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.

Washington Examiner [4/23/2026 11:00 AM, Britta Miller, 1147K] reports that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin blasted Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as a "lying scumbag politician" after Schumer’s dismissive comments about the agency. "Chuck Schumer, no one respects you," Mullin said Thursday on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom. Schumer spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday to condemn funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection without reforms. "Adding $140 billion to an agency, to two groups, Border Patrol and ICE, that nobody respects in this country," Schumer said. "It makes my ears red," Mullin responded. "The definition of a lying scumbag politician, that is you. You would be the definition if you Googled you right now." Mullin said Schumer should be honest with the American people and say that he is pro-open borders if he’s attacking the funding. "You’re for the criminals running amok in our cities," Mullin said, adding that Schumer’s comments are disrespectful to law enforcement officers who protect Americans. The Department of Homeland Security has been without funding since Feb. 14 due to a partial government shutdown, the longest in history. President Donald Trump has since issued an emergency order to pay DHS employees, but Mullin said funding is running out, and employees’ last check will be in early May. "We’re at critical mass, and Democrats continue to play political theater," Mullin said. The Senate passed a budget resolution early Thursday, which now moves to the House of Representatives. Trump set a June 1 deadline for Congress to pass the final funding bill.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/23/2026 3:12 PM, Ryan Mancini, 18170K]
Breitbart [4/23/2026 1:23 PM, Pam Key, 2238K]
Daily Wire [4/23/2026 6:45 AM, Hank Berrien, 2314K]

Washington Times [4/23/2026 12:24 PM, Kerry Picket, 1323K] reports that President Trump on Thursday demanded that Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer apologize to immigration authorities for remarks the New York Democrat made on the chamber’s floor. "Wow! Cryin’ Chuck Schumer just said, for the whole World to hear, that ‘NOBODY RESPECTS BORDER PATROL OR ICE,’" Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. "That is one of the most egregious, incorrect, unpatriotic, and dangerous statements I have EVER heard from a ‘professional’ politician. HE MUST IMMEDIATELY APOLOGIZE TO THESE GREAT PATRIOTS, AND I MEAN NOW!" Mr. Schumer spoke Wednesday on the Senate floor to rebuke funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection without reforms. "Adding $140 billion to an agency, to two groups, Border Patrol and ICE, that nobody respects in this country," Mr. Schumer said. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared on Fox News Thursday and called Mr. Schumer a "lying scumbag politician" for his comments. "It makes my ears red," Mr. Mullin said. "The definition of a lying scumbag politician, that is you. You would be the definition if you Googled you right now." Mr. Mullin said Mr. Schumer should be forthright with Americans and say he’s for open borders if he’s against funding border enforcement. "You’re for the criminals running amok in our cities," Mr. Mullin said, adding that the senator’s remarks disrespect law enforcement officers who protect Americans. DHS has not had funding since Feb. 14 because of the partial government shutdown.

The AP [4/23/2026 4:50 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick, 26K] reports that the Senate took the first steps in a new effort to reopen the Department of Homeland Security early Thursday, voting to adopt a budget plan that would fund ICE and Border Patrol over Democratic objections and sending it to the House. The entire department has been shut down since mid-February as Democrats have demanded policy changes in the wake of fatal shootings of two protesters by federal agents. Republicans are now trying to fund the two immigration enforcement agencies through the complicated, time-consuming process called budget reconciliation, a maneuver that they also used to pass President Donald Trump’s package of tax and spending cuts last year with no Democratic votes. “We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. The budget process only requires a simple majority in the Senate, bypassing filibuster rules that require Republicans to find 60 votes on most bills when they only hold 53 seats. But it also comes with increased scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian and a long, open-ended series of amendment votes at the beginning and the end of the process. The Senate held the first series of votes through the night, starting Wednesday evening and into early Thursday morning, with Democrats proposing amendments to lower health care expenses and other costs in an effort to contrast with Republicans’ focus on Trump’s campaign of immigration enforcement. The Washington Post [4/23/2026 4:52 PM, Riley Beggin and Theodoric Meyer, 24826K] reports that the strategy is part of a two-pronged plan to end the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history. The Department of Homeland Security has been shuttered for nearly 10 weeks because of a partisan standoff over the administration’s immigration enforcement operations. Democrats demanded that Republicans agree to new accountability measures in exchange for their support for DHS funding, but the two sides failed to reach an agreement after weeks of negotiations. Instead, Republicans devised a time-consuming approach to funding the department, which President Donald Trump has endorsed. The Senate voted 50-48 early Thursday to begin work on one part of the plan: A bill to send approximately $70 billion to ICE and Border Patrol without the help of Democrats under budget reconciliation rules. Reconciliation allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority rather than the 60 votes typically needed to overcome a filibuster as long as it complies with obscure budget rules. Two Republicans voted with Democrats against the measure — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Rand Paul (Kentucky). Roll Call [4/23/2026 6:03 PM, Savannah Behrmann and Valerie Yurk, 673K] reports “Republicans are going to deliver for you,” said Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., as the GOP looks to sidestep a funding standoff with Democrats over guardrails at the agencies by relying on the reconciliation process. Once the budget resolution is adopted in both chambers, more detailed work can begin. While Johnson is readying it for the floor next week, some House Republicans are trying to tap the brakes. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, for one, said he wants to see a resolution with a broader scope. Those holdouts could be a headache for Johnson, who won’t be able to rely on any Democratic votes and is working with a slim GOP majority. Behind the scenes, Johnson also tried to straighten out support for extending section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The controversial spy authority is facing an April 30 deadline, as some Republicans demand privacy safeguards. While new bill text released by GOP leaders Thursday seems to fall short of some of the privacy hawks’ demands, the Rules Committee is scheduled Monday to prep it for floor consideration. Breitbart [4/23/2026 12:51 PM, Staff, 2238K] reports that the only Republicans to vote against the resolution were Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky. The bill now goes to the House. If the House adopts the resolution, the final funding bill can be written and voted on by Congress. They are following a deadline of June 1 set by President Donald Trump. "We have a multistep process ahead of us, but at the end Republicans will have helped ensure that America’s borders are secure and prevented Democrats from defunding these important agencies," said Senate Republican Leader John Thune, R-N.D. Thune told fellow senators to keep the package narrow to ensure speedy passage. Since the January deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, both shot and killed by DHS officers, Democrats have refused to support funding the department without reforms. The department has been shut down since Feb, 14, though Trump told the department to use emergency funds to pay essential workers. Just before the Easter recess, the Senate passed a bill that would fund most of DHS but not ICE and Border Patrol. But the House rejected it. Republicans are hoping to fund the department through 2029 at a cost of between $70 and $80 billion.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [4/23/2026 7:28 AM, Jonathan Tamari, 18082K]
Breitbart [4/23/2026 10:04 AM, Sean Moran, 2238K]
Roll Call [4/23/2026 5:26 AM, David Lerman and Aidan Quigley, 673K]
Reuters [4/23/2026 9:15 PM, Staff, 38315K]
ABC News [4/23/2026 12:35 PM, Staff, 34146K]
CBS News [4/23/2026 8:09 AM, Kaia Hubbard, 51110K]
NBC News [4/23/2026 6:34 AM, Sahil Kapur and Brennan Leach, 42967K]
Washington Examiner [4/23/2026 7:03 AM, Staff, 1147K]

Blaze [4/23/2026 10:55 AM, Rebeka Zeljko, 1556K] reports the Senate worked overnight to advance the GOP’s budget resolution to fund immigration enforcement to the tune of $70 billion in an effort to end the Democrat-induced shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. From Wednesday afternoon to the early hours of Thursday morning, senators voted on a slew of amendments to advance Republicans’ legislation to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection. This legislative marathon comes amid the ongoing DHS shutdown that began in mid-February. In March, the Senate approved a funding package to fund all of DHS except ICE and CBP in a 2:00 a.m. voice vote, but it was rejected by the House. The House passed its own 60-day continuing resolution to fund the department in its entirety, but it was not advanced in the Senate. The Senate budget ultimately advanced mostly along party lines in a 50-48 vote just before 3:30 a.m., with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky voting with Democrats against the immigration funding.

The Hill [4/23/2026 2:14 PM, Emily Brooks and Sudiksha Kochi, 18170K] reports House Republicans grumbling about the structure of a “skinny” reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement — and their skepticism about prospects for passing another GOP-only funding package this year — are creating hurdles for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) as he aims to put the measure on the House floor next week. “This will probably be the last reconciliation we do before the end of the year. We got the break coming up, and it’s just we got to address — we got to put more to it than just this,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus. The Senate in the wee hours of Thursday morning adopted a budget reconciliation framework to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol for three and a half years. It’s part of a two-step process to end the record-long Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown after Republicans were unable to come to an agreement with Democrats, who were seeking reforms to immigration enforcement, to fund the agencies. Republican leaders resorted to using the special reconciliation process, which bypasses the threat of Democrats blocking the bill in the Senate, to fund those agencies while the Senate also passed a bipartisan bill to fund the rest of DHS. DHS is warning it will soon run out of the money, which it has been using to pay salaries and perform other critical functions. But hard-line conservatives in the Freedom Caucus and beyond have long expressed discontent about breaking off ICE and Border Patrol funding from the rest of DHS, and some are not yet sold on voting for the “skinny” package separately.

NewsMax [4/23/2026 9:03 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K] reports House Republicans will need to fund fully the Department of Homeland Security without Democrats who "don’t want to do anything to help us," Rep. Addison McDowell, R-N.C., told Newsmax on Thursday. Appearing on "Wake Up America," McDowell said Republicans may be forced to move forward alone as critical funding for agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and other Homeland Security components hangs in the balance. "At the very end of the day, we’ve got to fund the Department of Homeland Security," McDowell said. "This is the Coast Guard, this is the TSA — we cannot let these people go without paychecks, and they’re about to run out of money.” His comments come after Senate Republicans advanced a budget framework early Thursday aimed at funding ICE and Border Patrol through a reconciliation process that bypasses Democrat support. According to Reuters, the plan would allow Republicans to avoid the Senate filibuster and pass the measure with a simple majority, though it faces hurdles in the House and scrutiny from the Senate parliamentarian. McDowell blamed Democrats for the impasse, arguing they abandoned earlier negotiations for political reasons tied to opposition to President Donald Trump.

NewsMax [4/23/2026 7:52 AM, Staff, 3760K] reports that there is "no excuse" for Congress not to reach a funding agreement before key Homeland Security operations run out of money, Rep. Ralph Norman told Newsmax on Thursday. However, the South Carolina Republican said on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America Early" that he is "cautiously optimistic" that a solution will be reached. "It’s just going to take negotiations, which have been ongoing these last ten days, and we’ve got until the end of this month to come up with a solution, and hopefully, we will," he said. "But I’m cautiously optimistic." Lawmakers face mounting pressure as the Department of Homeland Security approaches a funding deadline, including for Transportation Security Administration workers and border enforcement operations. "To have the TSA unfunded, to have our security at our border unfunded, to have ICE agents unfunded, there’s no excuse for it," Norman said. Still, he added, "the blame game is going to have to end." "We’ve got to pass something, and it’s up to the Senate and the House to get together," said Norman. "But everything is a fight," he added. "Everything is a challenge." However, Democrats have "chosen this route" to shut down part of the government. "In the middle of a war, you would think they would come to their senses," said Norman. "But we’re going to handle it on our end, and I think sooner rather than later."

The Hill [4/23/2026 6:00 AM, Sudiksha Kochi, 18170K] reports that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing pressure from all sides as he insists on passing a GOP-only bill to fund immigration enforcement before taking up bipartisan legislation to fund the rest of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), even as the department is set to run out of money to pay employees in a few weeks. Johnson already faces an uphill battle in getting a reconciliation bill across the finish line, as hard-line conservatives push to include other priorities in the legislation and rail against the Senate-driven strategy of separating Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol funding. The Senate voted to advance a budget blueprint for the bill on Tuesday, kicking off a marathon debate and a final vote to be held later this week. But DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned Tuesday on “Fox & Friends” that the money to pay employees will run dry, with no further emergency reserves to fall back on, by the first week of May, a date by which it is highly unlikely Congress could pass the reconciliation bill. Reconciliation allows Republicans to bypass the Democratic filibuster in the Senate, but it is a multistep and lengthy process.

NewsNation [4/23/2026 4:31 PM, Jeff Arnold, 4464K] reports the Department of Homeland Security will allocate $7.5 million next year to using emerging biometric technology to develop smart glasses designed to assist federal immigration agents and officers in identifying migrants who are in the United States illegally in real time, NewsNation has confirmed. The project is part of President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget proposal, which earmarks millions toward developing what the White House considers critical technologies, analytic tools and data systems that strengthen DHS’ ability to “encounter, transport, detain and remove migrants who are in the United States illegally.” A DHS spokesperson told NewsNation Wednesday that at this time, no federal funds have been committed for any form of “smart glasses.” However, the agency said that the DHS Science and Technology Directorate is “constantly assessing” the needs of ICE and other DHS components to assist federal law enforcement officers working in the field. Ongoing conversations are held with multiple employees, including attorneys, to ensure that any technology used by Homeland Security officials is “within the full scope of the law.”

FOX News [4/23/2026 4:30 PM, Adam Pack, 37576K] reports House Republicans are sharply divided over a bipartisan immigration reform bill, with one GOP lawmaker calling on President Donald Trump to intervene. For months, GOP lawmakers have fiercely debated the Dignity Act, whose Republican sponsor, Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, is pushing for the immigration proposal to be marked up in committee and receive a vote on the floor. The Miami Republican has quickly run into opposition from a swath of conservatives in the GOP conference who have ripped the proposal as "mass amnesty" and a wholesale rejection of the president’s immigration enforcement agenda. The immigration standoff highlights the fissures in the coalition that elected a Republican trifecta in 2024. Salazar’s Dignity Act does not provide a pathway to citizenship, but it would make millions of migrants who came into the United States prior to Biden’s presidency eligible for work without fear of deportation. The legislation would also increase funding for border security, require employers to use E-Verify to verify an individual’s legal status and create a pathway for DACA recipients to obtain permanent residency, among other provisions. Despite no clear path forward, Salazar has vowed to continue engaging skeptics about the immigration reform legislation.

