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.

DailySignal [2/23/2026 1:00 PM, Virginia Allen, 474K] reports that President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security announced that, effective Sunday, members of Congress will no longer receive courtesy escorts to their flights at U.S. airports during the partial government shutdown. "Shutdowns have real-world consequences," said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose agency oversees the Transportation Security Administration, which provides the escorts. "The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians," Noem said in a statement. Courtesy escorts for members of Congress and their families usually allow members to bypass security lines and move quickly to their flight with the guidance of a TSA staffer or law enforcement official. DHS initially announced plans over the weekend to temporarily pause TSA PreCheck and Global Entry at airports as the partial shutdown continues, but later reversed course. TSA PreCheck remains open for now. Over a week has passed since Congress failed to reach a deal to fully fund the Homeland Security Department. Democrats are demanding that any funding bill contain major reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as requiring agents to stop wearing masks. DHS argues that masks help to protect the identities of agents amid what they claim is a 1,300% increase in assaults against immigration enforcement agents.

NewsMax [2/23/2026 12:59 PM, Solange Reyner, 3760K] reports that some Republican lawmakers are hopeful that an agreement can be reached this week on a final Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, The Hill reported. "Once the State of the Union is over, then I’m sure talks will come back in," said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla. Another Senate Republican lawmaker told The Hill that the potential of missed paychecks could pressure Democrats. "[The shutdown] gets real going into the weekend if people are being required to show up to work and not get paid. That’s when it becomes sympathetic and real," the person said. A partial government shutdown began last Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump’s team failed to reach a deal on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal officers in Minneapolis last month. The impasse affects agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

AP [2/23/2026 7:32 PM, Rebecca Santana, 35287K] reports a former U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer who was responsible for training new deportation officers warned Monday that the agency’s training program for new recruits is “deficient, defective and broken.” Ryan Schwank’s comments during a forum held by congressional Democrats come at a time of intense scrutiny of the officers tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Critics, including rights groups and Democratic politicians, have accused deportation officers of using excessive force when arresting immigrants, attacking bystanders who record their conduct and failing to follow constitutional protections of people’s rights. The Department of Homeland Security is rapidly scaling up the number of deportation officers, raising concerns that it will sacrifice proper screening and training of applicants in a rush to get them into the field. The department denied it was cutting corners, saying new officers get trained on firearms, use-of-force policies and how to safely arrest people. Schwank testified during a hearing hosted by Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Robert Garcia of California. Blumenthal’s office said Schwank resigned from the agency on Feb. 13. “I am here because I am duty-bound to report the legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective and broken,” Schwank said. He also accused the department of dismantling the training program for new deportation officers and lying about what they were doing. “DHS told the public the new cadets receive all the training they need to perform their duties, that no critical material or standards have been cut,” he said. “This is a lie. ICE made the program shorter, and they removed so many essential parts that what remains is a dangerous husk.” Monday’s was the third public forum held by the two Democrats to examine how ICE is training thousands of new officers and the conduct of those officers once they’re on the streets. Both have been vocal critics of how ICE officers conduct themselves. At the beginning of the hearing, Blumenthal thanked the witnesses, including Schwank, for their “courage and strength.” Homeland Security strongly denied that it has removed any training requirements or lessened requirements for officers. ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and 28 days on average of on-the-job training, the department said Monday in response to an inquiry about the allegations made during the forum. “Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut. Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction,” department spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in an e-mailed statement.

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New York Times [2/23/2026 4:22 PM, Nicholas Nehamas and Hamed Aleaziz, 148038K]
Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 6:40 PM, Jack Morphet, 646K]
Washington Post [2/23/2026 6:30 PM, David Nakamura and Sarah Blaskey, 24826K]
Los Angeles Times [2/23/2026 1:00 PM, Andrea Castillo, 12718K]
CBS News [2/23/2026 1:00 PM, Michale Kaplan and Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51110K]
USA Today [2/23/2026 10:33 PM, Michael Loria, 70643K]
NewsMax [2/23/2026 6:55 PM, Jim Mishler, 3760K]
Washington Times [2/23/2026 5:53 PM, Lindsey McPherson, 1323K]

Blaze [2/23/2026 1:45 PM, Candace Hathaway, 1556K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security set the record straight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement training, debunking claims from the media that agents are receiving less training. A DHS press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News counters falsehoods about ICE’s training programs amid a significant increase in new hires. Leftist outlets have claimed that the Trump administration reduced the length of its training course from roughly five months to just 42 days, as reported by the Atlantic in January. The DHS released further details on Monday about ICE’s training program, discrediting those claims. The agency explained that ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and an average of 28 days of on-the-job training. Under the prior administration, agents trained eight hours a day, five days a week. Under President Donald Trump, new hires are being trained 12 hours a day, six days a week. "No training requirements have been removed," DHS stated, adding that it is the "same hours of training officers have always received." Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers are prepared to accommodate 12,000 new hires in 2026, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act providing these centers with $750 million to boost the training and readiness of ICE agents, as well as Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers. "DHS has streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements, without sacrificing basic subject matter content. Under these new improvements, candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required. No subject matter has been cut," the press release read.

New York Post [2/24/2026 1:10 AM, James Gant, 40934K] reports cartel warfare has threatened to spill into California as a Mexican border city was engulfed in violence following the killing of a notorious drug kingpin. Suspected narco-terrorists torched vehicles at the border wall in Tijuana, a stone’s throw away from San Diego, set up road blocks and targeted local businesses on Monday. Haunting footage showed a major highway that runs parallel to the United States completely shut down while cops cautiously inspected a burning car. Horrific scenes erupted across Mexico after Jalisco cartel boss Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes was killed during a special forces raid in the mountain town of Tapalpa. Vengeful gang members quickly brought hell to cities across the country, with the popular tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta bearing the brunt. Violence has also spread further up the west coast, with local media reports detailing attacks in parts of Baja California and as close to the US as Tijuana. Reporter Jorge Ventura shared a terrifying insight into the city on Monday, showing multiple cars had been torched within sight of the border wall. In one clip a burnt-out vehicle with its trunk open was surrounded by armed Mexican soldiers just feet away from the towering fence. Another video showed a different car engulfed in flames on a major highway running alongside the gateway to America. Ventura said: "Right next to us is the US-Mexico border wall. About an hour ago cartels burnt a vehicle on this major highway. "Once again sending a message to the Mexican government, also possibly the US government." He later warned: "This could be the start of unrest in Tijuana later into the night.” Local cops reportedly arrested 25 suspected gang members since Sunday over burning cars, setting up blockades and attacking small businesses. Tijuana is a major border crossing between California and Mexico, with around 200,000 passing through San Ysidro and Otay Mesa every day, around 50 million a year. The US Customs and Border Protection confirmed on Monday all Southwest entrances are still "open and fully operational" and "there are no planned closures.” The violence followed the dramatic arrest then killing of Jalisco cartel boss Oseguera Cervantes in a daring raid on Sunday. Mexico’s Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said intelligence agents hunted him down to a secluded compound through one of his girlfriends. They discovered the woman was taken to Tapalpa, a mountainside getaway community in Jalisco where Oseguera and his militia were hiding out. While the girlfriend eventually left the resort, El Mencho and his men remained holed up until the Mexican military deployed its special forces to take them out. Once the troops got inside, heavily armed men fired at the soldiers, leading to a gunfight and chase in the woods near the resort that resulted in the death of four cartel members. Three others were critically injured and died while being transported to a hospital in Mexico City, including Oseguera.

