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.

CNN [4/14/2026 10:57 AM, Devan Cole, 612K] reports a divided federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered US District Judge James Boasberg to end his efforts to hold Trump administration officials accountable for flouting his orders in a high-stakes immigration case. The decision comes nearly a year after Boasberg, the chief judge of the federal trial-level court in Washington, DC, said in a blockbuster ruling that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt” for defying his orders to temporarily halt the deportation of migrants under a powerful wartime authority invoked by President Donald Trump. The Trump administration appealed several times to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals so the contempt proceedings never fully got underway, halting the judge’s work while it considered whether he had the power to move ahead with the inquiry. But now, a pair of Trump appointees on the appellate court has decided to fully stamp out Boasberg’s plans, saying in a sharply worded opinion that his contempt probe represented “a clear abuse” of power given that the administration had previously identified then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as the official responsible for deciding to allow the deportations in question to continue. “The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy. These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion,” Judges Neomi Rao and Justin Walker said in the unsigned opinion. “The district court has launched an intrusive criminal contempt investigation into whether the government acted willfully when it transferred suspected Tren de Aragua members to Salvadoran custody. But the end of this investigation is a legal dead end,” the court said. Reuters [4/14/2026 12:39 PM, Jan Wolfe, 38315K] reports that the D.C. Circuit decided that Boasberg encroached on "the autonomy of the executive branch" by demanding sworn testimony from administration officials to determine whether they purposely defied his March 2025 court order to turn around aircraft that were removing the Venezuelans from the United States. "The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy," Circuit Judge ⁠Neomi Rao wrote, referring to Boasberg. Such criminal contempt proceedings can result in fines or other forms of censure. Rao was joined by Circuit Judge Justin Walker in Tuesday’s decision, with Circuit Judge J. Michelle Childs in dissent. Rao and Walker are both Trump judicial appointees. Childs was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden. Bloomberg [4/14/2026 12:05 PM, Erik Larson, 763K] reports that a federal appeals court blocked a judge from holding a hearing on whether former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others were in contempt of court by deporting two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members last year. In a 2-1 decision Tuesday, a panel of judges in Washington halted the hearing from going forward, saying the effort by US District Judge James Boasberg was "a clear abuse of discretion." Boasberg had attempted to hold the hearings in December before they were paused by the appeals court. Boasberg has clashed repeatedly with President Donald Trump’s administration over whether the government violated the judge’s order on March 15, 2025, directing the return of planes carrying alleged Venezuelan gang members to a notorious El Salvador prison. The government has argued that the order did not clearly state that the detainees had to be returned to the US. It also contended that the judge has no constitutional authority to compel testimony from current and former government attorneys. The case stems from the removal of 137 Venezuelans who Trump designated as members of the Tren de Aragua gang under the rarely-used Alien Enemies Act. The administration invoked the war-time power to swiftly deport them to El Salvador. They were later returned to Venezuela and set free.

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New York Post [4/14/2026 6:55 PM, Victor Nava, 40934K]
The Hill [4/14/2026 2:57 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18170K]
ABC News [4/14/2026 12:42 PM, Peter Charalambous and Laura Romero, 34146K]
CBS News [4/14/2026 1:01 PM, Melissa Quinn and Jacob Rosen, 51110K]
Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 12:05 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1147K]
Washington Times [4/14/2026 12:38 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K]
DailySignal [4/14/2026 1:02 PM, Fred Lucas, 474K]

The Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 9:39 PM, David Zimmermann, 1147K] reports the U.S. military killed four suspected drug traffickers on a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean via an airstrike on Tuesday, U.S. Southern Command announced. "On April 14, at the direction of [SOUTHCOM] commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," the military command said. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the command said. "Four male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed.” The social media post announcing the strike featured aerial footage of the boat strike, as in past statements. The airstrike was the latest in Operation Southern Spear, which War Secretary Pete Hegseth launched last fall to specifically target drug trafficking activities in the Western Hemisphere. SOUTHCOM announced the prior strike killed two suspected narcoterrorists on Monday. The death toll from these airstrikes is now up to 175 people since September. Eleven of those deaths happened in the last few days. A survivor was left in one of the two attacks on Saturday. The Coast Guard suspended its search for the missing survivor, who was never found. The anti-drug trafficking operation continues even as the U.S. military has been redirected to Operation Epic Fury in Iran. The war paused amid the fragile two-week ceasefire between both sides. FOX News [4/14/2026 9:09 PM, Michael Sinkewicz, 37576K] reports "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” "Four male narco-terrorists were killed during this action," SOUTHCOM said. No U.S. military forces were harmed, the command added. SOUTHCOM did not immediately provide additional details about the identities of those killed or the specific groups involved. The strike came after SOUTHCOM said Monday that it conducted another strike in the Eastern Pacific, killing two individuals believed to be involved in narcotics trafficking. CBS News [4/14/2026 8:53 PM, Staff, 51110K] reports that in at least six instances, people have survived the strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats, spurring efforts to find and rescue them in most cases. Authorities have later called off several of those searches, though in one October operation, two survivors were picked up by a Navy helicopter and repatriated to their home countries of Ecuador and Colombia. During the first boat strike in the Trumo administration’s controversial campaign on Sept. 2, two people survived an initial strike but were killed in a follow-on attack, prompting accusations the second strike may have constituted a war crime. Critics have questioned the overall legality of the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India. President Trump has said the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists.”

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Breitbart [4/15/2026 1:48 AM, Staff, 2238K]
FOX News [4/14/2026 9:09 PM, Michael Sinkewicz, 37576K]

The Hill [4/14/2026 10:17 AM, Sarah Davis, 18170K] reports Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that a proposed executive order that would require banks to collect citizenship information is “in process” in an interview this week with Semafor. “And I don’t think it’s unreasonable, because why don’t we have information on who’s in our banking system?” the Trump official told the outlet Monday. “I have a place in the UK; they want to know who lives in every apartment — and how do we know that it’s not part of a foreign terrorist organization?” The draft executive order was first reported on earlier this year, and it would require banking institutions to request additional identification documents from customers. This would be the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Semafor reported in February that REAL IDs would not be considered eligible documents under this new documentation requirement, as they do not prove citizenship. The move has received some support from Republicans.

NewsMax [4/14/2026 7:23 PM, Jim Mishler, 3760K] reports illegals who have entered the U.S. are increasingly avoiding filing federal tax returns after the Internal Revenue Service shared taxpayer information with immigration enforcement. New York Times reported the shift is raising concerns that fewer filings could reduce federal tax revenue and weaken long-standing compliance among those in the group who previously paid into the system. For decades, many illegal immigrants filed taxes using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs, both to comply with the law and to document their work history. Those filings generated significant revenue, with estimates placing annual federal tax contributions from illegal immigrants at about $60 billion. The Yale Budget Lab projected that reduced compliance could result in about $300 billion in lost tax revenue over the next decade. Early signs of the decline are already emerging as the tax deadline approaches. At a Los Angeles tax assistance center, ITIN filers accounted for about 10% of clients this year, compared with roughly one-third in previous years. Tax preparers in other parts of the country have reported similar drops after reports that immigration enforcement agencies sought access to IRS data. The change marks a break from longstanding IRS practice that kept taxpayer information separate from immigration enforcement.

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Telemundo [4/15/2026 12:25 AM, Joshua Bran, 56K]

New York Times [4/14/2026 11:49 AM, Miriam Jordan and Andrew Duehren, 148038K] reports Evelin and Gustavo Quebedo have filed U.S. tax returns every year for more than a decade. That they are undocumented immigrants did not deter them. “Our thinking has been, if one day there’s immigration reform and the chance to legalize our status, we can show that we file our taxes, are not a burden — that we do the right thing,” said Mr. Quebedo, a car mechanic, who lives with his family in Los Angeles. But as April 15 approached this year, the couple, who came to the United States from Central America, agonized over whether to file. Their fears, shared by many of the millions of undocumented people who file tax returns, are rooted in the decision last year by the Internal Revenue Service to give immigration officials the addresses of people subject to deportation — a break with the tax agency’s longstanding practices. The shift sent shock waves through the I.R.S., where taxpayer privacy has been an article of faith, and through immigrant communities, where filing tax returns was seen as a way for people in the country illegally to show that they were complying with tax laws. The federal treasury could take a hit. Many undocumented immigrants have taxes withheld in every paycheck, but experts worry some could shift into under-the-table jobs. Others with less formal earnings may now skip filing a tax return — and therefore not pay federal taxes at all. The Yale Budget Lab, a nonpartisan research center, projected lost tax revenue of about $300 billion over a decade. The fallout from the I.R.S. agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement is becoming clearer as the annual tax deadline nears, according to several organizations that assist immigrants with filing their tax returns.

AP [4/14/2026 8:13 PM, Megan Janetsky and Will Weissert, 56K] reports the Mexican government on Tuesday protested the deaths of its citizens in U.S. immigration custody as President Claudia Sheinbaum pushes back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies on multiple fronts. The progressive Mexican leader has walked a careful line with Trump for more than a year, addressing provocations with a measured tone and meeting U.S. requests to crack down on criminal cartels more so than her predecessors, in an effort to offset threats of tariffs and U.S. military action against the gangs. But in the wake of mounting deaths of Mexican citizens in custody of immigration officials and the Trump administration’s decision to impose an energy blockade on Cuba — a key Mexican ally — Sheinbaum has taken a harder line. “We’ve seen the president raise her tone,” said Palmira Tapia, an analyst for Mexico’s Center for Economic Research and Teaching. “There’s been a shift, and we’ve seen Sheinbaum be more vocal than before.” Sheinbaum’s latest rebuke came on Tuesday, a day after 49-year-old Mexican citizen Alejandro Cabrera Clemente died in a detention center in Louisiana of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, the fifteenth death of a Mexican citizen in U.S. custody in little over a year. Mexico’s government quickly called the deaths “unacceptable” and the ICE detention centers “incompatible with human rights standards and the protection of life.” During a Tuesday press briefing Sheinbaum added that she requested investigations into the deaths of the 15 migrants, and instructed Mexican consulates to visit detention centers daily. She said her government would raise the deaths in detention centers to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and was considering appealing to the United Nations. Her government already said it would support lawsuits in the U.S. filed by detainees over poor conditions. “We are going to defend Mexicans at every level,” Sheinbaum said, adding that “there are many Mexicans whose only crime is not having papers.”

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Los Angeles Times [4/14/2026 5:57 PM, Patrick J. McDonnell, 12718K]

Reuters [4/14/2026 3:41 PM, Richard Cowan, 38315K] reports partisan legislation ​to fund Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement activities through the end of his presidency in January 2029 could ‌begin moving through the U.S. Senate by the end of this month, according to Republican senators and aides. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, is pushing for quick action on a bill that would pave the way for funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol, which ​are parts of the Department of Homeland Security. He told reporters on Tuesday the full Senate could begin work "as ​early as next week." The Senate is scheduled to begin a week-long recess on May 1. In a move to get new money approved ​without Democratic support, Republicans want to use a special Senate procedure allowing bills to pass by a simple majority, instead of support from at least 60 senators in the 100-member Senate that most legislation requires. Thune is seeking a narrow bill that would fend off attempts by some of the 53 Republican senators to ‌add unrelated ⁠items. The Hill [4/14/2026 3:23 PM, Alexander Bolton, 18170K] reports that a Republican senator briefed on the GOP leadership’s plans said senators are expecting to hold an all-night vote-a-rama on April 23. Thune says the budget resolution will be narrowly targeted to fund ICE and Border Patrol — the two agencies Democrats have refused to fund through the regular appropriations process unless the White House agrees to reform them by requiring judicial warrants before federal officers can enter private homes and by banning officers from wearing masks. The Washington Times [4/14/2026 4:59 PM, Kerry Picket, 1323K] reports that the filibuster-proof legislation would only pay for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol for the remainder of President Trump’s term, denying Democrats a reason to shut down the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. A bill to fund the rest of DHS, which has been in a partial shutdown since Feb. 14. Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, said the skinny package didn’t satisfy everyone in his conference. “We have members who want other things,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “But obviously, we have a specific mission and purpose here, and that is to ensure that these important agencies of our government that have vital functions when it comes to our homeland and national security are funded.” “That is a narrow and specific purpose. And my hope would be that if we can execute on getting that done here in the Senate, the House will be able to follow through,” he said. Mr. Thune blamed Democrats who blocked DHS funds because they objected to Mr. Trump’s mass deportation agenda and wanted to impose restrictions on federal immigration agents. “It is shameful what the Democrats have done to the Department of Homeland Security. They have now twice in this last year forced people within the department to go without pay for extended periods of time,” Mr. Thune said. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said that House Republicans could “fix” the shutdown immediately by approving the Senate-passed bill that funds all of DHS except immigration enforcement. “Republicans could fix it today. Democrats passed bipartisan funding twice for the parts of DHS that protect Americans every day,” Mr. Schumer told reporters Tuesday at the Capitol. “Why did Republicans block it? Because Donald Trump and Stephen Miller told them to, instead of reopening DHS and delivering for the American people, Republicans are dragging the Senate through a partisan circus just to avoid basic accountability for ICE and border patrol.” Breitbart [4/15/2026 12:06 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports Democrats began demanding reforms to the federal immigration enforcement agencies before agreeing to restore funding after two U.S. citizens were killed by federal immigration officers amid President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. Amid a stalemate in negotiations, Republicans are considering passing three years of funding for the agencies through a complicated legislative mechanism called a budget reconciliation bill that permits certain spending legislation to pass with a simple majority rather than 60 votes, Thune told reporters Tuesday in the Capitol. "Republicans are going to stand with our Border Patrol, with our law enforcement agencies and we’re going to ensure that they are funded, not only today but well into the future," Thune, R-S.D., said. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is preparing the resolution to fund the agencies that will be followed by the reconciliation bill "to ensure the job gets done," he said. Democrats have blocked funding for ICE and Border Patrol until reforms — including requiring judicial warrants and banning officers from wearing masks — are made, but the reconciliation bill tactic could ensure funding without any votes from Democratic lawmakers. The same tactic was used last year to pass Trump’s sweeping spending and tax cut bill, which provided $75 billion for ICE. "All of the things that the Democrats made this about, which was supposed to be about reforms to the way that ICE and Border Patrol operate — they get none of that," Thune said. "And now, we’re going to fund those agencies for three years into the future. The only thing the Democrats got out of this was they now own the issue of open borders and defund law enforcement.” Republicans hold a narrow 53-47 majority in the Senate, with two independents caucusing with the Democrats, as well as a 218-213 majority in the House.

