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

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

The AP [4/16/2026 11:25 PM, Tia Goldenberg and Hallie Golden, 2238K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Todd Lyons, a key executor of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations agenda, will resign at the end of May, federal officials announced Thursday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Lyons’ departure, calling him a great leader of ICE who helped to make American communities safer. Mullin said Lyons’ last day will be May 31. “We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector,” Mullin said in a statement. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press asking why he is resigning. Lyons, who was named acting director in March 2025, led the agency at the center of President Donald Trump’s plans to reshape immigration to the U.S. Under his leadership, the agency was granted a massive infusion of cash through Congress, which it used to expand hiring and detention capabilities, and it ramped up arrests to meet demand from the administration. ICE was also central to a series of high-profile immigration enforcement operations in American cities, including Chicago and Minneapolis, a deployment that ended after backlash erupted over the deaths of two American protesters at the hands of federal immigration officers. Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff and the main architect of his immigration policy, called Lyons a “dedicated leader.” “His courageous work at ICE has saved countless thousands of American lives and helped deliver safety and tranquility to millions of Americans,” Miller said in a statement. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson described Lyons in a post on X as “an American patriot who made our country safer.” It’s not clear who might replace Lyons. But whoever does will take over an agency flush with cash while still a flashpoint for controversy. ICE is at the center of a battle in Congress, with Democratic lawmakers demanding restraints on immigration officers before agreeing to restore routine funding for DHS. On Thursday, Lyons, along with two other top immigration officials, appeared before a House subcommittee to argue for his agency’s budget and faced continued scrutiny from lawmakers of ICE’s actions. Lyons’ departure also comes as DHS is under new leadership after Trump fired former Secretary Kristi Noem, who led the department through the administration’s major immigration policy changes. Mullin, who took over as secretary last month, is likely to continue to advance the president’s agenda but has struck a softer tone on some of the administration’s most contentious policies. Public perceptions of ICE during Lyons’ tenure were low. In a February AP-NORC poll, most U.S. adults, including independents, said they have an unfavorable view of the agency. The Wall Street Journal [4/17/2026 3:39 AM, Michael Wright, 646K] reports that Lyons’s tenure atop the agency coincided with a sweeping crackdown on immigration across the U.S., in which masked agents were shuttled into cities to conduct roving street patrols with the aim of rounding up migrants. Lyons took the role in March last year after Caleb Vitello was removed from his post amid frustration in the administration that deportations hadn’t accelerated faster. Lyons is set to join the private sector after his departure on May 31, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. Mullin praised Lyons in a post on X, saying, “He jumpstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do its job for four years. Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.” Politico [4/16/2026 9:45 PM, Aaron Pellish, 21784K] reports “Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE and a key player in helping the Trump administration remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from American communities,” Mullin said in a statement. “Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/16/2026 9:34 PM, Madeleine Ngo and Hamed Aleaziz, 148038K]
Washington Post [4/16/2026 11:23 PM, Maria Sacchetti, 24826K]
The Hill [4/16/2026 10:55 PM, Sarah Davis, 18170K]
CBS News [4/16/2026 7:58 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51110K]
FOX News [4/16/2026 8:16 PM, Jasmine Baehr, Bill Melugin, Preston Mizell, 37576K]
NewsMax [4/16/2026 7:53 PM, Staff, 3760K]

Washington Times [4/16/2026 1:12 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security is facing serious headwinds on Capitol Hill, but top immigration officials touted some major bright spots Thursday, saying ICE currently has a “surplus” of detention beds, and construction on President Trump’s border wall is under budget. Todd Lyons, acting head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said his agency has become more efficient at deportations and the State Department has helped get other countries to cooperate in taking back their people. The result, he said, is that they don’t need to detain people as long, so their bed use is actually less than capacity. “We’re actually in a surplus right now,” Mr. Lyons told the House Appropriations Committee. “Our removal process and our increase in our removal proceedings have led to no longer having a shortfall on beds but having a stockpile,” he said. That could explain the drop in bed use from January, when ICE reported about 70,000 beds used, to this month, when ICE said it had about 60,000 migrants detained as of April 4. ICE, in its budget plans, said it wants to have 99,000 beds available this year and next. ICE has been purchasing warehouse facilities around the country to set up migrant detention and processing facilities — and has met with legal and political obstacles. Rep. Veronica Escobar, Texas Democrat, said one planned for her area near El Paso, Texas, would overwhelm the community, and she said the idea of such a massive facility is worrying. “Those structures are meant to hold things, not people,” she said.

Washington Examiner [4/16/2026 7:02 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1147K] reports the Trump administration hopes to lock down funding from Congress to cover hiring 200 special agents in the Department of Homeland Security who would specifically investigate immigration fraud. During an exchange with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) at a hearing on Thursday, Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security that his agency was in the process of carrying out the White House’s plans. Cuellar said USCIS intended to hire "200 agents" for the forthcoming Atlanta-based USCIS Vetting Center and questioned why other agencies could not take on this added work. "What I am trying to create here is a very narrow criminal investigation branch that is going to focus specifically on immigration fraud and entitlement fraud that falls within our purview," Edlow said. "For the amount of immigration fraud that we have seen, that we have uncovered, that I know has been in the system for many, many years, there is a very small number, hardly any prosecutions, we’ve ever seen. This is to really focus on that," Edlow said. The decision to create a special office focused on reviewing legal immigration applicants for fraud was made last November following the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan national who entered the country during the Biden administration but was granted asylum during President Donald Trump’s first year in office. At present, special agents work within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arm. Edlow said all newly hired special agents at USCIS will go through the criminal investigator training program, as well as a nine-week special agent training program specific to USCIS.

Roll Call [4/16/2026 6:26 PM, idan Quigley and Aris Folley, 673K] reports Senate Republicans plan to release a budget resolution next week that would kick-start the process for a reconciliation bill on immigration enforcement funding and help end a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, lawmakers said Thursday. The party is aiming to provide about $70 billion in funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol to sustain them for at least the next three years, without placing any new guardrails on federal immigration agents sought by Democrats. The budget resolution would contain instructions to the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Judiciary panels, which would be charged with writing the details of the upcoming reconciliation bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday that the chamber is "hoping to get on a budget resolution by middle to end of next week.” "It’s drafted," Thune said. "Text hasn’t been released, but we’ve been working on it for some time.” Thune said Republicans have had "a number of conversations" with Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who provides guidance about what is allowed in reconciliation under Senate rules. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has said he would hold up a Senate-passed bill that funds the department except for immigration enforcement functions until a budget reconciliation bill providing funding to those agencies is passed. The administration has set a June 1 deadline for that bill, which could mean another month and a half of the shutdown. Some Republicans in both chambers, especially the House, have been calling for the party to take this opportunity to pursue a wider reconciliation package that could encompass everything from farm aid to defense and voter ID measures. But the Senate is hesitant to expand the package, especially with the shutdown continuing. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., said the Senate is responding to the House’s request for immigration enforcement funding to clear a path for the Senate’s DHS appropriations bill. Top DHS officials, meanwhile, took to Capitol Hill Thursday to bemoan the shutdown and highlight its negative repercussions. Beyond the thousands of personnel who have gone without pay, the shutdown has had major effects on Customs and Border Protection’s operations, Rodney Scott, the agency’s commissioner, said during a House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee hearing. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been able to use funding from last year’s budget reconciliation law to offset the effects of the shutdown to some degree. In his written testimony, Todd Lyons, who is performing the duties of the director of ICE, said that the agency has obligated $11 billion of the $75 billion it received in that law as of March 19. But the agency can’t use the reconciliation funding to pay non-law enforcement personnel, operate "basic services" within ICE, or conduct criminal investigations into human trafficking and child exploitation, he said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has $3.4 billion left in its disaster relief fund, acting FEMA administrator Karen Evans said. The agency temporarily lost access to over $17 billion provided in last year’s funding extension when the shutdown started.

Federal News Network [4/16/2026 6:37 PM, Justin Doubleday, 1297K] reports the DHS shutdown is leading to unpaid utility bills at the Coast Guard, a vacuum of cyber planning activities at CISA, and grounded aircraft at CBP. Department of Homeland Security officials are warning about a growing backlog of contracts, planning activities and more delays as a result of the two-month-long government shutdown. DHS officials, testifying before multiple committees on Thursday about fiscal 2027 budget requests, flagged the ongoing impacts of Congress failing to pass a 2026 budget for the department. The DHS-specific shutdown began Feb. 14. Adm. Kevin Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, applauded the Trump administration’s recent decision to use funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill to pay DHS personnel, including Coast Guard civilians, who had gone without paychecks for weeks. But, he said the shutdown continues to threaten other aspects of Coast Guard operations. "We also have over 5,000 unpaid utility bills, over a hundred providers that have threatened to cut off electricity and water to our Coast Guard stations and air stations," Lunday told the House Appropriations homeland Security subcommittee on Thursday. "And we’ve got a growing backlog of 18,000 Merchant Mariner credentials that are not processed at a time when the U.S. is trying to rebuild our maritime might.” Nick Andersen, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, noted just 40% of CISA’s staff had been working through much of the shutdown, until DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin recalled furloughed staff last week. But Andersen said CISA still isn’t legally allowed to carry out certain activities, such as outreach. That’s despite ongoing threats to critical infrastructure systems due to the conflict in Iran. Andersen noted that CISA did release a joint cybersecurity advisory on Iranian threat actors last week. But he said the agency is "more limited than I would like" in its ability to counter threats. "A lot of those preparatory activities within the environment, a lot of the outreach that we would typically be able to do, that’s simply not possible or legally allowed during the period of a shutdown," Andersen said. "We’re doing everything that we can.” During an earlier hearing before the same House subcommittee, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott noted how the shutdown has impacted CBP’s service contracts. During a Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, witnesses also discussed the impacts of the shutdown on DHS’s planning for this summer’s FIFA World Cup. Chris Tomney, director of the Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness at DHS, said the lapse has "significantly impacted our operations," pointing to the hundreds of Transportation Security Administration employees who have quit in recent months.

FOX News [4/16/2026 2:05 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports that Tom Homan, Trump Administration Border Czar, warns Sandra Smith and John Roberts about severe national security consequences stemming from the partial government shutdown’s impact on DHS funding. Homan highlights critical operational failures for CBP and ICE, affecting equipment, intelligence networks, and personnel pay. He urges Congress to fund homeland security in a non-partisan manner, criticizing attempts to limit enforcement capabilities. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [4/16/2026 4:55 PM, Angélica Franganillo Diaz, 50K] reports that Immigration enforcement agencies are grounding equipment and facing gaps in investigative work as the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding lapse prevents them from paying contractors who maintain critical assets, top officials told lawmakers. “Patrol boats, planes — they are parked,” Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said Thursday during a hearing before the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee. He warned that unpaid service providers have left vehicles and equipment offline and raised concerns about the agency’s ability to sustain border operations. “We can’t pay them as promised,” Scott said. Todd Lyons, acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said funding constraints are disrupting core operations including fuel for vehicles, temporary duty deployments, and contracts that support intelligence networks and victim advocacy services. The disruption highlights ongoing impacts from the DHS appropriations lapse, which began in February when lawmakers failed to reach a deal on changes to immigration enforcement policies. CBP and ICE are largely relying on separate funding Republicans provided last year, but the money isn’t available for all of the agencies’ spending needs. Republicans are now pursuing another reconciliation package that could deliver billions in funding for immigration enforcement outside the typical appropriations process.

NPR [4/16/2026 6:07 PM, Ximena Bustillo, 28764K] reports top officials from the Department of Homeland Security talked to House lawmakers about what the agency needs for next fiscal year — even as it’s in the midst of a record-breaking shutdown. The acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the admiral of the U.S. Coast Guard and others testified about the impact of the current funding lapse on their workforce and programs. Several agency leaders requested money for more staff, while also raising concern that not all their workers were back in the office and had missed paychecks. Some lawmakers called the hearing on Thursday an "absurdity," and the process "frustrating." Lawmakers have been in a stalemate for over 60 days about funding the entire department, which includes agencies that oversee immigration enforcement, disaster relief, cybersecurity and the U.S. Coast Guard. Republicans for their part are discussing whether they could fund the department for three years, or the rest of Trump’s term, through a partisan process called reconciliation — the mechanism also used for immigration-focused funding passed last year. All three of the DHS officials voiced support for the plan and urged Republicans to pass a reconciliation measure by June 1. Texas Democrats questioned Todd Lyons, the acting ICE head, on the agency’s plans to retrofit warehouses across the country as processing or detention facilities. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow said his agency wants to create a new law enforcement arm and hire and train 200 officers separate from those who work for ICE and CBP. Officials for the non-immigration agencies under DHS also testified about the need for funding. Sean Curran, director of the U.S. Secret Service, warned that the next few years through 2028 are poised to be a heavy lift for the agency. Curran noted that the current workforce is not big enough to handle the FIFA World Cup, 2028 Olympics and the 2028 presidential cycle. His agency is asking for funding to hire 852 new positions and he noted the Secret Service is also helping to train local law enforcement for the events, which also requires funding. Rodney Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, also said the funding lapse put on hold training for personnel related to the World Cup games this summer. The agency is also unable to pay for border maintenance, contractors, and certain planes and boats. Ha Nguyen McNeill, the TSA acting administrator, said the agency is poised to lose more people as the shutdown drags on.

NewsMax [4/16/2026 4:08 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget told a Senate panel on Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is in dire straits after a more than two-month partial shutdown has starved it of its discretionary funding. Russell Vought testified before the Senate Budget Committee that DHS has been "disintegrating" since funding lapsed on Feb. 14 over Democrats’ opposition to immigration enforcement tactics under the Trump administration. Although Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection are largely funded through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the funding dispute has affected other agencies within DHS. Those include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The Senate on March 27 passed a funding bill for DHS that included discretionary appropriations for all agencies except ICE and CBP in a concession to Democrats. But that measure has stalled in the House. Republicans in Congress are considering a reconciliation proposal to fund DHS. The process would allow them to bypass a Senate filibuster. Vought warned that more workers will quit if Congress doesn’t soon restore the agency’s funding. The New York Post [4/16/2026 8:06 PM, Victor Nava, 40934K] reports Vought explained during a Senate Budget Committee hearing that the department has struggled to retain workers amid the lapse in federal funding, which began more than two months ago on Feb. 14. "As of right now, the Department of Homeland Security is disintegrating because [DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin] and I are having to figure out ways to temporarily fund people’s paychecks so we don’t have people quit and embark on new careers," Vought testified. The OMB director warned more DHS employees "will indeed" quit if the shutdown is allowed to continue. "Some of the things we were seeing the weekend Secretary Mullin took office was incredibly concerning," Vought said. "We have to have a funding mechanism for the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security.”

