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

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

The Wall Street Journal [4/2/2026 1:11 PM, Lindsay Ellis, 646K] reports President Trump said he would sign an executive order to pay all Department of Homeland Security employees amid a congressional funding standoff that has prevented many workers at the agency from receiving a paycheck. In a social-media post on Thursday morning, the president criticized Democrats for not moving more quickly to fund the department. “I will soon sign an order to pay ALL of the incredible employees at the Department of Homeland Security. Their families have suffered far too long,” he wrote. A White House official said that Trump would sign the order soon and that it would be similar to a prior order paying Transportation Security Administration workers. The Office of Management and Budget released a memo on Wednesday that suggested such a move was possible. On Wednesday, Trump and Republican congressional leaders threw their weight behind a Senate plan to fund most of DHS, which Congress could pass in coming weeks with Democratic support after they return from Easter recess. Republicans would then try to pass a separate, GOP-only measure funding immigration-enforcement functions by June 1. Trump signed his TSA order last week, which used unspent government funds to pay workers. After weeks without a paycheck, many TSA officers had been calling in sick, leading to long lines at many airports. His move Thursday to pay all DHS workers came amid growing criticism of lawmakers for leaving the capital for a two-week break without a deal to fund the department. DHS houses TSA along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The department has more than 200,000 employees. CBS News [4/2/2026 11:45 AM, Kaia Hubbard, 51110K] reports that the source of the funding was not immediately clear. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection employees and active-duty Coast Guard members are already being paid, and Mr. Trump signed an executive order last week to pay TSA agents amid the partial government shutdown. The Senate took the first step toward funding the bulk of DHS earlier Thursday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune took to the floor to send the House a measure that Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to last week. It would fund all of DHS except for ICE and and portions of CBP. The House did not take action on the Senate bill when it convened for a brief pro forma session, meaning the DHS shutdown will continue until at least Monday. Most lawmakers from both chambers are away on recess until the week of April 13. NBC News [4/2/2026 12:26 PM, Rebecca Shabad, 42967K] reports that without providing explicit details, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., suggested that the House would take up the Senate-passed bill that provides funding to all of DHS except ICE and CBP. Thune took the first procedural steps toward passing that bill on Thursday. ABC News [4/2/2026 12:28 PM, Isabella Murray, Allison Pecorin, and Lalee Ibssa, 34146K] Video: HERE reports House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune said they agreed to end the shutdown in the "coming days" and later address funding for immigration enforcement through reconciliation. But the record-long shutdown will continue until at least Monday after the House took no action on the deal on Thursday. The Senate once again unanimously agreed to send its bill back to the House during a pro-forma session on Thursday morning. The House didn’t take any action during its own session. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] Reuters [4/2/2026 10:44 PM, David Shepardson, 474K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised Trump’s action "to ensure the hardworking men and women across DHS are paid." About 80,000 sworn law enforcement agents, like the Secret Service, immigration officers, and others, have been paid during the shutdown. The White House said in a memo that it can pay DHS employees using funds from a large budget and tax bill approved by Congress last summer through additional executive action. Bloomberg [4/2/2026 3:15 PM, Erik Wasson and Alicia Diaz, 18082K] reports that the Treasury on Wednesday granted department employees an extra month to file and pay income taxes. Republican leaders and Trump have now set a June 1 deadline to pass a partisan budget reconciliation bill to boost ICE and Border Patrol funding without the help of Senate Democrats. Trump had remained on the sidelines of the Thune-Johnson dispute over DHS funding tactics, but his call on Wednesday for a June 1 special budget bill broke the deadlock. House Republicans are weighing waiting to vote on the Senate bill until the reconciliation bill is finished or close to being finished

Reported similarly:
Roll Call [4/2/2026 9:51 AM, Savannah Behrmann, 673K] r
The Hill [4/2/2026 12:24 PM, Mallory Wilson, 18170K]
Reuters [4/2/2026 10:44 AM, Staff, 38315K]
(B) NBC News Daily [4/2/2026 2:31 PM, Staff]
Blaze [4/2/2026 1:00 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1556K] r
Washington Times [4/2/2026 5:50 PM, Lindsey McPherson and Mary McCue Bell, 1323K]
Washington Examiner [4/2/2026 12:08 PM, Hailey Bullis, 1147K] r

Reuters [4/2/2026 1:24 PM, Richard Cowan and David Morgan, 38315K] reports that Federal funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security remained in limbo on Thursday despite the Senate clearing the way for the House of Representatives to pass legislation that would end a nearly seven-week partial shutdown. Meanwhile, lawmakers got some breathing room, after President Donald Trump announced that he will use his executive powers to temporarily pay all DHS workers while Congress searches for a way to pass a bill with funding through September 30, the end of this fiscal year. This follows Trump’s action last week to temporarily pay Transportation Security Administration airport passenger screeners. The Senate bill awaiting House action provides no additional funding for immigration law enforcement activities that already are robustly funded. The House held a brief session without acting upon legislation that was passed by the Senate late last week. It is ⁠next scheduled to meet on Monday. Also, House Speaker Mike Johnson was set to hold a call with his rank-and-file on Thursday to discuss next steps. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking to a near-empty chamber early on Thursday, cleared the way for progress on ending the DHS funding fight by formally killing a 60-day, stopgap bill that had been passed by the House but had no chance of passing the Senate.

NewsMax [4/2/2026 12:14 PM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K] reports that Senate Republicans are moving quickly to advance a targeted, GOP-led plan to fully fund border security operations, aiming to meet President Donald Trump’s June 1 deadline amid an ongoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding standoff. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday that Republicans intend to keep the forthcoming reconciliation bill "as narrow as possible," focusing on funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), The Hill reported. "Everybody is, I think, singularly focused ... around the things we have to do on the border, on ICE and CBP," Thune told reporters, emphasizing that a streamlined approach will speed passage and ensure broad Republican support. The strategy reflects a broader two-track plan backed by Trump and GOP leadership. Under that approach, Congress would first pass a bipartisan measure to fund most of DHS — excluding key enforcement components — while Republicans separately use the budget reconciliation process to secure full funding for border operations without Democrat support. Budget reconciliation allows Republicans to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, making it a key tool as Democrats continue to oppose additional immigration enforcement funding.

New York Times [4/2/2026 3:21 PM, Carl Hulse and Michael Gold, 148038K] reports the Senate moved early Thursday to try again to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, but House Republicans facing an internal revolt declined to clear the Senate plan for President Trump, prolonging the record agency shutdown even after G.O.P. leaders had agreed on a way to end it swiftly. Meeting in a brief ceremonial session, the House opted not to take up spending legislation that the Senate had sent over about 90 minutes earlier, leaving a resolution to the stalemate out of reach and the agency shuttered at least until Congress returns from its two-week recess later this month. Hard-right House Republicans are infuriated about the deal, which omits money for immigration enforcement and which Speaker Mike Johnson called “a joke” last week before abruptly caving on Wednesday and endorsing it after Mr. Trump appeared to warm to the idea. In an afternoon conference call that turned raucous on Thursday afternoon, they vented their ire at the speaker’s plan to bring up the bill, and lawmakers were told that the House would not return to act on it before their scheduled return on April 13, according to a member who participated and described the private discussion on the condition of anonymity.

Axios [4/2/2026 4:38 PM, Kate Santaliz, 17364K] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Republicans on a call Thursday he won’t hold a vote on a DHS funding bill until the Senate makes significant progress on funding for ICE and CBP, sources told Axios. Johnson’s members are deeply frustrated with leadership’s plan to fund the agency, and he doesn’t have the support to pass a DHS funding bill without ICE and CBP right now. But any delay will prolong what’s already been a record-long shutdown at the agency. Johnson told his conference he thinks the Senate could pass a narrow reconciliation package funding ICE and CBP within two weeks, one source on the call said. President Trump also further eased urgency Thursday when he announced he’ll pay DHS workers via executive action. There was a widespread feeling among Republicans that they no longer trust the Senate after last week’s split over DHS funding, sources told Axios. Members worry that if the House moves first on passing a DHS funding bill without ICE and CBP, the Senate could backtrack on funding those two agencies. Several members want to strip language from the Senate bill that zeroes out ICE and CBP funding, avoiding a vote seen as defunding law enforcement. Johnson signaled openness to that idea, two sources on the call said. But any changes would require Senate passage again.

The Hill [4/2/2026 4:53 PM, Emily Brooks, 18170K] reports House GOP leaders have a tough task ahead in passing a two-step plan to end the record-setting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown as their members call for passage of a Republican-only bill to fund immigration enforcement before they accept a bipartisan Senate bill to fund the rest of the department. House Republicans are feeling whiplash, and on a closed conference call Thursday they fumed over pressure to pass the Senate bill. That measure, which has already passed the upper chamber via unanimous consent, would fund the bulk of DHS outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol, leaving funding for those agencies in a GOP-only reconciliation bill to pass by June 1. Democrats have refused to vote for ICE and Border Patrol funding unless they get significant reforms to immigration enforcement. If frustrated Republicans block quick passage of the Senate bill or GOP leaders agree to wait for a reconciliation bill, it could be weeks or months before critical agencies in DHS are funded. Both chambers are out on recess until the week of April 13, with some members traveling internationally. GOP leaders indicated on the call that there is not a plan to bring the House back early to pass the Senate bill, a source said. Trump relieved some of the pressure to pass immediate DHS funding with his announcement on Thursday that he would sign a measure to pay all DHS employees. He had previously signed an order to pay all TSA officers, and Border Patrol and ICE personnel have also been receiving pay during the shutdown.

Washington Times [4/2/2026 9:39 AM, Lindsey McPherson, 1323K] reports the Senate on Thursday passed a bill for a second time to fund most of the Department of Homeland Security but without money for immigration enforcement. The measure heads back to the House, which rejected it once but is expected to pass it on the second go after Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, agreed to the Senate’s two-part funding plan. Once that happens, the record DHS shutdown, now in its seventh week, will end. The agencies not funded under the bill — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the border patrol functions of Customs and Border Protection — have been operating mostly as normal using a separate stream of funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Republicans are planning to use a second filibuster-proof budget reconciliation package to give ICE and CBP enough money to last through President Trump’s term so that Democrats cannot stand in the way of the administration’s deportation agenda. Mr. Trump says he wants that bill on his desk no later than June 1. Congress is currently on recess until the week of April 13.

FOX News [4/2/2026 4:18 PM, Adam Pack, Alex Miller, Tyler Olson, Kelly Phares, 37576K] reports the House is primed to end the record-breaking Homeland Security shutdown, but Republicans are still fuming over a "s--- sandwich" deal from the Senate. The Senate again advanced its partial Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill on Thursday after being derailed by a House GOP rebellion. The frustration among House Republicans hasn’t gone anywhere, however, with lawmakers railing against House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., during a members-only call on Thursday afternoon. The simmering anger comes after Johnson made a swift reversal, spurred by President Donald Trump, and backed Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s, R-S.D., on a two-track approach Wednesday that would pass the Senate’s partial DHS bill while funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a forthcoming party-line reconciliation package. A senior GOP aide told Fox News Digital that House Republicans wanted to see action from their Senate counterparts on reconciliation and were frustrated with how the upper chamber handled the DHS deal, which the source said amounted to a "s--- sandwich." House Republicans are incensed at the Senate plan, which carves out funding for ICE and CBP. Still, the bill is expected to pass with bipartisan support. But for now, House Republicans are in no hurry to return to Washington, D.C., to end the 48-day shutdown. The House is next scheduled to return on April 14. A source familiar with the call told Fox News Digital that leadership is not expected to ask members to return to Washington early to vote on the measure. A source told Fox News that there was "a lot of frustration" with the situation. But Trump has already teed up a counter, and plans to pay DHS employees through an executive order.

New York Post [4/2/2026 1:17 PM, Ryan King, 40934K] reports that Senate Majority Leader John Thune tore into the Democratic victory laps over the Department of Homeland Security partial shutdown, reminding them that they got none of the big reforms demanded. After nearly seven weeks of the DHS funding lapse, Republicans announced a deal Wednesday to end the impasse through what was effectively the Senate plan that the GOP-led House rejected last week. "No, we didn’t cave," Thune (R-SD) told Fox News’ "America’s Newsroom" when asked about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) claims that the GOP caved. "Ultimately, what the Democrats did, you can say this was all about for 40 days … ‘reforms,’ restrictions on ICE and on CBP agents and what they could or couldn’t do," he added. "They got none of that. They got zero of the reforms that they were advocating for." Senate Democrats had leveraged the 60-vote filibuster to stymie funding for the immigration wing of DHS until Republicans agreed to make dramatic reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection. While Republicans agreed to deploy body cameras to immigration enforcement officers, President Trump fired former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the administration wound down Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, the GOP never agreed to the core reforms Democrats demanded.