Politico [4/14/2026 10:15 PM, Jennifer Scholtes, Jordain Carney and Katherine Tully-McManus, 21784K] reports Senate Republicans plan to forge ahead next week with the first formal steps to pass a party-line immigration enforcement bill totaling $65 billion to $75 billion. But as GOP leaders scramble to meet President Donald Trump’s June 1 deadline to clear a bill funding ICE and Border Patrol for more than three years, they are facing competing visions within their ranks for what else should be tacked on as the party runs out of time to score more legislative wins before the midterms. “I think this is it. This is our shot,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters Tuesday, predicting that Republicans would not end up enacting a third filibuster-skirting budget reconciliation bill before Election Day. “And that’s why you sense some frustration among a lot of the senators,” he added. “Some of which has been voiced and a lot of which it hasn’t.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune laid out the up-to $75 billion price tag for the bill to reporters Tuesday. The bill’s topline was in the range of what Republicans had been telegraphing over the past week but could spark pushback from at least one fiscal hawk — Senate Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul — because it’s higher than the roughly $50 billion it would cost to fund immigration enforcement at current levels for three years. The worry among some senior Republicans is that expanding the scope of the bill will slow down the process and complicate the measure’s chances of passing. Instead, they want to simply fund the immigration enforcement agencies not covered under the Senate-passed measure House Republicans are still waiting to clear, two months after funding first lapsed for all of the Department of Homeland Security, which houses the immigration agencies. “We have members who want other things. I mean, I want other things,” Thune said Tuesday afternoon. “But obviously we have a specific mission and purpose here.” Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) is expected to release the budget resolution as soon as this week to set the general framework for the final package. Senate GOP leaders are encouraging Republican senators to offer their ideas as amendments during the chamber’s marathon “vote-a-rama” debate, during which lawmakers are allowed to offer as many germane amendments as they wish. “There was some suggestion that it ought to be a little broader and everything. I think that’s where the default position is, ‘Then put it in an amendment, and we’ll see if it can pass,’” West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the No. 4 Senate Republican, told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

Bloomberg [4/14/2026 4:19 PM, Erik Wasson, 18082K] reports Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he will push fellow Republicans to accept narrowly focused legislation to end the record-long funding lapse at the Department of Homeland Security and shelve demands for other priorities. Thune’s move, coming as Congress returns to Washington after a two-week spring break, adds momentum to a two-step Republican plan to end the longest partial government shutdown in history. DHS funding officially lapsed two months ago, on Feb. 14. The Senate Republican leader said Tuesday he hopes to begin votes next week on the outline of a funding package that would provide between $65 billion and $75 billion for immigration enforcement operations and border control. The money would fund President Donald Trump’s crackdown for three and a half years without accepting Democratic demands for restrictions such as requiring agents to stop masking their faces in most cases and obtain judicial warrants before raiding homes. The Senate has already passed legislation to fund all DHS operations except immigration enforcement through Sept. 30. But House Republicans have said they won’t agree to the measure until immigration enforcement operations are funded for multiple years. Another group of Republicans is also pressing to add tax cuts to the DHS funding legislation, including the possible extension of the $40,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction. Yet they have hinted they can shelve their goals for a later time. Thune plans to make use of a special Senate procedure for budget-related measures that would bypass the chamber’s ordinary 60-vote threshold to pass the legislation. Democrats have blocked immigration enforcement funding in the chamber as long as Republicans reject their demands.

AP [4/14/2026 5:54 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick] reports Republicans in Congress are forging ahead with a risky go-it-alone strategy for fully funding the Department of Homeland Security, which has been shut down for almost two months as Democrats demand changes to President Donald Trump’s broad campaign of immigration enforcement. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday that Republicans will try to pass the money for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection “the hard way.” That means bypassing Democrats, who say a funding bill should place restraints on federal immigration authorities, including better identification for federal officers and more use of judicial warrants. Democrats will now get “none of that,” Thune said, after bipartisan negotiations stalled. Republicans are instead preparing a partisan bill that they will try to pass under a complicated, time-consuming maneuver called budget reconciliation that only requires a simple majority vote in the 53-47 Senate. The process could be messy. Thune, R-S.D., is pushing for a narrow bill that would only include money for ICE and CBP in an effort to reopen the department quickly. But some of his Republican colleagues are likely to push to add other unrelated priorities. Democrats say they will continue to insist on reforms to the agencies.

Bloomberg [4/14/2026 6:41 PM, Staff, 18082K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) discusses whether or not House Democrats’ plan to have ICE not receive additional funding will backfire as the House is looking to vote on a bill that would fund ICE before voting on the Senate’s bill that funds the rest of the Department of Homeland Security. He also talks about whether or not a proposed $1.5 trillion defense spending budget for fiscal year 2027 will pass, and shares his reaction to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) announcing their resignations ahead of potential expulsion votes. Representative Levin speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on the late edition of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power.”

USA Today [4/14/2026 1:06 PM, Christopher Cann, 70643K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security has ordered thousands of furloughed employees to return to work despite most of the agency remaining unfunded by Congress amid the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. In a statement to USA TODAY, the agency said it "will be utilizing available funding" to recall its entire workforce. It wasn’t clear how many employees in total have been ordered to return to work. The agency, which is among the largest departments in the federal government, employs more than 260,000 people. The return-to-work notices come after President Donald Trump on April 3 signed a memorandum ordering all DHS employees to receive pay and benefits lost during the partial government shutdown. In the order, Trump directed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to use funds with "a reasonable and logical nexus to the functions of DHS to provide each and every employee of DHS with the compensation and benefits that would have accrued to them" if not for the shutdown. Mullin, who replaced former Secretary Kristi Noem in March, said last week that most DHS employees would soon be receiving paychecks. "We expect most of those checks to be in their banks by Friday," he told CBS News at an event in North Carolina. "Some of the financial institutions may have to wait till Monday, but the majority of everybody will be paid by then." The secretary, however, warned that future paychecks would depend "on Congress." DHS has not been fully funded for more than eight weeks.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/14/2026 11:49 AM, James Morley III, 3760K]

Reuters [4/14/2026 3:37 PM, Clement Bonnerot, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Giulia Paravicini, 38315K] reports Democratic Republic of Congo is set to receive more than 30 deportees from the United States ​this week, four sources told Reuters, the latest example of Washington using agreements with African governments to accelerate migrant removals. The deportees are all from countries other than Congo, and at least some are from Central and South America, according to one source and U.S. court documents. One source familiar with the matter said they would total 37, while another put the figure at 45. They will be the first to land in the Central African country as part of an agreement with the Trump administration announced on April 5, two days after ​Reuters reported the two countries were negotiating a deal for Congo to receive third-country deportees.

Washington Post [4/14/2026 3:13 PM, Salvador Rizzo, 24826K] reports a divided appeals court ruled Tuesday that D.C.’s chief federal judge must end his inquiry into possible criminal contempt by Trump administration officials who disregarded court orders last year to halt flights of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador. The ruling marked the second time the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, by a 2-1 vote, has stopped Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg from pursuing the contempt probe in the high-profile case over President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations. Federal judges across the country have found that the administration’s rapid moves in many cases have violated migrants’ rights to challenge their removals in court. Boasberg in a series of rulings has stressed that the Venezuelan migrants must get due process. But the contempt proceedings could be revived. A majority of the active judges on the D.C. Circuit previously indicated that Boasberg was justified in launching his inquiry. The lead attorney for the Venezuelan plaintiffs said Tuesday’s ruling to stop the proceedings will be appealed to the full D.C. Circuit.

Daily Caller [4/14/2026 12:01 PM, Harold Hutchison, 803K] reports a conservative journalist attacked at a left-wing protest in Minneapolis has released new footage appearing to show her alleged assailants planning the violence in advance. On Saturday, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Frontlines reporter Savanah Hernandez posted multiple videos and photos showing a violent confrontation as she was swarmed and physically attacked by a mob protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota. Hernandez identified a father and daughter in the attack where she was punched, shoved, and thrown to the ground repeatedly by the angry mob. The violent assault has drawn the attention of the Department of Justice. The father, Chris Ostroushko, can be heard in the new video released Monday seemingly planning the incident in advance and giving directions to his daughter Paige, according to Hernandez. "The more footage that comes out, the worse it gets for the Ostroushko family," Hernandez wrote as she shared the clip. "Here’s Chris instructing his OWN daughter to come up to me and, ‘Blow the whistle right in her fucking ear.’". The more footage that comes out, the worse it gets for the Ostroushko family.

FOX News [4/14/2026 10:30 AM, Max Bacall, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Marien Richardson, a mother who challenged Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., during a viral debate over border security, told Fox News Monday that Democratic leaders cannot claim to support secure borders while backing policies she argued are failing Americans and putting children at risk. Richardson characterized the now-viral debate posted on Jubilee’s YouTube channel as "respectful," but said she couldn’t allow Khanna to dismiss the link between human trafficking and illegal immigration by redirecting the conversation toward topics like the Epstein files or ICE’s treatment of detainees. "I’m glad I was strong enough to bring him back to the point, which is simply, you are in a sanctuary city. You are pro-making things easier for illegal migrants, which then turns into supporting and even promoting illegal immigration," Richardson said on "The Will Cain Show." She added that it was frustrating that the left uses talking points, even when they surround legitimate concerns, to obscure "the huge problems going on because of their policies." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/14/2026 5:11 AM, Rachel Poser, Emily Bazelon, and Matthew Purdy, 148038K] reports before the 2024 election, about three-quarters of Americans believed that the U.S. immigration system was broken. Large majorities in both political parties said the Biden administration badly mishandled the surge of undocumented migrants into the country after the onset of the pandemic. Though President Joe Biden took steps to sharply reduce the numbers in his last months in office, frustration over immigration helped catapult Donald Trump back into the White House. On Day 1 of his presidency, the Trump administration began the harshest crackdown on immigrants inside the country since the 1950s. Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security adviser and the architect of his immigration policy, set a target of 3,000 arrests a day and one million deportations a year. The administration has argued in court that nearly everyone who illegally crosses the border is subject to mandatory detention and has fired more than 100 immigration judges it viewed as lenient. Most controversially, Trump ordered surges of thousands of immigration enforcement agents in U.S. cities, leading to declining approval ratings, mass protests and the fatal shootings of two American citizens by federal agents. The main engine of Trump’s enforcement campaign is the Department of Homeland Security. To understand how the agency has transformed, we interviewed more than 80 former and current D.H.S. employees, as well as officials in the Justice Department, which oversees immigration courts. Many of them supported increased enforcement but criticized the administration’s execution, aspects of which they characterized as chaotic, dangerous and ineffective. Career employees described experiencing a frustrating sense of whiplash as immigration policy has swung back and forth between Republican and Democratic administrations. The root of the problem, as they see it, is the failure of Congress over many decades to pass new laws that address today’s realities. In February, the Department of Homeland Security shut down after Congress failed to reach a deal on Democrats’ proposed changes to enforcement tactics. D.H.S. policies bar employees from speaking to the news media without authorization. Some of our sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution from the administration. We corroborated their descriptions of specific incidents with colleagues, contemporaneous notes and court documents. Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, former Secretary Kristi Noem and other agency leaders declined our requests for interviews. We also sent the department detailed questions. In response to a request for comment, Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary of public affairs at D.H.S., wrote in an email that federal immigration officers are arresting “the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and terrorists,” while facing “a coordinated campaign of violence against them.”

New York Post [4/14/2026 6:09 PM, Staff, 40934K] reports Congress is behind on yet more crucial work: If the House and Senate don’t renew it by Monday, a key section of the nation’s key foreign-spying law will expire — blowing a major hole in US national security. A post-9/11 reform, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, sensibly allows monitoring of a limited number of foreigners, on an individual basis, for limited purposes without requiring a warrant. That lets US agents collect vital info and respond quickly when they unearth threats. Over the years, it’s helped agents thwart numerous terrorist plots; locate Chinese sources of fentanyl precursors; ID foreign hackers and ransomware perps; and foil foreign-based spying, kidnapping and assassination schemes — for starters. Today, with America at war with the No. 1 terror sponsor Iran, and facing threats from other nations like China and Russia, nothing would be more reckless than letting 702 sunset. Critics charge that the spying risks violating US citizens’ privacy rights unless agents have to get a warrant first. But, again, 702 is not used to target US citizens.

Chicago Tribune [4/14/2026 9:26 AM, Staff, 5209K] reports "Abolish ICE" makes for red-meat copy on the side of a Chicago street sweeper. But neither Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Democratic Senate candidate Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton really wants to abolish immigration and customs enforcement in the United States. Having a say over who comes and goes into a country is an intrinsic part of what defines a country. Any country. Every country. No nation in the world — at least beyond a few microstates within a broader customs union — has no customs enforcement whatsoever. If paying attention to what arrives in suitcases or on container ships were to be abolished, we’d be awash in illegal drugs and weapons, and most every business in America would be howling about illegal imports. You can’t enforce domestic laws or keep a country’s citizens safe without customs. Even if some future far-left politicians sold America on the absurdity of open borders when it comes to immigration (also not what other countries do), they’d still have to hold on to customs. Or so one can hope. Which brings us to the arrival of new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has floated the absurd idea of the federal government, being cheesed off about so-called sanctuary cities and the lack of cooperation therein with ICE, moving to limit the provision of customs services, a federal responsibility, at the airports within such cities. Taken on its face, that would have to mean an end to international flights at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Not to mention, Boston Logan International. New York City’s John F. Kennedy International, Los Angeles International, San Francisco International and Denver International, to name just a few examples. Were that to happen, thousands of Americans would be thrown out of work, airline profitability would tank, international tourism would fall apart (beyond cruises and Walt Disney World, anyway) and U.S. commerce in these leading business centers would be severely impacted. And, of course, there would be chaos. "If they’re a sanctuary city, should they really be processing customs into their city?" Mullin has said.

Houston Chronicle [4/14/2026 12:05 PM, Staff, 2493K] reports back in 2021, Austin banned defunding the police. Local governments can’t cut law enforcement budgets without voter approval. The message was clear: don’t mess with police. Now that’s exactly what Gov. Greg Abbott is doing. Apparently, he wants to defund the Houston police to the tune of $110 million unless the city revokes its new immigration policy. After months of controversy over whether and how much Houston police collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, City Council — with Mayor John Whitmire’s yea vote — approved an ordinance that holds police to the constitutional limitations of existing law. They can call ICE, no problem. In fact, HPD policy still requires officers to call ICE. But they can’t prolong traffic stops waiting for federal agents to arrive. The policy is not only a commonsense adherence to the Constitution, it also focuses local law enforcement on the most dangerous criminals, murderers and rapists, not nannies who forgot to use their turn signal.

