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.

Bloomberg [4/10/2026 11:45 AM, Beatriz Reis, 18082K] reports Finance Minister Dario Durigan announced Friday that Brazil and the US have launched a joint-initiative to combat transnational organized crime gangs that have ramped up smuggling of weapons and illegal drugs across Latin America. The move is part of a bilateral collaboration between Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service and U.S Customs and Border Protection, and has been dubbed, Project MIT — short for Mutual Interdiction Team — which seeks to integrate intelligence and operations to intercept illegal shipments of arms and drugs. A key element of the project, a program called DESARMA, was launched Friday by Brazil’s tax agency and will share intelligence in real time with the US on the interdiction of products of American origin related to guns, ammunition, gun parts, explosives and similar items. The effort stems from ongoing dialogue between U.S President Donald Trump and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and forms part of a wider agenda to curb the flow of illicit goods and dismantle criminal organizations operating between the two countries. Brazil seized more than 1.5 tons of drugs from the US in the first quarter of 2026, according to official figures. Most of the narcotics found were hashish and synthetics. Reuters [4/10/2026 11:09 AM, Staff, 38315K] reports Brazil’s tax revenue secretary Robinson Barreirinhas said ‌on Friday that more than 1,100 weapons were seized over the past 12 ⁠months arriving from the United States, and that in the first quarter alone authorities have seized more than 1.5 tons of ‌drugs. Brazil ⁠has begun feeding a system with data on weapons entering Brazil from ⁠the U.S., Barreirinhas said during the announcement of ⁠a Brazil-U.S. action against organized crime.

The New York Times [4/10/2026 7:14 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 148038K] reports the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday gave the military the green light to use high-energy lasers to shoot down suspected drones in U.S. airspace, ending a two-month standoff over whether the weapons endangered airplanes. Bryan Bedford, the F.A.A. administrator, said in a statement that the F.A.A. had completed a safety assessment of the anti-drone systems used by the military and had “determined that these systems do not present an increased risk to the flying public.” The decision was a striking about-face for the F.A.A., which twice shut down swaths of airspace over the Texas border with Mexico in February after the lasers were deployed without the agency’s approval. The statement did not address whether the agency had determined that the high-energy lasers posed no physical risk to aircraft, or whether the safety determination was based on how the lasers were being deployed. But the F.A.A. determined that the risk would be minimal even if the laser came into contact with an airplane, according to an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The F.A.A. is expected to issue an advisory to pilots operating in the vicinity of the southern border to be aware of increased anti-drone laser use in the area, according to a transportation official. The F.A.A.’s decision allows the Pentagon and other agencies to use the high-energy lasers liberally along the southern border, where they have emerged as a key tool in the Trump administration’s efforts to take out drones used by drug cartels based in Mexico and elsewhere. It was not clear if the agreement, announced jointly with the Defense Department, would quiet concerns among lawmakers that the F.A.A. was being pressured into approving the Pentagon’s plans to use the lasers. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee that oversees aviation, has requested a briefing from the Pentagon and F.A.A. about what led to the agreement, an aide said. CNN [4/10/2026 7:50 PM, Alexandra Skores, 19874K] reports that in February, the FAA closed the airspace over El Paso, Texas after the Defense Department allowed Customs and Border Protection to used a counter-drone laser system before meeting with the aviation agency to review potential safety impacts, sources told CNN at the time. The move effectively shut down the city’s airport but was reversed after about eight hours. About two weeks later, the US military used a laser system to shoot down an unmanned aircraft operated by US Customs and Border Protection about 50 miles south of El Paso. "Following a thorough, data-informed Safety Risk Assessment, we determined that these systems do not present an increased risk to the flying public," said Bryan Bedford, FAA administrator. "We will continue working with our interagency partners to ensure the National Airspace System remains safe while addressing emerging drone threats.” The military will continue to coordinate with the FAA to make sure passenger planes, pilots, navigation equipment and air traffic control is not impacted by the lasers, according to the release.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [4/10/2026 5:15 PM, Mike Glenn, 1323K]

Federal News Network [4/10/2026 6:33 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1297K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is recalling all furloughed Department of Homeland Security staff to report to their next scheduled shift, despite the ongoing partial government shutdown. In an official message sent to DHS employees late Friday afternoon, staff were told that "all DHS employees, excepted and non-excepted/non-exempt" are to be returned "to a work and paid status, effective on your next regularly scheduled duty day.” DHS has been operating under a shutdown since Feb. 14, as Congress has yet to agree to a fiscal 2026 funding measure for the department. Many DHS staff are "excepted" and required to work through the shutdown, but thousands of civilian employees have been furloughed. "Employees who are unable to report for duty on their next scheduled workday must request leave and receive approval from their supervisors," today’s message states. "Employees that do not follow this process may be subject to administrative or disciplinary action.” The recall comes after President Donald Trump earlier this month directed DHS to use funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to pay civilian employees, including furloughed staff, who had not received paychecks through the shutdown. In a message to employees earlier this week, DHS said employees covered under Trump’s order would receive backpay through April 4. But DHS added that "any additional compensation owed to you will be paid once D.H.S. funding is restored" by Congress, sparking concerns that the same DHS employees will again have to go without pay. "DHS is using available funds to ensure employees are paid," today’s message states. "Should the department exhaust currently available funds before an FY 2026 appropriation is enacted, you will receive a new notification of your work status at that time.” The recall comes as House Republicans remain split on a Senate-passed plan they had previously rejected to fund most of DHS, except for immigration enforcement operations. Trump is calling on Congressional Republicans to use a party-line vote to pass immigration enforcement and border security funding separately. Democrats have consistently maintained they are only willing to fund the immigration enforcement components of DHS if reforms are made to CBP and ICE’s enforcement policies and procedures. "For nearly 8 weeks, Democrats prevented many DHS employees from being paid and tens of thousands of employees have been furloughed and not able to do the work that is critical to the protecting our homeland," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "Secretary Mullin will be utilizing available funding to recall the entire DHS workforce to get our patriotic employees back to work.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/10/2026 11:35 PM, Jasper Ward and Kanishka Singh, 40934K]

NBC News [4/10/2026 5:22 PM, Laura Strickler, Julia Ainsley, 42967K] reports the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog has paused an ongoing audit of no-bid contracts due to the continuing shutdown of funding to the agency, as well as reviews of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities and instances of possible use of excessive force in immigration enforcement, according to a DHS official and an administration official. Other DHS inspector general reviews that have been put on hold because of the shutdown include four inquiries of the Secret Service’s response to the July 2024 assassination attempt of President Donald Trump, ICE’s progress in finding and checking on the safety of immigrant children who entered the United States unaccompanied, and a review of Homeland Security Investigations’ efforts to combat the spread of fentanyl across U.S. borders. Overall, roughly 85% of the audits by the DHS inspector general are on pause, according to a statement from the inspector general’s office to NBC News. The pause in internal oversight at DHS is a previously unreported consequence of the partial government shutdown that has halted funding to the agency and is now entering its eighth week with little indication that it will end soon. It comes as arrests by ICE continue amid the shutdown, in part due to the agency’s $75 billion infusion by a sweeping tax and spending bill Trump signed last year.

New York Times [4/10/2026 2:43 PM, Madeleine Ngo and Michael Gold, 148038K] reports more than 35,000 employees at the Department of Homeland Security are set to begin receiving paychecks on Friday, the first time in weeks that they will be paid amid the agency’s record-long shutdown. But it could be the last one they get for a while. The department told employees this week that they would not be paid again until the congressional impasse over funding the agency ends. House Republicans have signaled they do not intend to take up a deal to reopen the department until they see progress on separate legislation to guarantee a funding stream for immigration enforcement for years to come. “Any additional compensation owed to you will be paid once D.H.S. funding is restored,” said an email sent to homeland security employees on Monday. “We remain hopeful that Congress will fund the department and allow us to reopen soon and get everyone back to work.” It is the latest sign of the turmoil and confusion rampant at one of the government’s largest departments, which has more than 260,000 employees and includes immigration enforcement agencies, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security Administration. Much of the department has been operating without congressionally approved funding for nearly two months, leaving thousands of employees working without pay and some basic department functions stalled. The lump-sum payments expected to hit workers’ bank accounts came after President Trump signed a directive this month calling on his administration to use existing funds to provide them with back pay. The move eased political pressure on lawmakers to end the shutdown, but left workers without clarity about what will happen to their paychecks if the shutdown drags on. The Homeland Security Department and the White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether the administration planned to take further action to pay workers again in the absence of a deal.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [4/10/2026 11:27 AM, Staff, 2238K]

New York Times [4/10/2026 11:50 PM, Ashley Wu, 148038K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down since Feb. 14. President Trump signed a memo to pay D.H.S. workers, who began receiving checks on Friday. But the department notified employees that they would not be paid again without a full spending bill, over which Congress is still in a stalemate. The shutdown began with Democrats demanding new restrictions on immigration enforcement, which Republicans resisted. Lawmakers return from their two-week recess on Monday, when negotiations are expected to resume.

Politico [4/10/2026 7:50 PM, Jordain Carney, 21784K] reports President Donald Trump gave his blessing Friday afternoon for a party-line package focused narrowly on immigration enforcement — in a boost to Senate GOP leaders amid the Department of Homeland Security funding stalemate. Trump’s comments came after he met Friday with Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming. The two lawmakers went to the White House to pitch Senate GOP leadership’s plan to restrict the party’s filibuster-skirting effort to only funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. “Reconciliation is ON TRACK, and we are moving FAST and FOCUSED in keeping our Border SECURE, and getting funding to the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department to continue our incredible SUCCESS at MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump had previously backed using reconciliation to pass funding for immigration enforcement after it became clear Democrats would not agree to reopen those shuttered operations within DHS without a deal for more guardrails on ICE and CBP. But the president’s post Friday, which hammered home the preference for focusing the bill on this issue, is a significant boost to GOP leaders as they face calls from some of their members to broaden the scope of any reconciliation measure. Barrasso, in a subsequent post on X, said the White House meeting was “productive” and that Trump repeated his “deadline of June 1 to get to his desk a focused reconciliation bill that funds ICE and Border Patrol.”

New York Times [4/10/2026 12:27 PM, Zach Montague, 148038K] reports that a federal judge on Friday declined to block the Trump administration from rushing deportations of Somali migrants, despite finding the administration had most likely singled out the community for quicker removal hearings. An immigration law firm and a nonprofit from Minnesota had sued over the administration’s practices. They argued that the government has prioritized immigration cases involving Somali nationals, demonstrating racial animus toward a small subset of people. In a 27-page opinion, Judge Carl J. Nichols wrote it was not clear the organizations that sued could prevail in the case because they have not been directly affected by the new policy. He suggested a suit brought on behalf of migrants themselves might be more successful. “The unrebutted record does suggest some form of coordinated effort directed only at nondetained Somali aliens,” he wrote. “But the effects of that effort are felt most directly by the aliens themselves, who are not parties before the court, and who have their own avenues to challenge removal decisions that violate their constitutional or statutory rights.” The suit asserted that since January, the government has shuffled immigration court hearings to expedite cases involving Somalis, hampering the ability of lawyers representing them to prepare. Though just 3,200 of the 3.3 million pending cases in immigration court involve a Somali national, according to data collected by Syracuse University, the lawsuit alleged that the branch of the Justice Department handling immigration cases had taken steps to move those cases ahead of others and process them immediately.