NewsMax [4/2/2026 9:06 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K] reports the U.S. House and Senate will likely use a two-track approach to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security upon returning to Washington after Congress’ recess, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., told Newsmax on Thursday. Appearing on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America," Perry said Republicans are working toward a strategy that separates broader government funding from key border enforcement priorities — ensuring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) ultimately receive full funding through a reconciliation package requiring only GOP support. Perry warned that the current Senate-backed funding proposal, which excludes dedicated funding for ICE and CBP, reflects Democrat priorities that he argued undermine law enforcement and border security. "Caving to Democrats and not paying CBP and ICE is agreeing to defund law enforcement and leaving our borders wide open again," Perry said, noting that many House Republicans share his opposition to the plan. Under the approach being discussed, Congress would pass a short-term funding measure to keep the government running, while Republicans simultaneously pursue a reconciliation bill to secure long-term funding for border enforcement agencies. Because reconciliation requires only a simple majority in the Senate, Republicans could bypass Democrat opposition. Perry expressed confidence that the strategy is not only viable but necessary. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/1/2026 5:32 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports Ilhan Omar says Democrats blocked DHS funding over ICE reforms at Minnesota town hall. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/2/2026 9:00 PM, Lindsay Kornick, 37576K] reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., claimed it was "not fair" to argue that Senate Democrats were holding up Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding for "political posturing" on Thursday. Schumer spoke to CNN’s "Situation Room" about the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown after Senate Democrats demanded tighter restrictions on Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). Though the shutdown has caused disruptions within the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), ICE and Border Patrol have been largely unaffected after previously receiving funding last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill, leading Blitzer to ask Schumer what the purpose of the shutdown was. "What do you say to those critics who argue that both ICE and Border Patrol are already set with funding millions and millions of dollars because of President [Donald] Trump’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill that passed months ago?" Blitzer asked. "So Democrats just held up this legislation for what? For political posturing? Is that right?". "Well, that’s not fair at all," Schumer answered. "We held it up because we wanted, as I mentioned before, to reform ICE and CBP, which are lawless. The American people are totally on our side. I think by 2 to 1 or close to that, they want it reformed. And that’s what we’re pushing for. We’re not going to fund a lawless ICE and a lawless CBP, and the American people are overwhelmingly on our side on that.” "But they’re already funded. Right?" Blitzer repeated. "Well, if they put funding in from their other bills and want to keep funding a lawless ICE, a lawless CBP that creates chaos in our cities, it’s on their back. We’re not going to participate in that," Schumer responded. Last week, Trump signed an executive order providing pay to TSA agents, many of whom had not received a paycheck since February. Despite the strain on workers, Schumer refused to give Trump credit for the order. "We’ve been trying to do it for three weeks, and Trump has opposed it. We proposed funding all of those other agencies, not ICE and CBP, until they reform, but all the other agencies. And they said no. And so, the best way to get them paid was for [Speaker Mike] Johnson to put the bill that the Senate passed this morning with [GOP Senate Majority Leader John] Thune’s leadership on the floor, and we pass it," Schumer said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [4/2/2026 9:41 PM, Ian Hanchett, 2238K] reports that, on Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) responded to questions on what the DHS shutdown accomplished by blaming Republicans and saying that “what we have shown the American people is, we want obvious, commonsense reforms to ICE and [CBP], and the Republicans don’t.” Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “So, this plan that just passed in the Senate does not include the reforms to immigration enforcement operations that Democrats had, not only demanded, but even used as reasons to withhold their votes for DHS funding when all of this began more than a month ago. What did your party actually accomplish with this shutdown?” Schumer responded, “Well, first, let me say that the Republicans are hardly unified. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), for the second time, rejected a proposal made this morning by Sen. John Thune (R-SD), with unanimous consent support of all the Republicans, to fund the DHS agencies like the Coast Guard, like FEMA, like CISA, which we need. This is now clearly the Johnson shutdown. It’s a Republican shutdown. All he had to do was put that bill on the floor, and it would have passed overwhelmingly. So, the Republicans are hardly unified. They’re squirming about. Democrats, for three months — or three weeks, rather, have been trying to fund all of the other agencies. We’re not going to fund a lawless ICE or [CBP], but we’ve been trying to fund TSA. We’ve been trying to fund Coast Guard. And the Republicans have blocked it repeatedly. So, this shutdown is on their back and the failure, their failure to want to reform DHS — sorry — to reform ICE and Border Patrol, which are now doing things that — all we want them to do is what every police department does, use warrants, okay? Don’t mask, cooperate with local authorities. [The] American people want that. Everyone wants that. But a group of right-wing Republicans who just like ICE and [CBP] as it is, as much as we all abhor it, and it’s on them.” Brown followed up, “Well, you’ve heard the new DHS secretary say that there will be reforms, particularly to warrants and in other areas. But just to follow up on my original question, look, ICE and CBP, they are funded, with billions of dollars from last year’s budget bill for the next few years. So what did Democrats actually accomplish with this shutdown, where you saw many government employees really struggle?”

CNN [4/2/2026 6:13 PM, Annie Grayer, Michael Williams, 19874K] reports during his confirmation hearing last month, Markwayne Mullin promised to make changes at the Department of Homeland Security if he were to be confirmed as its next secretary. He called the controversial policy under outgoing Secretary Kristi Noem that required her approval of contracts exceeding $100,000 "micromanaging." He said Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would be taken off the "front lines" and revert to relying on more restrictive judicial warrants to enter someone’s home or a private business. Ideally, he said, DHS would not be in the headlines nearly every day as it was under Noem’s leadership. Nine days after being sworn in, Mullin has delivered on some of those promises. But some lawmakers, including Republicans who broadly support President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, want Mullin to go further as he attempts to right an agency that experienced a year of chaos under his predecessor. Mullin is pausing the use of DHS planes to fly migrants to other countries, GOP Rep. Mark Amodei told CNN, though it is unclear if DHS is still chartering flights through other companies. Amodei, who spoke with Mullin on Thursday, said it is part of a broader effort by the new secretary to pause the changes instituted under Noem to evaluate their cost effectiveness. The new policy now requires all contracts exceeding $25 million be approved by the DHS deputy secretary. Leaders of individual components within DHS are now responsible for greenlighting contracts below $25 million. Mullin’s team is also reviewing all immigration detention warehouse projects across the country, a source familiar told CNN. The effort to install mega warehouses for migrant detention is being paused pending further review, the source added. Mullin is also weighing further rule changes related to how ICE operates — a key sticking point as the funding standoff embroiling his agency nears its 50th day, one source familiar with the discussions told CNN. Taken together, these changes signify a broader effort from Mullin to pull back on some of Noem’s policies and rebuild trust with the public and key allies on the Hill, who under Noem’s tenure often felt in the dark on major developments happening in their own backyard and concerned about her priorities.

Washington Examiner [4/2/2026 10:52 AM, Emily Hallas, 1147K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin revoked on Wednesday a policy enacted by former Secretary Kristi Noem, which required her personal sign-off on large government contracts. The development comes after Mullin pledged to rescind the policy during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, calling it "micromanaging" and "unrealistic." With his latest action, the secretary will no longer personally review and approve contracts over $100,000, as Noem had done. Critics said Noem’s policy drastically slowed the flow of federal disaster aid, stalled construction of President Donald Trump’s border wall, and led to over 1,000 contracts awaiting the former homeland security secretary’s approval. "This will streamline the contract process and empower components to carry out their mission to protect the homeland and make America safe again," DHS said in a statement. "[Mullin] re-evaluated the contract processes to make sure DHS is serving the American taxpayer efficiently."

ABC News [4/2/2026 12:14 PM, Luke Barr, 34146K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General is probing contracts that were handled by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and the influence of former staffer Corey Lewandowski, according to sources. The investigation is sprawling, according to sources, and court records indicate that at least one former Federal Emergency Management Agency official has received a notice to retain documents. The IG’s office doesn’t confirm or deny "criminal or administrative" investigations, according to a statement from the office. The office did say it is auditing DHS grants and contracts, which it publicly posted on its website. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment. During his confirmation hearing last month, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that the department will cooperate with any such investigations. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/2/2026 1:27 PM, Adam Liptak, 148038K] reports that Hello! This has been a big week at the Supreme Court, where the justices heard arguments on Wednesday in one of the most consequential cases of the term, over President Trump’s plan to limit birthright citizenship. The relationship between the president and the court has been frosty since a six-member majority rejected Trump’s tariffs program in February, prompting him to call the justices who had ruled against him “fools and lap dogs.” Judging by the justices’ questions on Wednesday, the relationship between the two branches is unlikely to improve anytime soon. Trump attended much of the argument, a first for a sitting president. Despite his presence, things did not go well for the administration. It is never a good sign, for instance, when the first question from the chief justice calls your key argument “very quirky.” Trump left not long after a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union began her argument. The group is representing expectant parents and children challenging the constitutionality of Trump’s order, which would end the promise of U.S. citizenship for nearly all babies born in the country. Instead, children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary residents would not be citizens. He later posted on social media that the United States is the “only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow ‘Birthright’ Citizenship!” The statement was false.

FOX News [4/2/2026 1:25 PM, Staff, 7946K] reports that Republican strategist and attorney Mehek Cooke joins ‘Varney & Co.’ to discuss the need for Congress to act on birthright citizenship and addresses the California attorney general’s remarks regarding President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appearance. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [4/2/2026 1:00 PM, Staff, 38315K] reports while many Americans are following the U.S. Supreme Court case involving President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship, Norman Wong is doing so with a little bit of extra motivation. For him, it is about family. The San Francisco-area resident is the great-grandson of Wong Kim Ark, the Chinese American man who was at the heart of a landmark 1898 Supreme Court decision concerning birthright citizenship. That ruling recognized that the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment grants citizenship by birth on U.S. soil, including to babies born to parents who are foreign nationals. Norman Wong, 76, traveled to Washington and was outside the courthouse as the justices heard arguments on Wednesday. He told Reuters afterward that the justices should reaffirm the court’s 128-year-old precedent and rule against Trump. "I hope America gets this thing right," the retired carpenter said. When Wong Kim Ark, a cook who was in his 20s at the time, returned from a trip to his parents’ homeland of China in 1895, customs officials in San Francisco declared him a non-citizen and sought to prevent him from re-entering the United States. Though he was born in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, the officials said that because his parents were Chinese nationals, so too was he, and as such he was ineligible for entry due to an 1882 law called the Chinese Exclusion Act that restricted Chinese migration and citizenship. The Supreme Court disagreed. In the current case, Norman Wong said, the court’s nine justices should "not reinvent our rights" and should uphold "the way birthright citizenship stood for 128 years of precedents."

Reuters [4/2/2026 8:42 PM, Staff, 38315K] reports that, over a century ago, Norman Wong’s great-grandfather Wong Kim Ark, was told he was not a citizen despite being born in the United States. Wong says his great-grandfather went to the Supreme Court in 1898 and won, but still faced challenges crossing the border. Wong went to the Supreme Court on Wednesday (April 1) to share his family’s experience in hopes of empowering others to stand up. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [4/2/2026 3:22 PM, Amy Qin, 148038K] reports it came as no surprise that the discussion of birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court this week focused on the landmark 1898 precedent set by Wong Kim Ark, which ruled that a child born in San Francisco to Chinese parents was a citizen. But notably peppered throughout the oral arguments on Wednesday were many references to lesser-known cases: Fong Yue Ting. Lau Ow Bew. Yick Wo. Bhagat Singh Thind. Each of these names refers to an Asian immigrant at the center of a Supreme Court case in the late 19th century or early 20th century. In the decades before and after the Wong lawsuit, immigrants from China, Japan and India fought an immigration system that tried to keep people like them from entering the United States and from becoming American citizens. Taken together, the cases reflect a body of case law, beyond that of Wong Kim Ark, that has shaped the American immigration system for more than a hundred years. “The reason why there are so many cases involving Asian immigrants or the children of Asian immigrants,” said Amanda L. Tyler, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, “is because immigration law in this country for a very long time was incredibly unreceptive to Asian immigration and naturalization.”

AP [4/2/2026 2:33 PM, Mike Schneider, 1323K] reports Governors in Florida and Mississippi signed into law measures that require officials to verify the citizenship of voters, just as similar legislation being pushed by President Donald Trump has stalled in Congress. The law signed Wednesday by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was immediately challenged in court by civil rights organizations that said it will make it harder for Floridians to vote. The citizenship provision of the law goes into effect Jan. 1. It requires voters to provide a birth certificate, passport or naturalization certificate as proof of citizenship if their eligibility to vote is challenged by government officials through cross-referencing voter registration applications with motor vehicle records. “Many eligible voters do not have these documents and cannot obtain them for a variety of reasons -- including because they were born without a birth certificate in the segregated South, because their documents were destroyed in a hurricane, or because they cannot afford the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace them,” the civil rights groups said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in South Florida. The voting legislation being pushed aggressively by Trump in Congress would mandate that people provide documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, such as a U.S. passport, citizen naturalization certificate or a combination of a birth certificate and government-issued photo identification. It passed the House but was stalled in the Senate before lawmakers took a spring recess. Under the Florida law, credit cards, student IDs and retirement community identifications can no longer be used as IDs when voting, and the citizenship status of a driver must be reflected on driver’s licenses starting in July 2027. The new Mississippi law signed Wednesday requires local officials registering people to vote to run additional citizenship checks if applicants don’t have or can’t provide driver’s license numbers on their voter application. The law, which takes effect July 1, also requires the secretary of state to run annual checks of the voter rolls against an online database from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to flag any potential noncitizens who could be asked to provide proof of their eligibility. “This is another win for election integrity in Mississippi (and America),” Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, a Republican, said in a social media post. “We will continue to do everything in our power to make it infinitely harder - with a goal to make it impossible - to cheat in our elections!”

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/2/2026 8:24 PM, Bonny Chu, 37576K]

Washington Post [4/2/2026 2:25 PM, Mariana Alfaro, 24826K] reports that Democrats and a coalition of voter rights groups filed separate lawsuits Wednesday and Thursday in an effort to block an executive order that President Donald Trump signed Tuesday that would limit mail ballots. One of the lawsuits was filed by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) alongside the party’s Senate and House campaign committees, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic National Committee. In a statement Thursday, the Democrats described Trump’s order — which seeks to change rules for mail-in ballots, even though Trump has very limited authority on elections — as “the newest attempt by Republicans to interfere in free and fair elections.” Trump’s order directs the U.S. Postal Service to send ballots only to voters who appear on a list of citizens to be compiled by the Department of Homeland Security with the assistance of the Social Security Administration. The order also specifies what types of secure envelopes are to be used for mail ballots. Trump has long assailed voting by mail, which he has claimed — without evidence — is riddled with fraud and which he blames for helping him lose the 2020 election. Democrats said the actions in his executive order amount to a violation of the Constitution, which directly gives states and Congress the power to regulate federal elections and voter rolls.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [4/2/2026 12:26 PM, Alex Miller, 37576K]
USA Today [4/2/2026 5:43 PM, Aysha Bagchi, 70643K]

Univision [4/2/2026 6:55 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law passed in the state senate that seeks to require voters to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register , an initiative inspired by the so-called SAVE America Act promoted by Republican lawmakers at the federal level. The law signed by the governor was immediately challenged in court by civil rights organizations , which argue that it will make it harder for Floridians to vote. The law’s citizenship provision takes effect on January 1. It requires voters to present a birth certificate, passport, or naturalization certificate as proof of U.S. citizenship if government officials question their eligibility to vote by cross-referencing voter registration applications with motor vehicle records. “ Many eligible voters do not have these documents and cannot obtain them for various reasons — including being born without a birth certificate in the segregated South, having their documents destroyed in a hurricane, or being unable to afford the hundreds of dollars it costs to replace them,” the civil rights groups said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in South Florida. Under Florida law, credit cards, student IDs, and retirement community IDs can no longer be used as identification when voting, and a driver’s U.S. citizenship status must be reflected on driver’s licenses starting in July 2027. DeSantis stated that the law improves the security and transparency of Florida’s election system. "In Florida, we will always defend election integrity," the Republican governor asserted. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [4/2/2026 9:50 AM, Ella Lee, 18170K] reports Democrats sued the Trump administration Wednesday to block President Trump’s recent executive order cracking down on mail-in voting. The president announced earlier this week that he directed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, along with the Social Security Administration, to create a list of verified U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote. The U.S. Postal Service will only be permitted to send ballots to those people. “Our Constitution’s Framers anticipated this kind of desire for absolute power,” prominent Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias wrote in the complaint. “They recognized the menace it would pose to ordered liberty and the ways in which it would corrode self-government like an acid.” “And so, to preserve the People’s own sovereignty, they crafted a system of government to resist that threat,” he continued, contending that the Constitution empowers the states and Congress to determine who may vote by mail, not presidents. Democratic leaders in Congress — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) — filed the lawsuit along with the Democratic National Committee and other party organizations.

USA Today [4/2/2026 11:43 AM, Daniella Segura, 70643K] reports millions of eligible Californians may not have the identification or documents needed to vote if the state were to change its election rules, according to a new study released Thursday. The research, conducted by the nonpartisan nonprofit VoteRiders in partnership with the University of Maryland, takes a closer look at who in California lacks a current driver’s license, state ID, or proof of U.S. citizenship. The findings come as voter identification requirements are being discussed at both the state and federal levels, raising questions about how potential changes could affect voter access in the nation’s most populous state. "I think a big key takeaway is significant percentages of eligible voters lack the type of ID and proof of citizenship documents that are increasingly required to vote in elections across the country," said Lauren Kunis, CEO of VoteRiders. "One in five Californians, so that’s 4.5 million U.S. citizens of voting age, do not have a current driver’s license with up-to-date information on it."

