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.

AP [4/6/2026 9:05 AM, Staff, 34146K] reports Congo will receive some migrants as part of a new deal under the Trump administration’s third-country program, its government said Sunday, the latest such African nation to receive migrants being deported from the U.S. The deportees will start arriving in Congo this month, the Congolese Ministry of Communications said in a statement, without further details on the date or the number of deportees expected. It described the arrangement as a “temporary” one that reflects Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity.” It would come with zero costs to the government with the U.S. covering the needed logistics, it said. The U.S. has struck such third-country deportation deals with at least seven other African nations, many of them among countries hit the most by the Trump administration’s policies that have restricted trade, aid and migration. The Trump administration has spent at least $40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a report released recently by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lawyers and activists have raised questions over the nature of the deals with countries in Africa and elsewhere. Several of the African nations that have signed such deals have notoriously repressive governments and poor human rights records — including Eswatini, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea. A key bone of contention in many such agreements is that they involve many migrants with protection orders from a U.S. immigration judge not to be returned to their home countries over major safety concerns. Congo’s government said no automatic transfer of the deportees is planned, adding: “Each situation will be subject to individual review in accordance with the laws of the Republic and national security requirements.”

Bloomberg [4/5/2026 8:00 AM, Erika D. Smith, 18082K] reports almost two months into a partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, House and Senate Republicans say they are close to a deal — however tentative and contentious — to reopen it. Refusing to wait, President Donald Trump announced an executive order to pay employees anyway. But that doesn’t mean the damage hasn’t already been done, and potentially to the unlikeliest of victims: the FIFA World Cup tournament. Testifying before a House committee late last month, the Transportation Security Administration’s acting chief, Ha Nguyen McNeill, warned of a “perfect storm of severe staffing shortages and an influx of millions of passengers at our airports for the World Cup games.” Expect it to take up to six months — long after the tournament ends in July — to replace the hundreds of TSA agents who have quit since the shutdown began in February. The political chaos in Washington has far-reaching consequences. Left to navigate it all will be the World Cup host cities. While the US has 11 of them for the tournament, it’s perhaps Inglewood, a working-class city of roughly 100,000 sitting in the shadow of the on-paper host Los Angeles, that has the most to lose if things go wrong. Once known for crime, corruption and near-bankruptcy, it has gone through a rebirth in recent years, leading to a wave of commercial development and megaevents on which the local economy depends. Inglewood’s suite-stuffed SoFi Stadium is where FIFA decided the first American match of the World Cup will be played in June. The US men’s national team is scheduled to take on Paraguay. Still, others I spoke with are worried. That includes California Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, whose district covers Los Angeles, where several World Cup fan festivals will be held. She told me she has spoken to several mayors across the US who have shared “real concerns” about everything from providing security and transportation to not sticking taxpayers with a huge bill. It took until mid-March for DHS to even announce that it would start dispersing $625 million for security preparations. Congress had appropriated the funding last summer, with the expectation that it would be given to host cities by January — long before the start of the shutdown that former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blamed for the delay.

The Hill [4/5/2026 5:00 PM, Mike Lillis, 18170K] reports House and Senate Republicans scrambling to end the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history keep running into themselves. Within the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team haven’t found a formula for containing their rebellious conservative wing. Between the chambers, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) have been at odds over both substance and strategy. And from the White House, President Trump’s mixed messages have thwarted progress at crucial moments when a breakthrough appeared at hand. The combination has complicated any path to a quick fix for reopening the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid a historic shutdown that’s frozen paychecks for tens of thousands of agency workers. It’s also highlighted divisions within the Republican ranks — and a deep distrust between the chambers — just as party leaders are fighting to showcase a united front heading into a tough midterm cycle in November. GOP leaders in both chambers have downplayed any evidence of internal strife. They’re putting the blame for the DHS stalemate squarely on the shoulders of Democrats, who have refused to support any new funding for immigration enforcement unless it’s accompanied by tougher rules governing the conduct of DHS’s policing arms: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “We have the Democrats who are holding the appropriations process hostage,” Thune told reporters Thursday in the Capitol. “Their anti-law enforcement, open borders, defund-the-police wing is the ascendant wing. And I think everybody’s afraid of them.” Yet Republicans control all levers of power in Washington: the House, Senate and White House. And they have potent tools at their disposal to fund the entirety of DHS, including the enforcement operations at the center of the partisan controversy — if they can rally their party behind a plan.

The Hill [4/5/2026 12:24 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K] reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Sunday called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to bring the lower chamber back from recess to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The partial government shutdown has spanned more than a month as lawmakers debate funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without significant reforms to operations following the killings two U.S. citizens by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis. “The first thing that needs to happen is that the House of Representatives under the leadership of Speaker Johnson and Republicans need to bring us back into session so we can actually reopen the Department of Homeland Security, stop creating chaos at airports all across the country and forcing people, including what happened to TSA agents for weeks, to work without pay,” Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week.” “There is a bipartisan bill that has been sent over from the Senate, not once, but twice. Every single Democrat, every single Republican in the Senate supports that legislation,” he added. Ahead of the Easter recess, senators unanimously approved a two-step path to funding DHS that would fund the bulk of the department except for ICE and Border Patrol. The House met briefly during a pro forma session following the bill’s passage but did not attempt to advance the bill because of objections from hard-line conservatives. The lower chamber instead passed a short-term funding bill before leaving for the holiday break. “House Democrats support that legislation, so we can reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, and our cybersecurity professionals, while continuing to work on the effort to get ICE under control,” Jeffries said. Sunday.

FOX News [4/5/2026 11:50 AM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, criticizes Democrats for causing the Homeland Security shutdown, touting the GOP’s two-track funding plan. Texas Republican Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne discusses the ongoing 51-day partial Homeland Security shutdown, blaming Democrats for refusing full agency funding for ICE and CBP. She highlights the GOP’s two-track plan to end the budget impasse. Van Duyne stresses the dire national security implications, calling it the "dumbest and most dangerous shutdown" in U.S. history and urges Senate action.

FOX News [4/5/2026 5:06 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla., discusses the congressional standoff over DHS funding on ‘Fox News Live.’ Florida Congressman Jimmy Patronis, a House Committee on Small Business member, addresses the stalled DHS funding fight, stating the Senate’s bill is inadequate. He criticizes Senate Democrats for their "uncooperative" stance on border issues and highlights the need for a reconciliation bill. Patronis expresses concern the shutdown could continue due to Senate’s lack of urgency.

Breitbart [4/5/2026 1:12 PM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Sunday on NBC’s "Meet the Press," Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said Democrats shut down the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because they did not want to enforce immigration law. Lawler said, "What’s not acceptable is that for this fiscal year Democrats have shut down the Department of Homeland Security for over 90 days, not paying FEMA, not paying the Coast Guard, not paying the Secret Service and not paying critical operations within the Department of Homeland Security. The fact is, Democrats. I made a very calculated decision to shut down the department because they do not want to enforce our immigration laws.". He added, "Here is an example of not enforcing our immigration laws. In 18 year old girl in my district, Sheridan Gorman was killed in Chicago after an Illegal immigrant was allowed to enter into the United States during the Biden administration. He was captured, he was detained, he was released. He went to Chicago he committed a crime he was arrested. Under Chicago’s disastrous criminal justice laws. He was released back out onto the street and he executed this 18 year old girl. Democrats do not want to fund ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. What will happen is individuals like Jose Medina will be allowed to enter into the country and kill innocent Americas. That is wrong. I will not stand for it, and that is why we are pushing back against this.".