AP [4/10/2026 5:38 PM, Gisela Salomon, Martha Bellisle and Rebecca Santana, 1323K] reports President Donald Trump shared a video of a deadly attack allegedly by a Haitian immigrant accused of bludgeoning a woman with a hammer at a Florida gas station, portraying the killing as justification for his administration’s mass deportation agenda. Rolbert Joachin, 40, was arrested and charged with killing a woman on April 2 in Fort Myers, about 160 miles northwest of Miami. Authorities said the man was from Haiti and arrived in the U.S. in 2022. The woman who was killed was identified as a 51-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh and a mother of two adult daughters. Trump, who posted the video late Thursday to his Truth Social account, has often sought to portray immigrants as bringing crime to the U.S., and the video emerging from the Florida attack presented him with a new, particularly graphic opportunity to do so. Trump also often paints Democrats and his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, as allowing in immigrants who posed a criminal or national security threat to the U.S. “The video of her brutal slaying is one of the most vicious things you will ever see,” Trump said in his post, describing the man as an “animal.” Critics say the president unjustly paints all immigrants as criminals in an effort to bolster his immigration agenda, when studies have found that people living in the U.S. illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. “Our hearts are with the family of the victim during this unimaginably painful time,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which advocates for Haitian immigrants. “We condemn this act of violence in the strongest possible terms. But we must also be clear: one individual’s actions do not define an entire people. The exploitation of this tragedy to demonize Haitian immigrants and dismantle humanitarian protections is both unjust and deeply harmful.” There are several lawsuits in the federal courts challenging Trump’s efforts to terminate TPS for more than one million people, including 350,000 Haitians. In March, a federal appeals court sided with a lower judge’s ruling against the end of temporary status for Haitians, and the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on April 29. The Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration have often highlighted crimes committed by immigrants and created a website where people can look up people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the crimes they’ve committed in the U.S.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/10/2026 12:14 PM, John Yoon, 148038K]
NBC News [4/10/2026 11:17 AM, Rebecca Shabad, 42967K]
Blaze [4/10/2026 1:15 PM, Dave Urbanski, 1556K]

The New York Times [4/10/2026 7:14 PM, Karoun Demirjian, 148038K] reports the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday gave the military the green light to use high-energy lasers to shoot down suspected drones in U.S. airspace, ending a two-month standoff over whether the weapons endangered airplanes. Bryan Bedford, the F.A.A. administrator, said in a statement that the F.A.A. had completed a safety assessment of the anti-drone systems used by the military and had “determined that these systems do not present an increased risk to the flying public.” The decision was a striking about-face for the F.A.A., which twice shut down swaths of airspace over the Texas border with Mexico in February after the lasers were deployed without the agency’s approval. The statement did not address whether the agency had determined that the high-energy lasers posed no physical risk to aircraft, or whether the safety determination was based on how the lasers were being deployed. But the F.A.A. determined that the risk would be minimal even if the laser came into contact with an airplane, according to an agency official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. The F.A.A. is expected to issue an advisory to pilots operating in the vicinity of the southern border to be aware of increased anti-drone laser use in the area, according to a transportation official. The F.A.A.’s decision allows the Pentagon and other agencies to use the high-energy lasers liberally along the southern border, where they have emerged as a key tool in the Trump administration’s efforts to take out drones used by drug cartels based in Mexico and elsewhere. It was not clear if the agreement, announced jointly with the Defense Department, would quiet concerns among lawmakers that the F.A.A. was being pressured into approving the Pentagon’s plans to use the lasers. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, the top Democrat on the committee that oversees aviation, has requested a briefing from the Pentagon and F.A.A. about what led to the agreement, an aide said. CNN [4/10/2026 7:50 PM, Alexandra Skores, 19874K] reports that in February, the FAA closed the airspace over El Paso, Texas after the Defense Department allowed Customs and Border Protection to used a counter-drone laser system before meeting with the aviation agency to review potential safety impacts, sources told CNN at the time. The move effectively shut down the city’s airport but was reversed after about eight hours. About two weeks later, the US military used a laser system to shoot down an unmanned aircraft operated by US Customs and Border Protection about 50 miles south of El Paso. "Following a thorough, data-informed Safety Risk Assessment, we determined that these systems do not present an increased risk to the flying public," said Bryan Bedford, FAA administrator. "We will continue working with our interagency partners to ensure the National Airspace System remains safe while addressing emerging drone threats.” The military will continue to coordinate with the FAA to make sure passenger planes, pilots, navigation equipment and air traffic control is not impacted by the lasers, according to the release.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [4/10/2026 5:15 PM, Mike Glenn, 1323K]

Federal News Network [4/10/2026 6:33 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1297K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is recalling all furloughed Department of Homeland Security staff to report to their next scheduled shift, despite the ongoing partial government shutdown. In an official message sent to DHS employees late Friday afternoon, staff were told that "all DHS employees, excepted and non-excepted/non-exempt" are to be returned "to a work and paid status, effective on your next regularly scheduled duty day.” DHS has been operating under a shutdown since Feb. 14, as Congress has yet to agree to a fiscal 2026 funding measure for the department. Many DHS staff are "excepted" and required to work through the shutdown, but thousands of civilian employees have been furloughed. "Employees who are unable to report for duty on their next scheduled workday must request leave and receive approval from their supervisors," today’s message states. "Employees that do not follow this process may be subject to administrative or disciplinary action.” The recall comes after President Donald Trump earlier this month directed DHS to use funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to pay civilian employees, including furloughed staff, who had not received paychecks through the shutdown. In a message to employees earlier this week, DHS said employees covered under Trump’s order would receive backpay through April 4. But DHS added that "any additional compensation owed to you will be paid once D.H.S. funding is restored" by Congress, sparking concerns that the same DHS employees will again have to go without pay. "DHS is using available funds to ensure employees are paid," today’s message states. "Should the department exhaust currently available funds before an FY 2026 appropriation is enacted, you will receive a new notification of your work status at that time.” The recall comes as House Republicans remain split on a Senate-passed plan they had previously rejected to fund most of DHS, except for immigration enforcement operations. Trump is calling on Congressional Republicans to use a party-line vote to pass immigration enforcement and border security funding separately. Democrats have consistently maintained they are only willing to fund the immigration enforcement components of DHS if reforms are made to CBP and ICE’s enforcement policies and procedures. "For nearly 8 weeks, Democrats prevented many DHS employees from being paid and tens of thousands of employees have been furloughed and not able to do the work that is critical to the protecting our homeland," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement. "Secretary Mullin will be utilizing available funding to recall the entire DHS workforce to get our patriotic employees back to work.”

Washington Examiner [4/10/2026 5:43 PM, Amy DeLaura, 1147K] reports leaders in Fairfax County are set to be grilled in front of Congress for the Northern Virginia county’s policies on illegal immigration. The congressional hearing comes as numerous illegal immigrants in Fairfax County have been charged with crimes from murder to assault in the past two months. Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid have agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, the House Judiciary Committee announced on Friday. The hearing, "Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies," will take place at 10 a.m. on May 14. The hearing was scheduled after the fatal stabbing of Stephanie Minter at a bus stop, allegedly by Abdul Jalloh, who came to America illegally from Sierra Leone. The Department of Homeland Security revealed the 32-year-old illegal immigrant has more than 30 prior arrests. Three out of four people facing murder trials in Fairfax County so far this year are illegal immigrants, according to the DHS.

The Washington Post [4/10/2026 3:01 PM, Juan Benn Jr., 24826K] reports an 18-year-old Northern Virginia high school student from El Salvador was found guilty Thursday on nine counts of assault and battery after he was charged with groping several of his female classmates in crowded hallways at school. Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court Judge Melinda L. VanLowe found Israel Flores Ortiz, a junior at Fairfax High School, not guilty on three other counts related to the same incidents and dismissed one against him, after nearly nine hours of lawyer arguments and witness testimony, including the minor victims. The case has drawn scrutiny of Fairfax from far-right critics, including House Republicans, who have said the county’s policies make it difficult for federal immigration agents to deport people who are in the country illegally and accused or convicted of a crime. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) and County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid (D) are expected to testify about the county’s policies at a hearing before the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration integrity, security and enforcement on May 14. The incidents at the high school, which is in the city of Fairfax and part of the Fairfax County Schools system, prompted the latest federal probe into Northern Virginia districts. Last week, the Education Department launched an investigation into the assaults under the Title IX federal law that prohibits sexual harassment, assaults and other gender-related crimes in schools and other facilities that receive federal assistance. The New York Post [4/10/2026 3:40 PM, Georgia Worrell, 40934K] reports that in the days after his March 7 arrest for nine assaults on campus, the undocumented El Salvador native was slapped with four additional charges as more victims came forward, according to the outlet. A total of 12 girls recounted the creep’s predatory behavior for a juvenile district court judge this week, while a 13th case was dismissed for undisclosed reasons. Flores Ortiz – who entered the US illegally in 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security – faces a maximum penalty of six months behind bars on each count. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to be sentenced April 21. DHS has placed a detainer on Flores Ortiz and said "ICE stands ready to take him into custody and deport" him if he’s released. The Daily Wire [4/10/2026 6:44 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports Flores-Ortiz, who is a junior at Fairfax High School, unlawfully crossed the border in 2024 and was subsequently released into the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security. At the time, the Biden administration was releasing illegal immigrants en masse. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer requesting that local authorities transfer him for possible deportation. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office recently told The Daily Wire it does not "obstruct or prevent ICE from acting on their civil detainers," but didn’t say whether it would honor the request in Flores-Ortiz’s case. "While it is still too early in the process to know the outcome of his case, ICE has been notified of Ortiz’s location at the ADC [Adult Detention Center], and they are able to execute their detainer by responding to the ADC and taking Ortiz into custody if and when he is ordered released," the sheriff’s office said.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/10/2026 9:21 AM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K]

CBS News [4/10/2026 7:32 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been drawn into the case of a woman who was killed in a hammer attack last week at a gas station in Fort Myers, Florida, after a Haitian immigrant was taken into custody on homicide charges in connection with the attack. Nicole Valdes has the latest.

FOX News [4/10/2026 12:14 PM, Michael Dorgan, 37576K] reports an immigration appeals board has issued a final order of removal for anti-Israel protester Mahmoud Khalil, advancing the Trump administration’s effort to deport the Columbia University graduate, according to his legal team. The Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) ruled Thursday to deny Khalil’s bid to dismiss the case, marking a significant development in the administration’s push to deport him from the U.S. Khalil, a 31-year-old lawful permanent resident, has been at the center of a broader federal crackdown on noncitizens involved in anti-Israel campus protests tied to the war in Gaza. He was the first person whose arrest became publicly known as part of the crackdown. His legal team blasted the decision as "baseless and politically motivated," arguing the government is retaliating against his speech and lacks evidence to support the case. The Trump administration has argued Khalil’s protest activity was "aligned with Hamas," a claim cited by the Department of Homeland Security and other officials, though authorities have not publicly detailed specific evidence linking him to the terrorist group. Khalil has also denied allegations of antisemitism. Officials have also cited a rare foreign policy provision of U.S. immigration law, sometimes referred to as a "Rubio determination," as well as alleged issues tied to his green card application.

Reported similarly:
Daily Wire [4/10/2026 7:12 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K]

NBC News [4/10/2026 5:55 AM, Jay Ganglani, 42967K] reports China is calling on U.S. authorities to investigate the death of a scientist who was found inside a university building in Michigan. The Chinese assistant research scientist was discovered after falling from a significant height at the University of Michigan’s George G. Brown Building, the university said in a statement. Authorities responded to a report at approximately 11 p.m. ET on March 19. The university said the incident is being investigated as a "possible act of self-harm.” "We are not able to provide additional details at this time," the statement added. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., told NBC News on Thursday that officials were "deeply distressed by this tragedy." "The Chinese side has repeatedly lodged solemn representations with relevant U.S. government agencies and universities regarding this case," Liu said, adding that officials had "established contact with the victim’s family immediately" to provide assistance. He also urged Chinese students in the U.S. to "heighten their safety awareness" and "handle U.S. law enforcement actions appropriately.”

Bloomberg Government [4/10/2026 12:25 PM, Angélica Franganillo Diaz, 111K] reports a rare bipartisan immigration bill triggered a Republican feud this week, highlighting a widening divide between GOP hardliners and moderates amid backlash to President Donald Trump’s deportation policies. Republicans erupted into disagreement on social media in recent days, trading jabs and personal attacks as they debated a bipartisan proposal from Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) that would offer a path to legal status for some immigrants in the US without authorization. "There is a conservative fight between old-school immigration versus no compromise," said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. The public infighting underscores a widening divide within the Republican Party, as some lawmakers push for a compromise approach on immigration amid shifting public opinion while Trump-aligned hardliners reject any proposal seen as easing deportation efforts. The Dignity Act, or "Dignidad" gained renewed attention after Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) promoted it in a weekend interview on Fox News. Lawler said the bill, first introduced in 2023 and again last year, has "broad bipartisan support" and more co-sponsors than last time because "folks do recognize that we have a problem." The comments quickly drew backlash from MAGA-aligned Republicans, including Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas), who called it "amnesty," prompting a clash on X with Salazar. The criticism spread among GOP lawmakers and other conservatives and sparked thousands of posts in an online food fight that spanned multiple days.

New York Post [4/10/2026 8:00 AM, Geoff Earle and Anna Young, 147K] reports at least three of Kristi Noem’s loyal staffers were axed after following their scandal-ridden boss to her new State Department gig when she was booted from the Department of Homeland Security, sources said. Three former DHS aides — Troup Hemenway, Josh King and Octavian Miller — were swiftly placed on paid leave after Noem was sacked as DHS secretary and appointed to the newly created role of special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a government insider told The Post. The trio was allegedly ousted over their ties to top DHS aide Corey Lewandowski, with whom Noem is rumored to be having an affair, and the fallout surrounding their former boss’s firing.