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/16/2026 10:59 AM, Alexander Bolton, 18170K]

Houston Chronicle [4/16/2026 6:24 PM, Caroline Wilburn, 2493K] reports Gov. Greg Abbott this week said he would withhold $114 million in grant funds from Houston if the city does not vote to reverse its new policy that limits police cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. A large portion of the funds is a federal grant intended to cover security costs for the city’s 2026 FIFA World Cup events happening this summer. A significant amount of funds for the Houston Police Department and public safety efforts is at risk as well. The city’s FIFA host committee said in a statement to the Chronicle that it "is aware of the letter Governor Abbott sent to the City of Houston. The committee is gathering information and monitoring developments to understand any potential implications." The threat from Abbott comes after the Houston City Council last week voted to pass a proposal that eliminates an HPD police requirement that officers must wait 30 minutes for federal agents to pick people up on non-criminal ICE administrative warrants and requires police leaders to provide reports on the department’s cooperation with ICE. Abbott’s office had initially given the city a deadline of April 20 to reverse its policy. On Thursday, Abbott extended the deadline to Wednesday, April 22, when the council is scheduled to discuss the issue during its regular weekly meeting. The cash at risk includes almost $65 million to protect World Cup events, $21 million in federal funds for "high-threat, high-density areas," $16 million to counter the unlawful use of drones and $10 million for police equipment, according to a city document. A $64.7 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s FIFA World Cup Grant Program is included in a list of funds Abbott has threatened to revoke. Tommy Calabro, chief safety and security officer for the city’s host committee, previously said about 90% of the funding from the grant would go toward operational costs, including overtime for Houston police and other officers. The remaining funds would go toward covering the cost of technology and equipment, such as equipment for emergency medical personnel from the Houston Fire Department and other agencies.

Politico [4/16/2026 6:05 PM, Sophia Cai, 21784K] reports the Trump administration expects Iran’s soccer team to travel to the United States for the upcoming World Cup, a senior administration official told POLITICO on Thursday. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House FIFA World Cup task force, said in an interview at the White House that U.S. officials are planning for Iran to participate despite ongoing geopolitical tensions and the absence of a broader diplomatic breakthrough between Washington and Tehran. “I’m not going to speak for the Iranian team, but I will say that the president, when I’ve talked to him, has invited the Iranian team here,” Giuliani said. “The president of FIFA made a statement, I think, yesterday, that they’re going to be coming. So we expect them here.” Giuliani’s remarks offer a note of optimism after weeks of uncertainty surrounding Iran’s participation in the tournament, hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada, fueled by the ongoing war between the U.S. and Iran. Iran has sought to move its matches to Mexico, a request FIFA denied. The prospect of Iran’s participation carries symbolic weight for a tournament years in the making, and one that FIFA and U.S. organizers have billed as a global event with potential to bring people together. Giuliani added that the administration anticipates Iran will arrive in the U.S. by June 10 for its training camp in Tuscon, Arizona and then travel to Los Angeles for matches against New Zealand and Belgium, and then to Seattle, where they will face Egypt.

FOX News [4/16/2026 3:27 PM, Elaine Mallon, 37576K] reports illegal immigrants staying in homeless shelters in California have undergone sex change procedures and cross-sex hormone therapy treatments on the taxpayers’ dime, a watchdog unearthed. Manhattan Institute fellow Chris Rufo reports in a video that some illegal immigrants have accessed transgender medical procedures through California’s Medi-Cal program, which provides healthcare coverage to low-income residents regardless of immigration status. The state spends roughly $9 billion in taxpayer dollars to provide healthcare for illegal immigrants, which also includes transgender care, according to the California Department of Health Care Services. Roughly 1.7 million illegal immigrants received full-scope coverage in California’s Medicaid program, which in some instances included "gender-affirming care." California Gov. Gavin Newsom expanded the state’s Medicaid program known as Medi-Cal to all immigrants — regardless of legal status — in January 2024.

Univision [4/16/2026 6:38 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee was killed Monday, April 13, 2026 in a series of armed tacks in the Atlanta area, which also left another person dead and a man in critical condition. The victim was identified as Lauren Bullis, who was attacked while walking her dog, according to federal authorities. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the official was "brutally shot and stabbed to death." The alleged perpetrator is Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old man born in the United Kingdom and naturalized American in 2022, who has already been arrested. According to the official version, the attack on Bullis occurred for no apparent reason and was part of a chain of attacks registered within several hours. According to DHS, Bullis was serving in the Office of the Inspector General, where she held positions as an auditor and team leader. In a statement, the agency highlighted its trajectory, underlining its commitment, integrity and the positive impact it had on the institution and its colleagues. Authorities said the suspect reportedly began the series of assaults with the shooting of a woman outside a restaurant. He subsequently shot a street man in front of a supermarket, who remains in critical condition. Hours later — about four hours after the first incident — he attacked the DHS employee, who was allegedly shot and stabbed while walking with her pet. After the attacks, police located and raided a home that the suspect rented near the crime area, where he was finally arrested. He faces at least six counts, including murder, aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted criminal. According to the DHS headline, the detainee has a criminal record that includes crimes such as sexual assault, attacks against a police officer, obstruction of justice, assault with a deadly weapon and vandalism.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [4/16/2026 10:25 AM, Irene Wright, 70643K]

Daily Wire [4/16/2026 10:51 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2314K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Wednesday that the Biden administration knew the man suspected of murdering a DHS employee had a checkered criminal history, but granted him citizenship anyway. Mullin said that 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon Abel had an established criminal pattern before he was granted citizenship in 2022 by the Biden administration. Abel was arrested earlier this week for murdering 40-year-old DHS employee Lauren Bullis in DeKalb County, Georgia, while she was out walking her dog. "This individual not just had a pattern of criminal activity, but his pattern was every April. Every April, he had escalated his criminal activity, and the Biden administration knew this, law enforcement knew this, and they decided not to just deport him, but they allowed him to become a citizen, and then he escalated it to the point he did now," Mullin said during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. Lauren Bullis, a DHS employee, was shot and stabbed while she was walking her dog by a citizen naturalized by the Biden administration.

Univision [4/16/2026 2:02 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports that a day after the deadly attacks by a naturalized ex-mariner, the 26-year-old man’s criminal record was revealed. One of the victims of Britain’s native’s attacks is Lauren Bullis, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee who was walking her dog when she was fatally attacked. The first victim was another woman, 31-year-old Prianna Weathers, who was found with gunshot wounds near a restaurant in the Decatur area around 1 a.m. on April 13, 2026. A 49-year-old homeless man is also among the victims; Adon Abel shot him in his sleep; his identity has not been revealed; he remains hospitalized in critical condition. The recent attacks rocked suburban Atlanta, such as Decatur, Brookhaven and Panthersville, occurred several miles away, but years earlier, on the West Coast, the man had committed other crimes. According to information from The Associated Press, military records show that the defendant enlisted in the Navy in 2020, last serving in the Helicopter Maritime Attack Squadron in Coronado, California, and as a noncommissioned officer received the Navy’s "E" tape for his superior performance in combat preparation. According to California court records, Adon Abel pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assaulting two police officers with a deadly weapon and attacking another person while stationed in Coronado. He is charged with premeditation murder, aggravated assault and illegal possession of firearms for Monday’s attacks. He resigned his initial court appearance on Tuesday. DHS director Markwayne Mullin said Adon Abel has a criminal record, including a sexual assault conviction. Online court records show that a person with a similar name and the same date of birth pleaded guilty last June in Chatham County, Georgia, to four minor sexual assault offenses.

FOX News [4/16/2026 6:00 AM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K] reports a Department of Homeland Security official was killed in Georgia by a naturalized U.S. citizen with a prior criminal record, a case that is raising new questions about the federal government’s vetting process after the agency recently acknowledged significant screening gaps. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed Wednesday that Lauren Bullis, 40, was "brutally shot and stabbed to death," identifying the suspect as 26-year-old Olaolukitan Adon Abel, who was naturalized in 2022 and has a record that includes convictions for sexual battery, assault and battery against a police officer. The killing comes shortly after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disclosed "significant national security and public safety risks" in U.S. vetting processes, describing past screening processes as "wholly inadequate" under former President Joe Biden. Mullin said DHS is "devastated" by Bullis’ killing. The agency also said she "was a bright spot for so many of the DHS community."

Daily Wire [4/16/2026 4:23 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration has ramped up efforts to denaturalize U.S. citizens who obtained their citizenship unlawfully. Olaolukitan Adon Abel, naturalized under President Joe Biden’s administration years before he allegedly went on a killing spree, is just one such case. Abel, 26, was born in the United Kingdom and became a naturalized United States citizen in 2022. On Monday, Abel allegedly fatally shot two women, including Homeland Security employee Lauren Bullis, while she was walking her dog in DeKalb County, Georgia. Abel also allegedly shot a homeless man in the attack. The alleged killer has a lengthy rap sheet that includes previous convictions for sexual battery, battery against a police officer, obstruction, assault with a deadly weapon, and vandalism, according to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The latest attack is just one of several in recent months carried out by naturalized American citizens.

Bloomberg Law [4/16/2026 2:22 PM, Alexandra Samuels, 50K] reports that state election officials gave Congress conflicting messages on voter roll rules, disagreeing about whether the federal government needs a larger role in maintaining them. At a House Administration Committee hearing Thursday, Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican, said federal restrictions limit how quickly states can update voter rolls, while Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, said states already have systems in place to verify voter registrations. The exchange comes Senate Republicans wrestle with the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act (S. 1383; BGOV Bill Analysis), which would require documentary proof of citizenship… [Editorial note: consult extended commentary at source link]

FOX News [4/16/2026 4:37 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy explains why his department withheld $73 million from New York over illegal trucking licenses on ‘The Will Cain Show.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/16/2026 2:32 PM, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega and César Rodríguez, 148038K] reports the house looked nothing like the modern beauty salon that Vusala Yusifova once owned in Azerbaijan. The smell of freshly brewed coffee, not hair spray, filled the air. Ms. Yusifova worked amid kitchen utensils and children’s books. Her 9-year-old daughter, Inji, stood by as her assistant. Her husband lifted the client over the bathroom sink to wash her hair. And yet, despite the limitations, it was more than Ms. Yusifova could have imagined for herself a year ago, when the Trump administration deported her and her family to Costa Rica. The Yusifovs were arrested while illegally crossing from Mexico into the United States after their asylum appointments were canceled. Border patrol agents caught them after Inji became tangled in a barbed wire fence. They were among the first people to be expelled under a mass deportation program. Thousands of migrants who cannot legally, or safely, be returned to their home countries have instead been sent to places they have no ties to. So far, the Trump administration has sent 15,000 people to unfamiliar nations, according to the Migration Policy Institute — including Panama, Cameroon, South Sudan and elsewhere. Like the rest of the 200 people who arrived in Costa Rica last year, the Yusifovs endured several months in detention in a makeshift holding center. But today they are among a handful of families who have found an unexpected welcome in Monteverde, a mountaintop town in northwest Costa Rica. There, an alliance of residents, expatriates and pacifist Quakers raised money to support the new arrivals, found them places to rent, helped their children go to school and, in some cases, offered them jobs.

FOX News [4/16/2026 9:00 AM, Richard Staropoli, 37576K] reports the Secret Service doesn’t have a recruiting problem, it has a hiring problem — how woke, DEI hiring practices have destroyed the world’s most enigmatic and foremost protective agency. Again, the U.S. Secret Service finds itself in the news and again, it’s another issue involving one of its employees. Embarrassing, yes, but the bigger problem is that when it involves the Secret Service there is a thin line between embarrassing and someone actually getting killed. On March 27, it was reported that a Secret Service agent assigned to the detail of former first lady "Dr." Jill Biden claimed that his weapon had fallen out of its holster and discharged itself. The agent reportedly shot himself in the leg and was hospitalized. Even more remarkable is how little coverage this incident received — partly due to the ever-changing news cycle, partly due to the media and the public becoming less surprised by the downward spiral that the Secret Service has been mired in. One of the most-storied and enigmatic, if not the premier protective agency in the world, is unraveling before the eyes of the public and no one seems to care. As quickly as this story vanished, it was replaced with one involving yet another Secret Service employee. On April 8, court documents surfaced indicating that an agent-trainee had been arrested after he was caught spying on his fellow agent-trainee roommate while both were attending Secret Service training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The trainee was arrested and charged with unlawful eavesdropping and surveillance. The Secret Service was forced to issue a statement. Deputy Director Matt Quinn said, in part, "the charges are deeply troubling and raise significant concerns about the individual’s character and fitness to serve." More troubling is that this individual had been a civilian employee of the Secret Service in which his job was to monitor and assess threats to the president. These two recent incidents raise the question, "What the hell is going on with the Secret Service and the people that it is hiring?"

Reuters [4/16/2026 5:56 PM, Kanishka Singh, 38315K] reports the Trump administration said on Thursday it was attempting to ‌deport an Iranian academic and media commentator, who it alleged had lied on his visa application, prompting criticism from a Muslim advocacy group which cast his detention as a crackdown on Iranian voices amid the Iran war. The Department of Homeland Security said Azizi was arrested on Monday for allegedly ​lying on his visa application. The DHS statement ​was referring to the pro-government student Basij group in Iran that make up a voluntary paramilitary organization ​affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The DHS statement did not offer specifics or evidence on ‌Azizi’s ⁠alleged membership. Washington has designated the IRGC as a "foreign terrorist organization." The DHS said Azizi came to the U.S. in 2013 on a student visa. The student visa status was ​terminated "for failure to re-enroll ​in the Fall ⁠2025 semester" at his school, DHS added, saying he will remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and receive due process.

ABC News [4/16/2026 9:52 PM, Armando Garcia and Laura Romero, 34146K] reports death rates in immigration detention are nearing record highs, raising concerns among physicians regarding the health service standards at federal facilities, according to a new JAMA research study. The research, published Thursday, analyzed death rates from fiscal year 2004 through Jan. 19 of this year. Since the study’s conclusion, an additional 10 deaths have been reported at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. According to the study, mortality rates peaked in 2004 before declining sharply and remaining relatively low until 2020. After a brief post-pandemic dip, rates began to climb again, with significant increases noted in 2025 and 2026. "Recent increases in mortality occurred alongside major operational changes reported in 2025, including disrupted or terminated oversight mechanisms, rapid detention expansion with reports of overcrowding, and potentially delayed medical care," the researchers said. "These fluctuations raise questions regarding the consistent implementation of existing standards for health services in these facilities.” According to the authors, changes within ICE management in the past year have led to inconsistent oversight, rapid expansion of facility intake resulting in overcrowding, and potentially delayed health care delivery. The Department of Homeland Security released a statement to ABC News, saying, "Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody are 0.009% of the detained population. As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens—including providing access to proper medical care. For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.” "All detainees are provided with proper meals, water, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers. In fact, ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. citizens," DHS said. "It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care," the agency added. The study found that the death rate dropped from 127.7 per 100,000 person-years in FY 2004 to 13.0 in FY 2023, then climbed to 47.5 in FY 2025 and 88.9 in partial FY 2026. The current rate is nearly seven times the FY 2023 level, according to researchers. The researchers called for a more complete investigation into detainee health risks, access to care, and improved tracking of transfer or release from custody.

USA Today [4/16/2026 2:47 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 70643K] reports that a record number of people have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention during the current Trump administration, the agency’s acting director said April 16. Since President Donald Trump took office for a second term in January 2025, USA TODAY’s tracker shows at least 48 people have died in ICE detention facilities. Todd Lyons, who leads ICE, told federal lawmakers at least 44 people have died in custody since he began his acting tenure in March 2025. Overall, numbers are higher since Trump returned to the White House promising to dramatically increase deportations from the United States. "It is the highest because we do have the highest amount in detention that ICE has ever had since its inception in 2003," Lyons told Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Illinois. Underwood, who questioned Lyons’ numbers, grilled him on practices by ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agencies in a House budget hearing. DHS has remained partially unfunded since mid-February over lawmakers objecting to immigration agents’ tactics that have resulted in Americans killed during federal operations. Conditions in immigrant detention facilities have also drawn heavy scrutiny since the start of Trump’s second term. Neither Congress nor the public, Underwood said, has had a real explanation why more people are dying in ICE custody.