Daily Caller [4/15/2026 1:43 AM, Jenna Ellis, 803K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments in a case that could redefine one of the most consequential questions in American law: Who is entitled to citizenship under the 14th Amendment? The focus, predictably, has been on constitutional interpretation — what the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" means, how it has been applied historically, and whether it extends to the children of those unlawfully present in the United States. Those are important questions. But they are not the only ones — and arguably not even the most important. Because the deeper issue exposed by this case is not merely what the Constitution permits. It is who gets to decide. By leaving this question first to the executive order and then to the majority of the Court, this case exposes what Congress has failed to do. For decades, Congress has abdicated its responsibility to define and regulate the contours of citizenship in a manner consistent with both constitutional text and national sovereignty. Instead of legislating clearly and deliberately, it has allowed ambiguity to fester — leaving the courts to resolve disputes that are fundamentally legislative in nature. That is not how our system is supposed to work. The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment was never intended to function as a blank check. Its central purpose, in the wake of the Civil War, was to guarantee citizenship to formerly enslaved persons — those who were unquestionably subject to the full jurisdiction of the United States and owed it complete allegiance. It was not designed to incentivize the circumvention of immigration law or serve as a conduit for birther tourism. Yet today, a growing and undeniable phenomenon exists: individuals entering or remaining in the country unlawfully and having children on U.S. soil in order to secure legal status for those children — and, in many cases, eventual derivative benefits for themselves. Call it what it is: a form of unjust enrichment. Citizenship is not merely a benefit. It is the highest legal status our nation can confer. It carries with it not only important rights (including voting), but reciprocal obligations — allegiance, civic participation and a shared commitment to the American constitutional order. To treat it as an automatic byproduct of unlawful presence is to diminish its meaning and undermine the rule of law. And yet Congress has largely remained silent.

Washington Times [4/14/2026 5:48 PM, Alfonso Aguilar, 1323K] reports that, earlier this month, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on President Trump’s executive order denying automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to temporary visa holders and illegal migrants. As a former chief of the U.S. Office of Citizenship and a son of immigrants from Latin America, I see this issue as deeply personal. Like so many others, my family came to the United States in search of freedom, opportunity and fairness. We built our lives here with deep gratitude and a lasting commitment to and love for America. This is why I hope the Supreme Court concludes that the president’s decision to limit birthright citizenship is constitutional and represents a necessary step toward preserving the meaning and value of American citizenship. Citizenship should not be treated as a mere accident of birth. In a diverse nation such as the U.S., it must instead reflect loyalty, commitment and a genuine dedication to the principles that define our republic. The drafters of the 14th Amendment fully understood the importance of love of country as the basis for citizenship. In their carefully written text, they made clear that citizenship requires not just birth in the United States but also being “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” a phrase rooted in Anglo-American common law that means political allegiance to the nation. In other words, only children born here of parents who are loyal and faithful to America should be considered citizens. Because allegiance is essential to citizenship, common law has long recognized exceptions to birthright citizenship — exceptions the Supreme Court has upheld. Children born to foreign diplomats, for example, are not granted U.S. citizenship at birth because their parents owe political allegiance to another nation rather than the United States. Yet despite this legal tradition and established case law, for more than a century, the federal government has automatically extended to temporary visitors and undocumented immigrants citizenship to children born on U.S. soil. Rather than treating these cases as exceptions to birthright citizenship, the government has adopted an expansive interpretation that lacks a coherent constitutional basis. Temporary visa holders, whether visitors, workers or students, are by definition present in the United States for a limited period. As such, they retain political allegiance to their home countries. Undocumented immigrants, as the America First Policy Institute noted in an amicus brief filed in support of the Trump administration’s position, “are necessarily in enmity with the country they enter because they have broken the law by crossing its borders.” By violating U.S. law, they demonstrate a lack of allegiance to the legal and political order of the United States.

Daily Caller [4/14/2026 11:36 AM, Natalie Sandoval, 803K] reports that federal law enforcement raided a Chicago apartment complex on Sept. 30, 2025, resulting in the arrest of 37 illegal aliens. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says the aliens hailed from countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, Nigeria, and Colombia, and that "Tren de Aragua gang members and violent criminals" were among the arrested. The intrepid journalists at ProPublica aren’t buying the Trump administration’s narrative. "[W]hat prompted the raid was more pedestrian: allegations that immigrants were squatting in the complex. And the landlord had given federal officials, who were already targeting immigrants in Chicago, the blessing to search the building," write Melissa Sanchez and Jodi Cohen. Sanchez and Cohen fail to remark on the extraordinary nature of the circumstances they’ve described. Nearly 40 illegal aliens were allegedly living in an apartment building in Chicago. Some or many of them were squatters. The owner of that building apparently had to rely on the federal government to flush them out. Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at DHS, told ProPublica that the raid resulted in the arrest of two confirmed Tren de Aragua members. "One of these members was a positive match on the Terror Screening Watchlist," McLaughlin wrote in a statement. "Given that two individuals of a Foreign Terrorist Organization were arrested, at a building they are known to frequent, we are limited on further information we can provide. The safety and protection of sources is more important than your story," McLaughlin concluded.

Axios [4/14/2026 8:07 PM, Brittany Gibson, 17364K] reports the top U.S. immigration enforcement agency deported 442,637 people between October 2024 and September 2025, according to newly-released statistics. The top-line figure is about 171,000 people more than the fiscal year before, but far short of Trump’s campaign promise to deport one million people a year. The figure is the first official deportation statistic released under the Trump administration and was included in a congressional budget justification report. The Office of Homeland Security Statistics hasn’t updated its data since November of 2024. Homeland Security’s much-hyped "self deportation" figure is not included in the report. The agency has claimed in press releases that more than two million have "self-deported" but hasn’t shared regular data. The ICE report shows that the goal for next year is to deport 1 million people. But the agency has asked for less money in fiscal year 2027 than it did in fiscal year 2026. ICE supports slashing $751 million from its immigration detention and removal transportation budgets, citing the billions in extra funding provided by the One Big, Beautiful Bill that passed in summer 2025. ICE has also reduced its budget ask for officer overtime by $155 million. Fiscal year 2025 includes the final months of former President Biden’s term and most of Trump’s first year in office. Of the deportations, almost 167,000 people had criminal records (convictions and pending charges). This is roughly 38% of all removals and returns as the administration aims to focus on the promoting its enforcement against the so-called "Worst of the Worst."

Blaze [4/14/2026 4:00 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1556K] reports on Monday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents nabbed several criminal illegal aliens whom Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin described as "truly sick individuals." A DHS press release, obtained exclusively by Blaze News, highlighted ICE’s recent arrest of five illegal immigrants across the country who were taken into federal custody. These individuals have been "convicted of voluntary manslaughter, lewd battery on a child, attempted statutory rape of a child, and other horrific crimes," the press release read. The DHS stated that nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens with prior criminal charges or convictions.

USA Today [4/14/2026 10:45 AM, Ignacio Calderon, 70643K] reports immigration detention numbers have fallen to their lowest point since last fall, according to newly released data, published with a long delay that the Department of Homeland Security attributed to a partial government shutdown amid funding negotiations. The data, released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on April 9, offers a glimpse into the agency’s enforcement operations at a time of heightened public pressure following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, a leadership shakeup, and a growing string of court losses. Experts said it’s still too early to say if the changes will hold, but pointed to a few possible explanations behind the early April drop. According to ICE data, the number of people detained climbed to historic high levels since President Donald Trump took office in 2025. Even with the recent decline, it is still significantly higher than at any point during the Biden administration. Trump campaigned for his second term with the promise of mass deportation, but that came with serious logistical challenges. As the number of people booked into detention each month climbed, the number of people removed did not keep the same pace, leading to more people held in the system. The surge in people detained from ICE arrests was largely driven by more people without a criminal record, according to ICE data analyzed by USA TODAY. The recent release shows a drop in that population, but it remains the biggest group. Experts noted an increase in recent court cases that challenge the lack of due process following some detentions. There could be an effort by ICE to release some people ahead of challenges to avoid having to adjust policies on a more permanent basis from these rulings, experts said.

Bloomberg Law [4/15/2026 5:00 AM, Maia Spoto, Megan Crepeau, Beth Wang, and Ryan Autullo, 49K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has held at least 60,000 people in its detention centers in every month of 2026, each swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation efforts. Many have petitioned immigration judges to be released on bond, typically after paying thousands of dollars, while their cases are adjudicated. Most fail. Bloomberg Law reporters attended 55 bond hearings across six days in February and March to chronicle proceedings before immigration judges in California, Texas, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. The detainees, mostly men, ranged from some who had been in the country for just years to others who had spent decades raising families and building lives in the US. The administration has asserted that its primary goal is to find and expel criminals; government lawyers mentioned a past criminal charge or arrest in about one-third of the cases. The hearings took place in sparsely attended courtrooms, tucked within unmarked office buildings and crowded detention centers. Some detainees or their lawyers, if they had representation, joined remotely by video feed. They typically lasted 20 minutes or less, without the detail or public record generated for most civil or criminal courtroom proceedings. Still, they offered a window into an uneven system beleaguered by an avalanche of cases and whipsawed by changing legal decisions. Judges agreed to set bond in 15 of the 55 hearings, a step toward getting released. In other cases, several bluntly said that they believed they lacked the authority to do so. For those who fail to get bond, the choices are stark: remain locked up, potentially waiting months or years for their cases to be heard, or agree to leave the country. Bloomberg Law reached out to the Executive Office for Immigration Review—the agency within the Justice Department that oversees the immigration court system—with questions and an interview request to discuss the process and the hearings its reporters observed. In an emailed response, a spokesperson said the office “does not comment on immigration judge decision-making, nor on litigation-related matters.” Changes within the system, including a trend toward higher bonds and rulings that make it easier for the government to argue for detention, have stacked the odds against detainees in an unprecedented way, immigration lawyers say. “This is the worst I’ve seen it, and I’ve seen some pretty bad times,” said Caridad Pastor, who has practiced immigration law for almost four decades.

New York Post [4/14/2026 3:00 PM, Priscilla DeGregory, 40934K] reports the Trump administration has sued the state of Connecticut and its city of New Haven to try to overturn their sanctuary policies protecting illegal migrants — bringing the tally of such cases to 16. The Department of Justice claimed in its latest case Monday that the Nutmeg State’s "Trust Act" and New Haven’s "Welcoming City" executive order have both given criminal migrants "safe harbor" and allowed them to evade federal immigration enforcement — all undermining US laws. The state and city have been stonewalling the feds’ enforcement actions by refusing to share information and rarely honoring immigration detainers, forcing local law enforcement "to release criminal alien offenders back into the very communities they have already victimized," the federal suit alleged. In fact, since 2020, only 20% of immigration detainers "have been honored in Connecticut," the suit claimed. In addition, state Attorney General William Tong’s new policy from March 26 on immigration matters dictates local authorities only "share sensitive information as explicitly required by law" and treat ICE detainer requests as "just that: requests" — all of which prohibits federal enforcement, the suit charged. A New Haven executive order from Mayor Justin Elicker from 2020 also is "in conflict with and reflects an obstacle to the federal government’s enforcement of immigration laws," the filing alleged. As a result, the DOJ wants a judge to invalidate the state and city’s sanctuary policies on the grounds they violate national law and order them to stop carrying out the allegedly harmful stances, the federal government said.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/15/2026 1:57 AM, Landon Mion, 37576K]
NewsMax [4/14/2026 6:56 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K]

CBS New York [4/14/2026 7:58 PM, Jennifer McLogan, 51110K] Video: HERE reports there are some workforce worries at Long Island farm stands and wineries after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were recently spotted in East End towns. As operations ratchet up this month at farm stands, on fields and in greenhouses, farmers worry about ICE’s ripple effects into the summer growing season. Ed Densieski’s family has been farming in East Quogue for more than 100 years. "I’m working 200 acres. You gotta have some kind of labor force," he said. He considers his immigrant labor force, like Hugo Verliz, part of his family. "Twenty-five years, I work on the farm, never have problem here," Verliz said. That is until February, Verliz said, when his nephew Freddy, who had also worked on the farm for two decades, was coming back from a short visit to Guatemala. "When he came through, came back, ICE grabbed him at the border and sent him back," Densieski said. "He’s very good guy. [Densieski] loved him," Verliz said. ICE told CBS News New York cases like Freddy’s are for incomplete paperwork or visa issues. "He had permanent job. He had good paperwork," Verliz said. So far, no ICE agents have appeared on any East End farms, but during an ICE raid outside a Greenport coffee shop in March, agents picked up two Pindar winery workers. Homeland Security confirms it has an open dialogue with the Long Island Farm Bureau. Its quest is to have agricultural workers separated from overall immigration reform. "Seventy percent of our workforce is an immigrant-based workforce, and the people in Washington do know and do realize," Long Island Farm Bureau Director Bill Zalakar said. "So, they’re watching also on, you know, how they proceed.”

(B) Good Morning America [4/14/2026 8:57 AM, Staff] reports that the Department of Homeland Security is appealing a state Department of Environmental Protection order on a proposed ICE facility in Schuylkill County. Last month, the DEP ruled converting a warehouse into a detention center in Tremont Township would strain sewage systems and exceed the water supply. The federal government claims the DEP’s decision is partly influenced by Governor Shapiro’s opposition to new ICE facilities in Pennsylvania.

FOX News [4/14/2026 3:08 PM, Stepheny Price, 37576K] reports an illegal immigrant, allegedly so intoxicated he could not stand, is accused of driving off a roadway and killing two children riding bikes on a sidewalk, officials said. Eri Otoniel Roblero-Perez was denied bond Monday on two counts of felony DUI resulting in death. He also faces charges of driving without a license and open container. He is currently being held at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility. The crash happened around 12:20 p.m. Sunday along Asheville Highway at Brock Street, about three miles west of Spartanburg. According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, Roblero-Perez was driving a 2016 Honda Accord eastbound when the vehicle veered off the road and struck two boys who were riding bicycles on the sidewalk. The victims were identified as 12-year-old Dereon James Robins and 9-year-old Mikhail-Lee Smith, both of Spartanburg. Both boys later died from their injuries. Another passenger was inside the car but fled the scene and has not been located. The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Roblero-Perez is in the United States illegally. A judge also noted in court that an immigration detainer has been placed on him. Roblero-Perez is scheduled to appear in court again on June 18. The investigation remains ongoing.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 5:00 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports an illegal alien gang member, previously deported from the United States, was found living in Duval County, Florida, after law enforcement began a manhunt for him, as he is wanted in his native Jamaica for murder. On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of 32-year-old illegal alien Ragar Mandela Allen of Jamaica on March 31. Allen is wanted for murder in Jamaica and is a documented member of the Craig Town Gang. Days prior to Allen’s arrest, ICE agents received information from the agency’s attaché in Jamaica, which indicated the illegal alien had returned to the U.S. after having been deported on April 28, 2022. When the Florida Highway Patrol conducted a targeted vehicle stop of Alle, he tried to evade arrest and flee. In the midst of attempting to flee, Allen dragged a highway patrol trooper into a fence with his vehicle. The trooper had to be hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries. Allen was subsequently arrested and had narcotics and a stolen handgun on his person. In Florida, Allen has also been charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, felony fleeing and eluding, possession of a stolen firearm, alien in possession of a firearm, and illegal re-entry following deportation, among other charges. Allen remains in Duval County custody. ICE agents have lodged a detainer against him so that if released from jail at any time, he will be turned over to federal custody.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 12:39 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports that an illegal alien, released into the United States under the Biden administration, is accused of kidnapping and raping a woman in Kirksville, Missouri, on Easter Sunday. Cristian Lopez-Gomez, a 25-year-old illegal alien from Honduras, has been arrested and charged with the kidnapping and rape of a woman which allegedly occurred on Easter Sunday in the city of Kirksville. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said on Monday that Lopez-Gomez was released into the United States interior at the southern border in April 2024 under former President Joe Biden’s mass migration directives. "This animal kidnapped and raped a woman in Missouri on Easter Sunday," the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Lauren Bis said in a statement. "This sexual predator was released into our country by the Biden administration in 2024." Bis said that ICE agents have lodged a detainer against Lopez-Gomez, so that if he is released from jail at any time, he will be turned over to federal custody. "ICE lodged an arrest detainer requesting Missouri not release this monster back into our communities to rape and assault more innocent women," Bis said. "Thankfully, Missouri cooperates with ICE law enforcement. When state and local law enforcement work with ICE, we can safely remove criminal illegal aliens from our country and put the safety of American citizens first."

