador to South Korea during part of President DONALD TRUMP’s first term, said he believes the Hyundai raid was unique, saying “this has been months in the works.” And he said reports that Trump is expected to appear in South Korea in October for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference are an indication the relationship continues on track. But that could be disrupted in the case of more high-profile raids on projects with ties to South Korea, he said. “If it’s not a one-off, if this is a major issue that’s going to replicate itself over and over for the foreseeable future, I believe we’ll have big problems,” he said. He may see that come to pass. Speaking in London today, Homeland Security Secretary KRISTI NOEM indicated the administration plans more raids like the Hyundai operation. “Everything is full speed ahead,” Noem told reporters, saying, “we can run as many operations every single day as we need to, to keep America safe.” The raid last Thursday ended with some 475 workers, including more than 300 South Koreans, detained. Video showed some of them shackled at the hands, ankles or waist. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said an ongoing criminal investigation led it to arrest people working illegally. Hyundai said in a statement that it was reviewing its hiring practices, including those of its contractors. Critics of the raid — mostly Democrats — say it’s a dangerous slap in the face to a valued partner that could have long-term ramifications. Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-Ill.) traveled to South Korea last month and said business leaders she met, including from Hyundai, said tariffs and immigration enforcement were creating hurdles to investment. “By using ICE to sow chaos and fear at our workplaces, Trump is sending a clear message: The U.S. is no place to do business. And that hurts families, our economy and our alliances,” she told NatSec Daily.

Wall Street Journal [9/8/2025 8:13 AM, Dasl Yoon, 646K] reports hundreds of South Korean citizens detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai Motor plant in Georgia are expected to return home on a voluntary basis and avoid deportation, Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said Monday. South Korea hopes to get its roughly 300 detained citizens on a chartered plane back to the country on Wednesday, a Korean diplomat in Washington said. South Korea’s foreign minister was set to depart for the U.S. on Monday to secure the detainees’ release, the ministry said. On Sunday, the South Korean president’s office said the U.S. and South Korea had reached a deal for the release of those detained in the raid last Thursday. South Korean officials have been negotiating for the U.S. to allow the Korean detainees to leave voluntarily rather than be deported. Deportation could trigger a lengthy re-entry ban. South Korean consular officials have met with around 250 detained workers and they didn’t report any unfair treatment or human-rights violations, a Foreign Ministry official said. President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. had a “great relationship” with South Korea, responding to a question about whether the raid would strain relations. On a visit to London Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that “there won’t be any uncertainty” for foreign investors and Trump “is now going to give you the predictability that you need to make sure that you can operate.”

Reuters [9/9/2025 2:44 AM, Hyunjoo Jin, Heekyong Yang and Heejin Kim, 45746K] reports many South Korean workers were sent to the U.S. on questionable documents despite their misgivings and warnings about stricter U.S. immigration enforcement before last week’s raid on a Hyundai site, according to workers, officials and lawyers. For years, South Korean companies have said they struggle to obtain short-term work visas for specialists needed in their high-tech plants in the United States, and had come to rely on a grey zone of looser interpretation of visa rules under previous American administrations. When that changed in the early days of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, some workers were denied entry to the United States under statuses that did not fully allow work, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen workers from various companies, government and company officials, and immigration lawyers. More than 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people swept up and detained by U.S. federal authorities at Hyundai Motor’s (005380.KS) car battery plant near Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, in the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security’s investigative operations. Many of the people arrested were skilled workers who were sent to the U.S. to install equipment at the near-complete factory on a visa waver programme, or B-1 business traveller visas, which largely did not allow work, three people said. "It’s extremely difficult to get an H-1B visa, which is needed for the battery engineers. That’s why some people got B-1 visas or ESTA," said Park Tae-sung, vice chairman of Korea Battery Industry Association, referring to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. One person who works at the Georgia site told Reuters that this had long been a routine practice. "There was a red flag ... They bypass the law and come to work," the person said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter. The arrests shocked South Korea although workers had previously expressed concern that they could be caught in between Trump’s immigration crackdown and corporate efforts to protect investments in the United States that are at the centre of ongoing trade and tariff talks. An equipment technician in South Korea, who previously worked with six of the people arrested, said: "I warned them they could screw up their lives if they are caught.” "I begged them not to go to the United States again," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said he had once obtained a B-1 visa from the United States by claiming he was a supervisor, rather than an equipment specialist. Another equipment technician working as a contractor with LG Energy Solution said his application for a B-1 visa to work at Hyundai’s Georgia factory was rejected earlier this year, without explanation. When he then tried to fly to Mexico and cross the border, he was blocked from boarding the flight in Seoul. "We thought the U.S. was our ally ... but they are treating me like an illegal immigrant," he said.

New York Post [9/8/2025 10:55 AM, Ariel Zilber, 43962K] reports President Trump demanded that "all Foreign Companies" in the US "hire and train American Workers" after nearly 500 employees were swept up in a massive immigration raid at a Hyundai–LG battery plant in Georgia. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation on Sept. 4 — described by Homeland Security as the largest single-site enforcement action in its history — ended with more than 300 South Koreans detained, including engineers and instructors, as well as nearly 200 Latino workers. Images of the shackled workers being led onto buses, broadcast widely in Seoul, ignited political uproar and investor unease in South Korea. "Following the Immigration Enforcement Operation on the Hyundai Battery Plant in Georgia, I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws," Trump wrote on Truth Social early Monday. "Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers." Trump later told reporters: "I would say that they were illegal aliens and ICE was just doing its job.”

Wall Street Journal [9/9/2025 3:52 AM, Jiyoung Sohn and Yang Jie, 646K] reports the Trump administration wants tougher immigration enforcement. It also wants Asian manufacturing powerhouses to pour investment into U.S. factories. Those goals are now clashing because Asian companies are having trouble getting enough work visas for personnel needed to get the U.S. plants running, say immigration specialists. Last week, the contradiction was highlighted when the U.S. carried out an immigration raid in Georgia and arrested some 300 South Koreans helping to build a Hyundai Motor joint-venture battery plant. Now the South Koreans are expected to head home soon under a diplomatic deal, and experts say it might take longer and cost more for Asian companies to build their U.S. factories without the specialists they need. President Trump hinted at such concerns when he wrote on social media that his administration “will make it quickly and legally possible” for foreign investors “to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent to build World Class products.” South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday he would work closely with the U.S. to prevent cases like the one in Georgia from recurring. “I hope that there will never again be any unjust infringement on the activities of our people and companies,” he said. Companies say they are willing to hire and train an American workforce but can’t meet tight deadlines to get their plants running with Americans alone. That is why it is common for hundreds of employees from the home country to descend on big project sites. Companies such as Hyundai and its battery-making partner, LG Energy Solution, often bring along the same contractors they work with at home. Around 250 of the roughly 300 South Koreans arrested worked for contractors, LG Energy said. Japan said Tuesday that three of its citizens working at the site were also detained.

AP [9/8/2025 10:39 AM, Jill Lawless, 964K] reports that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Monday she doesn’t think the detention of hundreds of South Koreans in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia will deter investment in the United States because such tough actions mean there is no uncertainty about the Trump administration’s policies. The detention of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Korean, in the Sept. 4 raid has caused confusion, shock and a sense of betrayal among many in the U.S.-allied nation. “This is a great opportunity for us to make sure that all companies are reassured that when you come to the United States, you’ll know what the rules of the game are,” Noem said at a meeting in London of ministers from the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing partnership focused on border security. “We’re encouraging all companies who want to come to the United States and help our economy and employ people, that we encourage them to employ U.S. citizens and to bring people to our country that want to follow our laws and work here the right way,” she told reporters. The detained Koreans would be deported after most were detained for ignoring removal orders, while “a few” had engaged in other criminal activity and will “face the consequences,” Noem said. Newly appointed U.K. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood welcomed Noem and ministers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand to the 18th-century headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company for talks on countering unauthorized migration, child sexual abuse and the spread of opioids.

FOX News [9/8/2025 4:02 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports federal agents detained nearly 500 workers during an immigration raid at a Hyundai battery plant construction site near Savannah, Georgia — an operation that has rattled U.S.–South Korea relations and drawn scrutiny regarding how America staffs its biggest industrial projects. About 475 workers at the battery plant’s construction site were detained on Sept. 4 under suspicion of being in the U.S. illegally, with at least 300 reportedly hailing from the democratic half of the Korean peninsula – which is also a top U.S. ally and key Asian partner. The incident at the plant in Bryan County – several miles west of the Savannah suburb of Pooler -- renewed scrutiny on construction sites of large projects as the Trump administration continues to investigate illegal worksite practices. Steven Schrank, a top official at Homeland Security Investigations’ Atlanta bureau, said the raid sent "a clear and unequivocal message that those who exploit our workforce, undermine our economy and violate federal laws will be held accountable." Schrank alleged some workers either overstayed their visas or were improperly employed in violation of them. Following the raid, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun left for the U.S. on Monday to repatriate the detained workers, as Seoul said Washington had agreed to release them in that way. Cho was expected to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio upon his arrival, according to the Financial Times. Trump signaled he will continue to welcome foreign investment, contingent on such nations following U.S. immigration laws.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/8/2025 4:37 PM, Sarah Fortinsky, 12414K]

NBC News [9/8/2025 3:44 PM, Steve Kopack, 43603K] reports two key components of President Donald Trump’s agenda collided Thursday, when federal authorities launched an immigration raid on a Georgia construction site for a Hyundai electric vehicle battery plant. The action came as Trump looks to secure $350 billion in investments from South Korea, as part of a broader trade deal. He is also seeking to revitalize U.S. domestic manufacturing with American-born workers while his administration arrests and deports foreign-born laborers. The raid, which led to the arrest of nearly 500 workers, more than 300 of whom were South Korean nationals, set off alarm bells in Seoul, which is now working with U.S. law enforcement to return those workers home. Hyundai declined to say specifically if it would alter its plans because of last week’s raid. LG Energy Solution, which will operate the factory in a joint venture with Hyundai, has reportedly decided to delay the start of production until the first half of 2026. Days after the Hyundai raid, Trump on Sunday night admonished foreign companies doing business in the United States. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, told CNN on Sunday that the administration plans "a lot more worksite operations." Homan did not specify what other types of businesses may receive visits, but he cited his personal experience with hiring a roofing company. The president’s economic and immigration policies often appear at odds.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [9/8/2025 3:53 PM, Tobias Burns and Laura Kelly, 12414K]

Daily Signal [9/8/2025 6:40 PM, Fred Lucas, 668K] reports a Barack Obama-appointed judge delivered a blow to the Laken Riley Act, a law that passed with bipartisan support and that prioritizes the arrest of illegal aliens with certain criminal records. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani of the District of Massachusetts is the same judge who in July ruled to secure federal taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood after Congress voted to defund the nation’s largest abortion provider. Talwani ruled late Friday that detaining an individual solely on the basis of his prior arrest record violates due process. The case involved a young illegal immigrant arrested for shoplifting on July 4. The judge focused on the individual case and did not assert the Laken Riley Act itself was unconstitutional. "The risk of erroneous deprivation of petitioner’s liberty is high where, as discussed above, his detention is based on an arrest for which no charges have been filed and the underlying conduct for which bears no relationship to dangerousness or flight risk," Talwani wrote in the ruling. The Laken Riley Act, the first bill President Donald Trump signed into law in his second term, requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest and detain illegal aliens who "commit theft offenses" and also gives states the authority to sue federal officials who refuse to enforce immigration laws. The law is named after Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal alien in February 2024. Under the law, detention is mandatory even if an illegal immigrant wasn’t convicted of a prior arrest. In this case, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts defended an 18-year-old illegal immigrant who had been arrested as a minor—but was not convicted—for shoplifting. Talwani determined detaining him without a bond hearing under the Laken Riley Act violates his right to due process. She ordered him to be released if a bond hearing is not provided for him by Sept. 10. The ACLU celebrated the ruling.