CBS News [2/23/2026 1:33 PM, Nicole Sganga and Elanor Watson, 51110K] reports that Homeland security officials are watching for a response from Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s U.S.-based trafficking and financial networks after Mexican security forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes in a raid Sunday. The cartel, also known as CJNG, maintains distribution, logistics and money-movement infrastructure across the United States. While officials say there is no indication of an imminent threat to the U.S. as a result of the operation that killed Cervantes, law enforcement agencies are monitoring any potential increases in violence, coercion or debt-collection activity inside domestic trafficking corridors. Mexican authorities in recent months have also transferred dozens of cartel suspects into U.S. custody in several batches, part of a broader bilateral enforcement surge that has placed CJNG and other groups under sustained pressure. According to a source briefed on the operation, the raid was the culmination of intensified U.S.-Mexico counter-cartel cooperation under Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Intelligence sharing has markedly expanded in recent months through newly emphasized joint interagency channels tied to U.S. Northern Command. A defense official told CBS News on Sunday a counter-cartel task force the Pentagon established under U.S. Northern Command in January "played a role in that the Joint Interagency Task Force regularly works with the Mexican military," but the official emphasized that this was a Mexican military operation, "so the success is theirs."

Reuters [2/23/2026 12:02 PM, Katharine Jackson and Susan Heavey, 38315K] reports President Donald Trump on Monday called on Mexico to boost its efforts targeting drug cartels as widespread violence spread across the United States’ southern neighbor one day after a military raid killed a notorious Mexican drug lord. "Mexico must step up their effort on Cartels and Drugs!" he wrote in a social media post.

San Diego Union Tribune [2/23/2026 11:33 PM, Alexandra Mendoza, 1257K]
Hesitant but optimistic, Tijuana resident José Hernández reopened his small grocery store on Monday. He had closed it two hours early the previous night as a precaution. Within walking distance, a convenience store had been set on fire — one of at least 29 such incidents reported in Baja California on Sunday. Similar attacks on vehicles and stores were also reported in other Mexican states and appear to be in response to the killing of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Several Tijuana stores, including supermarkets and pharmacies, closed early on Sunday after fires erupted in at least five local businesses, which the Tijuana Fire Department quickly controlled. On Monday, Hernández said that he ran an errand early and noticed movement on the streets. “It’s like people are going back to normal, but with caution,” he said in Spanish while sitting inside his store. Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho,” was killed on Sunday in a targeted operation conducted by the Mexican military in Jalisco, Mexico. The deadly raid prompted U.S. officials to issue a security alert as violence erupted in several Mexican states, including in tourist areas. Baja California Gov. Marina del Pilar Ávila said on Monday that at least 25 people had been arrested in connection with nearly 30 incidents across the state. It was unclear what charges the individuals would face. There were no reported injuries to civilians or law enforcement officers. Even after the situation had quieted down in Tijuana Monday, an additional incident was reported around noon — a vehicle burned on Avenida Internacional in Tijuana, marking the third burned vehicle seen on this busy corridor near the U.S.-Mexico border fence since Sunday. A person was later arrested. “The safety of Tijuana families is and will continue to be our priority,” Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño said on social media when confirming the incident, which also resulted in no injuries. “We are not letting our guard down.” Some Tijuana residents said they were still concerned about Sunday’s events. One woman, who lives just steps away from where a convenience store was burned, said she couldn’t sleep last night. The woman, who asked not to be identified, said that she was not home when the incident occurred. She said that she felt calmer on Monday but was still somewhat tense. Ávila said that public transit is operating regularly and there have been no reports of roadblocks. Major roads are under constant vigilance “to ensure mobility and safety for all,” she said. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico listed Baja California among the Mexican states where the situation “has returned to normal” following reported incidents the previous day. The U.S. Embassy has urged U.S. citizens and government staff to shelter in place until all blockades in Jalisco are cleared, including those in Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and Ciudad Guzmán, as well as Nayarit. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson praised Mexico’s operation against the cartel. “This was a major blow to one of the most violent criminal organizations harming our communities. The Mexican people can take pride in the determination shown by their security forces. We must continue with that same resolve. Criminals will be held accountable. Justice will prevail. The United States stands firmly with Mexico as sovereign partners,” he said on X. A spokesperson with U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that all U.S.-Mexico ports of entry “are open and fully operational,” and that there are no planned closures. “We have the most secure border in American history, and it will remain closed to illegal entry — just like it has for the past year under President Trump. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is aware of and monitoring the violence in Mexico,” the spokesperson said in a statement. The U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana said its visa and U.S. citizen services offices will reopen Tuesday.

Univision [2/23/2026 10:17 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports that, amid concerns about organized crime violence in Mexico , Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered increased public safety operations in the state, especially in the border region , due to what he described as a potential risk to U.S. residents and travelers. The instruction was directed to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), which must now increase patrols, aerial surveillance, and special operations with the goal of detecting criminal activity and preventing what authorities call a possible "spillover effect" of violence into Texas territory. The announcement comes amid growing tension in several areas of Mexico, where clashes, road blockades and security operations have raised alerts for U.S. citizens traveling to or residing in the country. According to the state government, the operation includes the additional deployment of Texas Highway Patrol agents, Texas Rangers, and criminal investigation units at strategic points near the border. Air and sea operations will also be increased to strengthen surveillance on rivers and border crossings, while specialized teams will monitor social media and citizen reports 24 hours a day in search of possible threats. Abbott stated that the measure seeks to anticipate risks and strengthen preventative security, although he did not present evidence of specific incidents directly related to cartel violence within Texas. A day before the announcement, the governor asked Texans who are in Mexico — or who have family members traveling there — to remain attentive to warnings from the U.S. State Department , due to security operations and reported criminal activity in various Mexican regions. State authorities reminded the public that those facing an emergency can contact the State Department or the Texas Fusion Center, agencies that maintain active lines for assistance and security reports. So far, the state has not specified how long the reinforced operations will remain active, but officials indicated that the measures are part of a preventative strategy against threats considered transnational. Special forces of the Mexican Army took control of security in the town of Naranjo de Chila, in the western Mexican state of Michoacán, the birthplace of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes , alias El Mencho, leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) . The photo shows a Mexican soldier searching for landmines near Naranjo de Chila, in the municipality of Aguililla, Mexico, on Friday, February 18, 2022. The town had been the scene of a bloody turf war between two cartels. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [2/23/2026 9:35 AM, Tara Suter, 18170K] reports the Trump administration on Tuesday will stop collections on sweeping tariffs that were deemed illegal by the Supreme Court in a notable ruling last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said Sunday. CBP said that tariffs, which had been imposed through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by President Trump, are set to end “and will no longer be collected for goods entered for consumption or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:00 a.m. eastern time on February 24, 2026.” On Friday, the Supreme Court rejected most of Trump’s expansive tariffs. The 6-3 decision struck down the president’s expanded use of IEEPA for imposing tariffs on almost every country. The 1970s-era legislation allows the president to “regulate” imports when needed in response to national emergencies that pose an “unusual and extraordinary” threat. “We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs,” Chief Justice John Roberts said. “We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”

AP [2/23/2026 10:23 AM, Josh Boak, 31753K] reports a trio of Senate Democrats is calling for the government to start refunding roughly $175 billion in tariff revenues that the Supreme Court ruled were collected because of an illegal set of orders by President Donald Trump. Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire are unveiling a bill on Monday that would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to issue refunds over the course of 180 days and pay interest on the refunded amount. The measure would prioritize refunds to small businesses and encourages importers, wholesalers and large companies to pass the refunds on to their customers. "Trump’s illegal tax scheme has already done lasting damage to American families, small businesses and manufacturers who have been hammered by wave after wave of new Trump tariffs," said Wyden, stressing that the "crucial first step" to fixing the problem begins with "putting money back in the pockets of small businesses and manufacturers as soon as possible." The bill is unlikely to become law, but it reveals how Democrats are starting to apply public pressure on a Trump administration that has shown little interest in trying to return tariff revenues after the Supreme Court announced its 6-3 ruling on Friday.