CNN [4/14/2026 4:55 PM, Holly Yan, Bill Kirkos] reports in the hours leading up to Miles Young’s death, the 15-year-old thought he was just going to meet up with a girl. Instead, authorities say, he was ambushed in a complex scheme and killed while he pleaded for his life. Miles was gunned down last month while being chased by two suspects, a Greene County detective wrote in court filings. Yefry Archaga and Praize King, both 18, now face first-degree murder charges in connection with Miles’ death. Archaga is also listed as Archaga Elvir and Archaga-Elvir in court documents. Authorities have not released a motive for the killing. But two witnesses said the girl who lured Miles to the scene of his death "blamed Miles for the death of the victim in a 2025 homicide case," the detective wrote in a probable cause statement for Archaga. The killing has become a political flashpoint for supporters of tougher immigration reform/enforcement in Missouri. Archaga, one of the suspects, came to the US from Honduras as a child, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Archaga’s attorney said his client was raised in Missouri, and his background has nothing to do with the case. DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an arrest detainer for Archaga.

(B) NBC News Daily [4/14/2026 2:18 PM, Staff] that Immigration and Customs Enforcement says a man from Mexico being held in ICE custody has died. He was being held at Wynn Correctional Center in Louisiana and this marks the 16th death of a detainee in ICE custody this year alone. He is also the 47th person to die in ICE custody during Trump’s second term.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 2:57 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports that President Joe Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS), then overseen by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, released an illegal alien into the United States knowing he did not have a valid asylum claim, new documents from the House Judiciary Committee reveal. The illegal alien is now accused of murdering 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman last month in the sanctuary city of Chicago, Illinois. As Breitbart News has chronicled, 25-year-old illegal alien Jose Medina-Medina of Venezuela was arrested by the Chicago Police Department and charged with murdering Sheridan Gorman in a random attack on a pier at Tobey Prinz Beach on March 19. Prosecutors say Sheridan was with a group of friends on the pier when she noticed Medina-Medina hiding. When Sheridan and others in the group started running for safety, Medina-Medina allegedly fired a gun, shooting and killing the young woman, who was in her freshman year of college. On Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee unveiled internal DHS documents showing that agency officials were well aware that Medina-Medina had no valid asylum claim, did not have any form of identification, provided no United States contact or address, and made clear he did not fear being returned to Venezuela when he showed up at the southern border on May 9, 2023.

Daily Caller [4/14/2026 1:47 PM, Harold Hutchison, 803K] reports that Biden administration officials allowed the illegal alien accused of murdering college student Sheridan Gorman free despite fears he would "abscond," House Judiciary Committee Republicans said. Chicago police announced March 22 that Jose Medina-Medina had been arrested for the murder of Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University who was shot while walking in a city park. In a Tuesday post on X, committee Republicans posted screenshots of documents indicating that the Biden administration knew Medina-Medina had no identification, lacked a valid U.S. address, had no confirmed point of contact and was "likely to abscond" before releasing him. "Democrats knew this man was dangerous and had no legitimate asylum claim. But they still released him," Committee Republicans said in the post that contained screenshots. "The criminal alien who killed college student Sheridan Gorman: Apprehended at the border by the Biden Administration in 2023; Released two weeks later; Noted by officials as ‘likely to abscond’ and had no verifiable contact information," Judiciary Committee Republicans said in a post featuring a photo of Medina-Medina made shortly before they posted the document screenshots. Medina-Medina had been apprehended by Border Patrol agents in 2023, but was released, according to a March post on X by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

NPR [4/15/2026 5:00 AM, Juliana Kim, 34837K] reports when Rachel Reyes thinks back to her son’s final days, she remembers how excited he was for the year ahead. Ruben Ray Martinez had just turned 23. Reyes said her son planned to enroll in trade school to become a mechanic. He felt ready to move out of his family’s home in San Antonio and had found an apartment he liked, she added. But on March 15, 2025, Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a traffic encounter in Texas. He’s considered the first of at least six people to have been killed by immigration agents since the start of President Trump’s second term, according to The Trace, an outlet focused on covering gun violence. "He would speak with enthusiasm, like he was looking forward to doing things. He thought he’d have more time," she said. "We all thought he would have more time." Martinez’s death came nearly a year before immigration agents fatally shot Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti in separate incidents in Minneapolis. And during that time, Martinez’s mother and the public didn’t know that the officer who killed Martinez worked for ICE. That only came to light following a public records request by American Oversight, a watchdog group, that sought documents related to ICE’s use of force. Among the records was an ICE incident report that said Martinez accelerated his car and struck a federal agent, prompting another officer to fire defensive shots. But videos released separately last month suggest a different version of events: Footage from police body cameras appear to show federal agents standing in front of Martinez’s car as it slowly moves. It’s unclear from the videos reviewed by NPR whether the vehicle hit an agent. Reyes told NPR that she felt betrayed by law enforcement, whom she says she always had a deep respect for. She added that losing her son was already devastating and the recent revelations about ICE’s involvement have made grieving more painful.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 12:32 PM, Bob Price, 2238K] reports that Houston could lose critical police, fire, and homeland security funding after state officials ruled that the city’s newly adopted immigration ordinance violates its public safety grant requirements, Mayor John Whitmire said Monday. The city stands to lose approximately $110 million in state grant funding if it does not reverse the newly enacted policy. Mayor Whitmire said in a written statement that his office was notified by Governor Greg Abbott’s Public Safety Office that Texas will withdraw recently approved grant funding because the recent vote by the city council changing support for immigration enforcement violated the agreement between the city and the state, according to a report by KHOU, CBS11 in Houston. "This is a crisis situation," Whitmire said. "The potential loss of state funding poses real challenges for the Houston Police and Fire Departments and will impact public safety services across our city, the 2026 FIFA World Cup preparations, and the Homeland Security Department.” Fox 26 Houston reported directly from the governor’s letter to Mayor Whitmire, writing: This letter serves to notify you that this new ordinance, Section 34-41 of the Houston Code of Ordinances, is in breach of your April 15, 2025, certification and imperils all grant agreements between the City and PSO (Public Safety Office) for Fiscal Year 2026. Please respond by April 20, 2026, to confirm that the City will not enforce, and will to repeal, the ordinance. Failure to do so may result in PSO exercising its sole discretion to terminate all such grants.

Axios [4/14/2026 12:43 PM, Jay R. Jordan, 17364K] reports that under threat of a $110 million funding loss, the Houston City Council on Friday will consider repealing changes it recently approved to how city police officers cooperate with ICE agents. Why it matters: Mayor John Whitmire called the threat by Gov. Greg Abbott a "crisis situation," saying public safety operations surrounding the FIFA World Cup would be affected. Driving the news: Whitmire, who voted in favor of the rule change, on Monday called a special City Council meeting to consider repealing the new ordinance. The notice was posted hours after Abbott’s office sent the city the letter threatening to pull funding. Catch up quick: Under the new rules, HPD officers can detain someone only as long as necessary for the initial reason for the encounter, like a traffic stop. Officers must call ICE if a suspect has an administrative immigration warrant, but they can no longer wait for ICE agents to arrive if there’s no other reason to further detain the person. Officers were previously allowed to detain individuals with administrative warrants for as long as it took for ICE agents to arrive. In March, that was reduced to a 30-minute window. Friction point: The governor’s Public Safety Office told the city Monday that restricting officers from detaining someone solely for an ICE administrative warrant was in violation of grant agreements between Houston and the state of Texas.

Univision [4/14/2026 5:27 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened a formal investigation into the city of Austin over his latest policy regulating local police interaction with federal immigration agents. The prosecutor’s office sent an official letter on Friday, April 10, notifying local authorities about the process. It all comes from a change implemented in March by Police Chief Lisa Davis. The new policy indicates that officers cannot arrest or detain someone solely on an administrative immigration order issued by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, if that person has not committed a crime. That is, if there is no crime, the police are not required to detain someone just by an ICE order. The Prosecutor investigates whether this policy could go against state-run Senate Bill 4 Act.

FOX News [4/14/2026 3:14 PM, Preston Mizell, 37576K] reports the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer request for an illegal migrant in Oklahoma who is charged with murder for allegedly strangling his wife to death and dumping her body near a highway. Willie Ricardo Merida‑Escobar, 40, was charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, Karla Gramajo-Cabrera, in Tulsa County, on April 10. Merida-Escobar, a Guatemalan national, entered the country illegally in September 2016 and was issued a final order of removal in 2023, according to DHS. "Willie Ricardo Merida‑Escobar, a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, strangled his wife and dumped her body under a highway in Oklahoma. This monster should have never been in our country," Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital in a statement. "ICE lodged an arrest detainer with our law enforcement partners in Tulsa County to ensure this sick individual is not released from custody. 7 of the top 10 safest cities in the United States cooperate with ICE," Bis added. "Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country. Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the U.S."

DailySignal [4/14/2026 12:55 PM, Fred Lucas, 474K] reports that the House Judiciary Committee is investigating why Colorado lawyers who want to file a case online must abide by the state’s sanctuary law or face perjury charges. In a letter on Monday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, said they are looking at Colorado’s sanctuary policy. Last year, Colorado’s Democrat Gov. Jared Polis signed the Protect Civil Rights Immigration Status Act into law, which attempts to shield illegal immigrants by extending existing prohibitions on information sharing to state officials and any third party with access through the Colorado Judicial Department. Lawyers who use information from the court filing system to assist with immigration enforcement could be charged with perjury. They must certify online that they will not share personal information from the database with federal immigration officials. "This certification commandeers private attorneys into Colorado’s radical sanctuary policies, handcuffs federal officials from enforcing immigration law in Colorado, and violates fundamental free speech principles," the members’ letter says. The Colorado courts’ electronic filing policy website implemented this certification on March 30, according to the letter, which gave a deadline of April 27 for the state to respond.

FOX News [4/14/2026 5:59 PM, Bonny Chu, 37576K] reports the FBI on Monday arrested an alleged illegal immigrant and suspected gang member after authorities say he rammed an ICE officer with his car during a traffic stop last week. Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, a national of El Salvador residing near San Francisco, California, was charged with assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon, according to the Department of Justice on Tuesday. Authorities previously said agents conducted a targeted vehicle stop because they suspected Mendoza Hernandez of being affiliated with the 18th Street Gang. He was also believed to be in the U.S. illegally and wanted in connection with a murder investigation in El Salvador. During his attempt to flee, he allegedly weaponized his vehicle and was subsequently shot by law enforcement. He was transported to a hospital, where he recovered for several days before being medically cleared and taken into custody. His family and attorney have also disputed ICE’s claim of gang ties, while citing documents that reportedly show he was acquitted of murder in El Salvador, the outlet reported. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said his custody status will be determined during his initial appearance before a U.S. magistrate judge. If convicted, Mendoza Hernandez faces a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The AP [4/14/2026 4:35 PM, Sophie Austin] reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California alleges that Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez drove forward and struck a federal agent with his car and reversed back into a law enforcement vehicle after he was pulled over April 7. Mendoza is expected to appear in court in Sacramento. The Department of Homeland Security said ICE agents fired defensive shots at Mendoza after he tried to drive into them. DHS said they were conducting an enforcement stop targeting Mendoza, 36, in Patterson, a city about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco. Officials described him as a suspected gang member wanted for questioning in El Salvador related to a killing. Mendoza’s lawyer Patrick Kolasinski has said his client panicked and tried to flee when ICE agents blocked his car. The video has no sound, and it’s unclear when the shots were fired or if any of them said anything. Kolasinski also disputes DHS claims that there was a warrant out for his client’s arrest.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [4/14/2026 5:35 PM, Noe Padilla, 70643K]
Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 7:21 PM, David Zimmermann, 1147K]
Washington Times [4/14/2026 5:05 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K]

New York Post [4/14/2026 9:14 PM, Daniel Farr, 40934K] reports a Southern California family allegedly tied to the Sinaloa Cartel is behind bars, but a fifth suspect is still on the run, after feds busted what they say was a major fentanyl, meth and ghost gun operation. Four men were arrested Tuesday and were expected to appear in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, prosecutors said. The defendants, Jose Luis Salazar-Cruz, 44, Alfonso Salazar, 46, Jose Manuel Salazar, 22 and Jorge Humberto Salazar, 43, are all members of the same family. Authorities say three of them are undocumented immigrants from Mexico. A fifth co-defendant, Jose Angel Lopez Paniagua, 23, of Littlerock, is still being sought. Federal prosecutors unveiled a 29-count indictment accusing the group of running a drug trafficking and illegal firearms operation from February 2024 through December 2025. Investigators allege the men worked together to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine while also selling weapons, including untraceable "ghost guns.” At the center of the case is Salazar-Cruz, known as "Oso," who authorities say coordinated deals using text messages, encrypted apps, phone calls and face-to-face meetings. The other defendants allegedly arranged transactions between suppliers and buyers and handled in-person sales. The indictment outlines a series of large drug deals. On Jan. 21, 2025, Salazar-Cruz allegedly sold nearly one pound of methamphetamine along with about 324 grams of fentanyl. On July 30, he was accused of selling roughly 1.2 kilograms of meth, followed by another deal involving approximately 2.3 kilograms on Dec. 19. Prosecutors say the group also trafficked firearms between December 2024 and July 2025. Among the weapons allegedly sold were a Glock .45-caliber pistol, a "street sweeper" destructive device, and a privately made AR-style rifle without a serial number, commonly referred to as a ghost gun. Salazar-Cruz faces the most extensive list of charges, including multiple counts of drug distribution, being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, trafficking in firearms, possession of a destructive device and possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. The case is being investigated by a coalition of federal and local agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service and multiple Southern California law enforcement departments.