NewsMax [9/8/2025 3:58 PM, Solange Reyner, 4779K] reports President Donald Trump on Monday rebuked foreign companies with illegal workers after hundreds of employees at a Hyundai Motor car battery facility under construction in Ellabell, Georgia, were detained in a raid by U.S. authorities on Thursday. Trump’s administration has been escalating a crackdown on immigrants, disrupting businesses around the country, even as the White House has encouraged more inflow from foreign investors. About 475 workers, most of whom were South Koreans, were arrested, according to U.S. immigration officials, the largest single-site enforcement operation in Department of Homeland Security history.

Breitbart [9/8/2025 3:35 PM, Sean Moran, 2608K] reports House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) last week introduced legislation that would bar states from issuing driver’s licenses to illegal aliens and ensure local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. Arrington’s office said in a press release that, under current law, 19 states, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses with only a foreign birth certificate and proof of residency. Connecticut has reportedly issued over 60,000 licenses to illegal aliens. The Republicans introduced the legislation as the Trump administration has increasingly scrutinized states that have provided driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

CNN [9/8/2025 5:55 PM, Holly Yan, Sara Smart, Dianne Gallagher, and Mia Blackman, 23245K] reports Gruesome video shows a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee getting stabbed to death on a Charlotte light rail train – a case that has turned into a flashpoint as the Trump administration vows to crack down on crime in large, predominantly Democratic cities. The unprovoked attack happened shortly before 10 p.m. August 22, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said. A caller said a woman was stabbed in the throat. The victim, Iryna Zarutska, fled Ukraine in 2022 with her mother, sister, and brother to escape the war with Russia – “and she quickly embraced her new life in the United States,” her obituary states. Zarutska attended Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, worked at Zepeddie’s Pizzeria, was a talented artist and had dreams of becoming a veterinary assistant. President Donald Trump, who has recently escalated the presence of federal troops in urban areas as a crime-deterrent, denounced the slaying and called the killer a “madman, a lunatic.” “It’s right on the tape, not really watchable because it’s so horrible,” Trump said of the surveillance footage “She’s just sitting there.” The president offered his condolences to the victim’s family and vowed to “get to the end” of violent crime. “When you have horrible killings you have to take horrible actions,” he said.

Washington Times [9/8/2025 12:55 PM, Valerie Richardson, 964K] reports President Trump condemned the “madman” who stabbed to death a young Ukrainian refugee on a subway car in Charlotte, North Carolina, and warned that such “evil people” pose a threat to the nation’s security. On Monday, Mr. Trump addressed the Aug. 22 murder of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old woman who fled Ukraine in search of safety, only to be killed in an apparently random and unprovoked attack on the light rail by an ex-convict with more than a dozen arrests. “I just give my love and hope to the family of the young woman who was stabbed this morning or last night in Charlotte by a madman, a lunatic,” Mr. Trump said in remarks before the administration’s Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible. The president erred on the date of the slaying. Although the attack occurred last month, the horrific crime drew only local media attention until the Charlotte Area Transit System released surveillance footage Friday showing a man who was sitting behind her rise and stab her three times, including at least once in the throat. Mr. Trump said the man “just got up and started — it’s right on the tape. Not really watchable because it’s so horrible. Just viciously stabs her, she’s just sitting there.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [9/8/2025 8:38 PM, Eduardo Medina, Richard Fausset, and Emily Cochrane, 153395K]

CBS News [9/8/2025 7:47 PM, Staff, 45245K] reports a deadly stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee in North Carolina last month has sparked outrage among elected officials, including President Trump, after local authorities released video of the attack on the Charlotte Area Transit System. Police say 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, who fled the war in Ukraine only to be killed in an apparently random attack on Aug. 22, was allegedly stabbed by a man with a long record of criminal charges and psychiatric crises. The suspect, 34-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr., had served time in prison, been briefly committed for schizophrenia and was arrested earlier this year after repeatedly calling 911 from a hospital. Officials in Charlotte faced sharp criticism for failing to keep Brown, who has a history of mental illness, arrests and erratic behavior, off the streets before Zarutska was fatally stabbed on the commuter train — a killing that critics claim could have been prevented. Brown was arrested at the scene and charged with first-degree murder. Court records show he had cycled through the criminal justice system for more than a decade, with 14 prior cases in Mecklenburg County, including a five-year prison sentence for robbery with a dangerous weapon. The Aug. 22 attack, captured in recently released surveillance videos, has drawn condemnation of local officials and emerged as a talking point in the discussion about public safety, especially among conservatives who have supported the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in places such as Washington, D.C., where the president has deployed the National Guard. "I have seen the horrific video of a beautiful, young Ukrainian refugee, who came to America to escape the vicious War in Ukraine, and was innocently riding the Metro in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was brutally ambushed by a mentally deranged lunatic," Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday, also slamming cashless bail and asking why the suspect had been allowed out of jail. Zarutska had come to the United States to escape Russia’s invasion, relatives wrote in a GoFundMe post, describing her as determined to build a safer life. Videos released two weeks after the incident show Zarutska sitting on the light-rail train as Brown takes a seat directly behind her. Minutes later, without any apparent interaction, he pulls out a pocketknife, stands and slashes her in the neck, investigators said. Passengers screamed and scattered as she collapsed. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles called Zarutska’s killing "a senseless and tragic loss.” "Like so many of you, I’m heartbroken — and I’ve been thinking hard about what safety really looks like in our city," she posted on X after authorities released footage of the attack. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [9/8/2025 2:29 PM, John Binder, 2608K] reports that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Board of Immigration Appeals, the nation’s top panel for interpreting federal immigration law, is making clear that illegal aliens living in the United States are subject to mandatory detention, as required by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Late last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals made the sweeping clarification as part of a ruling in a case involving an illegal alien from Venezuela who made an appeal to the board after he was denied a bond hearing by a federal immigration judge. In its review of the matter, the Board of Immigration Appeals made clear that illegal aliens living in the United States are subject to mandatory detention and therefore ineligible for a bond hearing before a federal immigration judge. "The issue presented on appeal is one of statutory construction: Does the INA require that all applicants for admission, even those like the respondent who have entered without admission or inspection and have been residing in the United States for years without lawful status, be subject to mandatory detention for the duration of their immigration proceedings, and thus the Immigration Judge lacks authority over a bond request filed by an alien in this category?" the Board of Immigration Appeals wrote. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said the decision is a "big win for our [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] attorneys securing our ability to detain illegal aliens until they are deported."

USA Today [9/8/2025 10:14 AM, Nick Penzenstadler, 64151K] reports since Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia burst into the national zeitgeist amid a crackdown on illegal immigration in March, Trump administration officials in Washington, DC, have reiterated hundreds of times that the Salvadoran is a member of the transnational gang Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13. That rhetoric has only amplified with Abrego Garcia’s criminal indictment in Tennessee, where federal prosecutors have called him not only a member, but a ringleader in the gang and a prolific human smuggler. But the evidence of Abrego Garcia’s gang ties remains limited, and has been called into question by immigration judges, magistrates and district court judges. U. S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw in Tennessee wrote in July that concluding Abrego Garcia is a vicious gang kingpin "would border on fanciful." For his part, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys were so concerned about the constant drumbeat from administration officials that they filed a motion in federal court Aug. 28 asking a judge to bar the government, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, from making "prejudicial, inflammatory, and false statements." In the filing, they took particular note of an Aug. 25 post on X from the White House they called the "pièce de résistance" underscoring their concern. It’s still unclear if the alleged gang affiliation will impact Abrego Garcia’s immigration status and criminal case – both of which remain active legal cases, said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney who is now a law professor at the University of Michigan.

Bloomberg Government [9/8/2025 8:05 PM, Jack Fitzpatrick, 84K] reports a Senate panel delayed a vote on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, initially scheduled for Thursday, as lawmakers scramble to advance spending measures before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. The Senate Appropriations Committee will push back a planned markup of its fiscal 2026 Homeland Security funding bill, according to a notice sent Monday night. The markup is likely to be a contentious one, if and when it happens. Lawmakers often describe the Homeland Security measure as among the most difficult funding bills to negotiate as it covers immigration-related agencies.

New York Times [9/8/2025 6:39 PM, James Wagner, 143795K] reports that the effects of President Trump’s immigration crackdown can be seen at deserted Mexican border shelters, in the plummeting numbers of illegal crossings and at workplaces raided by federal agents. But to get a glimpse of the alarm jolting Latin American immigrant communities in the United States, migrants, rights workers and experts say, follow the money. “There is fear,” said Julio Fuentes, a 35-year-old undocumented migrant from Guatemala who works in California as a plumber. “Because if they catch you, then you can’t do anything. And they send you home with nothing.” Over the last several months, the amount of money sent by migrants like Mr. Fuentes back to their native countries in Latin America has jumped by billions of dollars in total, according to financial institutions in the region. Migrants typically send a few hundred or a few thousand dollars at a time through cash at transfer shops or through digital methods. Across several Central American nations money transfers have jumped 20 percent. The reason, officials, migrants and analysts say, is that people afraid of being deported are trying to get as much money out of the country as possible, while they still can. The money transfers, called remittances, are a critical lifeline for many countries and families around the world, especially in Central America and the Caribbean. There, the funds sometimes make up a huge chunk of a nation’s economy — as much as a quarter of a country’s gross domestic product, as in Honduras and Nicaragua. While remittances to Latin America also come from countries like Canada and Spain, a large majority are sent from the United States.

Bloomberg [9/8/2025 4:12 PM, Noah Feldman, 19085K] reports in a ruling likely to go down in history as a shameful expression of anti-immigrant prejudice, the Supreme Court has allowed ICE agents to re-start "roving stops" of people suspected of being undocumented immigrants because of what they look like, how they speak, and where they are gathered to work or seek employment. The 6-3 ruling in the court’s emergency docket reversed a July order by federal district court judge in Los Angeles, which found ICE had failed to meet the legal requirement of "reasonable suspicion" for conducting the stops. The violation of fundamental rights based on ethnicity, language, and economic circumstances isn’t just bad for the Latinos who are being targeted. It undermines the constitutional rights of all Americans and the core principle of equality before the law. Although the majority joined a single, unsigned opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote an explanation for his vote, so that is the only insight we have into their reasoning. The case involves ICE raids that began in June in Los Angeles. In the raids, Kavanaugh wrote, “teams of armed and masked agents pulled up to car washes, tow yards, farms, and parks and began seizing individuals on sight, often before asking a single question.” The point of the raids was to ask people if they were US citizens or otherwise in the country lawfully. In theory, those who could demonstrate lawful presence were released, while others — more than 2,800 — were detained.