San Francisco Chronicle [4/16/2026 3:20 PM, St. John Barned-Smith, Ko Lyn Cheang, 3833K] reports a U.S. congressmember, citing a Chronicle investigation into the record number of deaths and poor medical care at ICE detention facilities, called on the agency’s leadership to institute new reforms to prevent in-custody fatalities. In a pointed exchange Thursday morning, Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., questioned ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons about the sharp increase in deaths during a House Appropriations Committee hearing focused on the Department of Homeland Security’s budget. Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in January 2025, 49 people have died while in ICE custody. The Chronicle examined 32 cases for which revelatory documents were available and sent patient records to doctors with specialties related to the medical conditions cited in the detainees’ cause of death. The hearing marked the first instance in which ICE directly addressed the findings. On Thursday, Lyons said the rising death rate was “because we do have the highest amount in detention that ICE has ever had since its inception, in 2003.” The Chronicle investigation found the record fatalities were not solely due to the spike in people being detained on immigration cases by the Trump administration. ICE facility fatalities have occurred at the highest rate per average daily population of people in detention since at least 2009, with the exception of 2020, when death rates rose due to COVID-19. The congressmember pressed Lyons about whether ICE had any internal policies or goals related to the number of in-custody deaths. Underwood also asked Lyons for increased transparency in reporting ICE deaths.

Daily Wire [4/16/2026 1:27 PM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports a Minnesota prosecutor is seeking the arrest of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. It appears to be the first such case where local authorities have charged a federal immigration officer tied to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. During a press conference Thursday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that the ICE agent now faces two counts of second-degree assault after he allegedly flashed a gun while passing a driver on the highway. There is now a warrant out for his arrest. The Minnesota State Patrol received a 911 call in February from the alleged victims, who said a driver pulled up next to them on the shoulder of a highway and pointed a gun at them, Moriarty said. The ICE agent appeared to be trying "to bypass slower traffic" at the time, the county attorney claimed. The other driver "briefly moved their vehicle into the shoulder to slow him down," she said. Moriarty said that the federal agent "was driving a rented SUV with no markings or other features to indicate that it was an ICE vehicle." When the victim moved out of the shoulder, the agent "pulled alongside the victim’s vehicle," before he "visibly slowed his vehicle to match the pace of the victims’ vehicle, opened his window, and pointed his duty weapon directly at both victims in the other vehicle while continuing to drive illegally on the shoulder," she said. The driver then called 911 while the passenger began recording the incident on video, according to Moriarty. State troopers later identified an ICE agent as the driver and interviewed him at the agency’s office in Minneapolis, the county attorney said. The agent "admitted that he was driving the rented SUV and he and his partner were headed to the Whipple building to end their shift" and "that he drew his firearm after the victims’ vehicle had already rejoined the normal flow of traffic," Moriarty said. In his statement, the agent also allegedly said "he yelled ‘police’" at the victims. But the windows of the victims’ vehicle, Moriarty said, "were rolled up and they couldn’t hear" it. The charges follow the federal withdrawal of hundreds of federal immigration agents from Minneapolis. President Donald Trump sent his border czar Tom Homan to initiate the drawdown in January, replacing the former Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino, who was known for his aggressive tactics.

AP [4/17/2026 3:04 AM, Ryan J. Foley, 35287K] reports their backgrounds stand out. And not in a good way. Two bankruptcies and six law enforcement jobs in three years. An allegation of lying in a police report to justify a felony charge against an innocent woman — an incident that led to a $75,000 settlement and criticism of his integrity. A third job candidate once failed to graduate from a police academy, then lasted only three weeks in his only job as a police officer. Their common bond: All were hired recently by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during an unprecedented hiring spree — 12,000 new officers and special agents to double its force — after the agency received a $75 billion windfall from Congress to enact President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The president put a premium on swift action, and for ICE that meant rapid-fire recruitment and hiring, which in turn led to new employees with questionable qualifications. Their backgrounds and training have come under scrutiny after numerous high-profile incidents in which ICE agents used excessive force. The agency has said the majority of new hires are police and military veterans. But evidence is mounting that applicants with questionable histories were either not fully vetted before they were brought on or were hired in spite of their past, an investigation by The Associated Press found. ICE’s acting director, Todd Lyons, said during a congressional hearing in February that he was proud of the hiring campaign, which drew more than 220,000 applications. "This expansion of a well-trained and well-vetted workforce will help further ICE’s ability to execute the president’s and secretary’s bold agenda," he said. AP finds legal issues in new ICE hires’ backgrounds.

AP [4/17/2026 3:14 AM, Ryan J. Foley, 35287K] reports some newly-hired U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers started working before passing background checks and had financial, legal and employment problems in their histories, according to an investigation by The Associated Press. ICE announced earlier this year that it had completed an unprecedented hiring spree, adding 12,000 new officers and special agents to double the size of its force. Their mission is to help carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, financed by a $75 billion funding infusion from Congress for ICE. But the speed with which they were brought on to the federal payroll, to jobs that have immense power and are considered important for national security, has raised some alarm inside and outside the agency. Unlike many local law enforcement agencies, ICE shields the identity of employees, saying that’s necessary to protect them from harassment. The secrecy makes a full accounting of the new hires impossible. The AP focused on more than 40 officers who recently made public their new jobs as ICE officers on LinkedIn pages, using public records to check their backgrounds. Here are some takeaways from AP’s investigation.

Axios [4/17/2026 5:02 AM, Brittany Gibson, 12972K] reports the Trump administration is discarding its shock-and-awe publicity tactics on immigration after mass deportations were met with mass backlash. The White House has become allergic to the edgy memes, embedded camera crews and cosplaying officials that dominated former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure. A former DHS official said "cooler heads have prevailed" in the White House and are re-calibrating the messaging, naming chief of staff Susie Wiles and her deputy James Blair as among the cooler heads. But other White House staffers, such as deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, have pushed DHS into some of the confrontations that tanked public opinion, as Axios has previously reported. "Everything I’ve done, I’ve done at the direction of the president and Stephen," Noem told a person who relayed her remarks to Axios back in November. "There was a priority on people seeing the enforcement actions," the former agency official told Axios about the aggressive tactics of 2025. "Some of the law enforcement actions you see, even if they’re hardened criminals, it can be hard optics. They can be hard to stomach when you’re seeing really physical altercations," the former official said "You have the base that is demanding this action, and you need to get them out for the midterms. And if they’re not seeing it, to them, it’s not happening." Today, the administration realizes its polling numbers have plummeted on immigration enforcement and Miller has been less present in media appearances on the issue, although he’s still firmly entrenched in his role. New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s first press stop (in business attire) was to promote FEMA’s efforts in North Carolina.

FOX News [4/16/2026 9:50 PM, Alexandra Koch, 37576K] reports a Mexican national illegal alien accused of randomly setting a New York City apartment building on fire that killed four people and injured seven others, could be released back onto the streets as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials say the city is refusing a request to turn him over to immigration authorities. Roman Ceron Amatitla, 38, of Maspeth, is charged with eight counts of second-degree murder and first-degree arson after allegedly lighting a three-story Flushing building on fire March 16, which he selected at random. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said that on the day of the blaze, Amatitla entered and exited the Avery Avenue building multiple times, urinated in front of the apartments, and then went to a nearby gas station — where he bought a beer, stole a second one and took a pack of matches after refusing to pay for a lighter. Authorities allege he then entered the apartment building for a fourth and final time, lighting a piece of paper on fire and tossing it onto trash near a stairwell. As smoke engulfed the street, Katz said he stayed in the immediate area to watch people burn and jump from the windows while sipping his beer, in what she described as an "act of mass murder.” On Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE) requested the New York City Department of Corrections (NYCDOC) not release Amatitla from jail. However, because of New York’s sanctuary policies, the NYCDOC told ICE that it will refuse to cooperate. "This monster set fire to a building and watched as innocent people, including a three-year-old, burned to death. New York City sanctuary politicians REFUSE to cooperate with ICE and are choosing to RELEASE this MURDERER onto New York streets," DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis told Fox News Digital. "New York’s sanctuary politicians must stop putting politics above public safety," she continued. "Releasing this monster from jail is insanity and will allow him to commit more crimes and create more innocent victims. We are calling on Governor Hochul and Mayor Mamdani to not release this public safety threat.” DHS claims New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s executive order shields criminal illegal immigrants and "allows them to reoffend and create more innocent victims.” Mamdani’s action came after Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul’s legislative proposal to bar local police departments from partnering and cooperating with ICE enforcement. DHS said New York’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 6,947 illegal immigrants from Jan. 20 to Dec. 1, who are accused of crimes including: 29 homicides, 2,509 assaults, 199 burglaries, 305 robberies, 392 dangerous drugs offenses, 300 weapons offenses and 207 sexual predatory offenses.

NewsMax [4/16/2026 5:11 PM, Theodore Bunker, 3760K] reports New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday proposed banning law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings while interacting with the public, escalating her efforts to impose new limits on federal immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. Her office said the restriction would not apply to safety or medical gear, including items like sunglasses. The proposal is the latest in a series of measures Hochul has advanced as part of a broader push to curb cooperation between New York authorities and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), amid heightened tensions over federal immigration crackdowns. Hochul’s latest proposal comes as she negotiates a broader package of immigration-related measures with New York’s Democratic-led Legislature, where lawmakers are divided over how far the state should go in limiting cooperation with federal authorities.

New York Post [4/16/2026 7:08 PM, Vaughn Golden, 40934K] reports Gov. Kathy Hochul is getting pulled even further to the left on New York’s sanctuary policies – now saying she supports banning nearly all cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE. Hochul, who proposed a slate of anti-ICE measures at the start of this year, on Thursday unveiled several new restrictions that she wants to put into state law as part of the ongoing budget negotiations with the Democrat-controlled Legislature. "I just want to have more protections in place that I think are long overdue. So I’m anxious to get this done," she told reporters at a quickly assembled press event in Albany Thursday afternoon. Among the newly announced measures was a ban on police cooperating with federal immigration enforcement agents — unless it involves a criminal conviction or cops have "probable cause" to suspect someone of a misdemeanor or felony offense. "Local cops should be focused on local crimes, keeping our streets safe … not doing ICE’s job," she said. Hochul also wants to ban US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks, though it’s unclear how the state would be able to enforce such a mandate. The proposed legislation would make it a misdemeanor for an ICE agent to wear a mask. And it would expand the list of public areas where ICE is prohibited from operating without a judicial warrant, to include virtually any public land like parks, shelters and "housing accommodations.” Hochul also said that ICE agents, for example, wouldn’t be allowed to operate alongside a local police DWI checkpoint. "We’re talking about basically separating out civil infractions, vehicle and traffic law, for example, and other areas that they’ve been using as ruses," she said. "There’s sometimes ICE officers, are at a DWI stop, are at a traffic stop. Like why are they there? Explain to me why they’re there," she questioned. The new policy would also create an overarching ban on any public employee using state resources, including their working hours, to aid federal immigration authorities. It means New York would essentially have a blanket sanctuary state law on its books. Hochul, during her tenure, has continued to extend an executive order signed in 2018 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo barring state employees and law enforcement from helping immigration authorities. The Democratic incumbent is now expanding her initial anti-ICE proposal unveiled in January following talks with the legislature, coinciding with her $263 billion spending and policy plan, which was due April 1.

Univision [4/16/2026 7:13 PM, Peggy Carranza, 4937K] reports in New York, a Shelter for unaccompanied migrant children is under rigorous investigation after allegations of abuse were disclosed. A report of the CNN network He would have exposed suspects physical abuse, the use of isolation as punishment and deprivation of hygiene, like access to take a bath. The accusations have lit alarms about the conditions in which the minors lived. We tell you the details of this investigation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [4/16/2026 2:37 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is urging Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) to intervene to ensure that an illegal alien, who is accused of raping an Arlington woman in a random attack, is not released from jail back into the community. On April 12, Arlington County police allege that 28-year-old illegal alien Luzvin Orvando Garcia Moran of Guatemala approached a woman who was walking on the street and continued to follow her when she ignored him. Then, police allege, Moran threw the woman against a wall and began raping her as she tried to fight him off. Eventually, the woman broke free, police say, but Moran chased her down the street. Moran fled the scene when two good Samaritans stepped in to help the woman. Arlington County police located and arrested Moran later that day. He has been charged with abduction of a person with intent to defile, sodomy by force or victim helplessness, and assault. ICE officials are now urging Spanberger to intervene in the case and make sure Moran stays in Arlington County Jail, or, if released, is turned over to ICE agents. “Virginia’s sanctuary policies allowed this illegal alien to go on a crime spree,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Lauren Bis said in a statement. “Despite prior arrests by law enforcement, this criminal was released from jail multiple times before he went on to commit this heinous rape,” Bis said. “We are calling on Arlington County sanctuary politicians and Governor Abigail Spanberger to commit to not releasing this criminal from jail back into our communities. How many more times must they release criminals into our neighborhoods to create more innocent victims?”

Chicago Tribune [4/16/2026 1:12 PM, Meredith Colias-Pete, 5209K] reports that a Gary father formally admitted he damaged an ICE vehicle while trying to evade an immigration arrest when returning home from taking his teen son to high school in October. Rosario Carrillo-Lopez, 53, pleaded guilty in federal court to forcibly impeding a federal officer through physical contact. U.S. District Judge Gretchen Lund would have to accept the plea deal. A sentencing hearing is Aug. 5. If she does, he would be sentenced to one year and one day. Once he is sentenced, it would be close to time served, his son Arnoldo Carrillo said Wednesday. It was the best of bad options, he said. His father was “tired” and “ready to get out,” he said. Federal prosecutors and Carrillo-Lopez’s lawyer Roxanne Mendez Johnson declined comment. His family has long disputed the ICE narrative that Carrillo-Lopez actively hit their vehicle. Deputy Prosecutor Thomas McGrath said in court the incident caused $3,800 in damage. Mendez Johnson said her client was legally agreeing that “contact was made.” Arnoldo previously told the Post-Tribune that ICE agents hit the GMC Arcadia. The front driver’s side and back passenger’s side lights were damaged. “They came without warning,” Arnoldo said previously of the crash, on Clark Road between 5th and 6th Avenues. “He didn’t see them at all.” Days later, immigration agents raided their Gary home at around 6 a.m. Oct. 23. They arrested Carrillo-Lopez hiding on the roof, plus his wife Martha, who was taken to an ICE facility in Texas before she was eventually released. She is in the process of applying for a green card. Agents briefly arrested Arnoldo and his sister, Sarai, plus their teen brother Eli, then 14. Arnoldo was released.

Breitbart [4/16/2026 1:08 PM, Amy Furr, 2238K] reports that a sheriff in Wisconsin is taking legal action against a U.S. citizen who is accused of lying about being in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention for 40 hours. Following a lengthy investigation, Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt said officials were suing Sundas Naqvi of Skokie, Illinois, who claimed she was held by federal authorities in Illinois and Wisconsin, Fox News reported Wednesday. In a social media post on Friday, the sheriff’s office said it was refuting the false detention claims and presented a timeline and evidence. "After a thorough review of all available records, evidence, and timelines, the Sheriff’s Office confirms that these claims are not supported by facts and did not occur," the agency continued: The allegations asserted that Ms. Naqvi, a U.S. citizen, was detained at O’Hare International Airport, transported to an Illinois detention facility, and ultimately moved across state lines to Dodge County, Wisconsin, where she was allegedly held and later released. These claims also included assertions that Dodge County personnel denied her presence while she was in custody and released her without documentation or assistance. The sheriff’s office said the county was not involved and there was no record of booking, detention, or release involving the woman in Dodge County, adding, "There was no transfer, request, or coordination with any federal or out-of-state agency regarding Ms. Naqvi. At no time was Ms. Naqvi in the custody of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office."