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Reuters [2/23/2026 4:50 PM, David Lawder, 38315K] r

NewsMax [2/23/2026 4:38 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports Senate Democrats unveiled legislation Monday that would require the Trump administration to refund billions in tariff revenue, capitalizing on a Supreme Court ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose levies on many U.S. trading partners. The Tariff Refund Act of 2026, sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to refund $175 billion in duties collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, including interest, within six months. The bill also includes a "sense of Congress" provision stating that importers, wholesalers, and larger businesses, "especially those that raised prices or passed on direct costs from those unlawful duties while they were in place, should pass on the refunds to their customers, including small businesses and families impacted by those duties." In a 6-3 decision issued Friday, the Supreme Court held that the 1977 law does not provide clear congressional authorization for broad global tariffs imposed under IEEPA. The ruling said the tariffs were collected without sufficient statutory authority but did not explicitly order immediate refunds. The University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model estimated Friday that reversing the IEEPA tariffs could generate up to $175 billion in refunds. Separately, the Congressional Budget Office has projected total U.S. tariff revenue of about $300 billion annually over the next decade.

Roll Call [2/23/2026 1:13 PM, Savannah Behrmann, 673K] reports following the Supreme Court’s decision last week to strike down many of President Donald Trump’s worldwide tariffs, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer has made a vow: His conference will "block" attempts to extend those new tariffs past their expiration date this summer. Friday’s 6-3 ruling found that Trump overstepped the emergency authority Congress gave to presidents in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, or IEEPA, wiping out many of the sweeping tariffs imposed by the administration on global trading partners since last year. On Saturday, Trump announced he was increasing a 10 percent replacement import fee to 15 percent, using Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That authority expires 150 days after implementation — specifically on July 24. After that, it would be up to Congress to extend them. That would require some Democratic support in a 53-47 Republican-led chamber with a 60-vote threshold for most legislation. "Senate Democrats will continue to fight back against Trump’s tariff tax, and will block any attempt to extend these harmful tariffs when they expire this summer," Schumer, D-N.Y., said Monday in a statement.

Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 5:42 PM, Gavin Bade, 646K] reports the Trump administration is considering new national security tariffs on a half-dozen industries in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last week that invalidated many of the president’s second-term levies. The new tariffs being considered could cover industries such as large-scale batteries, cast iron and iron fittings, plastic piping, industrial chemicals and power grid and telecom equipment, according to people familiar with the plans. They would be issued under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which gives the president broad powers to impose tariffs based on national security risks. The new Section 232 tariffs would be issued separately from other levies that President Trump has already announced since the Supreme Court threw out many of his tariffs on Friday morning. Those announced include a new 15% tariff that Trump can keep in place for five months, and a number of levies planned for after that period, which would be issued under another legal authority, Section 301 of the Trade Act. Products tariffed under Section 232 have so far been exempted from Trump’s other second-term levies. Trump has already used Section 232 to issue tariffs on sectors such as steel, aluminum, copper, cars, trucks and auto parts during his second term, and those levies aren’t affected by the Supreme Court decision last week. It remains unclear when the tariff investigations, run by the Commerce Department, will be announced, and when tariffs would ultimately be imposed. Section 232 requires lengthy investigations before levies can be imposed, but once in place can be altered by the president unilaterally. “Safeguarding America’s national and economic security remains a top priority for President Trump, and the administration remains committed to using every lawful authority to deliver,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

NBC News [2/23/2026 6:18 PM, Steve Kopack, 42967K] reports FedEx sued the Trump administration Monday, seeking a "full refund" of all tariffs it paid the government under the overturned International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Supreme Court ruled Friday that President Donald Trump exceeded his presidential authority when he deployed the act to impose sweeping tariffs on almost all U.S. trading partners. "Accordingly ... Plaintiffs seek for themselves a full refund from Defendants of all IEEPA duties Plaintiffs have paid to the United States," lawyers for FedEx wrote in the lawsuit, lodged at the Customs and Border Protection Agency in the U.S. Court of International Trade. FedEx says that during the period when tariffs were in effect under the IEEPA law, it imported goods from countries subject to the duties. It says it "paid IEEPA duties to the United States and thus [has] suffered injury caused by those orders.” The global logistics company moves 17 million packages per day through hundreds of countries, according to its website. "Typically, when goods enter (i.e., are imported into) the United States, the importer of record pays an estimated duty," FedEx lawyers wrote in the filing. Customs and Border Protection "then fixes the final appraisement of merchandise by confirming the final value, classification, duty rate, and final amount of duty for the imported goods.” In recent quarterly earnings reports, FedEx executives warned that tariffs would dent the company’s overall earnings. In September, before the IEEPA tariffs had been rescinded, FedEx said the hit could be $1 billion during fiscal year 2026.

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Reuters [2/23/2026 6:02 PM, Lisa Baertlein and Mike Scarcella, 38315K]

NBC News [2/23/2026 10:45 PM, Steve Kopack and Garrett Haake, 42967K] reports President Donald Trump’s reworked global tariffs will begin Tuesday at a rate of 10%, even though he said over the weekend that they would start at 15%. On Friday, after the Supreme Court struck down most of Trump’s tariff agenda, he announced that he would quickly implement a 10% flat tariff for all trading partners using a different trade law. One day later, Trump posted on Truth Social that "effective immediately" he would be "raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff ... to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.” Under the trade law the administration is now turning to, called Section 122, tariffs of up to 15% can be quickly applied, but only for up to 150 days. Hours before the sweeping tariff was set to take effect, U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent a memo informing importers that the rate would be 10% at first and that it would apply to "every country for a period of 150 days, unless specifically exempt," starting at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday. A White House official confirmed to NBC News that the message to importers was correct. The global tariff will start at 10%, the official said, but the administration is working on raising it to 15% in a separate order that Trump will need to sign. The official did not have a timeline for when that would occur. The back-and-forth underscores what companies, investors and foreign governments have warned is a return to trade "chaos" from early in Trump’s second term. "Pure tariff chaos from the U.S. administration," Bernd Lange, a top European Union lawmaker from Germany, wrote Sunday on X. "No one can make sense of it anymore — only open questions and growing uncertainty.” As a result of the renewed uncertainty, the E.U. earlier Monday froze implementation of a massive trade deal with Trump last summer. Other trading partners, such as India, China, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, are also considering what to do. Most of the trade framework deals the Trump administration and foreign trading partners reached since early last year have been under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1977 law the Supreme Court said Trump improperly used when he imposed sweeping tariffs last year.

DailySignal [2/23/2026 2:10 PM, George Caldwell, 474K] reports that during his State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump will celebrate his first year in office and lay out a vision for the next three in front of a Congress stuck in a partisan stalemate on multiple issues. In Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s invitation to Trump, he appeared to anticipate an optimistic speech focused on the accomplishments of his second term. "The United States stands stronger, freer, and more prosperous under your leadership and bold action," Johnson, R-La., wrote Trump. "Together in 2025, your administration and the 119th Congress delivered one of the most consequential agendas in history, and Americans across this great country will experience the tangible results of commonsense governance," Johnson added. But barring an unexpected, sudden deal between Senate Democrats and Republicans, Trump will deliver his address amid a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. Unlike during recent shutdowns, Trump will have a major platform for his arguments in the form of the State of the Union Address. Senate Democrats have demanded restraints on immigration law enforcement agents—such as prohibiting mask use and requiring judicial warrants for deportations—in exchange for their votes to reopen the government.