FOX News [4/23/2026 3:23 PM, Alex Miller, 37576K] reports a cohort of Senate Republicans joined Democrats to sink a late-night attempt to attach a version of voter ID and citizenship verification legislation to the GOP’s bill funding federal immigration enforcement. Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., all voted against a modified version of the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act early Thursday morning. Their defection came during the Senate’s marathon "vote-a-rama," where lawmakers could force votes on any number of amendments, regardless of whether they mesh with the underlying budget blueprint. The amendment’s 48-to-50 failure crystallized what several Republicans had warned for weeks before launching a quasi-floor takeover to debate the SAVE America Act last month — it didn’t have the support among the GOP to pass. It appears the proposal was doomed even if Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., launched an oral filibuster to advance the measure with a simple 50-vote majority. Still, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pushed his version of the SAVE America Act after threatening to hold up the process until Thursday.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/23/2026 11:08 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K]

New York Times [4/23/2026 8:42 PM, Amy Qin, 148038K] reports President Trump provoked a broad backlash this week when he posted a transcript from a right-wing podcast in which the host referred to China and India as “hellhole” places and said recent immigrants from those countries had not “integrated” into America as “European Americans” had. The transcript, which Mr. Trump posted on his Truth Social account on Wednesday night, came from a recent episode of “The Savage Nation,” hosted by Michael Savage, a popular conservative talk radio host. Mr. Trump also posted the original video clip of Mr. Savage’s podcast. The president did not add any commentary to his posts, but across Asia and the United States, many people saw an unwelcome message that demanded a response. In a rare public rebuke of the White House, the Indian government took to X to criticize the comments, calling them “obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste” without explicitly naming Mr. Trump. Asian American advocacy groups and some Democratic lawmakers faulted Mr. Trump for amplifying xenophobic rhetoric at a time when the administration’s efforts to restrict even legal immigration have left many Indian Americans and Chinese Americans worried about their place in American society. “We are deeply disturbed by @POTUS sharing this hateful, racist screed targeting Indian and Chinese Americans,” said the Hindu American Foundation, a group that has been critical of both Democrats and Republicans, in a statement on X. “Endorsing such rants as the president of the United States will further stoke hatred and endanger our communities, at a time when xenophobia and racism are already at an all time high.” The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, are scheduled to meet for a summit in Beijing in mid-May. The podcast excerpt shared by Mr. Trump was recorded shortly after the Supreme Court hearing on Mr. Trump’s executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship, which confers citizenship on nearly all children born on U.S. soil and has long been seen as a fundamental tenet of American identity and law. In the clip, Mr. Savage claimed, without evidence, that recent immigrants had “almost no loyalty” to America; that the nation was being “overrun with Chinese coming here just to drop a baby on our shores to then bring in the entire family”; and that Indians and Chinese had set up “internal mechanisms” so that only people from their countries could get tech jobs in California. “A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring the entire family in from China or India or some other hellhole on the planet,” Mr. Savage said. “They’re not like the European Americans of today and their ancestors,” he added.

NPR [4/23/2026 5:23 PM, Miles Parks, 28764K] Audio: HERE reports the new homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, has for years amplified President Trump’s false claims of a stolen 2020 election. Here’s why that history matters this midterm year.

Wall Street Journal [4/23/2026 5:41 PM, Marianne LeVine, Tarini Parti, and Michelle Hackman, 646K] reports former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has continued using a waterfront house on a military base in Washington, D.C., that she took over as a cabinet member, according to people familiar with the matter. A black Suburban SUV typically used by Noem was seen parked in front of the house earlier this week, those people said, and U.S. Coast Guard officials have spotted Noem on the base in recent days. Noem moved into the house on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is typically designated for the commandant of the Coast Guard, after President Trump last year fired Linda Fagan, the commandant at the time. The Coast Guard generally falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security. Noem has continued to use the house since Trump ousted her from DHS in early March. She officially left the job after Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as the new secretary. Noem is now serving as Trump’s special envoy for the Shield of the Americas—Western Hemisphere, a security initiative created by the administration at the State Department. The State Department and DHS didn’t respond for comment. Before Noem was ousted by Trump, she faced questions from members of Congress about her residence at the base. “I will also tell you that I rent that facility,” she said during a hearing at the time. “I rent where I stay, and pay personal dollars to do that.” The current Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Kevin Lunday, has told associates he plans to move into the house imminently, according to people familiar with the discussions. He currently lives in a nearly identical home next door, designated for the vice commandant, but wants to make room for that official to move in.

New York Post [4/23/2026 12:24 PM, Jacqueline Sweet, 40934K] reports that the ex-boyfriend of a Department of Homeland Security official — now on administrative leave for allegedly engaging in a "sugar daddy" relationship — is allegedly a business executive who raked in tens of millions of dollars’ worth of government contracts over the past two years. Robert Bianchi owns a federal defense contracting firm in Maryland — and is using the government to retaliate against his ex-girlfriend, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism Julia Varvaro, after a relationship that "ended badly," sources claim. Bianchi’s Maryland firm, SDVO Solutions, LLC, has received over $67 million in federal government contracts beginning in 2015 — nearly a third of which came just in fiscal years 2025 and 2026, according to government records reviewed by The Post. The company does IT and telecom work and had its biggest year in 2025, with contracts from the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others. The firm advertises itself as being run by a service-disabled veteran CEO. There is no indication that Bianchi was awarded those contracts as a result of his alleged relationship with Varvaro. The Daily Mail first reported that a business executive named Robert B. spent "$30,000-$40,000 for vacations, Cartier jewelry, expensive handbags, and various shopping trips" on Varvaro before their three-month relationship recently ended. Neither DHS nor the DHS OIG responded to a request for comments on Bianchi’s ID or government contracting.

Breitbart [4/23/2026 2:02 PM, Amy Furr, 2238K] reports leftist activists and students disrupted an event with U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorney James Percival on Tuesday at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The event for Percival to speak to law students was hosted by the Federalist Society’s UCLA chapter, but it was disrupted when the protesters decided to make their opinions known, Fox News reported Wednesday. Video footage shows a large crowd gathered in a hallway and the outlet said chants of "No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA," were heard. Students booed and laughed when the event opened and as Percival began speaking: In the video, one of the protesters holds a sign that reads "Fuck you loser" while other students use their phones to disrupt the event, with some shouting "Nazi.” The Daily Bruin reported there were 150 protesters at the event, and around 50 of them exited the room when they learned Percival would only be asked pre-screened questions.

FOX News [4/24/2026 5:00 AM, David Bier, 37576K] reports President Trump stood before Congress in 2019 and said, "Legal immigrants enrich our nation and strengthen our society in countless ways. I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally." In 2024, as he ran for reelection, he repeated the point: "We need people." The president was right. But since Trump reentered office, his administration has cut legal immigration dramatically. Illegal immigration is down, too, but not as much. All told, the administration has cut legal immigration twice as much as it has cut illegal immigration. Indeed, my report for the Cato Institute, which President Trump cited, shows the immigration decline has come mainly from fewer legal immigrants. The president previously promised to prioritize Christian refugees, saying "we are going to help them." But he has not. In 2024, most refugees vetted abroad and admitted legally to the U.S. were Christians, yet he cut the refugee program from 125,000 to 7,500. It now admits only a small number of South Africans. There are zero slots for religious persecution. If persecuted people can somehow make it to the United States, the law protects their right to apply for asylum status. In 2018, President Trump encouraged asylum seekers to apply to enter legally, promising that immigrants may "avail themselves of our asylum system, provided that they properly present themselves for inspection at a port of entry."

FOX News [4/23/2026 9:00 AM, Chris Stewart and Steve Haro, 37576K] reports recent drone incursions over some of America’s most sensitive military installations reveal a troubling reality: even hardened, high-priority sites are no longer immune to advanced drones. Protecting these bases is essential – but if adversaries can penetrate them, it suggests the civilian infrastructure that we rely on every day is far more vulnerable than we are prepared to admit. Cheap, commercially accessible drones are reshaping conflict abroad while exposing this dangerous truth at home. America’s greatest vulnerability is no longer confined to its borders. It is embedded in the infrastructure that underpins daily life: airports, energy grids, data centers and ports. This is America’s soft underbelly, and it is increasingly exposed. We write from two perspectives shaped by this threat. One of us has spent four decades in aerospace and defense and now leads a company building counter-drone systems, witnessing firsthand how quickly these technologies evolve and how creatively they are used. The other served in Congress on the House Intelligence Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, helping shape policies to confront emerging threats before they reach U.S. soil. What we are seeing is not theoretical. It is a clear and accelerating trend.

The Hill [4/23/2026 7:30 AM, Amy Suzanne Martin, 18170K] reports that President Trump ran on securing the border and ending the chaos. His administration has dramatically reduced illegal crossings, delivered historic deportations and virtually ended refugee admissions. Yet one yawning gap persists: The border remains dangerously attractive for unaccompanied children, because the Trump administration has not urged Congress to repeal the legal machinery that incentivizes cartel child-smuggling. Even as alien families face deportation, Section 235 of the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 continues to lure unaccompanied children into the hands of criminal cartels — and then to funnel them into the U.S. for legal “protection.” The statute gives immigration officers a maximum of 48 hours to screen Mexican and Canadian children for signs of severe trafficking, credible fear of persecution, or risk upon return. Children from non-contiguous countries, such as Guatemala, bypass even that step and go straight into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. At that point, sponsors and non-profit organizations’ attorneys then file to acquire for them special immigrant juvenile status, asylum, or T-visas. Kids in Need of Defense, an organization that assigns attorneys to represent these minors, reported $62.5 million in federal funding from the Office of Refugee Resettlement in 2024. The group, which was founded in tandem with the passage of Section 235, champions this pipeline and lobbies for more funding for more lawyers and more legal protections.

Washington Post [4/23/2026 6:30 AM, Linda Miller, 24826K] reports that a midsize importer gets an email from its customs broker: U.S. Customs and Border Protection has opened the tariff refund portal, and the company is eligible for a substantial payment. The message references real shipments and includes a link to “confirm banking details to ensure timely payment.” The importer’s controller clicks through and updates the account information. Weeks later, the refund arrives — just not to them. This is the most likely way the fraud will start. The federal government is standing up a tariff refund program that will cost taxpayers billions. In a 6-3 decision in February, the Supreme Court struck down sweeping reciprocal tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The decision prompted Customs and Border Protection to open a refund portal covering an estimated 53 million shipments with total payments projected at $166 billion. CBP built the refund program in less than two months. If that combination — large sums, fast timelines, digital disbursement — sounds familiar, it should. The last time the government ran a program like this, it was called pandemic relief. The Paycheck Protection Program disbursed $800 billion in under two years. Fraud actors had a field day. Unemployment programs lost an estimated $100 billion or more to fraud.

Bloomberg [4/23/2026 11:56 AM, Angelica Franganillo Diaz, 763K] reports that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were told verbally weeks ago to stop entering homes without judicial warrants, marking a shift away from some of the agency’s most aggressive enforcement tactics, according to a person familiar with the matter. The policy change, first reported earlier Thursday by NBC News, comes after Secretary Markwayne Mullin pledged during his March confirmation hearing to lower the Department of Homeland Security’s public profile, stating that his goal was for the agency to no longer be "in the lead story every day" as it recalibrates its enforcement approach. Mullin has begun taking steps to follow through on commitments he made to lawmakers to rein in practices that raised concerns, such as easing contract approval requirements and reviewing plans to expand detention capacity, according to people familiar with the matter. During his confirmation hearing, Mullin told Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that "a judicial warrant will be used to go into houses, into places of business," signaling a shift from prior practices that allowed officers to rely on administrative warrants issued within the agency. Unlike judicial warrants, which require approval from a judge based on probable cause, administrative immigration warrants are issued by agency officials. Two DHS officials told Bloomberg Law they haven’t received formal written guidance reflecting the change. Civil rights groups have long argued that entering homes without a judicial warrant violates the Fourth Amendment.

DailySignal [4/23/2026 3:02 PM, Fred Lucas, 474K] reports the Trump administration scored two legal victories this week in combating illegal immigration. Appeals courts cleared the way for building a Florida immigration detention center that President Donald Trump calls "Alligator Alcatraz" and halted a California law requiring agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to unmask. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday stopped enforcement of the California law. California Gov. Gavin Newsom had signed the bill requiring ICE agents to remove their masks, which he touted as the "first in the nation." The Department of Homeland Security and ICE have argued that agents need masks for privacy reasons, as people have taken their photos for online posts, threatening them and their family members. In Florida, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed a lower court’s injunction against the construction of an ICE detention center for illegal aliens in the Everglades.

Washington Examiner [4/23/2026 8:50 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1147K] reports the Department of Homeland Security is reportedly rolling back some of the leeway the Trump administration had given federal immigration authorities in an effort to make arresting illegal immigrants easier. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations arm has notified offices nationwide not to enter homes when attempting to make an immigration arrest unless officers have a judicial warrant, according to a new report by NBC News. The move comes following months of ICE and other federal personnel going into the residences of individuals believed to be illegally present in the country who already had a judge’s signed order of removal, as law enforcement carries out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. ICE also appears to be cutting down its presence in immigration courts, where, under Trump, officers have been allowed to stake out and apprehend people as they showed up for their day in immigration court. NBC found that immigration arrests at courthouses were down significantly, according to two immigration attorneys and a senior DHS official. A day after taking office in January 2025, Trump had authorized ICE to make arrests in and around courthouses, going against the Biden-era norm of avoiding immigration enforcement by courts, schools, places of worship, or hospitals. This past February, ICE was told to no longer arrest a suspected illegal immigrant at or around a courthouse unless the individual is being targeted for deportation. The changes come less than a month after former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was replaced by Markwayne Mullin. Under Trump, ICE had arrested nearly 457,000 people between the start of his second term and early March this year.

FOX News [4/23/2026 2:59 PM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K] reports President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, is inviting the head of the world’s largest religious group to join U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on a ride-along in an American city. While speaking at a Turning Point USA panel on Wednesday, Homan, who has identified himself as a "lifelong Catholic," confirmed he would like Pope Leo XIV to join federal officers for a ride-along because "They’re talking about something they don’t understand.” This comes amid an ongoing feud between the pope and the Trump administration over immigration policy and the conflict in Iran. While maintaining that "every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter," Leo has criticized the administration’s interior immigration enforcement as "extremely disrespectful, to say the least." In response, President Donald Trump has criticized the pope as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy." Vice President JD Vance, who is also Catholic, has suggested that "in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.” However, Homan, who oversees Trump’s border security efforts, has taken a different approach. Asked on the panel Wednesday whether he was inviting the pope to participate in a ride-along with ICE, he responded emphatically, "Yes.” "I will sit down and talk to him," he said. "Because they’re talking about something that they don’t understand.” Homan said, "I’ll explain to them what happened under the Biden administration. An open border is the most inhumane thing you can do.” He went on to rip into former President Joe Biden and former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over their handling of the border from 2021 to 2025. He said the previous administration used tax dollars to provide illegal immigrants with transportation, lodging, and work authorization. "When you make that promise to the whole world, the most vulnerable people will give their life savings to the cartels to make that dangerous journey," said Homan.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/23/2026 5:18 PM, Theodore Bunker, 3760K]

USA Today [4/23/2026 6:41 PM, Fernando Cervantes Jr, 70643K] reports more than 120 civil society organizations issued a travel warning for the United States, saying that visitors coming to the country for the FIFA World Cup should use caution due to ongoing immigration efforts by the Trump administration. The warning shared by Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) comes as the World Cup is set to be hosted in 11 cities across the United States, bringing fans from around the world. "FIFA has been paying lip service to human rights while cozying up with the Trump administration, putting millions of people at risk of being harmed and their basic rights violated," Jamil Dakwar, ACLU human rights program director, said. Tourism in the United States has been impacted by immigration policies enforced by the Trump administration, as the country saw a 6% drop in foreign visitors in 2025, even as global tourism as a whole rose by 6.7%. In an emailed statement to USA TODAY, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle said that the Trump administration is working to make the upcoming World Cup the "safest and most secure in history," and that "no amount of ridiculous scare tactics driven by liberal activist groups and the left-wing media will change that.” The travel warning issued by the ACLU read: "WARNING: Individuals may encounter or be subjected to the following risks and harms in breach of the United States’ human rights obligations under domestic and international law.” Among other reasons for the warning was the Trump administration’s ongoing travel ban of 39 countries, as well as the sweeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in cities across the U.S. "The specter of immigration enforcement this summer has become the leading concern among grassroots organizations across host cities," Jennifer Li, leader of Dignity 2026, a national coalition working with grassroots groups in host cities, said. Despite the concerns of civil organizations about ICE’s presence at the World Cup, officials have not committed to pausing operations during the sporting event. Back in February, Todd Lyons, the outgoing acting director of ICE, said in a Congressional hearing that ICE would be a "key part of the overall security apparatus for the World Cup.” "We’re dedicated to securing that operation, and we’re dedicated to the security of all our participants as well as visitors," he said.