Breitbart [4/5/2026 4:53 PM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2238K] reports Iranian terror mastermind Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani’s niece — who showcased her lavish Los Angeles lifestyle on social media while bashing the U.S. as the "Great Satan" — was arrested by federal authorities over the weekend and will be removed from the U.S. with no chance of ever returning. Arrested along with Soleimani niece, Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, and subjected to the removal order was her 25-year-old daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny. Announcement of the federal action was made Saturday by the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which dispatched Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents to make the arrests in and around Los Angeles. According to the statement from the State Department: While living in the United States, [Ashtar] promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the "Great Satan," and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terror organization. Afshar Soleimani pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account. "This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter’s legal status and they are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States," Secretary of State Marco Rubio also announced on X. "The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes," Rubio added. Afshar, 47, entered the U.S. in 2015 on a tourist visa, was granted asylum in 2019 by a judge, and then secured a green card in 2021 from the Biden administration, according to Homeland Security. However, despite having the earlier "asylum" designation Afshar made at least four trips back to Iran, according to the department, which stated "her trips to Iran illustrate her asylum claims were fraudulent.". Hosseiny, 25, entered the in 2015 on a student visa, was granted asylum in 2019 by a judge, and received a green card in 2023, the department said. "It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America," DHS spokesman told the Post. "If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the US, the green card will be revoked.".

Chicago Tribune [4/5/2026 10:30 AM, Alexandra Kukulka, 5209K] reports President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order to limit mail-in voting, which political science experts and organizations called unconstitutional and quickly led to the filing of lawsuits against the order. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order to create a nationwide list of verified eligible voters and to restrict mail-in voting, a move that swiftly drew legal threats from state Democratic officials ahead of this year’s midterm elections. The order, which voting law experts say violates the Constitution by attempting to seize states’ power to run elections, is the latest salvo from Trump to interfere with the way Americans vote based on his false allegations of voter fraud. The president has repeatedly lied about the outcome of the 2020 presidential campaign and the integrity of state-run elections, asserting that he won “three times” — even though Joe Bident was certified as the 2020 election winner — and launching accusations of voter fraud that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked. The order signed Tuesday calls on the Department of Homeland Security, working in conjunction with the Social Security Administration, to make the list of eligible voters in each state. It also seeks to bar the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee ballots to those not on each state’s approved list. Trump is also calling for ballots to have secure envelopes with unique barcodes for tracking, according to the executive order. Federal funding could be withheld from states and localities that don’t comply. U.S. elections are unique because they are not centralized. Rather than being run by the federal government, they’re conducted by election officials and volunteers in thousands of jurisdictions across the country, from tiny townships to sprawling urban counties with more voters than some states have people. The Constitution’s Elections Clause gives Congress the power to “make or alter” election regulations, at least for federal office, but it doesn’t mention presidential authority over election administration. Within minutes of Trump signing the order, top election officials in Oregon and Arizona, two states that rely heavily on mail ballots, pledged to sue, arguing that the president was illegally encroaching on the right of states to run elections. The Postal Service is run by a board of governors, and the president has no power to tell it what mail it can and cannot deliver, David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who leads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told the Associated Press. A spokesman for USPS told the AP that the independent agency — which Trump is seeking to exert more control over by folding it under the Commerce Department — will review the order.

Bloomberg [4/5/2026 9:07 AM, Staff, 18082K] Video: HERE reports the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara to consider whether President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship was constitutional. Princeton University Center for Migration & Development Research Fellow Phillip Connor and University of Notre Dame Keough School of Global Affairs Professor Francesc Ortega join Joe Mathieu and Christina Ruffini on Bloomberg This Weekend to discuss the economic impact the move could have on the country. Watch the show LIVE every Saturday and Sunday morning.

San Diego Union Tribune [4/5/2026 9:00 AM, Susan Shelley, 1257K] reports when the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case on Wednesday, the notable figures present in the courtroom included President Donald J. Trump and the ghost of Proposition 187. Backed by then-Governor Pete Wilson, the 1994 initiative was approved by 59% of California voters, buried alive in litigation for the entirety of Wilson’s second term, and then killed off in 1999 by newly elected Governor Gray Davis. Its ghost has haunted Republicans ever since. Prop. 187 intended to end most taxpayer-funded public benefits to illegal immigrants. Even though a solid majority of California voters approved it, Republicans appeared to take from the experience the political lesson that they must never, ever try anything like that again. But then in 2015, Donald Trump came down the escalator and, on the immigration issue, said the opposite of everything Republicans thought was necessary to win. He went up in the polls after every nationally televised debate. Then he defeated two rows of consultant-advised, experienced Republicans and caused the cancellation of Hillary Clinton’s entire barge of fireworks. Meet the ghost of Proposition 187. When 59% of California voters have a concern about the cost of providing public benefits to an unlimited number of people residing in the country unlawfully, that’s an apparition that will roam the earth.

New York Times [4/5/2026 1:33 PM, By Zolan Kanno-Youngs, et al., 148038K] reports it was May 2025, a few months into the second Trump administration, and Stephen Miller, the right-wing populist powering the White House crackdown on immigration, was clearly frustrated. President Trump had talked about arresting “the worst of the worst” of undocumented immigrants — the rapists, killers and other criminals he had emphasized during the previous year’s campaign. Mr. Miller, however, had long pushed for removing anyone who had entered the country illegally. So when Mr. Miller arrived one day last spring at the headquarters of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for an update from agency leaders, an official raised a question on many agents’ minds: Who exactly should they be going after? Mr. Miller was unequivocal, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting. Agents should not limit themselves to dangerous criminals. Instead, they should stop people with the lowest level of reasonable suspicion, and detain anyone in the country illegally, with warrantless arrests. His message was clear: Push the limits. Eight months later, Mr. Miller did something startling — he backpedaled. His demands had helped set in motion militarized operations on the streets of Democratic-run cities, intensified by immigration agents killing two U.S. citizens protesting in Minneapolis. After initially denouncing one of the slain protesters, an intensive care nurse, as a would-be assassin, Mr. Miller offered a rare concession that immigration authorities might have made a mistake. Now, Mr. Miller, 40, one of the most influential presidential advisers in recent memory and an unabashed champion of Mr. Trump’s hard-line immigrant crackdown, is at a crossroads. He faces questions about how aggressively he can continue to drive the deportation campaign, and how much appetite his party and the country have for tactics that proved successful in helping to boost arrests of immigrants but reignited a polarizing debate over what it means to be American. The administration has toned down its immigration strategy. Federal agents have drawn down from the streets of major cities, and Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary who had become the face of the policy, is out. Mr. Miller even pulled back his public appearances for a time. But there is little sense inside the administration that Mr. Miller has lost his standing with Mr. Trump. Far from acknowledging defeat, Mr. Miller appears to have simply adjusted his strategy in an effort to minimize political fallout. He has remained steadfast in his view that the administration should act to reverse an openness to migration that he has called “the single largest experiment on a society, on a civilization, that has ever been conducted in human history.” This account of Mr. Miller’s role in the White House and his influence over one of the more far-reaching deportation crackdowns in recent decades is based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former administration officials, local representatives and people who work with Mr. Miller or have knowledge of internal administration deliberations. Mr. Miller, who holds the dual titles of deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser, continues to preside over regular calls with national security and immigration officials. He is pushing for new ways to squeeze the lives of undocumented immigrants and those with legal protections, such as making it harder to get public housing or other benefits, officials said. He has targeted those with refugee status, particularly Somalis, a group he has long derided.