FOX News [2/23/2026 10:00 AM, Elizabeth Elkind, 37576K] reports the father and brother of a young woman killed by an illegal immigrant will be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night watching President Donald Trump deliver his State of the Union address, after his administration helped track down the man who ended the woman’s life. Sarah Root, a 21-year-old Iowa native, was killed in Nebraska hours after she graduated from Bellevue University by a drunk driver whose blood alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit. The man, Eswin Mejia, was in the U.S. illegally at the time of the incident in January 2016. He was arrested and released on bond the following month and fled the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Then-candidate Trump was critical of the Obama administration’s handling of the case.

USA Today [2/23/2026 1:51 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 70643K] reports a Bronx mother whose eldest son was one of the first New York City students detained by federal immigration agents is Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s personal guest to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union, USA TODAY has exclusively learned. As Trump is set to tout his achievements at his Feb. 24 address to Congress, including his administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement in the last year, Raiza Contreras is trying to show its effects on her three children and other migrant families, she said in an interview. "It’s an opportunity to at least bring attention to the case and many other injustices happening," Contreras, a 41-year-old who immigrated from Venezuela, told USA TODAY in Spanish. "Because it’s not just me.” Her son Dylan, 21, was detained when he attended a routine immigration court hearing in May. Dylan, who his lawyers said has no criminal history and entered the country through a Biden-era program in 2024, is held in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Pennsylvania. "No mother should have to go through what Raiza is experiencing right now – being unjustly separated from her son," Schumer, D-New York, said in a statement. "Dylan followed the rules. He entered through a legal process, obtained permission to work to support his family, enrolled in school, and showed up to court as required. Instead, ICE ripped their family apart." Neither the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, nor the White House immediately responded to email requests for comment about Dylan’s case.

New York Times [2/23/2026 1:00 PM, Jennifer Medina, 148038K] reports Senator Alex Padilla of California will deliver the Democratic Party’s Spanish-language rebuttal to President Trump’s State of the Union address this week. Mr. Padilla, a former California secretary of state, is likely to focus on three major issues: the economy, immigration and fair elections. And he will almost certainly get personal. The son of Mexican immigrants and the first Latino senator from California, he drew national headlines last year when federal agents forced him to the floor and handcuffed him after he tried to question Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, at a news conference. We spoke to Mr. Padilla by phone on Sunday about what he expects from President Trump’s speech, how he is preparing for his own address and which Americans he hopes to reach. (Gov. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia will deliver Democrats’ English-language rebuttal to Mr. Trump.)

Daily Signal [2/23/2026 9:53 AM, Victor Joecks, 474K] reports just because someone is wearing a black robe doesn’t mean they’re upholding the rule of law. Consider some recent judicial rulings. Last November, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem published a notice ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians. Leave aside the merits of that decision. The law is clear that this decision belongs to the Trump administration. Congress created TPS in 1990. It applies to citizens of other countries living in the United States. It offers recipients temporary legal protection after their home country has been affected by a natural disaster or other hardship. Basically, the government says things in your home country are so terrible that it won’t force you to leave or deport you. The Secretary of Homeland Security decides which countries fit this description. The designation can last for 6, 12 or 18 months. Before a designation expires, the Secretary can choose to extend it or end it. In the case of Haiti, the impetus for this "temporary" status was a 2010 earthquake. "There is no judicial review of any determination of the Attorney General with respect to the designation, or termination or extension of a designation, of a foreign state under this subsection," the law states. After 9/11, Congress moved authority over enforcing immigration law from the Attorney General to the DHS Secretary. The takeaway is clear. A judge doesn’t get to second-guess Noem’s decision. Doing so wouldn’t just violate the law. It’d run afoul of recent Supreme Court precedent. In a 6-to-3 ruling last October, the Supreme Court smacked down a California judge who told DHS it couldn’t end TPS for Venezuelan nationals.

NPR [2/23/2026 2:17 PM, Jude Joffe-Block, 28764K] reports that last month, Colleen Fagan was observing an immigration enforcement operation at an apartment complex in Portland, Maine, when federal agents scanned her face with a smartphone and appeared to record her car license plate number. In a social media video she recorded, Fagan can be heard asking why the agent was taking her information. What the agent said next made the video go viral. "Cause we have a nice little database," the masked agent said. "And now you’re considered a domestic terrorist." Fagan, who is a social worker, has now joined a federal class action lawsuit that argues the Department of Homeland Security and a number of its sub-agencies are violating the First Amendment and are taking actions "designed to chill, suppress, and control speech that they do not like." The suit, filed by the legal nonprofit Protect Democracy and two law firms, alleges federal agents are unconstitutionally retaliating against people who are lawfully observing and recording federal immigration enforcement operations by gathering their personal information and labeling them domestic terrorists. Though Fagan’s video went viral, her full name had not been widely publicized until this lawsuit. "Plaintiffs must either abandon their constitutional rights or accept being cataloged and branded as ‘domestic terrorists,’" reads the lawsuit, which was filed in federal district court in Maine on Monday. "That is a choice the Constitution does not require Plaintiffs, or anyone, to make."

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Bloomberg Industry Group Bloomberg Law [2/23/2026 5:37 PM, Christopher Brown, 763K]

Politico [2/23/2026 2:16 PM, Alfred Ng, 21784K] reports agents working for the Department of Homeland Security used facial recognition and license plate readers to surveil and threaten legal observers watching officers in Maine, activists said in a lawsuit filed Monday. The class action suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Maine, accuses Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her agency of violating the First Amendment by using surveillance technology to intimidate the observers. The complaint details multiple incidents in which the plaintiffs said federal immigration officers scanned observers’ faces and license plates, and threatened to appear at their homes and place them on a domestic terrorist database. The suit is seeking an injunction barring the agency from using surveillance technology to threaten legal observers. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The plaintiffs, Colleen Fagan and Elinor Hilton, are legal observers in Maine who had confrontations with DHS agents, according to the lawsuit. They alleged that agents used phones to scan their faces and license plates on Jan. 21 and Jan. 23 while the observers were recording ICE operations in Portland, Maine. “I hope you know that if you keep coming to things like this, you are going to be on a domestic terrorist watchlist,” an officer told Hilton, according to the complaint. “Then we’re going to come to your house later tonight.” The complaint also cited recent news stories about similar incidents where agents showed up to legal observers’ homes after scanning their faces or license plates. They included accusations that ICE officers had driven to a legal observer’s home and honking aggressively or told another observer outside their home: “This is a warning. We know where you live.”

New York Times [2/24/2026 3:42 AM, Mattathias Schwartz, Zach Montague and Ernesto Londoño, 330K] reports the judge was angry. She had ordered a detained immigrant to be released in Minnesota, but instead he was let go in El Paso, where he had to spend the night in a shelter. All his property was supposed to have been returned, but the government was still holding his identity papers. “Why should I not hold you in contempt?” the judge asked a Justice Department lawyer at a hearing last week. Instead of answers, she got excuses. “I don’t think there was ever any intention to defy the court orders,” said the lawyer, Matthew Isihara, a military judge advocate on temporary assignment to the Justice Department. “We were doing our best and things, unfortunately, slipped — slipped through the cracks.” That explanation was not enough for Judge Laura M. Provinzino of the Federal District Court for the District of Minnesota. Last Wednesday, she found Mr. Isihara in civil contempt of court. Legal experts said her ruling marked the first time during President Trump’s second term that a judge had attempted to assert authority by issuing a civil contempt ruling, which enforces a judicial order by imposing a penalty until the offending party complies. In this case, Judge Provinzino ordered Mr. Ishiara to pay $500 a day until the identity documents were returned. But the anger Judge Provinzino flashed at Mr. Isihara has been repeated in courtrooms across the country amid Mr. Trump’s drive to deport large numbers of immigrants. A New York Times review of federal dockets found at least 35 instances since August in which federal district court or magistrate judges issued an order requiring the government to explain why it should not be similarly punished for violating court orders, essentially giving officials one last chance to explain themselves. Those so-called “show cause” orders came from judges in California, Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. They all arose from cases in which the government had detained immigrants who had been living in the United States for years after entering the country illegally. They represent the culmination of weeks of frustration from the bench. Judges have castigated administration officials for testifying dishonestly, representing the law inaccurately, and above all, failing to comply promptly with their orders. Experts said that judges appeared to be grappling with a key question: Could the violations of court orders be explained merely by the stress on the legal system caused by the recent flood of immigration cases? Or is there a more systematic effort by the government to defy the courts? “Don’t hide the ball,” wrote Judge Roy Dalton Jr. in Florida, complaining that a Justice Department lawyer had failed to fully explain relevant law in one case. “Antiseptic judicial rhetoric cannot do justice to what is happening,” Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in West Virginia wrote in another, calling the warrantless arrest and imprisonment of thousands across the country “an assault on the constitutional order.”