FOX News [4/23/2026 10:29 AM, Staff, 37576K] reports that Sheridan Gorman’s parents demand accountability after her tragic murder by illegal immigrant Jose Medina-Medina in Chicago. Medina-Medina was apprehended twice, released by the Biden administration and had prior arrests for shoplifting before the fatal shooting. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticizes sanctuary city policies, emphasizing the need for federal-local cooperation to prevent such senseless crimes. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS Philadelphia [4/23/2026 5:36 PM, Alexandra Simon, Nikki DeMentri, 51110K] reports Philadelphia City Council has passed a series of bills that will limit how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates in the city. The seven "ICE Out" bills were read in front of a boisterous crowd in the city council chamber Thursday, who held up signs and chanted as each was approved. The bills now go to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, who could sign them into law, veto the legislation or let them become law without her signature. Following the legislation’s preliminary approval earlier this month, sources told CBS News Philadelphia that some parts of the proposed laws are on shaky legal ground and lawsuits could be expected.

FOX News [4/23/2026 10:16 AM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K] Video: HERE reports an accused killer and member of the notorious Salvadoran Mara Salvatrucha 13 gang was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while hiding out in a major suburb in Northern Virginia. Isabel Idalia Morales-Mejia, a Salvadoran illegal alien, is charged with aggravated homicide and illicit associations in her home country. She was taken into custody by ICE in Woodbridge, Va., just south of Washington, D.C., after Salvadoran authorities tipped off the agency she "may be hiding in Northern Virginia," ICE said. ICE Washington, D.C. Field Office Director Robert Guadian commented that "the media would consider her to be a ‘non-criminal’ because she has no known criminal history in the United States — despite the fact that she is facing charges for aggravated homicide in El Salvador." "Idalia Isabel Morales-Mejia is not only a known associate of the notorious MS-13 transnational criminal organization, but she apparently attempted to flee justice in her native country by illegally residing in Virginia," said Guadian, adding, "ICE Washington, D.C. will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing criminal alien offenders from our Washington, D.C. and Virginia communities." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [4/23/2026 4:35 PM, Juan Benn Jr., 24826K] reports at its core, the case against Israel Flores Ortiz is about an 18-year-old high school junior in Virginia who groped female students as they passed by in crowded hallways between classes. But amid the charged politics surrounding the Trump administration’s ramped-up immigration enforcement, the legal proceedings involving the undocumented teenager have garnered widespread attention in conservative circles — on a scale that county prosecutors and some of the victims say overshadows his crimes. Flores Ortiz, a native of El Salvador who federal officials say arrived illegally in the United States in 2024, has been incarcerated since March. A judge in Fairfax County’s juvenile and domestic relations court this week ordered him to spend an additional 360 days in the county detention center after he was convicted of nine counts of misdemeanor assault and battery. Federal immigration officials have requested that the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office hold him after he completes his sentence next April so they can take him into custody, county officials said. Meanwhile, a federal investigation of how officials in the Fairfax County schools system handled the incidents is underway, further charging a previously scheduled congressional hearing on May 14 in which Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) and Sheriff Stacy Kincaid (D) have been asked to testify about how they have handled crimes involving undocumented immigrants.

FOX News [4/23/2026 5:01 PM, Louis Casiano, 37576K] reports a Guatemalan man living illegally in the U.S. has been arrested by federal immigration agents after he was released from jail by Virginia authorities, despite being charged with possessing child pornography, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Roni Mendez-Escobar was arrested Wednesday in Fairfax County, which has drawn national media attention amid a series of crimes committed by illegal immigrants there in recent months. Mendez-Escobar was initially arrested in October 2025 and charged with 15 felony counts of possession of obscene material and two felony counts of possession of child porn with intent to distribute. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer with Fairfax County, but it was ignored and he was released days after his arrest without ICE being notified, DHS said. Mendez-Escobar, who had been deported from the U.S. three times since 2015, entered illegally for a fourth time at an unknown place and date, authorities said.

Daily Wire [4/23/2026 5:54 PM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) swept up a woman believed to be an MS-13 killer, who was hiding in a Washington, D.C., suburb. Idalia Isabel Morales-Mejia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, was wanted in her home country over charges of aggravated homicide and illicit associations before she was nabbed, according to ICE. Authorities in El Salvador notified ICE in February that they believed Morales-Mejia was in Northern Virginia. The Salvadoran woman was charged with her alleged crimes in 2013, ICE said. Morales-Mejia entered the United States as what’s known as a gotaway, meaning she crossed the border illegally without facing apprehension, ICE said. It is not known when exactly she entered the country.

Axios [4/23/2026 5:49 PM, Naheed Rajwani-Dharsi, 17364K] reports the Dallas Police Department has revised its immigration polices after Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withhold millions of dollars from the city if it doesn’t cooperate fully with ICE. The governor has also sparred with Austin and Houston over their restrictions on cooperation with ICE on certain arrests. DPD’s immigration policies clash with the city’s 2025 certification that it would "participate fully" with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as a condition for receiving the state’s public safety grants, Abbott said in a letter to Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson. Dallas is at risk of losing $32 million in grants for the 2026 fiscal year and a share of the region’s $55 million public safety grants for the World Cup, Abbott said. Dallas PD’s general order says officers cannot stop people solely to determine their legal status or arrest them for not being legally authorized to live in the U.S. Officers also cannot prolong a person’s detention to investigate their immigration status or for federal authorities to detain them. Still, Dallas officers won’t stop people solely to determine their immigration status, Comeaux said.

CBS News [4/23/2026 6:58 PM, Doug Myers, J.D. Miles and Carter Brewer, 51110K] reports the Dallas Police Department issued new guidelines Thursday that comply with a directive from Gov. Greg Abbott on immigration enforcement after Abbott threatened to withhold millions in public‑safety funds. According to the department, city officials recently reviewed its general orders and adjusted language to align more closely with the Texas criminal code. On Wednesday, a department spokesperson told CBS News Texas the changes would ensure that policies involving cooperation with other law enforcement agencies are compatible with state and federal guidelines. The spokesperson emphasized, however, that Dallas officers will not adopt a policy requiring officers to ask about immigration status during detentions. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said the updated policy reinforces cooperation with federal authorities when required. "Our officers will follow the law, and our updated policy will affirm that we will cooperate with federal authorities when required," Comeaux said in a statement Thursday. "Moreover, our mission has not changed and DPD exists to protect the safety of everyone in Dallas, and we will not stop individuals only to determine their immigration status. Victims and witnesses should continue to feel safe to report crime.” In a response letter to the governor’s office, Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizer Tolbert said the city is committed to staying eligible for state grants and working closely with state partners. She said DPD reviewed and updated General Order 315.04 to further clarify its compliance with state immigration laws. Tolbert wrote that officers may ask about immigration status during lawful detentions or arrests, work with federal immigration authorities, and share immigration‑status information. She said the policy follows state law while supporting effective policing and community trust. Abbott had threatened to withhold more than $30 million in grants, and potentially tens of millions more tied to 2026 World Cup security, unless Dallas reversed a police policy he says limits cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Comeaux said the department relies on state support but remains focused on residents’ safety. "My biggest thing is making sure that we keep everyone safe in Dallas," he told CBS News Texas on Wednesday. "Part of keeping everyone safe is funding from the state of Texas. So we do need that funding. But our main focus is going to be everyone that lives in Dallas.”

Univision [4/23/2026 10:10 AM, Staff, 4937K] reports that no, , the tension between the Texas Capitol and Houston City Hall has not yet subsided; in fact, it is currently passing through one of its iciest phases. During a conference held on April 22, Governor Greg Abbott made it clear that he does not intend to yield an inch on his stance: the $114 million in public safety funds allocated to the city will not leave state coffers until the Houston Police Department agrees to comply with the new terms of Proposition A. During a campaign event in Montgomery County, Abbott was unequivocal in stating that the funds are "no longer flowing" to the metropolis. According to Abbott, the failure to honor the agreed-upon pact is the stumbling block keeping this investment—vital for urban safety—paralyzed. Although the City Council has already taken a step forward by approving an amendment to Proposition A—which modifies the technical language regarding interactions between police officers and immigration agents—for Abbott, the job remains half-finished. The Governor insists that the Houston Police Department (HPD) has not yet formalized its acceptance of the terms required by the state contract. The document in dispute—which bears the signatures of both the state and the city—reportedly remains unsigned by the police department. Proposition A stipulates a clear obligation: officers must immediately notify the Department of Homeland Security whenever they detain an undocumented immigrant who is subject to an immigration detainer.

NPR [4/24/2026 4:43 AM, Dominic Anthony Walsh, 34837K] reports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to take nearly $150 million from Houston, Dallas and Austin unless the cities changed how their police departments interact with ICE. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Univision [4/23/2026 10:43 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the city of Austin received an extension from Governor Greg Abbott to decide whether to change its policies on cooperation with immigration authorities, amid a dispute that could cost it millions of dollars in state funds. Until this Thursday, the Texas capital had a deadline to decide whether to accept the state’s requests —which include greater collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and strict compliance with state laws— or whether to maintain its current guidelines. However, after a closed-door meeting, members of the City Council reported that the governor’s office decided to extend the initial deadline. Local officials indicated they expect to reach a resolution in the coming days. Failure to comply with state demands could result in Austin losing approximately $2.5 million in public safety grants allocated to the 2026 budget. Officials also warned that the figure could increase if other pending funds are blocked. Even if the city retains access to these resources, it could be forced to return them within 30 days if it fails to meet state requirements. The conflict revolves around recent changes in Austin Police Department (APD) policies regarding so-called ICE administrative orders , which are not signed by a judge, but by federal immigration authorities. Under the current rules: Agents cannot arrest a person solely on an ICE warrant. Officers are not required to notify immigration when they detain someone without criminal charges. A supervisor must assess whether there are resources available to detain a person until federal agents arrive. In addition, there are places considered sensitive areas , such as churches, hospitals, and schools, where immigration arrests are generally not carried out under this type of order. The Abbott administration has insisted that cities must fully cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including notifying and detaining individuals subject to deportation proceedings. Meanwhile, Austin officials have indicated that any decision will need to balance compliance with state law with the operational realities of the police department and local public safety. A decision is expected to be announced in the coming days that could set a precedent in the relationship between local and state governments on immigration issues.

Houston Chronicle [4/23/2026 7:31 PM, Matt deGrood and Abby Church, 2493K] reports Houston Police Department leaders late Thursday released an updated order to its officers on how to interact with federal immigration agents that largely returns HPD to the rules it operated under before Houston City Council spurred a fight over the issue this month – and which legal advocates say could expose the city to legal liability. The council voted two weeks ago to limit HPD’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to threaten to pull $114 million in grant funding to the city. Mayor John Whitmire then negotiated amendments to the policy with Abbott’s office and secured council approval of those changes on Wednesday. In a prepared statement Thursday evening, Whitmire said Abbott’s office had reviewed the HPD order implementing that amended policy and agreed the city could keep its grant funds. "I thank the 12 council members who supported this change and understood the consequences," Whitmire said. "These funds are critical in continuing to make public safety our highest priority.” Whitmire said the new ordinance "reaffirms the Fourth Amendment," but legal advocates said HPD’s new directive exposes the city to legal risk. By not explicitly banning detaining someone exclusively on a civil immigration warrant, the city potentially violates the Fourth Amendment, said Travis Fife, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project. ICE administrative warrants are civil documents that on their own do not give local police the authority to arrest someone. "This policy exposes the city to legal liability both from the people harmed by the policy as well as from attorney’s fees for those who successfully sue the city," Fife said. "They are exceeding HPD’s state law enforcement authority and violating the Fourth Amendment.” Nick Hudson, senior manager of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of Texas, echoed Fife’s comments: "The new directive invites Houston police to detain people unconstitutionally for ICE. Officers are now directed to violate Houstonians’ Fourth Amendment rights — which protects against illegal searches and seizures — as law enforcement collaborates with ICE.” Under the terms of the order issued Thursday, HPD officers are to call a sergeant to the scene, contact ICE and wait "a reasonable amount of time" if an immigration officer wants to come to the scene.

CBS News [4/23/2026 8:31 PM, Austen Erblat, Alan Gionet and Anna Alejo, 51110K] reports a mother and five children from Colorado, held in federal detention since shortly after the alleged terrorist attack in Boulder last June, were freed Thursday afternoon following a ruling from a federal court in Texas. The judge issued an order to federal immigration officials to immediately release the family of the suspect in the attack, Mohamed Soliman, from a Texas immigration detention center, and barred the government from deporting or removing them from the Western District of Texas. In response, the government has filed an objection. "Petitioners Hayam El Gamal, Habiba Soliman, and the 4 minor children, E.S.; A.S.; H.S.; and O.S. are ORDERED to be RELEASED IMMEDIATELY," U.S. District Judge Fred Biery’s Thursday order read. El Gamal and her 18-year-old daughter, Habiba Soliman, were ordered to comply with electronic monitoring and periodically report to immigration authorities. The minor children are only identified by their initials in court documents. Only summaries of the government’s two-part objection were available through public court records, but they indicated that the government objected to recommendations issued by the court on Monday, the details of which were also not yet public. Niels Frenzen, an attorney at the University of Southern California’s Gould School of Law Immigration Clinic, and one of the attorneys representing the family, confirmed that the judge issued the order. "A federal judge has ordered the Government to release a family who have been unlawfully targeted and punished because of the alleged actions of their husband and father," he told CBS News Colorado. "This release order is long overdue. But the Administration’s efforts to deport the family continue, so their ordeal is not over yet." U.S. Department of Homeland Security Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis responded to the order, saying, "Despite receiving full due process and a final order of removal, this activist judge appointed by Bill Clinton is releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets. Under President Trump, DHS will continue to fight for the removal of those who have no right to be in our country especially national security threats." "We are applying the law as written without prejudice," Bis went on. "If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them. Period." Soliman’s family, who had immigrated with him from Egypt, had been living in Colorado Springs at the time of the attack and applied for asylum after their visas expired. Upon learning of their immigration status after the attack, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take the family into custody, where they’ve been for about 10 months.