The Hill [4/5/2026 2:05 PM, Julia Manchester, 18170K] reports President Trump warned against reading into reports of an impending Cabinet shake-up during a brief phone interview on Sunday. Trump told The Hill that reports of staffing shake-ups should not be read into, saying the country was on the right track. His comments come after Attorney General Pam Bondi was ousted from her post Thursday, just weeks after former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was removed from her role. Since Bondi’s departure, speculation has swirled about the future of other Cabinet secretaries, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and FBI Director Kash Patel. However, the White House and its allies have been adamant that there are no staffing changes in the works. “Secretaries Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick are both doing a great job standing up for American workers, and they continue to have President Trump’s full support,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “POTUS has total confidence in [Gabbard] and any insinuation otherwise is totally fake news. The President has assembled the most talented and impactful Cabinet ever, and they have collectively delivered historic victories on behalf of the American people,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement posted on the social media platform X.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [4/5/2026 3:51 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K]
Washington Examiner [4/5/2026 3:34 PM, Emily Hallas, 1147K]

Bloomberg Law [4/6/2026 4:45 AM, Angélica Franganillo Diaz, 49K]
reports Secretary Markwayne Mullin faces a critical test as he takes the helm at the Department of Homeland Security: reversing a sharp decline in morale or risking operational and national security consequences. Strain on the workforce has implications for staffing, enforcement capacity, and the agency’s national security mission, current and former officials said. DHS observers are divided on whether Mullin can meet the challenge, and they warn that DHS could lose more career talent and struggle to recruit new workers if he doesn’t. “He needs to stop the bleeding,” said Stewart Verdery. [Editorial note: consult source link for extended commentary]

AP [4/5/2026 6:06 PM, David Crary, 35287K] reports numerous previous presidents have issued statements in recognition of Easter Sunday. This year, the Trump administration went a step farther, with several key Cabinet departments heralding Christ’s resurrection on their official social media accounts. "He is risen," declared the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. The Defense Department shared a post on X from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: "The tomb is empty. The promise is fulfilled. Through His sacrifice, we are redeemed. We stand firm in faith, courage, and truth.". The Justice Department also chimed in on X. "Today, as millions of Christians gather in their churches across the nation to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, this Department —- is proud to protect and defend religious liberty," it said. The posts drew thousands of comments. Some people expressed joy at the departments’ open embrace of Christianity; others were outraged, saying government agencies should not be promoting the doctrine of a particular faith. Hegseth frequently invokes his evangelical faith as head of the armed forces, depicting a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes with military might.

New York Post [4/5/2026 6:52 PM, Staff, 40934K] reports California politicians have spent years bashing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). State Senator Scott Wiener and Governor Gavin Newsom tried to make it illegal for ICE to wear masks. Attorney General Rob Bonta has threatened to arrest ICE agents, though he lacks any authority to do so under the Constitution. Not to be undone, Governor wanna-be Eric Swalwell wants to bar ICE agents from any future employment in the state. And almost any Democrat running for Congress today must promise to defund ICE. They claim, falsely, that ICE targets innocent victims, including U.S. citizens, and helpless mothers and children. So consider the latest "victims" of ICE enforcement: the niece and flamboyant grand-niece of Iranian terror general Qassem Soleimani. As The California Post reported, ICE arrested Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, 47, and her daughter, Sarinasadat Hosseiny, 25, on Friday. They both had "green cards" — that is, they both were granted permanent residency, with the eventual possibility of U.S. citizenship. They had entered the U.S. in 2015, when President Barack Obama was seeking closer relations with the Iranian regime. The government notes that Afshar traveled repeatedly to Iran since arriving in the U.S, making her later claims for asylum "fraudulent." She also allegedly praised the Iranian regime on social media, while celebrating attacks against American soldiers. The younger Soleimani relative lived the high life, attending flashy events and wearing attention-grabbing outfits that she promoted online. That is the sort of behavior, ironically, that would land women in jail — or worse — in Soleimani’s Iran. Soleimani was no ordinary general. He was the mastermind of Iran’s expansion abroad. At his direction, Iran armed and funded terrorist organizations that carried out attacks on Israel and other countries.

New York Post [4/5/2026 12:00 PM, Evan Smith, 40934K] reports the swearing-in of Markwayne Mullin as the Secretary of Homeland Security marks a fresh start for a critically important department that impacts the daily lives of the American public in ways often unseen. While much of the immediate political oxygen will be consumed by border enforcement and immigration policy, the Secretary has a generational opportunity to redefine the mission of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a new era to also include economic security. To truly secure the American way of life, Secretary Mullin must look beyond the physical perimeter and focus on the department’s most potent, yet often overlooked, lever of national power: its role in governing the global flow of trade. For too long, the American public — and often DHS itself — has viewed the border as a static line. But through the lens of a modern, interconnected world, the border is less a physical wall and more a high-frequency filter. It is the point of entry for the $3 trillion in goods that fuel our economy, but it is also the primary friction point where the "unseen" threats of the 21st century — forced labor, fentanyl precursors, security breaches in the supply chain and adversarial economic coercion — breach our defenses. We are currently transitioning from "Globalization 1.0" — a model built on the fragile altars of lowest cost and highest speed — to "Globalization 2.0," a paradigm where trust, resilience and transparency are the primary currencies. In this new era, economic security is no longer a byproduct of national security; it is national security. Secretary Mullin understands this more than most. As a former business owner who has managed balance sheets and supply chains, he knows that commerce is the lifeblood of American strength. A shipment of solar panels might appear legitimate on its face, but the silicon may have been sourced through forced labor three tiers deep in a prohibited region. A chemical shipment might look like industrial detergent, but it’s actually a precursor chemical for illicit fentanyl destined for a cartel lab. To counter this, Secretary Mullin must champion the modernization of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) trade functions. This means moving toward a "system of record" for global trade — a shared, AI-powered understanding of the world’s supply chains that allows DHS to see not just the ship at the dock, but the entire genealogy of the product it carries. As Secretary Mullin takes the helm, the temptation will be to stay focused on the "front page" issues of the day. But the lasting legacy of his tenure will be determined by whether he can transform DHS into a 21st-century agency that views every shipping container as a data point, every product as a global value chain network and every trade route as a security corridor.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [4/5/2026 10:53 AM, Staff, 1824K]
reports President Trump has coined the rescue of the airmen an Easter miracle this morning. We’re all grateful that they are safe. More broadly, is the United States winning this war? "What’s important here is that the inevitability of this conflict, as we look from the beginning, which was the issue, of course, Iran pursuing its nuclear ambitions. And from the beginning of the president saying that we’re going to truncate those, as we had, you know, Obama step in and say with his nuclear enrichment deal, we’re just going to step back and watch as Iran continues to get closer and closer to a nuclear weapon, this president saying, no, we’re going to take military action to stop them from doing so. Now, with this intervention, the president saying, we’re going to intervene to stop their ability to have a military in which they can project force against the United States and our allies. In that you’re seeing Iran’s ability to be able to project force, their ability to be the, you know, state sponsor of terrorism, their ability to hurt our allies in the United States to be diminished and their -- certainly their ability to continue to pursue what they were on the verge of being able to become a nuclear power, stopped. That is incredibly important." Turner comments.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [4/5/2026 10:53 AM, Staff, 1824K] reports overnight the military recused the second pilot who was in that F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Iran. Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries gives his reaction. "I’m thankful that a second U.S. airman has been rescued heroically by our Special Forces. And we, of course, continue to pray for the safety, the health, the wellbeing of all of our men and women who are in uniform in a very dangerous theater of war. Of course, Donald Trump has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives and no clear exit strategy. Instead, billions of dollars are being spent every day to drop bombs in the Middle East, when Donald Trump as a candidate promised to never get us involved in this type of conflict." Jeffries comments.