Telemundo52 [4/14/2026 7:32 PM, Helen Jeong, 61K] reports four members of the Sinaloa Cartel were arrested as a $10 million reward is offered for the capture of the drug lord, the son of Joaquín Guzmán Loera "El Chapo," who is known as "Chapito." Four individuals linked to the Sinaloa Cartel were arrested and were expected to appear in court in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, after federal authorities increased the reward for the capture of the organization’s leader, Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, alias “Chapito.” The four detainees face 29 felony charges, including trafficking in illegal drugs and firearms, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reported. José Luis Salazar-Cruz, 44, Alfonso Salazar, 46, and José Manuel Salazar, 22, were arrested in Lancaster. Jorge Humberto Salazar, 43, was arrested in Hesperia. Federal prosecutors allege that the four men face charges of methamphetamine trafficking and the sale of illegal firearms. Salazar-Cruz faces additional charges of distributing fentanyl and possessing an explosive device. According to the prosecution, Salazar-Cruz used text messaging and encrypted messaging apps to coordinate the sale of drugs and firearms. The other defendants acted as middlemen in the sale of drugs and weapons and then met with customers to sell the items, according to the Department of Justice. Three of the four men were undocumented immigrants from Mexico, federal prosecutors reported. If convicted on all charges, they could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life in prison. The arrests of the four cartel members occurred on the same day that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced it had increased the reward for the capture of Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, also known as “Chapito,” one of the co-leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzmán Salazar and his brothers inherited the group founded by their father, “El Chapo,” who was sentenced to life in prison in the U.S. “Guzmán Salazar is a fugitive and should be considered armed and dangerous,” ICE stated on social media.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 4:33 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2238K] reports the number of migrants approved for citizenship dropped by roughly 50 percent amid the pro-America review process set by Donald Trump’s agents at the Department of Homeland Security. The reduced inflow of migrants will pressure companies to raise wages and increase investment in productivity-boosting workplace technology. The decline will also cut housing costs, helping Americans to get married and raise kids. There were big fluctuations in applications for naturalization during 2025, yet overall, there was a steep drop in citizenship requests compared to 2024, which was Biden’s final year in office, according to the latest data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), NPR reported. However, by January of this year, that number fell to only 32,862, which is the lowest number USCIS ever tracked. The drop off in new applications was also steep. In October of 2025, 169,159 foreigners applied for citizenship. But by the end of November, that number tumbled to only 41,478. One reason for the big swing was the USCIS’s changes in focus. An agency spokesperson told NPR that the Trump administration is taking a more serious look at those applying for citizenship who live in high-risk countries, and more screening of these applicants has been implemented. Along with the drop in naturalizations among legal migrants, there was also a huge decline in illegal migration.

Washington Post [4/14/2026 5:00 AM, Christopher Rowland, 24826K] reports revoking the right of Haitian immigrants to remain in the United States would deliver a blow to the workforce that cares for America’s seniors, nursing home operators are warning in a case to be heard this month by the U.S. Supreme Court. Before the court is a fight over the Trump administration’s effort to strip 353,000 Haitian immigrants of temporary protected status, which the U.S. grants to people fleeing conflict or natural disasters in other countries. Haitians won the status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake in the Caribbean nation. The Trump administration now argues conditions in Haiti are safe enough for their return, while advocates say gang warfare and civil strife pose ongoing dangers and they should not be forced to leave the U.S. The nursing home industry relies heavily on immigrant labor across the country. It faces enormous challenges keeping people in these low-wage, difficult jobs, and its staffing reached crisis proportions during the coronavirus pandemic. Industry representatives filed a friend-of-the-court brief Monday, advising the justices that sending Haitians home would pose consequences for senior care. The filing did not detail how many Haitians work in the senior care industry. But the Migration Policy Institute estimated that in 2021, about 103,000 Haitian immigrants were health-care workers (the sixth-largest group of immigrant health care workers in the United States) and many work as nursing assistants, personal care aides and home health aides. “These caregivers are not only vital to the daily operations of our communities, but to the quality of life and continuity of care our residents depend on,” Steve Bahmer, president and CEO of LeadingAge Southeast, said in a press release. The organization represents nonprofit nursing homes and filed the brief. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.

FOX News [4/14/2026 10:45 AM, Adam Pack, 37576K] reports a bipartisan push to extend temporary legal status for Haitian nationals in the United States is facing scrutiny after a Florida woman was brutally killed by a Haitian illegal immigrant earlier this month. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is expected to force a vote as early as this week on legislation that would require the Trump administration to extend temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians for three years. The legislative push comes as Haitian national Rolbert Joachim, 40, is accused of killing a mother of two with a hammer outside a Fort Myers gas station earlier in April. Officials say he bludgeoned the 51-year-old woman multiple times in the head. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Just a week prior to the alleged murder, Pressley, a member of "the Squad," obtained the necessary 218 signatures for her discharge petition to trigger a vote on her underlying bill to extend TPS protections for Haitians. She would not have been successful without a sliver of GOP support. Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and Don Bacon, R-Neb., crossed party lines in support of forcing a chamber-wide vote on Pressley’s bill. "Removing the TPS status would cost 350,000 healthcare workers their ability to work at a time when we’re already facing serious workforce shortages," Bacon said in a statement. "I’ve heard from healthcare providers and business leaders across Nebraska who are concerned about the impact this would have on patient care and our economy. I don’t see the goodness of deporting people who are here legally, who are working, and who contribute to our country.”

FOX News [4/15/2026 3:36 AM, Landon Mion and Bill Melugin, 37576K] reports the suspect in a string of attacks in DeKalb County, Georgia, is a repeat offender and a naturalized U.S. citizen from the U.K., according to the Department of Homeland Security. Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, was arrested on Monday after he killed two people and wounded another in what police described as a series of random attacks in the Peach State. Abel faces two counts of murder, aggravated assault and weapons charges in connection with the attacks, which DHS said included the killing of an employee of the agency. DHS told Fox News that Abel is a U.K. national who was naturalized into a US citizen in 2022 during the Biden administration. One of the victims, 40-year-old Lauren Bullis, worked in the DHS Office of the Inspector General, the agency confirmed to Fox News. She was found dead after being shot and stabbed while walking her dog on Battle Forest Drive. Witnesses reported to DeKalb Police that they observed a man standing over her before he fled the scene. "Yesterday, a DHS employee, Lauren Bullis, was brutally shot and stabbed to death by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old, born in the United Kingdom, who was naturalized by the Biden Administration in 2022," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on Tuesday in a statement to Fox News. "Since President Trump took office, USCIS has implemented measures to ensure individuals with criminal histories and who otherwise lack good moral character do not attain citizenship.”

Telemundo [4/14/2026 7:06 PM, Eduardo "Yusnaby" Rodriguez, 162K] reports Alexander Díaz Rodríguez, a political prisoner of the July 11 protests in Cuba, was released from prison on April 4 after serving his five-year sentence in full. Images released after his release show him in a state of extreme malnutrition, a consequence of suffering from throat and thyroid cancer without receiving adequate medical treatment during his closure. In this critical situation, activists within the island and organizations in South Florida manage an emergency humanitarian visa for the 45-year-old to receive medical care in the United States. Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat, coordinator of the Cuban Resistance Assembly, lamented the physical deterioration of the former prisoner. "To see a man who is in those conditions simply because he thinks differently from a group of mobsters who have kidnapped power for sixty-seven years moves me," he said. Gutierrez-Boronat confirmed that they are looking to speed up immigration procedures. "The American authorities have given priority to this case, please expedite him so he can get this man so sick out of that hell." Human rights organizations denounce that the Cuban authorities forced Díaz Rodríguez to serve the entirety of his sentence despite the severity of his diseases. Javier Larrondo, president of Prisoners Defenders, called the lack of medical care inside prisons a deliberate act of the Cuban regime. "Díaz Canel knows perfectly well that they kill these men slowly by denying them basic medical treatments," Larrondo said.

Breitbart [4/14/2026 10:43 AM, Hannah Knudsen, 2238K] reports a Chinese student has pled guilty to smuggling biological material – namely, E. coli bacteria – into the United States, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week. According to a detailed in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana report, a Chinese national, Youhuang Xiang, applied for a U.S. Non‑Immigrant student (J‑1) visa to perform postdoctoral research in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington. He successfully received the visa, and his time began in June 2023. However, last year, the FBI "began investigating suspicious shipments from China to individuals affiliated with Indiana University," according to the press release. Agents determined that Xiang, who holds a Ph.D. from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, received a "suspicious" package in March 2024, The package itself came from Guangzhou Sci‑Tech Innovation Trading. Bizarrely, the package was labeled as containing "Underwear of Man-Made Fibers, Other Womens.” This piqued the interest of agents, as it would be extremely odd for a Chinese national conducting research in the university’s Department of Biology to import women’s underwear from a Chinese tech company. As a result, authorities interviewed Xiang in November 2025 following a research trip in the United Kingdom. It was during that interview that he admitted to wrongdoing.

Reuters [4/14/2026 2:22 PM, Tom Hals, 38315K] reports that President Donald Trump’s administration plans to launch next Monday the system it will use for issuing refunds to American importers for $166 billion the companies paid in tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in February as unlawful. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a court filing on Tuesday that it has completed the development of the initial phase of the refund system, known as CAPE. The system will consolidate refunds so importers will receive one electronic payment, with interest when applicable, rather than processing refunds on an entry-by-entry basis. Agency official ⁠Brandon Lord made the declaration in the filing with the New York-based Court of International Trade. The agency disclosed the CAPE launch date in a separate announcement on Friday. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing sweeping global tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law meant for use in national emergencies. Tuesday’s filing said that as of April 9 some 56,497 importers had completed the process to receive electronic refunds for tariffs affected by the court’s ruling, an amount totaling $127 billion. The agency has said it plans to roll out the refund system in phases. Lord ⁠said in his declaration that the agency is considering options for processing refunds on a subset of entries that were subject to $2.9 billion in tariffs. Lord said these normally would require manual processing, which would dramatically increase the workload and divert personnel from the agency’s trade operations and enforcement.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/14/2026 11:57 AM, Zach Schonfeld, 18170K]

CBS News [4/14/2026 12:15 PM, Dan Raby, 51110K] reports that in the first three months of 2026, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta have seized more than $372,000 in unreported cash from travelers. Authorities say the large amount of cash was seized from 24 travelers from January to March. While travelers can bring any amount of currency into and out of the country, any amounts over $10,000 have to be reported to the U.S. Treasury using the International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments form. The most money seized from one traveler was on March 22. On that day, officials say CPB currency detector dog Pub alerted them to a U.S. citizen leaving for San Salvador. Authorities ended up seizing $44,432 from the individual. Other major seizures included $32,700 from a citizen of India who was heading to the United Arab Emirates on Jan. 31, and $30,417 from a family leaving for Qatar on Feb. 4, officials said. "Travelers must understand that failing to declare currency can result in serious consequences, including seizure of funds and possible criminal charges," said CBP Atlanta Area Port Director Zachary Thomas. "Our officers remain committed to enforcing all of our nation’s laws, including currency reporting, and hold violators accountable." Authorities have not shared any identifying details about the travelers who had their cash seized or what criminal charges they may be facing.

(B) CBS Mornings [4/14/2026 8:27 AM, Staff] reports federal agents are cracking down on counterfeit goods flowing into south Florida. US Customs and Border Protection says its West Palm Beach Trade Enforcement team seized nearly $1.8 million worth of fake luxury items last month. The haul includes knockoffs of brands like Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Richard Mille, and YSL. Officials say these shipments are often tied to larger criminal operations and intellectual property theft. They warn that counterfeit products fool buyers, hurt legitimate businesses, and pose safety risks.

FOX News [4/14/2026 9:05 PM, Greg Wehner , Bill Melugin, 37576K] reports the House Judiciary Committee released internal Border Patrol documents on Tuesday, showing that a Venezuelan migrant now charged in the killing of Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman was flagged as a flight risk and had no valid asylum claim before being released into the U.S. in 2023. Jose Medina-Medina, 25, is accused of fatally shooting 18-year-old Gorman in Chicago in March. Fox News Digital previously reported that Medina-Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, was apprehended at the southern border in 2023 and later released into the country under the Biden administration. In a post on X, House Judiciary Republicans said the documents show officials released a migrant they described as dangerous despite warning signs. "The subject is a native and citizen of Venezuela by virtue of birth," the document reads. "The subject is a migrant illegally present in the United States, have no immigration documents in their possession nor have or anyone else filed a petition on their behalf. Subject has close family ties or roots in this country yet are likely to abscond.” Additional records state the subject had no valid U.S. address or identification and was unable to provide a verifiable point of contact. The documents also detail the circumstances of Medina-Medina’s apprehension at the border. "A Border Patrol Agent encountered subject in the El Paso Border Patrol Sector area of responsibility," the document read. "A Border Patrol Agent determined this subject had unlawfully entered the United States from Mexico, at a time and place other than as designated by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security of the United States. "After determining that the subject was an undocumented migrant who illegally entered the United States, the subject was arrested and transported to the Central Processing Center (CPC) in El Paso, Texas for further processing using the [redacted] Systems," the document continued. "The subject was asked and responded that they do not fear harm or persecution should they be returned to their native country.” Despite those findings, the documents show he was processed for a Notice to Appear and released on recognizance "due to lack of space," under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Federal prosecutors on April 2 charged Medina-Medina with illegally possessing a firearm, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. In addition to the federal charge, he faces state-level charges including murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a weapon. Prosecutors said Gorman was with friends at a Rogers Park pier in the early morning hours of March 19 when she spotted Medina-Medina near a lighthouse and warned others. Authorities said Medina-Medina then chased the group and shot Gorman in the upper back as they fled. In a statement after charges were filed, the Gorman family said, "Sheridan was a real person—she had a future, a family, and a life full of promise.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/14/2026 8:44 PM, Neil Vigdor, 148038K] reports two Mexican citizens who federal prosecutors say captained a human smuggling boat that capsized last year off Southern California, resulting in the drowning deaths of four migrants, including two children, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to felony charges. The defendants, Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 31, and Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Leyva, 37, were piloting the panga boat when it overturned on May 5, 2025, near Torrey Pines State Beach, sending 19 migrants into the Pacific Ocean, the authorities said. Pangas are open boats that can carry people or drugs. The migrants who were aboard the overcrowded vessel had paid the smugglers about $13,500 per person to be brought from Popotla, Mexico, to just north of San Diego, federal prosecutors said. The smugglers told the migrants, many of whom were unable to swim, to remove their life jackets as they approached the coast of Del Mar, Calif., so they could quickly load into vehicles. But the boat’s single motor failed about 200 yards offshore, causing the boat to capsize, investigators said. Federal authorities identified the two adult migrants who died as Gorgonio Placido-Diaz and Marcos Lozada-Juarez. Their bodies were found on the beach, along with that of a 14-year-old boy from India, who was on the vessel with his parents and his sister. About 16 days later, a foot, which DNA testing later matched to a 10-year-old migrant who was on the boat, was discovered at the beach. Five people in total were charged in connection with the smuggling operation; three have already pleaded guilty. Their sentences ranged from 10 to 21 months in prison. During a hearing on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, Mr. Leyva and Mr. Luna pleaded guilty to charges of human smuggling resulting in death, which carry a maximum penalty of death or life in prison and a $250,000 fine. They also pleaded guilty to charges of human smuggling for financial gain, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison with a three-year mandatory minimum and $250,000 fine. Knut Johnson, a lawyer for Mr. Luna, said in an email on Tuesday that federal prosecutors had decided not to seek the death penalty for his client and Mr. Leyva before reaching the plea agreement. Mr. Johnson criticized statements made last May by Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary at the time, calling for the Justice Department to pursue the death penalty for Mr. Leyva and Mr. Luna. “This case is a tragedy made worse by former Secretary Kristi Noem’s unprofessional and unwarranted comments,” Mr. Johnson said. “Without her interference, this case would have concluded months ago, bringing more timely closure to the victims’ families.”