AP [4/2/2026 12:48 PM, Michael R. Sisak, 35287K] reports lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student fighting deportation, have asked Judge Emil Bove to step aside from an appellate panel that could weigh in on his case because of Bove’s previous role as a top Justice Department official involved in investigating student protesters. Khalil’s lawyers this week asked that the full complement of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals — minus Bove — review and reverse a January ruling by a panel of three 3rd Circuit judges that put the Trump administration one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the pro-Palestinian activist. As the Justice Department’s Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, Bove "directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions against student protesters on college campuses," including at Columbia, Khalil’s lawyers wrote. Bove’s immigration enforcement work "demonstrates the existence, or at least the appearance of, a conflict of interest" that should disqualify him from having a say in Khalil’s appeal, they said.

The Hill [4/2/2026 6:53 PM, Ryan Mancini, 18170K] reports Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil on Wednesday called on U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Emil Bove to recuse himself from the pro-Palestinian activist’s immigration case, where he risks deportation. Khalil’s lawyers filed a petition requesting Bove’s recusal over his prior roles as the acting deputy attorney general and then the principal associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice (DOJ), during which he was involved in investigating student activists. President Trump later nominated Bove, one of his former defense lawyers, to be a federal judge. Bove, while at the DOJ, “wrote memoranda about and directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions against student protesters on college campuses –– particularly at Columbia University, where Mr. Khalil was enrolled and, soon after, was the first to be arrested pursuant to a retaliatory policy that is at the core of Mr. Khalil’s habeas challenge.” Khalil’s lawyers cited Bove’s own Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, in which he said he would recuse himself if a conflict of interest arose. “Regardless of the veracity of each of these allegations, the public reporting on Judge Bove’s involvement in investigating Columbia student protestors makes it difficult to imaging that a member of the public would not perceive that Judge Bove was involved in decision-making around Mr. Khalil’s case, the first and very high-profile government action against a Columbia student protestor,” Khalil’s lawyers wrote in their motion. A panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where Bove serves as a federal judge, previously said the federal judge who freed Khalil did not have the authority to do so.

NPR [4/3/2026 5:00 AM, Jude Joffe-Block, 34837K] reports as Justice Department officials are working to acquire sensitive voter registration data from states and have recently disclosed a plan to share it with the Department of Homeland Security, a key privacy officer in DOJ’s division tasked with enforcing civil and voting rights laws has resigned. Kilian Kagle was the chief FOIA officer and senior component official for privacy for DOJ’s Civil Rights Division before leaving his post in recent days. His resignation has not been previously reported. For nearly a year, the DOJ has been making unprecedented demands for sensitive voter data from most states – including voters’ driver’s license numbers, partial Social Security numbers, dates of birth and addresses – that some say violate privacy law. In some cases, like in California, the demands went further, to include party affiliation and voting history. The agency has said it needs this data to ensure states are performing voter list maintenance and removing ineligible registrants. DOJ has sued more than two dozen states that have not turned over their voter lists. The Justice Department’s efforts to acquire this voter data come as the Trump administration is investigating 2020 election results and continues to elevate unfounded conspiracy theories about the prevalence of election fraud, which has been shown to be rare.

Bloomberg [4/2/2026 1:17 PM, Vanessa Perdomo, 18082K] reports that Los Angeles Host Committee President Kathryn Schloessman said the city will have additional security if Iran does come for its scheduled matches for the upcoming World Cup. “Security is our number one, two and three priority. It’s everything we think about every day,” Schloessman said in an interview. Iran is scheduled to play two games in Los Angeles and one in Seattle in June. “There’ll be some additional security challenges that will need to be addressed given what’s happening in the world.” There is currently major doubt over Iran’s participation at the World Cup, which kicks off on June 11, given the country is an ongoing war with the US, a co-host of the World Cup. President Trump stated in March that while the team was welcome, he couldn’t ensure their safety. President of Iranian Football Federation, Medhi Taj, responded at the time by saying the team wouldn’t travel to the US without guaranteed safety and asked for their games to be moved to Mexico from the US. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said during an interview with Bloomberg on March 27 that she had heard Iran was no longer attending the tournament. She also said she would be relieved, given the large exile community that is known to oppose the Iranian regime.

Washington Examiner [4/2/2026 6:24 PM, Tiana Lowe Doescher, 1147K] reports while the Senate must clear a much more arduous 60-vote threshold to pass appropriations than the simple majority enjoyed by the House, there’s one practical reality that matters more than the messy math of ending what is now the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history. That is, despite last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill securing almost $200 billion to fund Donald Trump’s deportation operations, this funding is allocated only to front-line law enforcement personnel at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. Any government funding deal that excludes appropriations for ICE and CBP, even if it funds the rest of the Department of Homeland Security, will leave some 20,000 civilian employees at ICE and CBP unpaid. Senate Democrats have made clear that they will not vote to fund ICE and CBP again, an unprecedented abdication of Congress’s historic responsibility to keep the government funded on a bipartisan basis. This recalcitrance persists despite the fact that Republicans made extensive concessions, including a ban on deportations in supposedly sensitive locations such as schools and churches, a requirement that deportation agents identify themselves as federal LEOs, and universal bodycam expansion. Realizing Democrats simply want to defund ICE and CBP, Senate Republicans scrapped those reforms and passed a clean DHS funding bill that excluded funding for ICE and CBP.

USA Today [4/3/2026 4:31 AM, Barbara McQuade, 67103K] reports three more FBI agents fired by Kash Patel, the agency’s director, recently filed lawsuits challenging the legality of their terminations, joining 12 others who sued in December. The alleged sin of the more recent litigants? Participating in the investigation of Donald Trump for interfering in the 2020 presidential election. As our war with Iran continues, the FBI can ill afford to lose experienced agents. One of the hazards of a president who chooses sycophants as leaders is the risk it creates for the American people during a crisis. The air strikes on Iran that began Feb. 28 have prompted at least four terrorist attacks: a man wearing a shirt bearing the colors of Iran’s flag on March 1 shot up a bar in Austin, Texas, killing three people and injuring 13; two teens allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group attempted to detonate an explosive device at a protest in New York City on March 7; a former National Guard member and convicted terrorist shot into a classroom of ROTC students in Norfolk, Virginia, on March 12, killing the instructor and injuring two students; on the same day, a man drove his car into Temple Israel synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself when approached by security guards. Reports indicate that he was distraught after the recent deaths of family members whose home in Lebanon was attacked by Israel. The motives of all of these attacks remain under investigation, but they highlight the risks of underestimating the value of counterterrorism expertise.

FOX News [4/2/2026 7:00 AM, Chad R. Mizelle, 37576K] reports on Wednesday, April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in what may be the most important case in decades. The court will now consider President Donald Trump’s executive order rejecting birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens, and the decision will have vast political and economic consequences for every American. But this all-important case should be open and shut: the Constitution’s text and history are on the president’s side. Nothing in the Constitution requires the government to give citizenship to the children of illegal aliens. The case centers on the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The key phrase in dispute is "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." A plain reading of the grammar ("and") shows that birthright citizenship requires two conditions, not just being born here.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:24 AM, Mike Davis, 37576K] Video: HERE reports at the core of our sovereignty is the right to determine who is entitled to citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment grants citizenship to people born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a case concerning the lawfulness of President Trump’s commonsense executive order that restores the original understanding of birthright citizenship. Joe Biden mass-imported millions of illegal immigrants, but these individuals have no right to citizenship at birth. The text and history of the Fourteenth Amendment make that clear, and the Supreme Court should rule accordingly. Leftists have argued wrongly that the question before the Court was settled a century ago in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). The Chinese parents in that case were legal permanent residents of the United States, and the Court held that their children were entitled to citizenship. The case had nothing to do with temporary visitors to the United States, nor did it have anything to do with children born to illegal immigrants. After Wong Kim Ark, the view in the legal community of its holding was, as Justice Neil Gorsuch put it, "a mess." Many scholars, including a dozen treatises, for instance, agreed with the position that Solicitor General John Sauer took; that is, Wong Kim Ark never decided the question of birthright citizenship for illegal immigrants or temporary residents. The debates and original public understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment also support the Trump administration’s view of birthright citizenship. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [4/2/2026 5:43 AM, Cheryl K. Chumley, 1323K] reports about the same time that the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing arguments over the end of birthright citizenship and determining if President Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order banning the practice passed constitutional and 14th Amendment muster, Pew Research was reporting this: “About 9 percent of U.S. births in 2023 were to unauthorized or temporary legal immigrant mothers.” The anchor baby matter has hit surge status. And that was 2023. In February of 2025, the Taiwan Immigrants’ Global News Network reported this: “According to statistics, about 400,000 ‘anchor babies’ are born in the United States every year, including children born in the United States by illegal immigrants, legal residents and foreigners holding short-term visas.” The numbers are tough to call; the government doesn’t specifically track births by illegal immigrants on U.S. soil. But Pew’s findings are significant — shocking, even. Nearly a tenth of babies are born to those who shouldn’t be here, or to those who are only allowed to be here for a short time? No wonder Democrats are scrambling to prevent a revision of anchor baby policies: This near-10 percent represents a huge swath of would-be voters who could very well, and more like probably would, be dependent on entitlement and social welfare funds. Boom, baby. Let the socialism go forth.

Washington Examiner [4/2/2026 11:39 AM, Conn Carroll, 1147K] reports it is not surprising that the three liberal justices on the Supreme Court were antagonistic toward President Donald Trump’s Solicitor General John Sauer during oral argument in Trump v. Barbara on Wednesday, nor were some of the softballs tossed Sauer’s way by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh. But there were three key exchanges between Sauer and the other three justices that not only get to the heart of the legal questions involved, but also indicate that Trump will most likely lose this case when it is released later this June. In a strategic decision he may later regret, Sauer chose not to challenge the Supreme Court’s 1898 holding in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that the child of two Chinese citizens born in San Francisco was a natural born citizen of the United States by virtue of the first clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. Instead, Sauer argued that since the majority decision repeatedly mentioned that Wong Kim Ark’s parents were "domiciled residents" of the United States when she was born, this limits the extension of natural born citizenship to those born of parents with both "lawful presence" in the country and an "intent to remain permanently."

San Francisco Chronicle [4/2/2026 10:30 AM, Harry Mok, 3833K] reports Wong Kim Ark’s fight for citizenship is before the Supreme Court again. Opening arguments started on Wednesday in a Supreme Court case over President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, the right Wong fought for and won. Until Trump attacked birthright citizenship, most people had probably never heard of Wong, the Chinese San Francisco native whose 1898 Supreme Court case established the legal precedent for birthright citizenship. In the late 1800s, anti-Chinese sentiment was high in the U.S., fueled by an economic downturn. The xenophobic scapegoating led to the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese laborers from entering the country and Chinese immigrants from becoming citizens. In 1895, Wong returned to the U.S. after traveling to China, and immigration officials in San Francisco blocked him from reentering the country, citing the Exclusion Act. Wong sued, asserting that he was a citizen under the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in 1868 and gave citizenship and legal rights to formerly enslaved African Americans and their descendants. The decision for the courts was whether those rights for African Americans applied to others. Lower courts sided with Wong, and the case went to the Supreme Court. The ruling hinged on the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Wong won, but the 14th Amendment’s wording is the heart of the Trump administration’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship.

CNN [4/2/2026 6:04 PM, Jeff Winter, 19874K] reports one day after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, the world’s largest group of police chiefs urged the White House to organize a sit-down with federal, state and local law enforcement leaders to better coordinate immigration enforcement and ensure community safety. While the White House was responsive, a swarm of other law enforcement agencies, officers’ unions and government organizations reached out to the International Association of Chiefs of Police and said they wanted to participate, IACP president David Rausch told CNN. Leaders from nearly 20 groups – including the National League of Cities, the National District Attorneys Association and the Small and Rural Law Enforcement Executives’ Associations – met in early March to align on how to address what was happening in their jurisdictions. The IACP-led gathering produced a set of "shared principles" calling for clear communication between federal and local agencies, a focused targeting of violent criminals and broader safety measures. Those guidelines, outlined in a document released Tuesday, aim to rebuild the relationships between agencies and local communities left frayed after police departments were pulled into the vortex of public backlash in response to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, like those seen in Minneapolis. The publication, which highlights the growing friction between federal, state and local law enforcement officials, is polite but direct in stating concerns over how immigration enforcement operations "can affect officer safety, public trust, and the effectiveness of joint operations" in the cities where those operations are conducted. The White House was supportive of the IACP’s new efforts, Rausch said. Asked for a response to the IACP publication, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in part, "Partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest criminal illegal aliens across the country." "ICE has supercharged efforts with state and local law enforcement to assist federal immigration officers in our efforts to make America safe again," the spokesperson said, adding those agreements have increased more than 1,000%. However, assisting with ICE operations is exactly what some agencies are trying to avoid. Local departments have no authority in civil immigration enforcement, and in many cities, police are prohibited by local law from participating in it.

FOX News [4/2/2026 1:42 PM, Elaine Mallon, 37576K] reports that more than a dozen Democratic-led states are accusing the Trump administration of violating a federal court order by sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, asking a judge to enforce the ruling. The states’ complaint asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to enforce its existing injunction blocking HHS from sharing Medicaid data with ICE. "The Trump Administration appears to be defying a direct court order blocking it from sharing the personal, sensitive data of individuals including U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. It’s invasive — and deeply troubling," said California Attorney General Bonta, who led the coalition of 22 states. "When Californians signed up for Medi-Cal, they did so with the understanding that their data would not be used for purposes unrelated to administering this program. I urge the court to enforce its earlier order and make clear that these guardrails exist for anyone who is lawfully residing in the United States." The complaint stems from a lawsuit spearheaded by California in July 2025 against the Trump administration. The lawsuit accused Health and Human Services of violating federal law through its "mass transfer of sensitive Medicaid data" of both lawful permanent and temporary residents. In addition to California, attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin, and the governor of Kentucky signed on to the complaint.