Reuters [4/23/2026 10:53 PM, Kanishka Singh, 38315K] reports a woman and her five children, whose immigration detention of over 10 months marked the longest family detention under President Donald ‌Trump’s administration, were released on Thursday hours after a judge’s order, their lawyer said. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered the family’s release on Thursday. Hayam El Gamal and her five children aged 5 to 18 were taken into federal custody last June after last year’s fire-bomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, over which her ex-husband, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was charged. An 82-year-old woman who was injured in ⁠that attack later died. "The El Gamal family is free," Eric Lee, a lawyer for the family detained in Texas, said in a statement. El Gamal and Habiba Soliman, 18, the eldest child, will have to wear ankle monitors. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, of which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is a part, criticized the ruling that ordered the family’s release, saying it came from an "activist judge" who was "releasing this terrorist’s family onto American streets." Mohamed Soliman was arrested over the attack on a gathering that commemorated Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza. El Gamal divorced Soliman after his arrest, NBC News reported. She also condemned the attack. The family’s legal team ‌says they ⁠had no advance knowledge of the suspect’s plans and that the family was detained unlawfully. The government said federal agents were investigating "to what extent" the family knew about the attack. The legal team also said the family’s health deteriorated during their detention and alleged they were denied appropriate medical care. Lee, the family’s lawyer, said El Gamal was taken this month to ⁠an off-site emergency room after she "began experiencing excruciating pain" and that she received a CT scan which showed she had "fluid around the heart." The legal team said all five of her children were suffering from depression. The DHS said the family received ⁠medical care and due process. Rights groups have noted detainee complaints about conditions in ICE detention facilities that they call inhumane. At least 47 people have died in ICE custody since Trump’s return to the White House. Trump’s immigration crackdown has ⁠been condemned by rights groups for what they say are violations of due process and free speech rights. Rights advocates say the crackdown creates an unsafe environment, particularly for minorities. Trump casts his actions as ​necessary to curb illegal immigration and improve domestic security.

Reported similarly:
Houston Chronicle [4/23/2026 3:21 PM, Julián Aguilar, 2493K]

Telemundo Amarillo [4/23/2026 8:13 AM, Staff, 2K] reports that a woman confronted agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the arrest of her partner in Norcross, Georgia. The migrant’s wife managed to track down the ICE officers, who were stationed at a park, and confronted them regarding the arrest. The woman claims that the van in which her husband was traveling was intercepted by the agents during a traffic stop. She adds that four other people were inside the vehicle, and all of them were arrested. Her husband has been in the country for over 12 years and is the father of two children with autism who depend on him.

AP [4/23/2026 9:43 AM, Colleen Slevin and Morgan Lee, 35287K] reports an immigration officer has been charged with third-degree assault and criminal mischief following an investigation into how he treated a protester who said the officer put her in a chokehold. Multiple videos from bystanders show a masked agent grabbing and pulling Franci Stagi across the street during a protest in October against the detention of three Colombian asylum-seekers in Durango, Colorado. She said he grabbed her by the hair and put her in a chokehold. The state is among several that prohibited or severely limited police officers from using chokeholds and neck restraints since George Floyd’s death in 2020. The Colorado Bureau of Investigations launched an investigation into the U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer’s actions against Stagi at the request of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current, who raised concerns about possible violations of state law — an unusual if not unprecedented request. The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection, called the prosecution "unlawful" and a "political stunt." It said states have no authority to investigate such cases. "Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies," DHS said in a statement. The department said it was still investigating what happened in the incident.

Univision [4/23/2026 4:27 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the decision in Colorado to charge an immigration agent with assault after a protester was grabbed by the neck and dragged across a street could test the limits of immunity provisions for federal agents, at a time when states are scrutinizing the use of force under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. A Colorado prosecutor said Wednesday that the officer has been charged with third-degree assault and property damage following an investigation into his treatment of a protester in October. Several videos show a masked federal agent grabbing a 57-year-old woman, who claims she was put in a chokehold, during the protest in Durango. In a statement regarding the charges in Colorado, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes U.S. Customs and Border Protection, noted that states do not have the authority to investigate such cases. The conduct of ICE agents is coming under increased scrutiny amid a rapid hiring surge and evidence that applicants with questionable backgrounds were not thoroughly vetted.

FOX News [4/23/2026 9:00 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested multiple individuals Wednesday who were convicted of serious crimes, including sexual assault and drug trafficking, as part of enforcement actions during National Crime Victims Week, officials said. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the arrests targeted individuals with prior convictions for offenses such as aggravated sexual assault, lewd acts with a child, assault by strangulation and distribution of methamphetamine. "During National Crime Victims Week, DHS is continuing its work to fight for justice for victims of illegal alien crime," acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. "By removing criminal illegal aliens from our communities, ICE is stopping them before they can perpetrate more crimes and create more victims.” Officials highlighted several of the arrests from this week. One man, Carlos Portillo-Nunez of El Salvador, was previously convicted of lewd or lascivious acts with a child in Indio, California, according to DHS. Pablo Blanco-Fortuna, an illegal alien from Mexico, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and failing to register as a sex offender in Hidalgo, Texas, and Roberto Vallejo-Benitez, also from Mexico, was convicted of assault by strangulation in Wake County, North Carolina, officials said. Guatemalan national Eladio Laines was previously convicted of sexual assault and unlawful restraint involving serious bodily injury in Chester, Pennsylvania, and Alfredo Delgado-Perez, another Mexican national, was convicted of distributing methamphetamine in Los Angeles. The arrests come after the U.S. experienced historically high levels of illegal immigration in recent years. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded more than 2 million migrant encounters along the southern border in both fiscal years 2022 and 2023, according to DHS data, before declining in 2024. The individuals arrested are from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, countries that have consistently accounted for a significant share of illegal border crossings in recent years, according to DHS encounter data. ICE has said it prioritizes the arrest and removal of illegal aliens with prior criminal convictions, particularly those involving violence, sexual offenses and drug trafficking. While DHS highlights arrests involving serious criminal offenses, such cases represent a small portion of the millions of illegal alien encounters recorded nationwide in recent years, based on CBP data. The federal agency said the arrests were part of its broader efforts to remove individuals with criminal convictions from U.S. communities. It also pointed victims to its Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) Office for support services. "Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, DHS will never stop fighting for justice for the innocent Americans whose lives were stolen by illegal aliens who should have never been in our country," Bis said.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/23/2026 4:35 PM, Staff, 1257K] reports a San Diego man pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges for impersonating an immigration agent to con tens of thousands of dollars from Orange County immigrants who sought visas and U.S. citizenship. Davyd George Brand Jimenez, 55, of San Ysidro, entered his plea in Los Angeles to 10 counts of false impersonation of a federal officer or employee, two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, and one count each of fraudulent possession and use of U.S. government seals and aggravated identity theft. Sentencing is set for July 16, at which time he will face up to 117 years imprisonment, a fine of $4 million and $152,476 in restitution to at least 25 victims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Brand Jimenez pretended to be a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to scam victims, primarily targeting undocumented members of the Latino community by telling them he could help with work permits, legal U.S. residency and U.S. citizenship. He charged each victim between $10,000 and $20,000, prosecutors said.

The Texas Insider [4/23/2026 2:30 PM, Larrison Manygoats] reports a California man with a prior murder conviction has been arrested for sending a violent death threat to Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, the Department of Homeland Security announced, as the agency reports an 8,000 percent increase in death threats against its law enforcement officers nationwide. Daniel Barber, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on April 10, 2026, by ICE Homeland Security Investigations in San Francisco following a months-long investigation into an email he sent to Director Lyons on June 6, 2025. In the email, Barber wrote that ICE officers “deserve” to be “executed right there as well with two fking bullets to the back of their maggot Nazi heads.” He added, “I’ll be fking praying daily to the universe Americans start rising up and giving them, and you, exactly that.” ICE launched an investigation after receiving the email and identified Barber as the sender. His criminal history includes a conviction for murder and robbery with intent to cause bodily harm in 1990, as well as multiple arrests for burglary, battery, and vehicle theft. “This convicted murderer sent this disgusting death threat to ICE Director Todd Lyons,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “The men and women of ICE are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They get up every morning to try and make our communities safer. Like everyone else, they just want to go home to their families at night. The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”

Blaze [4/23/2026 4:58 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1556K] reports a federal appeals court panel has temporarily blocked a California law related to federal immigration enforcement because it appears to be unconstitutional. California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the "No Vigilantes Act," which requires non-uniformed federal law enforcement agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies to wear visible identification, as part of a campaign to oppose federal immigration enforcement in the state. The federal government successfully argued that the law violated the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The law will be paused until it can be considered fully by the appeals court, but California officials can choose to file an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) did not indicate whether the state would take the case to the Supreme Court. Critics of the law say it puts federal agents and their families at unnecessary risk, but others say masked, unidentifiable agents put the public at risk.

Los Angeles Times [4/23/2026 7:02 PM, Brittny Mejia, 12718K] reports a federal judge on Thursday ordered the government to release a man arrested by ICE last week amid his involvement in a class action lawsuit challenging immigration raids in Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams ordered the government to immediately release Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina, a Pasadena resident who was detained a week ago during a check-in with ICE. Williams also prohibited the government from re-detaining Villegas without providing notice and a hearing before a “neutral adjudicator.” In her order, Williams noted that the government had not contested the request last week for Villegas’ release, “suggesting that his re-detention may have been unwarranted.” As of Thursday afternoon, Villegas’ immigration attorney said they were waiting confirmation that he had been released. Villegas sued the federal government last year, after he and two other day laborers were arrested by immigration agents on June 18 as they waited at a Pasadena bus stop. An immigration judge ordered Villegas, who is from Panama, released on a $5,000 bond the following month and he had been checking in with ICE since then. He is scheduled to go before an immigration judge on Friday, on a motion to terminate removal proceedings against him. Immigration attorneys and advocates said they believed Villegas was detained in retaliation for the lawsuit. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson previously told the Times Villegas was detained “after multiple violations of his supervised release—including missing required check-ins.” Villegas’ attorney said that he has followed every rule of his supervised release. “This is just absolute harassment,” Villegas’ immigration lawyer, Stacy Tolchin, said Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the judge’s order Thursday. Following Villegas’ arrest last week, Tolchin filed a habeas petition in federal court, challenging his incarceration and demanding his immediate release. In it, Tolchin described the lawsuit as “one of the first cases filed challenging the Trump Administration’s immigration roving patrols as violative of the Fourth Amendment.” In a separate application for a temporary restraining order seeking Villegas’ release, Tolchin said immigration officials arrested and detained her client “without legal cause in violation of precedent and due process.” “By doing so the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sought to change venue from the current immigration judge on the nondetained docket to the detained Adelanto immigration calendar, unabashedly engaging in forum shopping for a more favorable judge,” Tolchin said.

HS Today [4/24/2026 12:05 AM, Matt Sheldon, 38K] reports U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has sworn in Andrew Vanjani as its new Chief Information Officer, marking his entry into the Senior Executive Service and a leadership role at the center of the agency’s technology operations. Vanjani announced the move in a LinkedIn post, noting the significance of the moment as he took the oath before USCIS Executive Director Joseph Edlow. “Today was more than just a career milestone; it was a memory etched in time,” he wrote, highlighting both the professional transition and the personal importance of the occasion. He steps into the CIO role with a background that spans federal, state, and international technology leadership. Most recently, Vanjani served as Chief Information Officer at the Organization of American States (Organización de los Estados Americanos), where he also held the role of Director of General Services and, before that, Senior Digital Transformation Advisor to the Secretary for Administration and Finance.

New York Times [4/23/2026 1:17 PM, Ernesto Londoño and Hamed Aleaziz, 148038K] reports that the Justice Department has identified 384 foreign-born Americans whose citizenship it wants to revoke, part of a push to increase the pace of denaturalizations by assigning the cases to prosecutors in dozens of U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. Senior Justice Department officials in Washington told colleagues during a meeting last week that civil litigators in 39 regional offices would soon be assigned to file denaturalization cases against the individuals, according to an official familiar with the announcement who was not authorized to describe it on the record. Two people familiar with the plans confirmed the broader effort to ramp up denaturalizations. It was not clear what led the department to target the 384 individuals. Traditionally, experts in the department’s office of immigration litigation have handled denaturalization cases. But the effort to enlist regular prosecutors to pursue these cases could lead to a surge in denaturalizations, which have been rare in recent decades. It also comes just months after Trump administration officials ordered Department of Homeland Security staffers to refer upward of 200 denaturalization cases a month to the DOJ. Matthew Tragesser, a Justice Department spokesman, said that officials were “pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history” from the Department of Homeland Security. “The Department of Justice is laser focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process,” he added.

AP [4/23/2026 7:21 PM, Jesse Bedayn, 35287K] reports President Donald Trump’s "gold card" visa, where a foreigner can shell out at least $1 million to legally live and work in the U.S., has been approved for one person, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday - appearing to fall a bit short of an earlier claim. After it launched in December, Lutnick said that the government had sold $1.3 billion "worth" in just several days, as Trump stood by holding up the gilded ticket and said, "essentially it’s the green card on steroids.” Lutnick did not address the apparent discrepancy in an exchange with a congresswoman at Thursday’s committee hearing. Trump pushed the idea last year, initially suggesting a cost of $5 million, and arguing that it would entice foreign talent to U.S. shores and fill out federal coffers. It’s meant to replace the EB-5 program, a decades-old program that offered U.S. visas to people who invested about $1 million in a company with at least 10 employees. Though only one person has been approved, "there are hundreds in the queue that they are going through," said Lutnick, appearing pleased with the program’s results, at a congressional committee hearing Thursday. "They’ve just set it up, and they wanted to make sure they did it perfectly," he said. A year ago, Lutnick said at a cabinet meeting that the gold card would raise $1 trillion in revenue and help "balance the budget." The publicly held debt is $31.3 trillion and outside projections by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget are that this fiscal year’s annual budget deficit will be roughly $2 trillion. The commerce secretary noted that each applicant pays a $15,000 fee, on top of their million bucks, which allows for "rigorous vetting" of those applying to the program that eventually opens a path to U.S. citizenship. It also allows corporations to spend $2 million for a foreign-born employee, along with a 1% annual maintenance fee.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/23/2026 4:47 PM, Alexandra Alper, 38315K]
NewsMax [4/23/2026 4:10 PM, Jim Thomas, 3760K]

The Hill [4/23/2026 3:19 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18170K] reports the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed Thursday it has moved ahead with multiple referrals to strip citizenship from those who have naturalized, assigning cases to U.S. attorney offices across the country. It’s an unusual push for several reasons. Denaturalization of foreign-born citizens is rare and usually only done in cases when someone committed fraud in pursuit of immigrating to the U.S. or if they committed certain disqualifying crimes. The confirmation follows reporting from The New York Times that some 384 cases were referred for denaturalization litigation. Research shows that would be a massive uptick in such cases. Between 1990 and 2018, the government brought just 305 denaturalization cases. In December, the Trump administration directed the Department of Homeland Security to make as many as 200 referrals for potential denaturalization.