The Wall Street Journal [4/16/2026 3:07 AM, Victoria Albert, 646K] reports a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent has been charged with assault over alleged actions during Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, a rare instance of an ICE agent facing criminal charges for actions related to their work. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Thursday that Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr. was facing two counts of second-degree assault over a Feb. 5 incident in which he allegedly pointed his gun at a motorist and passenger on a highway. There is a nationwide warrant out for Morgan’s arrest, Moriarty said. Moriarty said it is the first time a federal agent has been criminally charged for their conduct during Operation Metro Surge, the immigration crackdown that brought thousands of federal officials to the Minneapolis area this winter. Neither ICE nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to a request for comment. The move is a rare effort to prosecute a federal agent for actions related to their official duties. Officials in several states that saw a massive influx of federal agents said they would investigate possible violations of law—but federal agents have a swath of legal protections that can make it difficult to convict them. The decision is likely to inflame tensions between the federal government and officials in Minnesota, where protracted clashes between agents and protesters earlier this year led to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens. State officials have called for probes into both killings, one of which is under a civil-rights investigation by federal officials. The New York Times [4/17/2026 3:22 AM, Sheila M. Eldred, Ernesto Londoño, and Julie Bosman, 330K] reports that the prosecutor in Hennepin County, Mary Moriarty, described the assault case as one of 18 incidents involving federal agents now under investigation by her office and indicated that charges against other agents were possible. The agent, Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, pointed a gun at two people in a car as he attempted to pass them in an unmarked vehicle on the shoulder of a highway, according to the criminal complaint. “Driving while pointing a weapon out of your moving vehicle at the victims who are in another moving vehicle could have led to yet another disastrous incident in a community that has already suffered too many,” Ms. Moriarty told reporters. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Morgan, who faces two counts of second-degree assault, could not be reached for comment and it was not clear if he had retained a lawyer. After the incident, Mr. Morgan, 35, told state investigators that he “feared for his safety and the safety of others” after a vehicle swerved in front of him and “cut him off,” according to the state complaint. Mr. Morgan told the investigators that the events took place as he was nearing the end of his shift and driving back to a federal building to get gas. The AP [4/16/2026 5:25 PM, Tim Sullivan, Claudia Lauer, and Russ Bynum, 16072K] reports that a spokesman for Moriarty’s office said no arrangements have been made for Morgan to surrender and that there is an active nationwide warrant for his arrest. If convicted, Morgan faces up to seven years in prison for each assault charge. Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department officials didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [4/16/2026 3:56 PM, Annie Gowen, 24826K]
The Hill [4/16/2026 3:48 PM, Sophie Brams, 18170K]
NBC News [4/16/2026 6:34 PM, Staff, 42967K] Video: HERE
CNN [4/16/2026 2:19 PM, Holmes Lybrand and Whitney Wild, 612K] r

NPR [4/16/2026 4:26 PM, Meg Anderson, 28764K] reports state and local prosecutors in Minnesota charged an ICE officer Thursday with two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. The criminal charges appear to be the first against a federal immigration officer for actions allegedly taken while on duty during the immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota earlier this year. The officer is identified in the complaint as 35-year-old Gregory Donnell Morgan, Jr., a Maryland resident who was part of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division at the time of the incident and had been detailed to the Minneapolis area. On the afternoon of Feb. 5, the Minnesota State Patrol received a 911 report that a driver in a Ford Expedition had pointed a gun at two people in another vehicle along a highway in the Twin Cities area. During a voluntary interview after the incident, Morgan told state authorities he was driving to the Federal Whipple Building, used as ICE headquarters during the Minnesota surge, at the end of his shift when the incident occurred. There is a nationwide warrant for Morgan’s arrest. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

AP [4/16/2026 5:50 PM, Staff, 3833K] reports Minnesota has launched investigations into the actions of several federal law enforcement officers during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities. On Thursday, Hennepin County announced charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., accusing him of pointing his gun at a motorist and passenger on a Minneapolis highway. A local prosecutor said she believes it is the first criminal case against a federal officer involved in the Minnesota immigration crackdown. The federal government has suggested Minnesota prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers. Nevertheless, Minnesota officials last month sued the administration for access to evidence for investigations into three shootings during the crackdown, including two that resulted in deaths.

CBS News [4/16/2026 11:47 PM, Jack Fink, Doug Myers, Carter Brewer, 51110K] reports Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to pull more than $30 million in public safety grants from Dallas unless the city reverses a Dallas Police Department policy he says can prevent cooperation with ICE. In a letter obtained by CBS News Texas, the governor told Mayor Eric Johnson that a DPD policy allowing officers to decline cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement violates an agreement city leaders signed last year that could require the city to repay about $32 million in grant funding. Abbott also warned that Dallas could lose its share of the $51.5 million in FIFA World Cup-related grants awarded to the Dallas-Fort Worth area if the policy remains in place. "A city’s failure to comply with its contract agreement with the state to assist in the enforcement of immigration laws makes the state less safe," Abbott’s Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris said in a statement. "It can have deadly consequences. Cities in Texas are expected to make the streets safer, not more deadly.” Abbott’s office said Dallas must respond by April 23 and indicate whether the policy will be revised. Dallas officials said they have reviewed the governor’s letter and stressed that the city continues to follow all state and federal requirements while prioritizing public safety. "We remain committed to complying with all applicable state and federal laws while continuing to prioritize public safety for the residents of Dallas," Dallas police said in a statement on behalf of the city. "The City will respond in writing on or before April 23, 2026.” The letter represents the latest point of tension between the governor’s office and local officials over immigration enforcement practices. Abbott contends the policy weakens statewide coordination with federal authorities. The governor’s warning comes as Dallas continues to depend on state and federal grants to support police staffing, equipment and public safety programs. Similar letters from the governor have also been sent to the cities of Houston and Austin.

AP [4/16/2026 6:13 PM, Gisela Salomon, 35287K] reports a Venezuelan man pleaded his case to asylum officials on Thursday in an interview that his wife, a well-known doctor in South Texas, planned to attend until she was detained at the airport with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter. Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, entered her sixth day in immigration custody in Texas and was unable to attend the appointment they had been waiting for for more than 10 years. Bolivar, who worked as a doctor in an area federally designated as medically underserved, was arrested by Border Patrol agents at McAllen International Airport on Saturday. She was with their American-born daughter, preparing to board a flight to join her husband and attend their asylum interview together. Bolivar, 33, was the second Venezuelan physician arrested in the area within the span of a week. The Department of Homeland Security said that Bolivar was arrested because she was in the country illegally. "She has overstayed her visa since 2017, nearly a decade, and had no legal status," said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis. The doctor was transferred to ICE custody on Sunday and is being held at El Valle Detention Facility in Texas. She has asked several times why she was detained but has not received any response yet, Faria said.

AP [4/16/2026 7:02 PM, Gisela Solomon, 35287K] reports a Venezuelan man on Thursday exposed his case to asylum officials in an interview his wife, a renowned doctor in South Texas, was unable to attend because she was detained at the airport along with the couple’s 5-year-old daughter. Milenko Faria was interviewed at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices near Los Angeles, while his wife, Dr. Rubeliz Bolivar, was serving her sixth day in immigration custody at a Texas detention center and was unable to attend the appointment they had waited for more than 10 years. Bolivar, who worked as a doctor in a federally designated area for her shortage of medical services, was arrested Saturday by Border Patrol agents at McAllen International Airport. She was accompanied by her daughter, who was born in the United States, and was preparing to take a flight to assist her husband in her asylum interview. It is the second Venezuelan doctor who has been arrested in the same area in recent weeks. Dr. Ezequiel Veliz was arrested on April 6 by Border Patrol agents during a checkpoint in South Texas. After spending about 10 days in detention, his lawyer Victor Badell said he managed to get him released after the payment of a bail of 8,000 dollars. The arrests are part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Following an increase in immigration operations in Minnesota last January, in which two U.S. citizens were shot down by federal agents, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has focused on reducing the visibility of their arrests. Bolivar worked in the emergency room of a hospital in McAllen, on the border with Mexico, since June 2025, when she was accepted into her medical residency program. The couple was a beneficiary of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which protected more than 600,000 Venezuelans from deportation. Trump ended protections for people from Venezuela, Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, Nicaragua and other countries, a decision that has been challenged in federal court. DHS said Bolivar was arrested because she was in the country illegally. “He’s been in the country since his visa expired in 2017, nearly a decade, and he had no legal status,” said DHS spokeswoman Lauren Bis. Jodi Goodwin, an immigration attorney in South Texas, said that in September or October 2025 she noticed a change in the policies regarding the travel of people with pending applications before USCIS. “It became a very obvious trend, where anyone who had any pending application with USCIS, whether it was an adjustment of status or asylum, or something, is arrested,” Goodwin said.

Reported similarly:
Telemundo [4/16/2026 3:09 PM, Staff, 2524K]

Houston Chronicle [4/16/2026 6:16 PM, Abby Church, Matt deGrood, 2493K] reports Mayor John Whitmire has delayed Houston City Council’s vote on whether to revoke its new policy limiting the police department’s interactions with immigration agents after Gov. Greg Abbott’s office extended the city’s deadline to make a decision as he threatens to pull $114 million in grant funds. The delay comes as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city, saying its new policy "blatantly violated the law," and as Abbott’s grant funding threats extended to the cities of Austin and Dallas, broadening a fight that has roiled Houston politics for weeks. The policy, which the council passed last week by a 12-5 vote, eliminated Houston’s prior requirement that officers wait 30 minutes for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to pick up someone with a civil immigration warrant.

Houston Chronicle [4/16/2026 5:08 PM, John Lomax V, 2493K] reports Harris County commissioners took no action Thursday on a proposed plan to develop guidelines for law enforcement interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during traffic stops. Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who added the item to the agenda, instead requested the county attorney look into the issue and come back at an unspecified date with guidance. The Precinct 1 commissioner said his colleagues had legal concerns regarding the proposal. Ellis previously said he was inspired by a recent 12-5 Houston City Council vote that eliminated a requirement that police wait 30 minutes for ICE agents if they pull someone over with a civil immigration warrant. But the city’s vote prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to threaten to pull $114 million in public safety grant funding in response. Mayor John Whitmire, who voted for the measure, called a Friday special session at which City Council members were to consider revoking the ordinance, then on Thursday delayed that vote to Wednesday, saying the governor had extended the city’s deadline.

Houston Chronicle [4/16/2026 2:41 PM, Benjamin Wermund, 2493K] reports that U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is pushing to crack down on cities that limit local police cooperation with federal immigration officers, the latest GOP response to Houston’s new ICE policy. The Texas Republican filed legislation Thursday to strip some federal funding from so-called “sanctuary” cities, allow states to sue cities and counties that do not cooperate with ICE and bar states from prosecuting local police who help with immigration enforcement. It’s a beefed-up version of a bill Cornyn led in 2016 that drew 53 votes in the Senate, but fell shy of the threshold needed to pass. Republicans in the Senate still do not have the numbers to overcome a potential Democratic filibuster. Texas lawmakers passed a law in 2017 requiring local police to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Still, some cities across the state have sought to manage how much local police interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in response to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation drive. Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to strip $110 million in grants from Houston after the city council last week voted to scrap a policy that requires officers to wait 30 minutes for ICE officers to pick up someone with a civil immigration warrant. The city’s new policy also requires the department to make reports to the council about its cooperation with ICE. A spokesman for the governor said this week that his office is also investigating other cities, but did not specify which ones.

Univision [4/16/2026 5:33 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports after leaving an executive session, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said she is seeking to understand the issue of ICE’s cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, to find out how much taxpayer dollars are funding tasks that are solely for the federal government. “We should know exactly what they’re doing, how much it costs and be a little more responsible with it,” she said. He took the microphone as soon as he entered the room and went to the point: “I know many of you are going to ask us about a vote for discussion and possible action related to ICE and the Harris County Sheriff’s Offices.” It’s a public issue, driven by Precinct Commissioner 1, Rodney Ellis, who put it on agenda to map out what immigration policies Harris County agents follow and set clear rules of the game. "Harris County has eight sheriff’s offices and a Harris County Sheriff. That’s in addition to the Houston Police Department," Hidalgo said, painting the puzzle: "All these agencies could, in theory, contact ICE and have someone arrested for them." For Hidalgo, the plan is not to revolutionize anything from a firm, but to ask the agencies to show their positions: "We will discuss what those policies are and, regardless of whether or not a vote happens, we can simply request that departments review them, because it is simply a study evaluation." Hidalgo also spoke about the battle currently facing Houston Mayor John Whitmire against Texas Governor Greg Abbott: “We all know the city has been on the news for this.” The judge said Governor Abbott froze "$110 million in funds" to Houston for an alleged violation of SB4, that law that calls "sanctural cities" those who do not align. But the judge made it clear: " I don’t know if we have a sanctuary city in Texas. Everyone, as far as I know, certainly we in Harris County and Houston, follow the law." Hidalgo, herself a naturalized citizen, shared the feeling of vulnerability that runs through the streets: ""Trump says that she will denaturalize some of us ... one cares," she confessed.

Telemundo [4/16/2026 9:07 PM, Marinee Zavala, 56K] reports the number of Mexican migrants found dead in U.S. detention centers has put Mexican federal authorities on alert, following the reported deaths of four Mexican nationals in Los Angeles in March. The Consul General of Mexico in San Diego assured that, despite the refusal that congressmen and local leaders have received to visit detention centers such as Otay Mesa, they have been able to enter and verify the reality of the detained migrants. “They are being visited from Monday to Sunday. We interview all the Mexicans to find out about their situation and their state of health,” said Consul Alicia Kerber. Kerber said they are following the instructions of Mexican Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum. She clarified that so far there have been no reports of Mexicans dying in San Diego detention centers and emphasized that they are closely monitoring migrants with certain illnesses. “If there is a pre-existing condition and it is not reported, then the healthcare centers don’t act accordingly. So we are interested in knowing in depth how our fellow citizens are doing, their health and their situation,” he added. In response to the letter sent by the President of Mexico and the statement from the Secretary of Foreign Affairs regarding the deaths of 15 Mexican migrants, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE ) told TELEMUNDO 20 the following: “There has been no increase in the number of deaths. Consistent with data from the past decade, in-custody mortality rates during the Trump administration represent 0.009% of the detained population. As housing capacity has rapidly expanded, we have maintained a higher standard of care than most prisons housing U.S. citizens, including access to adequate medical care. For many undocumented immigrants, this is the best medical care they have ever received.” This response is not enough for Cristina, who recounted that her niece, named Beatriz, has schizophrenia and is currently detained in a Detention Center in San Diego. “I am suffering, it breaks my heart to know that someone is dying, that someone is being deported (...) I ask God that there be someone who will help us, who will help us, who will have the heart to say, look, I am going to help you, some lawyer,” he expressed. While authorities in Mexico are speaking out, Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee in San Diego, said that it is not only the detained Mexicans who are affected by this problem. “Here, everyone is equally guilty of the outrageous treatment people are suffering. It’s good that Mexico is speaking out. We want other countries to also say they shouldn’t treat their national groups this way,” Ríos said. The Department of Homeland Security indicated that from October to January 2026, 14 migrant deaths were reported from countries including Cuba, Bulgaria, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

The Hill [4/16/2026 4:23 PM, Ryan Mancini, 18170K] reports the French government on Thursday called on the U.S. to release an 86-year-old widow of an American military veteran in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention. Rodolphe Sambou, consul general of France in New Orleans, told The Associated Press that his country’s government has “fully mobilized” to push for the release of Marie-Therese Ross, who has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since April 1. She is now being held at a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana, DHS told the AP. The department stated that Ross overstayed her 90-day visa. Under state law, she would have inherited half of William Ross’s estate, the Times reported. His younger son Tony Ross testified to a probate judge that she did not want William Ross’s half, instead wishing for a way to return to France. Ross’s sons offered to send Marie-Therese Ross $10,000 if she waived her right to the inheritance. Calhoun County Probate Judge Shirley A. Millwood ordered the sons to not take or remove any of William Ross’s possessions after she claimed the sons rerouted her mail, causing her to miss an appointment on her immigration status, according to the outlet. Millwood on March 30 temporarily blocked any of William Ross’s relatives from removing any of his assets from his home. Millwood is now seeking an investigation into the sons’ behavior. The New York Times [4/16/2026 4:18 PM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Catherine Porter, 148038K] reports a few years ago, Marie-Thérèse Ross-Mahé reconnected with a man named Bill Ross, whom she had met when she was a young secretary and he was stationed in France for the U.S. military. Both widowed and in their 80s, the two fell in love, and last year she moved more than 4,000 miles to Anniston, Ala., to marry him. But the continent-spanning love story soured in January after Mr. Ross died, setting off an ugly inheritance battle between his two sons and Ms. Ross-Mahé, 85. This month, immigration agents arrested her in her nightgown at her late husband’s home — and a county probate judge overseeing his estate said that one of his sons was responsible for the arrest. Ms. Ross-Mahé is now in a detention center hundreds of miles away in Louisiana, her own three children back in France unable to reach her and fearing for her health. The Calhoun County probate judge, Shirley A. Millwood, a Republican elected in 2024, in a Friday ruling urged the federal government to investigate, “especially in light of the ongoing national events surrounding the distrust of federal law enforcement officers and the many investigations ongoing of corruption within our government.” In her ruling, she appointed an independent administrator for Mr. Ross’s estate and temporarily ordered his sons to give up their keys to their father’s home. The ruling has not been previously reported. Judge Millwood wrote in her ruling that she believed that Mr. Ross’s younger son, Tony Ross, who she said was a retired Alabama state trooper now working at a federal courthouse in Anniston, had used his position as a government employee to have Ms. Ross-Mahé arrested.