USA Today [9/8/2025 3:45 PM, Rex Huppke, 64151K] reports great news for lovers of racism and hypocrisy! The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to get back to grabbing random Latino people in Home Depot parking lots in Los Angeles, effectively allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to racially profile people and ask them for their papers. I can’t think of a single time in history when that has ended poorly. The Sept. 8 ruling suggests that any inconvenience a U.S. citizen who happens to be Latino might experience when accosted by federal agents while attempting to buy a weed whacker is no biggie. Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that "for stops of those individuals who are legally in the country, the questioning in those circumstances is typically brief, and those individuals may promptly go free after making clear to the immigration officers that they are U.S. citizens or otherwise legally in the United States.” If you’re Latino, your race matters if you’re in a Home Depot parking lot. Put another way, I’d like to hear from all the White people who would be fine with an ICE agent stopping them in a Home Depot parking lot on a Saturday afternoon and demanding to see identification. I’ll just sit here holding my breath. Kavanaugh and other conservative justices show their true hypocrisy. Kavanaugh was one of the justices who effectively struck down affirmative action in higher education, boldly noting in his concurrence that "racial discrimination still occurs and the effects of past racial discrimination still persist. Federal and state civil rights laws serve to deter and provide remedies for current acts of racial discrimination.” Boy, that Kavanaugh back when the 2023 affirmative action ruling came down should get a load of the 2025 version of Kavanaugh, because today’s version is singing a different tune. Supreme Court again shows that the Constitution is optional. Race matters in America only when the Supreme Court says it does.

The Hill [9/8/2025 11:00 AM, William Liang, 12414K] reports one might suppose that the contest over pronouns would end, if anywhere, at the threshold of mass murder. But in the case of the Minneapolis school shooting, it only got worse. Within hours of an evil murderous rampage at Annunciation Catholic School, commentators on the right seized on the opportunity to bash transgender people when it was revealed the suspect, Robin Westman, was a one of them. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem led the charge on X. The New York Post featured the killer’s own words from a journal prominently on its front page: "I wish I never brain-washed myself." Progressive mainstream outlets, on the other hand, bent over backwards to handle pronouns. The story first appeared in The New York Times below the fold under the headline "Minneapolis’s Suspect’s Motive is a Mystery." On the homepage, Westman wasn’t given a pronoun at all. The liberal case for transgender rights appeals to fairness, equality and safety as a moral imperative. But one can affirm the right of trans people to their identity without believing others must be legally compelled to use specific words. I have come to despise the incessant prosecution and thought-policing of speech around this issue. And I resist when trans rights end up eroding other people’s rights — particularly those of women. What complicates the matter is that preferred pronouns, often treated in common usage as courtesies, collide here with an atrocity so unforgivable that it forces us to ask whether even fundamental rights can persist unaltered in the face of radical evil. Any form of certainty on either side is alarming. To insist without hesitation that Westman must be a "he/him" is to assume that trans identity isn’t actually a right — that it can just be stripped away even when no competing right is at stake. To insist with equal force that it is inherently transphobic to refuse to use "she/her" for the killer denies the profound moral difficulty of this case. Both responses miss the deeper point: Our rights are tested precisely where they strain against our instincts.

The Hill [9/8/2025 1:30 PM, Max Meizlish and Elaine K. Dezenski, 12414K] reports that money laundering isn’t new — and neither is China’s role in it. Millennia ago, Chinese merchants developed schemes to "clean" the profits of commercial trade and avoid taxation. Today, their successors are doing much the same. Only now, they’re laundering billions through the U.S. financial system and fueling one of the deadliest fentanyl-fueled drug crises in American history. In a step in the right direction, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (known as FinCEN) issued a sweeping advisory on Aug. 28 warning that Chinese money laundering networks now represent "one of the most significant money laundering threat actors facing the U.S. financial system." Few Americans have heard of these Chinese networks, but they are using our local, regional and national banks to scrub Mexican cartel cash clean. The government must do more to shut them down. The numbers are staggering. Alongside its advisory, FinCEN released a financial trend analysis based on more than 137,000 suspicious activity reports filed between January 2020 and December 2024. Those reports flagged transactions totaling more than $312 billion across more than 1,000 financial institutions in the United States. That includes $33 billion in cash deposits linked in part to Chinese nationals with no verifiable income, $53.7 billion in questionable real estate transactions, and $9.7 billion in potentially fraudulent import-export schemes. One laundering ring appears to have processed $6 billion through 7 million credit card charges. Another $13.8 billion may have been moved through the personal accounts of Chinese students. In New York alone, 83 adult and senior daycare centers were linked to $766 million in suspicious flows.

NewsMax [9/8/2025 5:44 PM, Solange Reyner, 4779K] reports Sheriffs in seven states have turned their jails into ICE detention centers amid a national surge in immigration enforcement, The New York Times reports. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding about 59,000 people, far exceeding the agency’s capacity of 41,500 beds, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News, making jails a convenient tool for the federal government. "We’re essential," Jonathan Thompson, executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association, told the news outlet. "ICE can’t do what they need to do under the current circumstances without sheriffs and our jails." Added Bob Gualtieri, the sheriff in Pinellas County, Florida: "ICE doesn’t have the capacity for what they’re doing. You can deputize tons of local cops, but if the system doesn’t have enough room, what are you doing?" Jails are often the first stop for ICE detainees; these lockups specifically fill a gap in the Midwest, where there are few detention centers. The Department of Homeland Security has contracted with many jails to hold immigrants though most of the sheriffs signing up are in red states or from Republican-led areas of blue states, reports the Times. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times that "if county jails are good enough to hold U.S. citizens, then they are sure good enough to hold illegal aliens." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [9/9/2025 2:38 AM, Amy Taxin and Anne D’Innocenzio, 27036K] reports that, at a Home Depot parking lot, a man patrols on a bicycle for federal immigration agents, toting a megaphone on his hip so he can blast a warning to day laborers waiting to land a landscaping or construction job. The workers from Mexico, El Salvador and elsewhere carry whistles to also sound the alarm, while activists swap details over two-way radios about whether cars whizzing by could be unmarked vehicles carrying officers preparing for a raid. Their work is cut out for them. Agents have raided the lot outside the 108,000 square-foot Home Depot store in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles at least five times this summer, rounding up some immigrants and sending others running in search of safety. Home Depot stores in Southern California have long been an informal job-seeking hub for day laborers in the country both legally and illegally. Now the locations have become a prime target for immigration agents. In fact, Home Depot was reportedly mentioned as a target for immigration raids by Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, earlier this year. At least a dozen Home Depot stores have been targeted, some of them repeatedly, in Southern California since the administration stepped up its immigration crackdown this summer. Immigrant advocates sued over the raids but on Monday the Supreme Court cleared the way for federal agents to continue conducting sweeping immigration operations for now in Los Angeles, the latest victory for the Trump administration at the high court. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called it "a win" for the rule of law, while advocates swiftly criticized the ruling. "When you undermine the civil rights of those who are more vulnerable, you undermine the civil rights of everyone else," Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said Monday during a press conference held near a Home Depot. Last month, outside a Home Depot in Monrovia, a man ran onto a nearby freeway to flee immigration authorities, and was struck and killed. The Van Nuys location has been hit particularly hard. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that her office supports the litigation against the sweeps and has trained city workers to prepare for immigration enforcement on city-owned properties. City councilperson Ysabel Jurado has voiced opposition to a plan for a new Home Depot in her district, contending the company hasn’t done enough to fight the raids. Chris Newman, legal director for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said "these locations should be protected by the city to the same degree the public libraries are.” The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

News Max [9/8/2025 11:33 AM, Sam Barron, 4779K] reports that White House Border Czar Tom Homan warned protesters who want to go after immigration officers. "You throw a stone, you’re going to jail," Homan said in an interview Sunday. "You put hands on an ICE officer, you’re going to jail. You make a threat – online or in person – you’re going to jail." Homan told Fox News that he supports peaceful protests under the First Amendment, but that violence would not be tolerated. He said the administration has launched an initiative to identify groups funding violent protesters, who will face serious consequences. "There’s a whole effort right now identifying those who are funding these operations, those who fund the weapons that are being used," Homan said. "And they’ll be held accountable too and held to the highest standards of the law. They will be prosecuted, too." President Donald Trump’s border czar also had harsh words for politicians who have compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to Nazis. "If ICE is racist for enforcing the law, what does that make them?" Homan said. "They wrote the law. Everyone that wants to attack ICE is disgusting. They’re an embarrassment to the position they hold. They’re members of Congress. "If they don’t like what ICE is doing, then do your job and legislate. Until then, President Trump and the men and women of ICE are going to continue to prioritize public safety threats and national security threats and make this country safer every day."

Reported similarly:
FOX News [9/8/2025 8:13 AM, Taylor Penley, 40019K] Video: HERE

New York Times [9/9/2025 3:21 AM, Sabrina Tavernise, 330K] reports that, one of the defining images of President Trump’s second term so far has been security officers in masks. Whether detaining a Turkish student on the street in Boston, raiding Home Depot parking lots in Los Angeles or, now, arresting immigrants on the streets of the capital, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in tactical gear and with their faces obscured have become a strange new national pageant. The Homeland Security Department says that in an era of extreme polarization and rising political violence, masks are necessary. “ICE officers wear a mask because they’ve been doxxed by the thousands,” Tom Homan, Mr. Trump’s border czar, told my colleagues at “The Daily.” “Their families have been doxxed. ICE officers’ pictures show up on trees and telephone poles. Death threats are sky-high.” Masking, the argument goes, is simply the practical response. Lawmakers in liberal states say the practice should be banned, and this summer, Democratic elected officials in California, New York and Pennsylvania proposed laws to do just that. At the end of July, Virginia’s Democratic senators introduced a bill to ban the use of masks nationally. The issue also got the attention of a federal judge, who, in a ruling on Tuesday against Mr. Trump’s use of the military in Los Angeles, noted disapprovingly that the armed forces’ identity “was often obscured by protective armor.” As I watched all of this, I found myself wondering about masking by law enforcement and whether it has a history in the United States. Something about it seemed at once familiar and foreign. That’s because I associate the practice with Russia. In the summer of 2000, when President Vladimir Putin had just taken office, I was living in Moscow and working as a reporter. At the time, the first battle lines were being drawn between the new president and the powerful oligarchs he hoped to tame. Russians began to see raids by government forces on oligarchs and their properties. Men in masks conducted them. They became so ubiquitous that people began referring to them sardonically as Maski Show, or mask shows, after a popular television show involving mask-wearing clowns. The United States is not Russia. But as I search for ways to understand what is happening in my country today, I am looking to the places I’ve been before. In Russia in the 2000s, I thought of masking as a peculiar feature of a wobbly post-Soviet state. Over time it became clear that it was a harbinger of a new era. Masks became a feature of America’s fiercely polarized political life during the Covid pandemic. Mask requirements enraged conservatives, who saw them as an effort by the government to boss them around on flimsy science. Concerns about the virus’s spread subsided, but the debate seemed to have unlocked something in the American psyche about the power — and danger — of masks. Over the past several years, states and counties began passing laws against masking that applied to protesters in demonstrations, reasoning that they would be more likely to do something illegal if law enforcement couldn’t see their faces.