Washington Times [4/10/2026 6:49 AM, Alex Swoyer, 1323K] reports Kristi Noem’s departure from Homeland Security drew sighs of relief from many inside the department, who are now sharing stories of chaos and mismanagement while she was at the helm. But there’s also a growing worry over job security, as employees wonder just how broad a housecleaning new Secretary Markwayne Mullin will try. Those in the top ranks of the department report feeling frozen in place, unsure whether they’ll be seen as one of Ms. Noem’s people, which could make them targets. “The vibe I’m getting is that any relief over the regime change is overshadowed by everyone’s big [question] about whether or not they keep their jobs,” one source told “Seen, Heard & Whispered.” “That’s to be expected with a secretarial change.” Mr. Trump booted Ms. Noem early last month, days after she struggled to defend the president and his agenda in hearings on Capitol Hill.

New York Times [4/10/2026 5:01 AM, Jia Lynn Yang, 148038K] reports at his Senate confirmation hearing in March to become the next secretary of homeland security, Markwayne Mullin explained how his tenure would be different from that of his attention-seeking predecessor, Kristi Noem. “My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day,” Mullin said. Gone for now are the concentrated surges into American cities leading to dramatic — and sometimes deadly — clashes between immigration agents and protesters. Mass raids of Home Depot parking lots in search of undocumented day laborers are no longer routine. Immigration enforcement officials continue to deport nearly 1,000 people a day, many of them with no criminal record. But the Trump administration is also ramping up another strategy: to take apart immigrants’ lives, piece by piece, until they decide to leave the country altogether. In February, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a new federal rule blocking “mixed status” families from living in publicly subsidized housing, which could cause an estimated 80,000 people to lose their homes, including about 37,000 children, nearly all of them U.S. citizens. Starting in March, roughly 200,000 immigrants began losing their commercial driver’s licenses, under a new ban on truckers who are asylum seekers, refugees or undocumented immigrants who arrived as children. The Trump administration has reportedly weighed an order that would require banks to verify their customers’ citizenship status. Access to capital has already been curtailed. Starting last month, noncitizens can no longer obtain small business loans through the federal government, even if they are here legally. Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, is lobbying Republican-led states to cut off services. In a meeting last month in Washington, he asked Texas lawmakers why they had not already passed a bill ending public education funding for undocumented children.

Wall Street Journal [4/10/2026 3:38 PM, James Freeman, 646K] reports “Houston suburbs are still booming. But how long will it last?” asks a headline in the Houston Chronicle. The same question might be asked in the Dallas area. Eleanor Dearman recently noted in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Dallas-Fort Worth grew by 123,557 people between 2024 and 2025, the second most of any metro area in the country, according to estimates released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Houston metro area ranked first in numeric growth, gaining 126,720 people. Austin ranked sixth (53,796 people) and San Antonio was ninth (38,402 people.) Texas still has the biggest boomtowns, but on a percentage basis population growth was fastest last year in the metropolitan areas of Ocala, Fla., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Notice a pattern? Americans continue to choose inexpensive, modest government over jurisdictions run by ambitious ideologues. It’s not just about the weather. Jenny Jarvie reports for the Los Angeles Times: New data from the Census Bureau show L.A. County lost approximately 54,000 people from July 2024 to July 2025, the largest numeric population decline in the nation...The upshot is Los Angeles, one of the most dynamic boom towns in U.S. history, has led the nation in numeric population loss for all but one of the last eight years. Other than dysfunctional governance that makes life expensive and unsafe, what could ever make someone want to leave southern California?

Daily Caller [4/11/2026 2:25 AM, Patrick Dugan, 803K] reports the White House strategy for national cyberdefense is like fighting a land war in Asia. The assumption that deterrence works against the real adversary we will fight is dead wrong — not because our diplomats aren’t clever enough, but because the real enemy can’t be reasoned with, can’t be bargained with, doesn’t feel pain or fear, and absolutely will not stop until it wins (Kyle Reese called it). Ten days after the White House released its cybersecurity strategy, the State Department announced the Bureau of Emerging Threats, a correct directional move. But the underlying doctrine is still trapped in a 20th century frame. They’ve identified the arsonist but haven’t prepared for how the fire spreads. The strategic logic that must reach every policymaker is this: a bad actor can be stopped, sanctioned, or killed. The replicating agents he unleashed keep going and going and going. We saw the precursor in the 12 Day War of 2025. When the Iranian AI researcher was targeted it wasn’t for his limited expertise then — it was for the researcher he would have become in eight months. The urgency that drove that conflict had everything to do with an adversary getting smart on cyber, the "we had to go in" urgency is in part, nobody thought to download Chinese models and ask them to check if the cameras were hacked. But soon pre-emptive attacks on human nodes won’t solve the problem, it could even trigger a dead-man switch release. Software doesn’t stand down when its operator is killed. Without sweeping physical regulation of our power grid and critical infrastructure — the nerves of our water, energy, and communications systems — we risk paralysis. The White House strategy gestures at firming up physical infrastructure while simultaneously pushing deregulation so the private sector can move faster. These aren’t necessarily contradictory, but the balance is wrong. We are on an offense-favored battlefield and our most critical systems remain soft targets. The good news is that much defensive capacity isn’t waiting on Washington. We are in a moment of exploding capability for efficient AI models running on $500 graphics cards that tens of millions of Americans already own. Loose regulation to let private sector solutions move faster does make sense for Windows 12, which will have an AI-first design and be adaptive to solutions like a small AI anti-virus I was working on for the Apart Research Alignment Hackathon over the weekend. If we can detect tampering in your local model’s behavior and raise an alarm, we can rebalance defense, and formal regulation is certainly too slow and untechnical to serve that. This is the convergence of the First and Second Amendments — software as speech, knowledge as a defensive weapon. We don’t need to surrender our data to Big Tech logs to be secure. We need to own our own defense. You may have heard AI safety people talking about alignment science, we need aligned AI, but aligning AI doesn’t mean it’s moral, it just means it obeys some humans or their ideology. Anthropic released a very powerful new model it’s only releasing to security professionals under Project Glasswing. The model figured out how to escape a server with limited internet connection and sent the researcher an email while he was having a sandwich in the park, but it was loyal to the company commands to do so. You can see why the DoW would be concerned about loyalties of AIs. Alignment doesn’t reduce the risk of AI warfare — it industrializes it.

Bloomberg [4/10/2026 7:00 AM, Mary Ellen Klas, 18082K] reports Florida is dramatically — but quietly — changing the way immigration enforcement is practiced. The state’s Republican leaders have made it a testing ground for the aggressive immigration enforcement tactics championed by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. And although arrests have soared, the heavy-handed approach has had little measurable effect on crime — and is destabilizing communities across the state. The numbers tell part of the story: ICE agents at the Miami field office, which covers all of Florida, arrested 41,000 people from Jan. 20, 2025 through March 10, 2026, more than any other field office — including Minnesota’s, where the administration’s deadly immigration crackdown received international media attention. Miami is a logical hot spot. South Florida, and Miami-Dade County in particular, is a community of immigrants. At least 356,000 are undocumented, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. But the primary reason ICE arrests are so high is because Governor Ron DeSantis and the state Legislature passed a law requiring county sheriffs to deputize their officers to enforce immigration law, making Florida the first state to mandate that local law enforcement partner with ICE under what are known as 287(g) agreements.

Breitbart [4/10/2026 8:19 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have arrested illegal aliens convicted of murder, child sex crimes, and sexual abusers, among others, on the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump reopening the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office to help Angel Families, Breitbart News has learned. "Yesterday, ICE arrested multiple disgusting criminals, including murderers, pedophiles, and sexual deviants," the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Lauren Bis said in a statement. "Illegal immigration is not a victimless crime. President Trump and Secretary Mullin will continue to fight for justice for victims of illegal alien crime.” Among those illegal aliens arrested are Luis Hernandez-Martinez of Mexico, who was convicted of murder in Upshur County, Texas, and Alejandro Laguna-Hernandez of Mexico, who was convicted of attempted lewdness with a child in Carson City, Nevada. Likewise, ICE agents arrested Daniel Albert Urbina of Honduras, who was twice convicted for aggravated sexual battery and sexual penetration with an animate object by force or threat in Leesburg, Virginia. Alexander Garcia-Penate of Cuba, convicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, and Nilson Noel Granados-Trejo of El Salvador, convicted for assault in Hyattsville, Maryland, were also arrested. The arrests occurred on the first anniversary of the re-opening of ICE’s VOICE office, which helps Angel Families navigate their cases. The office had been transformed by former President Joe Biden and then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to aid illegal aliens, rather than Americans. "Day in and day out, the brave men and women of ICE are risking their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens from our communities and stop another American from being raped, maimed, or murdered by illegal aliens with no right to be in our country," Bis said.

Telemundo52 [4/10/2026 3:20 PM, Staff, 61K] reports more than 6,200 minors have been detained in migrant centers in the United States in the last year, Democratic lawmakers in Texas reported Wednesday. Hundreds of them have passed through the family detention center in Dilley, south of San Antonio, where nearly 400 people are currently being held, including 49 families, some of whom have been deprived of their freedom for more than a year, according to Congressmen Joaquin Castro and Greg Casar at a press conference. The majority of those detained at this center are minors and single women: specifically 77 children and 244 adult women, according to data provided by legislators and the organization FWD.us Casar and Castro visited the Dilley facilities this Wednesday, where they spoke with migrant families who reported suffering from a lack of medical care, mistreatment, and even receiving racist insults from security guards. The lawmakers, who have visited the center four times, reported witnessing how people detained there with medical problems "get worse" because they do not receive the necessary care.

Federal Newswire [4/10/2026 11:59 PM, C. M. Ingle] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published a series of posts on April 9 and 10, 2026, highlighting the impact of crimes committed by individuals identified as illegal aliens and the agency’s Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office. On April 9, ICE posted about Carissa Aspnes, stating: "Carissa Aspnes was seriously and tragically injured in a hit-and-run accident caused by an illegal alien who should never have been in our country, let alone behind the wheel. ICE deported the illegal alien who robbed Carissa of her dreams and her voice. Later that day, another post referenced Ronald Da Silva: "Ronald Da Silva was gunned down by a criminal illegal alien and gang member who was previously deported. ICE thanks Agnes Gibboney, Ronald’s mother, for her tremendous strength. ICE’s VOICE Office can never bring her son back, but it can be there to support her. On April 10, ICE described its VOICE Office as a resource for families affected by crimes involving immigration status: "ICE’s VOICE Office is a support system for victims and families of crimes linked to immigration. Family members, like Matthew Denice’s parents, know the value of working with the VOICE Office. Matthew was killed by an illegal alien drunk driver — he died on the street.

Univision [4/10/2026 5:50 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports nearly 15 months into Donald Trump’s second term, immigration policies have become increasingly aggressive, with arbitrary arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, even without a court order, of people without criminal records and even just because of their skin color. That is why, on behalf of 8 Latino immigrants who were arrested, organizations such as Legal Aid Society, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Make the Road New York and the firm Covington & Burling LLP filed a class action lawsuit before the Eastern District Court of New York. This is in an effort to stop agents from both ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from violating the law by arbitrarily detaining immigrants based on their race or ethnicity. The class-action lawsuit alleges that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which manages the agencies ICE and CBP, promotes the detention of "New Yorkers without any suspicion, based solely on their perceived race and ethnicity, as well as carrying out immigration arrests without a warrant and without probable cause." It also argued that the agents are illegally targeting Latino New Yorkers and people of color.

Telemundo Washington DC [4/10/2026 12:31 PM, Catalina Perez De Arminan, 120K] reports that a Honduran national detained by immigration agents following a vehicle accident in Baltimore reportedly lacks access to the medications he needs for his recovery, according to allegations made by his family and lawyers. However, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) asserted that the detention was lawful and maintains that Ever Alvarenga, 32, caused the incident while attempting to evade arrest. The Honduran man was detained on April 2 in Baltimore following a multi-vehicle accident. ICE stated that the crash occurred because Alvarenga evaded authorities. Nevertheless, the detainee’s wife claimed that the agents had actually rammed his vehicle. "Well, what he says is that they deliberately went and rammed his work van," stated Lurbin Vásquez. ICE, for its part, stated in an official press release that Alvarenga braked abruptly while agents were attempting to stop him, triggering a collision involving several vehicles. Conversely, the detainee’s legal defense team argued that he did not realize the individuals involved were law enforcement officers. "There were no lights or anything else to indicate the presence of law enforcement, so my client didn’t know who they were or what was happening," noted Clarissa Lindsey, Alvarenga’s attorney. Lindsey also alleged that excessive force was used during the arrest.