The New York Times [4/2/2026 12:48 PM, Zach Montague, 148038K] reports that a coalition of legal groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, saying the agency had allowed federal immigration agents to routinely enter homes to carry out searches and arrests in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The lawsuit, filed in the District of Columbia, contends that the Homeland Security Department and its subsidiary, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, broke with their longstanding practices last year in adopting an undisclosed policy that allowed agents to force their way into homes without judicial warrants. The suit asks that a federal judge invalidate the policy entirely. The legal groups brought the case on behalf of several people in Minnesota whose homes were searched. The lawsuit described how residents faced violent confrontations with armed agents in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. “With guns drawn and masks on, DHS agents have left children hiding in closets, detained U.S. citizens, and marched people in their pajamas out into the street in subzero temperatures,” the lawsuit said. The existence of the new home entry policy came to light through information provided by two government whistle-blowers this year. Bloomberg [4/2/2026 2:35 PM, Angelica Franganillo Diaz, 763K] reports that the proposed class action filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, claims that officials authorized agents to carry out home entries based on administrative warrants, rather than those approved by a judge. The ACLU, Protect Democracy Project, and others suing on behalf of six plaintiffs said to have been the subject of such action said DHS has "abandoned" longstanding policy for a new one that "tramples" Fourth Amendment rights. The use of administrative warrants has become a sticking point in negotiations over DHS funding and immigration enforcement reforms. Democrats have pushed to require judicial sign-off for home entries, while DHS has defended the legality of administrative warrants in certain circumstances. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said at his confirmation hearing that he’d consider curbing their use for home entry. Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief to block the policy and prevent further alleged violations. The plaintiffs are represented by the ACLU Foundation of the District of Columbia, the Protect Democracy Project, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, and Dorsey & Whitney LLP. In addition to DHS, the suit names Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. The case is Gibson Brown et al v. Mullin, D.D.C., 1:26-cv-01131, complaint., 4/2/26.

FOX News [4/2/2026 7:17 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it arrested several illegal aliens convicted of crimes, including arson, drug trafficking and burglary, as part of ongoing enforcement efforts across the country. The agency said nearly 70% of those arrested were individuals who had been charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S., underscoring what officials described as a continued focus on public safety. "Yesterday, the men and women of ICE continued to make American communities safer by arresting arsonists, assailants, drug dealers and other criminal illegal aliens," acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. "Under President Donald Trump, if you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will find you, and we will arrest you.”

CyberScoop [4/2/2026 5:15 PM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed it is using Paragon spyware, prompting outrage Thursday from a trio of House Democrats. In response to a letter from the lawmakers inquiring about Paragon’s use, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons wrote that he had authorized the use of “cutting-edge technological tools” to help the Homeland Security Investigations division fight fentanyl, particularly against organizations using encrypted communications. “Any use of the technology will comply with constitutional requirements and be coordinated with the ICE Office of the Principal Legal Advisor,” Lyons wrote Wednesday, without naming Paragon specifically. “Further, use of the technology will align with and support the Homeland Security Task Force’s strategic initiatives to identify, disrupt, and dismantle Foreign Terrorist Organizations, addressing the escalating fentanyl epidemic and safeguarding national security.” But Democratic Reps. Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Shontel Brown of Ohio and Yassamin Ansari of Arizona weren’t pleased with ICE’s answer. “It’s outrageous that [the Department of Homeland Security] and ICE are using this spyware with no Congressional oversight and a complete lack of compliance standards,” they said in a joint statement shared with CyberScoop. “Given the track record of the Trump Administration, ICE’s feigned compliance with existing standards doesn’t mean much; we need to see proof and evidence of ironclad safeguards. “That’s why we requested so much documentation, which they have completely failed to provide,” they continued. “House Democrats will continue to demand more information and hold ICE accountable for its abuses.”

The Hill [4/2/2026 1:04 PM, Ellen Mitchell, 18170K] reports that the Marine Corps is seeking to reassure military families that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers will not be conducting immigration enforcement at boot camp graduation ceremonies. ICE officers will be present outside graduation events but only for “increased force protection measures” and to “expedite enhanced base access procedures,” according to a Wednesday press release from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island in Beaufort, S.C. “Due to an elevated force protection posture, additional support from federal law enforcement partners is essential,” the release states. “Their assistance enables us to maintain thorough and efficient screening while minimizing delays for our visitors. This collaborative effort ensures we uphold the highest security standards, protect critical infrastructure, and provide a safe and orderly environment for families celebrating this important milestone.” The messaging comes after the Marine Corps on Tuesday announced ICE officers would be stationed outside graduation events to identify whether any family members of new Marines lacked legal status, causing an outcry. The original notice, posted to the Parris Island website and first reported by NBC News, said federal law enforcement personnel would be present at installation access points “to conduct enhanced screening and lawful immigration status inquiries during recruit family and graduation days.”

CBS News [4/2/2026 9:28 AM, Haley Ott and Emmet Lyons, 51110K] reports two gay Iranian men seeking asylum in the United States over fear they could be executed in Iran are facing an uncertain future, with U.S. officials offering no clarity about whether they could be deported amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran if their asylum cases are unsuccessful. Ali and Adel, who are using assumed names to protect their identities, entered the U.S. from Mexico in 2025, just before President Trump took office for his second term. They were facing charges at home over their sexuality, Rebekah Wolf, director of the Immigration Justice campaign at the American Immigration Council, told CBS News. In Iran, "they were charged with a crime that is punishable by execution, by hanging, in fact," Wolf said. "In many cases, it is not so stark or obvious what an asylum seeker is facing. I think this is by far the clearest case of why our asylum system exists. They are facing execution by a regime that we believe should not be in power. That, we’ve demonstrated through our own actions … in United States foreign policy." The couple initially fled from Iran to Turkey and "stayed there for a number of years" before traveling through South and then Central America to reach the U.S., Wolf told CBS News. "Turkey is not particularly friendly to the LGBT community either, but also … they don’t have laws that allow you to seek permanent asylum there," Wolf said. "The question of whether or not there were other places that they could have stayed, there’s sort of two answers to that. One is that many of those countries themselves are not friendly to LGBTQ communities.”

Washington Times [4/2/2026 1:28 PM, Staff, 1323K] reports that a coalition of pro-Trump immigration groups is calling on President Trump to dramatically escalate deportation efforts — targeting employers who hire undocumented workers and using the IRS to track migrants working under stolen Social Security numbers. The Mass Deportation Coalition released a 104-page blueprint Wednesday saying Mr. Trump’s Phase I approach — focusing on immigrants with criminal records — has failed to deliver the numbers he promised. ICE has been averaging about 1,250 deportations a day, less than half the pace needed to hit 1 million this year. “Worksite enforcement is the most critical missing enforcement policy for the Trump administration to get on track and meet his agenda,” the coalition said. The blueprint calls for raiding job sites, penalizing employers, blocking undocumented immigrants’ access to banks and seizing assets. The coalition said the threat of losing vehicles, bank accounts or tools “would encourage voluntary departure.” Polls back the harder line. Citing the Immigration Accountability Project, the coalition said 72% of Americans support employer audits, 71% want firms penalized and 69% back IRS fines for businesses hiring undocumented workers.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:24 AM, Lindsay Kornick, 37576K] reports Dropkick Murphys demanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) be shipped "out of Boston" in parody of their famous song at the "No Kings" rally on Saturday. The Celtic punk band performed their "I’m Shipping Up to Boston" at a rally in protest of the Trump administration in Boston. However, the band altered the lyrics to "Ship Them Out of Boston," calling it a "special ICE edition" in protest of ICE operations. "You know what the Dropkick Murphys want to bring to this event and to all these protests? A little less kumbaya and a little more of ‘we’re sick of this b---s---,’" Dropkick Murphys lead singer Ken Casey reportedly said, according to The Daily Free Press. During the rally, the band also performed a song called "Don’t Call Me a F---ing Terrorist" where Casey called out people who labeled others who "pay their taxes" and "help the poor" as terrorists. "Here we are, people with just a generation or two [removed], who want to forget how their family benefited from this country’s welcoming hand and want to shut the door right behind them," Casey said. Dropkick Murphys also changed another of their songs, "First Class Loser," to refer to President Donald Trump, saying it "fit him to a T." Fox News Digital reached out to ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and the White House for comment.

New York Times [4/2/2026 3:21 PM, Madeleine Ngo, 148038K] reports an immigration judge on Thursday ruled against the deportation of a Pennsylvania man who had spent 43 years in prison and was set to be freed after his murder conviction was overturned, only to be picked up by immigration agents immediately after. Subramanyam Vedam, 64, was a green card holder who came to the United States with his parents from India when he was 9 months old. He was exonerated in October, after a judge vacated his murder conviction based on ballistics evidence that prosecutors had failed to disclose during his trials. The day after the charges were dropped, Mr. Vedam was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. At the time, the agency cited a 1999 deportation order tied to a felony drug conviction and described Mr. Vedam as a career criminal. He has been held at a facility in central Pennsylvania for the past six months.

AP [4/2/2026 3:31 PM, Mark Scolforo, 2238K] reports that a judge cleared the way Thursday for the potential release of an Indian citizen who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last year after his Pennsylvania murder conviction was overturned following four decades in prison. The decision came after a four-hour hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam insisted he did not fatally shoot Thomas Kinser in 1980 and was questioned by a Department of Homeland Security lawyer. Vedam participated in the hearing Wednesday remotely from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania. "I was young and stupid and did a lot of dumb things back then," Vedam said. The federal government wants to deport the 64-year-old to India, which he left as a baby in 1962. U.S. Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos said Vedam proved he was genuinely rehabilitated and did not pose a danger to the public. He cited Vedam’s efforts to improve literacy among inmates and his close ties to his family, including nieces who have never known him as a free man. Vedam "has grown as a person" and "began to dedicate himself to enriching other people’s lives and ultimately his own through academic study and enrichment," the judge said Thursday. A DHS lawyer said he can still be deported on unrelated drug distribution convictions. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has a month to appeal. Vedam’s lawyer indicated he plans to seek his client’s release on bond.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:55 PM, Louis Casiano, 37576K] reports an illegal immigrant from Guatemala accused of sexually abusing a 5-year-old Long Island, N.Y., girl he was babysitting has been charged with rape, federal authorities said Thursday. Carlos Aguilar Reynoso is charged with predatory sex assault against a child, vaginal sexual contact with a child, sexual abuse, acting in a manner to injure a child, and resisting arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. Reynoso was originally charged with only child endangerment. However, local authorities asked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest him while they gathered evidence to build a larger case against him. Reynoso, 27, was babysitting the girl as a favor to her mother. When the mother returned home from work on Feb. 1, she discovered her daughter bleeding, prompting her to take her to a hospital, authorities said. "While local llocal law enforcementw enforcement processed DNA evidence and built their case, they contacted ICE to arrest this pedophile so he would not be released into our communities to prey on more innocent children," said Acting DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. "On March 16, ICE transferred this monster to local law enforcement to face justice for his reprehensible crimes," she added. ICE took Reynoso into custody on Feb. 2 as he was coming out of a police precinct, where he appeared for a desk ticket on the child endangerment charge, the New York Post previously reported. He was turned over to local authorities on March 16. A federal immigration judge issued a deportation order for Reynoso on the same day. Authorities don’t know when he illegally entered the United States, but DHS noted that seven of the 10 safest cities cooperate with ICE.

CBS New York [4/2/2026 3:42 PM, Alexa Herrera, Nick Caloway, andChristine Sloan, 51110K] reports a pastor in New Jersey was taken into custody by immigration agents while working at his day job, according to church members. Yeison Cortes Vasquez was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 20. He is a pastor at The Gathering Place Church in Elizabeth. Officials from the National Latino Evangelical Coalition said on Wednesday that Vasquez has no criminal record. He has been ministering to other detainees while in custody at Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, they said in a statement. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the pastor illegally entered the country in January of 2016 from Colombia. Vasquez allegedly overstayed a tourist visa that expired in July of that year. "Against our nation’s laws, he knowingly overstayed his visa by nearly a decade and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his removal procedures," the statement read. "Any allegation that Cortes Vasquez was denied a bible while in detention are FALSE. ICE facilities do not deny detainees accesses to holy coverings or texts. Detainees are given the opportunity to practice their religions. ICE provides all religious items permitted as soon as detainees make the request," the spokesperson added.

Breitbart [4/2/2026 5:30 PM, Randy Clark, 2238K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is asking Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Fairfax County sanctuary officials to honor a third ICE detainer lodged on an illegal alien accused of committing a murder in Fairfax County, Virginia. The three murders occurred within the northern Virginia county in a roughly one-month period. As reported by Breitbart News, ICE lodged the latest arrest detainer on 28-year-old Misael Lopez-Gomez, an illegal alien from Guatemala who authorities believe is responsible for the blunt force death of his 3-month-old daughter. ICE is requesting that Spanberger and other Virginia sanctuary politicians hand Lopez-Gomez over to ICE agents in the event of his release rather than release him back onto Fairfax streets. The child was transported to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced deceased. According to authorities, during the investigation into the infant’s death, detectives and hospital staff observed evidence consistent with abuse. Preliminary results from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma. Lopez-Gomez is now being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center with no bond, facing charges of Second-Degree Murder and Felony Child Abuse. Acting Assistant DHS Secretary Lauen Bis commented on the arrest of Lopez-Gomez and the request for his transfer to ICE in the event of release, saying, "This cold-blooded killer murdered his own three-month-old daughter. We are calling on Governor Spanberger to commit to not releasing this barbaric animal from jail into Virginia communities. According to DHS, Lopez-Gomez admitted he illegally entered the United States along the southwest border with Mexico in July 2023 near Albuquerque, New Mexico. As reported by Breitbart News, the request comes one day after a similar request was made of Virginia authorities to hold another illegal alien accused of murder in Fairfax County. According to DHS, the third request to detain an illegal alien came in late February when the agency issued a detainer on a career criminal illegal alien, Abdul Jalloh, a citizen of Sierra Leone, after his arrest in the fatal stabbing of a 41-year-old U.S. citizen, Stephanie Minter of Fredericksburg.

Daily Caller [4/2/2026 4:52 PM, Derek VanBuskirk, 803K] reports three of the four suspects facing trial for murder in Fairfax County, Virginia, this year entered the U.S. illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said. DHS directly called out Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger by saying she must end sanctuary policies in the state in a post on the alleged murderers Thursday. The department’s post comes after Fairfax County officials have allegedly refused to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. ICE issued a detainer on the most recent arrests Wednesday, calling on "Virginia sanctuary politicians" not to let another "criminal illegal alien from jail back onto the streets," according to a DHS statement.

Univision [4/2/2026 8:42 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Elmer Flores, a Hispanic father, was detained by immigration agents minutes after taking his pregnant wife and daughters to a WIC appointment—a program that provides nutritional and medical assistance to pregnant women, infants, and children. Flores was arrested on March 9 at the WIC office located within the Mecklenburg County Health Department. According to the organization Siembra NC, ICE agents approached his vehicle and detained him while he was looking for a parking spot. At a press conference, Siembra NC stated that the agents did not have a warrant to arrest Flores, but rather appeared to be checking cars in that parking lot. His wife, Kimberlin, had already entered the building when the arrest took place. “He said ‘honey’ (over the phone), and I heard them telling him to get out of the car,” Kimberlin said. That was the last time she spoke with him before learning of his detention. According to the family, Flores has no criminal record and is the primary breadwinner for his household. He is currently being held at the ICE processing center in Folkston, Georgia. His detention left his wife and two young daughters without income and at risk of losing their home. Flores and his wife are originally from Honduras and have been living in the United States for approximately four years. Witnesses told the organization Siembra NC that, following the arrest, several people inside the facility were too afraid to leave for hours. “We’re supposed to be a safe place,” said a Mecklenburg County employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. “We need to do more to make the community feel protected when receiving these services.” On the day Flores was detained, WIC staff did not allow his wife to leave for fear that she would also be detained. “These cases are deeply troubling because people are being detained in places where they go to support their families,” said Andreina Malki, advocacy manager at Siembra NC. “No one should have to choose between feeding their children and risking their freedom.” Kimberlin launched a fundraising campaign to pay for an immigration lawyer for Flores, as they lack the necessary resources. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [4/2/2026 3:57 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports an illegal alien, deported from the United States four times, is now accused of kidnapping, raping, and sodomizing a child, among other things, in Lexington, Kentucky. This week, Lexington police arrested 31-year-old illegal alien Jorge Luis Martinez-Ulloa of Honduras and charged him with kidnapping a minor, two counts of first-degree rape involving a victim under 12 years old, two counts of first-degree sodomy involving a victim under 12 years old, two counts of sexual abuse of a victim under 12 years old, and first-degree strangulation. Following Martinez-Ulloa’s arrest, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents lodged a detainer against the illegal alien, asking Lexington police to notify them if he is released from jail at any time. Martinez-Ulloa first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in 2012 near Laredo, Texas. He was deported to his native Honduras, but illegally crossed the border on Feb. 21, 2021, Feb. 28, 2021, and March 7, 2021. At an unknown later date and location, Martinez-Ulloa crossed the border for the fifth time.