HS Today [4/17/2026 12:05 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has intensified pressure on Iran’s illicit oil transportation infrastructure by sanctioning more than two dozen individuals, companies, and vessels operating within the network of Iranian oil shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani (Shamkhani), the son of now-deceased senior Iranian security official Ali Shamkhani. “Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “Under President Trump’s leadership, Treasury will continue to cut off Iran’s illicit smuggling and terror proxy networks. Financial institutions should be on notice that Treasury will leverage all tools and authorities, including secondary sanctions, against those that continue to support Tehran’s terrorist activities.” Shamkhani heads a multi-billion dollar Iranian and Russian petroleum sales empire that enriches a family connected to the highest echelons of the Iranian regime at the expense of the Iranian people. This action builds on OFAC’s July 2025 designation of the Shamkhani network—which remains its largest single action to date since the Trump Administration revived the maximum pressure campaign against Iran. In a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), OFAC is also designating Iranian national and Lebanese Hizballah-financier Seyed Naiemaei Badroddin Moosavi and three companies linked to a complex money laundering scheme involving the sale of Iranian oil in exchange for Venezuelan gold under the former Venezuelan dictatorship, all ultimately on behalf of Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force (IRGC-QF).

The Wall Street Journal [4/16/2026 2:28 PM, Terell Wright and Michelle Hackman, 646K] reports the House passed a bipartisan measure Thursday that would reinstate temporary legal protections for Haitian immigrants living in the U.S., with 11 members of the Republican conference breaking with the Trump administration to side with Democrats on the measure. The 224-204 vote marks a rare GOP rebuke of President Trump’s agenda. Trump maligned Haitian immigrants on the campaign trail and moved to strip their legal protections, known as Temporary Protected Status, soon after taking office. The bill will next head to the Senate, where the prospects for a vote are unclear. Roughly 350,000 Haitians are currently covered by the program, which offers them work permits and a shield from deportation while it is in effect. After Trump revoked the status for Haitians, their protections were set to expire in February, though the termination of the program has been halted pending a Supreme Court case this term. The bill passed by the House would extend TPS protections for Haitians by law for another three years. It wouldn’t address Trump’s revocation of TPS protections for immigrants from several other countries, including Venezuela, Honduras and Afghanistan. Breitbart [4/16/2026 8:59 PM, Staff, 2238K] reports the House on Thursday passed a bill to extend temporary protected status for people from Haiti who are living in the United States through 2029. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., who is co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, introduced a discharge petition to advance a bill to extend protection for Haitian nationals. The legislation was initially introduced by Rep. Laura Gillen, D-N.Y., whose Long Island district — as well as the rest of Long Island and New York City — have large Haitian populations, and is the first bill she introduced after her election to the House. After the discharge petition succeeded, with bipartisan support, the bill passed the full House with 10 Republicans voting in support of it. "This is a critical step forward in our fight for immigrant justice and delivering our Haitian neighbors the protections they deserve — and it’s a testament to the strength of our broad, diverse and bipartisan coalition," Pressley said in a statement after the motion to discharge was agreed to. "I am grateful to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who supported our discharge petition," she said. After the vote, Gillen in a statement encouraged the Senate "to take up this measure and show the compassion and good sense to protect our Haitian community members.” "Not only would this threaten the lives of our neighbors, it would also have a devastating effect on our economy," Gillen said, noting that the extension protects "law-abiding and tax-paying Haitians who would face horrific condition if forced back to Haiti.” The bill, however, faces a battle in the Republican-run Senate and, if it does get passed, the White House has indicated that it will veto the legislation, reports have said. Although former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had attempted to end TPS for at least half a million Haitians last Fall, a judge in February blocked the Trump administration from carrying it out. As a result of the ruling, TPS for people from Haiti expired on Feb. 3, its original expiration date, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which Pressley said made the discharge petition to force a vote on the bill so crucial. The Supreme Court also is due to rule on the Trump administrations efforts to end TPS for Haitians, as well as for people from Syria, who have protected status because of the dangerous situation in that country.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/16/2026 3:48 PM, Michael Gold, 148038K]
Bloomberg [4/16/2026 2:25 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum and Maeve Sheehey, 763K]
The Hill [4/16/2026 2:35 PM, Sudiksha Kochi, 18170K]
Reuters [4/16/2026 2:39 PM, Nate Raymond, 38315K]

Daily Caller [4/16/2026 2:10 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 803K] reports that seven GOP House members voted in favor of extending Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians ahead of a potential Supreme Court ruling on the matter. The Thursday vote to effectively grant amnesty and block deportation of roughly 350,000 Haitian migrants passed the House 220-207. GOP Texas Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, a vocal critic of the GOP-led DIGNIDAD (Dignity Act), in a statement to the Daily Caller in reaction to Thursday’s vote, wrote, "The American people resoundingly reject mass migration, and it’s time for Congress to listen to them. We must reject any form of amnesty. If we reward illegal immigration, we only incentivize more illegal immigration. It’s time for Congress to put our people first." The final vote for the measure came just days after a Haitian illegal immigrant, Rolbert Joachin, fatally attacked a woman at a Fort Myers gas station on April 3, repeatedly striking her in the head with a hammer, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release. The DHS said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assisted local police in tracking down and arresting Joachin following the incident. One administration official, responding to the seven GOP members voting in favor of the extension for Haitians in the country, noted the vote comes just after the alleged murder of a Florida woman at the hands of a Haitian migrant.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/16/2026 2:25 PM, Adam Pack, 37576K]

DailySignal [4/16/2026 12:45 PM, Pedro Rodriguez, 474K] reports that members of the House Freedom Caucus are urging colleagues to oppose extending Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants ahead of a final House vote Thursday, citing concerns about public safety. Several House Republicans, along with now-independent Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, joined Democrats in voting to bring a bill to the floor extending TPS for Haitians. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., secured 218 signatures to force consideration of the bill. The Department of Homeland Security in November 2025 announced that it would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation. The move revoked legal protections for more than 350,000 Haitians to ?live and work in the U.S., Reuters reported. "It is outrageous that six Republicans joined all Democrats to advance a vote extending Temporary Protected Status for illegal alien Haitians by another three years," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal. Republican Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez of Florida, Reps. Mike Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania all joined Democrats on the vote. Heritage Action, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization who champions conservative members like Roy, told The Daily Signal, "It’s unacceptable to see some Republicans breaking ranks to advance this Democrat-led bill, betraying the mandate voters gave them and delivering de facto amnesty."

Breitbart [4/17/2026 2:20 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports the Trump administration on Thursday announced visa restrictions on 26 people across the Western Hemisphere as the State Department unveiled a "significant expansion" of an existing policy to deny entry to those accused of working with U.S. adversaries to undermine Washington’s interests in the region. Those blacklisted were not identified in the State Department release, which said they were being punished for destabilizing U.S. regional security efforts, undermining U.S. economic interests, conducting influence operations targeting the sovereignty and stability of nations in the region or enabling adversaries to acquire or control key assets and strategic resources in the hemisphere. "President Trump’s National Security Strategy makes clear: this Administration will deny adversarial powers the ability to own or control vital assets or threaten the security and prosperity of the United States in our region," a State Department spokesperson said. "The Department of State is working to advance American leadership in our hemisphere, protect our homeland and ensure access to vital routes and areas throughout our region.” The blacklisting was permitted as the State Department said it was announcing "a significant expansion" of an existing visa restriction policy, one first announced in early September, permitting the Trump administration to deny visas to Central American nationals accused of undermining the rule of law in the region on behalf of China.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/16/2026 1:43 PM, Staff, 38315K]

NPR [4/17/2026 5:00 AM, Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur, 34837K] reports millions of immigrants are stuck in legal limbo, waiting to change their legal status under the second Trump administration, an NPR analysis shows, leaving more of them vulnerable to deportation. Since the start of last year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken longer and longer to process applications, meaning an increasing number of people wait months without confirmation that their application was received — let alone reviewed. An NPR review of data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the DHS agency that processes and approves immigration applications, shows that nearly 12 million applications for immigration services, such as applying for citizenship, a work permit or other permission to live in the U.S., await a decision. The ballooning number of pending requests, which saw a jump in the first three months of the second Trump administration, illustrate one lever of the Trump administration’s overall strategy to slow down legal migration. Immigrants are struggling to even get the government to acknowledge it received their applications — which leaves people at greater risk of being deported. "That is a really incredible representation of what this administration is trying to do when it comes to immigration. It’s ‘throttle everything, focus entirely on deportations and arrests as your measure of success,’" said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "If those are your only measures of success, then who cares about opening applications that could prevent someone from being arrested and prevent someone from having to self-deport?"

AP [4/16/2026 5:00 PM, Josh Funk, 35287K] reports New York will lose more than $73.5 million in federal money because the Transportation Department said Thursday that state has refused to revoke nearly 33,000 questionable commercial driver’s licenses for immigrants since an audit uncovered problems last year. The department said that more than half of the 200 licenses reviewed during the audit had significant problems such as remaining valid long after an immigrant was authorized to be in the country. So the state was ordered to review all of this type of licenses and revoke illegal ones. The federal government has reviewed records related to these non-domiciled CDLs in every state since Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put a spotlight on this issue after an August crash in Florida that killed three people. Most states have either complied or are in negotiations with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, but California has lost $200 million. Several other states — including Pennsylvania, Minnesota and North Carolina — have been warned they are at risk of losing some funding. New York officials have defended their licensing practices and said they are complying with federal law and that audits done during the first Trump administration supported that. Duffy also has threatened to pull federal funding from New York if it does not abandon a congestion pricing fee in New York City and if crime on the subway system is not addressed.

Univision [4/17/2026 4:20 AM, Staff, 4932K] reports a Mexican family is asking for help to obtain a humanitarian visa for the mother of a Mexican man who was hit by a car and is now alone and in critical condition in a hospital in Northern California. Ana Laura, Juan Luis Cervantes’ cousin, shared that on March 17, around 8:30 pm, the Mexican was the victim of a hit-and-run in San Francisco. According to reports, Juan Luis, 39, went out to move his vehicle to another street when he was hit by a car and never returned. Following the accident, the Mexican man was taken to a local hospital, where he is in critical condition and without the company of a family member. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [4/16/2026 5:47 PM, Sam Barron, 3760K] reports businesses that feel they were impacted by the Trump administration’s tariffs can now request refunds through a new portal. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is launching Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries to allow companies to submit refund requests. The portal will open Monday, April 20. The Supreme Court ruled in February that the tariffs were issued illegally under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. "CAPE will simplify International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) duty refund requests made pursuant to court order and in accordance with appropriate statutory authority by providing an electronic pathway to submit valid IEEPA duty refund claims," CBP said on its website. As of April 9, more than 56,000 U.S. importers had registered to receive refunds, CBP said. Up to 82% of IEEPA duty payments, amounting to $127 billion, are eligible for refunds in CAPE’s initial deployment, CBS News reported. The Main Street Alliance said in a statement called the portal launch "progress" but "not yet justice.” "Small business owners should not have to jump through hoops to get back money they never should have had to pay," Richard Trent, the executive director of Main Street Alliance, said. "We need a refund process that is simple, accessible, and fast.”

Washington Examiner [4/16/2026 11:51 AM, Claire Carter, 1147K] reports Customs and Border Protection is preparing to launch a new online portal to process what could amount to as much as $175 billion in tariff refunds to businesses after the tariffs were deemed illegal. The portal will go live on April 20 and will be used by importers to file claims for duties collected under tariffs imposed in 2025 using emergency economic powers. A federal court later deemed those tariffs were not lawfully enacted, triggering a sweeping repayment effort now underway.

National Review [4/16/26 4L05 PM, Dan McLaughlin, 109K] reports having collected tariffs illegally for over a year, the Trump administration now has to pay them back: The U.S. government is set to launch an online portal next week that lets businesses request refunds for tariffs deemed illegal by the Supreme Court. But payouts won’t be automatic, and legal experts said businesses could face other obstacles getting their money back. A federal agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will boot up the portal — known as CAPE, for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries — so companies can submit claims for tariff refunds. CBP confirmed in a filing on Tuesday that CAPE will open for refund applications on April 20. The government could owe businesses up to $175 billion. . . . As of April 9, more than 56,000 U.S. importers had registered to receive refunds, according to CBP. Up to 82% of IEEPA duty payments, amounting to $127 billion, are eligible for refunds in CAPE’s initial deployment. Refunds aren’t automatic; the burden is still on the importer to compute, document, and present claims for refunds. (The winners, as always: the lawyers.) And only the direct importer gets a refund — not downstream retailers (unless, like Costco or Walmart, they’re big enough to have done their own importing), not domestic manufacturers who bought imported supplies (or components built with them) from an intermediary, and certainly not the consumer, to whom the costs may have been passed on. The same thing will happen again if further challenges to Trump’s substitute tariffs are successful.