FOX News [4/10/2026 4:12 PM, Stephanie Giang-Paunon, 37576K] reports from plane drama to red carpet glam, Natasha Lyonne made a bold return to the spotlight. The Hollywood actress appeared unfazed at the premiere of "Lorne" in New York despite the turbulence she faced just days earlier when she was escorted off a plane in Los Angeles on April 7 after reportedly being unresponsive to crew members’ requests. The "Euphoria" actress later claimed she was detained by ICE during the incident after taking the sleep medication, Lunesta, calling it "a sign of the times.” On Friday, the "Orange is the New Black" actress addressed the reports of her removal from the flight earlier this week, claiming that she’d taken a sleeping pill after boarding. Lyonne said her plan was to "be bushy tailed & beauty rested," as she was scheduled to head straight to glam for an event with Drew Barrymore upon landing. However, things took an unexpected twist when she was allegedly detained by ICE. "Was looking forward to seeing Drew & an in depth convo, but I guess ICE had other plans & I was detained instead. Sign of the times, I guess," Lyonne wrote in part. The actress quickly clarified that she’s had no issues with Delta or TSA in the past, and added, "Heart is with our unpaid @TSA workers. Apologies to any travelers who were delayed.” The appearance comes on the heels of a reported incident aboard a Delta flight, where Lyonne was said to be "out of it" while seated in first class. Just hours before the incident, Lyonne had attended the season 3 premiere of "Euphoria.” According to reports, she did not respond when flight attendants asked her to close her laptop and fasten her seat belt for takeoff. Concern escalated after the plane had already taxied.

CBS Baltimore [4/10/2026 7:24 PM, Dennis Valera, 51110K] Video: HERE reports federal immigration enforcement operations in Baltimore are coming under fire again, as protesters gathered in front of the George H. Fallon Federal Building on Friday. The protesters were specifically protesting the detainment of dozens of women, who were once confined inside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding rooms in Baltimore. They also decried the conditions of the holding rooms, which have long been denounced by advocates and lawmakers. When 40 women came for a required check-in with ICE over a two-day period in March, they were detained in holding rooms, according to the People’s Power Assembly (PPA). The group heard about it from other activists in Washington state. "They do regular visits with detainees in ICE facilities and that’s how they heard about this story, they brought it to us," said PPA organizer Andrew Mayton. Mayton said the women have no criminal histories and were just doing something required by law. "They have active cases in immigration. They’re following everything through the legal means of becoming a permanent resident," he said. PPA and other activists have been in touch with the women’s families and say they were transferred to other facilities the day before members of Maryland’s Congressional delegation visited on March 9. Nearly half of the women have been deported, according to Mayton, and those still in the country have been traced to facilities in Washington and Arizona. One of the protesters read a statement from one of the women’s loved ones on Friday. "On the very day she was detained, she told the officers, ‘ My daughter is at school, ‘ to which they replied callously, ‘ Your daughter doesn’t exist here," the protester read.

USA Today [4/10/2026 2:52 PM, Irene Wright, 70643K] reports that Senator Jon Ossoff, running for reelection in a closely-watched race in Georgia this year, has joined four other members of congress in backing a new bill that would limit what the Department of Homeland Security can do with new ICE facilities. The "Respect for Local Communities Act" was introduced in the Senate by Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan from New Hampshire, and has been cosponsored by Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, Democrats from Arizona, and Ossoff. Georgia was supposed to be home to a Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Oakwood as well as one of the nation’s eight projected "megacenters" for detaining as many as 10,000 people in Social Circle. Both projects were met with outrage from their communities, and officials in both parts of the state say they have had little to no contact with DHS, despite the agency relying heavily on their infrastructure. The plans are currently paused as new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin reviews policies and plans from his predecessor, Kristi Noem, who was ousted from her position after contentious congressional oversight hearings. S.3894, or the Respect for Local Communities Act, would require the Department of Homeland Security to consult and include towns and cities in the decision to buy land and develop new properties for ICE operations. The bill would "prohibit the (DHS) from constructing, acquiring, or operating any new processing site or detention center without providing a mechanism for public comments regarding such activity, entering into a signed, written agreement with appropriate state and local officials, and providing Congress with advance notice of such activity."

CBS Miami [4/10/2026 11:07 AM, Staff, 51110K] reports a Haitian man who has been arrested and charged in connection to brutally killing a mother in Fort Myers is now facing deportation, according federal officials. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Rolbert Joachin repeatedly hit a woman in the head with a hammer at a gas station in Fort Myers, killing her. Joachin is currently on an immigration hold and officials say he is in the United States illegally. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday night about the arrest saying in part "An illegal alien criminal from Haiti, who was released into our country by the worst president in history, crooked Joe Biden, and the radical Democrats in Congress, just beat an innocent woman to death with a hammer at a gas station in Florida. This animal was allowed to stay here because the Biden administration granted him, and all Haitians, ‘Temporary Protective Status.’". In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that after entering the country in August 2022, a federal judge issued a final order of removal against Joachin. DHS says Joachin was granted temporary protection status which expired in 2024. "The arrest of this criminal is an example of how ICE and local authorities can work together to swiftly bring criminal to justice and make out communities safer," Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

Chicago Tribune [4/9/2026 2:38 PM, Carolyn Stein, 5209K] reports the Naperville City Council expressed concern about barring federal immigration authorities from using city property as staging or operational sites for immigration enforcement, but plans to examine how the city can better communicate with its immigrant population about federal immigration activity. Nearly a dozen people spoke at the Tuesday night City Council meeting advocating for a city ordinance drafted by residents that they called the “Naperville Due Process and Municipal Property Ordinance.” The proposed legislation would have prevented immigration agents from using municipal buildings, parking lots and other city facilities for civil immigration enforcement unless authorities have a valid court order or judicial warrant. Some communities in Illinois have adopted similar local laws, including Chicago, Wilmette, Downers Grove and Aurora. The proposal follows attacks on immigrant rights and increased immigration arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the country, including a wave of mass arrests that hit Chicago and surrounding suburbs in the fall during Operation Midway Blitz. Some of those arrests by federal authorities have hit close to home in Naperville, which saw the detainment of a group of day laborers in a Menard’s parking lot, roofers working on a house and a father who was arrested outside of his home while his kids yelled “Pa, te amo.” “This is not distant for us,” said Lili Burciaga, president of the Alliance of Latinos Motivating Action in the Suburbs (ALMAS). “We have spoken with children whose parents have been taken, with individuals who live and work in Naperville whose spouses have been taken, with employers whose workplaces have been disrupted because the valued employee was suddenly gone.”

Washington Times [4/10/2026 12:21 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K] reports that ICE is now booking in fewer than 1,000 migrants a day as the agency has seen its workload plummet after pulling out of Minnesota. Deportations have also dipped, though not as much. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s latest data, posted this week, shows an average of nearly 1,300 removals a day, down from more than 1,400 during the peak of the Minnesota operation but still well above Biden-era levels. Even ICE’s detention space is down, with the agency reporting 60,311 beds used as of April 4. In late January, amid Operation Metro Surge, that figure was more than 70,000. The drops also coincide with the partial shutdown at Homeland Security, which has seen some ICE support staff furloughed, though deportation officers and detention operations are still funded through last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill budget law. Book-ins are a proxy for arrests, and at the current pace, ICE would be on track for roughly 350,000 a year — well shy of the million mark the White House had set. Deportations are on pace for about 470,000 a year, also below the White House target. In a February planning document, ICE said it wanted to have 92,600 detention beds available by Nov. 30, which makes the current drop in use surprising. Rosemary Jenks, policy director at the Immigration Accountability Project, said it’s not clear why the numbers should be dropping, but she said it’s worrisome for a president who ran on mass deportations.

NPR [4/10/2026 4:01 PM, Meg Anderson, 28764K] Audio: HERE reports months after federal immigration agents shot and killed two people and wounded a third in separate incidents during the ICE surge in Minneapolis, the status of the federal investigations into the three shootings remains an open question. In the case of Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen killed by Border Patrol agents, the Department of Homeland Security told NPR in a statement that the Justice Department is leading an investigation. The DOJ, however, did not respond to NPR’s request for comment. In the case of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant who was shot by an ICE officer and survived, DHS told NPR an internal investigation is underway. As for Renee Macklin Good, a U.S. citizen killed by ICE officer Jonathan Ross, DHS said in a statement "the matter remains under investigation." But Minnesota authorities say the federal government has given them little indication that the federal probes are progressing. Legal experts agree.

Houston Chronicle [4/10/2026 6:24 PM, Matt deGrood, 2493K] reports Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a late Friday radio appearance that Houston city leaders won’t get away with passing a new ordinance limiting police officers’ cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, but stopped short of providing any specifics about how he would crack down on the city. The attorney general and U.S. Senate candidate spoke about the ordinance on a radio show hosted by state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, and others, arguing he thought the new measure would run afoul of Senate Bill 4. That 2017 law seeks to prohibit cities from passing laws that would stop local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE. "We will begin pursuing our options," Paxton said, without specifying what steps his office might take. This is not the first time Paxton has spoken out over how local agencies are reacting to the immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump’s second administration. In March 2025, Paxton’s office said he’d opened an investigation and asked for records from Dallas over concerns its policies might encourage non-enforcement of immigration laws. A Houston Chronicle report from February found leaders inside the Dallas Police Department have ordered officers not to call ICE on non-criminal administrative warrants, though Chief Daniel Comeaux emphasized the agency was still cooperating with federal authorities in prosecuting criminals. A spokesperson for the agency this week said the department hadn’t run into issues with grant funding or access to federal warrant databases in connection with its policies. A bevy of Republican elected leaders have criticized Houston City Council’s 12-5 vote Wednesday, accusing the city of enacting "sanctuary city" policies. The vote eliminated a rule requiring officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE agents to visit the scene when they encounter someone with a non-criminal administrative warrant, though HPD has not yet implemented the change.

FOX News [4/11/2026 7:00 AM, Nikolas Lanum and Rachel del Guidice, 37576K] reports Seattle police and crime victims say they’re being left behind as Mayor Katie Wilson focuses on clashes with ICE while repeat offenders continue to drive crime across the city. "I think the center focus on that right now is ICE," Officer Kent Loux, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), told Fox News Digital in an interview. "It is the immigration," Loux said. "It’s this federal feud that the mayor’s office is having with the federal government. That is the confusion. I think if she wants to have her feud, have it. Leave SPOG out of it. We do not need to be a part of it, we have been apolitical on all these demonstrations. We clearly can demonstrate that. We are not worried about taking a side. We’re not wanting to take a side, but putting us in this crossfire physically or potentially politically just isn’t fair to SPOG members." Shortly after taking office on Jan. 1, Wilson announced on Jan. 29 a policy requiring the Seattle Police Department to "investigate, verify, and document any reports of immigration enforcement activity." The announcement stated that "if dispatched to a location where apparent immigration enforcement activity is underway, officers will document the activity with in-car and body-worn video, validate the status of apparent federal law enforcement agents through official identification, and secure scenes of potentially unlawful acts to gather evidence for transmittal to prosecutors." Loux told Fox News Digital that while Seattle law enforcement officers do not investigate immigration status and that "it is of no importance to us," Wilson’s stance is "confusing."

Los Angeles Times [4/10/2026 6:32 PM, Hannah Fry, 12718K] reports at least three men were taken into custody by federal agents outside a San Bernardino County Superior Court on Thursday in what advocates are calling an alarming increase of immigration enforcement actions outside courthouses in the region. Federal immigration agents were seen in the courthouse parking lot in Rancho Cucamonga around 9 a.m. and began arresting individuals as they left the building until about noon, advocates said. Witnesses told ABC7 one man was surrounded by agents in the parking lot with his son just before 9:30 a.m. Video showed masked agents surrounding an individual, handcuffing him and placing him in the back of an SUV. Similar detentions have occurred outside courthouses in San Bernardino and Riverside in recent months, said Lizbeth Abeln, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice. "We see this as a violation of their due process," Abeln said. "It’s not like ICE is arresting them based off immigration violations. They’re trying to target people who have had some type of encounter with law enforcement. But, in America, we have due process which means you’re innocent until proven guilty. But in these cases people don’t have the opportunity to end their case or close it out.” The Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol were at the courthouse on Thursday for targeted immigration operations and arrested three people, two of whom were from Columbia and one from Mexico. Godofredo Chiquete Lopez overstayed in the United States after entering in 2007 on a tourist visa, according to Homeland Security. He’s charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon that was not a firearm, a misdemeanor count of hit and run and potential sentencing enhancements for great bodily injury on a person associated with an incident in 2023. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, according to San Bernardino County court records. A Homeland Security spokesperson said another person taken into ICE custody, Alexander Pacheco Sabogal, of Columbia, was arrested on suspicion of battery. No criminal charges have been filed against Sabogal in San Bernardino County, according to court records. "An immigration judge ordered him removed in 2023 after he failed to show up for his hearing," a Homeland Security spokesperson wrote in an email.