Univision [4/2/2026 4:20 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) decision to pause plans for new ICE detention centers across the country has created uncertainty in Georgia cities where these projects were being considered, such as Social Circle and Oakwood. Local authorities confirmed to N+ Univision Atlanta that, despite the federally announced pause, they have not received any recent direct communication from DHS or ICE. In contrast, Social Circle administrator Eric Taylor said the pause does not change the city’s position, which continues to prepare as if the project were still underway. Both officials agreed on one key point: the lack of communication from federal authorities. Although DHS has paused plans nationwide, this does not imply a definitive cancellation.

USA Today [4/2/2026 10:45 AM, Irene Wright, 70643K] reports Atlanta residents scrolling social media or clicking through YouTube videos may catch a new ad running in opposition to ICE recruitment. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have had an increased presence in the city as they aid TSA agents at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and as two detention sites outside Atlanta prepare to host detainees for the first time later this spring. Now, an ad is asking ICE officers how they will handle talking to their kids about ICE operations, and says they always have the choice to step away.

CBS Chicago [4/2/2026 8:38 PM, Todd Feurer and John Odenthal, 51110K] Video: HERE reports Chicago area leaders on Thursday accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of carrying out arrests at the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse in defiance of an Illinois law prohibiting such activity. The Cook County Public Defender’s office said ICE agents showed up at the courthouse on Thursday, and also arrested a woman at the courthouse on March 13. In October, Gov. JB Pritzker signed an Illinois law banning immigration agents from executing civil warrants at courthouses. Cook County’s chief judge also has issued an order with the same prohibition. "Our state made a democratic choice to protect people’s access to the courts. We said that survivors, witnesses, families, and community members should be able to walk into a courthouse without fear that doing the right thing would put a target on their backs. Yet the Trump administration, fully aware of Illinois’ law, has shown up at Domestic Violence Court again and again," said Illinois state Sen. Graciela Guzmán (D-Chicago).

Chicago Tribune [4/2/2026 5:06 PM, Tess Kenny, 5209K] reports the federal government has quietly reinstated the work authorization of Radule Bojovic, the former Hanover Park police officer arrested last fall for allegedly overstaying a tourist visa. The reinstatement comes after U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso last month ordered that the government was temporarily barred from revoking the Montenegro native’s employment authorization. The government revoked Bojovic’s work permit in January. He was subsequently let go from the Hanover Park Police Department. Alonso had set a status hearing for the case on Tuesday, when his 14-day temporary restraining order was set to expire. However, in a joint status report filed last Friday, the government stated it had reinstated Bojovic’s work permit authorization through 2030. The report also said that parties have been in communication “regarding next steps to resolve this matter without contested litigation.” Despite Bojovic regaining work authorization, his employment status with Hanover Park had remained unchanged as of Thursday afternoon, a village spokesperson confirmed to the Tribune. Bojovic is not currently employed with the village, the spokesperson said, denying further comment.

Chicago Tribune [4/2/2026 7:44 PM, Madeline Buckley and Jake Sheridan, 5209K] reports Cook County leaders decried an appearance by federal immigration agents Thursday at a domestic violence-focused courthouse, blasting the effort as a repeat arrest attempt, creating a chilling effect on victims. Immigration agents have been spotted at county courthouses five times since the end of February, targeting the county’s domestic violence court four times and making arrests on three occasions, said Sharlyn Grace, senior policy adviser at the Cook County public defender’s office, during a news conference Thursday. On Thursday, a pair of agents entered the courthouse, one even checking in their gun with security, but the agents left without making an arrest, Grace said. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle cited the Illinois law barring federal agents from making civil immigration arrests in or near courthouses to argue the Thursday appearance fit a pattern from President Donald Trump’s administration. "That is not simply a disagreement, it’s a blatant disregard for the rule of law, for the authority of local government and for the safety of the communities we serve," she said during a news conference condemning the appearances and arrests Thursday afternoon. She called the targeting of domestic courts "particularly egregious and disgraceful.” "Survivors seeking justice and safety should not be intimidated or forced to worry about the safety of their families when they take the courageous step of seeking help," Preckwinkle said. "That’s not justice and it makes our communities less safe.”

The AP [4/2/2026 5:12 PM, Sophia Tareen] reports the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his statements against Israel. Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Supporters called Thursday for his immediate release and his attorneys said he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat. His attorneys say the claims have no merit. Instead, they believe Sarsour, 53, was targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts, which have faced scrutiny over allegations of limited due process and high conviction rates of Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims. The offenses included allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli officers, according to attorney Munjed Ahmad. Attorneys said Sarsour, born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has no criminal record in the U.S. Sarsour is being held at county jail outside Indianapolis. His attorneys have filed a petition seeking his release. The New York Times [4/2/2026 9:20 PM, Jacey Fortin, 148038K] reports Lauren Bis, a spokeswoman for the Homeland Security Department, said in a statement on Thursday that Mr. Sarsour had been convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at the homes of members of the Israeli armed forces and illegally attempting to possess weapons and ammunition. Mr. Sarsour, who has no criminal record in the United States, has been a frequent supporter of Palestinian rights and a board member of American Muslims for Palestine. That organization said in a statement on Wednesday that he was “a pillar of the community and a law-abiding Milwaukee business owner.” This week, Mr. Sarsour was taken to a detention facility in the Chicago area before being transferred to a lockup in Indiana, according to American Muslims for Palestine. Othman Atta, the executive director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, said he had spoken by phone with Mr. Sarsour on Thursday afternoon. He said that Mr. Sarsour had been collecting mail at an office on the south side of Milwaukee on Monday morning when he was approached outside by an armed man in plain clothes. Then, about a dozen vehicles pulled up with more men, also in plain clothes, who identified themselves as ICE agents before they took him away, Mr. Atta said. Ms. Bis said that Mr. Sarsour’s first attempt to obtain a visa to enter the United States had been denied based on his criminal record in Israel. But in 1993, he entered the United States as a conditional resident, and he obtained a green card in 1998. She did not specify what inaccurate information he had provided on his green card application.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [4/2/2026 4:42 PM, Kanishka Singh, 38315K]

NewsMax [4/2/2026 7:26 PM, Sophia Tareen, 3760K] reports the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations Thursday from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his criticism of Israel. Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who surrounded his car on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Supporters called Thursday for his immediate release. His attorneys said he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat, a claim they say has no merit. Instead, they believe Sarsour, 53, was targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts, which have faced scrutiny over allegations of limited due process and high conviction rates of Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims. The offenses included allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli officers, according to attorney Munjed Ahmad. "Our government should not be doing the bidding of a foreign government," Ahmad said of Israel. "There’s no question in my mind is that this is to stifle the discourse on the Palestinian narrative.” Attorneys said Sarsour, born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has no criminal record in the U.S., where he has lived for more than 30 years. They said the U.S. government has known about Sarsour’s conviction in Israel since he came to the U.S. in 1993. An email message left Thursday for ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned. Sarsour’s attorneys have likened the case to that of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student activist who faces deportation because the federal government said he was a foreign policy threat.

AP [4/2/2026 2:06 PM, Ryan J. Foley, 35287K] reports that a recent inspection at the nation’s largest immigration detention facility found dozens of violations of national standards that potentially exposed detainees to excessive force, disease, and other unsafe conditions. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight performed a congressionally mandated inspection over three days in February at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, according to a report posted online by ICE this week. The report documents 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security, medical care and more. It was the first inspection released by that office since Camp East Montana was hastily built and opened last summer. The number of deficiencies at the camp is highly unusual. The most found in any other inspection by the oversight office so far this year was 13. "This report is scathing. Camp East Montana gets an F," said attorney Randall Kallinen, who represents the family of a 36-year-old detainee who died there in January — one of at least three deaths since its opening. "It’s very dangerous. Not only are the detainees in danger of excessive force, they are also in danger of improper or negligent medical care and mental health care, as well as danger from other detainees." An ICE spokesperson said the new contract will result in improved medical care, more staff on site and stricter oversight by ICE.

NPR [4/3/2026 12:03 AM, Sergio Martínez-Beltrán, 28764K] reports a long paved road, flanked by desert sand, leads to the big white tents usually housing some 3,000 immigrants with beds for up to 2,000 more. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detention center is located on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss military base and is known as Camp East Montana. Opened in August 2025, it’s currently the largest immigrant detention center in the U.S. and one of the facilities with the most detainee deaths. Out of 25 people who died in ICE detention since October, 3 were at Camp East Montana. Concerns are rising among immigration advocates, lawmakers and former detainees about the company that initially ran the detention center, Acquisition Logistics, which had never run a center before securing a $1.3 billion federal contract. Advocates and multiple members of Congress are calling for the facility to be shut down. "When they say in the news that this is the worst facility in the country, they damn right," said Owen Ramsingh, a man from the Netherlands who was detained at Camp East Montana for more than four months before being deported in February. He called the living conditions, food, bathrooms, and treatment by the facility’s staff "horrible." ICE inspectors in February found 49 violations to detention standards at the facility, including inadequate medical care and failure from staff to "accurately document required checks to prevent significant self-harm and suicide." More than 45 people interviewed by the ACLU at Camp East Montana "reveal alarming conditions of confinement and repeated instances of coercion, physical force, and threats against immigrants facing third-country deportations, in violation of agency policies and standards, as well as statutory and constitutional protections," the civil liberties group said in its December letter to ICE.

Telemundo 48 El Paso [4/2/2026 5:47 PM, Luisa Barrios, 19K] reports a federal inspection conducted in February at the Camp East Montana detention center in El Paso identified numerous serious deficiencies related to security, medical health, use of force, and internal procedures, according to a report by the Office of Detention Oversight (ODO). The inspection was carried out between February 10 and 12 as part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) monitoring program to assess compliance with the 2025 National Detention Standards. According to the report, one of the most worrying findings was that a detainee managed to escape from the center because there was no staff assigned to check the perimeter, which represents a direct failure in security protocols. The report notes that several detainees were not classified or assigned housing within the first 12 hours, as required by regulations. In some cases, the process was completed days or even weeks later, which can affect the safety and well-being of the detainees. The Office of the ODO concluded that the facility does not fully comply with several key standards, particularly in areas that directly impact the safety, health, and rights of detainees. ICE will be required to develop a corrective action plan to address the identified deficiencies.

CBS News [4/2/2026 10:19 AM, S.E. Jenkins and Marissa Armas, 51110K] reports the Dallas community leader and SMU alum who has spent the past several months detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being accused of staying in U.S. illegally following a traffic stop last year lost his case Wednesday night and will be deported, his legal team confirmed. After seven months inside ICE’s Bluebonnet Detention Facility northwest of Abilene, Omar Salazar was told he will be sent back to Mexico, his lawyers and family said. "Everyone was very saddened by the decision," said Jacob Momty, Omar Salazar’s attorney. "They are resilient people, but this is really, really straining them. And, this was a very difficult night." His lawyers said his voluntary departure must happen within 60 days. "Today, we received the news we were hoping not to get," Omar Salazar’s wife, Ella, wrote in a post on social media. "We lost our case. Omar will be sent back to Mexico soon and I will be following him once I am able to get my passport in order. I’m not sure if I will be able to keep things together well enough to finish out the semester at school, but I am glad that Omar and I were finally got to be together like we always planned. This experience has been awful and something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy."

Los Angeles Times [4/2/2026 5:20 PM, Suhauna Hussain, 12718K] reports California’s two biggest pension funds have invested more than $2.7 billion with companies contracting with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security, a new analysis shows. CalPERS, the statewide megafund for public employees, has put some $1.6 billion into tech firm Palantir, weapons manufacturers General Dynamics and L3Harris, and telecommunications companies AT&T and CACI, according to an analysis conducted by nonprofit advocacy and research group Stand.earth that was released Thursday.

Blaze [4/2/2026 6:50 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1556K] reports the Department of Homeland Security says that local California officials ignored a federal immigration detainer request against two illegal aliens who went on to kill a single mom. Kembery Chirinos-Flores, 24, was found bleeding from gunshot wounds in a car in Sunnyvale on Jan. 7. She was pronounced dead and left behind a 5-year-old son. In March, the Sunnyvale Dept. of Public Safety announced that two illegal aliens were arrested and charged with her murder. They were identified as Franquin Inestroza-Martinez and Gerzon Jose Chirinos-Munguia. Detectives said they found the shotgun they believe to be the murder weapon. On Monday, DHS excoriated the Santa Clara County "sanctuary politicians" for releasing both of the suspects while refusing their ICE detainer requests. "Instead of cooperating with ICE, Santa Clara sanctuary politicians REFUSED to honor ICE’s arrest detainer and will not notify ICE when these murderers are released from jail," reads a statement from Acting Assistant Sec. Lauren Bis. "This insanity of refusing to turn cold-blooded killers over to ICE must end.”

San Diego Union Tribune [4/2/2026 7:15 PM, Alex Riggins, 1257K] reports a husband and wife who operate at least two North County elder-care facilities are facing human trafficking and wage theft charges for allegedly forcing at least three employees to work around the clock with minimal pay, in part by threatening to use their immigration status against them, San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan announced Thursday. Rolando "Bobby" Solancho Corpuz, 57, and Maria Elsabel Sio Corpuz, 41, each pleaded not guilty Thursday in San Diego Superior Court to three charges of human trafficking and three charges of wage theft, Stephan said. The charges stem from their alleged exploitation of three employees at the residential care facilities Rose Garden in Vista and Rose Garden Capo in Escondido. "These defendants didn’t just steal wages, they stripped away the dignity and human rights of vulnerable individuals, leveraging their immigration status as a weapon of exploitation," the district attorney said at a Thursday morning news conference It was not immediately clear Thursday if the defendants had attorneys who could comment on their behalf. Stephan said an investigation into the couple remains ongoing, and investigators believe there are likely more victims. She asked additional potential victims to come forward. "It’s clear this is the tip of the iceberg," Stephan said. "This case is a chilling example of human trafficking hiding in plain view.” The alleged exploitation came to light, Stephan said, when one of the workers reported the abuse to the Pilipino Workers Center, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that advocates for Filipino workers in the U.S. That group forwarded her complaints to county officials, and eventually Stephan’s workplace justice unit launched an investigation that identified at least two other alleged victims. Investigators arrested the couple on March 26 and served three search warrants that same day.