Breitbart [4/5/2026 3:49 PM, Neil Munro, 2238K] reports President Donald Trump’s deputies directed more low-profile enforcement operations this weekend to remove many illegal migrants from U.S. worksites. The surprise worksite operations make it difficult for well-funded pro-migration groups — including left-wing, business, and media groups — to create the TV-magnified chaos that unnerves swing-voting citizens. In Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, ICE invited illegal-migrant truck drivers to renew their Commercial Driver’s Licenses at a local licensing office and promptly arrested 13 who turned up. WTAE reported that ICE arrested "13 illegal aliens from countries including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan." One migrant assaulted a local officer, ICE added. In Washington State, ICE agents arrested other migrants who attended appointments at federal offices. But there is a long way to go because of the huge logistical task of deporting 10 million migrants, amid fierce resistance by well-funded lawyers, empathy-maximizing reporters, and hostile Democratic Party leaders. Currently, Trump’s deputies are arresting almost 1,000 illegal migrants per day — after closing the southern border.

ABC News [4/5/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 34146K] Video: HERE reports ABC News correspondent Matt Rivers reports on the growing number of deaths inside ICE detention centers on “This Week.”

NBC News [4/5/2026 7:00 AM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 42967K] reports after four months and several court hearings, the wife of a U.S. Army Reserve Black Hawk pilot was released last week from an ICE detention facility in Houston. Stephanie Kenny-Velasquez, who is from Venezuela, was detained in December just two days after marrying Chris Busby. On Tuesday, Busby, 28, stood outside the detention center with flowers and a smile waiting to hug his wife for the first time this year. "I just can’t believe it," he said on the phone. "We’ve waited so long.". Kenny-Velasquez was released after a federal judge ruled that her due process rights had been violated when immigration officers detained her last year. She had previously applied for asylum and was released into the U.S. in 2021. Still, Kenny-Velasquez said she couldn’t let herself celebrate until she was back in his arms. "I was in shock. I’m still in shock," Kenny-Velasquez, 25, said Wednesday. "I’m just trying to process everything.". In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said all of Kenny-Velasquez’s claims will be heard in immigration court and "will receive full due process.". But her pending asylum case does not grant her legal status in the U.S, the statement continued, noting that she was released into the country under the Biden, not Trump, administration. "Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App," the statement read in part. Kenny-Velasquez’s first night home wasn’t as easy as she hoped. She cried thinking about the dozens of other women who were still inside the large room they shared for several months. Without any privacy, the 60 or so detainees, who speak a range of languages, had grown close.

New York Times [4/5/2026 6:16 PM, Miriam Jordan, 148038K] reports a U.S. Army staff sergeant and his wife arrived at his base in Louisiana last week, expecting to begin their life together as newlyweds. The couple checked in at the visitor center, identification in hand, ready to complete the steps that would allow her to move into his home on the base. Within hours, that plan had unraveled. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the base and detained his wife, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. By nightfall, she was in a detention facility with hundreds of women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The detention came just days after Annie Ramos, 22, a college student with no criminal record, and Matthew Blank, 23, celebrated their marriage with family and friends. Sergeant Blank, who enlisted more than five years ago, is assigned to a brigade at Fort Polk, La. that is set to begin training at the end of the month for deployment. “Our plan was to drive over, bring her to the office to get her military ID and activate her military spouse benefits,” such as health and life insurance, he said. “She was going to move in after the Easter weekend. Instead, she got ripped away from me.” When U.S. citizens marry undocumented immigrants, their spouses become eligible for legal permanent residency through marriage, and they can apply for citizenship three years after receiving their green card. Even those with a prior deportation order, often issued when they were children, are not typically detained and are able to adjust their immigration status, experts said. Before they were married, Ms. Ramos and Sergeant Blank had hired a lawyer to begin that process. “I knew she didn’t have status,” he said. “We were doing everything the right way.” Or so they thought. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Ramos had been arrested “after she attempted to enter a military base.” “She has no legal status to be in this country and was issued a final order of removal by a judge,” the statement read. “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

Univision [4/5/2026 12:43 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) paused the purchase of warehouses to detain immigrants while it examines the contracts made by Kristi Noem. Discontent over how Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE ) has been conducting raids caused eight existing deals to fall apart, as the owners chose not to sell. Furthermore, they have questioned local resources , such as sewage and water systems. According to the Associated Press, 11 warehouses have been purchased so far , located in Arizona , Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas , and Utah. These represent a total expenditure of $1.074 billion for the federal government. During Markwayne Mullin ‘s confirmation hearing as the new Secretary of Homeland Security, he indicated that he wanted to protect his country, but that he also planned to work with "community leaders" and be "good partners." Mullin confirmed that the municipalities do not have the capacity in their infrastructure for waste and water. Another issue that sparked debate was that mayors, governors , and commissioners were unaware that ICE had purchased facilities to detain immigrants, which caused anger and frustration, even though these were areas that supported President Donald Trump. Mullin inherited a $38.3 billion plan to increase capacity to 92,000 beds by acquiring eight large-scale detention centers, each capable of housing between 7,000 and 10,000 immigrants, as well as 16 smaller regional processing centers. The US president proposed on Friday, April 3, to increase defense spending in his 2027 budget, focusing on military investments from other countries rather than domestic programs. Some of the points highlighted by the White House included supporting operations to enforce immigration laws and eliminating refugee resettlement programs, while maintaining the same ICE funding and using last year’s increases in DHS funding to continue opening detention centers, with 100,000 spaces for adults and 30,000 for families.

New York Times [4/5/2026 5:42 PM, Edgar Sandoval and Gabriel V. Cárdenas, 148038K] reports before the sun rises, Andrea García is already awake, unsettled by an unusual cold spell and tormented by the memory of immigration agents upending her life. Andrea, 22, willed herself out of bed. A child-sized statue of La Virgen de Guadalupe in the living room, a symbol of maternal protection for many Mexican Catholics, stood watch as Andrea set the home in motion. She had to get her five siblings ready for early Sunday mass. After waking her sister Ana, who shares a bed with her, she nudged her two younger brothers sleeping in a nearby room. “Levántense. Get up,” Andrea said using Spanglish, the mixture of English and Spanish that is common along the border. Jorge Orozco, 11, sprang out of bed, his eyes shut tight. He didn’t move again until Andrea returned with an urgent plea, “Ya es hora, it is time.” Getting everyone up and ready for school had gone faster when their parents were around, Andrea said. “They used to listen to dad more. They are not ready to see me as their parent.” In January, immigration agents raided the family’s home in a rural section of Donna, Texas, a small border town of about 17,000 people. They arrested Andrea’s parents, Julio Orosco and Lucero Garza, who had been living in the country without authorization for years. Ms. Garza was deported to Mexico; Mr. Orosco is still in custody. But Andrea and all of her siblings, ages 11 through 22, are all citizens, born in the U.S. And so Andrea, who had been making plans to one day start her own young adult life, to live in her own apartment, and to perhaps find a husband, was instead thrust abruptly into an unlikely and unfamiliar role: matriarch. In the weeks since, the older siblings have put relationships, careers and education on hold, substituting as caretakers for their younger brothers and sisters. Their story illustrates some of the less-seen effects of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, scrambling the lives of American citizens who were raised by undocumented parents who chose to raise their family in the United States despite the risks. Immigration stories like theirs are under increasing scrutiny, as the Supreme Court considers arguments about birthright citizenship, which guarantees that nearly all babies born in the U.S. are citizens.