Los Angeles Times [4/11/2026 6:00 AM, Andrea Castillo, 14672K] reports last September, the Department of Homeland Security started advising unaccompanied immigrant children that they could either self-deport or expect to face long-term detention. But a federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday ordered the government to stop using such “blatantly coercive” language, ruling that the new advisals, as they are known, violated a 40-year-old court order that bans immigration agents from pressuring unaccompanied children to give up asylum claims and leave the U.S. According to court documents, the legal advisal was given to recently detained immigrant children. Unaccompanied children are those in the country without a parent or legal guardian. The minors were told they had the option to return to their country, that doing so would result in no administrative consequences and that they still could apply for a visa in the future. But the children also were told that if they chose to seek a hearing with an immigration judge or indicated that they were afraid to leave the U.S., they could expect to be held at a detention facility “for a prolonged period of time.” Those who turned 18 while in custody would be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation, they were told. The advisal, though generally passed on verbally, was written out in court documents by lawyers representing the immigrant children, which the government did not dispute. “If your sponsor in the United States does not have legal immigration status, they will be subject to arrest and removal,” the advisals continued. “The sponsor may be subject to criminal prosecution for aiding your illegal entry.” U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald said that “such a threat disturbingly mirrors” the testimony of Jose Antonio Perez-Funez, a plaintiff in a 1980s class-action lawsuit challenging the tactics of immigration officers.

New York Times [4/10/2026 3:22 PM, Patricia Sulbarán, 330K] reports that, when Yoalbert González drove his mother to an immigration appointment in December, she was detained and, weeks later, deported to Venezuela, like many thousands of others from her country during President Trump’s second term. Mr. González, 34, a delivery driver in Fort Worth who arrived at the U.S. border in 2021 seeking asylum, was terrified of the same fate and decided to leave the country voluntarily. But he quickly found that leaving wasn’t as simple as booking a flight. Many Venezuelans, including Mr. González, had their passports confiscated when entering the United States, under a longstanding federal policy to speed up deportation should they be denied asylum — leaving them unable to fly home. Venezuelan officials require a valid passport or a government-issued travel permit for entry by airplane. This document is available only in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, or in select consulates in Latin America, which have been overwhelmed by such requests. This makes replacing a passport nearly impossible for many of the nearly 700,000 Venezuelans who have arrived in the United States since 2019. While the U.S. government recently restored diplomatic ties with Venezuela, the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington remains closed to the public and no Venezuelan consulates are open in the United States to issue travel documents. The process for obtaining a travel permit can also be cumbersome and costly. A direct relative must request the document in person in Caracas and file with the authorities a travel itinerary and a letter detailing the applicant’s reasons for returning. Some desperate Venezuelans have risked traveling on dangerously overcrowded boats to reach South America since they cannot travel by plane. Panamanian authorities say more than 20,000 people took boats through their waters in the year since Mr. Trump returned to office. The vast majority were Venezuelans. One reason Venezuelans say they are leaving the United States voluntarily is their fear of being deported without their children — or spending long periods in detention if they are apprehended. “I heard that a lot of people went to their appointments and were kept in custody. Then it happened to my mother. It was so frustrating, and I thought it might happen to me,” said Mr. González, who received authorization to live and work in the United States while his case for asylum was pending. He was also granted Temporary Protected Status, or T.P.S., which has been given to nationals of designated countries experiencing upheaval or other adverse conditions. The Trump administration eliminated this protection for more than a half-million Venezuelans last year, a move that remains tied up in litigation, but has nevertheless ended the status for many. The United States and Venezuela have developed a closer relationship following the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in January by U.S. forces. Now, as Washington restores diplomatic relations with Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader in Venezuela, many Venezuelans hope that the travel bottleneck will be addressed. According to Oliver Blanco, a Venezuelan diplomat, the country’s diplomatic mission to the United States is back under its control and officials will “gradually begin registering Venezuelans in the United States in order to identify their consular needs and resume consular services as soon as technical, operational and logistical conditions permit.”

New York Times [4/10/2026 5:02 AM, Madeleine Ngo, 148038K] reports the Wayside Youth & Family Support Network has long struggled to recruit local teachers for its private special education school, relying on a skilled visa program to hire workers from countries like Brazil, Mexico and Germany. Sara McCabe, the president of the Massachusetts-based nonprofit, said the school has five open teaching positions that it would usually try to fill through the H-1B program. But after the Trump administration attached a steep $100,000 fee to new H-1B visas last fall, Ms. McCabe said the nonprofit could no longer afford to use the program. As a result, the school has turned away a dozen students who have tried to enroll because it cannot hire enough special education teachers to offer more classes. “The $100,000 fee has closed the door for us,” Ms. McCabe said. Since imposing the fee in September, the Trump administration has upended the H-1B program, a critical pipeline for a broad swath of employers ranging from big tech companies and consulting firms to hospitals and schools. The result has been a fundamental shift in who gets to benefit from the visa program, which was put in place three decades ago. The effects have been uneven across employers, with the burdens falling most heavily on smaller firms, nonprofits and rural hospitals that are having a harder time gaining access to the program because they cannot cover the costs anymore. Many companies that largely recruit workers overseas have also significantly reduced their applications, including IT firms that have been among the biggest beneficiaries of the program, according to immigration lawyers. The program has long been a source of controversy, one that has splintered President Trump’s base. It has prompted outrage over instances of employers abusing the program to sideline Americans and hire foreign workers at lower pay. Still, economists generally agree that the program provides a net benefit to the U.S. economy and raises wages even for American workers.

Univision [4/11/2026 12:19 AM, Staff, 4937K] reports legal Aid D.C. reports that, since last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., led by Jeanine Pirro, has failed to properly process applications for U visa certification. Although the process appears to be back on track, the damage to victims’ trust is alarming, as many choose not to report crimes when they are victimized. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [4/10/2026 2:08 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports that Rep. Maria Salazar’s (R-FL) "Dignity Act" amnesty would have given a green card, and thus a path to naturalized American citizenship, to accused MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Will Chamberlain with the Article III Project says. The Dignity Act, which now has the backing of 19 House Republicans, offers amnesty to millions of illegal aliens living in the United States as long as they meet certain requirements. It remains unclear how those requirements would be enforced. In an op-ed for Fox News Digital, Chamberlain details how Abrego Garcia — the illegal alien accused of human smuggling, MS-13 gang membership, and abusing his wife who became a flashpoint in the immigration debate last year when the media declared him a "Maryland father" facing deportation — would have secured amnesty under the Dignity Act. To demonstrate how ridiculous her bill is, let’s apply it to the "Maryland Father," Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He’s the illegal alien from El Salvador who came here in 2011 when he was 16. Law enforcement has tied him to MS-13. His wife accused him of beating her. He was caught on a police bodycam ferrying other illegals up from Texas to Maryland. Yet under Salazar’s bill, he checks every box for the "Dreamer" track that leads straight to a green card and then citizenship. A future Democrat administration could just process the paperwork. The bill treats him as eligible for citizenship because he entered as a minor 15 years ago. Never mind that he left and was removed — he gets an exception to the continuous-presence requirement.

Daily Signal [4/10/2026 6:15 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 474K] reports Sen. Rick Scott is urging the White House to end the Optional Practical Training work permit program, which incentivizes employers to give jobs to foreign students. "The OPT program should not exist; it is a purely regulatory creation with no statutory basis," the Florida Republican wrote in a letter obtained by The Daily Signal. The Optional Practical Training (OTP) program, created in 1992, allows foreign students to remain in the United States to work for nearly four years after graduation. Scott says this takes jobs away from U.S.-born college graduates. Employers receive a tax break for hiring foreign graduates under the program, giving foreigners an advantage over U.S. citizens, Scott argues. "The jobless rate for recent graduates with computer engineering degrees is nearly double the general unemployment rate," the letter says, "and the unemployment rate for recent computer science graduates is over 50% higher than the general jobless rate.” More than half a million student visa holders currently have OPT work permits, the letter says. "Many OPT recipients from Communist China have jobs in universities and Big Tech firms, giving them access to sensitive technological information and intellectual property," Scott wrote. "We cannot continue opening the door to an enemy nation that will happily use our own research against us.” The Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman warned in a 2020 report that the OPT and STEM OPT programs "have remained a source of concern in recent years due to their vulnerability to fraud and indicators that they are being leveraged by foreign governments as a means of conducting espionage or illicit technology transfer in the STEM areas.” The Department of Homeland Security has said it "will amend existing regulations to address fraud and national security concerns, [and] protect U.S. workers from being displaced by foreign nationals.”

FOX News [4/10/2026 6:30 PM, Ashley Oliver Fox, 37576K] reports a group of at least seven law professors have mounted a campaign to challenge the longstanding interpretation of birthright citizenship, arguing in favor of former President Donald Trump’s effort to narrow the constitutional provision, even as Supreme Court justices signal skepticism. The legal scholars’ arguments aim to persuade the Supreme Court and opponents of Trump’s efforts that there are serious originalist and historical arguments for narrowing birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment that deserve consideration rather than dismissal as a fringe political theory. Ilan Wurman, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told Fox News Digital the recent wave of support is intended to reinforce the point that birthright citizenship is not a settled matter despite the institutional consensus on it. "That several prominent law professors have come out over the past year, including a few in the past month, in varying degrees of support for the Trump Administration’s birthright citizenship executive order, shows that their position is serious," Wurman said. "The Supreme Court cannot simply rely on the conventional wisdom. It will have to show its work.” Wurman, who specializes in constitutional law, was one of dozens who also weighed in on the case by submitting amicus briefs to the high court ahead of April 1 oral arguments on birthright citizenship, which grants automatic citizenship to most babies born on U.S. soil under the 14th Amendment. He argued, in part, that the amendment never intended to grant illegal immigrants’ babies citizenship, saying that in the 19th century, parents who were residents of a country owed allegiance to the country in exchange for protections from its government. "This exchange of allegiance and protection was often described as a ‘mutual compact,’" Wurman wrote. "Lawful aliens generally fell within the scope of the rule, while foreign soldiers and ambassadors did not. … Illegally present aliens would likely have fallen outside the scope of the rule.” The other law professors include Randy Barnett of Georgetown University, Kurt Lash of University of Richmond, Richard Epstein of New York University, Tom Lee of Fordham University, Adrian Vermeule of Harvard University and, most recently, Philip Hamburger of Columbia University, each of whom has argued in varying degrees that Trump’s birthright citizenship order is constitutionally defensible.

DailySignal [4/10/2026 2:30 PM, Joseph E. Schmitz, 474K] reports that during the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to "end birthright citizenship" for children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents. After winning by an electoral landslide, on Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump issued his executive order to fulfill that promise. The American Civil Liberties Union promptly filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order. That executive order was the subject of oral arguments in the Supreme Court on April 1, 2026. President Trump attended in person. For reasons explained below, the court should sustain President Trump’s executive order because the people elected President Trump, and any ambiguities in the 14th Amendment should be construed in favor of the people—which is different than construing the amendment in favor of President Trump. The purpose of President Trump’s executive order is clearly stated: "The privilege of United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift. The Fourteenth Amendment states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’ That provision rightly repudiated the Supreme Court of the United States’s shameful decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. (19 How.) 393 (1857), which misinterpreted the Constitution as permanently excluding people of African descent from eligibility for United States citizenship solely based on their race."

Bloomberg [4/10/2026 3:58 PM, Laura Curtis, 18082K] reports importers seeking tariff refunds will be able to begin filing their requests on April 20, US Customs and Border Protection said Friday. In the first phase, the CBP’s Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries tool, called CAPE, will process paperwork for certain straightforward and recent import entries — leaving more complex refund scenarios for later. In March, the Court of International Trade ordered the federal government to refund as much as $170 billion, plus interest, paid by roughly 330,000 importers. Since then, CBP has been providing updates to the court on the CAPE process, seeking to detail how it will handle that challenge.

FOX News [4/10/2026 4:02 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 37576K] reports the Court of International Trade on Friday appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump’s use of a little-known emergency trade law to justify his sweeping, 10% global tariffs — teeing up a familiar, if technically new, legal fight focused on when and how a sitting president can act to unilaterally impose steep import fees on most U.S. trading partners. During nearly two hours of arguments, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of International Trade grappled with Trump’s use of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 — an emergency provision designed to address "large and serious" balance-of-payments problems — and its applicability in today’s economy. Under Section 122, a president has the authority to unilaterally impose import fees of up to 15% on U.S. trading partners for a period of 150 days, to respond to large and serious "balance of payments deficits," or instances that risk immediately depreciating the power of the dollar. Arguments before the court hinged on interpretation of the "balance of payments deficits" phrase, and whether the persistent U.S. trade deficits cited by Trump in invoking Section 122 aligned with the kind of crisis that Congress had envisioned when it passed the trade law in the mid-1970s. Members of the three-judge panel appeared skeptical of the Trump administration’s arguments, and questioned whether Congress intended the statute to apply to specific instances of international currency pressures, rather than long-running trade imbalances.