CBS News [4/23/2026 4:57 PM, Aimee Picchi, 51110K] reports the Trump administration has approved one "gold card" visa since starting to accept applications for the new U.S. residency permit in December, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Thursday. Lutnick, who offered the update while testifying at a House subcommittee hearing, said that the process for applying for the gold card visa was recently finalized with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the program. The visa program is available to foreigners who pay a $1 million donation to the U.S. government. Lutnick didn’t disclose details about the individual approved for the gold card visa, and the Commerce Department didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Asked by Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, how the $1 million donations from the program will be used, Lutnick said that the money will be directed toward "the betterment" of the U.S.

Bloomberg [4/23/2026 7:00 AM, Alicia A. Caldwell and Eliyahu Kamisher, 18082K] reports Joe Petrocco, a fourth-generation vegetable farmer in Colorado, is facing one of the toughest seasons he can remember, with rising costs for fertilizer and fuel as well as a looming water shortage after a dry winter. But one part of his business is providing some optimism: As farms like his across the US get going on the planting and harvesting seasons, when the need for workers spikes, the cost of immigrant labor is set to drop. The cut could be more than $5 an hour in some places, reducing pay by a third. That’s thanks to a Trump administration move to lower minimum wages for foreign farmworkers who come to the US legally on temporary H–2A visas. “We’ve been under such a tight squeeze,” Petrocco lamented in a recent interview. Since the US launched its war in Iran, prices for fertilizer and diesel have soared about 50%. The relief on labor costs won’t fully offset the other headwinds for his 3,000-acre (1,200-hectare) operation, which grows spinach, cabbage, onions, green beans and sweet corn among other crops, but it’s a welcome break. “It’s significant,” Petrocco said. As Donald Trump fulfills a campaign pledge to crack down on almost all forms of immigration — from undocumented crossings to foreign university students to H-1B visas for highly skilled professionals — his aggressive enforcement is creating labor shortages in industries ranging from construction to fast food. But the president is going the opposite way on farms by keeping the path for temporary workers open.

Washington Examiner [4/23/2026 8:19 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1147K] reports the Justice Department is pursuing an aggressive effort to strip U.S. citizenship from individuals accused of obtaining it through fraud, marking what officials describe as a historic escalation under the Trump administration’s acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. The push is part of a broader strategy to expand denaturalization enforcement dramatically by shifting cases away from specialized immigration litigators and into the 93 U.S. attorneys’ offices nationwide. Officials are aiming to increase both the volume and speed of cases, targeting individuals accused of concealing criminal histories, entering sham marriages, or otherwise misrepresenting key facts during the naturalization process. "The Department of Justice is laser-focused on rooting out criminal aliens defrauding the naturalization process," Matthew Tragesser, a DOJ deputy director for communications, told the Washington Examiner. He added that under Blanche’s leadership, the department is pursuing the highest volume of denaturalization referrals in history through closer coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The DOJ’s statement on Thursday follows a report by New York Times that said the department had identified 384 naturalized citizens as part of an initial wave of cases it is preparing to pursue, with prosecutors across dozens of U.S. attorneys’ offices expected to take on the workload. Tragesser said the department is moving at "warp speed" to hold fraudsters accountable and noted that the referrals filed in a single year have already exceeded the total from the entire four years of the Biden administration, with more cases expected. Under federal law, the government may seek to revoke citizenship if it can prove the citizenship was obtained illegally or through willful misrepresentation. The process requires federal prosecutors to present clear, convincing, and unequivocal evidence in court. Meanwhile, Blanche has overseen the recent rollout of the National Fraud Enforcement Division — a brand-new component of the DOJ that will assign one prosecutor in each district to staff individual fraud divisions within U.S. attorneys’ offices across the nation. That effort is expected to be underway beginning July 1, according to a memo obtained by CBS on Wednesday. The renewed push builds on enforcement actions the Washington Examiner has previously reported during former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s tenure prior to her ouster earlier this month. In recent weeks, federal courts have already revoked citizenship in multiple cases tied to fraud and criminal conduct. On March 23, a federal judge stripped citizenship from a Ukrainian national convicted of smuggling firearm components and defrauding housing programs after prosecutors said he failed to disclose his criminal activity during the naturalization process. A day later, another judge revoked citizenship from a Cuban national involved in a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud scheme, citing her failure to meet the "good moral character" requirement.

Daily Caller [4/23/2026 7:00 AM, Ashley Brasfield, 803K] reports a Republican lawmaker is moving to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) entirely after 10 GOP members backed Haitian deportation protections. Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde introduced the Territorial Protection and Sovereignty (TPS) Act, which would eliminate Temporary Protected Status by repealing the program and terminating all existing designations. The move comes just a week after 10 Republicans, including Maria Salazar of Florida and Mike Lawler of New York, voted in favor of a resolution from Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley to extend protections for Haitian migrants. Under Clyde’s legislation, current TPS holders would be required to leave the United States within 60 days of enactment. After that window, they would no longer be considered lawfully present and would become subject to deportation. Clyde told the Daily Caller that TPS has been misused for decades as a long-term amnesty program rather than a temporary solution, arguing it has been "weaponized and abused" and effectively turned into "permanent amnesty.”

Federalist [4/23/2026 7:00 AM, Shawn Fleetwood, 540K] reports the U.S. Supreme Court held oral arguments on Wednesday in a high-profile case involving the removal of green card holders who commit crimes specified in U.S. immigration law. In Blanche v. Lau, the justices considered the case of Muk Choi Lau, a Chinese national who was a lawful permanent resident (LPR) in the United States. Lau was charged with trademark counterfeiting in 2012 and left America while awaiting trial. Upon his return to the United States, immigration officials "declined to admit him outright and instead paroled him into the country pursuant" to a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to Oyez. Lau ultimately pled guilty to the counterfeiting charge in 2013 and went on to challenge the U.S. government’s decision to parole him. The justices will decide the question of whether the government "must prove that it possessed clear and convincing evidence of the offense at the time of the LPR’s last reentry into the United States" to "remove an LPR who committed an offense listed in Section 1182(a)(2) [of the INA] and was subsequently paroled into the United States." Arguing on behalf of the Trump administration, Assistant to the Solicitor General Sopan Joshi contended that Lau had already committed a crime "involving moral turpitude" and was thus "eligible for parole and correctly charged with inadmissibility" upon his reentry into the country. He further argued that the government "proved [all of this] by clear and convincing evidence in [Lau’s] removal proceedings," and that the "failure" by the Chinese national’s legal team "to establish his at-the-border clear-and-convincing evidentiary requirement dooms his case." Several of the high court’s Democrat appointees did not hide their apparent skepticism of the administration’s position.

CNN [4/23/2026 7:00 AM, Cindy Von Quednow, 19874K] reports they had been separated for 40 days, the longest they’d ever been apart. She had hugged her daughter countless times, but after being forcibly separated for weeks, their embrace felt like the first time again. It lasted for five minutes, the mother and daughter holding each other tightly, as if they might be pulled apart again if they loosened their grip. "You did it, mama," Damaris Bello, 22, told her mother. María de Jesús Estrada Juárez had accomplished the seemingly and increasingly impossible: She returned to the United States after being deported by the federal government. Estrada Juárez, who came to the US as a teen and was protected under an Obama-era program for about 13 years, had been deported from Sacramento to Mexico, where she was born. She’s among hundreds of thousands of immigrants living in the US under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. And she’s one of dozens of DACA recipients who have been deported, even though recipients are supposed to be protected from removal. Between January 1 and November 11, 2025, 261 DACA recipients were arrested and 86 were deported, according to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS did not give CNN updated figures when asked.

FOX News [4/23/2026 4:56 PM, Charles Creitz, 37576K] reports a Mexican native green card holder who recently served as mayor of a small Kansas town pleaded guilty to voter fraud after illegally voting multiple times, according to federal authorities. He also falsely claimed U.S. citizenship on voter registration documents. Jose "Joe" Ceballos, who formerly served as mayor of Coldwater, Kansas, for two terms, pleaded guilty this week to three counts of disorderly election conduct following a prosecution by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach’s office, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Ceballos also has a prior conviction for battery in 1995. He was issued a green card in 1990 and applied for U.S. citizenship in February. On that citizenship application, federal authorities allege he falsely claimed that he had never previously claimed to be a U.S. citizen. Assistant DHS Secretary Lauren Bis credited the Trump-era SAVE program for helping bring Ceballos to justice. Bis said the Ceballos case is an exemplar for why Congress must pass the SAVE America Act, which she called "commonsense legislation that requires voters to present photo ID and implements other critical measures to protect federal elections from fraud."

Univision Chicago WGBO [4/23/2026 3:57 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports U.S. teacher and citizen Marimar Martinez exposed his injuries to the House Homeland Security Committee in Washington, six months after being shot 5 times by a Border Patrol agent. “I want the world to see my pain, my trauma, because it’s not something to take lightly. This is my life. We’re talking about my life. It’s not fair that I’ve been accused. I went to prison. I’ve been through hell,” said Martinez, whom the Department of Homeland Security described as a terrorist. The educator offered her remarks on Wednesday, April 22, during her appearance before the committee, along with Pastor David Black, who also shared her testimony. Republican Andrew Garbarino, a representative for New York, called the stories an attempt to “politicize national security and manipulate American public opinion.” Martinez didn’t need to refute it. His injuries, physical and emotional, realized what happened to him, on October 4 of last year. In his statement to the House National Security Committee that Saturday, shortly before 11:30 a.m., he was driving to leave a bag of clothes and shoes in a nearby church when he spotted a vehicle with plates from another state. He began to honk and scream to warn neighbors of the presence of immigration agents. Then, she said, she was ambushed in a collision in the 3900 block of South Kedzie Avenue and was shot.

USA Today [4/23/2026 2:13 PM, Greta Cross, 70643K] reports that it was a busy day at O’Hare. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport seized a monkey carcass from Cameroon and 125 pounds of beef from Liberia in passengers’ luggage on April 11, according to a news release from the agency. "The sheer volume of prohibited items our specialists intercept daily demonstrates how they play an essential and critical role in preventing plant and animal diseases from entering the United States," Michael Pfeiffer, Chicago Field Office acting director, said in the release. The monkey carcass was discovered during an X-ray examination of a traveler’s baggage, which prompted a search. Due to "significant human health concerns," the carcass was detained and destroyed, the news release said. The 125 pounds of beef were uncovered in another passenger’s luggage, in addition to one pound of prohibited fresh leaves and four types of prohibited seeds, the news release said. The materials were stored in eight boxes, and the passenger admitted that the concealed meat was beef. All travelers entering the United States are required to declare meat, fruits, vegetables, plants, seeds, soil, animals and plant and animal products they may be carrying. Upon examination, CBP agriculture specialists will determine if a traveler’s items meet entry requirements.

Axios [4/23/2026 5:00 AM, Brittany Gibson, 17364K] reports the Trump administration delivered a blunt message to angry landowners at a rare in-person meeting on Tuesday: Work with us on the border wall, or we’ll build it anyway. The Trump administration’s pressure to show progress on border wall mileage in west Texas is leading to rushed and sloppy work that’s infuriating local residents, ranchers and the tourism industry. Local residents told Axios they’ve heard that the goal is to finish construction as soon as December 2027. Since the start of the year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been mailing out packages — sometimes with inaccurate survey lines or owner information — offering people between $1,000 and $5,000 for initial access, according to landowners who have received these packets. The packets list three options for landowners: all of them end up with U.S. Customs and Border Protection getting the land for construction through degrees of cooperation or eminent domain.

HS Today [4/23/2026 12:05 PM, Staff, 38K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Hidalgo Port of Entry recently seized cocaine valued at more than $1 million hidden within a passenger bus. “This hard narcotics seizure exemplifies CBP’s steadfast effort to keep our borders secure,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Hidalgo Port of Entry. “This poison will not enter our streets thanks to the enforcement focus of our frontline officers.” The seizure occurred on April 11 at the Hidalgo International Bridge when a CBP officer referred a commercial bus for secondary inspection. Following a canine and nonintrusive inspection system examination, CBP officers discovered 36 packages containing a total of 78 pounds of suspected cocaine hidden within the seats of the bus. The narcotics have a street value of $1,042,034. CBP seized the narcotics and the bus. Homeland Security Investigations special agents are investigating the seizure.

CBS News [4/23/2026 8:14 AM, Staff, 51110K] reports upwards of 4,000 people were crossing per day in the Eagle Pass sector; however, that number is down to about 30 to 32 people now, according to Border Patrol officials. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/23/2026 12:53 PM, Robert McGreevy, 37576K] reports that a Colorado district attorney charged a federal immigration officer with third-degree assault and criminal mischief on Tuesday in a move the Department of Homeland Security called "unlawful" and a "political stunt." Eric P. Murray, the district attorney for Colorado’s 6th District, announced Tuesday he’s charging U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Nicholas Rice with the two counts for an incident that occurred during an immigration enforcement activity in Durango, Colo., between Oct. 27–28. Anne Francesca Stagi told investigators that Rice knocked her phone out of her hand while she was protesting outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Durango, according to The Associated Press. Video of the incident shows Stagi holding her phone in front of a masked immigration agent’s face before the agent grabs it. The prosecution comes after the Colorado Bureau of Investigations (CBI) opened a probe into the incident at the behest of Durango Police Department Chief Brice Current, according to the AP. DHS claimed that the prosecution was a political stunt and that states have no authority to investigate cases of this nature. "Federal officers acting in the course of their duties can only be investigated by other Federal agencies," DHS told the AP in a statement. The agency is still investigating the case, per the AP. Fox News Digital contacted DHS, CBP, Colorado’s 6th district, CBI and the Durango Police Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [4/23/2026 9:14 AM, Bob Price, 2238K] reports CBP officers arrested a 41‑year‑old woman traveling with three minors at the Nogales Port of Entry after finding an RPG launcher tube, rifles, and weapons parts concealed in a void beneath the back seat of her Lexus. Officials say the cache was discovered during outbound inspections aimed at stopping weapons from reaching criminal groups in Mexico. CBP officials reported that on April 19, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen, female, approached the DeConcini Crossing in Nogales, Arizona, to cross the border into Mexico. The woman, driving a 2016 Lexus IS200t was referred to a secondary inspection station where officers carried out a non-intrusive inspection of the vehicle. The inspection revealed an anomaly in the back seat area of the vehicle where three minor children were seated. The officers then conducted a physical search of the vehicle and discovered a rocket-propelled grenade launcher tube, four rifles, an AK pistol, 16 AK-style rifles, 16 rifle stocks, 20 pistol grips, and other weapons parts. "Under the powerful leadership of President Donald J. Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, our frontline CBP officers utilized an effective combination of inspection experience and technology to find these weapons and prevent them from falling into the hands of the cartels," said CBP’s Acting Deputy Commissioner Ron Vitiello. "CBP prevented these dangerous weapons from wreaking havoc on the good people of Mexico." The officers seized the weapons and arrested the woman for attempting to smuggle weapons illegally from the U.S. to Mexico. Officers released the three children to a family member.