Daily Signal [9/8/2025 5:40 PM, Virginia Allen, 558K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has accused National Public Radio of “race-baiting smears” against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “Baseless accusations of ‘racial profiling’ by NPR and other outlets are contributing to a 1,000% increase in assaults against ICE law enforcement,” DHS said in a statement Monday evening. The response from DHS follows a Monday morning NPR report on the outlet’s “Morning Edition” program, in which a U.S. citizen going by the nickname “Chilo” claims she was “questioned by masked officers” on the streets of Washington, D.C., regarding her citizenship status. NPR’s Michel Martin reports that Chilo thinks she was profiled because of her “black hair and brown skin.” Chilo tells Martin the interaction with masked law enforcement frightened her because she “thought they’re going to take me away.” Chilo, 53, is from Nicaragua, but was adopted and became a naturalized citizen when she was 9, according to NPR. The woman told NPR she was carrying both her REAL ID and a copy of her passport at the time of the interaction with the agents. “It is completely illegal for the federal government to detain a U.S. citizen for immigration purposes and to subject them to deportation,” Marissa Montes, a professor at Loyola Law School and director of the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic, said in the NPR report. The allegations of “racial profiling,” according to DHS, are “false.” “No record or evidence of these anonymously sourced claims exist,” DHS said. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said it is “shameful that NPR would run anonymous and unsubstantiated allegations to smear our brave law enforcement as they are facing a more than 1,000% increase in assaults against them.” “What makes someone a target of ICE is if they are illegally in the U. S.—NOT their skin color, race, or ethnicity,” McLaughlin said. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem “has unleashed ICE to target the worst of the worst—including gang members, murderers, and rapists,” she continued, adding that “70% of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or have pending charges in the U.S.,” adding: President [Donald] Trump and [DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem are putting the American people first by removing illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities. NPR acknowledged receiving a request for comment from The Daily Signal, but did not provide a response by the time of publication. NPR did include a comment at the end of its report from McLaughlin denying that ICE agents are engaged in racial profiling.

NewsMax [9/8/2025 5:44 PM, Solange Reyner, 4779K] reports sheriffs in seven states have turned their jails into ICE detention centers amid a national surge in immigration enforcement, The New York Times reports. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding about 59,000 people, far exceeding the agency’s capacity of 41,500 beds, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News, making jails a convenient tool for the federal government. The Department of Homeland Security has contracted with many jails to hold immigrants though most of the sheriffs signing up are in red states or from Republican-led areas of blue states, reports the Times. Legal groups and immigrant advocates have decried the use of jails, saying they are not equipped to handle immigrants. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, told the Times that "if county jails are good enough to hold U.S. citizens, then they are sure good enough to hold illegal aliens."

Telemundo51 [9/8/2025 4:07 PM, Maylin Legañoa, 144K] reports Deivy Alemán Oropesa, a Cuban man with a deportation order, "must leave the country voluntarily next Sunday, September 14," he was told at his appointment with ICE, where he attended with the plane ticket he had been required to present. After seven years living in the US with an I-220B, due to an illegal entry at the southern border, Oropesa was unable to stop his deportation. "I filed for deportation, for state removal, but they told me that in order for them to accept that, I would have to remain in custody." Accompanied by his wife and daughter, he arrived this morning for his immigration appointment. His little girl will soon have to undergo another open-heart operation, which is why the Cuban asked for her case to be reviewed and re-evaluated.

FOX Business [9/8/2025 1:07 PM, Staff, 9194K] Video: HERE reports Fox senior correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the trial of Hugo Hernandez-Mendez, an illegal immigrant charged with murder, and how it has fueled Republican efforts to ban deported immigrants from returning and to double penalties for interfering with ICE.

Daily Caller [9/8/2025 11:36 AM, Jason Cohen, 985K] reports CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said on Monday that Massachusetts officials have no legal ability to obstruct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. ICE is conducting a fresh federal immigration enforcement operation prioritizing the deportation of criminals in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), CNN reported on Sunday. Honing, on "CNN News Central," likened ICE’s jurisdiction to that of the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and DEA. "I know that the mayor of Boston has suggested there might be a lawsuit seeking to stop some of what ICE is doing, but there’s really nothing that state and local authorities can do legally to prevent a federal law enforcement agent like ICE from doing its business," Honig said. "ICE, like the FBI or ATF or DEA, has essentially nationwide jurisdiction, and there’s no legal way that the mayor of Boston, for example, can stop ICE from coming into Boston and making immigration arrests any more than they could stop DEA from coming into Boston and making drug arrests," he continued. "So I understand there are political issues here and issues about public safety, but legally, there’s really very little that the locals

Univision [9/8/2025 3:01 PM, Staff, 4932K] reports a father was reportedly arrested by ICE agents after dropping his son off at school on the first day of classes, the community group Islip Forward reported. According to the organization, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were seen on September 3 near Brentwood High School, where the arrest reportedly occurred. The Brentwood superintendent clarified in a letter that officers did not enter school property, while the district’s security director confirmed that an arrest was made nearby. A day later, residents reported the presence of ICE outside Alverta B. Gray Schultz High School in Hempstead, although no arrests were reported this time. Community leaders warned of the psychological impact on immigrant students and families, who fear these actions will discourage undocumented children from attending school.

CNN [9/8/2025 6:00 AM, Casey Tolan and Isabelle Chapman, 23245K] reports men sleeping head-to-toe on a crowded floor, exhausted detainees blocking out fluorescent lights with face masks, and dozens of people using cardboard boxes as mattresses. Grainy cellphone video, filmed by a detainee in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in recent months, offers a rare public view of the harsh conditions inside a hold room in Miami – a temporary space where immigrants wait to be transferred to longer-term housing or deported. ICE’s policies for decades have required the agency to keep migrants in cramped hold rooms like this for no longer than 12 hours. Yet inside the Krome detention center in Miami, the average hold room stay has been more than three days. Some detainees say they have been left pleading for more food and water. One man who spent more than three days in a hold room later died in ICE custody. Even an internal ICE audit earlier this year found detainees were held for too long in the hold rooms and weren’t given pillows or blankets, and that staff didn’t follow procedure on providing meals. Across the country, in fact, ICE has routinely broken its longstanding rules as it ratchets up President Donald Trump’s promised mass deportations, a CNN analysis of data from the agency found.

Daily Caller [9/8/2025 4:42 PM, Jason Hopkins, 985K] reports federal immigration authorities successfully arrested a convicted sexual predator who is going viral online over his short stature. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) New Orleans office on Monday announced the arrest of Cristian Soto-Galeano, a Guatemalan national convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile and sentenced to two years in prison. The agency featured an image of Soto-Galeano in their social media post about the arrest, and appeared to poke fun at the foreign national’s small size. An ICE spokesperson was not able to immediately provide further details on Soto-Galeano’s immigration history, but did confirm that he is an illegal migrant. The New York Post [9/8/2025 7:49 PM, Caitlin McCormack, 43962K] reports that a pint-sized pedophile from Guatemala was nabbed in New Orleans by Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers and his jaw-dropping arrest photo quickly went viral Monday as commenters marveled at the height distance between the grinning migrant and the officer towering over him. The petite preadator, Cristian Soto-Galeano, was photographed with cuffs around his wrists and ankles and a big smile on his face as he stood next to an ICE agent whose back was turned to the camera. Soto-Galeano, who stood about as tall as the officer’s waist in the pic, was previously convicted of indecent behavior with a juvenile, ICE said. "ICE New Orleans arrested Cristian Soto-Galeano, a citizen of Guatemala," ICE New Orleans captioned the image shared on X. "His criminal history includes a conviction for indecent behavior with a juvenile and was sentenced to 2 years in prison." It’s unclear if Soto-Galeano was in the US illegally, but the diminutive detainee is expected to be booted out of the country after his prison sentence. The Post has reached out to ICE about his status in the country.

Chicago Tribune [9/8/2025 9:17 AM, Steve Sadin, 5352K] reports the daughter of Mexican immigrants, Lina Alvrarez, a retired U.S. Army sergeant of 22 years, said she drove her brother to work at Naval Station Great Lakes Thursday morning because he was afraid of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had been sent there on the Trump Administration’s orders. Knowing her license plates identified her as a veteran, Alvarez, a North Chicago native and Waukegan resident, believed it would make him feel safer. There were approximately 150 ICE agents gathered around the office they are using at the base that day, she said. But she knew she had to do more than just drive her brother to work. "I decided I was going to make a sign and stand outside the base," Alvarez said. "I posted on social media as much as I could. I made flyers and went to the Belvidere Mall (on Friday) night. Most of the people were afraid. I had to go there for them. I told them to drive by and honk." Alverez was one of more than 600 people holding signs, chanting and eventually marching half a mile between two gates Saturday outside the naval station in North Chicago to protest the presence of ICE at the base and in the Chicago area. of people stood with signs at the corner of Illinois Route 137 and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive expressing their opposition to the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement plans. Both the Indivisible Northeast Lake County and Party for Socialism and Liberation learned about the event and got people there.

Breitbart [9/8/2025 11:27 AM, Randy Clark, 2608K] reports U.S. Border Patrol agents and ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents teamed up to dismantle a human smuggling scheme in El Paso, Texas, that ultimately led to the arrest of 35 illegal aliens. The arrests took place after the alleged smugglers crashed their vehicle while trying to evade arrest by the Border Patrol. The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem provided details of the arrests on Sunday in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter). According to Noem, DHS Homeland Security Special Agents investigated an illegal alien smuggling case that began when two alleged human smugglers were arrested by the Border Patrol in El Paso. The smuggling suspects and five illegal aliens they were transporting were arrested after a rollover crash occurred when the driver fled from agents to avoid arrest. HSI special agents obtained information that led to the location of an illegal alien stash house operated by the human smuggling ring. According to Noem, a subsequent enforcement operation at the human smuggling stash house resulted in 28 additional arrests. In total, federal law enforcement authorities detained 35 people linked to the operation. Two Mexican nationals, who remain unidentified by DHS, are charged with felony alien smuggling under Title 8 USC 1324. According to Noem, eight illegal aliens have been charged with felony unlawful re-entry into the United States after removal under Title 8 USC 1326. They were transferred to the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending prosecution.

Daily Signal [9/8/2025 9:00 AM, Greg Bishop, 668K] Video HERE reports Trump administration border czar Tom Homan says Democrat leaders in sanctuary states and cities hate President Donald Trump more than they care for their communities. Homan spoke to the State Freedom Caucus Network Summit in Dallas, Texas, Friday night and reiterated the plan to deport illegal aliens in Chicago. While Democrats say Trump is targeting Democrat run cities for political reasons, Homan said that’s not the case. "It’s not because they’re blue, it’s because they’re sanctuary cities and they’re releasing criminals every hour, so that’s where we’re going," Homan said. "That’s where we’re going to flood the zone.". Homan tried to make sense of the Democrats’ resistance to cooperating with ICE. "They hate President Trump more than they love their communities, there’s no other reason," Homan said. "I can’t think of why you would not join forces with us." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [9/8/2025 3:41 PM, John Binder, 2608K] reports Democrats and their allies in the establishment media are falsely claiming that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested a pair of "firefighters" in the sanctuary state of Washington. In actuality, the two men are not firefighters, but rather illegal aliens with past criminal records. Last week, the establishment media ran wild with a story claiming that two firefighters were arrested by ICE agents in Bear Gulch, Washington, amidst an ongoing fire. Jose Bertin Cruz-Estrada of Mexico, one of the illegal aliens arrested, has previously been charged with delivering and selling methamphetamine. Cruz-Estrada has been encountered by Border Patrol agents a total of 15 times. Cruz-Estrada was ordered deported by a federal immigration judge in April 2015 and deported by ICE agents on February 27, 2016. After his last deportation, Cruz-Estrada crossed the southern border again on an unknown date. The other illegal alien arrested by ICE agents was previously charged with illegally carrying a concealed weapon. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told Breitbart News that the pair were not firefighters and had been working for a company that was involved in cutting firewood, not actively fighting the Bear Gulch fires. DHS’s Tricia McLaughlin told Breitbart News that this instance is only the latest where the establishment media leaves out critical details of a story.