CBS Pittsburgh [4/5/2026 7:04 AM, Ricky Sayer, 51110K] Video: HERE reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 13 individuals at an Armstrong County driver’s license center on Friday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed to KDKA-TV on Saturday. The 13 individuals, described by DHS as "illegal aliens," were arrested outside the West Kittanning location. They are from countries including Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. One of them resisted arrest and assaulted a local officer, DHS said. Long lines inside and a packed parking lot, with multiple tractor-trailers, caught the attention of people at and near the DMV on Friday. "I tried to call ICE that morning when I noticed all the foreigners in there and nobody was speaking English," said Gary Klingensmith, who lives across from the DMV. While he didn’t get through to ICE, DHS said the East Franklin Police Department did. Concerned citizens had reported to local police an abnormally large number of individuals outside the driver’s license center, a DHS spokesperson said.

CBS News [4/5/2026 6:31 PM, Andrew Adeolu, 51110K] Video: HERE reports a 32-year-old man residing in Maryland is recovering in the hospital following an incident in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were accused of driving into his vehicle on Thursday. His lawyers identified him as Ever Alvarenga Rios, and said he had been seeking citizenship for the past eight years after immigrating from Honduras. One of his attorneys said he’s expected to be released from the hospital Sunday morning. The Baltimore Banner, quoted an attorney who alleged ICE agents had intentionally rammed into Alvarenga Rios’ van. "I’m not aware of any law enforcement protocol in any scenario or setting across the country" that allows for federal agents to use their vehicle in that way to enforce immigration laws," immigration attorney Adam Crandell told the Banner. According to Baltimore Police, the incident took place at 7:36 a.m. Police said patrol officers responded to the 200 block of South Haven Street to investigate a car crash involving two vehicles. Police confirmed that one of the vehicles was driven by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official and that the crash left both drivers with minor injuries. Both individuals were transported to the hospital for evaluation, where the man remained on Friday with "significant injuries to his head, chest, back, and hands," according to a statement from his lawyers. Attorneys for Alvarenga Rios said they were denied visiting their client multiple times at the hospital. "We are deeply disturbed by the conduct of the ICE agents involved – not only for their actions that caused our client’s injuries and endangered the general public safety – but for the continued denial of his access to counsel and due process under the law. This incident underscores growing concerns nationwide about how immigration enforcement actions are being executed in our country," said Eldridge Crandell, LLC.

Washington Times [4/5/2026 5:18 PM, Staff, 1323K] reports a 3-year-old boy died in Florida after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of his uncle, highlighting the difficult choices illegal immigrant parents face when they are deported and must decide whether to take their children with them or leave them behind. Samuel Antonio Maldonado Erazo has been indicted in Escambia County, Florida, on a first-degree murder charge. Authorities say the boy — the son of Maldonado Erazo’s sister — was struck on the head at least 17 times, had burn marks on his skin, a severed pancreas, a fractured collarbone and broken ribs so severe they detached from his spine. Florida authorities said the child died of cardiac arrest connected to the abuse. The boy’s mother, Wendy Esther Hernandez Reyes, was deported in January and chose to leave her son in the U.S. with her brother rather than take the child with her. Department of Homeland Security officials called the case “absolutely sickening.” Todd Lyons, acting ICE director, said the agency gives parents the opportunity to be deported with their children, but Reyes chose to leave her son behind. ICE said Maldonado Erazo entered the U.S. in 2021 with his daughter, a Honduran citizen, taking advantage of Biden-era catch-and-release policies. He had no prior criminal record in the U.S. His arrest, along with that of his wife, has left their three children — the youngest two of them U.S. citizens — in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families. The case has drawn attention to a broader pattern. ICE data shows 15,725 deportations of family-unit migrants between Oct. 1 and Feb. 7, compared with 146,467 single adults deported during the same period.

New York Times [4/5/2026 6:15 PM, Miriam Jordan, 148038K] reports a U.S. Army staff sergeant and his wife arrived at his base in Louisiana last week, expecting to begin their life together as newlyweds. The couple checked in at the visitor center, identification in hand, ready to complete the steps that would allow her to move into his home on the base. Within hours, that plan had unraveled. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered the base and detained his wife, an undocumented Honduran immigrant who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. By nightfall, she was in a detention facility with hundreds of women facing deportation as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. The detention came just days after Annie Ramos, 22, a college student with no criminal record, and Matthew Blank, 23, celebrated their marriage with family and friends. Sergeant Blank, who enlisted more than five years ago, is assigned to a brigade at Fort Polk, La. that is set to begin training at the end of the month for deployment. When U.S. citizens marry undocumented immigrants, their spouses become eligible for legal permanent residency through marriage, and they can apply for citizenship three years after receiving their green card. Even those with a prior deportation order, often issued when they were children, are not typically detained and are able to adjust their immigration status, experts said. Before they were married, Ms. Ramos and Sergeant Blank had hired a lawyer to begin that process. “I knew she didn’t have status,” he said. “We were doing everything the right way.” “Prior to the Trump administration creating a mass deportation policy, somebody like her would not have been detained,’’ said Ms. Stock, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who practices immigration law and who has handled many similar cases. She said the military would typically have allowed Ms. Ramos to get her military ID and told the couple to file their immigration papers. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that Ms. Ramos had been arrested “after she attempted to enter a military base.” “She has no legal status to be in this country and was issued a final order of removal by a judge,” the statement read. “This administration is not going to ignore the rule of law.”

Univision [4/5/2026 8:36 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an arrest warrant for Tarsem Singh, an Indian migrant accused of causing a fatal crash following a high-speed chase in Ohio. The measure was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which stated that the purpose of the immigration action is to prevent the defendant from being released while he faces criminal charges for his alleged responsibility in the accident that occurred on February 16, 2026. Singh was charged with offenses including vehicular homicide, manslaughter, and reckless driving after authorities accused him of fleeing from the police and causing a crash that left two people dead. He is currently in custody with bail set at $1 million. According to official reports, the man is believed to have entered the United States in 2017 via the southern border, and his case now also involves immigration proceedings running parallel to the criminal proceedings. The incident began when a county deputy spotted a vehicle traveling above the speed limit and attempted to pull it over, but the driver accelerated and fled the scene. The chase stretched for several miles and reached speeds of up to 124 miles per hour (nearly 200 km/h) before the vehicle collided with another car on a curve. As a result of the crash, Ashlee Holmes, a 17-year-old pregnant teenager, and her unborn baby were killed. Another driver involved in the accident was injured and taken to a hospital. Authorities stated that the entire sequence, from the attempt to pull the vehicle over to the crash, occurred in a matter of minutes.