DailySignal [4/23/2026 3:57 PM, Mehek Cooke, 474K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly 1.4 tons of methamphetamine in a routine commercial truck inspection at a California border crossing. The seizure points to a broader trend of transnational criminal networks using legitimate trade infrastructure to smuggle industrial-scale narcotics into the United States. On April 14, CBP officers with the Otay Mesa Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility in San Diego, California, referred a 2017 Freightliner Cascadia and its trailer, driven by a Mexican citizen, for secondary inspection after the truck arrived at the crossing from Mexico. According to CBP, the shipment manifest declared the cargo as corrugated cardboard boxes. However, officers found 300 packages of methamphetamine concealed within the trailer’s front wall, totaling 3,078.1 pounds and carrying an estimated street value of nearly $5 million.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/23/2026 7:20 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1257K] reports eligible San Diego higher education students commuting from Mexico can now cross the border faster through special lanes at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa pedestrian ports of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said. Students enrolled in the pilot program, known as the Coordinated Access Program, or CAP, were able to begin crossing through the new lanes Thursday morning. The program is intended to benefit students who would otherwise have to sacrifice sleep in order to stand in line early enough to avoid being late to class. School officials have noted that many higher-ed students choose to live south of the border due to lower living costs. Some of the first students to use the designated lanes at the San Ysidro PedEast crossing said they got that extra time on Thursday. When asked by local media about the perks offered by the program, one Southwestern College student living in Tijuana called it “a godsend.” The program will initially be available only to students currently enrolled at Southwestern College, University of California San Diego and San Diego State University. To participate, students must register through the CBP Link mobile app and submit biographical information, documentation and a photograph. Once approved by CBP, students will be able to use the expedited lanes, which school officials hope will reduce wait times from hours to minutes. Participating schools have begun to post additional information on their websites indicating that students will also need an authorization code provided by the school during registration. CBP previously said that the program would be open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and individuals with certain nonimmigrant visas, such as student visas. The CAP lane will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at San Ysidro PedEast and Otay Mesa Port of Entry pedestrian lane. It will also be available at the Calexico West Port of Entry from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

CBS News [4/23/2026 11:52 AM, Nicole Sganga, 51110K] reports that President Trump intends to nominate David Cummins to lead the Transportation Security Administration, according to a person familiar with the decision. Cummins currently serves as senior vice president of citizen services at Serco, a government services contractor. He has held multiple leadership roles in transportation and operations, including as a director for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. Ha Nguyen McNeill, the TSA’s acting administrator, will assist with the leadership transition, the source said. The nomination, which has not yet been formally announced, would place Cummins atop the agency responsible for security screening at U.S. airports and other transportation hubs. Cummins would take over the TSA at a time when it is grappling with funding instability, staffing shortfalls and mounting operational pressure as U.S. travel volumes surge. He will face a Senate confirmation process amid the longest partial government shutdown in history. In recent congressional testimony, McNeill warned that prolonged funding lapses have strained the agency’s workforce and operations, with rising absenteeism, attrition and long checkpoint wait times at some airports. She said the agency is struggling to hire and retain officers during budget uncertainty, even as it prepares for major global events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Reuters [4/23/2026 4:00 PM, David Shepardson, 38315K] reports President Donald Trump intends to nominate a longtime business executive and government contracting expert to head the Transportation Security ​Administration, two sources told Reuters on Thursday. Trump plans to tap David Cummins, a senior vice president of Serco (SRP.L) North America who oversees its federal, state, and local government civilian customer portfolio. Earlier this month, Trump proposed privatizing much of TSA’s operations and cutting nearly 10,000 employees. Trump ​fired the head of TSA, David Pekoske, on the president’s first day in ​office in 2025 and has not nominated a replacement in more ⁠than 15 months. Trump had nominated Pekoske during his first term and former President ​Joe Biden nominated him for a second five-year term. Trump’s budget calls for cutting TSA by more than $1.5 billion and seeks ​to require smaller airports to use private security instead of TSA as a first ​step toward privatizing the agency created after the September 11, 2001, attacks. The White House said this change would ⁠cut the TSA payroll by more than 4,500 jobs. The TSA proposes to cut another 4,800 jobs by improving efficiency, ending staffing at exit lanes and eliminating redundancies. The employee cuts would save more than $500 million. The proposal would cut the agency’s $7.8 billion budget by about ​20% and comes after ​TSA lost more than ⁠1,600 workers during government funding disruptions last fall and this spring.

NBC News [4/23/2026 5:46 PM, Francie Ebert and Kathryn Prociv, 42967K] reports at least eight wildfires continued to tear through parts of southern Georgia and northern Florida on Thursday amid severe drought conditions in the region. As a result, parts of the Southeast are contending with hazardous air quality resulting from the smoke, with the worst conditions reported near Savannah, Georgia; and Columbia, South Carolina. A major wildfire in Brantley County, Georgia, was had grown to more than 5,000 acres as of Thursday afternoon and was approximately 15% contained, Blair Joiner, Georgia Forestry Commission regions manager, said at a news conference. The fire was growing "to the north" but was "under a full suppression strategy with aggressive efforts underway to control it," he said. Nearly 94% of the Southeast region is experiencing severe to exceptional drought, with the most extreme conditions centered in southern Georgia and northern Florida, where most of the wildfires are. On Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor released a map highlighting the current drought conditions in Florida. The Florida Panhandle is in a D4 Zone, the highest zone, which historically means rapid groundwater decline. A portion of Florida is in a D3 zone, meaning historically, fire risk is extreme, toxic algae blooms may appear, groundwater levels decline, nesting bird populations increase, and more. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved Fire Management Assistance Grant declarations for counties affected in Georgia.

The Hill [4/23/2026 4:59 PM, Sophie Brams, 18170K] reports Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) thanked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday after the agency approved more than $200 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funding for recovery efforts in western North Carolina, an area devastated by Hurricane Helene two years ago. More than $238 million in grant program funding is expected to begin flowing to the state to reimburse localities for recovery efforts, with a large share going toward road and bridge projects, according to an announcement from Sen. Ted Budd’s (R-N.C.) office. Mullin signaled plans to prioritize relief to disaster-impacted communities while earlier this month touring parts of the Tar Heel State that were ravaged by Helene in 2024. The Category 4 storm brought catastrophic flooding, extreme winds and deadly storm surge to the southern U.S. and Appalachians, causing an estimated $78.7 billion in damage, according to the National Hurricane Center. Hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed in North Carolina alone, and residents in areas such as Asheville went without drinkable tap water for weeks because of reservoir damage.

NPR [4/23/2026 6:00 PM, Sofi Gratas, 28764K] Audio: HERE reports fires in south Georgia have burned more than 50 square miles of land. Dozens of homes have burned, and evacuation orders are in place. Officials blame the region’s severe drought.

Reuters [4/23/2026 3:37 PM, Rich McKay] reports more than ⁠50 ⁠homes and structures were ⁠destroyed this week and at least 1,000 others were threatened ​on Thursday by wildfires in southeast Georgia that sent smoke and haze floating as ‌far north as Atlanta, some ‌260 miles (418 km) away. Hundreds of firefighters from 20 departments in Georgia ⁠were battling ⁠the blazes on Thursday in rural pine forests and scrubland interspersed ​with small neighborhoods, fruit farms and livestock near the Georgia-Florida state line. One firefighter was reported injured, but no civilians were hurt as of Thursday, fire officials said. Hundreds ​of people were under mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders in the region ⁠and area ⁠schools were closed at ⁠least through ​Friday. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency on Wednesday. By Thursday ​the Pineland Road Fire, ⁠which started in mid-April, had scorched about 29,000 acres in Clinch County, Georgia, largely pine tree stands planted for timber. The fire was about 10 percent contained, according to the Georgia Forestry Commission. Homes were destroyed and threatened in ⁠the 5,000-acre Highway 82 Fire in nearby Brantley County, Georgia, officials said. ⁠The fire started Monday and was 15 percent contained. Brantley County manager Joey Cason said on Thursday that firefighters worried about afternoon winds spreading the fire across drought-dry forests. The fire had grown dramatically from about 700 acres Tuesday morning to roughly 5,000 acres by Wednesday night. A third fire near ⁠Jacksonville, Florida, the 4,000-acre Railroad Fire, was also sending heavy smoke northward, joining a haze blanketing much of the central and eastern parts of Georgia. Florida officials promised to send manpower from the Florida National ​Guard, along with firefighting equipment to help.

ABC News [4/23/2026 9:21 AM, Staff, 34146K] reports dry conditions from a persistent drought and gusty winds were fueling wildfires in the Southeast, including a blaze in Southeast Georgia that has destroyed dozens of homes and prompted evacuations. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [4/23/2026 4:36 PM, Christopher Harris, 51110K] reports smoke has filled the air across parts of the Peach State this week as wildfires continue to burn out of control in southern Georgia, forcing evacuations and destroying homes. According to the Georgia Forestry Commission, crews responded to 34 new wildfires Wednesday that burned about 75 acres statewide. But officials say the biggest concern remains two large, active fires that have already scorched tens of thousands of acres. The Pineland Road Fire in Clinch County has grown to nearly 29,606 acres and is about 10% contained. In Brantley County, the Highway 82 Fire has burned more than 4,400 acres and is roughly 15% contained, according to the latest update. Officials say dry conditions, high winds, and a lack of rain are making the fires harder to control and increasing the risk of new ones starting. In Brantley County, crews from at least 16 agencies are working around the clock to contain the flames. Authorities say the fire has damaged at least 54 structures and continues to burn through multiple areas, including communities near the Satilla River and several state highways. The Brantley County fire remained stable overnight, the sheriff’s office said Thursday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

AP [4/23/2026 7:40 PM, Emilie Megnien, Russ Bynum, and Jeff Martin, 16072K] reports that some of the destructive wildfires tearing through Georgia this week are being fed by not only a persistent drought, but also by fallen trees and limbs scattered across the South by Hurricane Helene well over a year ago. Blustery winds also are helping ignite and expand the fires in Georgia and Florida that have blanketed parts of several states in smoke, leading to air quality warnings Thursday in cities far from the blazes. Shifting winds made for another high-risk day with more evacuations ordered near Georgia’s coast, where a wildfire has now destroyed close to 90 homes and threatened more. Residents there were warned to leave as many as 200 homes. Farther to the west, Georgia’s biggest fire near the Florida state line doubled in size in less than a day and by Thursday had burned through a sparsely populated area twice the size of Manhattan. Many who were forced to flee this week were distraught over the homes and animals they left behind. “I don’t know if I have a house standing or not,” said Denise Stephens, who evacuated her home near Hortense because of the fast-moving Brantley County fire. “I know what it’s taken from other people, but I don’t know what I have left standing.” Wood debris littering the state’s southern half since Hurricane Helene churned through in September 2024 has enabled some of the blazes to spread and intensify quickly, officials said. “There’s a ton of old Hurricane Helene debris down in the woods,” said Seth Hawkins, a Georgia Forestry Commission spokesperson. “It’s lying around, and it’s just a tinderbox out there.”

Washington Post [4/24/2026 3:11 AM, Ben Noll, 24826K] reports a powerful tornado hit the city of Enid in Oklahoma late Thursday, striking near Vance Air Force Base, about 65 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Local officials were assessing the extent of the damage and impact — as the region braces for more possible tornadoes in the days ahead. First responders were “actively performing emergency response efforts,” the city of Enid shared in a statement, while Vance Air Force Base was “conducting accountability procedures to ensure all personnel are safe and accounted for.” "Please join me in praying for the Enid community, which has been severely impacted by tonight’s tornado. I have spoken with Enid’s local leaders and will continue working with them as they assess the damage and identify needs," said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. As of late Thursday, a Garfield County emergency manager told local station KOCO that several injuries had been reported. According to the station, Enid Mayor David Mason later said only minor injuries had been reported. As of early Friday, there were no reports of fatalities. Numerous videos and images, including from local meteorologist Mike Morgan, show widespread damage near Enid. At 8:40 p.m., local time, the National Weather Service warned a confirmed tornado was "moving across far southeastern parts of Enid.” "Although the rotation is not as strong, this tornado will still do significant damage," the Weather Service office based in Norman wrote. Meanwhile, more tornadoes are possible in the region in the days ahead. On Friday, a zone from eastern Oklahoma to western Alabama is at risk for severe storms on Friday, including Dallas and Little Rock. While the main threats are for damaging winds and large hail, a few tornadoes are also possible, with the Storm Prediction Center highlighting the Ark-La-Tex region for that risk. Large hail and damaging winds will once again be the main threat on Saturday in a stretch from Kansas to Arkansas, including Wichita, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. On Sunday, the threat of tornadoes will rise once more, with a risk for twisters from Kansas to Texas — including the area hit by Thursday’s tornado near Enid.

ABC News [4/24/2026 12:12 AM, Jack Moore, 34146K] reports more than a dozen reported tornadoes tore through part of the Central U.S. on Thursday night, including a powerful storm in northwestern Oklahoma that spurred a tornado emergency from the National Weather Service. A tornado emergency is the highest alert level for tornadoes. The weather service said a "large and destructive tornado" was confirmed on the ground at 8:21 p.m. local time in the area of Enid, Oklahoma, near Vance Air Force Base, and urged residents to take cover. "You are in a life-threatening situation," the weather service said. "Flying debris may be deadly to those caught without shelter. Mobile homes will be destroyed. Considerable damage to homes, businesses, and vehicles is likely and complete destruction is possible.” Enid, a city of roughly 50,000 people, is located about 90 miles north of Oklahoma City. Garfield County Sheriff Cory Rink told Oklahoma City ABC station KOCO that search-and-rescue operations were underway in "hard-hit" areas. He said he did not have word yet on any injuries. A county emergency management official told KOCO there were reports of 10 to 11 people with minor injures and that the search and rescue operations in the Grayridge area was wrapping up. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, in a social media post, asked for prayers for the Enid community, which he said "has been severely impacted" by Thursday’s tornado. "I have spoken with Enid’s local leaders and will continue working with them as they assess the damage and identify needs," he said in the post. Overall, there were 17 reported tornadoes Thursday night from Oklahoma to Iowa, and there were still several active tornado warnings along a line of dangerous storms stretching from Oklahoma to Missouri to Iowa. Thursday is the first day of a multiday outbreak of severe weather for the Plains.