Univision [4/2/2026 8:42 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Hispanic father Elmer Flores was detained by immigration agents minutes after taking his pregnant wife and daughters to a WIC appointment, a program that offers nutritional and medical assistance to pregnant women, babies and children. Flores was arrested March 9 at the WIC office in the Mecklenburg County Health Department office. According to the organization Siembra NC, ICE agents approached his vehicle and detained him while searching for parking. At a news conference, Siembra NC indicated that the agents did not have a warrant to stop Flores, but that it looked like they were checking the cars in that parking lot. His wife, Kimberlin, had already entered the building when the arrest occurred. “He said ‘love’ to me and I heard that he was asked to get out of the car,” Kimberlin said. That was the last time he spoke to him before he heard about his arrest. According to the family, Flores has no criminal record and is the main provider of his home. He is currently being held at the ICE processing center in Folkston, Georgia.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:57 AM, Eric Mack, 37576K] reports California’s sanctuary law is under fire yet again after a notorious MS-13 machete-wielding gangster known as "the witch" has been nabbed for the second time in the state after being caught and released during the Biden administration in 2023. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in San Diego have arrested David Antonio Aviles Perez, 35, who is wanted in El Salvador for aggravated murder. He was first arrested and released in Monterey, California, in 2023 on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly swinging a machete at a man. "ICE arrested this dangerous criminal illegal alien and MS-13 gang member wanted in El Salvador for murder," Acting Assistant Department of Homeland Secretary (DHS) Lauren Bis wrote in a statement last week. "Gavin Newsom’s sanctuary policies allowed this gang member to be released from jail after his arrest for assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a controlled substance, and petty theft." ICE netted one of El Salvador’s most notorious executioners in the same week DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin was sworn in by President Donald Trump. Aviles Perez is being held pending removal to El Salvador, a contrast to his Biden administration release as an illegal alien alleged to have threatened a California man with a machete in 2023. The case has intensified criticism from federal officials of California’s sanctuary law under Newsom, which limits local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

Washington Times [4/2/2026 1:23 PM, Staff, 1323K] reports that a federal judge has revoked the U.S. citizenship of a Chinese husband-and-wife research scientist duo who stole medical trade secrets from a children’s hospital and sold them to benefit a company they secretly established, the Justice Department announced. Judge James E. Simmons Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California entered the denaturalization order March 30, finding that Li Chen and Yu Zhou had illegally procured their naturalization. Both had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets and conspiracy to commit wire fraud — crimes the court determined involved moral turpitude that disqualified them from meeting the good moral character standard required for citizenship. Chen and Zhou, both Chinese nationals, worked as research scientists at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where they focused on exosome isolation. Chen entered the United States in 2007 on an H-1B visa sponsored by the hospital, and Zhou followed in 2008 under the same visa category. Chen naturalized in 2016 and Zhou in 2017. Federal investigators discovered the couple had been stealing NCH’s proprietary exosome isolation technology for personal gain. Each indictment alleged they used the stolen intellectual property to establish their own company and acquire shares in a second company that also utilized the stolen trade secrets. Prosecutors further alleged that both scientists received funding from China’s State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs. In total, the pair collected nearly $1.5 million from transactions involving the stolen intellectual property, according to court documents.

Breitbart [4/2/2026 6:53 PM, Neil Munro, 2238K] reports many Americans have already been replaced by H-1B visa workers, and one in five fear their own replacement, according to a simple poll of 1,004 white-collar workers. The March survey was conducted by Howdy, a staffing firm that places Latin American professionals into roles needed by the growing number of sidelined American graduates. The firm reported: So how many tech workers actually have coworkers on H1B visas? It turns out, most of them: 55% of the tech workers we surveyed have H1B coworkers; they comprise an average of 17% of staff. These tech workers noted that nearly 2 in 3 H1B visa holders occupy jobs formerly held by U.S. citizens; this might be why 1 in 5 tech workers fear they will be replaced by an H1B visa holder in the future. " 34% of tech companies are hiring more H1B visa holders, according to tech workers," the report added. The federal government is in the process of welcoming an additional 110,000 new H-1B workers, who will join the existing population of two million white-collar guest workers.

Univision [4/2/2026 6:54 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports a Mexican woman who lived in the United States for 27 years returned to the country after being deported in February after a federal judge ordered her return on the grounds that her rights were violated. María de Jesús Estrada Juárez, 42, was arrested by immigration authorities on February 18 when she attended a migration hearing and expelled the following day. The woman had been protected by the DACA program since 2013, which allows people taken to remain in the country being minors. After several weeks apart from her family in Mexico, she was able to reunite with her daughter in California after federal judge Dena Coggins issued an order that forced the government to facilitate her return within seven days. The judge called the deportation a "blatant violation" of due process. The case comes amid a tighter immigration policy during the current Trump administration, under which authorities have deported dozens of DACA recipients. The Department of Homeland Security defended the expulsion, arguing that it was based on a 1998 prior order. Immigration specialists point out that the return of a person already deported by court order is uncommon, but warn that similar situations could be repeated in the face of changes in immigration enforcement. Organizations and lawyers highlight that the case evidences the fragility of protections for so-called “dreamers,” who rely on temporary measures like DACA and not a permanent solution. They also question the reactivation of old deportation orders, even in cases where those affected were unaware of their existence or were not definitive.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:14 AM, Taylor Penley, 37576K] reports Chinese nationals are using birthright citizenship to secure U.S. citizenship for their children at what one expert calls an "industrial scale," raising concerns about national security and the long-term impact on American institutions. "It’s industrial scale," author Peter Schweizer said Wednesday on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "The Chinese Communist Party, about 12, 13 years ago, started explaining to the Chinese elite in the People’s Daily, in official publications, ‘Hey, guess what? Your kids can get U.S. citizenship if you do this,’ and a massive industry was born." Schweizer, author of "Invisible Coup," said more than 1,000 companies in China are openly marketing services that help wealthy clients travel to the United States, give birth on American soil and secure U.S. citizenship for their children — often for fees as high as $80,000. "It is a massive effort. It is an organized effort," he said. "These are members of the Chinese elite, and the numbers are mind-boggling." Schweizer’s comments come as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a landmark legal challenge to an executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship, a case President Donald Trump attended in person in a historic appearance at the court.

Reuters [4/2/2026 6:34 AM, Kyu-Seok Shim, 38315K] reports South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday urged visiting U.S. lawmakers to improve visa policies for Korean workers to prevent a recurrence of last ‌year’s detentions of Korean nationals in a raid at a Hyundai Motor facility in the state of Georgia. The presidential Blue House said Lee raised the issue during talks with a bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators in Seoul, stressing that stable residency conditions for Korean workers in the U.S. were essential for the smooth implementation of South Korea’s investment package there. He also called on Congress ⁠to support legislation aimed at creating new work visas for South Korean professionals, known as the "Partner with Korea Act", as bilateral economic and industrial cooperation deepens. The U.S. lawmakers said they understood Seoul’s concerns and pledged to pay close attention to visa-related issues affecting Korean workers, the Blue House said.

The Hill [4/2/2026 4:06 PM, Sophie Brams, 18170K] reports a federal judge in California ruled Wednesday that federal agents violated a previous court order restricting them from making immigration arrests without a warrant during an enforcement operation in Sacramento last summer. Judge Jennifer Thurston found last April that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents had engaged in a “pattern and practice of warrantless arrests” and barred them from conducting stops without reasonable suspicion that the person was in the country illegally or without probable cause of flight risk. In a 63-page order released Wednesday, Thurston claimed her order was violated when Border Patrol agents performed immigration enforcement in the parking lot of a Home Depot in July 2025. Thurston, a former President Biden appointee, said agents used “eleven, virtually identical” forms issued by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to support the detention and arrests of people in that operation. Thurston ordered Border Patrol agents throughout the Eastern District of California to document their reasoning and circumstances surrounding future immigration stops. Judges in Oregon, Colorado and Washington, D.C., have issued similar orders in the past year, as the Trump administration continues to pursue its sweeping immigration crackdown.

NewsNation [4/2/2026 5:56 PM, Jeff Arnold, Ali Bradley, 4464K] reports migrants who encounter federal immigration agents at the U.S. southern border while hoping to enter the country undergo what officials characterize as a rigorous, multi-agency vetting process. However, after the Department of Homeland Security estimated 9 million immigrants entered the country under the Biden administration, some national security experts insist that the vetting process is not providing nearly enough accurate information about who is coming to the United States. Those security concerns are gaining traction amid national possible threats involving Iranian sleeper cells that could be active inside America’s borders as the war with Iran continues, along with other recent deadly incidents that the FBI has linked to foreign terrorist organizations. Data reviewed by NewsNation shows that nearly 11,000 Iranian nationals entered the United States illegally under the Biden administration. Many entered along the U.S. northern border and through various ports of entry.

New York Post [4/2/2026 5:26 PM, Taylor Herzlich, 40934K] reports the US government will be unable to process roughly a third of tariff refund requests – worth about $55 billion – when its online system goes live, according to a court filing this week. After the Supreme Court in February struck down a key swath of President Trump’s tariffs without providing guidance on refunds, the government announced plans to launch an online portal for refund requests by mid-April. But the site will initially only be able to handle 63% of roughly 53 million claims, Brandon Lord, a US Customs and Border Protection official, wrote in a Tuesday filing with the US Court of International Trade. In order to meet the original April deadline, the first phase of the site will prioritize only duties that have not become "final" yet, a term that typically applies to imported goods after a year, according to the filing. Customs officials did not provide a timeline for when those finalized tariffs will also be processed. Importers paid an estimated $166 billion in tariffs that were overturned by the Supreme Court. The government has also pledged to pay interest on the levy refunds. As of this week, the main refund portal is roughly 85% done, and other parts of the system are about 60% to 80% finished, Lord wrote in the filing. Tariff refunds may take up to 45 days to review and process once the new portal launches, he added. The majority of refunds will be issued electronically, except in special circumstances in which other payment methods are necessary. More than 26,000 importers have already registered online to request $120 billion in refunds, Lord wrote in the filing.

Washington Post [4/2/2026 1:19 PM, Joanna Slater and Evan Hill, 24826K] reports that a visually impaired refugee who was dropped in a parking lot at night in February by Border Patrol and found dead five days later died by homicide, authorities in Buffalo said. Federal agents picked up Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, a Rohingya refugee from Myanmar who spoke little English, from a county jail on Feb. 19. Hours later, security camera footage reviewed by The Washington Post showed Shah Alam stepping out of a white van near a Tim Hortons outlet after the store’s doors were locked. On Feb. 24, Shah Alam’s body was found about five miles away. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday that the manner of Shah Alam’s death was homicide. The term means that the death resulted from the act of another person, the office said, which can include negligence and doesn’t imply intent to harm or indicate criminality. The cause of death was complications from a perforated intestinal ulcer precipitated by hypothermia and dehydration, the office said. The autopsy results sparked fresh calls to investigate the circumstances surrounding Shah Alam’s death, which provoked outrage in Buffalo.

(B) NBC News Daily [4/2/2026 3:31 PM, Staff]
A medical examiner has ruled the February death of a refugee in upstate New York was a homicide. The man died five days after US Border Patrol agents dropped him off in a parking lot of a Tim Hortons. According to his daughter, they did not notify his family or attorney. He had been transferred from jail to Border Patrol as a noncitizen who had entered the US as a refugee. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection said his death had nothing to do with Border Patrol. According to his family, he was nearly blind and did not speak English.

Breitbart [4/3/2026 2:22 AM, Randy Clark, 2238K] reports U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers interdicted a cartel shipment of 1,055 packages of methamphetamines hidden in a commercial shipment manifested by importers as a simple load of carrots. The smugglers, hoping to cash in on the street value of the narcotics, are now under criminal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). CBP announced the seizure on Thursday that occurred at the Texas-Mexico Pharr International Bridge cargo facility of the 297.62 pounds (135Kg) of methamphetamines valued at $2.6 million that officers discovered in a commercial tractor-trailer that entered the secondary inspection dock at the Pharr International Bridge in South Texas on March 30. The commercial tractor-trailer was referred to a secondary inspection dock for further examination utilizing CBP’s nonintrusive inspection equipment and an inspection by a CBP canine team. As a result of the enhanced secondary inspection, officers discovered the hidden substance among the shipment of carrots that was later determined to be nearly 300 pounds of a chemical that tested positive for properties consistent with illicit methamphetamine. CBP officers seized the narcotics and the semi-tractor trailer. HSI special agents initiated a criminal investigation. The identity of the driver of the vehicle was not released at press time.

Los Angeles Times [4/2/2026 8:35 PM, Wendy Fry and Sergio Olmos, 12718K] reports a federal judge ruled that Border Patrol agents continued making illegal stops and arrests after she ordered them to quit. In a tersely worded decision unsealed Thursday morning, the judge wrote that agents had "again detained people without reasonable suspicion," relying on broad assumptions about day laborers instead of specific evidence of immigration violations. The ruling by Judge Jennifer Thurston of the Eastern District of California grants a United Farm Workers motion to enforce a preliminary injunction the judge issued last year. That motion barred Border Patrol agents from detaining people in California’s Central Valley without documenting the specific facts and reasoning for the stops. According to one legal expert, the ruling gives the Trump administration an opportunity to comply before consequences could escalate. Thurston highlighted that point during a hearing last year, telling the federal government: "You just can’t walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers.” Thurston’s original order also prohibited agents from carrying out warrantless arrests without first assessing whether a person is a flight risk. At the center of the case is a July operation in Sacramento where agents swarmed the parking lot of a Home Depot, detaining a group of day laborers. They arrested 11 noncitizens and one U.S. citizen, according to court records. After the Sacramento raid, Gregory Bovino, then a Border Patrol sector chief, stood in front of the state Capitol building and told Fox News that "Sacramento is not a sanctuary city. The state of California is not a sanctuary state. There is no sanctuary anywhere.” Thurston, who is based in Fresno, said the Sacramento sweep violated her order from last year, which stemmed from similar raids in Kern County. "Agents detained these people, demanded to see their ‘papers’ and questioned them about their immigration status all without any legal basis for doing so," Thurston wrote. Border Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/2/2026 10:28 PM, Alex Riggins, 1257K] reports a federal grand jury in San Diego has indicted a U.S. Border Patrol agent on a civil rights violation for shooting an unarmed 19-year-old U.S. citizen in 2022 in Calexico, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday. Marcos Javier Andrade faces one count of deprivation of rights under color of law and one count of use and discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges next week in U.S. District Court in San Diego. The indictment alleges that on July 11, 2022, Andrade tried to stop a minivan that he suspected of smuggling undocumented immigrants on a highway in Calexico, in Imperial County. The van was being driven by a teen “who was unarmed and was not engaged in smuggling activity,” according to the indictment, which identifies the teen only by his initials, A.F. After the teen failed to pull over and then became stuck in traffic, Andrade allegedly pulled up next to the van, exited his Border Patrol SUV and fired eight shots at the driver, striking him in his neck, hip, shoulder and hand, according to the indictment. The teen survived after undergoing surgery for his injuries. The indictment alleges that after the shooting, Andrade “refused to answer basic safety questions that all Border Patrol agents are required to answer on scene when they discharge their firearms.” It also alleges that Andrade had been disciplined previously for firing his gun “at civilians” in 2012 and 2017. Andrade could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday, and it was unclear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf. Officials from the Border Patrol, as well as its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment late Thursday afternoon. The indictment against Andrade comes at a time when Border Patrol agents and other immigration officers have faced increased scrutiny for shooting U.S. citizens. In October, a Border Patrol agent shot and wounded Marimar Martinez in Chicago, and in January, a Border Patrol agent fatally shot Alex Pretti in Minneapolis just weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renée Good in the same city. Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol’s former “commander at large” who spearheaded the Trump administration’s immigration operations in Chicago and Minneapolis, and who sent an email to the Chicago agent just hours after he shot Martinez praising his “excellent service,” was the chief of the El Centro sector in 2022 when Andrade allegedly shot the teen driver.