NBC News [9/8/2025 7:20 PM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 43603K] reports anger and frustration rippled through Southern California’s immigrant rights community on Monday, after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted restrictions on roving patrols and racial profiling during immigration stops. Outside a Home Depot near MacArthur Park, the site of multiple raids by federal agents in recent months, organizers, lawyers and local lawmakers said that Los Angeles residents will not be intimidated. "No matter what the decision was today, we will continue to stand strong," said Flor Melendez, executive director of CLEAN Car Wash Worker Center, a labor advocacy nonprofit. "This decision does not push us back. It brings our community forward, and we need to see that.” Eighty-one car washes have been targeted by federal agents, several more than three times each, and 250 car wash employees have been detained since sweeping immigration enforcement started in June, Melendez said. Arrestees included a labor organizer who was arrested during his shift at a car wash last week, she said. "It is workers like him that make our community better, that improve the industries for other workers, that stand up for those injustices and make it better," she said. "It is unacceptable.” The high court’s ruling grants an emergency request by the Trump administration to block a July 11 order by U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong that bars federal agents from stopping people based solely on their race, ethnicity or the language they speak. The original lawsuit was filed by the ACLU and other civil rights groups in response to aggressive actions by federal agents who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. "Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles," Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. "This isn’t about enforcing immigration laws — it’s about targeting Latinos and anyone who doesn’t look or sound like Stephen Miller’s idea of an American, including U.S. citizens and children, to deliberately harm California’s families and small businesses," he added, referring to the White House deputy chief of staff for policy who has been instrumental in shaping Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.

FOX News [9/8/2025 6:36 PM, Charles Creitz, 40019K] reports in its latest operations targeting the "worst of the worst" illegal immigrants residing in the U.S., ICE officials told Fox News Digital one particular suspect was found to have an astounding rap sheet. ICE has arrested tens of thousands of illegal immigrants with additional criminal records since Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took over for Alejandro Mayorkas in January. Miguel Barrera-Corona, a criminal illegal immigrant from Mexico, was living in California when he was arrested over the weekend. Barrera-Corona has 49 prior criminal arrests, according to law enforcement. His convictions include burglary, vehicle theft, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats to terrorize, DUI, carrying a loaded firearm in public, carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, shoplifting, trespassing, property damage, petty theft, carrying a concealed dagger, and vandalism – and Trump administration officials blame sanctuary state policies for allowing him to roam free. "Over the weekend, ICE arrested drug traffickers, human traffickers, child predators, and sex offenders. One of the criminal illegal aliens was previously arrested 49 times," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "Sanctuary politicians allowed this serial criminal to terrorize American citizens. President Trump and Secretary Noem unleashed ICE to arrest the worst of the worst and get these criminal illegal aliens out of our country." Other illegal immigrant suspects arrested included convicted pedophiles, drug dealers and human traffickers.

Daily Wire [9/8/2025 12:43 PM, Leif Le Mahieu, 3184K] reports the Trump administration slammed the legacy media on Monday for suggesting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts raids at schools, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin accused the media of fear mongering with implying that the Trump administration was targeting students in classrooms. McLaughlin said arrests would only be made at schools if the target was an illegal immigrant employee. "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense," McLaughlin said. "If a dangerous illegal alien felon were to flee into a school, or a child sex offender is working as an employee, there may be a situation where an arrest is made to protect public safety. But this has not happened.” "The media is sadly attempting to create a climate of fear and smear law enforcement," McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. "These smears are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing 1,000% increase in assaults against them.” Several media outlets have published stories highlighting fears that immigration authorities would show up at schools. New York Times ran an article called "What if ICE Agents Show Up? Schools Prepare Teachers and Parents," while Washington Post published "This back-to-school season, educators prepare for ICE encounters." NBC ran an article "‘The impact has been real’: ICE raid fears keep students out of classrooms.” "ICE is not going to schools to make arrests of children," McLaughlin said, adding that criminals would "no longer be able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest.” A press release from Homeland Security said that while ICE could conduct operations at schools, agents would use discretion and that the department said those circumstances would be "extremely rare.”

Los Angeles Times [9/8/2025 3:16 PM, Karen Garcia, 12715K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for federal authorities to double down on immigration raids in L.A. This could mean a return to numerous arrests at workplaces such as home improvement stores, car washes, manufacturing businesses and other locations. So what are your rights in the wake of the high court decision? The court ruling in itself does not change basic due process for those arrested by immigration officials. At issue is a July decision by a federal judge in L.A. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of President Biden, said she found a sufficient amount of evidence that agents were using race, language, a person’s vocation or the location they were at, such as a car wash, Home Depot, swap meet or row of street vendors, to form "reasonable suspicion" — the legal standard needed to detain someone. Frimpong said the reliance on those factors, either alone or in combination, does not meet the requirements of the 4th Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, other groups and private attorneys filed a lawsuit on behalf of several immigrant rights groups, three immigrants picked up at a bus stop and two U.S. citizens, one of whom was held despite showing agents his identification. The plaintiffs argued in their complaint that immigration agents cornered brown-skinned people in Home Depot parking lots, at carwashes and at bus stops across Southern California in a show of force without establishing reasonable suspicion that they had violated immigration laws. They allege agents didn’t identify themselves, as required under federal law, and made unlawful, warrantless arrests. In a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday granted an emergency appeal and lifted the judge’s order that barred "roving patrols" from snatching people off Southern California streets based on how they look, what language they speak, what work they do or where they happen to be. It’s unclear what happens next. Immigration raids slowed in L.A. after the ruling but did not stop completely.

Telemundo [9/9/2025 2:20 AM, 144K] reports the investigation into the disappearance and murder of 37-year-old Daylon Fleitas González took a turn this Monday with the arrest of one of the key suspects in the case. On Monday, September 8, the Broward Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Marshals, the Immigration and Customs and Border Protection (ICE), and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office reported that a South Florida woman wanted in connection with a murder in South Florida was detained in Mexico. Ariely Álvarez Cabrera, 27, will be extradited to Florida, authorities reported, adding that the five-month-old baby who was with the suspects has been recovered and is safe and sound. Alfredo Carballo Gonzalez, 32, remains at large and should be considered armed and dangerous, investigators with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

DailySignal [9/8/2025 4:55 PM, Fred Lucas, 668K] reports the Trump administration will be cracking down on companies that discriminate against American citizens by hiring less costly foreign workers for highly skilled jobs, a situation happening frequently in the tech industry. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said the Justice Department is focusing on H-1B visas. "There were almost 100 new complaints over the weekend, which in our department is massive," Dhillon said, noting that past Republican and Democrat administrations had ignored the problem. "People on both sides were benefiting from the cheap labor that left American workers out in the cold. We are not doing that any longer in this administration." More than two-thirds of H-1B visa recipients, or 72.6%, are from India, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The distant-second group is at 12.5% and is from China.

New York Times [9/8/2025 5:22 PM, Coral Murphy Marcos, 143795K] reports Travelers who require a visa to visit the United States may now face longer wait times after the Trump administration enacted a new rule over the weekend. The State Department said Saturday that nonimmigrant visa applicants are expected to schedule interviews at their local U.S. Embassy or Consulate, and warned that those who apply elsewhere “might find that it will be more difficult to qualify for the visa.” The latest requirement applies to tourists, business travelers, students, temporary workers and other short-term visa seekers. The change comes after many travelers seeking short-term visas to the United States began applying in other countries to sidestep long interview wait lists at home, a backlog made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. The announcement added that applicants must demonstrate that they live in the country where they submit their application. The State Department designated alternative locations for residents of 17 countries without routine visa services. Haitians, for example, must head to Nassau in the Bahamas to apply for a visa, while Syrians must apply in Amman, Jordan. The State Department said that fees paid for interviews scheduled outside of applicants’ home countries will not be refunded, and these applicants should expect to wait significantly longer for an appointment. The announcement said that existing nonimmigrant visa appointments will generally not be canceled and added that the latest guidance does not apply to diplomats, government officials, or anyone traveling on special visas, usually affiliated with foreign governments. People traveling for the United Nations are also exempt. The new requirement raises concerns about longer wait times to enter the United States, especially ahead of landmark events next year. The 2026 men’s World Cup, for instance, is expected to draw record attendance and surpass the 1994 U.S. edition. It also comes at a time when international travel to the United States is declining. About one million fewer international visitors came to the United States in the first half of the year compared with a year earlier, a drop of about 3 percent, according to government data. In July, the travel research firm Tourism Economics forecast a full-year decline of 8 percent. The new rule follows the Trump administration’s decision last month to require some business and tourist visa applicants to post bonds of up to $15,000, a measure aimed at deterring overstays as part of its broader immigration crackdown. Over the summer, the United States also put in place a “visa integrity fee” of at least $250 for international visitors, which is added to existing visa costs.

Telemundo [9/8/2025 8:45 PM, Fatima Navarrete, 17K] reports thousands of Hondurans and Nicaraguans lost their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) as of Monday. The measure directly impacts some 75,000 immigrants who not only lose their immigration status, but also the benefits that allowed them to live stably in this country. “I feel like I’m in limbo because I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” said Johny Silva Carias, a Honduran TPS beneficiary. “I’m not sure if I’m going to lose my job, if I’m going to lose my insurance, or what I’m going to do with school.” "Their work permits are no longer valid from this point forward, and the worst part is that they are subject to deportation proceedings without any protection," explained Ramón Cardona, spokesperson for the Cuscatlán Latino Center. But November 18th will be a key date: the next Federal Court hearing will determine whether the lawsuit to keep TPS valid for these Central Americans and Nepal will continue. However, the next few weeks will be gray, according to experts on the subject. In contrast, Venezuelans protected under TPS still have a window of opportunity, and the call for them is urgent. "They have until September 10 to maintain their status and re-register, and they should do so immediately," Cardona stated. It is required for all Venezuelans for both the 2021 and 2023 TPS designations, and will also allow them to extend their work authorization until 2026. Organizations advocating for maintaining TPS in effect anticipate that there will be no extension, so they urgently urge Venezuelans who are eligible to re-register to do so.

Axios [9/8/2025 6:20 AM, Sommer Brugal, 14595K] reports with many Venezuelans set to lose deportation protections and work permits, local immigration advocates are juggling both uncertainty about the future and reason to hope that courts might intervene. The Trump administration’s decision last week to roll back Temporary Protected Status issued in 2021 as of Sept. 10 impacts about 257,000 Venezuelans nationally, many of whom live in South Florida, per reports. Many TPS recipients in Miami, in particular Doral, are business owners or work in jobs that Americans "aren’t eager to apply for," Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan-American Caucus, told Axios. "Ninety percent of TPS beneficiaries are working in and contributing to the economy.” On Friday, a federal district court ruled that the government’s decision to withdraw a separate, 2023 TPS program from Venezuelan nationals was "unlawful." It also sided with advocates for Haitian nationals, writing the government’s arguments for removing their protected status "lack[ed] merit."