Federal News Network [4/23/2026 11:31 AM, Michele Sandiford, 1297K] reports that the Coast Guard is partially reopening the National Maritime Center. In a notice this week, the Coast Guard said NMC civilian staff have returned to work, as the Department of Homeland Security taps into emergency funds during the partial government shutdown. The NMC will process applications for merchant mariner credentials, medical certificates, and course approvals on a first-in and first-out basis. But Regional Examination Centers will continue to be closed to walk-in customers. Last week, Coast Guard leaders told Congress there’s a growing backlog of 18,000 merchant mariner credentials due to the shutdown. • The Trump administration is proceeding with its third pick to oversee technology at the Department of Veterans Affairs. President Donald Trump nominated Gary Shatswell, a senior advisory to VA Secretary Doug Collins, to serve as the VA’s chief information officer and assistant secretary for IT. The position requires Senate confirmation. The president has submitted two other names to lead VA IT during this second term, but withdrew both of them. The VA’s deputy secretary is currently leading the department’s tech portfolio on an interim basis. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [4/23/2026 6:04 PM, Miranda Nazzaro, 18170K] reports President Trump’s pick to lead the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has withdrawn his nomination after waiting more than a year for Senate confirmation. An aide with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs told The Hill the committee is aware Sean Plankey requested his nomination be withdrawn but had not yet received the official withdrawal paperwork from the White House. In a letter obtained by The New York Times, Plankey said it “has become clear the Senate will not confirm me,” after 13 months since his initial nomination. Plankey’s nomination process faced multiple setbacks over the past year, with multiple senators placing holds on his nomination. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) stalled Plankey’s nomination for more than a year over a Coast Guard shipbuilding contract.

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) also previously held back on his nomination over concerns about disaster recovery funds.

CyberScoop [4/23/2026 3:20 PM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports campaigns employing commercial surveillance vendors tracked targets by exploiting mobile phone network vulnerabilities in what researchers said Thursday was the first-ever linking of “real-world attack traffic to mobile operator signalling infrastructure.” The two unknown parties behind the campaigns mimicked the identities of mobile phone operators with customized surveillance tools, and manipulated signaling protocols and steered traffic through network pathways to hide, according to research from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. “Our findings highlight a systemic issue at the core of global telecommunications: operator infrastructure designed to enable seamless international connectivity is being leveraged to support covert surveillance operations that are difficult to monitor, attribute, and regulate,” a report published Thursday reads. “Despite repeated public reporting, this activity continues unabated and without consequence,” Gary Miller and Swantje Lange wrote for Citizen Lab. “The continued use of mobile networks, built on a close inter-operator trust model and relied upon by users worldwide, raises broader questions for national regulators, policymakers, and the telecom industry about accountability, oversight, and global security.” The attackers relied on identifiers and infrastructure associated with operators around the world, including networks based in Cambodia, China, the self-governing Island of Jersey, Israel, Italy, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Poland, Rwanda, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Uganda and the United Kingdom. They shifted between SS7 and Diameter protocols, the signalling protocols known for 3G and 4G/most of 5G, respectively, according to the report. While Diameter was meant to be more secure than SS7, the Federal Communications Commission in 2024 opened a probe into both its vulnerabilities and SS7’s, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has asked for a Cybersecurity and Information Security Agency report about telecommunications vulnerabilities rooted in both protocols.

CyberScoop [4/23/26 4L15 PM, Greg Otto, 122K] reports a state-sponsored hacking group has implanted a custom backdoor on Cisco network security devices that can survive firmware updates and standard reboots, U.S. and British cybersecurity authorities disclosed Thursday, marking a significant escalation in a campaign that has targeted government and critical infrastructure networks since at least late 2025. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre jointly published a malware analysis report identifying the backdoor, code-named Firestarter. Cisco’s threat intelligence division, Talos, attributed the malware to a threat actor it tracks as UAT-4356. The company attributed the same group to a 2024 espionage campaign called ArcaneDoor, which focused on compromising network perimeter devices. CISA confirmed it discovered Firestarter on a U.S. federal civilian agency’s Cisco Firepower device after identifying suspicious connections through continuous network monitoring. The finding prompted an updated emergency directive issued Thursday, requiring all federal civilian agencies to audit their Cisco firewall infrastructure and submit device memory snapshots for analysis by Friday.

CyberScoop [4/23/2026 4:20 PM, Derek B. Johnson, 122K] reports one day AI may be capable of creating malware that threatens critical infrastructure. But that day was not earlier this month, when reports surfaced of a new piece of malware seemingly configured to search for and sabotage Israeli water infrastructure, according to industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos. The malware, called ZionSiphon, was first identified by AI cybersecurity firm Darktrace, which said it was designed to target operational technology and industrial control system environments. The code scans the internet for IP addresses tied to water treatment and desalination plants owned or operated in Israel, with the goal of compromising them to sabotage the levels of chlorine and poison water supplies. Strings in the malware’s binary code included the names of different components of the Israeli water sector, as well as politically-themed messaging, such as “In support of our brothers in Iran, Palestine, and Yemen against Zionist aggression.” But a technical lead malware analyst at Dragos, Jimmy Wyles, called the malware nothing more than “hype,” claiming it poses no threat to water plants in Israel or anywhere else.

AP [4/23/2026 3:02 PM, Michael Kunzelman, 35287K] reports two Chinese nationals face charges in the U.S. that they managed a sprawling compound in Myanmar where authorities say workers were forced to participate in cryptocurrency investment fraud scams, according to court records unsealed Thursday in Washington, D.C. A complaint filed in federal court charges the suspects — Huang Xing Shan and Jiang Wen Jie — with wire fraud conspiracy. They’re accused of managing the industrial-scale Shunda Park compound in the village of Min Let Pan before it was seized in November 2025 by armed forces in Myanmar. Cyberscam centers have proliferated near Myanmar’s border with Thailand. And they have persisted despite a vow by Myanmar’s military leadership to wipe them out, The Associated Press has found. Both suspects charged in Washington are in government custody in Thailand for illegally entering that country, a court filing says. They had relocated to another scam compound in Cambodia but were arrested by Thai authorities on immigration charges earlier this year, the filing alleges. It’s unclear when they could be brought to the U.S. for prosecution. FBI agents reviewed thousands of electronic devices found at the Shunda compound and interviewed some of its former workers. Scammers posing as law-enforcement or bank officials used fraudulent websites disguised as legitimate investment platforms to defraud victims across the globe by duping them into sending cryptocurrency, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who announced the charges at a news conference in Washington, said the type of scam perpetrated at the Shunda compound is among the fastest-growing and most financially devastating forms of cybercrime, costing Americans billions of dollars in losses.

CyberScoop [4/23/2026 12:15 PM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports U.S. and international government agencies warned Thursday about a “widespread shift” in Chinese hacker methods toward the use of large-scale covert networks that compromise common devices to carry out a variety of attacks. The advisory details how those networks work, and defensive steps organizations should take. “Over the past few years there has been a major shift in the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) used by China-nexus cyber actors, moving away from the use of individually procured infrastructure, and towards the use of externally provisioned, large-scale networks of compromised devices,” the warning reads. The U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency, FBI and agencies from Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Spain and Sweden joined forces on the advisory. It says that “multiple covert networks have been created and are being constantly updated, and that a single covert network could be being used by multiple actors. These networks are mainly made up of compromised Small Office Home Office (SOHO) routers, as well as Internet of Things (IoT) and smart devices.” It continues: “Covert networks are used to connect across the internet in a low-cost, low-risk, deniable way, disguising the origin and attribution of malicious activity.”

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/23/2026 7:17 AM, Staff, 38315K]

New York Post [4/23/2026 2:29 PM, Anthony Blair and Brandon Cruz, 40934K] reports cops investigating a Long Island teen over a swastika scrawled in his high school found homemade bombs in his home — and busted his dad for buying the dangerous chemicals used to make them, according to authorities. The 15-year-old student allegedly drew the hate symbol at Syosset High School, prompting Nassau County police to visit his home at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, when they found “several chemicals” that had been “combined to make explosive materials,” the department said. Investigators found multiple acids, oxidizers, and bomb-making tools at the home — including Nitroglycerin — a highly unstable explosive popularized in video games like “Hitman: World of Assassination,” officials said. The teen was arrested alongside his father, Francisco Sanles, 48, who prosecutors said used his credit cards to purchase “some of, if not all, of the chemicals” for his son on “multiple occasions.” The teen, according to police, told investigators that his father was under the impression the chemicals were being used to “build rockets.”

ABC News [4/23/2026 10:37 AM, Luke Barr, Ivan Pereira, and Matt Foster, 34146K] reports a former police officer who allegedly was traveling to Louisiana to conduct a mass shooting at a large festival was arrested Wednesday night in a Florida hotel where investigators found a gun and nearly 200 rounds of ammunition, authorities said. Christopher Gillum, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety "for terroristic threats" and was arrested at a hotel in Destin, Florida, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday. "Authorities obtained information Gillum planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans to conduct a mass shooting and then commit suicide by cop," the sheriff’s office said. When officers arrested Gillum, they recovered a handgun and approximately 200 rounds of ammunition from his hotel room, the sheriff’s office alleged.

FOX News [4/23/2026 3:28 PM, Alexandra Koch, 37576K] reports local and federal law enforcement agencies responded to the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, Thursday, after gunfire broke out inside the shopping center’s food court and innocent shoppers were caught in the crossfire, killing at least one person and wounding several more. The Baton Rouge Police Department confirmed the death and said five others were wounded, according to Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse. All the victims were taken to city hospitals, according to Baton Rouge Mayor-President Sid Edwards. Five suspects are in custody, as of 4:15 p.m. local time, according to Morse. Morse said the shooting unfolded after two people got into an argument in the courtyard of the food court and started shooting at each other, and innocent bystanders were caught in the middle. NBC News [4/23/2026 5:41 PM, David K. Li, Samantha Cookinham and Phil Helsel, 42967K] reports five suspects were taken into custody, Baton Rouge Police Chief Thomas Morse Jr. said. Surveillance video showed it was a "targeted" attack as "two groups of people got into an argument inside the food court and started shooting at each other," Morse said. Morse said it was no longer an "active shooter" situation. Police initially said that 10 people were injured, but later revised that to one dead and five injured. Of the five injured, one was in surgery and four had minor injuries, Morse said. The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing and police are looking for additional people who may have been involved, Morse said.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [4/23/2026 3:35 PM, Bria Gremillion and Michael Scheidt, 18170K]

The Hill [4/23/2026 6:00 PM, Sophie Brams, 18170K] reports a former North Carolina law enforcement officer was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a festival in New Orleans. Christopher Gillum, 44, was taken into custody without incident at a hotel in Destin, Fla., while on his way to New Orleans, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. A handgun and approximately 200 rounds of ammunition were found in his room. Gillum “planned to travel to a festival in New Orleans to conduct a mass shooting” and was wanted in Orleans Parish for making terroristic threats, authorities said. He is expected to be extradited to Louisiana to face charges. Authorities did not specify which festival Gillum intended to target; however, organizers appeared to confirm it was the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in a statement to local media outlets. The AP [4/23/2026 4:37 PM, Jack Brook, Jim Mustian and Kathy Mccormack, 5287K] reports authorities say a former North Carolina law enforcement officer planned to kill Black people in a mass shooting at a major New Orleans festival but was arrested at a Florida hotel with a handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Authorities in several states did not name the event, but the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, commonly known as Jazz Fest, runs from Thursday through May 3. The gathering attracted about 460,000 people last year, organizers said. Christopher Gillum of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was wanted for “terroristic threats,” the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida posted online Thursday. Federal authorities told the sheriff’s office that Gillum, who is white, was in the Florida Panhandle “heading to do a mass shooting at a large festival in Louisiana.” The FBI in New Orleans said it’s working on the investigation with law enforcement across the three states. The Okaloosa sheriff’s office said Gillum was arrested without incident Wednesday night at a hotel in the city of Destin, and posted a photo of him being led away in handcuffs. Deputies recovered a handgun and about 200 rounds of ammunition from the hotel room, the statement said. Gillum was arrested as a fugitive from justice and will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges there, the sheriff’s office said. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer. The Associated Press left a message at phone numbers listed for him. Gillum’s family reported him missing on Tuesday and he has a history of self-harm, according to Lt. Clint Lyons of the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. Gillum’s family told law enforcement he had a gun and had “expressed recent threats to harm ‘Black people,’” according to a bulletin from police in Burlington, North Carolina.

Reported similarly:
New York Times [4/23/2026 5:26 PM, John S.W. MacDonald, 148038K]
FOX News [4/23/2026 7:03 PM, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, 37576K]

CBS Chicago [4/23/2026 8:30 AM, Emily Mae Czachor, 51110K] reports police are searching for a 17-year-old suspect charged in connection with a shooting near the University of Iowa over the weekend. The shooting left five people wounded, some severely. Damarian Jones, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, faces five counts of attempted murder, three counts of willful injury assault causing serious injury, two counts of willful injury assault causing bodily injury, and one count of going armed with intent, according to police. The final charge is brought against someone for allegedly carrying a dangerous weapon "with the specific intent to use it without justification against another person," according to Iowa state law. Iowa City police announced the charges against Jones on Wednesday. The suspect still had not been located, and anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to submit tips to authorities. Police said they expect to file additional charges, and make additional arrests, as they continue to investigate the case. Jones has been at large since Sunday morning, when he is accused of shooting five people in the middle of a crowded mall at around 1:45 a.m. Jones fired six rounds from his handgun inside Iowa City’s Pedestrian Mall, near the University of Iowa campus, after engaging in a physical fight "against numerous opposing individuals," police said in an arrest affidavit. The suspect fought alongside others "on his side" and eventually "obtained a firearm" as the altercation continued. During a break in fighting, he walked away from the opposing group, raised his gun and proceeded to fire six rounds toward them, according to the affidavit, which struck the five injured people while they were "in the direct line of fire." None of the five victims were targets in the shooting, police said, adding, "there is no reason to believe they were otherwise affiliated with this incident.”