NewsMax [4/2/2026 6:28 PM, Jim Thomas, 3760K] reports a federal judge in California ruled Wednesday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents violated a prior court order restricting warrantless immigration arrests during an enforcement operation in a Sacramento Home Depot parking lot last year. U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston found that agents detained individuals without the required reasonable suspicion and ordered Border Patrol agents across California’s Eastern District to document the basis of any future immigration stops. The 63-page ruling followed a review of video footage and records from the July 2025 operation. Thurston wrote that agents relied on "eleven, virtually identical" Department of Homeland Security forms and used "unsupported assumptions, hunches and generalizations" about day laborers rather than individualized assessments. The decision builds on a preliminary injunction Thurston issued in April 2025 in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups. That order found a "pattern and practice of warrantless arrests" and barred stops without reasonable suspicion that a person was in the country unlawfully, as well as arrests without probable cause of flight risk. Under the new order, agents in the Eastern District of California must create detailed, signed records explaining the reasoning and circumstances behind each stop or arrest. The ruling applies in that district, which includes much of California’s Central Valley and inland regions extending to the Oregon state line. In February, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., described such warrants as a "permission slip" to bypass Fourth Amendment protections. The Department of Homeland Security has defended their use in certain cases involving individuals with final removal orders. At his confirmation hearing, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents should generally obtain judicial warrants before entering private property.

Telemundo [4/3/2026 1:52 AM, Shelby Bremer, 56K] reports two members of the San Diego congressional delegation visited the Otay Mesa Detention Center on Thursday to follow up on complaints they have been receiving for months from people detained at the facility. Representatives Mike Levin and Sara Jacobs, both Democrats, toured the facility for about two and a half hours. They stated that they spoke at length with medical staff but were unable to meet with the detainees themselves, so they plan to return. “It’s not a place where you want to spend a lot of time,” Levin said after the visit. This occurred after other elected officials were previously denied entry to the facility. Representative Juan Vargas was denied access in early February, and a few weeks later, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was also denied entry, as were two San Diego County Board supervisors who unsuccessfully attempted to participate in a health inspection. They were all informed that they had not given the required seven days’ notice nor had they received the corresponding permission. They argued—and after a lawsuit filed by another member of Congress, a federal judge ruled in their favor—that they did not need it to conduct an oversight visit. Levin and Jacobs said they did give advance notice of Thursday’s visit — Levin’s second in recent months — but believed the situation might be different if they arrived unannounced.

ABC News [4/2/2026 9:09 PM, Tesfaye Negussie and Sabina Ghebremedhin, 34146K] reports Transportation Security Administration officers are still "in the hole" even though they received their backpay, according to TSA employees who spoke with ABC News. Airport security officers said they have been told by their managers that they can no longer receive donations related to their TSA positions, even though many are still trying to climb out of debt from late payment fees, creditors and missed bill payments incurred by two record-breaking shutdowns within a few months. Federal employees cannot accept a gift given because of their official position, according to the U.S. government. "A lot of the officers that I represent are saying the money that we received, it went as soon as it came in," Joseph Cerletti, a TSA worker at Oakland International Airport and union representative for his local chapter, told ABC News on Thursday. Cerletti received all of his backpay, but he said he heard of other officers who did not receive everything they were owed. Addressing reports from some TSA officers about missing portions of their paychecks, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to ABC, "We are working aggressively with USDA’s [United States Department of Agriculture] National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.” According to a government website, the USDA helps to manage payroll for more than 590,000 federal employees. Cerletti told ABC News about local church that was scheduled to donate a large amount of groceries for TSA officers. "I think each grocery bag equated to about $180, $200 worth of groceries: steaks, chickens," Cerletti told ABC News on Thursday. "We had arranged a meeting for today with Genesis Church in Antioch and Oakland to transfer the groceries to management so that management could equally disperse the groceries to each officer. Right then, I got a phone call a few days ago saying, ‘Oh, we canceled Thursday’s donation.’". The House of Representatives didn’t take any action on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA, during its pro forma session on Thursday. In a statement sent to ABC News on Monday, DHS acknowledged that there might be slight delays in some receiving their paychecks due to "financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit.” Payments came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum last week asking for DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds "that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations" to pay the agency’s workforce.

USA Today [4/2/2026 5:27 PM, Kate Perez, 70643K] reports while the security wait times at many U.S. airports have mostly returned to normal as payments for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers resume, some places are still seeing travelers arrive hours before their flights, a move airports say is no longer necessary. Multiple airports have advised flyers to arrive only a few hours before their flights to allow ample time to get through TSA lines. Arriving too early can have the adverse effect of lengthening wait times, according to the airports. Arriving too early at airports could make lines and wait times worse as TSA conditions return to normal, some airports have said.

USA Today [4/3/2026 4:03 AM, Irene Wright, 67103K] reports spring break season is here for the Atlanta metro area, and tens of thousands of travelers will be heading to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to kick off their trips. Atlanta Public Schools will be observing spring break from April 6 to 10, meaning this weekend will be the first wave of increased air travel out of Atlanta to destinations around the world. The airport will also likely be busy next weekend as Atlanta locals return home. Airport employees are coming off of weeks of stress as TSA agents were left unpaid during a partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. While the shutdown is ongoing, an order from President Trump means TSA agents started receiving paychecks again at the beginning of the week, and many returned to work. Lines to get through the security checkpoints topped out at more than 6 hours at the end of March before Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were deployed to some of the major airports across the country to aid TSA agents at the checkpoints. As of Thursday, April 2, wait times for security were back to normal, with just a few minutes wait in the afternoon.

CBS San Francisco [4/2/2026 4:27 PM, Carlos E. Castañeda, 51110K] reports a wildfire was spreading rapidly in California’s Central Valley on Wednesday afternoon, north of Coalinga in Fresno County, Cal Fire reported. The Well Fire was burning along state Highway 33/Fresno Coalinga Road, north of West Palmer Avenue and south of Shell Road/Dorris Avenue. Cal Fire said in an incident report that the fire started at 10:10 a.m. and had burned at least 150 acres as of 1 p.m. with zero percent containment. The grassland fire was burning with a rapid rate of spread and the potential to reach 200 acres, the agency said. Some two dozen firefighters were fighting the Well Fire. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

New York Times [4/2/2026 1:14 PM, Emma Bubola, 148038K] reports that Russia is sending a second tanker of crude oil to Cuba, a government official said on Thursday, after one sent by the Kremlin reached Cuban territory earlier this week, ending a de facto U.S. oil blockade on the island. For nearly three months, the United States blocked countries from dispatching oil to Cuba as President Trump threatened to take over the country and to issue tariffs against nations that shipped fuel there in a pressure campaign to force the Communist government into submission. “We won’t abandon the Cubans,” Russia’s energy minister, Sergei Tsivilyov, told reporters on Thursday while confirming that his country was preparing to send a second tanker, according to the state news agency Tass. If permitted by the United States to dock, this second tanker would signal a further softening by the Trump administration amid ongoing negotiations with the Cuban government. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said that the United States would evaluate oil shipments to Cuba on a “case-by-case basis” and that the U.S. Coast Guard allowed the oil to reach Cuba “for humanitarian reasons.” She added that “there’s been no firm change in our sanctions policy.” The White House declined on Thursday to confirm whether it would allow the second tanker to dock.

CyberScoop [4/2/2026 11:17 AM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports medtech company Stryker says it’s back to being “fully operational,” three weeks after it became the most prominent victim to date of Iranian hackers, who said they attacked the Michigan-based company in retaliation over the conflict with the United States and Israel. A March 11 wiper attack from the pro-Palestinian, Iranian government-connected group Handala damaged the company’s order processing, manufacturing and shipping. More recently, Handala claimed to compromise the data of FBI Director Kash Patel, although the FBI said no government information was taken. “Production is moving rapidly toward peak capacity with discipline and stability, supported by restored commercial, ordering and distribution systems,” the company wrote in an update on its website Wednesday. “Overall product supply remains healthy, with strong availability across most product lines, as we continue to meet customer demand and support patient care.” Stryker said it continues to work with outside cyber experts, government agencies and industry partners on its investigation and recovery. “Patient care remains our highest priority, with a continued focus on supporting healthcare providers and the patients they serve,” it said. “This remains a 24/7 effort and the first priority of our entire organization.”

FOX News [4/2/2026 11:49 AM, Morgan Phillips, 37576K] reports Americans’ personal data could be collected and stored overseas — even if they’ve never downloaded a foreign-developed app themselves — according to a new FBI alert warning about the risks tied to popular mobile platforms. That means information like a person’s name, email address or phone number could be pulled from someone else’s contact list and potentially stored abroad if a friend or family member grants an app access to their device. The warning comes after years of scrutiny over TikTok’s ties to China, but the FBI alert suggests the concerns extend beyond any single platform to a broader range of foreign-developed apps. In a public service announcement, the FBI said many widely used apps developed overseas, particularly those tied to China, may access extensive data once permissions are granted, including address books containing information on both users and non-users. The bureau also warned that some apps may continue collecting data in the background after access is granted and, in certain cases, store that information on servers in countries where local laws could allow government access. The FBI did not name specific companies, but the warning could apply to a range of widely used apps developed by Chinese firms — including video-editing platform CapCut, shopping apps like Temu and SHEIN, and social media platforms such as Lemon8 — several of which rank among the most downloaded apps in the United States.

Los Angeles Times [4/2/2026 9:02 PM, Gavin J. Quinton and Clara Harter, 12718K] reports L.A. Metro shut down parts of its network after its security team detected hacking activity last month, and law enforcement and cybersecurity specialists are continuing to investigate who was behind the attack, authorities said. "On Monday, March 16, Metro proactively limited employee access to many internal administrative computer systems after the agency’s security team discovered unauthorized activity," an agency spokesperson said. "Throughout this time Metro’s essential rail and bus service has continued to run uninterrupted, as have our vital transit safety and security systems.” Metro board member Fernando Dutra said the agency had been working through a painstaking process to bring systems back online, an effort that continues. That includes reviewing about 1,400 servers individually to ensure they are secure before restoring access and bringing systems back online, he said. "When you think in terms of how big we are — we’re a beast," Dutra said. "And so before we can turn the water spigot back on, we have to go through and check each one of these servers to make sure it’s clean. So that’s the reason it’s taking a little bit longer.” The full scope and origin of the attack remain unclear, and Dutra emphasized that the investigation was continuing. He said officials did not yet know who was behind the breach or what data, if any, might have been targeted. "What is amazing [to] us [is] that we were able to maintain all of our bus and train services throughout this entire process," he said. Metro is not the only regional public agency to have its computer systems targeted in a cyberattack. The Los Angeles County Superior Court was hit by a ransomware attack in 2024 that infected its computer system with damaging software, forcing it to shut down for two days. A year earlier, UCLA was the victim of a cyberattack, and San Bernardino County paid a $1.1-million ransom after the Sheriff’s Department was hacked. The Los Angeles Unified School District’s network was breached in 2022, when about 2,000 student records, some of which included Social Security numbers, were posted on the dark web after the district refused to pay ransom to hackers.

NBC News [4/2/2026 8:39 PM, Dan De Luce, Michael Kosnar and Kevin Collier, 42967K] reports the FBI has labeled a suspected Chinese cyber intrusion into a government surveillance system a "major incident" that poses risks to U.S. national security, according to a senior law enforcement official and a source with knowledge of the matter. The hack compromised sensitive information related to domestic law enforcement, the sources said, and the FBI recently informed lawmakers about it. The revelation suggested a significant U.S. counterintelligence failure amid repeated hacking operations by China-linked actors in recent years that have penetrated critical infrastructure and telecommunications firms, former officials said. The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency declined to comment. The declaration by the FBI of a major cyber incident was first reported by Politico. Under federal data security laws, a cyber breach is declared a "major incident" only if it involves the compromise of personally identifiable information that could cause "demonstrable harm" to national security interests, foreign relations, the economy, civil liberties or the public health of Americans.” The cyber intrusion appeared to use similar tactics and techniques employed by a Chinese hacking effort known as Salt Typhoon, which penetrated major telecommunications providers in an unprecedented breach, according to the source with knowledge of the matter. The hackers in Salt Typhoon, which was uncovered in 2024, were able to obtain phone call records from millions of Americans and steal FBI wiretap data. The Salt Typhoon hacking campaign was one of the largest intelligence compromises in American history. It breached eight domestic telecom and internet service providers and dozens of others around the world. U.S. officials said in 2024 that victims included people in both major parties’ presidential campaigns. Under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), American telecoms are required to maintain systems to surveil unencrypted conversations when required by court order. Salt Typhoon accessed some CALEA systems in 2024, officials told NBC News. China has denied responsibility for Salt Typhoon. The breach of law enforcement data showed that Chinese-backed hackers were continuing to target the U.S. despite the global attention Salt Typhoon generated and attempts by the Trump administration to lower tensions ahead of President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to Beijing next month, a former senior cybersecurity official said. "Their hacking continues with impunity," the former official said. "This shows they don’t feel deterred by the larger global exposure. ... They’re bold.”

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [4/2/2026 5:06 AM, John Hayward, 2238K]
FOX News [4/2/2026 12:40 PM, Alex Nitzberg, David Spunt, and Jake Gibson, 37576K]

FOX News [4/2/2026 5:09 PM, Ariella Noveck, 37576K] reports as Jewish families across the United States celebrate Passover, an intensifying threat environment is shaping how communities approach the holiday and beyond. Tensions tied to the war with Iran, attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions have led to concerns over the community’s safety and security. From Miami to New York, officials are responding to what they describe as a sustained and evolving threat landscape. At a pre-Passover security strategy briefing at the NYPD, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told Jewish community leaders, "It is clear that we will be in a heightened state of alert for the foreseeable future," a warning that comes as policymakers and security experts point to a widening gap between the level of threat facing Jewish communities and the federal resources available to protect them. Despite security fears, funding for houses of worship in the United States remains below what experts say is needed to meet the current threat, even as antisemitic incidents continue to rise. According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, anti-Jewish hate crimes have consistently accounted for the largest share of religion-based crime incidents in the United States in recent years. The gap between risk and resources has become a central concern for those working directly with affected communities. Recent attacks underscore the urgency.