San Diego Union Tribune [4/14/2026 11:35 PM, Alex Riggins, 1257K] reports three Mexican boat captains pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday in connection with two separate incidents last year in which small vessels carrying undocumented immigrants capsized off the coast of San Diego County, leaving a total of nine people dead, including a 14-year-old Indian boy and his 10-year-old sister. The incident involving the siblings occurred the morning of May 5 near Del Mar and resulted in the deaths of four migrants; the second, unrelated incident occurred the night of Nov. 14 off the coast of Imperial Beach and resulted in the deaths of four migrants and one man prosecutors believe to be the co-captain of the vessel that overturned. Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Leyva, 27, and Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego federal court to charges related to the May 5 incident. Prosecutors said Rodriguez was acting as the boat’s captain, while Zuniga was a co-captain who also fueled the vessel. They pleaded guilty to charges of bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain. On the day the two men were charged last year, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called on the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty against them. Prosecutors never took that extraordinary step, which would have been unprecedented — and would have been met with fierce resistance by the defendants’ attorneys — given that other boat captains convicted in similar incidents involving multiple migrant deaths have been sentenced in San Diego federal court to less than five years in prison. "This case is a tragedy made worse by former Secretary Kristi Noem’s unprofessional and unwarranted comments," Knut Johnson, one of the private attorneys assigned by the court to represent Zuniga, told the Union-Tribune. "Without her interference, this case would have concluded months ago, bringing more timely closure to the victims’ families.” According to documents in the Del Mar capsizing case, the panga piloted by Rodriguez and Zuniga left Mexico on May 4 with 19 total people on board. A problem with the engine initially forced the group to return to Mexico shortly after departure, and engine problems continued to plague the vessel as it traveled overnight across the international border, prosecutors said. The engine finally failed completely early the next morning while the boat was about 200 yards off the coast of Del Mar, resulting in the vessel rotating in the water and being overturned by a wave, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Van Demark said. By that time, Rodriguez and Zuniga had instructed the boat’s occupants to remove their life jackets so they could move quickly when they arrived on shore. Emergency crews responding to the incident found the bodies of Mexican citizens Marcos Lozada Juarez, 18, and Gorgonio Placido Diaz, 55, as well as 14-year-old Indian citizen Prince Patel. Prince’s 10-year-old sister, Mahi, also died, though her remains were not discovered until a few weeks later. The children’s parents and others from the boat were hospitalized, some with critical injuries. At least eight survivors made it to shore and fled the scene but were detained later that night near a home in Chula Vista after a tip led investigators to the home. Three people were charged in connection with transporting the survivors away from the scene; each pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 21 months.

USA Today [4/14/2026 12:51 PM, Irene Wright, 70643K] reports that Transportation Security Administration officers from the country’s busiest airport are catching a break after weeks of uncertainty during a partial government shutdown. Federal funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed in February, leaving TSA officers across the nation’s airports working without pay. Congress was gridlocked as they debated appropriations for ICE, and the shutdown dragged on. Lines to get through security at major airports got longer and longer, and TSA officers began calling out of work as the financial burden became too great. In the weeks since, ICE officers were deployed to airports to help the staffing shortages, and the president passed an order to pay TSA officers while the shutdown continues. TSA officers are largely back to work as normal and they have been receiving paychecks, but backpay from prior weeks won’t come until the shutdown is over. Now, public service officials in Georgia are trying to make sure TSA officers can keep the lights on as the shutdown has no clear end in sight. On Monday, the Georgia Public Service Commission announced an order had been filed to "ensure TSA agents who are living in Georgia will not have their utility service cut off for nonpayment and will not pay late fees for missed utility bills until the partial government shutdown ends," according to a news release. The motion was approved unanimously after being put forward by Commissioner Tricia Pridemore.

New York Times [4/14/2026 3:18 PM, Erin McCann, Adeel Hassan and Judson Jones, 148038K] reports more than 125 million people across a large portion of the United States are facing a threat of severe weather that could include heavy rain, tornadoes, strong wind and hail on Tuesday afternoon and evening. By late afternoon, the first tornado watches were in place, and meteorologists were beginning to investigate reports of tornadoes. There were no immediate reports of damage. One watch covered much of central Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Texas. The other included most of Iowa, southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, falling just short of downtown Chicago. That corridor from Des Moines to Milwaukee is where forecasters are most worried about the potential for significant tornadoes later in the evening. “The environment is very favorable for tornadoes across southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa and northern Illinois this evening, and we could continue to have significant risk of tornadoes and even damaging tornadoes,” said John Hart, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center. Tuesday’s severe weather is part of a multiday breakout of storms that forecasters expect to last through the weekend. On Monday night, tornadoes were reported across Kansas, Minnesota and Iowa. One hit the city of Ottawa, Kan., shortly before 8 p.m. on Monday, Adam Weingarten, the police chief, said in an interview with the local television station KSHB. The tornado damaged several businesses and homes, he said. On Tuesday, the local authorities were still surveying the damage, but said no one had been killed. In Miami County, Kan., a rural area of 35,000 residents about 30 minutes south of the Kansas City metro area, a tornado touched down for several miles, damaging 100 buildings. “Somewhere around 50 or 60 are either completely destroyed, or have been found not able to be habitable,” Matthew P. Kelly, an undersheriff, said in a phone interview. He said that there had been one confirmed injury. The cleanup won’t start until Wednesday, he said, because of the additional storms expected on Tuesday night. Mr. Kelly said that the county had set up a shelter, staffed by the American Red Cross, and that it was working with Evergy, the power company, to get power restored by Tuesday night. The severe weather is being fueled by a steady supply of warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, that is combining with a daily parade of weather systems moving across the country. It is typical for this time of year, said Jared Guyer, a meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center. But predicting where, exactly, a typical springtime storm will turn into something more dangerous — by producing a tornado or a torrent of rain that turns into a flash flood — can be difficult. On Tuesday, forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center said the most significant risk fell in a bull’s-eye-shaped area of the Upper Midwest, and included the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines and Minneapolis. A separate area is centered over Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City and Wichita, Kan. Forecasters are also closely watching a part of the Northeast that includes parts of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Numerous thunderstorms are possible across the Midwest. Forecasters said there was a medium probability that the worst storms were likely to occur in a corridor between Des Moines and Milwaukee.

New York Post [4/14/2026 9:28 PM, Julian Atienza, 40934K] reports parts of the Midwest and the Plains are once again in the bull’s eye of an expansive severe weather threat that covers more than 130 million people from Texas to New York. There’s an increased risk of tornadoes Tuesday spanning a corridor from eastern Iowa into southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, which is under a Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). Parts of the Southern Plains from Central Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, to portions of North Texas including Wichita Falls, are under a tornado and large hail risk where a dryline — the boundary between dry air from the west and warm, moist air from the Gulf — set up Tuesday afternoon. This all comes after severe storms on Monday dropped damaging tornadoes and hail across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas. A second round of severe thunderstorms will ignite from Texas to New York on Wednesday, with the flood threat mounting for parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes, which have seen several consecutive days of heavy rain. Power outages were reported across Miami, Franklin and Linn counties in eastern Kansas early Tuesday after tornado-warned storms blasted across the region Monday night. A tornado injured two people and destroyed homes and businesses after ripping through part of Hillsdale, Kansas, shortly after 8 p.m. local time on Monday, the Miami County Sheriff’s Office said. Several RVs and campers were also overturned and roads to the community were closed as police guarded unsecured homes and buildings. A local school is serving as a shelter for those displaced. Severe weather also damaged buildings in Ottawa, Kansas, but no injuries have been reported, city officials said. Severe thunderstorms produced several tornadoes across parts of Minnesota Monday, including one spotted by FOX Weather Meteorologist Haley Meier during live storm coverage outside of Truman, Minnesota. Significant tornado damage has not been reported across the state. Exclusive FOX Weather Storm Tracker Corey Gerken also confirmed a tornado near Amboy, Minnesota, Monday afternoon. Storms also produced widespread hail, including golf ball-sized hail in the southern part of the state, along where the warm front set up, south of Minneapolis. An active spring weather pattern has developed across the Central U.S. with severe thunderstorms likely throughout the week, including another significant tornado threat expected across parts of the Plains and Midwest on Friday. Tuesday: Tornado threat includes Milwaukee, Chicago and Detroit within 1,500-mile swath of expected storms.

CNN [4/15/2026 3:27 AM, Briana Waxman and Dakota Smith, 19874K] reports tornadoes and baseball-sized hail tore through parts of Wisconsin and Iowa on Tuesday evening, leaving behind damaged buildings and at least one home destroyed. The severe weather is part of a multi-day outbreak that began Monday and will continue through the end of the week from the southern Plains to the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region. Similar areas remain at risk Wednesday, with threats for large hail, damaging winds and additional tornadoes stretching from Dallas to Chicago. Power outages were creeping up Wednesday morning, with more than 62,000 reported in Michigan and more than 20,000 in Wisconsin, according to PowerOutage.us. Flooding is also a serious concern in parts of the Great Lakes, where rivers are already running high and some dams in Wisconsin are at risk of failing. A nasty storm prompted a "particularly dangerous situation" tornado warning Tuesday as a destructive twister struck near Union Center, Wisconsin. Juneau County Emergency Management said multiple structures were damaged and power lines were down, but no injuries or deaths were reported. Damage assessments will continue into the morning, while the Salvation Army and Red Cross assist displaced residents. Tornado warnings were issued for millions in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Fayetteville, Arkansas Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Students and staff at the University of Michigan and University of Arkansas were advised to take shelter. Powerful severe thunderstorms also moved through Chicago and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where an 80 mph wind gust was observed at the airport. Softball-sized hail fell near Maple Bluff, Wisconsin. Stones this large are capable of seriously injuring people, totaling vehicles and puncturing roofs. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported Monday across parts of Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, including a damaging EF2 in Miami County, Kansas. The storm damaged about 100 structures — roughly 50 to 60 of them completely — with much of the impact centered around Hillsdale, according to Miami County Undersheriff Matthew Kelly. Dangerous severe storm threat continues through late week.

ABC News [4/14/2026 7:54 AM, Staff, 34146K] reports that about 50 million people are in the storm zone, with baseball-sized hail and at least 14 tornadoes reported. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NBC News [4/14/2026 7:02 PM, Staff, 42967K] Video: HERE reports at least 15 reported tornadoes touched down in multiple states with confirmed tornadoes hitting particularly hard in Kansas. NBC News’ Shaquille Brewster reports on the grandfather who lost everything and how the people inside his home were able to survive.

AP [4/14/2026 8:58 AM, John Seewer, Kathy McCormack and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, 35287K] reports a super typhoon steadily battered a pair of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean with ferocious winds and relentless rains, shredding tin roofs and forcing residents to take cover from flying tree limbs. Super Typhoon Sinlaku pounded the Northern Mariana Islands for hours before daybreak Wednesday, slowing just to inflict more damage across the islands of Tinian and Saipan, home to nearly 50,000 people. “I’m guessing anything that was made of wood and tin did not survive this,” said Glen Hunter, who grew up on Saipan and watched at least three tin roofs fly past his yard. Hunter, who has weathered numerous typhoons, told The Associated Press this felt like the strongest yet. Rain was seeping into every crevice of his concrete home, he said. “It was a losing battle because the rain was coming through everywhere,” he said early Wednesday. “Every house is just flooded with water, no matter what type of structure you’re in.” The tropical typhoon — the strongest on Earth this year — was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph) when it made landfall on the islands, the National Weather Service said.

The Hill [4/14/2026 3:13 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K] reports President Trump on Tuesday described statements about teleportation from one of the top officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as “a little strange.” Gregg Phillips has long shared stories about spiritual and supernatural experiences while receiving treatment for metastatic bone cancer. Last year, he said he once teleported to a Waffle House in Georgia during an appearance on far right media personality Catherine Engelbrecht’s podcast. He also has said that he once met Satan, said that God once sat on his bed to tell him his cancer had returned and proclaimed that he wanted to punch former President Biden in the face during separate comments. Trump on Tuesday told CNN, the comments about teleportation were “strange.” Phillip is third in the chain of command at FEMA and has been responsible for helping with disaster recovery nationwide. However, in recent months, he’s been told to pull back from making statements about teleportation and was even removed from a trip with newly confirmed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. When asked about his repeated claims about supernatural experiences, a FEMA spokesperson told CNN, “This is so silly it’s barely worth acknowledging. DHS, FEMA, and Mr. Phillips are focused on the critical mission of emergency management and ensuring the safety of the American people. Many of the comments cited are taken out of context or represent personal, informal, jovial, and somewhat spiritual discussions made in the context of barely surviving cancer; in a private capacity prior to his current role.”

CBS Miami [4/14/2026 6:36 AM, Staff, 51110K] reports Florida officials are closely monitoring the progress of a massive wildfire burning in Collier County that has so far forced more than 100 people from their homes and sent thick smoke billowing into the sky. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [4/14/2026 5:10 PM, Mead Gruver And Gabriela Aoun Angueira] reports President Donald Trump has again denied a request from Colorado’s governor to help people affected by wildfires and flooding, consistent with his approval of major disaster aid to Republican-leaning states at about twice the rate he approves aid requests from Democratic ones. Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, sought major disaster declarations for wildfires that scorched 240 square miles (615 square kilometers) in the western part of the state and for floods that inundated mountain communities in southern Colorado last year. Trump first denied Colorado’s requests late last year. On Monday, Trump upheld that decision on appeal after a "thorough review," FEMA acting administrator Karen S. Evans told Polis in a pair of letters. The letters didn’t explain the denials in detail. Polis in a statement called it "incredibly disappointing" after Colorado communities responded quickly to the disasters, documented the damage and worked in good faith with federal officials.