Bloomberg [4/16/2026 1:28 PM, Isabel Gottlieb, 50K] reports that customs will start accepting tariff refund requests Monday—but trade attorneys are urging importers to prepare backup options to get their money back. They’re advising clients to act on multiple fronts: Request a refund using the new Customs and Border Protection process, if eligible; lodge a protest through the typical Customs process; and file suit at the US Court of International Trade. "We are in one of those scenarios where we’re at the roulette table, and you’ve got to put a chip down on all three numbers," said Lenny Feldman, managing partner, operating committee, at Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg. One potential risk: The Department of Justice has until early June to appeal a trade court order that the government refund importers for what they’d paid under the unlawful levies—about $166 billion, according to Customs. The Supreme Court in February struck down President Donald Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Law, or IEEPA, as justification for many of his tariffs. Customs will process refund requests through a new digital tool it’s launching Monday. "Certainly it is time to celebrate, but because it’s progress, not because it’s over," said Ted Murphy, a partner at Sidley Austin. "It might get you money back," he added, "but I’ll stress the ‘might,’ or it might not get you all your money back." Trade court Judge Richard Eaton ordered the agency to administer refunds using the Customs process known as liquidation.

FOX News [4/16/2026 12:53 PM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K] reports that a Democratic congressman representing a South Texas district that Donald Trump carried by double digits is emerging as a top Republican target, with the GOP arguing Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s shifting border record has left him politically exposed at home. Though traditionally a Democratic stronghold, heavily Hispanic South Texas has trended sharply Republican in recent election cycles. Gonzalez narrowly won his 2024 election over former Rep. Mayra Flores by less than three percentage points. Additionally, the Texas redistricting push last year made Gonzalez’s district seven points more Republican. The race is widely considered a toss-up leaning Republican — one of the few pickup opportunities for the GOP in an unfavorable political climate. Republican National Committee spokesperson Zach Kraft told Fox News Digital that Gonzalez’s record on border security and former President Joe Biden has come back to bite him, leaving him "like a fish out of water" in his district. Gonzalez, however, dismissed these criticisms as Republicans "grasping at straws." He emphasized that "If you look at my record, you’ll see I was one of the toughest Democrats in the country on President Biden’s approach to our southern border, and I continue working to fix our broken immigration system, support CBP and Border Patrol, and rid our streets of criminals." Under the redrawn Texas congressional map, Gonzalez’s district in the Rio Grande Valley is one that President Donald Trump won by 10 points in 2024, according to the Texas Tribune. Fox News Digital also reached out to a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for comment.

Reuters [4/16/2026 3:15 PM, Stefanie Eschenbacher, Stephen Eisenhammer, Laura Gottesdiener and Shariq Khan, 38315K] reports U.S. authorities have raided the offices of Ikon Midstream, a Houston fuel ​trader whose diesel exports are part of fuel-smuggling investigations in Mexico, two U.S. officials and a Mexican security official told Reuters. The operation, in which law enforcement executed a federal search warrant, occurred this week at Ikon Midstream’s Houston headquarters, two of the U.S. sources said. One of the sources said it targeted computers and documents. Reuters was unable to confirm the exact reason for the search or what materials were seized. The raid has not been previously reported. The company’s attorney, Joseph Slovacek, confirmed that “U.S. Customs and Border Protection served a search warrant on Ikon.” He said law enforcement cited earlier ​Reuters reporting about Ikon Midstream as the reason for the search.

Bloomberg Industry Group Bloomberg Tax [4/16/2026 11:54 AM, Mary Anne Pazanowski, 50K] reports two nonprofits and a Texas resident are accusing US officials of refusing to comply with various environmental protection and historic preservation laws before proceeding with plans to build a border wall in the "Big Bend" sector along the Rio Grande River. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, DHS, and subagency US Customs and Border Protection invoked Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act as authority to bypass laws protecting the 250-mile area’s animals and geological, cultural, and historical sites, according to the complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas. [Editorial note: Consult source link for extended commentary]

Univision [4/16/2026 2:23 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports that on Thursday afternoon, Venezuelan physician Ezequiel Véliz—who worked in rural communities in South Texas and had been detained by the Border Patrol in recent days—was released. After posting an $8,000 bond, Ezequiel Véliz will be able to continue his immigration proceedings while at liberty. The specialist was detained on Monday, April 6, 2026, at a checkpoint in Sarita, Kenedy County, Texas, while traveling to Houston alongside his partner, Joseph Williams, a U.S. citizen. According to CNN and *The New York Times*, agents from the Border Patrol (USBP)—a division of Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—requested information regarding his immigration status. As Williams recounted to the aforementioned media outlets, Véliz explained that he was in the process of obtaining a new visa and presented supporting documentation. However, the agents asked him to step out of the vehicle for a search and subsequently detained him for allegedly overstaying his visa. In a statement, CBP informed CNN that the physician had presented a J-1 visa which, according to U.S. authorities, "does not qualify as an immigration status that permits him to be or remain in the United States." Currently, Véliz remains in custody at a detention center in Texas, awaiting possible deportation.

The AP [4/16/2026 4:14 PM, Staff] reports Chinese government officials are encouraging travelers to be wary and avoid entering the United States through Seattle, citing a pattern of continual harassment by U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel. About 20 Chinese scholars with visas flew through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport recently to attend an academic conference, but China Consular Affairs said in a post on X that the academics were “unreasonably inspected” by CBP personnel and refused entry. Since Chinese scholars have been continuously harassed at the airport, the foreign ministry and the embassy urged citizens with plans to visit the U.S. to do so with a mindset of safety and security and to avoid the Seattle airport, the post said. The foreign ministry also urged travelers from China to become versed with U.S. entry regulations and be prepared. Reuters [4/16/2026 3:24 PM, Staff, 38315K] reports that the Chinese scholars were holding valid U.S. visas, the ministry said. Nationals planning trips to the U.S. should "strengthen safety awareness, avoid entering through this airport ... and make all necessary preparations," the ministry said, citing "repeated incidents of malicious questioning and harassment targeting Chinese scholars" at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. If questioned by U.S. law enforcement officers, nationals should respond calmly and rationally, the ministry said.

Roll Call [4/16/2026 6:20 PM, Kelly Livingston, 673K] reports the acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration gave a strong endorsement of President Donald Trump’s budget request for fiscal 2027 before a House Appropriations subcommittee Thursday, saying proposed privatization and modernization efforts would help ensure the agency has the funds it needs amid congressional funding struggles. "As of today, TSA has been shut down for 109 days, nearly 60 percent of FY26. If this year demonstrates anything, it is that the TSA workforce and our operations cannot depend on predictable congressional funding," Ha Nguyen McNeill told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. The White House budget request for Homeland Security agencies included an effort to begin privatizing the airport screening process, which the administration says would reduce costs by about $52 million. The proposal would require smaller airports to enroll in the Screening Partnership Program to allow TSA to pay for private screeners where needed. The administration said in its proposal that the program had already led to cost savings compared with federal operations for airports currently using the program. This effort, McNeill said, represents a commitment to "strategic public-private partnerships" that could help insulate TSA workers from lapses in funding that have been frequent in recent fiscal years. "Expanding SPP is one of the many avenues the Trump administration is pursuing to help protect our screening workforce from lapses in congressional appropriations," McNeill said. "Until recently, TSA employees have missed nearly $1 billion in paychecks in this fiscal year. In contrast, SPP screeners have not yet missed a paycheck.” She said her agency, which still has not seen full-year fiscal 2026 funding, has been in "damage control mode" in the current fiscal year. Trump recently signed an executive order requiring TSA workers to be paid, despite the ongoing battle in Congress over DHS appropriations for the current fiscal year, but that intervention may have also relieved some of the urgency to resolve the funding discrepancy. The department has gone unfunded since mid-February.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [4/16/2026 3:51 PM, Zach Wichter, 70643K]

Washington Post [4/16/2026 10:00 PM, Brianna Sacks, 24826K] reports President Donald Trump plans to nominate Cameron Hamilton — who was ousted in May after publicly testifying that the Federal Emergency Management Agency should not be dismantled — to formally lead the agency, according to five people briefed on the move. The individuals familiar with the plans, along with others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Hamilton’s potential return suggests that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is moving away from previous efforts to undercut the autonomy of the nation’s emergency management and response system championed by his predecessor, Kristi L. Noem. Hamilton met with the president this week about becoming administrator, according to a former FEMA official with knowledge of the situation. Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL who specialized in emergency response while working with the State Department, still does not have the five years of executive experience in emergency management required by a post-Hurricane Katrina law to lead FEMA in an official capacity. However, the Senate could still approve Hamilton, two people familiar with the matter said. New York Times first reported that Trump intends to nominate Hamilton. The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday night that it "has no personnel announcements to make at this time.” Hamilton did not respond to requests for comment. FEMA has lacked a Senate-confirmed leader since Trump returned to office last year. Administration officials hope to cement a permanent administrator at the agency before hurricane season, which begins June 1, according to two people familiar with the matter. Karen Evans has been leading the agency after replacing the previous acting administrator in the fall. Evans has been in close step with Noem’s management style of FEMA and was heavily involved in reviewing nearly every grant, award and expenditure over $100,000, as well as plans to cut the agency’s staffing by 50 percent, according to current and former officials and court documents. For weeks after Noem left DHS, Evans kept most of the review process in place. Hamilton could once again inherit an embattled agency whose future continues to be precarious and unknown. While the Trump administration has moved away from rhetoric and plans to demolish the agency as it exists today, officials still drastically want to remake how it operates and responds to disasters. The FEMA review council has yet to present the final version of its long-awaited report outlining how FEMA would become leaner and less involved in supporting emergencies and recoveries. The agency has lost thousands of staffers, including many senior officials and dedicated veterans. It has also churned through leaders amid low morale and a partial government shutdown over DHS funding. Mullin, who seems to be striking a different tenor than his controversial predecessor, has already rescinded policies that slowed FEMA’s ability to conduct daily operations as well as continue ongoing disaster recovery work and on Thursday approved renewing 6,500 members of the agency’s reservist staff for a two-year period, according to a current FEMA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Three current agency officials said they no longer need to submit memos so that employees can travel or for anything exceeding $100,000, rolling back an earlier policy that employees said caused administrative chaos and frustrating bottlenecks.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/16/2026 6:24 PM, Tyler Pager, Scott Dance, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, 148038K]
AP [4/16/2026 9:35 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 34146K]
CNN [4/16/2026 9:28 PM, Gabe Cohen, 19874K]
NewsMax [4/16/2026 9:21 PM, Gabriela Aoun Angueira, 3760K]

CNN [4/17/2026 4:32 AM, Dakota Smith, Briana Waxman, and Kate S. Petersen, 19874K] reports a new severe storm outbreak is set to slam the central US Friday, hitting regions already battered by a multi-day onslaught of tornadoes, massive hail and historic flooding. The threat comes after more than three dozen tornado reports and over 300 reports of hail – some as large as softballs – from Texas to the Great Lakes earlier this week. Storms capable of destructive winds and large hail are expected from Oklahoma City to Green Bay Friday afternoon and evening. More tornadoes are also expected, with the greatest threat centered in Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. A fresh surge of jet stream energy arriving in the central US on Friday will tap into Gulf moisture, likely igniting a severe storm outbreak stretching from northern Texas to northern Wisconsin. There is a Level 3 of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms with tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds Friday for places like Madison, Wisconsin; Chicago; Kansas City, Missouri; Tulsa, Oklahoma and Wichita, Kansas. A Level 2 of 5 risk of severe storms is in place for Milwaukee; Oklahoma City; St. Louis; Des Moines, Iowa and Springfield, Missouri. Storms will erupt as soon as early afternoon in the northern part of the threat zone, then expand southward. The first storms could spin up tornadoes — possibly EF3 or stronger — and unleash more destructive hail.

CBS Colorado [4/16/2026 9:43 AM, Staff, 51110K] reports President Trump has once again denied Gov. Polis’ request for FEMA assistance in fire and flooding aftermath across Colorado. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Washington Times [4/16/2026 4:06 PM, Brad Matthews, 1323K] reports the Secret Service on Thursday arrested a man accused of jumping a barrier near the White House before scuffling with agents. The suspect, who has not been publicly named, and a Secret Service agent sustained minor injuries, the president’s protective agency told Washington’s WUSA-TV. The Secret Service told another D.C. station, WJLA-TV, that the suspect jumped over a construction series of posts near the Treasury Building on the northeastern side of the White House complex at about 11:30 a.m. Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi told WUSA that “officers encountered the individual near a pedestrian gate, where he engaged in a physical altercation before being taken into custody.” Mr. Guglielmi told Newsweek that the injured agent specifically suffered a laceration in the exchange and that both injuries were treated. The nature of the suspect’s injury was not specified. He did not say whether the suspect was armed at the time of the incident. It is not known why the man jumped over the barrier to begin with. The Hill [4/16/2026 2:48 PM, Sarah Davis, 18170K] reports that the Thursday altercation follows an incident last month in which a man drove a van through a barricade near the White House in the early morning of March 11. Christopher Cavanaugh, a 35-year-old from Ohio, was charged with unlawful entry and destruction of property after the crash, WUSA9 reported. Additionally, last October a man was taken into custody after he drove into a White House security gate. The man rammed his vehicle into the gate on the northeast perimeter of the complex, and he was “immediately” apprehended by Secret Service officers.

New York Post [4/16/2026 5:14 PM, Victor Nava, 40934K] reports Secret Service agents apprehended a man attempting to enter the White House grounds Thursday morning — but not before a brief scuffle that left one officer injured. "Shortly after 11:30 a.m., a man was quickly detained by uniformed US Secret Service police officers after jumping over a construction bollard near the Treasury Building on the northeast side of the complex," protective agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. "Officers encountered the individual near a pedestrian gate, where he engaged in a physical altercation before being taken into custody," Guglielmi added. A Secret Service officer suffered a laceration during the tussle, an injury that was described as non-life-threatening. Authorities have not identified the intruder who was taken into custody approximately two hours before Trump departed the White House on a two-day Western trip to Nevada and Arizona.

New York Post [4/16/2026 5:52 PM, Katherine Donlevy, 40934K] reports kayakers, Canoers and rowboat-enthusiasts are fighting a proposed federal ban on all "human-powered" small vessels in the waters around New York City during this summer’s blockbuster maritime semiquincentennial celebration of tall ships called Sail 4th 250. The US Coast Guard is floating a safety zone plan that would bar the tiny paddle-powered craft anywhere around the city during the Independence Day festivities — leaving fishing boats, yachts and other engine-powered ships free to watch as a massive flotilla of tall ships sails through the Harbor. The USCG is proposing the rowing restrictions to run from July 1 through 9, calling the rules "necessary to promote the safe navigation of vessels and the safety of life and property during these events." As part of the rules, paddlecrafts will be banned from the Hudson and East rivers and New York Bay during this period. But that’s not all, the full length of the ban stretches from the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge all the way to the Throgs Neck Bridge in Eastern Queens — and from the mouth of Arthur Kill near New Jersey to the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge near the Bronx. Since the flotilla of tall sailing ships will only be using the Hudson River, the small-craft lovers can’t understand why the ban includes even areas far away. The USCG told The Post that the hundreds of comments submitted by maritimers could be enough to change the tide on the regulations.

FOX News [4/16/2026 1:13 PM, Preston Mizell, 37576K] reports that the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announced two Arctic Security Cutters will be homeported in Alaska by the end of 2028 and will serve to strengthen American maritime power in the Arctic region. The USCG, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security, could potentially award up to 11 Arctic Security Cutter contracts in 2026 using roughly $3.5 billion in funding provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. "Homeporting these two Arctic Security Cutters in Alaska is a decisive step forward in securing America’s Arctic frontier," Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News Digital in a statement. "I want to thank President Trump for his bold leadership and vision in directing this critical investment, as well as Senator Sullivan and the entire Alaskan Congressional delegation for championing the funding that made these icebreakers possible," he said. "These vessels will deliver the enduring operational presence our nation needs to protect sovereignty, deter foreign adversaries, and safeguard vital resources for the American people," Mullin added. Arctic Security Cutters create opportunities for operations in frozen regions where ship transport is normally challenging or impossible to navigate. The vessel is structured with a rounded and sloped bow, allowing the ship to ride up on top of the surface of the ice and smash through using the weight of the ship. Coast Guard Arctic District has a total of 16 cutters homeported in Alaska, according to the USCG.