FOX News [2/23/2026 11:42 AM, Ashley Oliver, 37576K] reports that the Justice Department announced Friday the firing of a second court-appointed U.S. attorney in as many weeks, revealing the swift removal of another prosecutor selected by federal judges to lead a district. The judges in the Eastern District of Virginia had chosen veteran lawyer James Hundley to fill the vacancy left by Trump-appointee Lindsey Halligan, who stepped down from the role last month after the court said she was illegitimately serving. A top DOJ official quickly announced Hundley’s termination on social media, intensifying the ongoing fight between the executive and judicial branches over who has authority to choose the top prosecutors in each of the 93 federal court districts. "Here we go again. EDVA judges do not pick our US Attorney. POTUS does. James Hundley, you’re fired!" Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X. Blanche’s comment echoed a similar one he made when announcing the termination of Donald Kinsella after judges in the Northern District of New York chose him to replace Trump appointee John Sarcone, whom they also disqualified. Underscoring that the decision had come from the president was Dan Scavino, the head of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who told Hundley through a social media post, "Check your email James," after Blanche announced Hundley’s termination.

NBC News [2/23/2026 9:15 AM, Nicole Acevedo, 42967K] reports that nearly a year ago, an 11-year-old U.S. citizen girl’s treatment for a rare brain tumor was interrupted when her parents were deported to Mexico. Her parents and her four siblings, three of whom are also U.S. citizens, have spent the past year living in a dangerous part of Mexico and have seen her recovery stall as they fight to get her access to care. "It’s been a really difficult year," the girl’s mother told NBC News in Spanish this month as she choked up. "It’s hard not to break down." The family’s quest to return to the United States is now reaching a critical point, the mother said. In Mexico, without continuous access to the medical care the girl needs, the brain tumor that once threatened her life could redevelop. NBC News is withholding the name of the mother and the rest of the family members, since they were deported to an area in Mexico known for kidnapping U.S. citizens. When U.S. doctors reviewed the results of the girl’s last MRI scan from May, they found her brain isn’t regenerating, an important part of recovery that helps restore lost neurological functions such as motor skills and speech. That means "there is a high risk that the tumor can come back," the mother said, explaining her conversation with the physicians. It also makes it more urgent for her daughter to be back in the U.S., so her doctors can keep her under close observation, she added.

Breitbart [2/23/2026 8:16 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 2238K] reports Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said the Democrats’ opposition to the SAVE America Act is because "they want to make it easy to cheat in our elections" in an exclusive statement to Breitbart News. The proposed legislation, also known as the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility Act, would require people to prove their American citizenship with a U.S. passport or birth certificate to register to vote, and to provide photo ID at the polling station. Endorsed by President Donald Trump, the election integrity bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives last week with the support of just one Democrat, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). In the Senate, the act faces a steeper hill to climb due to the 60-vote threshold to bypass the filibuster. Currently, Republicans say they have 50 senators on board while Democrats say they will block the bill. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) argued that the act is "Jim Crow 2.0," telling MS NOW’s Morning Joe viewers that Republicans are trying to do "the same thing that was done in the South for decades to prevent people of color from voting.” Cotton, chair of the Senate Republican Conference, blasted Schumer’s insulting take on social media: "Let’s call it like it is: Chuck Schumer opposes voter ID because he wants to make it easy to commit voter fraud," he wrote on X. In an exclusive statement to Breitbart News, Cotton reiterated that the Democrats are working against election security. "Senate Democrats oppose voter ID for one reason: they want to make it easy to cheat in our elections. Almost every American supports voter ID and there’s no excuse to stop it.”

FOX News [2/23/2026 11:36 PM, Landon Mion, 37576K] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the allocation of $35 million in state funding to support illegal immigrants as the Trump administration carries out its massive deportation agenda. Newsom’s office is releasing the money that the legislature set aside in the state budget to help philanthropic partners support immigrant families with food assistance and other resources, according to a press release. These funds are on top of funds the state already allocated to provide legal resources to those facing deportation. "While the federal government targets hardworking families, California stands with them – uniting partners and funding local communities to help support their neighbors," Newsom said in the release. "The urgent need grows as the Trump Administration accelerates mass detention, tramples due process, and funds authoritarian enforcement with over $170 billion. As the Trump Administration chooses cruelty and chaos, California chooses community.” A spokesperson for Newsom said he has been speaking with immigrant families and community leaders about the federal government’s immigration crackdown. "People are afraid to leave their homes, afraid to go to school or work, and unable to afford groceries," the spokesperson told CalMatters. California allocated the money despite significant budget constraints, as Newsom’s office anticipates a $2.9 billion deficit in the coming budget year, according to CalMatters. The state also limited health care for illegal immigrants this year to help make up for a larger deficit last year. "When federal actions create fear and instability, our responsibility is to show up for families. This investment strengthens local partners who are helping people access legal services and meet basic needs during an incredibly difficult moment," Kim Johnson, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, said in the release. Democrat state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, said the funding shows her party will "continue to stand in solidarity with our immigrant families.” "The federal government is waging a war on our communities – and we won’t stand for it," Gonzalez said. "We are putting money behind an effort to stop the fear, stop the separation of our families and stop violating our basic rights.” Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, a Republican, blasted the funding as "absurd.” "If you were audited by the IRS and found to owe money and back taxes, as a citizen, you couldn’t say, ‘Well, I want a free lawyer to fight the federal government,’" DeMaio told CalMatters. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
New York Post [2/24/2026 2:35 AM, Landon Mion, 40934K]

Washington Post [2/23/2026 7:06 PM, Andy Beshear, 24826K] reports airport security has nothing to do with the impasse over immigration enforcement that led to another partial government shutdown. Yet the Department of Homeland Security closed precheck lanes on Sunday to hurry along spending talks. The DHS walked back the policy change, but why does the federal government run airport security at all? The Transportation Security Administration was created after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Before then, the Federal Aviation Administration regulated and oversaw airport security. Airlines hired private security firms to carry out security checks. The old system failed on 9/11, but replacing private security with government agents has not been a stellar success. The TSA conducts covert performance tests but doesn’t share results with the public. A 2017 leak revealed that operations had a failure rate “in the ballpark” of 80 percent during stealth tests. Two years earlier, a report found that agents failed to identify potential weapons over 90 percent of the time. Legislation to increase transparency has gone nowhere. What the TSA has created are bureaucratic hurdles that tangle up passengers in the politics of D.C. With no market-based mechanisms to improve the experience for the flying public, the agency has earned its poor reputation. From ridiculous reports about treating pickleball paddles as weapons to far more serious accusations of theft, airlines and airports could surely do a better job. In fact, they have. The majority of commercial airports across Europe use private services for security screening. Frankfurt Airport in Germany and Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom work with private firms, but no one considers these major hubs to be any less safe. In America, airports are allowed to apply to run their own security with private companies, and they’ve had success. San Francisco International Airport operates under this model and routinely ranks as one of the best in America. A big part of that is because it’s so easy for passengers to move through security. Yet the process of applying for the Screening Partnership Program is difficult and nontransparent. Even when it’s approved, the TSA is still required to be involved. Expanding the program and making it easier to join would be a good place to start for a broader privatization push. Every time a politician floats privatizing the TSA, public employee unions act as if they’re calling for no airport security at all. If anything, private contractors — who could face financial penalties for any mistakes or failures to meet agreed-upon standards — would be more effective than government bureaucrats who are difficult to hold accountable. Meanwhile, the government running airport security means that politics will inevitably influence the process for the worse. Truly private enterprises aren’t held hostage to arbitrary budget gaps in Washington, as the TSA is now. Of the many tasks government needlessly takes on, airport security would be one of the easiest to give up.

Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 5:28 PM, Staff, 646K] reports Mexican Secretary of Defense Ricardo Trevilla Trejo choked up at a Monday press conference in Mexico City as he paid homage to the 25 Mexican National Guardsmen who lost their lives on Sunday. They died fighting off cartel reprisals for the military operation that killed drug kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera earlier in the day. The secretary outlined events leading to the capture of Oseguera, who was wounded and died in custody. He praised the national guard for having “fulfilled its mission.” Congratulations are in order for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum too. Her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024), followed a “hugs not gunshots” appeasement policy toward the cartels that was a disaster. Organized crime now controls wide swaths of Mexico, producing and trafficking drugs, kidnapping for ransom, and running shakedown rackets. The cartels use their ill-gotten gains to elect sympathetic politicians or kill those who resist. No matter what you think of the U.S. war on drugs, organized crime can’t be allowed to grow this powerful in a democracy. Ms. Sheinbaum took an early step toward confronting the cartels by appointing former Mexico City super-cop Omar García Harfuch as her secretary of Security and Citizen Protection. On Sunday she showed new seriousness by going after the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. CJNG struck back later in the day by ambushing military installations around the country. In several cities they commandeered buses, setting them on fire and blocking roads. Black plumes of smoke rose above the resort town of Puerto Vallarta and tourists were unable to leave. Mexico fought back successfully, and 30 suspected criminals were killed in counterattacks launched by the cartel. The government says 70 people were detained in seven states. Authorities confiscated military-grade weapons, rocket launchers, high-powered rifles and armored vehicles—an illustration that the cartels are essentially small armies. Ms. Sheinbaum went out of her way Monday to assure Mexicans that no U.S. troops were part of the operation on Mexican territory.

The Hill [2/23/2026 1:30 PM, Chris Sununu, 18170K] reports that Congress is in the midst of yet another government shutdown — the third one in mere months. The previous funding package addressed the Federal Aviation Administration, which ensures passenger and cargo flights operate as safely and seamlessly as possible, through September. But Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection — funded through the Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill — remain in limbo. Both agencies play integral roles in the security of our nation. TSA is obvious at checkpoints in airports across the country. CBP plays a crucial role in cargo inspections and facilitation of international arrivals. That means America’s aviation system could once again be plunged into chaos. During last fall’s 43-day shutdown — the longest in U.S. history — more than 9,000 flights were delayed or cancelled. And in an unprecedented move, on Nov. 6, the FAA mandated that U.S. airlines take thousands of flights off their schedules. While the FAA pursued schedule reductions to protect the safety of the system, the result was immensely disruptive and came at a time of record air travel and increased reliance on cargo shipments. These delays and cancellations harmed travelers and just-in-time deliveries. Six million passengers were negatively impacted by last fall’s shutdown. People missed vacations, weddings and important business meetings. Many of those who managed to travel endured long delays, stressful travel changes and extended tarmac waits.

Reuters [2/24/2026 12:56 PM, Ted Hesson, 38315K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump has stepped up arrests of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, cracked down on unlawful border crossings and stripped legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants since taking office in 2025. Trump won back the White House promising record numbers of deportations. A Trump administration budget document published last year said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aimed to deport 1 million immigrants per year. ICE has cast a wider net than under then-President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, launching broad enforcement sweeps in major U.S. cities and picking up more non-criminals. From January 1, 2025 - October 15, 2025, ICE arrested an average of 746 people per day, according to ICE figures obtained by the Deportation Data Project, more than double the average over the past decade. Still, the pace of arrests remained short of what Trump would need to deport millions of people. Top White House official Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, pressed ICE to escalate operations in mid-2025. Miller set a quota for at least 3,000 arrests per day and told ICE leadership they should target anyone without legal status. Under the aggressive push, ICE and U.S. Border Patrol agents surged into major U.S. cities, sweeping through neighborhoods in search of immigration offenders and clashing with residents. Federal immigration officers came under scrutiny in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, where officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens, and support for Trump’s immigration policies has fallen. ICE statistics show the number of people arrested by the agency with no other criminal charges or convictions and then detained rose from about 860 when Trump took office to 24,500 as of early February. Those arrested and detained with criminal charges or convictions also rose, but at a lower rate. ICE had more than 68,000 immigrants in custody as of early February. A $170 billion immigration enforcement spending package passed by the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress in 2025 provides enough funding to allow ICE to detain more than 100,000 people at a time. The Trump administration has struggled to increase deportation levels even as it has opened new pathways to send migrants to countries other than their home country. The Department of Homeland Security said there were more than 675,000 deportations during Trump’s first year in office, similar to figures during Biden’s last two years in office. However, many more migrants were crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally under Biden and then quickly deported while Trump’s enforcement has focused on people already living in the U.S. DHS stopped issuing detailed statistical reports on immigration enforcement after Trump took office, which makes it challenging to know how the department tallied the numbers.

Breitbart [2/23/2026 11:43 AM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Monday on CNN’s “New Central,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) needed to be “abolished.” Host John Berman said, “On the subject of ICE Congressman, and I should note, you are running for Senate in Massachusetts as well. You have called to abolish ICE. I want to play for you an interview that Jim Messina, who was the campaign manager for Barack Obama in 2016, an interview he did with with Kate Baldwin right here, where Jim Messina, a Democrat, said, be careful of language like that, abolish ICE.” Messina said, “Listen, people do want accountability for ICE. They want people held to action. They want smart enforcement of our immigration laws. What they don’t want is to get rid of the federal agency that they think is responsible for, for keeping our borders safe.” Berman asked, “What’s your response to that, Congressman?” Moulton said, “The problem is that ICE is not keeping our borders safe. They’re making our cities unsafe, especially the blue cities that Donald Trump wants to target. The violence is the point right now with ICE — and I’ve even talked to ICE officers who are ashamed by their organization, ashamed of what their organization has become. The bottom line is that ICE was created by George W. Bush after 9/11. It should be put back in the Department of Justice. It should cease to exist in the Department of Homeland Security. It’s been a disaster. I was on the ground in Minneapolis, I saw it firsthand, and it’s clear to me that ICE needs to be abolished.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [2/23/2026 4:33 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is seeking custody of an illegal alien Tren de Aragua gang associate with an extensive criminal record in several sanctuary states, Breitbart News has learned. Jesus Ruben Lopez Gonzalez, an illegal alien from Venezuela who is an associate of the Tren de Aragua gang, was arrested on February 17 by the United States Marshals Service in the sanctuary state of Oregon. ICE agents are now seeking to take custody of Lopez Gonzalez, who has racked up a criminal record in the sanctuary states of New York, Washington, and Oregon. According to ICE officials, Lopez Gonzalez is one of 27 Tren de Aragua gang associates named in a 38-count superseding indictment that accuses them of murder in aid of racketeering in connection with a double murder in the Bronx in New York City, racketeering conspiracy, kidnapping in aid of racketeering, and sex trafficking. Specifically, Lopez Gonzalez is accused of sex trafficking by force or coercion.