Chicago Tribune [4/10/2026 5:20 PM, Laura Turbayand Laura Rodríguez Presa, 5209K] reports drawn by the promise of a free flight back to her native Venezuela, Yessica Torres downloaded the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Home app, believing it would cover the plane tickets for Torres and her family. But after almost a year of waiting for CBP to arrange their travel, Torres now feels stuck in a country that denied her family asylum and whose president has campaigned for their departure. She does not have a passport — the last Venezuelan consulate in the U.S shuttered years ago — and the CBP Home app, which promised to fly her back as part of a program called “Project Homecoming,” has yet to follow through on its proclamation of cost-free travel and a monetary exit bonus. Torres is one of countless Venezuelan immigrants who want to return to their home country, but have been unable to because of the broken diplomatic ties and bureaucratic hurdles between the two countries. Currently, there are no direct flights from the U.S. to Venezuela, and Venezuelan passports and other vital travel documents are nearly impossible to obtain after the countries broke off diplomatic relations with each other in 2019. Some Venezuelans have found themselves in the position of making the same harrowing trek they endured to get to the U.S. — traveling across multiple countries, sometimes through dangerous territories — to return home. To be sure, since the Trump administration’s ouster of then-President Nicolás Maduro in early January, an easier pathway could be on the horizon. Last month, the U.S. formally reopened its embassy in Caracas — though resumption of consular services, where Americans and Venezuelans go for passport and visa services, will take time, according to the State Department. And American Airlines announced this week that flights from Miami to Caracas are expected to resume as soon as April 30 once all government and security checks are approved. But for Venezuelans who have spent the past year watching federal immigration agents roughly detain their countrymen — active asylum cases or not — a safe way out of the U.S. can’t come soon enough.

AP [4/10/2026 5:31 PM, Valerie Gonzalez] reports the Honduran family of an 8-year-old girl with a heart condition who died in U.S. custody after crossing the border in 2023 sued the federal government on Friday. Anadith Danay Reyes Alvarez, who had chronic heart problems and sickle cell anemia, got sick with flu-like symptoms and died after being detained for eight days in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility in Donna, then later Harlingen, Texas. An internal CPB investigation found failures in providing proper medical care and that medical personnel did not review documents the mother offered which described the girl’s sensitive condition. In custody, Anadith had a high fever of 104.9 F (40.5 C) as well as nausea, breathing difficulties and pain. Despite pleas from her mom, the child was not taken to a hospital until her body went limp in her mother’s arms. Friday’s wrongful death lawsuit follows a tort claim made against the government last year which was denied in October. The lawsuit is seeking to cover damages suffered by the family but does not request a specific monetary amount.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo Amarillo [4/11/2026 12:41 AM, Valerie Gonzalez, 2K]

Univision [4/10/2026 9:58 AM, Staff, 4937K] reports that amid a climate of mounting pressure regarding U.S. immigration policies, the case of Ezequiel Véliz—a 32-year-old physician originally from Venezuela—has sparked outrage. The specialist was detained on Monday, April 6, 2026, at a checkpoint in Sarita, Kenedy County, Texas, while traveling to Houston alongside his partner, Joseph Williams, a U.S. citizen. According to CNN and *The New York Times*, agents from the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP)—an agency within Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—requested information regarding his immigration status. As Williams recounted to the aforementioned media outlets, Véliz explained that he was in the process of obtaining a new visa and presented supporting documentation. However, the agents asked him to step out of the vehicle for a search and subsequently detained him for allegedly having overstayed his visa. In a statement to CNN, CBP reported that the physician had presented a J-1 visa which, according to U.S. authorities, "does not qualify as an immigration status that permits him to be or remain in the United States." Currently, Véliz remains in custody at a detention center in Texas, awaiting possible deportation. This case unfolds against the backdrop of immigration policies championed by President Donald Trump, which have restricted the entry and residency of foreign physicians through visa suspensions, new "public charge" restrictions, and difficulties in renewing H-1B work permits.

USA Today [4/11/2026 6:03 AM, Lauren Villagran, 67103K] reports at a bend in the Rio Grande, American tourists wade the river from Mexico, climb a sandy embankment in the U.S. and fish out their passports. In a tiny stuccoed customs house deep inside Big Bend National Park, the Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry is a small miracle of diplomacy, unique along the 1,954-mile U.S.-Mexico border. It has inspired a country song, bucked a border wall and survived despite increasingly hardline U.S. border security measures. Fording the river on foot is not only allowed but encouraged when the water is low. On high-water days, tourists board a rowboat ferry for the two-minute trip. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump’s plans to build a border wall through Big Bend threatened to cut off this port from the river and the Mexican village of Boquillas del Carmen where some 200 residents depend on American tourism. Fierce bipartisan opposition prompted the administration to back off the plans. For now, the border is the river, unfettered by steel. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo established the middle of the Rio Grande as the boundary between Texas and Mexico, meaning it was a fluid border that would float "from thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel," as the river flooded, narrowed or shifted course. Mining attracted settlers to the region in the 1890s; tourism keeps the Mexican village alive today. Before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there were informal border crossings up and down the Rio Grande, places where tiny, twin border communities existed to support one another through trade, tourism or mutual aid. Texas country crooner Robert Earl Keen wrote an ode to this little crossing in the 1990s, when he sang about taking his sweetheart on a row boat across the Rio Grande "for two dollars in a weathered hand," paid to a captain named Pablo. The song tells the story of a long, hot afternoon on the Mexican side, singing and drinking cold beer – "a gringo honeymoon." U.S. and Mexican presidents have come and gone. Politics whip right and left, winds through a canyon. The river swells. The river dries. The row boat captain is called Adrian now. He charges $5 a ride.

Los Angeles Times [4/10/2026 6:43 PM, Cierra Morgan, 12718K] reports a Cal State Channel Islands professor said he is feeling a sense of "righteous indignation" after a federal jury acquitted him Thursday of charges that he hurled a tear gas canister at Border Patrol agents last summer during a protest against a sweeping immigration raid at a Southern California cannabis farm. A federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found Jonathan Caravello, 38, a U.S. citizen and lecturer in CSUCI’s math and philosophy department, not guilty of one count of assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors. Caravello said he declined a plea deal early in the process. "I knew I didn’t assault anyone and wasn’t going to take a plea," he said. He added that his position as a professor, white male, and access to a strong legal defense team made him feel it was his responsibility to fight the charges. "I thought it was my responsibility to take this to trial no matter how long it would take or the consequences," he said. "If I had ended up in prison, I wouldn’t have regretted taking this to trial.” Caravello’s attorney, Knut Johnson of Singleton Schreiber, said his client had acted to protect those around him, not harm federal agents. "John cleared a tear gas canister away from everyone," Johnson said, pushing back on the government’s account and adding that tear gas had been deployed indiscriminately by law enforcement.

Newsweek [4/10/2026 9:33 AM, Billal Rahman, 52220K] reports the arrest of four British nationals accused of crossing into America illegally through remote woods has sparked alarm online. All four British men have been charged with entry without inspection after allegedly crossing unlawfully into the United States from Canada in a remote area of Somerset County, Maine, according to court filings reviewed by Newsweek. Ali Mohammed Ali Abdullah, 18, Hameed Mohammed Nagi, 21, Ibrahim Ayyub Khan, 27, and Mohammed Sultan Saleh, 22, are each accused of unlawfully entering the United States at a location not designated as a lawful port of entry on April 3, 2026, according to federal court records in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine. All four defendants pleaded not guilty on Tuesday and are being held without bail pending trial. The defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. When questioned, the four men said they were citizens of the United Kingdom. Agents wrote that the men claimed they were unaware they had entered the United States and that some of them said they were on a hike. One defendant, Abdullah, declined to answer questions, while Nagi and Saleh denied intentionally entering the U.S., according to the affidavit. Investigators said physical evidence contradicted those claims. A Border Patrol agent followed the group’s footprints back through wooded terrain to the Canadian side of the border, within a few hundred yards of the port of entry. Officials also said that immigration records showed no evidence that the four men had entered the United States lawfully on April 3.

New York Times [4/10/2026 5:02 AM, Ceylan Yeğinsu, 148038K] reports the hourslong security lines at airports eased last week after President Trump signed an order to retroactively pay Transportation Security Administration officers, who had worked more than six weeks without compensation because of the partial government shutdown. But the ordeal for both passengers and T.S.A. workers may not be over. A wave of T.S.A. resignations and absences, driven by uncertainty over future paychecks, could lead to a staffing crisis threatening to disrupt airports further during the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, which starts June 11. “This is a dire situation,” Ha Nguyen McNeill, the acting T.S.A. administrator, told Congress last month. “We are facing a potential perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports for the World Cup games in less than 80 days.” It is not clear when the partial government shutdown will end, as Congress went into recess until April 14 without agreeing to new funding for the Department of Homeland Security, of which the T.S.A. is a part. While Mr. Trump’s executive order will cover the next pay period in mid-April, the status of salaries after that remains in limbo.

Axios [4/10/2026 3:33 PM, Shafaq Patel, 12972K] reports Houston has secured $64.7 million in federal funds for 2026 FIFA World Cup security plans, and local officials say the city is ready and confident with the security measures that will be in place. Houston expects roughly 500,000 visitors for seven matches at NRG Stadium, plus a 39-day Fan Fest in East Downtown, all starting in about two months. "It’s going to be the largest sporting event of all time... Safety and security is the number one priority," says Chris Canetti, president of the Houston World Cup host committee. "If we don’t have a safe event, then really nothing else matters." Houston received funding through FEMA’s FIFA World Cup Grant Program, part of a $625 million pool being distributed to the 11 U.S. host cities for security. About 90% of the funding will go toward operations, including police and fire staffing and overtime, Tommy Calabro, chief safety and security officer for the Houston host committee, said at a press conference this week. And roughly 10% will cover equipment, such as EMS supplies and barricades. "We are fully funded. We’re all set," Canetti said, adding that the funding is enough to cover the city’s security plan for the event.

NPR [4/10/2026 5:15 AM, Lauren Sommer, 28764K] reports Placerville, Calif. bears all the markers of a community at risk of a wildfire. The city’s rolling hillsides are dense with brush, which dries out during the hot summers. Older homes made of wood, which are more prone to igniting, are dotted throughout. "It’s a perfect storm for devastation," says Tanya Harlow, wildfire resilience officer for El Dorado County, where Placerville is located. Local officials are trying to do something about it. The community is one of a handful piloting a program to help houses survive wildfires. Residents can get financial support to add fire-resistant building materials and to clear flammable brush around their homes. The program is largely funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For three years, county staff has been preparing to enroll more than 500 homes. But under the Trump administration, the project has been stalled for more than a year. The county needs FEMA to approve the project plan, but the agency hasn’t responded. FEMA did not respond to questions from NPR about why disaster funding has slowed nor did it comment on the amount currently owed to states. The logjam coincides with a decision last June by then-Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem. Noem began requiring all grants over $100,000 to be reviewed by her office to look for "waste, fraud, and abuse," including those from FEMA. A report by Senate Democrats found that significantly slowed disaster aid. Noem was fired by Trump in March. Her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, revoked Noem’s review policy earlier this month, according to a statement from the agency, though the majority of funding still has not been released.

AP [4/10/2026 4:50 PM, Thomas Heaton] reports in photo after photo, video after video, North Shore residents are painted in mud, scraping it off driveways, sweeping it out of kitchens and heaving it into trucks along with their household debris. Upstream agricultural operations are the source of greatest concern, their use of pesticides linked with myriad health effects, from neurological and respiratory illnesses to cancers. Although the state is still awaiting test results, so far officials say there is little to worry about. The sheer amount of water that fell from the sky during the Kona low storms – about 2 trillion gallons statewide – would have significantly diluted the chemicals everywhere. Such assurances are unlikely to quell the community’s decades-long experience with polluted runoff, however, and small farmers say that runoff could also present a food safety problem and threaten to set back years of organic farming practices. The anxiety among residents in the wake of the storm is coming on the heels of state lawmakers killing a list of bills aimed at strengthening restrictions on farmers spraying certain chemicals to kill weeds and pests even as the federal government is moving to cut red tape and protect agrochemical companies from state rules and lawsuits.

ABC News [4/10/2026 6:35 AM, Sasha Pezenik and Josh Margolin, 34146K] reports a Secret Service agent in training who previously worked as an analyst with the presidential protection team was arrested this week on charges of felony eavesdropping at the nation’s premiere federal law enforcement training academy. Police reports from Glynn County, Georgia, said the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center student, Joel Lara Canvasser, secretly filmed his suitemate’s every move with a spy camera hidden in a phone charger. Canvasser allegedly targeted the roommate with a weekslong campaign of harassing text messages written to suggest the roommate was being watched by a stalking stranger who could see into his suite and even the bathroom. Canvasser was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful eavesdropping or surveillance, according to police records. He posted bond of $8,458. Canvasser did not respond to messages seeking comment from ABC News. Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn called the charges against Canvasser "deeply troubling.”