FOX News [4/16/2026 6:28 PM, Peter D’Abrosca and Adam Sabes, 37576K] reports the daughter of a woman who remains missing in the Bahamas lashed out against her stepfather after arriving on Great Abaco Island Thursday. Karli Aylesworth previously slammed her stepfather, Brian Hooker, who was the last person to see her mother, Lynette Hooker, alive on April 4. Brian said Lynette fell overboard from their dinghy around 7:30 p.m. as the pair motored toward their sailboat, which was anchored off Elbow Key. Brian was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force April 8 and spent five days behind bars while police investigated Lynette’s disappearance. He was released Monday night without being charged with a crime. On Tuesday morning, he told several news outlets he would remain in the island nation to search for Lynette but jetted off Wednesday for the United States, landing in Atlanta in mid-afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital. "I think it shows his character. He somehow lost my mom at sea and cries on camera saying he’ll never stop searching, then leaves the next day," Aylesworth told the New York Post upon her arrival to the town of Marsh Harbour, close to where her mother went missing. She deplaned at the tiny Leonard Thompson International Airport in Marsh Harbour with her boyfriend, Steve Hansen. They were reportedly met by a uniformed police officer before taking off in a taxi. Hooker’s attorney, Terrel Butler, said he was going to visit Hooker’s mother. "Following his release from custody without charge, Mr. Hooker is now facing another emergency. In addition to the trauma of his wife of 25 years being missing, Mr. Hooker has received urgent word of his mother’s grave illness," Butler told NBC News. "He has traveled to [the] United States of America to be at her bedside during this critical time.” After her mother’s disappearance, Aylesworth told Fox News Digital she was aware of "prior issues" with Brian’s behavior. Meanwhile, Bahamian police said their search for Lynette was coming to an end as early as Thursday after analyzing "tide, drift and wind" and deciding there was nowhere else to look. A U.S. Coast Guard investigation remains ongoing.

CyberScoop [4/16/2026 1:05 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports authorities from 21 countries took down 53 domains and arrested four people allegedly involved in distributed denial-of-service operations used by more than 75,000 cybercriminals, Europol said Thursday. The globally coordinated effort dubbed “Operation PowerOFF” disrupted booter services and seized and dismantled infrastructure, including servers and databases, that supported the DDoS-for-hire services, officials said. Law enforcement agencies obtained data on more than 3 million alleged criminal user accounts from the seized databases, and ultimately sent more than 75,000 emails and letters to participants, warning them to halt their activities. Officials from the countries involved in the operation also served 25 search warrants, removed more than 100 URLs advertising DDoS-for-hire services in search engine results and created search engine ads to target young people searching for DDoS-for-hire tools. The operation, which is ongoing, primarily targets IP stressors or DDoS booters that cybercriminals use to inundate websites, servers and networks with junk traffic, rendering legitimate services inaccessible.

Cybersecurity Dive [4/16/2026 12:20 PM, Eric Geller, 93K] reports the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has canceled a major internship program for the 2026 summer season, dealing another blow to the government’s efforts to expand the cybersecurity workforce and attract talented professionals to federal service. CISA said last December that it would offer paid summer internships through the government’s CyberCorps: Scholarship for Service (SFS) program to 100 undergraduate and graduate students. But over the past few days, CISA officials have informed CyberCorps students that because the Department of the Homeland Security remains shut down, their internships were being canceled, according to media outlets. “Due to the CISA/DHS current situation we will be sifting [sic] our focus away from the SFS summer internships,” a CISA official told CyberCorps participants, according to an email reported by Federal News Network. “As of right now there will be no SFS summer interns.” In a statement, a CISA spokesperson said the shutdown prevented the agency from accepting CyberCorps interns this summer. “We are unable to offer Scholarship for Service (SFS) summer internship opportunities as long as the Department is shut down,” the spokesperson said, because CISA is “restricted to performing only the most basic tasks — those essential for safeguarding lives, property, or national security.”

New York Times [4/16/2026 4:20 PM, Julian E. Barnes and Dustin Volz, 148038K] reports the exchange of bombs and missiles in the Middle East between Iran and its foes has been paused for more than a week now. Iran’s hackers, however, have remained active on the digital battlefield. Iran has continued its cyberspace operations since the cease-fire with the United States began on April 8, according to Western cybersecurity experts and former U.S. intelligence officials. In doing so, Tehran is trying to keep up pressure on the United States and Israel but also positioning itself to mount a bigger retaliation if peace talks do not resume. Since the war began in late February, Iran has combined real-world attacks, disinformation and a mix of low-level and more advanced cyberattacks to create confusion in Israel. In the United States, it temporarily caused a global, companywide shutdown at a major medical-equipment supplier, Stryker, scoring a major success that surprised some security analysts. A group affiliated with Iranian intelligence also took responsibility for the release of emails and photographs stolen from a personal account of Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director. Now in the cease-fire, Iran is tactically shifting from overt demonstrations meant to undermine support for the U.S.-Israel campaign toward quieter efforts to prepare for what might come next. This new phase of cyberspace operations includes a greater focus on espionage. Iran has continued to target individuals in the United States and Israel who are either government officials or linked to the government. Its hackers have also stepped up its efforts to penetrate critical infrastructure, attempting to get access to water and power systems in the Middle East and the United States as part of an effort to prepare for future operations that would cause societal pain, experts said. Iran’s cyberoperations have generally been less effective or sophisticated than those from China or Russia, which have for years launched large-scale espionage campaigns against the United States and penetrated some of America’s most sensitive infrastructure. But Iran’s dispersed network of hackers has long used cyberattacks to project power across the Middle East and to challenge — or at least annoy — the United States. And Iran’s hackers are considered less predictable than their Chinese and Russian counterparts, especially when their government feels threatened. “This is a time, more than ever, we should worry about Iran,” said Evan Peña, a co-founder of the cybersecurity firm Armadin. “In cyberwarfare there isn’t really a cease-fire.”

NewsMax [4/16/2026 8:17 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports that, although the U.S. and Israel have ceased airstrikes on Iran for more than a week, Iranian hackers haven’t logged off the digital battlefield. Tehran’s cyber operations have continued since the ceasefire with the U.S. began April 8, New York Times reported Thursday, citing Western cybersecurity experts and former U.S. intelligence officials. Iran not only is seeking to keep up pressure on the U.S. and Israel but also is positioning itself to mount a larger retaliation if peace talks do not resume. A U.S. delegation led by Vice President JD Vance held direct talks with Iran on April 11 in Islamabad, just days after the two-week ceasefire took effect. Hostilities began Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli airstrikes targeting Iran’s political leadership and military infrastructure. The talks broke down, with Vance saying the U.S. did not see "an affirmative commitment" from Iran "that they will not seek a nuclear weapon.” President Donald Trump then imposed a blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is one of the world’s most vital oil transit chokepoints. Since the conflict began, Iran has combined real-world attacks, disinformation and a mix of low-level and more advanced cyberattacks. The goal has been to create confusion in Israel, the Times reported. In the U.S., it temporarily caused a global shutdown at medical equipment supplier Stryker. Also, a group affiliated with Iranian intelligence took responsibility for the release of emails and photographs stolen from a personal account of FBI Director Kash Patel. Iran is now tactically shifting from overt demonstrations meant to undermine support for the U.S.-Israel military campaign toward quieter efforts to prepare for what might come next, the Times reported. This new phase of cyber operations includes a greater focus on espionage. Iran has continued to target individuals in the U.S. and Israel who are either government officials or linked to the government. Its hackers have also stepped up efforts to penetrate critical infrastructure, attempting to access water and power systems in the Middle East and the U.S. as part of an effort to prepare for future operations that would cause societal pain, experts told the Times. Iran’s cyber operations have generally been less effective or sophisticated than those from China or Russia, which have for years launched large-scale espionage campaigns against the U.S. and penetrated some of its most sensitive infrastructure. But Iran’s dispersed network of hackers has long used cyberattacks to project power across the Middle East and to challenge the United States. And Iran’s hackers are considered less predictable than their Chinese and Russian counterparts, especially when their government feels threatened.

HS Today [4/16/2026 9:25 AM, Mahmut Cengiz, 38K] reports Critical infrastructure lies at the heart of modern society, underpinning the essential systems that sustain national security, economic stability, and public well-being. As defined by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), these interconnected physical and virtual assets are so vital that their disruption can trigger cascading consequences across multiple sectors. Over time, the scope of what constitutes critical infrastructure has expanded alongside technological advancement and globalization, increasing both its importance and its vulnerability. In parallel, terrorist actors have shown a persistent and evolving interest in targeting these systems, recognizing their potential to cause not only immediate destruction but also long-term societal and psychological disruption. Understanding the patterns, motivations, and methods behind such attacks is therefore essential to developing effective security strategies and safeguarding the resilience of critical infrastructure. CISA further categorizes critical infrastructure into sixteen sectors, including energy, transportation systems, healthcare and public health, communications, and financial services. This broad classification reflects the growing complexity and interdependence of modern systems, in which disruption in one sector can rapidly affect others. As a result, protecting these interconnected domains has become an increasingly urgent priority for policymakers and security practitioners alike. Public and governmental concern about future terrorist activity intensified markedly after the Oklahoma City bombing and the September 11 attacks, heightening the urgency of addressing vulnerabilities in U.S. critical infrastructure through research and policy development. The 2016 report identifies more than 2,000 terrorist incidents between 1970 and 2015 that targeted critical infrastructure in the United States and its protectorates, noting a decline in annual attack frequency after 1974. The study further shows that commercial facilities were the most frequently targeted sector, with environmental extremist groups responsible for a substantial share of these attacks. These facilities are often described as “soft targets,” reflecting their relative accessibility and comparatively limited protective measures.

Washington Times [4/16/2026 12:54 PM, Brad Matthews, 1323K] reports that Brian Cole Jr., who is accused of placing pipe bombs outside national party headquarters on Jan. 5, 2021, faces new terrorism and weapons of mass destruction charges. Federal prosecutors filed a superseding indictment against Mr. Cole on Tuesday. It features the two new charges as well as the earlier charges of interstate transportation of explosives and attempted malicious use of explosives. Authorities accuse Mr. Cole of placing pipe bombs, which prosecutors are now describing as weapons of mass destruction, outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee in Southeast Washington a day before the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. Prosecutors allege in the new indictment that Mr. Cole aimed to use the bombs to destroy property as a way to intimidate the population and “to influence the policy and conduct of a unit of government” with an act of terrorism. Mr. Cole’s attorneys questioned the government’s motivation in applying new charges in the case. “The government has gone from identifying the alleged device as an explosive to now referring to that same device as a ‘weapon of mass destruction,’ knowing experts have said this device would not have detonated. … The government now wants Brian Cole Jr. (a Black man) to go down in history as the only alleged, accused January 6-related individual to serve not only a jail sentence, but to serve the rest of his life in prison,” Mario Williams, an attorney for Mr. Cole, said in a statement to Washington’s WDVM-TV. Mr. Cole’s attorneys previously called on President Trump to pardon Mr. Cole just as he pardoned other defendants tied to Jan. 6.

CBS News [4/16/2026 10:47 AM, Dan Raby, 51110K] reports that a man accused of opening fire in the waiting room of a Midtown Atlanta medical practice will go to trial nearly three years after the mass shooting. Deion Patterson is accused of being the gunman in the shooting that left one woman dead and four others injured on May 3, 2023. Authorities say around midday, Patterson went inside the Northside Hospital medical facility and began shooting. The suspect had become agitated while waiting for an appointment when he pulled out a handgun and opened fire, a law enforcement source told CBS News’ Pat Milton. Patterson is then accused of stealing a nearby pickup truck that had been left running and unattended and driving to Cobb County. He was captured hours later after several residents there called 911 to report seeing someone who matched his description. He is facing one count of murder and four counts of aggravated assault in connection with the shooting. Patterson’s mother, Minyone Patterson, who police said had accompanied her son to the medical office, told reporters that her son, a former Coast Guardsman, had "some mental instability going on" from medication that he began taking days before. The trial had been delayed after a Fulton County Superior Court Judge Eric Dunaway found in 2024 that Patterson was "incapable of understanding the nature of the charges or the object of the proceedings," declaring him incompetent to stand trial. The judge ordered Patterson to be committed to the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities for treatment, with the possibility that at a later date he would be deemed competent.

Chicago Tribune [4/16/2026 2:38 PM, Jason Meisner, 5209K] reports that a federal judge Thursday sentenced a former Chicago IT specialist to 25 years in prison for helping the Islamic State terrorist group through a media campaign that encouraged attacks, celebrated beheadings and other gruesome violence and taunted Western culture with memes like a headless Santa delivering a bomb. U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey issued the sentence to Ashraf al Safoo, 41, who was convicted in a bench trial in June 2025 of 11 counts, including providing material support to a terrorist organization, conspiracy to transmit threats in interstate commerce, and computer fraud, according to Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office. Safoo was also ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release, the federal version of parole, after his release from prison, Fitzpatrick said. Prosecutors alleged at trial that although al Safoo was not a sworn IS member, he was a leader of a group called Khattab Media Foundation, an internet-based propaganda organization that swore an oath of allegiance to the Islamic State group. “Brothers, roll up your sleeves!” al Safoo allegedly posted in one Khattab-related forum in May 2018. “Cut video publications into small clips, take still shots, and post the hard work of your brothers in the apostate’s pages and sites. Participate in the war, and spread fear.”

Washington Post [4/16/2026 5:43 AM, Rachel Chason, Rael Ombuor, and Abiodun Jamiu, 24826K] reports first came the thunderous boom. Then the air billowed with thick black smoke. Fires were “everywhere,” survivors said. Scores of people lay dead. The Nigerian military, with whom the U.S. military is fighting a growing Islamist threat, initially declared the attack on a weekend market in the remote desert village of Jilli a successful strike “on a known terrorist enclave.” But witnesses describe a starkly different scene: The more than 100 people killed, they say, were traders and other members of the community, and included women and children. Alimi Gabchiya, a grain trader at the market, lost two sons in the strike Saturday evening. They were also traders, he said. “I want the government to understand that we are innocent,” he told The Washington Post. “I didn’t even get to see their corpses.” It was the latest in what villagers, health workers and human rights monitors say is a pattern of reckless attacks by Nigerian forces in their U.S.-supported fight against Boko Haram and its Islamic State-affiliated offshoot to kill civilians. As President Donald Trump sends thousands more sailors and Marines to the Middle East, a smaller contingent of U.S. troops is confronting terrorism in northeastern Nigeria — and questions about its partnership with the country’s military. Before Venezuela, before Iran, Trump last year focused briefly on what he labeled, without evidence, a “Christian genocide” in Africa’s most populous nation and ordered 200 U.S. troops there. But since they arrived in February, violence by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, has escalated to the deadliest levels since the militant group rampaged in 2015. “We should all be concerned,” said Vincent Foucher, a Nigeria specialist at the French National Center for Scientific Research. “The jihadists are more settled and grounded than they were before. They are much smarter, and they have developed taxation and governance tactics.”