USA Today [2/23/2026 5:09 PM, Ignacio Calderon, Lauren Villagran, 70643K] reports as lawmakers debate withholding funding for immigration enforcement, they face a financial reality: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) already has enough cash to operate through the end of President Donald Trump’s second term. Democrats and some Republicans are refusing to fund the annual budget for ICE’s parent, the Department of Homeland Security, over concerns about the president’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement. They’re demanding deportation officers stop masking in public, stop making arrests in sensitive locations like schools and end the practice of entering homes without a judicial warrant. The White House has so far rejected the demands, and Homeland Security has been left without a funding allocation for the 2026 fiscal year, resulting in a partial shutdown of the federal government that began Feb. 13. Homeland Security is the parent of more than a dozen different agencies including the Transportation Security Administration, which is responsible for airport security, and FEMA, which deals with disaster response. But ICE, whose workers are considered essential and stay on the job during a shutdown, isn’t hurting for money.

FOX News [2/23/2026 8:44 PM, Leo Briceno, 37576K] reports Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., compared U.S. enforcement of immigration law to "terrorism" during a Saturday town hall and promised to dismantle the chief U.S. immigration enforcement agency if Democrats regained power. "The frank terrorism that is being invoked – when we call that out and stand together, I think people will continue to not want to do that work," Dexter told an audience at Wy’east Middle School in Oregon. "I’m not supposed to get political, but if there’s a change in political will, then we can absolutely dismantle and abolish ICE altogether," Dexter said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dexter, a freshman progressive lawmaker, is one of many Democrats who have called for reforms to the agency in the wake of public unrest in Minnesota over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. When two civilians in Minneapolis were shot and killed in separate confrontations with immigration officials in January, Dexter was among the first lawmakers who promised to vote against any spending legislation for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that didn’t also include major reforms to ICE, which operates under DHS. Although the vast majority of Democrats eventually adopted Dexter’s stance over DHS funding, the idea first began as a position held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was championed by members like Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. Gridlock over DHS funding has led to a partial government shutdown which began on Feb. 14, when Democrats in the Senate also refused to advance DHS funding over a set of 10 reforms to ICE. Among those demands, Democrats want to impose new operational limits to the agency, such as an end to roaming patrols, a ban on masks, a requirement for visible identification and stiffer warrant requirements for detaining illegal aliens in public. Those changes would represent the most direct intervention into the agency’s operation since its creation in 2003. Republicans have rebuffed those demands, arguing they would severely limit the administration’s immigration goals. Dexter’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about the nature of her comments — including whether she had made a campaign promise at a town hall or who had funded the event.

FOX News [2/23/2026 12:31 PM, Charles Creitz, 37576K] reports that Democratic lawmakers in one major blue state are facing backlash over their latest attempt to blunt federal immigration enforcement through a new bill crafted around a vulgar acronym. The F---ICE Act, with the acronym spelled out in practice, is officially the "Fight Unlawful Conduct and Keep Individuals and Communities Empowered Act" and would permit civil action for violations of the U.S. Constitution related to immigration enforcement. The measure was introduced after a clash between a federal agent and a democratic socialist councilman. Tensions between local and state officials and DHS had soared this month after federal authorities reportedly detained nearly a dozen people on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Jersey City. Jake Ephros, a Democratic Socialist councilman who went to the scene, was rebuffed by a federal agent who told him, "I don’t need a warrant, bro." Bhalla said that when he was mayor of neighboring Hoboken, his first move was to enact a sanctuary city ordinance. The city is famously home to Frank Sinatra and sits across the Hudson River from Midtown Manhattan. "ICE has no place in our communities," he said in a statement. "Now, the stakes are even higher, and it is incumbent on all of us to use the power we have to keep our residents safe.” Brennan cited Ephros’ run-in with ICE in comments to People, adding that she cannot "sit back and do nothing while they violate people’s constitutional rights." "These bills strengthen local protections and make sure these agents of chaos face accountability. We have to use the full force of our state government to protect the people of New Jersey." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Washington Post [2/23/2026 2:58 PM, Jasmine Golden, 24826K] reports that the state of Maryland sued the Trump administration Monday to try to stop plans to convert a warehouse into an immigration detention facility in Washington County, according to the Maryland attorney general’s office. The Department of Homeland Security bought a warehouse, in January for $102 million, in the Williamsport area — about an hour and a half from the District near the border with West Virginia and home to about 2,000 people. In the lawsuit, Maryland officials said the commercial warehouse was purchased with “the intention” of transforming it into a detention facility with 1,500 beds. The building has only four toilets and two water fountains, officials said. The suit, which was filed against DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, comes as the federal government has planned to renovate warehouses across the country into detention centers. A new congressional bill aims to try to stop DHS from opening the sites without the consent of state and local officials. “Federal law gives Marylanders the right to know when and how detention facilities are built in their communities,” Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown (D) said in a video statement Monday. “That right was denied. Today, our office is taking them to court.” DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Bloomberg [2/23/2026 4:20 PM, Jimmy Jenkins, 18082K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement could potentially use as many as two dozen such sites across the country as “mega centers” for detaining immigrants. According to a lawsuit filed by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, the Williamsport facility is to be outfitted with 1,500 beds. Brown accused the government of violating federal law by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement for the project, and for not considering alternatives. Construction could negatively impact local waterways and wildlife, Brown said, and the facility could overwhelm sewer lines once fully operational. The site could also lead to traffic congestion, increased burdens on law enforcement and emergency services, Brown said. The attorney general also pointed to the risk of disease outbreaks and sanitation concerns based on reported conditions in other ICE facilities. Maryland is asking a federal judge to vacate the purchase of the warehouse and declare the agencies’ actions unlawful. Brown seeks a court order halting any construction or conversion of the facility already taking place. Lawmakers from Arizona are pushing back on similar plans for an ICE warehouse conversion west of Phoenix.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [2/23/2026 5:23 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K]
Reuters [2/23/2026 4:19 PM, Jasper Ward, 38315K]
ABC News [2/23/2026 5:55 PM, Laura Romero, 34146K]
CBS Baltimore [2/23/2026 4:04 PM, J.T. Moodee Lockman, 51110K]

FOX News [2/23/2026 3:30 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 37576K] reports a Georgia congressman is calling for a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to his state after a teacher was allegedly killed by an illegal immigrant fleeing law enforcement. A special education teacher at a K-8 school in Savannah, Ga., was killed when Oscar Vasquez Lopez ran a red light while trying to leave the scene of an ICE operation earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. DHS said Vasquez Lopez is "a criminal illegal alien from Guatemala who was issued a final order of removal by a federal judge in 2024." Carter, who has previously called for more ICE agents in Georgia’s capital, said he believed having more federal agents throughout the Peach State could help prevent such tragedies in the future. Carter cited reports that claim there are roughly 500,000 illegal immigrants residing in Georgia. DHS said Vasquez Lopez was charged with vehicular homicide by the Chatham County Police Department after the fatal collision, in which he sustained "minor injuries." The department said ICE agents had attempted a traffic stop when Vasquez Lopez "initially complied" but then fled, making an illegal U-turn and running a red light before striking the teacher’s car.

AP [2/23/2026 6:59 PM, Staff, 35287K] Video: HERE reports more than 20 towns with large warehouses have become stealth targets for ICE’s $45 billion expansion of detention centers. In Georgia, ICE bought a warehouse in Social Circle for $128.6 million.