Telemundo [4/5/2026 12:43 PM, Alicia Victoria Lozano, 2524K] reports that, after four months and several court hearings, the wife of a U.S. Army Reserve Black Hawk helicopter pilot was released earlier this week from an ICE detention center in Houston. Stephanie Kenny-Velásquez, originally from Venezuela, was detained in December, just two days after marrying Chris Busby. On Tuesday, Busby, 28, stood outside the detention center, smiling and holding flowers, waiting to embrace his wife for the first time this year. “I just can’t believe it,” she said over the phone. “We’ve waited so long.” Kenny-Velásquez was released after a federal judge ruled that her due process rights had been violated when immigration agents detained her last year. She had previously applied for asylum and was released within the United States in 2021. However, Kenny-Velásquez commented that she couldn’t allow herself to celebrate until she was back in her husband’s arms. “I was in shock. I’m still in shock,” said Kenny-Velásquez, 25, on Wednesday. “I’m just trying to process it all.” In an emailed statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said all of Kenny-Velásquez’s claims will be heard in immigration court and that she will "receive full due process." However, her pending asylum case does not grant her legal status in the United States, the statement continued, noting that she was released within the country under the Biden Administration, not the Trump Administration. “Being detained is a choice. We encourage all undocumented immigrants to take control of their departure through the CBP Home app,” the statement read in part. Kenny-Velásquez’s first night back home wasn’t as easy as she had hoped. She wept as she thought about the dozens of other women still inside the large room they had shared for several months. With no privacy, the nearly 60 detainees—who spoke a variety of languages—had formed close bonds. Some came from Spanish-speaking countries, such as El Salvador, Honduras, and Cuba. Others came to the United States in search of a better life from Vietnam, Russia, Romania, and China, she recounted. “There are people who have families, who have children. I feel bad because I’m here and they’re still inside,” she said. “Chris told me that’s called survivor’s guilt.” The oldest person she met —a woman from Venezuela— was 72 years old and, on several occasions, had difficulty accessing her medications, Kenny-Velásquez said. In a statement sent via email, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) stated that all detainees receive medical, dental, and mental health care within 12 hours of arriving at the facility, and that they have access to 24-hour emergency care. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Yahoo! News [4/5/2026 3:10 PM, Staff, 46783K] reports thousands of people gathered at the steps of the Texas capitol on Saturday to protest against the construction of a border wall through Big Bend, in a show of bipartisan opposition to the White House’s plans. More than 2,000 people attended the rally, according to Texas Public Radio, holding signs with slogans such as "No Big Bend NP Wall," "Big Love for Big Bend" and "No al Muro" – Spanish for "No to the Wall." Organizers gathered postcards from protesters to deliver to Greg Abbott, the Texas governor who has yet to weigh in publicly on the border wall expansion plans at Big Bend. César Blanco, a Democratic state senator, said his office had been flooded with messages from constituents sharing stories of their love for Big Bend and their opposition to marring it with a border wall. "There’s nothing like that region anywhere in the world," Blanco said. "It’s a place where families make memories together.". "We all agree that border security matters," he added. "But we don’t have to harm our communities in the process. We don’t have to destroy the ecosystem to achieve it. We can do it the right way. We can do it thoughtfully with the people that live in those communities.". Brandon Herrera, a rightwing gun YouTuber running for the congressional seat that includes Big Bend, described opposition to building the wall there as "something we can actually agree on". "Democrats don’t want this wall in Big Bend," Herrera said. "Republicans don’t want this wall in Big Bend. Independents don’t want this wall in Big Bend. Sheriffs don’t want this wall in Big Bend. The tourists don’t want this wall in Big Bend. Nobody wants this wall in Big Bend.". Jerry Patterson, a Republican and former Texas land commissioner, led the crowd in a chant of "no damn wall.". "I have found no one, Republican or Democrat, who wants a wall in the Big Bend," Patterson said. "I almost wanna find somebody so I can talk to ‘em. But I can’t.". Other speakers raised concerns about a border wall’s impact on the bighorn sheep and black bears that need access to the river. Several described wall construction as a form of federal overreach. Anthropologist Carolyn Boyd said current plans threaten to wall off or destroy dozens of rock art murals. "These are not just archeological sites," Boyd said. "They are sacred landscapes. They are libraries of human knowledge. They are the voices of 175 generations preserved on canyon walls. And many of these places remain sacred to Native American communities today.".

ABC News [4/5/2026 9:24 AM, Staff, 34146K] Video: HERE reports nearly one week after TSA workers started to get paid again amid a partial government shutdown, ABC News’ Andrew Dymburt takes a look at the current state of security lines at airports.

Reuters [4/5/2026 10:16 PM, Olivia Zollino, 38315K] reports President Donald Trump on Friday (April 3) proposed to begin privatizing airport security operations handled by the Transportation Security Administration, in an effort to save money. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [4/5/2026 8:22 PM, Ben Chapman, 40934K] reports LA’s fastest airport is getting a Hollywood-inspired makeover with improvements to safety and efficiency — but first — painful travel delays. Travelers flying out of Hollywood Burbank Airport typically clear Transportation Security Administration security checkpoints in as little as five minutes. Curb to terminal usually takes under an hour. But starting Monday, travelers at the airport favored by Hollywood insiders are warned to show up at least two hours before their flight to allow for "potential traffic delays," airport authorities said. The reason? A Tinseltown makeover to the historic airport’s main terminal and roadway that’s meant to slow things down for more than two months. Don’t send in the clowns just yet. Architects say the glamorous airport’s new terminal is going to be a modern tribute to Hollywood’s Golden Age. Renderings of the new facility show a canopy over the main entryway that’s inspired by the look of a silver screen. And the columns at the entrance are slanted, to echo the searchlights used at movie premieres during Hollywood’s heyday. "The theme is definitely a throwback to old Hollywood," Brent Kelley, managing principal at design firm Corgan, told the commercial real estate trade publication CoStar News. Burbank’s historic terminal sits less than a football field away from where planes take off and land, making the trip from your car to the tarmac a breeze. But it also presents safety and access issues. In 2000, a Southwest Airlines jet slid off the runway and through a fence, coming to a rest at a nearby gas station. Last year, dozens of flights were canceled or delayed in October due to staffing shortages at the air traffic control tower, following the federal government shutdown. And more recently, a plane and a helicopter on March 2 came dangerously close to colliding near the airport, in a scare officials said reflected growing travel risks. Construction is now ongoing on the 355,000-square-foot terminal in the northeast portion of the 555-acre airport. The $1.3 billion project is planned for completion by the end of the year.

CBS News [4/5/2026 9:40 AM, Kaia Hubbard, 51110K] reports the Secret Service said it is investigating overnight gunfire near the White House on Sunday. Officers responded shortly after midnight on Sunday to reports of gunfire in the vicinity of Lafayette Park, the Secret Service said in a statement. No injuries were reported, according to the statement, and a search of the park and surrounding area was conducted. A suspect was not located. Lafayette Park is located directly north of the White House. President Trump is in Washington and is hosting a family Easter dinner at the White House on Sunday. White House operations remain normal, though a heightened security posture is in place, the Secret Service said. Road closures were initially in effect adjacent to the park. Chief of Communications for the Secret Service Anthony Guglielmi said in a post on X after 8 a.m. that the closures had been lifted. The investigation remained active Sunday morning. The Secret Service said it’s seeking a possible vehicle and a person of interest, while coordinating with U.S. Park Police and Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. The New York Post [4/5/2026 11:33 AM, Ryan King, 40934K] reports "Secret Service Police, in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Park Police, are actively seeking a possible vehicle and a person of interest. Our investigation is active," the agency said in a statement. "While operations at the White House remain normal, a heightened security posture is in place.". The Secret Service has not released the name of a vehicle or person of interest, and the circumstances and reason behind the shooting are not clear, either. The shooting took place just after midnight. Lafayette Park has been fenced off for weeks because of ongoing renovations. Trump remained at the White House this weekend. On Sunday, his motorcade did a tour around Memorial Circle, where he intends to build an "Independence Arch," and he went to Trump National Golf Club in Virginia. The shooting near the White House is just the latest security scare in recent weeks. Last weekend, authorities scrambled an F-16 fighter jet at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, where Trump has his Mar-a-Lago residence, after losing contact with an aircraft in the area. Air Force One was stationed at the airport at the time of the incident, though Trump was away on his golf course. Neither the president nor the presidential plane was in danger, the White House and Secret Service said.