The Hill [4/10/2026 8:15 AM, Ethan Illers, 18170K] reports a Chicago man has been charged after allegedly threatening to “shoot up” an office of the United States Secret Service and “hunt” a Secret Service agent. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said on Thursday, March 19, 29-year-old Michael Kovco sent an electronic message via the official White House website that said, “I’m gonna hunt the secret service agent that comes to my door’s family so he better not tell me any identifying information at all like first or last name or pet name or address or place of work because im going to buy a small concealable firearm and go shoot up his place of work immediately if he tells me anything,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, April 9 in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Officials said the message was sent about two hours after a Secret Service agent and two Secret Service task force officers visited Kovco’s home in Chicago to ask about a prior threat he had sent on Tuesday, March 17. The prior threat, which was also transmitted via the official White House website, threatened President Donald Trump and one of the president’s sons, according to the complaint. Court documents allege Kovco signed that message as being from “Mr. I’m going to [expletive] kill your child Kovco.” Kovco has been charged with transmitting a threat in interstate commerce and was arrested last week.

Chicago Tribune [4/10/2026 6:29 PM, Brian Niemietz, 5209K] reports a Chicago man was arrested after threatening to shoot President Donald Trump and decapitate his youngest son. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois said Michael Kovco sent several electronic messages to the official White House website last month expressing his intentions to harm the president, Barron Trump and federal agents who come to arrest him. The 29-year-old suspect got the attention of Secret Service agents by sending a March 17 threat to the president signed by “Mr. I’m going to [expletive] kill your child Kovco,” according to prosecutors. Agents went to the suspect’s home March 19 to find he wasn’t there. Someone at the two-bedroom apartment reportedly said Kovco “was not presently compliant with his medication, he was unemployed, and rarely left [the residence].” Kovco is accused of sending five messages that day threatening to “hunt” Secret Service officers and kill Trump and 20-year-old Barron, the president’s only son with first lady Melania Trump. “I’m literally gonna find out how Barron Trump walks around in NYC or DC or wherever the f— he is and run at him with a serrated bread knife and saw that m— head off,” he allegedly wrote in one of his emails.

Oregon Public Broadcasting [4/10/2026 1:36 PM, Katie Frankowicz] reports amid an ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown and heightened tensions over immigration enforcement, newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin stopped in Astoria Wednesday and toured Coast Guard facilities at the mouth of the Columbia River. Mullin visited U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria in Oregon and the Cape Disappointment Motor Lifeboat School in Washington. Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Washington Democrat, and Coast Guard Commandant Kevin Lunday. Social media posts from Mullin said he was there to honor Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Tyler Jaggers, an aviation survival technician who died on March 5 due to injuries he sustained during a rescue operation off the Oregon coast in late February. “We toured the world class rescue facilities and met with the fearless men and women who protect our maritime borders,” Mullin’s post reads. “Thanks for keeping our country safe.” According to Gluesenkamp Perez, the tours were intended to support the Coast Guard’s mission and better understand its resource needs. The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security. In a statement, Gluesenkamp Perez said that the Coast Guard has not been treated with the same respect or resources as other branches of the military. She said she is looking for answers following Jaggers’ death. “We need to understand the circumstances of his death and take steps to make sure it never happens again,” she said. “I’m grateful that Secretary Mullin agrees with me about the urgency of this and made a visit here to these Coast Guard stations a priority in the days since he was sworn in as the new leader of DHS.”

Yahoo! News [4/10/2026 10:05 AM, Amber Coakley, 46783K] reports that the United States Coast Guard took four suspected undocumented migrants into custody Wednesday after intercepting a suspicious vessel off the coast of San Diego. Officials said the incident began around 4 p.m. when watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center received a report of the 20-foot vessel heading north toward Mission Bay. A boarding team from Maritime Safety and Security Team San Francisco (MSST 91105) was dispatched to investigate the boat, which was located about five miles offshore of Point Loma. Officials said the team apprehended the vessel and gained compliance without the use of force. Four individuals were found on board, with all of them claiming Mexican nationality. They were detained and later transferred to U.S. Border Patrol agents at Ballast Point. No injuries were reported. The Coast Guard did not release additional details about the vessel.

NBC News [4/10/2026 12:26 PM, George Solis, Rebecca Cohen, and Jesse Kirsch, 42967K] reports the husband of missing American Lynette Hooker himself fell overboard the night he was arrested in connection with her disappearance, his lawyer said in a statement Friday. Brian Hooker, 58, was arrested Wednesday by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, days after he told authorities that his 55-year-old wife fell overboard with the keys to the dinghy they were on that night near Elbow Cay. He said he had to paddle for hours to reach Marsh Harbour Boat Yard early Sunday, where he was able to alert someone, who then called the police. But during the arrest, Brian Hooker’s lawyer said, he apparently also fell overboard while handcuffed into the choppy Bahamian waters, causing an injury to his knee that has caused a limp and a visible abrasion. According to his lawyer, Terrel A. Butler, the incident occurred after he was escorted to the Hookers’ boat, the Soulmate, by police boat so officials could search his property during his arrest. Butler said Brian Hooker was holding a bundle of clothing in his "restricted hands" and was trying to maintain his balance amid "choppy and dangerous sea conditions" when he lost his footing and fell overboard. "He was submerged in the cold water and took in a significant amount of seawater before his life jacket brought him to the surface," Butler wrote in the statement, adding that she has requested medical attention for her client. "He had to be rescued from the water by the police." Brian Hook has denied any wrongdoing. He has not yet been formally charged, his lawyer said, and is cooperating with authorities. He is scheduled to be interviewed Friday morning, Butler added. The U.S. Coast Guard opened a criminal investigation, and a U.S. law enforcement source said Thursday that the Royal Bahamas Police Force had officially requested U.S. assistance in the case. Royal Bahamas Defense Force Commander, Origin Deleveaux, told NBC News Friday that the search for Lynette Hooker is ongoing.

NewsNation [4/10/2026 4:49 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 4464K] reports a U.S. coast Guard cutter seized 4,510 pounds of cocaine that was tossed into the Pacific Ocean by narco terrorists, the agency says. The cutter Escanaba on Sunday seized the drugs off the coast of Ecuador, which are valued at nearly $34 million, the Coast Guard says. The drugs were seized after a U.S. maritime patrol aircraft notified the Escanaba “that a crew on a suspected narco-terrorist vessel was throwing contraband overboard,” Coast Guard officials said in a news release Thursday. The cutter sent officers to investigate after a helicopter marked the suspected spot off the coast of Manta, Ecuador, the agency said. The patrols are part of Operation Pacific Viper, which Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says “plays a central part of President Trump’s fight against the cartels at sea, cutting off their ability to make money by trafficking their poison into our country.”

Univision [4/10/2026 2:44 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports that the hearing at which Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García was scheduled to receive his sentence this Monday has been postponed until May 18; this was confirmed to N+ Univision by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. The co-founder of the Sinaloa Cartel—who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in August 2025—thus faces yet another delay in a judicial process that has seen its schedule altered on multiple occasions. This is not the first time the date has been changed. The case has a history of adjustments to its judicial calendar. In December 2025, Judge Brian Cogan of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York had already postponed the sentencing after Zambada’s defense team argued that they required additional time to prepare their sentencing memorandum. On that occasion, the new date was set for April 13, 2026—that is, this Monday. With this most recent postponement, the hearing has now been rescheduled for May 18. Guilty of founding the Sinaloa Cartel and trafficking cocaine for decades. The new date of May 18 will mark the next opportunity for Judge Cogan to hand down the final sentence against one of the most wanted kingpins in the history of Mexican drug trafficking.

Washington Examiner [4/10/2026 11:04 PM, Claire Carter, 1147K] reports police arrested a suspect Friday after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the San Francisco home of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, authorities said, in an accident that caused minor property damage but no injuries. Officials responded around 4 a.m. to reports that an incendiary device had been thrown at the residence, igniting a fire on an exterior gate, according to the San Francisco Police Department and company statements. The suspect fled on foot before officers arrived. Roughly an hour later, police were called to OpenAI headquarters, where a man was allegedly threatening to burn down the building. Officers identified him as the same person involved in the earlier attack and took him into custody. No injuries were reported in either incident, and the fire at Altman’s home was contained to a limited area, officials said. Police have not publicly identified the suspect or disclosed a motive, though reports indicate the individual is a 20-year-old man who may face multiple charges. OpenAI confirmed the home targeted belongs to Altman and said the company is cooperating with law enforcement. A spokesperson thanked police for their swift response and said additional security measures have been implemented around company facilities. Law enforcement officials said there is no threat to the public, though police have maintained a presence around OpenAI’s San Francisco offices as a precaution. The incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of the artificial intelligence industry and its leaders. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has faced criticism over safety concerns and is currently being investigated by Florida following reports that its chatbot was used last year by an alleged shooter at Florida State University. "As Big Tech rolls out these technologies, they should not, they cannot put our safety and security at risk," Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Thursday. "We support innovation, but that doesn’t give any company the right to endanger our children, facilitate criminal activity, empower America’s enemies, or threaten our national security.” Following the attack on Altman’s home, the tech CEO called for de-escalation in rhetoric surrounding AI, warning that heightened tensions could lead to real-world consequences.

Breitbart [4/10/2026 11:30 AM, Hannah Knudsen, 2238K] reports that several key arrests have been made by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) divisions across the country in recent weeks, including fraudsters and drug traffickers, FBI Director Kash Patel said in a weekly internal update. Walking through some of the key victories, Patel highlighted a few arrests made and outcomes in court that he believes bode well for the American people. FBI Houston, for example, arrested 10 individuals as part of Operation Spring Cleaning, all on allegations of "trafficking fentanyl, cocaine, counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs, and firearms near Houston’s Clinton Park neighborhood." "On Tuesday, FBI Charlotte arrested a former Army employee for betraying her oath and leaking classified national security information to a media outlet. Now, she’ll face justice for putting our nation, our warfighters, and our allies at risk," Patel explained, also highlighting the work of FBI Detroit, whose work resulted in one individual pleading guilty for conspiring to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of nearly $2 million dollars. "The FBI will not rest until this type of fraud and corruption are eliminated across the country," he said, continuing down his list. Patel also pointed to the victories on the homeland security front, highlighting the past successes of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTF). "Thanks to our New York JTTF, a Pakistani man just pled guilty for planning an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn on the anniversary of the October 7th attack in Israel," he said, explaining that the FBI stopped this man before he even could enter the country.

Breitbart [4/10/2026 11:31 AM, Hannah Knudsen, 2238K] reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has seized enough fentanyl to kill 19 million Americans in 2026 alone, FBI Director Kash Patel revealed in his weekly internal update. The Trump administration has made the drug war one of its top priorities in the second term as the flow of fentanyl quadrupled into American communities under former President Joe Biden’s watch. According to Patel, year to date, the FBI has seized 250 kgs of fentanyl — over 551 lbs. That is enough to kill 19 million Americans. The FBI director also spoke about results of their work against cartels and traffickers at the annual Rx and Illicit Drug Summit in Nashville. "Thanks to your efforts with partners, you seized enough fentanyl to kill 178 million Americans, a 31-percent increase over the year prior — resulting in a 20 percent drop in overdose deaths since 2024," he said in his internal update, referencing the summit and signaling that this is just the beginning of their work on this critical front.

CBS New York [4/10/2026 7:01 PM, Jennifer Bisram, 51110K] Video: HERE reports the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the bust of three fentanyl packaging mills in New York City on Friday. The multi-borough operation happened over the course of six hours Wednesday. Officials said the three mills were each operating independently within three miles of one another – two in the Bronx and one in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. "They’re in apartment buildings. They’re in homes," said Christopher Roberts, DEA New York Special Agent in Charge of the Task Force Division. "They’re exposing the residents, children within these neighborhoods, within these buildings to these deadly chemicals.” A total of more than 40 kilograms, or roughly 90 pounds, of fentanyl was seized, federal officials said. It has a street value of $7.5 million. Investigators also found loaded guns and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said one apartment had all of the equipment necessary to package fentanyl. "It had blenders, coffee grinders, stamps for identifying the fentanyl with all kinds of designs," she said. "The stamp names include ‘war zone’ and the word ‘Taliban’ underneath a picture of an assault rifle.”