Reported similarly:
Blaze [4/23/2026 10:30 AM, Dave Urbanski, 1556K]

AP [4/23/2026 7:28 PM, Gary D. Robertson, 28764K] reports two young people have been arrested in an alleged plot to attack a Texas synagogue that involved driving through the congregation to "kill as many Jews as possible," according to authorities and court documents. The arrests come a month after an armed man crashed his pickup truck into a major Detroit-area synagogue in another attack on Jewish people. Synagogues around the world have increased security and protections for worshippers since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on Feb. 28. Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, North Carolina, was being held Thursday in the Davidson County jail under a $10 million bond, jail records show. She was arrested Wednesday and formally charged with conspiring with two "male subjects" to commit murder and assault against members of Congregation Beth Israel in Houston on April 21, 2028, according to warrants laying out two felony counts against her. The FBI office in Charlotte said Thursday in a social media post that a juvenile was arrested in relation to the plot and charged in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston. There was no immediate information on whether the juvenile was one of the two male subjects identified in Hicks’ warrants, which listed only their first names and noted their last names as "unknown.” A Houston Police Department news release on Thursday announced a 16-year-old being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit capital murder related to "a threat directed towards certain Jewish institutions in our area" that the agency learned about Wednesday. The department didn’t identify Congregation Beth Israel specifically. The FBI and the Houston school district police department assisted in the arrest. "At this time, there is no other known credible threat," the release said. Explaining why Hicks’ detention was necessary, District Court Judge Carlton Terry wrote Wednesday in part that the alleged "conspiracy is to kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation at a synagogue.” "Allowing a co-conspirator a chance to communicate with either of those individuals or those who could relay a message puts lives at risk," Terry added. The FBI said its Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force began the investigation Tuesday evening after a tip to a North Carolina law enforcement agency.

FOX News [4/23/2026 7:10 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K] reports a North Carolina woman has been charged in an alleged plot targeting a Texas synagogue, and authorities said a multistate investigation may have prevented a potential attack. Angelina Han Hicks, 18, of Lexington, was charged with participating in a conspiracy to attack members of a Houston synagogue designed to "kill as many Jews as possible by driving through a congregation," according to court documents, The Associated Press reported. She was arrested Wednesday for an alleged plan targeting Congregation Beth Israel in Houston, according to warrants, after investigators received a tip and moved quickly to act. The FBI Charlotte Joint Terrorism Task Force said it launched a multi-state investigation Tuesday, leading to Hicks’ arrest and the charging of a juvenile in Harris County, Texas. "This is an exceptional example of when you see something concerning, you say something to law enforcement," the FBI said in a statement, adding that the investigation remains ongoing. Investigators uncovered evidence that Hicks and others were allegedly planning what officials described as a "mass casualty event" at the synagogue, with early concerns the threat could have been imminent. Alan Martin, the county’s senior assistant district attorney, told the AP there had been "some concern that there could be an imminent event" targeting the Houston synagogue. Court documents said Hicks is accused of conspiring with two male suspects identified only as "Teegan" and "Angel." Their whereabouts are unknown, and they have not been arrested, raising concerns about ongoing risk. District Court Judge Carlton Terry set Hicks’ bond at $10 million, writing that allowing communication between co-conspirators "puts lives at risk.”

AP [4/23/2026 3:45 PM, Staff, 34146K] reports more than two dozen members and associates of the Mexican Mafia were arrested Thursday during an early morning crackdown across Southern California, federal authorities said. The FBI and other federal and local agencies executed search and arrest warrants at about 30 locations mostly in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. A total of 43 people, including those already in custody, have been indicted on charges that include murder, kidnapping, extortion, running an illegal gambling operation and drug trafficking, prosecutors said. Officers seized 120 pounds (54 kilos) of methamphetamine, more than eight pounds (four kilos) of fentanyl, along with 25 firearms and more than $30,000 in cash, officials said. “The stuff that we’re taking off the streets is very, very dangerous. These guys have no regard for human life. They’re about making money,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference. The Mexican Mafia was started in the 1950s at a juvenile jail and grew to an international criminal organization that controls smuggling, drug sales and extortion from inside California’s penal system. The indictment alleges one leader who was incarcerated used contraband cellphones to oversee the Mexican Mafia’s criminal activities from his state prison cell from June 2024 to April 2026. He directed street gang members to kidnap and assault people, according to court documents. The gang also allegedly sold drugs including fentanyl, meth, heroin and cocaine.

New York Post [4/23/2026 7:46 PM, Ben Chapman, 40934K] reports the imprisoned Mexican Mafia kingpin accused of calling the shots for Southern California’s sprawling "gang of gangs" oversaw everything from drug dealing and kidnappings to murder from his cell nearly 200 miles away, federal prosecutors say. Convicted murderer Luis Cardenas, 48, a.k.a. "Gangster," pulled the strings for the most powerful prison gang in the US by using an encrypted messaging app on smuggled cellphones to direct high-ranking associates on the streets, authorities revealed. The Mexican Mafia’s "tentacles extend from state prison into our county jails and on through the streets," said federal prosecutor Bill Essayli, who added that Cardenas ran "Latino street gangs and drug dealers in Santa, Ana, Anaheim, Fullerton and elsewhere.” "Gangster" — who also goes by "G," "Pops" and "Tio" — ruled the streets with an iron fist from his perch at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, Calif., according to prosecutors. Using smuggled cellphones, he issued orders to gang members to commit crimes across Orange County, including drug dealing, illegal gambling and extortion, investigators said. "Victims who had the misfortune of being in bad standing with Cardenas ran the risk of having him command orders to kidnap and assault them out in the streets," Essayli said. The convicted killer would also direct the movement of cash and gang tax collections, issuing threats of violence and ordering his associates to kidnap and kill, Essayli added.

Univision [4/23/2026 3:13 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports southern California was still shrouded in darkness when one of the largest federal operations of the year began. Before dawn on Thursday, April 23, teams from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) simultaneously raided several properties in Orange County, and within minutes, dozens of agents began executing search warrants. The operation was identified as ‘Gangsta’s Paradise,’ a name that strikingly coincides with the famous 1995 song by rapper Coolio. The main target of the operation was ‘La Eme’, a criminal group allegedly belonging to the Mexican Mafia, which FBI Director Kash Patel described as the "gang of gangs " because of its influence over multiple Hispanic gangs in Southern California. According to Patel, 30 raids were carried out almost simultaneously in Orange County. At these locations, federal agents arrested 30 suspected members of the organization; among those arrested were individuals identified by authorities as suspected murderers, drug traffickers, and extortionists directly linked to the ‘La Eme’ gang. During the raids, firearms and illegal drugs were seized. According to official reports, the raids and arrests were part of a carefully coordinated operation aimed at dismantling operational cells at various levels of the criminal organization. The operation was not isolated, but part of a broader federal strategy to intervene in organized criminal networks in Southern California, where the Mexican Mafia maintains influence over various street gangs, functioning as a kind of control axis, according to the FBI’s own statement. So far, authorities have not released the names or aliases of those arrested; more details are expected to be released in the coming days as the investigation progresses.

NPR [4/24/2026 5:00 AM, Eric McDaniel, 34837K] reports Speaker Mike Johnson, R.-La., is forging ahead with his latest proposal to renew a key American spy power. His bill, revealed Thursday, is largely unchanged from a previous plan which failed in a series of overnight votes earlier this month. The program at center of the debate, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), is set to expire on April 30. FISA 702 allows U.S. intelligence agencies to intercept the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside of the United States. Some of the nearly 350,000 foreign targets whose communications are collected under the provision 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. For almost two decades, privacy-minded lawmakers from both parties have sought to require specific court approval before federal law enforcement can conduct a targeted review of an American’s information gathered through the program. The lack of any such warrant requirement helped sink an effort last week to extend the program for 18 months, as well as a separate vote on a five-year renewal. Trump officials, like those in past administrations, have argued that such a warrant requirement would overburden law enforcement and endanger national security. Johnson’s latest proposal would reauthorize the program for three years, but does not include a warrant requirement. Instead, the bill calls for the FBI to submit monthly explanations for reviews of Americans’ information to an oversight official as well as criminal penalties for willful abuse, among other tweaks.

CBS News [4/23/2026 10:01 AM, Nicole Sganga, 51110K] reports Sen. Tom Cotton is pushing new legislation to grant operators of the nation’s most sensitive infrastructure the authority to defend against and stop potentially hostile drones in real time, arguing that current law leaves our power grid and wastewater plants, along with other high-risk sites exposed to emerging aerial threats. The bill, dubbed the "Critical Infrastructure Airspace Defense Act," would allow certain private-sector operators — after federal training and certification — to detect, track and mitigate unauthorized drones posing a "credible threat" to designated facilities. The bill aims to close what lawmakers and security officials describe as a persistent gap in U.S. counter-drone policy: private owners are responsible for securing critical sites but often lack the legal authority to strike back against airborne threats. "Our hospitals, power plants, water treatment facilities, and other critical infrastructure sites can’t remain sitting ducks," Cotton said in a statement shared with CBS News. The legislation builds on bipartisan counter-drone provisions included in the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act and reflects growing concern in Washington over how inexpensive, commercially available drones could be weaponized against key domestic targets. At its core, the bill extends limited counter-unmanned aircraft system — or counter-UAS — authority beyond only federal agencies and some state and local law enforcement to include a subset of private infrastructure operators, under federal oversight.

New York Times [4/24/2026 3:31 AM, Chris Cameron, 330K] reports President Trump announced a three-week extension of a cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon that had been set to expire in a few days, after hosting a meeting between Israeli and Lebanese diplomats at the White House on Thursday. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group that has been attacking Israel from southern Lebanon, did not have representatives at the meeting and did not immediately comment on the announcement. The prime minister of Israel and the president of Lebanon also did not comment. A successful peace agreement would hinge upon Hezbollah halting attacks, which Lebanon’s government has little power to enforce because it does not control the militia. Lebanon’s military has mostly stayed out of the fighting and is not at war with Israel. The cease-fire, which was scheduled to end on April 26, would last until May 17 if it takes effect as Mr. Trump described it. Before the cease-fire was brokered last week, nearly 2,300 people were killed in Lebanon and 13 in Israel. Since then, the number of Israeli airstrikes and Hezbollah attacks have been dramatically reduced, though the two sides have continued exchanging fire. The Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, Nada Hamadeh, credited Mr. Trump for extending the cease-fire, saying that “with your help and support, we can make Lebanon great again.” Mr. Trump replied, “I like that phrase, it’s a good phrase.” Asked about the potential of a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Trump said that “I think there’s a great chance. They are friends about the same things and they are enemies on the same things.” But Lebanon and Israel have periodically been at war since Israel’s founding in 1948. Israel has invaded Lebanon for the fifth time since 1978, incursions that have destabilized the country and the delicate balance of power between Muslim, Christian and Druze communities. In the hours before the president’s announcement on social media, Israel and Hezbollah were trading attacks in southern Lebanon, testing the existing cease-fire. Mr. Trump said the meeting at the White House had been attended by high-ranking U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon. Earlier on Thursday, an Israeli strike near the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh killed three people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry. Hezbollah claimed three separate attacks on Israeli troops who are occupying southern Lebanon, though none were wounded or killed. Hezbollah set off the latest round of fighting last month by attacking Israel soon after the start of the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran. Israel responded to Hezbollah’s attacks by launching airstrikes across Lebanon and widening a ground invasion of the country’s south.

New York Times [4/24/2026 3:31 AM, Eric Schmitt, 330K] reports U.S. military forces stopped and boarded a second sanctioned tanker carrying oil from Iran in the Indian Ocean, the Pentagon said on Thursday, ramping up pressure on Tehran as the Trump administration seeks to resume negotiations to end the war. A naval boarding team roped down from hovering helicopters and fanned out on the vessel, the M/T Majestic X, according to a Pentagon statement that included a 17-second video of the operation. The military said the boarding was part of a “global maritime enforcement to disrupt illicit networks and interdict vessels providing material support to Iran, wherever they operate.” The tanker was carrying crude oil for China, according to data from MarineTraffic, a website that tracks global shipping. The ship has transported millions of barrels of sanctioned Iranian oil since at least 2022, according to the Treasury Department. Earlier this week, Navy SEALS boarded another ship in the Indian Ocean, the M/T Tifani, after the Pentagon said it was carrying oil from Iran. Navy destroyers are also shadowing several other Iranian vessels, including the Dorena and Sevin, which had left from the Iranian port of Chabahar before the U.S.-imposed blockade began on April 13, a U.S. military official said. The Navy is directing those ships to return to an Iranian port, the official said. With the M/T Tifani and M/T Majestic X now at least temporarily in the custody of the military, a U.S. military official said it was up to the White House to decide what to do with the sanctioned vessels and their cargo. The administration previously seized several tankers carrying illicit oil from Venezuela after a U.S. commando raid there in January that seized Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president. “International waters cannot be used as a shield by sanctioned actors,” the Pentagon said in its statement on Thursday, adding that the department would “continue to deny illicit actors and their vessels freedom of maneuver in the maritime domain.” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, hinted last week that the U.S. military would likely commence boarding operations like the ones this week. He said that U.S. military commanders elsewhere in the world, and especially in the Indo-Pacific region, would “actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.” The U.S. Navy has turned back at least 31 ships trying to enter or exit Iranian ports since an American blockade outside the contested Strait of Hormuz began about a week ago, U.S. Central Command said late Wednesday. Last Sunday, a Navy destroyer disabled and seized the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship, after it tried to evade the blockade. It was the first time a vessel was reported to have tried to evade the U.S.-imposed blockade on any ship entering or exiting Iranian ports since it took effect last week.

Los Angeles Times [4/23/2026 6:09 PM, Jon Gambrell, Jamey Keaten, and Aamer Madhani, 12718K] reports that President Trump has ordered the U.S. military to "shoot and kill" small Iranian boats that deploy mines in the Strait of Hormuz, he said Thursday, a day after Iran again displayed its ability to thwart traffic through the channel. Trump’s post on social media came shortly after the U.S. military seized another tanker associated with the smuggling of Iranian oil, ratcheting up a standoff with Tehran over the strait through which 20% of all crude oil and natural gas traded passes. "I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz," Trump posted, adding that U.S. minesweepers "are clearing the Strait right now." "I am hereby ordering that activity to continue, but at a tripled up level!" he added. The Defense Department released video footage earlier Thursday of U.S. forces on the deck of the Guinea-flagged oil tanker Majestic X, which was seized in the Indian Ocean. The move unfolded a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards attacked three cargo ships in the strait, capturing two of them, in an assault that raised new concerns about the safety of shipping through the waterway. The powerful head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, said three "violating ships" in the strait were "subject to enforcement" on Wednesday.

FOX News [4/23/2026 6:05 AM, Alex Nitzberg, 37576K] reports Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a Wednesday post on X that he expects that the U.S. blockade against Iran "could become global soon." The long-serving lawmaker noted that he had spoken to President Donald Trump and War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday morning. "I had a very good call this morning with @POTUS and @SecWar Pete Hegseth about the way forward regarding the Iran conflict. I think the President’s decision to leave the blockade in place is very smart. It is having a strong effect on the ability of Iran to continue to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism – which they appear intent on doing. I not only expect this blockade to stay in place until Iran shows a commitment to change their ways, I expect the blockade will be growing and that it could become global soon," Graham said in the post. "To those assisting or thinking about assisting the Iranian regime in distributing its oil, which provides resources for terrorism, you do so at your own peril. Well done to President Trump and his team. This is the best chance since 1979 to change the behavior of the regime and I hope this can be accomplished through diplomacy," the senator added.

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