Reported similarly:
AP [4/5/2026 8:07 PM, Staff, 35287K]
Univision [4/5/2026 12:49 PM, Staff, 4937K]
Washington Times [4/5/2026 9:39 AM, Matt Delaney, 1323K]

CBS San Francisco [4/5/2026 11:11 PM, Staff, 51110K] reports that, as the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security continues, so does the uncertainty of the future for Bay Area maritime workers. "They’re seeing workforce shortages now for the first time where folks are either unable to afford gas and come to work, which has been the case," Scott Humphrey, the executive director of the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region, told CBS News Bay Area. He is referring to the U.S. Coast Guard vessel traffic service (VTS) operators. "If something goes wrong on the bay, the VTS operators having gone through more than six months of training, and often the civilians that are most impacted by this shutdown are the most experienced operators," he said. Humphrey communicates with the VTS and says 18 civilian operators have not been paid in over a month due to the government shutdown. The operators work 12-hour watches, making sure there are no collisions during the day and night. But on April 1, the VTS had to go offline for about 12 hours as there were not enough staff members for the overnight watch. This meant that the vessel traffic service continuity reporting protocol was in effect, in which vessels had to communicate with each other. "There’s a lot of money coming in and out in the economy with those ships; it’s a big industry. It’s definitely really important," Jonathan Tin, a commercial fisherman, told CBS News Bay Area. He said communication with the operators is extremely important. "As long as we stay out of the shipping lanes, where we fish, there’s shipping lanes that come in and out of the bay. And we fish near them, so we can’t get in the shipping lanes otherwise, we lose a lot of gear," Tin said. Humphrey adds that another problem is hiring when it’s needed the most. "Short six civilian employees. This shutdown prevents them from hiring. So, on top of the fact that their existing 18 civilians aren’t being paid, and there are active military people that are being paid, they’re unable to announce and hire these six civilian employees," he said. Humphrey said one of VTS’ longest-serving employees has more than 30 years of experience. CBS News Bay Area reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard for comment and is still waiting to hear back. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [4/5/2026 12:50 PM, Kurt Knutsson, 37576K] reports your phone lock screen is supposed to be your last line of defense. If your device gets lost or stolen, that PIN or passcode should keep strangers out of your photos, messages and financial apps. But researchers have found a serious flaw that can break through those protections on certain Android phones in less than a minute. Once exploited, attackers can recover your phone’s PIN, unlock encrypted storage and even extract sensitive data such as cryptocurrency wallet seed phrases. Security researchers estimate that roughly one in four Android phones could be affected, particularly budget phones. A newly disclosed vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2026-20435 in the National Vulnerability Database, affects some Android phones powered by MediaTek, a major smartphone chip maker based in Taiwan that competes with companies like Qualcomm. These phones use a security component called Trustonic’s Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), which is designed to keep sensitive data, such as encryption keys, protected from the rest of the system. It stores cryptographic keys that help keep your device encrypted and secure, even if someone tries to tamper with it. However, security analyses of the vulnerability indicate that these protections may be bypassed on affected devices. By connecting a phone to a computer using a USB cable, an attacker with physical access may be able to exploit the flaw during the early boot process, potentially exposing sensitive data before full security protections are enforced. Think of it like accessing the master key before the safe door even closes. Once attackers gain access to these low-level components, they may be able to access encrypted storage without needing your PIN. In a worst-case scenario, this type of access could allow attackers to extract highly sensitive information, including personal photos, stored passwords, private messages, financial data, and crypto wallet credentials. If seed phrases for crypto wallets are exposed, attackers could drain funds permanently.

Breitbart [4/5/2026 11:42 AM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Sunday on ABC’s "This Week," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said President Donald Trump "threats" to withdraw from NATO were "reckless.". [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [4/6/2026 3:37 AM, Staff, 38315K] reports the death ‌of Majid Khademi, the ⁠head of the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence organisation, was ‌announced ⁠on Monday by ⁠Iranian state media, ⁠without ⁠additional detail.

Los Angeles Times [4/5/2026 11:34 AM, Michael Wilner and Nabih Bulos, 12718K] reports an audacious operation Saturday night deep inside Iran rescued an American officer whose fighter jet had gone down behind enemy lines, a dramatic mission involving hundreds of U.S. soldiers that underscored the ongoing dangers of President Trump’s war. Early on Easter Sunday morning, the president celebrated the mission as one of the most daring of its kind in U.S. history. But he was angrily threatening to escalate the conflict only hours later, warning Iran with an expletive that he would order strikes against its vital infrastructure unless it agreed by Tuesday to allow all maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump wrote on his social media website. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” It was a precarious moment in a war the Trump administration repeatedly vowed would be over by now. Yet, more than five weeks after joint U.S. and Israeli strikes began, the president has struggled to identify a clear endgame. New dangers have emerged on the battlefield, demonstrated by the downing of two U.S. aircraft Friday, prompting a series of risky rescue missions, including the expansive operation Saturday that retrieved a missing weapons systems officer. The Islamic Republic’s stockpile of fissile material, capable of producing nuclear warheads, remains buried underground in Iranian custody. And Tehran’s stranglehold on the strait — through which a fifth of the world’s oil typically passes each day — has already driven up energy prices worldwide, raising fears of an impending oil shock. In a series of phone interviews Sunday with reporters, Trump said he still wanted the war to end in a matter of days, not weeks. But he doubled down on his deadline — following up with a post warning Iran that attacks would escalate at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday — telling one reporter that “very little” would be off the table if Tehran doesn’t capitulate. “If it happens, it happens,” he told ABC News. “And if it doesn’t, we’re blowing up the whole country.” A senior administration official told The Times that Saturday’s mission began with a deception campaign launched by the CIA to throw off Iran’s military. The intelligence agency intentionally leaked plans to transport a valuable package out of the country — first by ground convoy to Iran’s southern coast, then by sea into international waters — in order to draw Iranian forces away from the officer’s true location in the crevice of a mountain, the official said. The CIA shared details of the officer’s locator beacon with the White House and the Defense Department, and monitored his movements in real time as he navigated a ridge at an altitude of nearly 7,000 feet above sea level, awaiting rescue. U.S. forces struck targets in the area to keep Iranian forces at bay before deploying assets for the extraction. “The Iranians were confused and uncertain of what was happening,” the official said. The officer sustained injuries while evading Iranian forces, Trump acknowledged on social media, adding that “he will be just fine.”