CBS Colorado [9/8/2025 7:55 PM, Elaine Quijano, Betty Chin, 45245K] reports Eddie Weinstein’s stroke paralyzed the right side of his body and left his daughter, Caroline, scrambling. "I knew the only way that he would survive and I would survive would be to have him live at home with care," she told CBS News. So, in 2020, Marcia became their home health aide. "It was the first time since my dad’s stroke that I could trust somebody. To know that he would be okay," Caroline said. Marcia, 53, is from Honduras. Her career as a health care aide began 25 years ago, after Hurricane Mitch devastated her home country and she was granted Temporary Protected Status, giving her legal authorization to work in the United States. She did not want to use her last name for fear of being targeted by federal immigration authorities. Now, the White House says conditions in Honduras have improved, and the Temporary Protected Status for more than 50,000 Hondurans, including Marcia, expires Monday. "Sometimes I feel sad. Sometimes I feel angry," Marcia told CBS News. Asked about how the U.S. should handle people granted TPS once the designation ends, Marcia suggested there should be some sort of path to getting a green card. "Because we are in this system already, 25 years paying taxes," she said. Marcia works for Sunnyside Community Services in New York City, where more than 900 home health aides — more than 90% — are foreign-born, according to the nonprofit. Sunnyside Community Services Executive Director Judy Zangwill said she’s "very concerned" about the revocation of TPS, saying "it could exacerbate already a nationwide shortage and could result in a shortage for us as well" when it comes to health care aides. This past weekend was Marcia’s last with the Weinstein family. "Sad for me and sad for them," Marcia said. Caroline added, "When you find somebody that you can trust that loves your loved one at like such a vulnerable time, it’s terrifying to think about losing them.” Marcia said she isn’t sure what she’s going to do next. She’s essentially alone in the U.S., and it’s been decades since she was last in Honduras. The Trump administration says migrants who had TPS and choose to self-deport can get a free plane ticket, $1,000 and a potential future chance to legally migrate to the U.S., although it has not provided further details on how it would facilitate future legal migration.

Reuters [9/9/2025 5:09 AM, Nellie Peyton, 45746K] reports a group called Amerikaners, set up by white South Africans hoping to take up U.S. President Donald Trump’s offer of resettlement, has been enlisted by his administration to help identify suitable applicants for the controversial programme. Trump established the refugee programme in February for "Afrikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination", referring to an ethnic group descended mostly from Dutch settlers. According to a statement posted on the website of the U.S. embassy in South Africa on Monday, the Amerikaners group is now a "designated Department of State referral partner" for the programme. The group will gather information from potential applicants to assess whether their case is eligible for referral, and refer cases to the State Department for access to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the statement said. South Africa’s government strongly opposes the programme, saying allegations of discrimination are unfounded and that members of the white minority it targets - the most economically privileged group in South Africa - do not meet the definition of refugees.

NBC News [9/8/2025 3:06 PM, Rob Wile, 43603K] reports the bills are sudden and jarring: $1,400 for a computer part from Germany, $620 for an aluminum case from Sweden and $1,041 for handbags from Spain. Some U.S. shoppers say they are being hit with surprise charges from international shipping carriers as the exemption on import duties for items under $800 expires as a part of President Donald Trump’s tariff push. That’s leading to some frustration and confusion as shoppers and shippers both try to navigate a new reality for anybody ordering goods from abroad. On Aug. 29, for the first time in nearly a century, small-dollar items coming into the U.S. — also called de minimis goods — began facing import duties. That means even small, personal orders now face the sizable tariffs placed on U.S. trading partners. While a recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found many of Trump’s duties unconstitutional, they remain in effect while Trump appeals the case to the Supreme Court. To comply with the new de minimis rules, a wave of countries have halted shipments to the U.S. That’s caused postal traffic into the U.S. to decline by some 80%, according to a United Nations agency. But many orders are still flowing. The Trump administration has heralded the billions in revenues the tariffs are bringing in — and in the case of the new de minimis rule, argued the change is essential to halting the flow of small-sized illicit drug packages and drug ingredients. In a statement posted the day the new de minimis rules took effect, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the logistics industry "has already adapted to the changes with minimal interruption."

NewsNation [9/8/2025 11:59 AM, Steph Whiteside, 12414K] reports Postal shipments to the U.S. are down 80% after President Donald Trump ended the de minimis exemption that made lower-value shipments exempt from tariffs. The data comes from the UN agency, the Universal Postal Union, which also noted that 88 shipping providers around the globe have completely or partially suspended shipping to the U.S. The de minimis exemption allowed packages under $800 in value to be shipped without being subject to any duties. The policy allowed consumers to directly purchase goods from overseas without being subject to tariffs and also allowed small businesses to buy supplies without the added expense of tariffs. Trump ended the policy for China earlier in the year, striking a blow to companies like Shein and Temu that relied on the rule to sell ultra-cheap goods directly to American consumers. On Aug. 29, the de minimis rule was ended for the rest of the globe, prompting a number of countries to halt most or all shipments to the U.S.

Telemundo Amarillo [9/8/2025 5:59 PM, Staff, 2K] reports Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) officers arrested a man originally from Mexico on human smuggling charges and detained 11 undocumented immigrants following a high-speed chase in Webb County. According to the report, it all began when an officer stopped a van for a traffic violation near Santa Úrsula Avenue. The driver fled and a chase ensued, until the vehicle stopped and several passengers fled on foot. With the assistance of the Border Patrol, 11 undocumented immigrants were located and detained. The driver was identified as Nicolás Alejandro Ramírez Reyes, 24, a resident of Nuevo Laredo who was arrested in 2022 for distributing marijuana and subsequently deported, meaning he was in the country illegally.

NewsNation [9/8/2025 3:32 PM, Jorge Ventura, 6811K] reports Mexico has seen a new "golden triangle" of fentanyl and drug trafficking that is fueling a crisis at the border. The triangle spans three different Mexican states: Baja California, Sinaloa and Sonora. More than 90% of fentanyl seized by Mexican officials came from these states, according to The Guardian. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, roughly half of the fentanyl seized on the southern border is coming through legal ports of entry. Meanwhile, Arizona’s role in gun trafficking has soared in recent years, with 57% of firearms recovered in Mexico between January and July of 2024 being purchased in the U.S. Cartels have also lured American teens to engage in gun trafficking, as a 16-year-old was caught at the border attempting to bring those firearms into Mexico for the cartels. With Arizona and the golden triangle being hubs for trafficking, the homicide rates in Mexico have soared, and drug overdose rates have skyrocketed on the U.S. side.

Telemundo [9/8/2025 9:16 PM, Cinthya Gómez, 51K] reports traffic around the San Ysidro International Port of Entry has become a chronic problem for thousands of motorists who face severe traffic jams daily, both crossing into the U.S. and traveling through Tijuana. Key roads such as the Rapid Highway and the River Zone are congested primarily by long lines in the Ready Lane and Sentri lanes. Faced with this situation, local authorities are analyzing a series of modifications aimed at easing vehicular traffic, something border residents are urgently demanding. “We need to make modifications to speed up the line,” said Hugo Ibarra, a frequent driver in the area. According to Pedro Montejo, Tijuana’s Secretary of Economic Development, congestion is especially acute between 4 and 7 a.m., when the line in the Ready Lane blocks most of the Rapid Highway and side streets. “Every month, between 550,000 and 600,000 vehicles cross the Ready Lane and Sentri lanes, while fewer than 200,000 cross the All Traffic lane. The proposal is to leave one of the main roads—such as Paseo de los Héroes or Calle Segunda—exclusively for one of these flows,” Montejo explained. The proposal has already been submitted and an official response from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is pending. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Federal News Network [9/8/2025 6:00 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1147K] reports employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency who signed a public dissent letter say the Department of Homeland Security violated whistleblower laws when placing them on administrative leave last week. In a Sept. 2 letter, lawyers representing FEMA staff argue DHS’s actions amount to "illegal retaliatory personnel actions". The letter is addressed to congressional committees, the Office of Special Counsel and the DHS Office of the Inspector General. More than 190 current and former FEMA employees signed the dissent letter, called the "Katrina Declaration," in late August. It warns that changes at FEMA under the Trump administration, including personnel cuts, risk leaving the agency unprepared to deal with a major disaster. While many employees signed anonymously, about three dozen current FEMA staff members signed the declaration with their names. FEMA placed those employees on administrative leave last week. DHS has come out strongly against the letter. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a statement released late last month, said the signers are "the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform." The whistleblower complaint, released by the Government Accountability Project, argues that the FEMA dissent letter contains "multiple protected disclosures." Placing the employees on administrative leave, the letter argues, violated whistleblower retaliation laws.

The Daily Caller [9/8/2025 4:01 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 985K] reports two employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were fired after investigators found they had engaged in sexually explicit online conversations, or "sexting," with foreign nationals, according to an internal probe. A review by FEMA’s Insider Threat Program (ITP) flagged one IT Services Division worker — who held a top secret clearance — for logging into Facebook Messenger on the agency’s unclassified network and sexting with someone believed to be in the Philippines, records show. Between Aug. 19 and 27, the employee allegedly exchanged multiple messages with the presumed Filipino national, documents obtained by the Daily Caller show. Investigators found the messages were part of a broader pattern of explicit online communications, underscoring both the extent and frequency of the employee’s conduct. A separate case involved an Environmental Protection Specialist in FEMA’s Environmental Historic Preservation office in Alabama. Monitoring showed the employee repeatedly accessed a pornography site on the agency’s unclassified network and engaged in explicit chats with multiple users. Two FEMA employees — whose duties included safeguarding the nation from terrorism and nuclear threats — were fired Tuesday after the internal probe confirmed they had accessed sexually explicit material at work, the New York Post reported. Both employees were based at FEMA’s remote Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center near Bluemont, Virginia — a hardened facility built to protect the country during national emergencies, terror attacks and even nuclear strikes. The Department of Homeland Security’s Insider Threat Operations Center led the probe and flagged at least one worker for accessing "deviant pornography," including bestiality content, according to DHS officials who oversee FEMA. The New York Post [9/8/2025 8:43 PM, Victor Nava, 43962K] reports that the smut-scrolling staffers were identified by the Department of Homeland Security’s "Insider Threat Program," which discovered that the now ex-FEMA employees "used their official government equipment" to engage in salacious online chats "at some of our government’s most classified facilities," DHS revealed on Monday. "These employees, who had access to highly sensitive systems, spent their duty hours sexting strangers, including foreign nationals, on encrypted government devices," DHS posted on X. "Such conduct is unacceptable, and these employees have been terminated," the agency added. One of the fired employees was a worker in FEMA’s IT services division and held a top secret security clearance, according to the Daily Caller. The second terminated employee worked as a FEMA environmental protection specialist in Alabama and "repeatedly accessed a pornography site on the agency’s unclassified network" to engage in explicit chats with multiple people, according to the Daily Caller. "These individuals had access to critical information and intelligence and were entrusted to safeguard Americans from emergencies—and instead they were consuming pornography," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said of the rogue workers last week.

The Hill [9/8/2025 3:08 PM, Max Rego, 12414K] reports former acting FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton said he had "a very hostile relationship" with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials during an interview last week. Hamilton was fired this past May, just one day after he told congressional lawmakers that eliminating FEMA was not in the public’s best interests. Hamilton’s comments contradicted President Trump’s assertions that the agency should be either overhauled or eliminated entirely. Trump has expressed a desire to shift more responsibility for disaster preparedness to states. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL and director of emergency medical services at DHS, was appointed as acting FEMA administrator on Jan. 22. In March, Hamilton was reportedly ordered by DHS to take a polygraph test regarding whether he leaked information on a private meeting concerning FEMA to Politico’s E&E News and CNN. David Richardson, who was appointed in January to assistant secretary for DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, replaced Hamilton as acting FEMA administrator.

Reported similarly:
Politico [9/8/2025 10:49 AM, Thomas Frank, 2100K]

AP [9/8/2025 5:02 PM, Staff, 37974K] reports the risk of direct impacts from Hurricane Kiko decreased Monday as the tropical cyclone showed signs it would pass to the north of the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said. Kiko was a Category 1 hurricane and was expected to lose intensity throughout the day, according to an advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center. With maximum sustained winds around 85 mph (140 kph), Kiko was centered roughly 350 miles (560 kilometers) east-northeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and about 515 miles (830 kilometers) east of Honolulu. The hurricane was traveling northwest at 15 mph (24 kph). Kiko could still send large swells to eastern-facing shores in the island chain, with possible life-threatening surf and rip currents, forecasters said.