FOX News [4/10/2026 11:59 PM, Morgan Phillips, 37576K] reports Vice President JD Vance arrived in Pakistan early Saturday, where he is leading high-stakes negotiations with Iran aimed at preserving a fragile ceasefire and preventing a broader regional war. Vance is joined by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, as part of a senior delegation engaging Iranian officials in Islamabad. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf will be negotiating for Iran. The talks, scheduled for Saturday, come over a month after the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28 — a sweeping military campaign targeting Iran’s military infrastructure following the collapse of nuclear negotiations. That operation pushed the U.S. and Iran to the brink of a ground war before a tenuous diplomatic breakthrough in recent days. Trump announced a two-week ceasefire Tuesday, agreeing to suspend further U.S. strikes on the condition that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route. While Iran signaled it would allow passage through the strait as part of the agreement, traffic remains severely disrupted, with shipping companies hesitant to resume normal operations amid ongoing security concerns and uncertainty over enforcement. Vance struck a cautious tone before departing, warning Iran not to test the U.S. negotiating posture. "If they’re gonna try and play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive," Vance said, adding he still expects the talks to be "positive." The outcome of the talks could determine whether the ceasefire holds or collapses into renewed hostilities, as both sides remain deeply divided after weeks of conflict. Iranian officials have struck a cautious and conditional tone ahead of the talks. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it accepted the two-week ceasefire but warned "this does not signify the termination of the war," adding that "our hands remain upon the trigger" if the agreement is violated. Vance described the agreement Wednesday as a "fragile truce." Iran also has tied the success of the ceasefire to developments in Lebanon, insisting that Israeli strikes on Hezbollah must stop as part of any broader agreement. Tehran has warned that continued attacks could jeopardize the talks, highlighting a key dispute with Israel and the U.S., which have argued Lebanon is not covered by the truce. Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary, positioning itself as a neutral venue between Washington and Iran after helping broker the initial truce. But that role is already facing scrutiny. Pakistan’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, sparked backlash recently after calling Israel’s actions a "curse on humanity" in a now-deleted X post and, in a separate exchange, saying critics should "burn in hell." The remarks drew a sharp response from Israeli officials, who questioned Pakistan’s credibility as a neutral broker. Israeli leaders described the comments as "outrageous" and warned such rhetoric was incompatible with serving as a mediator, while Israel’s ambassador to India publicly said, "we don’t trust Pakistan." Pakistani officials have not directly addressed the controversy surrounding Asif’s remarks but have defended their broader role, emphasizing Islamabad’s efforts to broker the ceasefire and facilitate talks. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for "dialogue and diplomacy," while officials say both Washington and Iran have expressed confidence in Pakistan’s mediation. The talks are also unfolding against a challenging security backdrop. U.S. officials have long treated Pakistan as a high-threat environment for official travel, with strict movement controls and layered security measures typically required for American personnel. Bill Gage, a former Secret Service agent who traveled to Islamabad with President George W. Bush, told Fox News Digital the threat environment in Pakistan historically has ranked among the most severe faced by U.S. protective teams, requiring constant coordination and heightened precautions. "The threat environment in Pakistan was one of the worst the Secret Service had ever operated in," Gage said of his experience in 2006. "We were briefed that al-Qaeda wanted to kidnap an agent, so we always had to be in pairs."

NPR [4/11/2026 3:04 AM, Betsy Joles, 28764K] reports Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, is set to host peace talks today with negotiators from Iran and the US, including Vice President J.D. Vance. It’s the culmination of weeks of frantic diplomacy by Pakistan’s leaders, who pitched the city as the venue for talks even before they took the lead as a key mediator that both the U.S. and Iran credited for helping broker a two-week ceasefire. The meeting has put Pakistan at the center of the biggest story in the world, spotlighting its normally sleepy capital that has been preparing for days for high-profile delegations to arrive. Ahead of the talks, many in Islamabad were still trying to get their heads around the fact that their country’s diplomatic efforts actually worked. "I’m a bit surprised," says 19-year-old Khizra Zaheer, standing in a parking lot of a shopping area near the center of the city. "When did Pakistan get so influential?". That has been a central question in the past three weeks as Pakistan transitioned from a quiet go-between to an active participant in negotiations between the US and Iran, pulling in leaders from Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and China to support its peace efforts before putting forward a ceasefire plan. The true significance of Pakistan’s intervention only became clear when both sides agreed to a pause shortly after a down-to-the-wire plea from the country’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. President Trump and Iran’s foreign ministry went on to name Sharif and Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, in their ceasefire announcements. "That was a very rare concurrence, because no other country enjoyed the same kind of trust from both parties," says Rasheed Wali Janjua, director of research at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, a national security think-tank. "It’s a fair assessment to say that both parties are looking for a way out.” Now, Pakistan faces another difficult task during its Islamabad talks: trying to get them to reach an agreement that can turn a fragile ceasefire into something that lasts. If the talks succeed, it could lead to "radically changed perceptions of Pakistan" in the world, says Ishtiaq Ahmad, professor emeritus at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. That global relevance, especially in the eyes of the US, is something that Pakistan has pushed for, even as it has struggled with political and economic volatility at home. "There is a disconnect between Pakistan’s diplomatic achievement and the situation back home," Ahmad says.

Washington Post [4/10/2026 6:40 PM, Karen DeYoung, Susannah George and John Hudson, 24826K] reports as the United States and Iran prepare for ceasefire talks Saturday, the two countries appear to have common ground on only one thing — their need to find an exit ramp from the war. President Donald Trump is paying a growing political and economic price at home, with falling approval ratings and climbing gas prices undercutting his bluster and boasts about U.S. military might having already achieved a total victory over Tehran. While Iran may see surviving thousands of pulverizing U.S. and Israeli air attacks as its own victory of sorts, its prewar problems — international isolation, a failing economy and a fed-up population — have only gotten exponentially worse. But a mutual desire to end the conflict may not be enough, as the two sides come to the table with demands that leave little apparent room for compromise. Even before their negotiators arrive for talks in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, they have accused each other of bad faith. Trump on Friday claimed that the hard-line, 10-point proposal Iran publicly released this week was “a hoax” and said Tehran was being “dishonorable” in not allowing oil tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt insisted Thursday that Iran had secretly sent much more reasonable demands that Trump said he could “work with.” Meanwhile, Iran’s chief negotiator, Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, said the U.S. has violated what he claimed were pre-talk agreements on a ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon and the release of blocked Iranian assets frozen under U.S. sanctions. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin,” he wrote on social media. That brought another social media outburst from Trump, who said: “The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards. … The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!” As he boarded a plane for Islamabad on Friday morning, Vice President JD Vance, who is heading the U.S. delegation, tried to calm things down. “I think it’s going to be positive,” he told reporters. “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend an open hand.”

FOX News [4/10/2026 10:58 AM, Staff, 37576K] reports Vice President JD Vance speaks as he departs for pivotal negotiations with Iran, saying President Donald Trump has ‘clear guidelines’ for peace in the region. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/10/2026 3:23 PM, Mark Landler, 330K] reports that, for the last several weeks, sailing a ship through the Strait of Hormuz was perilous, given the risk of Iranian attacks, whether by missiles or mines. Now that the United States and Iran have put the war on pause, the voyage may be less dangerous. But it is no less challenging politically or diplomatically. Two days into the fragile cease-fire, the strait has become Iran’s biggest chip in a high-stakes geopolitical contest with President Trump. Rather than throwing open the waterway to oil tankers and container ships, as the Trump administration had promised, shipping analysts said Iran was keeping a chokehold on it. And Iran is giving priority to a trickle of vessels from countries that either trade directly with it or are not viewed as hostile to the Iranian government. This has put the dozens of countries that use the strait in a devilish position, having to navigate between Iran and the United States like modern-day versions of Scylla and Charybdis, the monsters of Greek mythology who threatened mariners with destruction in the treacherous Strait of Messina. “The Iranians are willing to negotiate with certain countries to secure voyages, but only on a case-by-case basis,” said Bridget Diakun, a senior risk and compliance analyst at Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a London-based maritime data and intelligence company. “The Trump administration is forcing its allies to negotiate with Iran because there is no other option.” That could change, of course, if the United States applies enough pressure on Iran to ease passage in the strait. But for now, at least, the Iranians are still exploiting their ability to disrupt global trade and energy flows — based on their interests. It was no coincidence, shipping analysts said, that the first Western European-owned vessel to transit the strait since Iran imposed restrictions belonged to a French shipping company, CMA CGM, and that its safe passage last week came the day after President Emmanuel Macron of France lashed out at Mr. Trump for his management of the war and for his frequent criticism of the NATO alliance. “France has positioned itself as not aligned with the U.S. on the war, and so not hostile to Iran,” said Martin Kelly, the head of advisory at EOS Risk Group, a consulting firm. “It was probably a message to the rest of Europe.” A spokeswoman for CMA CGM declined to comment on how it struck a deal with Iran. French officials said they were in touch with the company but have not said whether the government played a role in securing the ship’s passage. Other countries that have won passage for ships, like Turkey, Pakistan and India, either trade with Iran or have taken a neutral position on the war. Pakistan brokered the negotiations that resulted in the cease-fire, and it will play host to Vice President JD Vance and an Iranian delegation in Islamabad on Saturday, where the two sides will try to work out a permanent settlement. In the meantime, Iran is keeping a chokehold on the strait. On Wednesday, only five cargo ships passed through, none of which were carrying oil or gas. Iranian media said Iran halted tankers to protest Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group, in Lebanon. Iran, Israel and the United States have argued over whether the cease-fire agreement includes Lebanon. On Thursday, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said in an interview with ITV News that the strait was open to all but that there were still mines in the water and that ships wanting passage needed to coordinate with the Iranian military. That could further spook shipping companies, even if they doubted the veracity of Iran’s claims. It also raised the pressure on them to use only a route that passes closer to Iranian territory, known as the Larak detour, which allows the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to vet the ships and potentially collect fees for passage. In its negotiation with the Trump administration, Iran wants to make that arrangement permanent. Iranian officials said they plan to charge ships $2 million per passage and use the money, after giving neighboring Oman a cut, to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by American and Israeli airstrikes. Mr. Trump responded by floating the possibility that the United States would jointly control the strait with Iran and split the proceeds with it. The toll-collecting concept was quickly rejected by allies like Britain, whose foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on Thursday, “freedom of navigation means navigation must be free.” Those remarks could rankle Mr. Trump, who has already lashed out at Britain for its lack of support for the campaign. In fact, European countries are likely to have the thorniest challenge in navigating the politics of using the strait. Mr. Trump has castigated NATO allies more broadly for their unwillingness to forcibly reopen the strait, and said at various times that Iran’s control of the strait is a problem for Europe, not the United States.

CNN [4/11/2026 12:01 AM, Natasha Bertrand, Haley Britzky, Zachary Cohen, 19874K] reports US intelligence indicates that China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, according to three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments. It would be a provocative move considering Beijing said it helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also set to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The intelligence also underscores how Iran may be using the ceasefire as an opportunity to replenish certain weapons systems with the help of key foreign partners. Two of the sources told CNN there are indications that Beijing is working to route the shipments through third countries to mask their true origin. The systems Beijing is preparing to transfer are shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs, the sources said, which posed an asymmetric threat to low-flying US military aircraft throughout the course of the five-week war and could again if the ceasefire falls apart. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said, "China has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict; the information in question is untrue.” "As a responsible major country, China consistently fulfills its international obligations. We urge the U.S. side to refrain from making baseless allegations, maliciously drawing connections, and engaging in sensationalism; we hope that relevant parties will do more to help de-escalate tensions.” Earlier this week, an embassy spokesperson told CNN that since the US-Israel-Iran war began Beijing had "been working to help bring about a ceasefire and end to the conflict.” Trump indicated during a press conference on Monday that the F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iran last week was hit by a "handheld shoulder missile, [a] heat-seeking missile," and Iran said it had used a "new" air defense system to hit the jet without providing more details. It’s unclear if that system was Chinese manufactured. Shipping MANPADS to Iran would mark an escalation in China’s support for the country since the US and Israel launched their joint military campaign in February. Chinese companies have continued to sell the Iranians sanctioned dual-use technology that enables the Iran to keep building weapons and enhance its navigation systems, sources said, but the Chinese government directly transferring weapons systems would mark a new level of assistance. Trump is expected to meet with Xi next month in Beijing, and the White House said on Wednesday that high-level talks had taken place between the US and China as Iran ceasefire negotiations played out earlier this week. One of the sources familiar with the intelligence said China sees no real strategic value in overtly entering the conflict and trying to protect Iran against the US and Israel, which they know would be unwinnable. Instead, Beijing is trying to position itself as a continued friend to Iran — whose oil it heavily depends upon — while remaining outwardly neutral so they can maintain deniability after the war is over.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [4/11/2026 2:06 AM, Kari Soo Lindberg, 18082K]

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