NPR [4/17/2026 3:55 AM, Eric McDaniel, 34837K] reports the House on Friday voted by unanimous consent to extend a controversial surveillance program until April 30. Earlier in the morning GOP leaders had pushed for either a five-year renewal or the 18-month renewal President Trump had demanded, but both votes tanked. The stop-gap measure was pushed through and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was set to expire Monday, now heads to the Senate. The tool allows U.S. intelligence agencies to intercept the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside of the United States. Like past reauthorizations, FISA 702’s renewal has sparked a protracted debate on Capitol Hill over if and how the tool should be modified. Some of the nearly 350,000 targets whose communications are collected under FISA 702 authority are in touch with Americans, whose calls, texts and emails could end up in the trove of information available to the federal government for review.

FOX Business [4/16/2026 7:12 PM, Staff, 7946K] Video: HERE reports Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reports on the push to extend the Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA) on ‘The Bottom Line.’

NewsMax [4/16/2026 5:54 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 3760K] reports President Donald Trump said Thursday that he called a meeting to address alarming, unconfirmed reports of missing and deceased nuclear scientists, describing the situation as "pretty serious stuff.” "I just left a meeting on that subject," Trump told reporters, underscoring growing concern as questions mount within the scientific community. The reports center on a number of deaths and disappearances involving experts in nuclear, defense and space-related fields, though officials have yet to confirm any direct links between the cases. Coverage from outlets such as Newsweek and the Daily Mail has highlighted the 2023 death of veteran NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Michael David Hicks, noting that no official cause of death was made public. According to Newsweek, Hicks is one of at least nine American experts in sensitive national security-related fields whose deaths or disappearances have sparked concern. "I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half," Trump said, adding that "some of them were very important people.” The president’s remarks come as the White House signals it may take a closer look at the matter. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday the administration is prepared to seek answers.

NewsMax [4/16/2026 1:05 PM, Michael Kunzelman, 3760K] reports that a federal judge who halted construction of President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom clarified on Thursday that the administration can proceed with below-ground construction of a bunker and other "national security facilities" at the site. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington issued his latest ruling in a lawsuit over the ballroom project several days after an appeals court instructed him to reconsider the possible national security implications of stopping construction. Government lawyers had argued that the project includes critical security features to guard against a range of possible threats, such as drones, ballistic missiles and biohazards. Leon had barred work from proceeding without congressional approval, but his March 31 order suspended enforcement of that order for two weeks. The appeals court extended that stay until Friday, but Leon stayed his latest decision for another week, which gives the administration more time to seek Supreme Court review. Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, said he is ordering a stop only to above-ground construction of the planned ballroom, apart from any work needed to cover or secure that part of the project. Otherwise, the Trump administration is free to proceed with construction of any excavations, bunkers, military installations, and medical facilities below the ballroom.

Reported similarly:
Washington Examiner [4/16/2026 1:34 PM, Jack Birle, 1147K]

CBS News [4/16/2026 12:53 PM, Jacob Rosen and Arden Farhi, 51110K] reports that a federal judge on Thursday said above-ground work on the White House East Wing must stop, but underground construction on a presidential bunker can continue. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, who in March temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom to replace the White House’s East Wing, clarified his order Thursday after a federal appeals court ordered him to reconsider the national security implications of halting the construction. In revising his order, Leon allowed "above-ground construction strictly necessary to cover, secure, and protect such facilities" underground and said construction on national security facilities that would be located underneath the ballroom can continue, "provided that any such construction will not lock in the above-ground size and scale of the ballroom." Waterproofing, water management, structural reinforcement and sealing off exposed construction areas are allowed, Leon said. Leon’s order stopping construction was set to be enforced starting April 14, but on Saturday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia extended the stay three days to allow for the administration to seek Supreme Court review. The panel ordered Leon to clarify how his order impacts the Trump administration’s plans for presidential safety and security during the construction project.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [4/16/2026 2:55 PM, Ryan J. Reilly, Gary Grumbach, and Dareh Gregorian, 42967K]
FOX News [4/16/2026 2:38 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 37576K]

Univision [4/16/2026 1:28 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports that Federal Judge Richard Leon has ruled that above-ground construction work must cease immediately. The court’s decision draws a clear distinction between ostentation and survival: while the 90,000-square-foot expansion intended for VIP receptions has been suspended, work on the underground complex—deemed vital for national security by the military—may continue. CNN [4/16/2026 12:49 PM, Devan Cole, 612K] reports that a federal judge has again ordered President Donald Trump to pause construction of a massive new ballroom at the White House, rejecting the president’s "disingenuous" bid to circumvent an earlier ruling against the project by claiming that it needed to proceed for national security reasons. The ruling Thursday from senior US District Judge Richard Leon is the latest development in a winding legal saga around the controversial ballroom, which the judge said last month was being built unlawfully since Congress hadn’t expressly approved it. Leon, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, carved out an exception so that crews could continue working on a highly sophisticated bunker being installed under the proposed ballroom. But Trump had contended that the entire project was covered by that loophole since the above-ground structure "advances critical national-security objectives as an integrated whole.” Leon forcefully rejected that argument in his latest decision, accusing the president of advancing an "incredible, if not disingenuous" reading of his earlier ruling. "Defendants argue that the entire ballroom construction project, from tip to tail, falls within the safety-and-security exception and therefore may proceed unabated," he wrote in the 10-page decision. "That is neither a reasonable nor a correct reading of my Order!" "National security is not a blank check to proceed with otherwise unlawful activity, and belated assertions that the above-ground ballroom is ‘inseparable’ from an array of security features are not an occasion for this Court to reweigh the equities or reconsider the preliminary injunction!" Leon wrote.

Reuters [4/16/2026 1:14 PM, Jan Wolfe, 38315K] reports that a federal judge on Thursday again ruled that ‌U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to build a White House ballroom without congressional approval was unlawful, faulting the Republican president for asserting that national security requirements demanded the project move forward. In a 10-page order, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon modified the wording of an injunction he issued on March 31 that had ordered construction to stop, to address Trump and federal agencies’ "brazen" and "disingenuous" interpretation of that earlier ruling. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a ⁠nonprofit charged by Congress to help preserve historic buildings, sued the administration, asserting Trump exceeded his authority when he razed the historic White House East Wing last October and began construction of the planned 90,000-square-foot (8,360-square-metre) ballroom, which is costing more than $400 million and being funded by corporate donors. Leon said he was clarifying the scope of his earlier order to stop "above-ground construction of the planned ballroom" but not "below-ground construction of national security facilities." The judge’s original March 31 order said much of the work needed to stop but that crews could continue "construction necessary to ensure the safety and security of the White House."

AP [4/16/2026 10:39 PM, Michael Kunzelman, 35287K] reports President Donald Trump railed against a federal judge’s decision on Thursday that continues to block above-ground construction of a $400 million White House ballroom, allowing only below-ground work on a bunker and other “national security facilities” at the site. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s latest ruling comes in response to an appeals court’s instruction to clarify an earlier decision on the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom planned for the site where it demolished the East Wing of the White House. Trump on social media called Leon, who was nominated to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, a “Trump Hating” judge who “has gone out of his way to undermine National Security, and to make sure that this Great Gift to America gets delayed, or doesn’t get built.”

HS Today [4/17/2026 12:05 AM, Staff, 38K] reports in a “Do Not Travel” warning for Iraq, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad stated that Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran had “conducted multiple drone attacks in the vicinity of the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center and Baghdad International Airport.” The warning was issued April 8. Additionally, the U.S. State Department called the incident an “ambush” targeting U.S. diplomats. To date, no group has officially claimed responsibility for the attack. According to the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM), Telegram channels affiliated with Iran-backed militias in Iraq have stated that one of the targets in the attack was the American journalist recently released by the Iran-backed Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades militia, which had kidnapped her on March 31. The channels also said that the Iraqi resistance had used the journalist as “bait for American officers” and that there had also been an attempt to kidnap U.S. nationals in western Iraq, but that the attempt was foiled.

NBC News [4/16/2026 12:21 PM, Sahil Kapur and Kyle Stewart, 42967K] reports that the Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to reject a resolution ordering President Donald Trump to end the war with Iran. The vote was 213-214, almost entirely along party lines, as Republicans overwhelmingly stick with Trump, refusing to slap guardrails on his military campaign. Just one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted for it, while one Democrat, Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, voted against it. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who previously voted to end the Iran war, voted “present.” Three Republicans did not vote. The measure, proposed by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., “directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” with exceptions for extreme cases under the War Powers Resolution, “unless explicitly authorized” by Congress. “Donald Trump has dragged the American people into a war of choice, launched without congressional authorization. The president has no coherent strategy, and this open-ended, undefined military engagement is precisely what the War Powers Resolution was designed to restrain,” Meeks said on the floor before the vote. “Every day we delay, we inch closer to a conflict with no exit ramp.” In recent days, Trump has been embroiled in a public spat with Pope Leo XIV over his criticism of the Iran war. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sided with Trump in that clash. “A pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday. “And I think the pope’s received some of that.” “The stakes that are so high in the situation that we’re facing,” Johnson said, calling Iran “the largest sponsor of terrorism.”

Reuters [4/17/2026 1:22 AM, Humeyra Pamuk, Ariba Shahid, and Aziz Taher, 38315K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump expressed confidence that an agreement could soon be reached to end the Iran war and said Tehran-backed Hezbollah should support a 10-day U.S.-backed truce agreed between Lebanon ‌and Israel. Trump said an extension of a two-week ceasefire with Iran was possible, but may not be needed. "We’re going to see what happens. But I think we’re very close to making a deal with Iran," he told reporters, adding if an agreement was reached and signed in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, he may go there for the occasion.

FOX News [4/16/2026 2:26 PM, Morgan Phillips, 37576K] reports that the U.S. is preparing to take on Iran’s fast-attack boats using a playbook it already has tested in another theater — lethal strikes on small vessels tied to drug trafficking networks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Since September 2025, U.S. forces have conducted dozens of deadly strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels, part of a broader military campaign targeting cartel-linked networks. The U.S. campaign against drug-trafficking boats offers a glimpse of how American forces handle small, fast-moving targets at sea. Officials now suggest similar tactics could be used against Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump made that link explicit in a Truth Social post Monday, warning that any Iranian boats approaching the blockade would be "immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea … It is quick and brutal." Since the campaign began, U.S. Southern Command has carried out dozens of strikes on vessels, killing more than 160 people and destroying dozens of boats. Those operations rely on surveillance, rapid targeting and precision strikes, capabilities that could also be used in the Gulf. But in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, U.S. forces are targeting nonstate actors with limited ability to respond. In the Strait of Hormuz, they would be confronting Iran’s military — armed, organized, and operating in one of the most strategically sensitive waterways in the world. Applying that approach in the Persian Gulf, against a state-backed military force, carries far higher risks.

NBC News [4/16/2026 1:35 PM, Gordon Lubold, Courtney Kube, Dan De Luce, and Mosheh Gains, 42967K] reports that a week ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Iran’s missile program was “functionally destroyed,” with stockpiles depleted, decimated and ineffective. On Thursday, he acknowledged Iran is “digging out” its remaining missiles and launchers, but said it no longer had the capacity to get more. “You have no defense industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defensive capabilities,” he said. Despite the massive bombing campaign by the United States and Israel, roughly half of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers were still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remained in its arsenal as of earlier this month, NBC News reported. Multiple missile stockpiles buried underground in Iran were undamaged. While peace talks stall and the U.S. expanded its efforts to block Iranian ports at the critical Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration has been seeking to showcase that its military prowess caused devastation to Iran’s capabilities. But officials have offered conflicting messages on how bad that devastation has been. U.S. intelligence reporting suggests China was planning to provide new air defense weaponry to Iran in coming weeks, NBC News reported earlier this week.

Reuters [4/16/2026 1:17 PM, Andrew Goudsward and Jana Winter, 38315K] reports that the FBI plans to question roughly a half-dozen witnesses in its criminal inquiry into ex-CIA Director John Brennan over a U.S. intelligence assessment that found Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump, said two people familiar with the investigation.

The interviews, which have not been previously reported ‌and are expected to include former intelligence officials involved in the 2017 assessment, will delve into the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry — an issue Trump has long urged that prosecutors pursue, the two sources said. The probe represents a far-reaching effort by Trump’s Justice Department to revisit an investigation whose core conclusions were later affirmed by the Justice Department, a bipartisan Senate committee and a CIA review, fueling critics’ concerns that the Trump administration is using prosecutorial power to target perceived adversaries and re-litigate a central episode of Trump’s first term. Reuters could not determine the specific identities of the people set to be interviewed over the next several weeks. Investigators have already conducted a small number of witness interviews, sources ⁠said. The probe is being run by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami and has been under way for months. The sources said it appears to be focusing on congressional testimony Brennan gave in 2023 about the crafting of the assessment. Brennan was told by prosecutors that he is a target of the investigation, his attorney disclosed in a letter in December.

CBS News [4/16/2026 7:03 PM, James LaPorta, et al., 51110K] reports days after the U.S.-Israel led war with Iran kicked off last month, American intelligence agencies detected signs that the war risked widening beyond the immediate battlefield as Russia and China sought to support Iran to blunt U.S.-Israeli military operations. Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s arm for military intelligence, assessed that China was weighing whether to provide Tehran with advanced radar systems, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the matter. The deliberations came amid separate reports that Russia had shared intelligence with Iran on American military positions across the Middle East. While Moscow’s transfer of information to Tehran has been previously reported by CBS News, China’s apparent willingness — early in the conflict and potentially over a protracted timeline — to assist Iran points to a broader, if informal, alignment among powers seeking to counterbalance U.S. ambitions in the region. U.S. officials, who spoke to CBS News on the condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues, said Beijing had considered supplying Iran with X-band radar systems. This technology would significantly enhance Iran’s ability to detect and track incoming threats, like low-flying drones and cruise missiles, and could help protect its air defense systems against advanced strikes. It remains unclear whether China ultimately moved forward with the transfer but the assessment underscores Washington’s concern that the Iranian war is drawing in not only regional adversaries but also global competitors willing to provide critical support, short of direct military involvement, the officials said. The Defense Intelligence Agency has not responded to a request for comment. The Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment. The White House has not responded to a request for comment. On Wednesday, the Financial Times reported that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used a spy satellite it secretly bought from Chinese company Earth Eye Co., to target U.S. bases in the Middle East, citing leaked Iranian military documents. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, when asked Thursday about the intelligence assessments, said, "President Trump has a very strong and direct relationship with President Xi, and they’ve communicated on that, and China has assured us that that indeed is not going to happen.” Mr. Trump is expected to visit China next month in a high-stakes summit driven by several overlapping crises and strategic interests. Mr. Trump said he sent a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping asking him not to give Iran weapons in an interview that aired Wednesday on the Fox Business Network. Mr. Trump did not say when the letters were exchanged.

CyberScoop [4/16/2026 7:02 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports two New Jersey men were sentenced Wednesday for facilitating North Korea’s long-running scheme to plant operatives inside U.S. businesses as employees, generating more than $5 million in illicit revenue for the regime, the Justice Department said. The U.S. nationals — Kejia Wang, also known as Tony Wang, and Zhenxing Wang, also known as Danny Wang — were part of a years-long conspiracy that placed operatives in jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies, including many Fortune 500 companies, based in 27 states and the District of Columbia. The elaborate scheme involved shell companies posing as software development firms, money laundering, and espionage with national security implications. Operatives involved in the conspiracy stole sensitive files from a California-based defense contractor related to U.S. military technology controlled under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), officials said. “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) IT workers are not limited to revenue generation. When tasked, they can operationalize their placement and access to support strategic intelligence requirements, including intellectual property theft, network disruption or extortion,” Michael Barnhart, nation state investigator at DTEX, told CyberScoop.

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