New York Post [9/8/2025 11:56 AM, Ryan King, 43962K] reports that Republicans on Capitol Hill are introducing legislation to enshrine President Trump’s executive order last month to make American architecture "great again" by calling for classical and other traditional designs in federal buildings. Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) rolled out a bill late last week that would force designers to learn on Greek and Roman-inspired architecture for government work. "Americans want their federal buildings to reflect the strength, beauty, and tradition of our country," Banks said in a statement to The Post. "This bill ensures our architecture honors our history, includes local input from our communities, and celebrates American tradition." Trump’s executive order applied specifically to new projects expected to cost more than $50 million. It also allows exceptions to use "brutalist" and "deconstructivist" designs in certain instances with the president’s permission. Brutalist architecture is known for block-like and other geometric structures, while deconstructivism features fragmentation and skewed geometry. "For too long, our federal buildings in our nation’s capital and across the country have been marked by cold, impersonal structures that ignore the values and beauty our republic was built upon," Kiley said in a statement. "The bill I’m sponsoring will restore the classical spirit of democracy to the architecture of our federal buildings. This is a proud step toward honoring our heritage and inspiring future generations."

DailySignal [9/8/2025 2:11 PM, Bethany Blankley, 668K] reports that the Biden administration spent more than $10 million over three years on a security detail and related expenses for former First Son Hunter Biden after denying similar protections to other high-profile political figures, documents obtained by the Center to Advance Security in America and shared exclusively with The Center Square show. The security detail for former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, cost nearly $11 million, including on travel, real estate, and expensive hotels, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request CASA filed. The documents from Jan. 1, 2022, to Dec. 31, 2024, indicate that the Biden administration spent nearly $9.3 million on hotels, $1.1 million on air and rail travel, and nearly $600,000 on car transportation and rentals for Hunter Biden’s Secret Service detail. "Due to reports that Hunter Biden was playing a senior role in advising his father within the White House in 2024, CASA filed a FOIA request for information related to the taxpayer resources being spent to protect him," CASA Director James Fitzpatrick told The Center Square in an exclusive interview. "What we found is that while the Secret Service denied protection to [then presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.], and failed to properly protect President [Donald] Trump resulting in two assassination attempts, Hunter Biden was enjoying a robust detail wherever he traveled, including trips to Nantucket, South Africa, and the Virgin Islands." Nearly all costs—95%—were incurred in California, where Hunter Biden often resided, but also were incurred on expensive trips to the Virgin Islands, Nantucket, and Santa Ynez, California.

Free Beacon [9/8/2025 5:00 AM, Chuck Ross, 500K] reports James Biden hired a private investigator—a retired Secret Service agent who served on the security detail for Joe Biden—to find out whether a Chinese client suspected of bribery had an arrest warrant against him, a bombshell revelation that contradicts what the former first brother told Congress in a deposition last year. Biden told House investigators in February 2024 he asked former Secret Service agent Dale Pupillo in 2017 to run a background check on Patrick Ho, an official with CEFC China Energy, a Chinese energy conglomerate with which Biden and his nephew Hunter Biden had a multimillion-dollar consulting contract. Biden, who was warned he could be charged with perjury for lying in the interview, testified the background check was simply due diligence for his "own edification" prior to meeting with Hunter and Ho in Hong Kong. The background check was "not to inform or anything else," said Biden. And asked by House Republicans whether the background check was "to try and understand whether or not there was a Federal investigation of Patrick Ho," Biden replied: "I have no idea.". But a new Department of Justice inspector general report casts doubt on that story. According to the report, Biden explicitly asked the private eye in November 2017 to find out whether the FBI had warrants against Ho.

Breitbart [9/8/2025 11:29 AM, Staff, 2608K] reports jury selection got underway Monday in the trial for Ryan Routh, over his alleged assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in September 2024. Routh, now 59, entered a federal courthouse in Fort Pierce, Fla., for the start of his criminal trial in what’s likely to be a three-day jury selection process. He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assaulting a federal officer and multiple gun violations after he allegedly waited for then-candidate Trump nearly 12 hours around the perimeter of Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15 before later caught by Martin County Sheriff’s deputies. In addition, Routh has pleaded not guilty to separate charges filed by the state on terrorism and attempted murder. The trial is expected to last around a month and Routh will be representing himself during court processings.

FOX News [9/8/2025 4:19 PM, Diana Stancy, 40019K] reports the first day of jury selection kicked off Monday in Fort Pierce, Florida, for the high-profile federal trial of Ryan Routh, who allegedly sought to assassinate President Donald Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club in September 2024. Routh, who is representing himself, appeared at the federal courthouse on Monday morning wearing a gray suit and ankle shackles as the voir dire process began, with prosecutors and Routh questioning jurors to determine whether they can fairly participate in the trial. The jury selection process will identify 12 jurors and four alternates for the trial. Prosecutors claim that Routh sought to kill Trump for weeks, and staked out a spot in shrubbery on Sept. 15, 2024, when a Secret Service agent detected him pointing a rifle at Trump while the then-presidential candidate played golf at his West Palm Beach country club. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, but abandoned his weapon and the scene after the Secret Service agents opened fire. Routh faces federal charges, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, as well as assaulting a federal officer and various gun violations. The charges carry a potential life sentence if the jury finds him guilty. Meanwhile, Routh has maintained he’s innocent and pleaded not guilty to all federal charges, in addition to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. Opening statements for the trial are expected to kick off on Thursday, and prosecutors are poised to launch into their case immediately afterward. The court has allocated four weeks for Routh’s trial, although it is expected to wrap up sooner.

New York Post [9/8/2025 6:09 PM, Priscilla DeGregory, 43962K] reports a Florida judge Monday rejected a slew of bizarre and irrelevant questions that would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh wanted to ask potential jurors ahead of his trial — including how they would handle a turtle crossing the road while driving. Routh, 59 — who is representing himself after firing his lawyers — wanted to ask the pool of possible jurors their opinions on pro-Palestinian student activism and Trump’s proposal for the US to take over Greenland. Routh — a former handyman with no legal training — defended the questions with confidence, but Cannon interrupted him several times and told him to follow courtroom rules that would apply to any lawyer in her court. Routh is slated to be in the Fort Pierce, Fla. courtroom for the next three days as he and prosecutors work to whittle down a pool of around 180 potential jurors to just 12 — with an additional four alternate jurors. Opening statements are expected to begin on Thursday and the trial is slated to last for around a month. Routh — who is accused of laying in wait to shoot President Trump as he was golfing last year — has chosen to exercise his legal right to represent himself at trial, instead of using a defense attorney, despite Cannon "strongly" urging him not to.

(B) NBC News Daily [9/8/2025 2:10 PM, Staff] reports that the jury selection begins in the trial of the man accused of an assassination attempt on President Trump last September. Ryan Routh has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has chosen to represent himself in court. 180 citizens of the area and surrounding counties are getting together for questioning in court.

AP [9/8/2025 6:30 PM, Konstantin Toropin and Joshua Goodman, 37974K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard detects and detains scores of drug-running vessels in the Caribbean every year in its role as the world’s drug police on the high seas. Now, that anti-narcotics mission may look vastly different after a U.S. military strike on a vessel off Venezuela. Trump administration officials asserted last week that gang members were smuggling drugs bound for America. The Trump administration has indicated more military strikes on drug targets could be coming, saying it is seeking to “wage war” on Latin American cartels it accuses of flooding the U.S. with cocaine, fentanyl and other drugs. It is facing mounting questions, however, about the legality of the strike and any such escalation, which upends decades of procedures for interdicting suspected drug vessels. The Pentagon has been silent about any details on the strike. Military officials have not divulged what service carried it out, what weapons were used or how it was determined that the vessel was operated by Tren de Aragua or carrying drugs. Pentagon officials did not respond to direct questions about the legal justification for the strike and whether the military considered itself at war with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. Hegseth traveled Monday to Puerto Rico, where troops deployed for a training exercise and where the U.S. is sending 10 F-35 fighter jets for operations against drug cartels.

CyberScoop [9/8/2025 8:40 PM, Tim Starks] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency is delaying finalization of a rule until May of next year that will require critical infrastructure owners and operators to swiftly report major cyber incidents to the federal government, according to a recent regulatory notice. Under the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA) of 2022, CISA was supposed to produce a final rule enacting the law by October of this year. But last week, the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs published an update that moved the final rule’s arrival to May 2026. A CISA official told CyberScoop that the move would give the agency time to consider streamlining and reducing the burden on industry of a previously proposed version of the rule, citing public comments in response to that version, as well as harmonizing the law with other agencies’ cyber regulations. “We received a significant number of public comments on the proposed rule, many of which emphasized the need to reduce the scope and burden, improve harmonization of CIRCIA with other federal cyber incident reporting requirements, and ensure clarity,” said Marci McCarthy, director of public affairs at CISA. “Stakeholder input is extremely important as we work to draft a rule that improves our collective security. CISA remains committed to implementing CIRCIA to maximize impact while minimizing unnecessary burden to entities in critical infrastructure sectors.” McCarthy said CISA would take the time prior to May to “examine options within the rulemaking process to address Congressional intent and streamline CIRCIA’s requirements.” A top lawmaker and leading industry group also told CyberScoop the delay could help make those kinds of changes. House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., said the Trump administration assured him that it would prioritize soliciting additional feedback from groups that would be affected by the regulations.

MeriTalk [9/8/2025 9:45 AM, Grace Dille] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), National Security Agency (NSA), and 19 international partners released a joint guide on Sept. 3 that aims to inform the global cyber community on the value of implementing a software bill of materials (SBOM). Just as a chef would follow a recipe for a meal, software developers and vendors often refer to an SBOM when building software. The guide explains that SBOMs act as a software “ingredients list,” providing organizations with much-needed visibility into software dependencies. “The ever-evolving cyber threats facing government and industry underscore the critical importance of securing software supply chain and its components. Widespread adoption of SBOM is an indispensable milestone in advancing secure-by-design software, fortifying resilience, and measurably reducing risk and cost,” said Madhu Gottumukkala, acting director of CISA, in a press release. “This guide exemplifies and underscores the power of international collaboration to deliver tangible outcomes that strengthen security and build trust,” Gottumukkala said. “Together, we are driving efforts to advance software supply chain security and drive unparalleled transparency, fundamentally improving decision-making in software creation and utilization.” The guide underscores the critical role of SBOMs in identifying risks within software components and advocates for their integration into security practices. It highlights the need for consistent SBOM implementation across countries and industries to help promote interoperability, simplify processes, and support scalable adoption. It also notes that SBOMs offer a way for software manufacturers and producers to adopt CISA’s Secure by Design principles. Specifically, SBOMs allow them to support the Secure by Design principle of embracing radical transparency and accountability in their supply chains.