AP [4/6/2026 11:22 PM, Matthew Lee, Bassem Mroue, Konstantin Toropin and Samy Magdy, 34146K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday made expletive-filled threats against Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline, after American forces rescued a wounded aviator whose Iran-downed plane fell behind enemy lines. A defiant Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf Arab countries and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula. Trump on social media vowed to hit Iran’s power plants and bridges and said the country would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global trade, isn’t opened. He ended with “Praise be to Allah.” Trump has issued such deadlines before but extended them when mediators have claimed progress toward ending the war, which has killed thousands, shaken global markets and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks. “It seems Trump has become a phenomenon that neither Iranians nor Americans are able to fully analyze,” Iranian Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri told visiting Associated Press journalists in an interview in Tehran, adding that the U.S. president “constantly shifts between contradictory positions.” Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets like oil fields and desalination plants that provide drinking water. Iran’s U.N. mission called Trump’s threat “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime.” Iran’s joint military command warned of stepped-up attacks on regional oil and civilian infrastructure if the U.S. and Israel attack such targets there, according to state television. The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime. An intense search followed Friday’s crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, while Iran promised a reward for the “enemy pilot.” It was the first known American aircraft to crash in Iranian territory since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. Trump said that the service member was “seriously wounded and really brave” and rescued from “deep inside the mountains” in an operation involving dozens of armed aircraft. He said a second crew member was rescued in “broad daylight” within hours of the crash. A senior U.S. administration official said that before locating the second aviator, the CIA spread word inside Iran that U.S. forces had found him and were moving him out, creating confusion for Iranians. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public. Iran also shot down another U.S. military plane Friday, demonstrating the perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of Iran’s degraded military to hit back. Neither the status of the A-10 attack aircraft’s crew nor where it crashed is known. On Sunday, Iran’s state television aired a video showing what it claimed were parts of U.S. aircraft — a transport plane and two helicopters — shot down by Iranian forces during the rescue operation. However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told the AP that the U.S. military blew up two transport planes because of a technical malfunction and brought in additional aircraft to complete the rescue. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission. Iran’s joint military command later said the U.S. bombarded its own aircraft to “prevent embarrassment for President Trump.”

Washington Examiner [4/5/2026 2:27 PM, Emily Hallas, 1147K] reports President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would blow up "the whole country" of Iran if it does not agree to the U.S. peace proposal, marking a major escalation of his threats toward the regime. "If [the deal] happens, it happens. And if it doesn’t, we’re blowing up the whole country," he told NBC News. When pressed on civilian infrastructure, the president said, "I don’t want to talk about that.". The president said that "very little" is off the table when pressed on whether anything was off limits in looming threatened strikes. Trump’s support for targeting all of Iran marks a significant escalation of warnings he previously issued to the country, when he said the U.S. would obliterate its energy infrastructure if it did not make a deal, and open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump set a 10-day deadline for Iran to agree to the deal in late March that was set to expire on Monday at 8 p.m. But the president moved that deadline back a day, saying he would authorize sweeping strikes against Iran on Tuesday if it does not make a deal, suggesting in another post that the strikes would take place on Tuesday at 8 p.m. The United States and Israel launched initial strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, citing long-standing concerns about the regime’s nuclear program. The decision was made after the U.S. was told by Iranian officials that it had enough enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs within 10 days, according to Trump’s team. Washington has been involved in peace talks with Iran seeking to resolve concerns and end the conflict since around March 21. Democrats, and some isolationist-leaning Republicans, such as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), have expressed fear that the war could turn into a costly and lengthy conflict comparable to the U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those questions continued on Sunday, as Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) vowed to oppose any new funding for the Iran war. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused Trump of getting the U.S. "involved in this reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives, and no clear exit strategy.". The U.S. military has struck major blows to Iran’s military capabilities, decimating top tiers of its leadership, and taking out swaths of the country’s air force and navy. Still, the regime has some military capabilities, as demonstrated last week when it shot down two U.S. military aircraft over Iranian territory. All three military personnel were rescued, including an injured weapons system officer who hid in the Iranian mountains for over a day before a rescue operation aided by the CIA managed to save him on Saturday. Jeffries praised the "heroic" rescue during an ABC News interview Sunday. But he said the "reckless and costly war of choice is increasing the cost of living for everyday Americans" and vowed to oppose any plans to put troops in Iran. Trump has not announced plans to do so, but some experts believe ground troops, at least in a limited operation, would be necessary to retrieve Iran’s uranium supply and definitively crush its nuclear program.

AP [4/5/2026 8:15 PM, Alon Bernstein, Sam Metz and Samy Magdy, 1323K] reports the United States and Iran threatened to target critical infrastructure Sunday as the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, puts lives and livelihoods at risk throughout the region. Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, crucial to oil and other exports, would be “completely closed” immediately if the U.S. follows up on President Donald Trump’s threat to attack its power plants. Trump late Saturday set a 48-hour deadline to open the strait. Israeli leaders visited one of two southern communities near a secretive nuclear research site struck by Iranian missiles late Saturday, with scores of people wounded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “miracle” no one was killed. Netanyahu claimed Israel and the U.S. were well on their way to achieving their war goals. The aims have ranged from weakening Iran’s nuclear program, missile program and support for armed proxies to enabling the Iranian people to overthrow the theocracy. There has been no sign of an uprising, nor of an end to the fighting that has shaken the global economy, sent oil prices surging and endangered some of the world’s busiest air corridors. The war, which the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28, has killed over 2,000 people. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed a man in northern Israel, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called Israel’s new targeting of bridges in the south “a prelude to a ground invasion.” “More weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah are expected for us,” said Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin. Meanwhile, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said early Monday their air defenses were dealing with missile and drone attacks as air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain. Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world, while claiming safe passage for vessels from countries other than its enemies. Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through it, but attacks on ships have stopped nearly all tanker traffic. Trump said if Iran didn’t open the strait, the U.S. would destroy its “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” The U.S. has argued that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard controls much of the country’s infrastructure and uses it to power the war effort. Under international law, power plants that benefit civilians can be targeted only if the military advantage outweighs the suffering it causes them, legal scholars say. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X that if Iran’s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations — would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed.”

ABC News [4/5/2026 12:41 PM, Staff, 34146K] Video: HERE reports George Stephanopoulos interviews Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on “This Week.”

Wall Street Journal [4/5/2026 6:34 PM, Vera Bergengruen, Alexander Ward, Michael R. Gordon, and Shelby Holliday, 646K] reports for nearly two days, injured and alone, a U.S. aviator hid in a remote mountain crevice as Iranian forces and militias closed in on him with helicopters and drones. “God is good,” the Air Force colonel had radioed once he reached an elevated ridge, a message that was initially met with suspicion in Washington as a possible Iranian trap as officials scrambled to verify he was still alive. Early Sunday, he heard the heavier roar of U.S. aircraft and a barrage of fire as U.S. commandos reached him 200 miles deep inside Iran. As they whisked him to safety, they blew up aircraft stranded on the ground rather than risk the sophisticated military equipment falling into Iranian hands, leaving behind a final explosion and a plume of smoke. The rescue mission that U.S. officials said unfolded in the craggy gorges of southwestern Iran was the kind of operation that military commanders both plan for and dread: a downed American airman in enemy territory, hostile forces converging and early attempts faltering under fire. The aviator, who hasn’t been identified, had been one of the two crew flying in an F-15E Strike Eagle with the aircraft call sign “Dude 44” when it was shot down by Iranian forces on Friday. Shortly after the plane crashed, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed President Trump about the situation, according to U.S. officials. They told him the Pentagon had long planned for this scenario and could rescue the airman. Once the Pentagon confirmed the aviator’s identity, Hegseth rushed to the Oval Office to tell him and seek a final order, officials said. Trump immediately gave his approval: “We have to get him,” Trump said, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. The effort to recover the officer set off a sprawling, high-risk rescue mission involving some 100 special-operations forces, dozens of U.S. warplanes and helicopters, and a last-minute Central Intelligence Agency deception campaign to buy more time, the officials said.

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