FOX News [4/2/2026 8:00 AM, Stepheny Price, 37576K] reports three alleged MS-13 gang members went on a deadly "hunting" spree across California and Nevada, targeting victims in a string of brutal killings meant to boost their status inside the notorious gang, federal prosecutors said as the trial got underway this week. The defendants, Jose Luis Reynaldo Reyes-Castillo, David Arturo Perez-Manchame and Joel Vargas-Escobar, are facing a 34-count federal indictment that includes murder, attempted murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering, along with weapons charges tied to at least 11 killings. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, the men, identified as alleged MS-13 members and associates, are also charged with using firearms during crimes of violence, causing death with a firearm and aiding and abetting, in what prosecutors describe as a racketeering case tied to a series of killings across California and Nevada. The trial, unfolding in federal court in Las Vegas before U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro, is expected to last up to three months.

NewsMax [4/2/2026 12:31 PM, Jim Morley, 3760K] reports that U.S. special operations forces recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a coastal raid targeting a suspected criminal hub tied to the powerful Los Choneros organization, CBS News reported on Thursday. The mission, known as Lanza Marina, focused on a compound believed to support high-speed drug trafficking boats, with American forces serving in advisory roles alongside local units. U.S. officials said the operation is part of a broader effort to disrupt maritime drug routes used by transnational criminal groups. The Pentagon routinely uses authorities such as "127e" programs to support foreign partners in counterterrorism missions, allowing U.S. forces to train, advise and accompany allied troops in the field. The operation comes amid an expanded U.S. military posture in the region. Earlier this year, Washington and Quito launched joint actions against groups designated as terrorist organizations, while U.S. forces have also conducted unilateral strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since late 2025. Those strikes have reportedly killed more than 160 people. Los Choneros, recently designated by the U.S. as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a global terrorist entity, has evolved into a major trafficking network with ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and other international groups. The organization is believed to have thousands of members and a growing footprint across South America.

CNN [4/2/2026 7:16 PM, Haley Britzky, et al., 19874K] reports Roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal despite the daily pounding by US and Israeli strikes against military targets over the past five weeks, according to recent US intelligence assessments, three sources familiar with the intel told CNN. "They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region," one of the sources said of Iran. The US intelligence assessment total may include launchers that are currently inaccessible, such as those buried underground by strikes but not destroyed. Thousands of Iranian drones still exist — roughly 50% of the country’s drone capabilities — two of the sources said the intelligence indicated. The intelligence, compiled in recent days, also showed a large percentage of Iran’s coastal defense cruise missiles were intact, the sources said, consistent with the US not focusing its air campaign on coastal military assets though they have been hitting ships. Those missiles serve as a key capability allowing Iran to threaten shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. The intelligence offers a more nuanced picture of Iran’s continuing capabilities compared to sweeping assessments of military victory offered publicly by President Donald Trump and administration officials. In remarks to the nation on Wednesday evening, Trump said Iran’s "ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.” As of Wednesday, the US has struck more than 12,300 targets inside Iran, according to US Central Command. The sources said the intelligence showed the US military has degraded Iran’s military capabilities, and key senior leaders have been killed in US and Israeli strikes, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council. In addition to the country’s missile launchers, Iran maintains a large number of missiles, according to the intelligence. In public comments, the Pentagon has pointed to a reduction in the total number of missiles launched by Iran, rather than what has been destroyed. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a press briefing on March 19 that "ballistic missile attacks against our forces, down 90 percent since the start of the conflict, same with one way attack UAVs, think kamikaze drones, down 90 percent.” An administration official added that Iran’s ballistic missiles are being destroyed rapidly. Israel, countries in the Gulf, and US military personnel have continued to face regular barrages of missile and drone strikes. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell disputed CNN’s reporting, calling it "completely wrong.” "The United States military has delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime," Parnell said. "We are far ahead of schedule on accomplishing our military objectives: destroy Iran’s missile arsenal, annihilate their Navy, destroy their terrorist proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”

New York Times [4/2/2026 7:16 PM, Mark Landler, Erika Solomon and Thomas Fuller, 148038K] reports scathing criticism by the French president. Taunts and more missile strikes from Iran. Surging oil prices. President Trump’s 19-minute speech on Wednesday night, in which he threatened to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” and said the war would last several more weeks, failed to appease deep global anxieties over where the war was leading. President Emmanuel Macron of France expressed blunt disapproval on the handling of the war on Thursday, chastising Mr. Trump for speaking cavalierly and contradicting himself. “When we’re serious, we don’t say every day the opposite of what we said the day before,” Mr. Macron told reporters in response to a question about Mr. Trump’s threat to continue the war and bomb Iran intensively. “And, maybe, one shouldn’t speak every day.” Mr. Macron, speaking of Mr. Trump’s verbal attacks against NATO, also said, “If you create doubt every day about your commitment, you hollow it out.” His comments came during a trip through Asia, the region hit hardest by Iran’s selective closure of the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers and other maritime traffic crucial to the global economy. Iran’s defiance on Thursday came in the form of mocking statements and missiles fired across the Middle East. “Your information about our military power and equipment is incomplete,” a spokesman for the leadership of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said in a video statement on Thursday. It came after Mr. Trump, in his speech on Wednesday, said that Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones had been “dramatically curtailed.”

Blaze [4/2/2026 8:09 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1556K] reports President Donald Trump issued an executive order establishing a new tariff on brand-name drugs in order to reduce U.S. reliance on imports. The Thursday order cited national security concerns to justify the new tariffs, but certain drugs are exempted, including generic drugs and orphan drugs. "I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to impose a 100 percent ad valorem duty rate on the import of patented pharmaceuticals and associated pharmaceutical ingredients," the president said in the executive order. The far lower 15% tariff will apply to drugs from the European Union, Japan, South Korea, or Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Drugs from the United Kingdom will carry an unspecified rate determined by a U.S.-U.K. agreement negotiated by the president. "President Trump’s agreement with the United Kingdom is another big step toward ending a system that forces Americans to pay more so others can pay less," said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. A pharmaceutical trade group condemned the order and defended the impacted drug imports. "Tariffs on cutting-edge medicines will increase costs and could jeopardize billions in U.S. investments announced in the last year. Every dollar spent on tariffs is a dollar that can’t be invested in communities across the country," said PhRMA president and CEO Stephen J. Ubl. "The innovative biopharmaceutical sector has a robust U.S. manufacturing footprint. In fact, two-thirds of the medicines that are consumed in the U.S. are made in America," he added. "And when innovative medicines or their inputs are sourced from other countries, these products overwhelmingly come from reliable U.S. allies, like Europe and Japan," Ubl concluded. In February, the Supreme Court struck down the president’s tariffs that invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The 6-3 ruling was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

AP [4/2/2026 11:38 AM, Andrea Rodriguez, 34146K] reports that FBI agents have arrived in Cuba to investigate the fatal shooting of five men aboard a U.S.-flagged speedboat in February that the Cuban government said was carrying suspects who were trying to infiltrate the island. Five other men on the boat were wounded in an exchange of fire with the Cuban Border Patrol on Feb. 25 in what the Cuban government has called a terrorist attack by Cuban expatriates who had been living in the United States. The U.S. government has disavowed any connection to the group, and said it wants to fully investigate Cuba’s claims. The FBI technical team arrived Tuesday to conduct a thorough and independent investigation, a U.S. diplomatic official who is close to the matter told The Associated Press on Thursday. The official, who spoke on condition they not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, did not provide details on how many FBI agents arrived or how long they would remain on the island. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel had said in March that he expected FBI agents to visit the island to help with the investigation. Cuban officials have said the speedboat was detected with 10 men and military equipment aboard in waters north of the island. They said the men in the boat fired first and that soldiers returned fire, killing four suspects. A fifth later died from his injuries. Six other men were wounded, including a crew member in the Cuban military vessel. The survivors face criminal terrorism charges that could carry a life sentence.

AP [4/2/2026 10:12 PM, Andrea Rodríguez, 35287K] reports the Cuban government said Thursday it would release 2,010 prisoners in a move that comes while the Trump administration puts extreme pressure on the island’s government with a suffocating oil blockade. The announcement said the pardons were a "humanitarian gesture" in connection with Holy Week and didn’t mention mounting pressures with the US. The government said the prisoners affected are foreigners and Cubans, including women, the elderly and young people. It didn’t say when they were being released or under what conditions, nor did it mention the crimes they were accused of committing. Authorities also provided no details on whether any of those pardoned were protesters convicted and sentenced for terrorism, contempt or public disorder.

Univision [4/2/2026 10:04 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the Cuban government announced the pardon of 2,010 people deprived of their liberty , a measure it presented as a humanitarian act within the framework of Holy Week. According to the official statement , the decision was made after evaluating factors such as the type of crime , conduct in prison, time served, and the health status of the inmates. Cuban authorities indicated that those benefiting include young people, women, senior citizens, foreigners, and Cubans residing abroad, including some who are close to obtaining early release. The government did not disclose the identities of those released or the crimes for which they were convicted, nor did it clarify whether any of them were detained for political reasons . Independent organizations have documented the existence of more than a thousand political prisoners on the island , although the State does not recognize this category. The release comes amid growing tension with the United States, whose administration has intensified sanctions against Cuba, including energy restrictions that have exacerbated the internal crisis with blackouts and shortages . Although the Cuban government did not directly link the measure to this scenario, the announcement coincides with a period of strong political and economic pressure from Washington , which adds an international dimension to the decision. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [4/2/2026 11:23 AM, Sarah Davis, 18170K] reports the Trump administration lifted sanctions on acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez on Wednesday, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The move follows the extradition of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a U.S. military operation earlier this year. Maduro and his wife were captured and transported to New York where they face drug trafficking charges. The couple has pleaded not guilty. The Trump administration recognized Rodríguez, the country’s former vice president, as the government’s leader after Maduro’s ouster. Rodríguez has been removed from the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals List. People and entities included on the list are restricted in their business dealings with the U.S. The interim leader, who was placed on the list in 2018 for allegedly weakening Venezuela’s democracy, appeared to respond to the decision in a post Wednesday on the social platform X. “President Trump’s decision is a significant step in the right direction to normalize and strengthen relations between our countries,” Rodríguez wrote. “We trust that this progress and determination will ultimately lead to the lifting of the additional active sanctions on our country. “This will allow for rapid economic development, investment, and an effective bilateral cooperation agenda for the benefit of our peoples. Let’s keep working toward a prosperous Venezuela for all!”

NewsMax [4/2/2026 10:10 PM, Staff, 3760K] reports the U.N. Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution brought by Bahrain to authorize the use of "defensive" force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz from Iranian attacks. Iran has placed a stranglehold on the key shipping lane — threatening fuel supplies and roiling the global economy — in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes that triggered the month-old Middle East war. "We cannot accept economic terrorism affecting our region and the world. The whole world is being affected by the developments," Bahrain’s U.N. Ambassador Jamal Alrowaiei said this week. He said the text, which has gone through several amendments and is supported by the U.S., "comes at a critical juncture.” President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for countries struggling with fuel shortages to "go get your own oil" in the Strait of Hormuz, adding that U.S. forces would not help them. A sixth and final draft, seen by AFP, greenlights member states — unilaterally or as "voluntary multinational naval partnerships" — to use "all defensive means necessary and commensurate with the circumstances.” It applies to the strait and adjacent waters to "secure transit passage and to deter attempts to close, obstruct, or otherwise interfere with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.” The measure would last for at least six months. The draft resolution has been molded in a bid to rally several countries that have appeared skeptical, including Russia, China, and France. Revised wording no longer explicitly invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows the Security Council to authorize armed force to restore peace. The latest version, to be voted on at 11 a.m. Friday, also emphasizes the defensive nature of any intervention — a stipulation that seems to have alleviated French concerns. Jerome Bonnafont, France’s U.N. ambassador, said Thursday that "it is up to the council to quickly devise the necessary defensive response" after members voted in March to condemn Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz.

Breitbart [4/2/2026 11:19 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports that the price of oil surged while stocks retreated on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to the nation on the Iran war stoked fears it could be about to get a lot worse, spooking markets. Trump’s threat to "hit them extremely hard" sent global benchmark Brent crude futures soaring to $109.48 per barrel, a rise of more than $8, while the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate jumped $9.61 a barrel to $109.73. Oil had fallen below $100 for a while on Wednesday after Trump said U.S. forces would be out of Iran soon. Stock markets reversed gains over recent days with South Korea’s Kospi index shedding 4.5% and the Nikkei 2.4% on Thursday, with European markets also pulling back across the board, led by Germany DAX index, which was down 2.2% in mid afternoon trade. The pessimism was reinforced by movement of energy stocks in the opposite direction, with BP and Shell shares climbing 4.5% and 3.1% on the London Stock Exchange. Out-of-hours trading in the U.S. markets indicated bourses would likely fall when they opened on Thursday morning. Deutsche Bank directly attributed the deterioration in market sentiment to Trump, saying his address failed to shed any light "on potential timelines or conditions for ending hostilities against Iran." "There was no signal of the United States seeking an imminent offramp out of the war," the bank said in a note.

Washington Examiner [4/3/2026 2:41 AM, Staff, 1147K] reports President Donald Trump teased more aggressive strikes against Iran in the coming days, hinting that the U.S. military would begin targeting bridges and electric power plants in the country. The president’s message came a little over 24 hours after his address to the nation about the progress in Iran. Trump also urged the country’s "new regime leadership" to take action in an unspecified way and do "what has to be done.” "Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran," Trump said in his post. "Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants! New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!" Trump’s threat to hit Iran’s bridges came hours after the president posted a video to his Truth Social account of the aftermath of airstrikes on Iran’s B1 highway bridge, believed to be the country’s largest bridge near the capital city of Tehran. The B1 bridge was reportedly the tallest in the Middle East. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened to retaliate for the strike with state media mentioning targets in several Middle Eastern countries, including bridges in Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

Bloomberg [4/3/2026 1:53 AM, Staff, 18082K] reports the US made a rare move to repatriate a drug fugitive to China, in the latest sign that the world’s two largest economies are making progress in anti-narcotics cooperation ahead of a leaders’ summit next month. A Chinese fugitive suspected of drug smuggling and trafficking has been returned by the US through an immigration enforcement mechanism based on leads provided by Chinese authorities, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. The move marks the first such case in recent years and represents “a new achievement in China-US counter-narcotics law enforcement cooperation,” Xinhua cited China’s Ministry of Public Security as saying. The progress adds to stability in bilateral ties ahead of a high-profile meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping despite a delay by the US war on Iran and renewed trade probes. Last week, FBI Director Kash Patel publicly thanked the Chinese ministry for “unprecedented cooperation” in investigating and tightening controls over the precursor chemicals for fentanyl production after an agreement between Trump and Xi in October.

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