Bloomberg [9/8/2025 5:44 PM, Maggie Eastland, 19085K] reports suspected cyber attackers linked to the Chinese Communist Party impersonated the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China in a series of attempts to steal sensitive data on trade negotiations, the panel said. Hackers masquerading as Representative John Moolenaar sent multiple emails in recent weeks that sought to fool recipients into opening files and links that would grant the attackers access to information on US-China trade talks, according to a committee statement on Monday. Emails went to US government agencies, business organizations, law firms and at least one foreign government, the panel said. Analysis by the committee found that the hackers tried to cover their tracks through improper use of software and cloud services, strategies that the panel identified as hallmarks of a state-sponsored intrusion. Officials have concluded the attempt was backed by the Chinese Communist Party, and the committee has alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Capitol Police. “Based on the targeting, timing, and methods, and consistent with outside assessments, the Committee believes this activity to be CCP state-backed cyber-espionage aimed at influencing US policy deliberations and negotiation strategies to gain an advantage in trade and foreign policy,” the panel said in its statement. Allegations of the Chinese-backed cyber-espionage campaign threatened to add new strains to a tenuous tariff truce between the world’s two largest economies under a deal that’s set to expire in November. Officials from Washington and Beijing have been locked in discussions on key issues including export restrictions on rare earth magnets and key technologies. The committee declined to comment beyond its statement, which follows a report by the Wall Street Journal on the cyberattack. The US Capitol Police referred all question to the FBI. The FBI didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

NPR [9/8/2025 5:02 PM, Staff, 34837K] Audio: HERE reports Chris Hugues has what he calls an interesting job. He’s an assistant operator at a wastewater treatment plant in Cavendish, Vermont. On a recent August afternoon he gave NPR’s Jenna McLaughlin a tour of the plant.

Washington Post [9/8/2025 9:15 PM, Joseph Menn, 29079K] reports a former security engineer at Meta’s WhatsApp sued Meta on Monday, accusing it of failing to protect its users’ data, violating privacy regulations on multiple continents and firing him in retaliation for filing whistleblower complaints with U.S. authorities. The suit in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court by Attaullah Baig said the retaliation began in 2022, after a series of positive performance reviews, when he submitted internal critiques and proposals for limiting employee access to user data and better protecting accounts from being hijacked. Baig said his complaints and the retaliation escalated until his layoff in February. Baig, who was WhatsApp’s head of security, said WhatsApp was in violation of a previous deal with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to have a robust security program that in his view mandated round-the-clock security staffing. He also said the platform failed to roll out measures to make it much easier to restore stolen accounts. In one eye-opening claim, Baig estimated that 500,000 WhatsApp accounts are stolen daily, out of billions in use. The platform, which is in use worldwide, did not disclose everything it collected from users, he said in his filing, and was unable to effectively spot security breaches. A Meta spokesman, Carl Woog, rejected Baig’s allegations. “This is a familiar playbook in which a former employee is dismissed for poor performance and then goes public with distorted claims that misrepresent the ongoing hard work of our team,” Woog said. “Security is an adversarial space and we pride ourselves in building on our strong record of protecting people’s privacy.” Baig claimed the company had 10 “security engineers” as of 2022 but that 1,500 engineers had access to some protected data — far more than necessary — and said WhatsApp could not track what they did with it.

CyberScoop [9/8/2025 4:40 PM, Matt Kapko] reports Salesloft pinned the root cause of the Drift supply-chain attacks to a threat group gaining access to its GitHub account as far back as March, the company said in an update Saturday. During a 10-day period in mid-August, the threat group compromised and stole data from hundreds of organizations. The threat group, which Google tracks as UNC6395, spent time lurking in the Salesloft application environment, downloaded content from multiple repositories, added a guest user and set up workflows over a monthslong period through June, according to Salesloft. “The threat actor then accessed Drift’s Amazon Web Services environment and obtained OAuth tokens for Drift customers’ technology integrations,” the company said. “The threat actor used the stolen OAuth tokens to access data via Drift integrations.” The update marks the most significant details shared yet by Salesloft since Google security researchers first warned about the “widespread data theft campaign” last month. The company is still withholding key details as its incident response firm, Mandiant, has transitioned to confirm the quality of its forensic investigation. Salesloft has not explained how its GitHub account was accessed, what attackers did in its environment, nor how the threat group accessed Drift’s AWS environment and obtained OAuth tokens. The company also hasn’t explained why OAuth tokens were stored in the cloud environment, and if the stolen OAuth tokens were for internal integrations with third-party platforms or customers’ OAuth tokens for individual integrations. The company has not responded to multiple requests for comment dating back to Aug. 26, when news of the attacks first surfaced.

CyberScoop [9/8/2025 7:40 PM, Matt Kapko] reports federal authorities on Monday imposed sanctions on 19 people and organizations allegedly involved in major cyberscam hubs in Burma and Cambodia. “Criminal actors across Southeast Asia have increasingly exploited the vulnerabilities of Americans online,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “In 2024, Americans lost at least $10 billion to scam operations in Southeast Asia, according to a U.S. government estimate.” That’s a 66% increase from the prior year, officials said. People who staff these scam centers are often victimized as well. Criminal organizations in Southeast Asia recruit workers under false pretenses and use debt bondage, violence, and threats of forced prostitution to coerce them to scam strangers online via messaging apps or text messages, authorities said. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control levied sanctions against nine targets operating in Shwe Kokko, Burma, which it described as a “notorious hub for virtual currency investment scams under the protection of the OFAC-designated Karen National Army.” KNA was sanctioned as a transnational criminal organization in May. Tin Win, Saw Min Min Oo, Chit Linn Myaing Co., Chit Linn Myaing Toyota Co., Chit Linn Myaing Mining & Industry Co., Shwe Myint Thaung Yinn Industry and Manufacturing Co., She Zhijang, Yatai International Holdings Group and Myanmar Yatai International Holding Group Co. were all sanctioned for their alleged involvement in these scam centers near Burma’s border with Thailand.

ABC News [9/8/2025 7:40 PM, Staff, 27036K] Video: HERE reports authorities thwarted an alleged school shooting in Washington state, arresting a 13-year-old boy. Police say they found an arsenal of weapons in his home.

New York Times [9/8/2025 4:33 PM, Julian E. Barnes, 143795K] reports Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee are demanding information about the Trump administration’s decision to strip 37 current and former national security officials of their security clearances, arguing that politics drove the revocations. President Trump and Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, ordered the removal of the clearances, including those of at least three current officials at the C.I.A., National Security Agency, and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. The loss of their clearances forced them out of their jobs. In the letter, the House Democrats demanded information about the process that led to the revoking of the clearances. “It is imperative that Congress be satisfied that you are not politicizing the work of the intelligence community or using the security clearance process for political ends,” they said in the letter, which was drafted by Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. While the head of the N.S.A. lobbied for his top artificial intelligence scientist to be removed from the list, other intelligence leaders did not know their experts were being stripped of their clearances until after Ms. Gabbard’s office issued the memo last month. The letter from the House Democrats asks Ms. Gabbard whether she consulted with security clearance adjudicators, agency heads and other officials before revoking the clearances. A person briefed on Ms. Gabbard’s revocations said her office coordinated with each intelligence agency head before the letter was sent. The person was not authorized to speak on the matter. While intelligence agencies traditionally reply to letters from Congress, even from members of the minority, the answers are not always swift in coming. Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees have also complained the Trump administration has been slow in providing briefings. A C.I.A. officer, who served as a Russia analyst but who was operating undercover, was included by name on the list. The House letter asks if Ms. Gabbard took that into account before releasing the list. Other administration officials have said her name was publicly available, arguing that the agency’s contention her name should be kept secret had little merit. Another person briefed on the matter said the analyst did not require cover and should not have had one given the nature of her job. A spokeswoman for Ms. Gabbard said the office was reviewing the letter. At the time of the revocations, Ms. Gabbard asserted that the people losing clearances had been involved in the “politicization or weaponization of intelligence” to advance partisan agendas, had failed to adhere to tradecraft practices or had neglected to safeguard classified information.

Reported similarly:
AP [9/8/2025 7:37 PM, David Klepper, 2608K]

New York Times [9/8/2025 12:47 PM, Farah Stockman, 153395K] reports over the past three years, Mike Yoder made a name for himself in rural Ohio selling a spray-drone trailer kit that saves farmers money and weeks of labor by dropping seeds, fertilizer and fungicide from the sky. But Mr. Yoder’s company, nuWay Ag, has been struggling since last winter, when it became far more difficult to import drones made by a Chinese company, DJI, into the United States. DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial and industrial drones, is on the verge of being banned in the United States by federal lawmakers who accuse the company of a variety of infractions, including using forced labor, benefiting from unfair subsidies and being a cybersecurity threat. Mr. Yoder recently had to let go of two of his 22 employees because he couldn’t get enough DJI drones to sell to make payroll. The looming ban is part of a push to decouple the U.S. economy from China’s. It comes as artificial intelligence is transforming what drones can do, and as American manufacturers struggle to get a share of a growing market. DJI commands roughly 75 percent of the consumer market globally and is known for making drones that buyers say are affordable, easy to use and full of bleeding-edge features that save time and money. Construction companies use specialized DJI drones to monitor the progress of skyscrapers and submit automatic reports. Mining companies use DJI drones to calculate the output of mines. Land surveyors use drones with high-quality lenses to create detailed maps of terrain. Police officers use thermal drones to find lost children and fleeing suspects. But the company has been caught in the geopolitical riptide of U.S.-Chinese relations.

Daily Caller [9/8/2025 6:55 PM, Wallace White, 985K] reports Iran no longer has a viable path to produce weapons-grade uranium, a report from some of the world’s top nuclear experts concluded Monday. Reports from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) after Operation Midnight Hammer bombed Iran’s main nuclear enrichment sites concluded that Iran has "no identifiable route to produce weapon-grade uranium (WGU) in its centrifuge plant" for the first time in 15 years, the Institute for Science and International Security concluded in their report. Despite Midnight Hammer’s reported success, some remained skeptical as to how far Tehran’s program was set back. "In addition, the attacks caused immense destruction to Iran’s ability to make the nuclear weapon itself," the report reads. "For the first time in over 15 years, no breakout estimate to WGU is included in the Institute reporting on the IAEA reports, since to do so would require unsubstantiated speculation about the existence and operability of centrifuges that were not destroyed in the war, such as centrifuges already made but not yet deployed, as well as about the availability of enriched uranium stocks, whether near five percent, near 20 percent, or 60 percent enriched uranium." The preponderance of publicly-available assessments from agencies and governments across the world indicated that the strikes did "significant damage" to Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites and that it would likely take years for the nation to recover. "As the President, national security officials, and outside experts have repeatedly affirmed, Iran’s nuclear capabilities were totally obliterated by Operation Midnight Hammer," Anna Kelly, White House Deputy Press Secretary, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. "The entire world is safer because of President Trump’s decisive action and the U.S. military’s flawless execution.” The team for the study was led by David Albright, a top nuclear weapons researcher and weapons expert with the Institute. Albright’s team does note, however, that Iran’s recent shunning of IAEA inspectors has created a lack of recent data from the nuclear sites. The report does not rule out that stockpiles of enriched Uranium from the Fordow, Istfahan or Natanz sites had been moved but did note that there were "no indications that Iran moved stocks outside of these three sites.” The report also concluded that almost all of Iran’s 22,000 operating gas centrifuges were rendered inoperable or destroyed by the strikes.

Reuters [9/8/2025 9:06 PM, Staff, 45746K] reports the Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it has begun proceedings to withdraw recognition from seven test labs owned or controlled by the Chinese government, citing U.S. national security concerns. The U.S. telecom agency in May voted to finalize rules barring Chinese labs deemed risks to U.S. national security from testing electronic devices such as smartphones, cameras and computers for use in the United States. The FCC also said on Monday that U.S. recognition of four other Chinese labs has expired since May and will not be renewed, including two that sought extensions. "Foreign adversary governments should not own and control the labs that test the devices the FCC certifies as safe for the U.S. market," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said. All electronics used in the United States must go through the FCC’s equipment authorization process before they can be imported. The FCC says about 75% of all electronics are tested in labs located inside China.

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