AP [4/14/2026 5:22 PM, Stewart Yerton, 35287K] reports last month, it looked like the only thing standing in the way of Hawaiian Electric Co., Inc.’s proposed $1.15 billion upgrade to its Waiau power plant was the amount the utility would be allowed to charge customers to build it. Then came a highly unusual public comment, filed last week by a shadowy group, with an alarming and seemingly overlooked fact: The Waiau power plant sits in a newly designated flood zone. That wasn’t the case when HECO announced plans for the Pearl City project in December 2023. But in July 2024, FEMA announced new preliminary maps putting the site in a 100-year flood zone. The new zones go into effect in two months. It’s a detail that could have significant impacts on the utility company’s ability to obtain building permits and federal funding, raising potential risks for HECO customers, who ultimately will bear the cost of building the facility. The public comment from an entity called Concerned Ratepayers of Oʻahu includes a memo it sent to federal officials who are considering a loan that HECO needs to finance the project. The memo asks the U.S. Department of Energy whether HECO disclosed the pending flood zone designation in its loan application and whether the department has begun a review process required by law to fund projects in flood zones. The new flood maps show only the footprint of potential flooding, he said, not the depth. It’s not clear why the flood zone issue didn’t arise sooner in the years-long approval process or why a third-party independent observer, Bates White Economic Consulting, didn’t raise concerns about it.

Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 1:39 PM, Jack Birle, 1147K] reports that the Trump administration urged a federal court this week to allow construction of the White House East Wing, including the new ballroom, to continue, with a senior Secret Service official warning of "numerous security risks" if the project is halted. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, had ordered construction on the ballroom to be paused, but he included an exception for "construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House." The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the group that sued the administration over the construction of the ballroom, filed a motion seeking to clarify the scope of that exception and have the judge order that it does not include the construction of the ballroom itself. An appeals court panel last week paused Leon’s order to give the Trump administration more time to appeal it. The Justice Department, in a filing to the federal district court on Monday, pleaded with the judge to allow for construction of the full complex, including the ballroom and other above-ground parts of the East Wing. "A dormant excavation site adjacent to the exposed Executive Mansion itself poses serious safety and security threats," the DOJ’s filing said. "The Court is not positioned to second-guess these determinations about what is needed to ensure presidential security, let alone to superintend the construction process. The Court should therefore make clear that it does not intend to do either of those things." The DOJ included in its filing a declaration from Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn in which he stated that the "current unfinished construction site compromises the ability of Secret Service personnel" to protect the White House. Quinn said the project’s construction should continue.

Daily Wire [4/14/2026 2:17 PM, Jordan Schroeder, 2314K] reports Erika Kirk was scheduled to appear at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia on Tuesday night, but was forced to stay home after receiving what organizers described as "very serious threats.” Vice President JD Vance still moved forward with his planned appearance and delivered remarks to students at the event, which proceeded as scheduled with TPUSA leader Andrew Kolvet taking Kirk’s place. Vance addressed Erika Kirk’s absence at the start, saying he had been concerned the event might be canceled. He said he spoke with the Secret Service and ultimately told Kirk to "do what she needs to do for herself and her family.” It’s not clear why Kirk stepped back following threats made in her direction, while Vance — who operates under some of the most extensive security protection in the world — was still able to take the stage. Erika Kirk posted on X during the event, saying that "after all our family has been through, I take my security team’s recommendations extremely seriously.” The New York Post [4/14/2026 7:25 PM, Victor Nava, 40934K] reports Vance indicated he was aware of the threats against Kirk, 37, and was worried the University of Georgia event would be canceled but decided to attend after consulting with the Secret Service. "Obviously these guys do a very good job," he said of his Secret Service detail, "and I said, ‘You know what? Let’s let Erika do what she needs to do for herself and her family, I’m sure Andrew will fill in, and let’s go and make this an amazing event.’". NewsMax [4/14/2026 6:58 PM, Jarrett Renshaw, Trevor Hunnicutt, 3760K] reports Vance said he had talked to the Secret ‌Service and was not concerned about his ​own safety. He ‌gave no details about the threats to Erika Kirk, who is ‌the CEO of Turning Point USA. The Secret Service and Turning Point did not immediately respond to ⁠requests for comment.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/14/2026 7:15 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K]

(B) CBS Mornings [4/14/2026 7:27 AM, Staff] reports that a helipad at Mar-a-Lago may not be as temporary as expected. The town council is set to discuss a Secret Service request to keep it around even after the president leaves office. Construction is set to begin in the summer when the club is closed. The council initially approved the temporary helipad for as long as Trump is president but now attorneys for the club say they want to keep it on property for as long as he lives there.

CBS Texas [4/14/2026 5:26 PM, J.D. Miles, 51110K] reports the U.S. Secret Service is wrapping up a major two-day initiative to get illegal card skimmers out of stores and off gas pumps in Tarrant County. More than 200 stores and over 400 gas pumps were inspected to combat a crime that is costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Ten teams of agents inspected card readers at more than 1,500 cash registers, ATMs and gas pumps. The enforcement effort also included educating business owners on how to spot a skimmer. The ORION Initiative specifically targeted businesses that sell mostly to those with Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT cards, which are used for food and government assistance programs, draining the lifelines of those who need them most. The Secret Service says its nationwide operation has prevented more than $570 million in taxpayer money from being lost to criminals. Nationwide, the Secret Service says it’s confiscated more than 500 skimmers.

New York Post [4/14/2026 10:29 PM, Daniel Farr, 40934K] reports a heavily armed Glendale man, Sean Steiner, is facing multiple felony firearm charges after deputies say he wandered into a high-profile Los Angeles-area neighborhood dressed in body armor and carrying a collection of weapons, including a rifle styled with "Joker" imagery and phrases. The incident unfolded along Palos Verdes Drive South near the luxury Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, after a caller alerted authorities to a man wearing rifle-rated body armor near hiking trails. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Steiner had earlier been seen hiking the area with gloves, a duffle bag, a step stool and a rifle while wearing protective gear capable of stopping rifle rounds. Things escalated when deputies later found him running through traffic before taking him into custody. At the time of his arrest about a week ago, officials say Steiner was armed with a loaded semi-automatic short-barreled rifle, round already chambered and magazine fully loaded, as well as a loaded revolver. The rifle was painted green and purple and marked with phrases including "Why so serious?" and "Let’s put a smile on that face," giving it a distinct "Joker"-style appearance. Investigators also recovered additional firepower, including two loaded handguns, high-capacity magazines, extra ammunition, a ballistic vest and an AR-style pistol with an orange tip designed to resemble a toy weapon. Deputies further allege Steiner admitted to firing one of the pistols in a nearby landslide area shortly before his arrest, saying he was trying to "get some anger out.” Authorities credited a quick-thinking caller and the "See Something, Say Something" initiative for helping prevent a potentially dangerous situation from escalating, noting that deputies were able to intervene in a populated area before anyone was injured. Other recent incidents at Trump’s Rancho Palos Verdes site include a "No Kings" protest in March where opposing demonstrators squared off, and an assault where a man was knocked unconscious reported in December 2024. In Florida, the Secret Service fatally shot Austin Tucker Martin at Mar-a-Lago in February 2026, and Ryan Wesley Routh was recently sentenced to life for a 2024 assassination attempt in West Palm Beach.

CNN [4/14/2026 4:54 PM, Alisha Ebrahimji, Sharif Paget, and Sarah Dewberry, 612K] reports on some of his first interviews since being released from police custody in the Bahamas, Brian Hooker told news networks Tuesday he is choosing to believe his wife is still alive and plans to go back out and search for her. “No one has told me not to stop looking and I’m going to keep looking,” he told NBC on Tuesday. Lynette Hooker, a 55-year-old mother and sailor, went missing April 4. Her husband of 25 years told authorities she fell from an 8‑foot dinghy in the rough waters near Elbow Cay in the Abaco Islands that evening as the couple was traveling back to their yacht, according to police. The Michigan couple, both US nationals, have been sailing together for more than a decade, documenting their life at sea on social media. They were navigating the Bahamas on their yacht, Soulmate, when the incident happened. The 10 days without his wife by his side is the longest Brian Hooker has ever been apart from her, he told NBC. “I want people to know that Lynette is my life and we have been together almost half my life and we belong to each other and I mean to keep looking,” Brian Hooker told the outlet. Brian Hooker was arrested and questioned several times by police in connection with his wife’s disappearance before being released without charges Monday. The US Coast Guard has opened a criminal investigation into the case. Brian Hooker has denied any accusations of wrongdoing. “I believe I’ve been told that people have lasted in the Bahamas after falling overboard for days and even weeks,” he told CBS, adding with so many islands, the search area is vast and there are many possibilities for where she could have taken refuge. He said he is “not really capable of just turning away from this.”

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/14/2026 10:20 AM, Peter D’Abrosca, 37576K]

New York Post [4/14/2026 10:05 AM, Chris Bradford, 40934K] reports Lynette Hooker’s daughter is heading to the Bahamas to join US authorities searching for her still-missing mom, hours after her allegedly abusive stepfather was freed from custody when time ran out to keep questioning him. "We’re not doing looking," Karli Aylesworth, 28, told NewsNation of her plans to head to the Bahamas on Wednesday. The panicked daughter said she was "happy" that authorities have not charged her stepfather, Lynette’s husband of 25 yearsn Brian Hooker, because that leaves her hope her mom could still be out there. However, she repeated her fear that her mom’s disappearance was not an accident — and said she has been sharing her concerns about Brian — and his alleged earlier violence toward her mom — with the US Coast Guard, which is carrying out its own investigation. "They handed everything they gathered about Brian and his history with his mom and sent it over to the Bahamian police and they’re going to head down themselves tomorrow to do their own investigation," she said. Karli previously alleged that Brian was abusive towards her 55-year-old mom, and USA Today reported Brian faced a child abuse charge in 2005 – which he was later acquitted of by a Michigan jury.

NewsNation [4/14/2026 12:08 PM, Diana Falzone, 4464K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard said its criminal investigation into the disappearance of an American woman in the Bahamas is ongoing despite her husband’s release from police custody Monday. Lynette Hooker, a 55-year-old mother from Michigan, was last seen April 4 during a boat trip with her husband. Brian Hooker told authorities his wife fell overboard in choppy water and that he saw her swim toward the shore. Hooker was detained by local police for nearly a week but was let go without charges. A U.S. Coast Guard Official told NewsNation on Tuesday the agency is “conducting a criminal investigation into the disappearance of Mrs. Hooker. Once again, the Coast Guard does not comment on ongoing investigations.

CyberScoop [4/14/2026 4:00 PM, Greg Otto, 122K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has informed participants of the federal government’s Scholarship for Service program that it has canceled this year’s summer internship programs due to the current funding issues at the Department of Homeland Security. Emails from CISA obtained by CyberScoop recently informed applicants that the agency will not bring any CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service interns onboard this summer due to the impacts of the federal funding lapse and the current administrative situation at DHS. For some applicants, agency representatives acknowledged that the cancellations represent a second consecutive year of disrupted placement efforts. The National Science Foundation (NSF) leads and manages the program, in coordination with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and DHS. The program covers tuition and provides stipends for students specializing in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. In exchange, graduates must complete an internship and subsequently work in federal service for a period equal to the duration of their scholarship. An OPM official told CyberScoop the agency is “actively in contact with all Federal cabinet agencies on this topic, and are confident that we will place nearly all eligible Scholarship for Service participants within the next couple months.” An NSF spokesperson declined to comment. CISA did not respond to CyberScoop’s request for comment.

FOX Business [4/14/2026 4:37 PM, Staff, 7946K] Video: HERE reports Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroter discusses the company’s launch of ‘Sovereignty Solutioning’ and growing cybersecurity threats amid the artificial intelligence boom on ‘The Claman Countdown.’

Daily Wire [4/14/2026 6:30 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports Hatem Fariz has quite a rap sheet. He served roughly three years in prison after pleading guilty to a conspiracy to provide material support to Iranian terror proxy Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and for additional counts in a separate case involving a reported $1.4 million food stamp scam. He once bragged about assaulting a child he believed was "cooperating with the Jews" and laughed off a deadly bombing in Israel while helping raise funds for terror groups in the Middle East, according to the Tampa Bay Times. But Fariz appears to have undergone a reinvention. Now he’s best known as a pillar of Florida’s Muslim community. Fariz landed in Florida after his release from a federal prison in 2010, according to the Tampa Bay Times. While serving as the director of the Islamic Community of Tampa — also known as the Al-Qassam Mosque — Fariz has organized pro-Palestinian protests and become a prominent community member. The local police chief, Kenneth Albano, even called him "a force for reason within the Muslim community," the Tampa Bay Times reported in 2024. At the time, he was also characterized by his former attorney as the "worker bee" of another man convicted of supporting the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in the same case, Sami Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida professor, the local news outlet reported. The Tampa mosque run by Fariz was registered in Al-Arian’s name in 1995, according to state records. Al-Arian has since been deported to Turkey. But thanks to Fariz, he still appears to have a footprint in Florida. A new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) says that figures like Fariz are just a small part of a seemingly benign "network of nonprofit, religious, and advocacy organizations operating in and connected to Florida that show repeated documented overlap with individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses, designated under U.S. sanctions authorities, or publicly associated with Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and broader Iran-aligned influence ecosystems.”

Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 12:49 PM, Claire Carter, 1147K] reports that the Treasury Department on Tuesday sanctioned a money-laundering and cash-smuggling network tied to the Mexican Cartel del Noreste, hours after U.S. Southern Command said it carried out another strike on a suspected drug trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific. Announced by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the sanctions target six people and entities that Treasury said were involved in a cartel-run scheme centered on Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, across from Laredo, Texas. The Treasury said the network helps Cartel del Noreste sustain operations that include fentanyl trafficking, human smuggling, money laundering, and extortion. The action also impacted two cartel-linked casinos, including one that sits about two miles from the U.S. border. Previously known as Los Zetas, the CDN exerts significant influence around the Laredo port of entry, which is one of the busiest land ports on the southern border. Officials said the three individuals sanctioned Tuesday played key roles in maintaining the group’s control over the Nuevo Laredo plaza, while the casinos were allegedly used to wash illicit proceeds into the formal financial system. The OFAC said one of the casinos, Casino Centenario, was used as a stash house for fentanyl pills and cocaine and as a site where cartel members intimidated or tortured perceived enemies. The move came as U.S. Southern Command said Joint Task Force Southern Spear struck a vessel Monday night along what it called a known narcotics-trafficking route in the Southern Hemisphere.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/14/2026 3:58 PM, Staff]

Breitbart [4/14/2026 11:16 AM, Lucas Nolan, 2238K] reports prosecutors said Monday that a man accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s home last week was attempting to kill him to prevent the “impending extinction” of humanity at the hands of AI. CNBC reports that the suspect, identified as Daniel Moreno-Gama, is facing attempted murder charges in connection with the attack, according to an announcement from the San Francisco District Attorney. He is also subject to federal charges that include attempted damage and destruction of property by means of explosives and possession of an unregistered firearm, the Department of Justice said in a release. FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Cobo said in a statement, “The charges announced today reflect a deeply concerning escalation from intent to action targeting a private residence and a technology company with violence.” At a press conference on Monday, Cobo added, “This was not spontaneous. This was planned, targeted and extremely serious.”

AP [4/14/2026 9:34 PM, Staff, 1323K] reports the U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday issued sanctions against three individuals and two casinos for their alleged links to Mexico’s Cartel del Noreste, one of several criminal groups designated last year as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration. Washington has intensified its crackdown on the Cartel del Noreste — heir to the former Zetas — which has been accused of trafficking weapons, drugs and people, and is characterized by its violent practices and extortion. Its base is Nuevo Laredo, the busiest commercial port on the U.S.-Mexico border. Among the entities sanctioned is Casino Centenario, a gambling venue in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, which the U.S. claims functions as a drug storage hub and a mechanism for laundering money through gambling activities. The Treasury also sanctioned Diamante Casino, headquartered in the northern city of Tampico — also in Tamaulipas — which operates an online betting site. Sanctions were also leveled against high-profile enablers, including Eduardo Javier Islas Valdez — the alleged “gatekeeper” of the cartel’s human smuggling routes into Texas — and attorney Juan Pablo Penilla Rodríguez, cited for providing illicit support. Notably, the list includes activist Jesús Reymundo Ramos, whom the Treasury Department identified as a paid operative responsible for spreading cartel disinformation under the guise of human rights advocacy. The U.S. sanctions block assets the targeted people have in the United States and prohibit people from doing business with them in the U.S. Ramos did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In March 2023, Ramos alleged that the Mexican army and government orchestrated accusations linking him to the cartel, which he denied. An independent investigation later confirmed that his phone had been compromised by Pegasus spyware in 2020. According to U.S. authorities, Penilla Rodríguez assisted one of the leaders of Los Zetas — Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, alias Z-40 — who was extradited to the U.S. last year along with his brother and the organization’s ringleader, Omar Treviño Morales, and 27 other people. Two individuals and the popular Mexican rapper Ricardo Hernández Medrano — known as El Makabelico, or Comando Exclusivo — were sanctioned in August for alleged ties to the criminal organization.

Wall Street Journal [4/14/2026 7:00 PM, Bojan Pancevski and Daniel Michaels, 646K] reports a fallback plan to ensure Europe can defend itself using NATO’s existing military structures if the U.S. departs is gaining traction after getting buy-in from Germany, a long-term opponent of a go-it-alone approach. The officials working on the plans, which some officials are referring to as “European NATO,” are seeking to get more Europeans into the alliance’s command-and-control roles and supplement U.S. military assets with their own. The plans—advancing informally through side discussions and over dinner meetings in and around the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—aren’t intended to rival the current alliance, participants said. European officials are aiming to preserve deterrence against Russia, operational continuity and nuclear credibility even if Washington withdraws forces from Europe or refuses to come to its defense, as President Trump has threatened. The plans, first conceived last year, underscore the depth of European anxiety over U.S. reliability. They accelerated after Trump threatened to seize Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, and are now gaining fresh urgency amid the standoff over Europe’s refusal to back America’s war in Iran. Crucially, a political reversal in Berlin is boosting momentum. For decades, Germany resisted French-led calls for greater European sovereignty in its defense, preferring to keep America as the ultimate guarantor of European security. That is now changing under German Chancellor Friedrich Merz because of concerns about the U.S.’s dependability as an ally during the Trump presidency and beyond, according to people familiar with his thinking. The challenge is enormous. NATO’s entire structure is built around American leadership at almost every level, from logistics and intelligence to the alliance’s top military command.

Roll Call [4/14/2026 11:34 AM, Ryan Tarinelli, 673K] reports privacy advocates and the intelligence community have painted vastly different pictures over whether a powerful surveillance authority contains enough privacy protections for Americans, as lawmakers look to act before the program’s statutory authority expires next week. At issue in the sprawling debate is the extent of the changes passed last Congress during the last reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, when national security hawks fended off an attempt from privacy advocates to require a warrant requirement for certain searches. The clash over the spy authority is expected to once again be on display at the House Rules Committee Tuesday, about a week before the statutory authority expires on April 20. One of the amendments filed at the committee, from Arizona Republican Reps. Andy Biggs and Eli Crane, seeks to add a warrant requirement. The Trump administration wants to extend Section 702 for 18 months with no changes, and GOP House leadership has previewed a floor strategy that would leave little room for Republican defections. The administration has ramped up its messaging in the lead up to the expiration date. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter to a slate of lawmakers, warning that a loss or reduction in Section 702 would “significantly impair” U.S. security. Meanwhile, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers want to see more privacy protections. And privacy advocates say many changes in the last Section 702 reauthorization measure merely codified already existing procedures, and the final legislative product in some ways expanded the scope of the program. The advocates argue the government has not followed all the requirements outlined in the last reauthorization measure and has produced incomplete figures on searches tied to American information collected under the surveillance authority. “The attitude we’re seeing from FISA 702’s boosters right now is, ‘If we can pretend it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’” Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Tuesday. “But the problems are there. They are very real, and in some ways, they are worse than ever.”

AP [4/15/2026 12:30 AM, David Klepper, 3833K] reports Congress is set to take up the reauthorization of a divisive program that lets U.S. spy agencies pore over foreigners’ calls, texts and emails, with supporters like President Donald Trump saying it has saved lives while critics point to longstanding concerns about warrantless surveillance of Americans. A key provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act permits the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI and other agencies to collect and analyze vast amounts of overseas communications without a warrant. It incidentally sweeps up the conversations of any Americans who interact with those foreigners targeted for surveillance. The program expires Monday, and critics want changes, including a requirement for warrants before authorities can access the emails, phone calls or text messages of Americans. They also want limits on the government’s use of internet data brokers, who sell large volumes of personal information gleaned online, offering the government what critics say amounts to an end-run around the Constitution. Despite bipartisan criticism, the chances of significant reforms dropped when Trump announced his support for the program’s renewal, saying it had proven its worth in supplying information vital to recent U.S. actions in Venezuela and Iran. “The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our military,” Trump said on social media Tuesday. U.S. authorities say the program, known as Section 702 of the law, is vital to national security and has saved lives by uncovering terror plots. Critics question what they call a dangerous infringement on civil liberties and privacy. In a Truth Social post, Trump said a different FISA provision was used to spy on his 2016 campaign but that he supported Section 702’s renewal despite misgivings that political adversaries could use parts of the law against him in the future. He called on lawmakers to extend the foreign surveillance program for another 18 months. “My administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these FISA reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting our sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution,” Trump wrote. Trump is a longtime critic of the nation’s intelligence services and was once opposed to Section 702 before he reversed himself. “KILL FISA” Trump posted on social media in 2024, when the provision was last reauthorized. Trump isn’t the only one-time critic to change their mind: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard sponsored legislation to repeal Section 702 as a Hawaii congresswoman but now supports it after being tapped to coordinate the nation’s 18 intelligence agencies. Gabbard says new protections added since her time in Congress helped change her mind. n addition to a requirement for a warrant to access Americans’ data, critics also want greater protections on how the FBI or other agencies can search communications and how that is reported to the public. “Journalists, foreign aid workers, people with family overseas, all could have their communications swept up in this surveillance merely because they talked to someone outside of this country,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The longtime critic of the law is pushing for changes that he said will ensure the government isn’t violating civil rights in secret. Several Republicans also have suggested changes, such as the warrant requirement. “National security and civil liberties are not mutually exclusive,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz. “We can give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to target foreign threats while ensuring that Americans are not subjected to unconstitutional surveillance.”

Washington Examiner [4/14/2026 12:55 PM, Rena Rowe, 1147K] reports that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he will not allow amendments to a surveillance bill, arguing that any changes could derail its renewal ahead of a looming deadline. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets abroad, is set to expire on April 20, resulting in a congressional scramble to pass the controversial measure. "It’s going to be a clean extension," Johnson said on Tuesday. "If we put amendments on it, it jeopardizes its passage, and it’s far too important." Johnson is aiming to move an 18-month extension through the House Rules Committee on Tuesday afternoon, with a floor vote later this week. The push comes with strong backing from President Donald Trump, who has pressed lawmakers for months to renew the program. In a Monday letter to the committees on intelligence, armed services, defense appropriations, and the judiciary in both chambers, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine warned that failing to extend the authority would jeopardize U.S. security. "The loss or reduction of FISA section 702 authorities would increase risk to the Joint Force, degrade our worldwide combat lethality, and significantly impair U.S. security," Cain wrote in a letter obtained by Politico. Still, the proposal faces resistance from lawmakers in both parties who argue the law lacks sufficient safeguards for Americans’ privacy.

Reuters [4/15/2026 3:49 AM, Vladimir Soldatkin, 38315K] reports Russia will continue helping fuel-hungry Cuba with crucial supplies of oil, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, two weeks after Moscow sent a tanker with around 700,000 barrels of crude to the Caribbean island. Washington stopped oil exports to Cuba from its main ally Venezuela after capturing ⁠Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, triggering acute fuel shortages across the communist-ruled island of almost 11 million people. President Donald Trump has threatened punishing tariffs on countries sending crude to Cuba as he seeks to put pressure on the government. The U.S. later allowed the Russian oil delivery to Cuba, this year’s first by Moscow, for humanitarian reasons. Another major supplier, Mexico, halted its shipments. Lavrov, on a visit to China, said Russia will provide humanitarian aid to ‌Cuba, ⁠its long-standing ally. "We have dispatched the first tanker with 100,000 tons (700,000 barrels) of oil for Cuba. Of course, this will probably last for a couple of months - I’m not a specialist," he told a briefing at the end of the two-day visit. "But ⁠I have no doubt that we will continue providing such assistance, and that (China) will, of course, continue to take part in this cooperation as well," added Lavrov, without referring ⁠to the issue of U.S. permission or not for future deliveries.

Washington Post [4/15/2026 5:15 AM, Dan Lamothe, 24826K] reports the Pentagon is sending thousands of additional troops into the Middle East in the coming days, as the Trump administration attempts to pressure Iran into a deal that could end the weeks-long conflict there while considering the possibility of additional strikes or ground operations if a fragile ceasefire does not hold, U.S. officials said. The forces moving into the region include about 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and several warships escorting it, said current and former officials, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements. About 4,200 others with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine Corps task force, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are expected to arrive near the end of the month. The infusion of firepower appears likely to coalesce with warships already in the Middle East just as the two-week ceasefire is set to expire April 22. The troops will join the estimated 50,000 personnel that the Pentagon has said are involved in operations countering Iran. President Donald Trump, in a bid to squeeze Tehran economically, on Sunday announced a blockade of maritime traffic leaving and arriving at Iranian ports. He is attempting to press the Iranian regime into reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage for the shipment of Middle Eastern oil transiting the Persian Gulf, and end its nuclear program in negotiations led by Vice President JD Vance. Talks faltered over the weekend, but the president has said that they could resume later this week, and told Fox Business that he viewed the war as “very close” to being over. The arrival of additional American warships will put even greater pressure on Iran and provide Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, and other senior military leaders with more options should negotiations fail, said James Foggo, a retired Navy admiral and dean at the Center for Maritime Strategy in Northern Virginia.

NBC News [4/14/2026 7:02 PM, Staff, 42967K] Video: HERE reports President Trump said new talks with the Iranian regime could start within days. NBC News’ Gabe Gutierrez reports.

Breitbart [4/15/2026 4:20 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday the war with Iran is “very close to being over,” arguing recent U.S. actions prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon while signaling negotiations could resume imminently as the regime “want[s] to make a deal very badly.” In excerpts from a pre-recorded interview set to air Wednesday morning on Fox Business with Maria Bartiromo, Trump defended the military campaign and suggested Iran would struggle to recover from the damage inflicted. “I had to divert because if I didn’t do that, right now you would have Iran with a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “And if they had a nuclear weapon, you would be calling everybody over there — and you don’t want to do that.” Asked whether the war was over, Trump responded, “I think it’s close to over, yeah. I mean, I view it as very close to over.” He added, “If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”

Wall Street Journal [4/14/2026 6:13 AM, Lara Seligman and Shelby Holliday, 646K] reports American military forces began blockading all traffic attempting to enter and leave Iranian ports on Monday, setting up a potential game of cat and mouse with shadow-fleet tankers that ship sanctioned Iranian oil from the Islamic Republic’s terminals. With enough warships, a blockade could intimidate many tankers attempting to move oil to and from Iran. But U.S. forces would also need to be ready to board and seize hostile ships that try to break the blockade. Any interception is likely to take place outside the Persian Gulf, to keep U.S. warships away from Iranian fire. Former and current officials said the blockade can be enforced, but it is a complex operation that requires significant U.S. military resources. Washington kicked off the operation Monday morning by positioning more than 15 U.S. warships, according to a senior U.S. official. Placing resources and warships near Iran’s coast could make U.S. assets susceptible to attack, officials said, so the U.S. will likely try to intercept or quarantine commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea to prevent them from entering or leaving Iranian ports. Any warship can approach a tanker suspected of violating the blockade, but if a ship doesn’t comply with a request to board, specially trained Marines and special-operations forces, such as Navy SEALs, would be needed to conduct a contested boarding. By the second day of the blockade no interdictions had been reported.

FOX News [4/14/2026 12:36 PM, Morgan Phillips, 37576K] reports that President Donald Trump is set to meet with U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue Tuesday, as the administration prepares for a high-stakes summit between the U.S. president and Chinese President Xi Jinping in May. The talks are expected to focus on both escalating tensions in the Middle East and the broader U.S.–China relationship, as Washington weighs its approach to Beijing ahead of the summit. The meeting comes just after the U.S. launched a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, where China remains the largest buyer of Iranian crude amid the conflict between the U.S., Iran and Israel. The blockade risks pulling China more directly into the conflict. Any effort to enforce it against shipments bound for China could trigger a confrontation between the world’s two largest economies. "This will only aggravate confrontation, escalate tension, undermine the already fragile ceasefire and further jeopardize safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said of the blockade Tuesday in a daily press conference. "It is a dangerous and irresponsible move." The meeting also comes amid reports that China supplied Iran with weapons, which Chinese officials dismissed as "completely made up." Trump has threatened China with 50% tariffs if the reports are accurate. Meanwhile, Washington and Beijing remain locked in a fragile tariff standoff. The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on the purpose of the meeting.

Reuters [4/15/2026 4:48 AM, Greg Torode and Karen Lema, 38315K] reports China is employing ships and a barrier to tighten control of the entrance to the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea amid roiling tension with the Philippines over the disputed feature, satellite imagery obtained by Reuters shows. Scarborough is one of Asia’s most hotly disputed maritime sites, where ‌some diplomats and analysts fear long-running frictions and confrontations could degenerate into armed conflict. The presence of four fishing boats, a Chinese naval or coast guard ship and a new floating barrier comes as the Philippines sends its own coast guard and fisheries vessels to support its fishermen frequently driven away by larger Chinese patrols. Photographs taken on April 10 and 11 show the fishing boats anchored along the entrance to the shoal, in addition to a floating barrier stretching across it in the April 11 image. Satellite image provider Vantor, formerly Maxar Technologies, said a probable Chinese naval or coast guard patrol vessel can be glimpsed just outside the entrance on April 10. China’s defence ministry ⁠did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the deployment to the entrance to the shoal or its timing.

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