New York Post [2/23/2026 6:20 PM, Staff, 40934K] reports an illegal immigrant who was convicted of murder in Florida and later deported back to El Salvador is back in custody after being nabbed by federal agents on Long Island, the feds said Monday. Jose Dimas Guerra Castro, 53, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on a 2003 murder in Hialeah, Florida, and deported after authorities in the Sunshine State turned him over to federal immigration agents in 2019 — but somehow made his way back across the US border, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. But ICE and US Custom and Border Patrol agents tracked him down to Hempstead on Jan. 29, and slapped the cuffs back on him for re-entering the county illegally, the feds said. "When ICE says we’re arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens, this is exactly who we mean," said Kenneth Genalo, director of the New York City Enforcement and Removal Operations field office. "While politicians continue to prioritize criminal illegal aliens over law-abiding New Yorkers, our officers are on the front lines every day keeping our communities safe from murderers, drug traffickers, child sex abusers and gang members," Genalo said. "I commend their exceptional work.” Guerra Castro was busted by the Hialeah Police Department in Miami-Dade County in 2003 and charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, the feds said.

AP [2/23/2026 1:49 PM, Bobbi-Jeanne Misick, 35287K] reports that a federal judge last week temporarily halted the state of Louisiana’s legal challenge to the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office’s longstanding immigration policy, which prohibits jail staff from honoring federal immigration detainer requests to hold local arrestees suspected of being in the country illegally past their release dates. On Wednesday (Feb. 18), U.S. Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld ruled that the central question in the case — whether a recently enacted state ban on so-called "sanctuary policies" requires the Sheriff’s Office to dissolve its pre-existing policy — is a matter of state, not federal, law and should be decided by the Louisiana State Supreme Court. In her ruling, van Meerveld wrote that of the legal questions now before the federal court in New Orleans, "Not one concerns a federal question. Not one question has been addressed by a Louisiana court, let alone the Louisiana Supreme Court." "Considering the posture of this case, the Louisiana Supreme Court is in the better position to address these questions," she added. In a statement, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, who first filed the state’s challenge to the Sheriff’s Office’s policy early last year, blasted the ruling, calling it "just another delay tactic by the judge to resolve a very easy matter." On Thursday, the state informed the court that it planned to appeal the ruling to the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.

DailySignal [2/23/2026 5:00 PM, Rebecca Downs, 474K] reports the Columbus City Council unveiled legislation last Tuesday sparking heated debate on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s role as well as what constitutes sanctuary city policies. One proposal would prohibit Columbus police from entering into enforcement agreements with ICE, as ABC 6 highlighted. Those who weighed in addressed public safety, but with differing views on the role ICE plays.

AP [2/23/2026 8:07 PM, Staff, 35287K] reports when it comes to putting a name to Chicago’s annual battle against its infamously inclement weather, it turns out that the practical is also the political. “Abolish ICE” was the top vote-getter in the city’s “You Name a Snowplow” contest. Choosing the protest slogan with a double meaning proved a potent way for voters to jab at President Donald Trump after he sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers into the city and its suburbs last fall in a major immigration crackdown. With a surge of ICE officers beginning in September, “Operation Midway Blitz” resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, a fatal shooting and a sour taste among Chicago’s Democratic leaders and many of its residents, particularly in large immigrant populations. Despite mid-winter frigid cold, “ICE Out” protests in recent weeks have continued downtown, near ICE facilities and throughout the suburbs. The snowplow-naming contest, in its fourth year, also produced winning names ranging from those paying tribute to the new pope, who hails from Chicago, to a homegrown horror purveyor and the popular quarterback of the city’s NFL franchise. The top six winners will get a snowplow named in their honor. In a statement, Mayor Brandon Johnson thanked Chicago voters “for their unmatched creativity, sense of humor, and civic pride.” When asked whether he was reticent about the potentially prickly response to the name, a spokesperson said that “Abolish ICE” was the runaway winner, adding, “The people of Chicago clearly have no issue with the name of this snowplow.” Requests for comment were also emailed to ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security. Contests in many cities produce names of snowplows, but they rarely carry the edge of Chicago’s top pick. In Nashville, “Dolly Plowton” pays homage to Tennessee native and country music legend Dolly Parton, while in Minnesota, pop superstar Taylor Swift is honored on a plow dubbed “Taylor Drift.”

New York Times [2/23/2026 11:14 AM, Edgar Sandoval148038K] reports the only passenger in the car when an American citizen was shot and killed by a federal officer in South Texas last year had planned to speak up and contradict the government’s account of the shooting. However, the passenger, Joshua Orta, died in an unrelated car crash over the weekend. Mr. Orta, 25, was in the passenger seat on March 15, 2025, when his childhood friend, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was shot multiple times in South Padre Island by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer after the authorities said he failed to comply with commands to exit his vehicle. In a written statement obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Orta said that the two men had offered no resistance to law enforcement officers and were trying to comply with commands to turn around the car when the situation got out of control and Mr. Martinez was shot. Mr. Orta had provided his version of events in the statement, which was taken in September by lawyers representing Mr. Martinez’s family to be used for future legal proceedings. He was planning to sign the statement and cooperate with investigators hired by the family before he died Saturday in a car crash on a San Antonio highway.

CBS News [2/23/2026 6:43 PM, Andrea Lucia, Kelsy Mittauer and S.E. Jenkins, 51110K] Video: HERE reports a jury has been seated in the trial for the so-called Prairieland defendants. Nine men and women are on trial, facing a variety of federal charges, accused of being part of a "North Texas Antifa cell.” According to court documents, the group attacked the Prairieland detention center in Alvarado last July, setting off fireworks, vandalizing property, and shooting at police officers who responded. One officer was struck in the neck with a bullet and survived. The charges include attempted murder, aiding terrorists and weapons charges. Those supporting the defendants have called those charges outrageous, saying the defendants were there protesting ICE and that the government has gone overboard to send a message. The judge asked potential jurors about whether they could be impartial on an array of hot-button issues, including U.S. immigration policy, ICE officers, the term "antifa," political protests, firearms and the transgender community.

New York Post [2/23/2026 10:29 AM, Zain Khan, 40934K] reports California Governor Gavin Newsom pardoned a convicted attempted murderer who was an undocumented illegal immigrant, opening the possibility for him staying in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Somboon Phaymany was convicted of numerous charges, including attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, assault with a firearm, and conspiracy to commit assault with a firearm after a judge sentenced him in 1997 to 14 years to life. In December 2025, Newsom pardoned him for transforming his life and providing "evidence that he is living an upright life and has demonstrated his fitness for restoration of civic rights and responsibilities.” DHS said the pardon allows Phaymany to "re-open immigration proceedings rather than be removed from the U.S. and will be able to remain in California communities.” "Governor Newsom pardoning an illegal alien convicted of attempted murder, so he can remain in our country is absolute INSANITY," said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. "These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his sanctuary politicians are protecting. He is putting the lives of all Americans at risk.” Earlier this month, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent a letter to Newsom and the state attorney general urging them to stop "sanctuary" policies that allow criminal undocumented immigrants to walk out of jails and back onto the streets. The letter asked whether the state would be complying with immigration detainers — requests to local law enforcement to hold an undocumented immigrant who is about to be released from custody after an arrest or upon completion of a sentence.

NewsMax [2/23/2026 3:42 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 3760K] reports California Gov. Gavin Newsom is under fire from the Department of Homeland Security after pardoning a Cambodian national DHS says was convicted of attempted murder and assault with a firearm. DHS warned the move could help him avoid deportation and stay in the state. In a release on Monday, DHS said the man, Somboon Phaymany, lost his green card because of the convictions and was ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2019. But Newsom’s pardon could allow Phaymany to reopen immigration proceedings rather than be deported, DHS said. "Governor Newsom pardoning an illegal alien convicted of attempted murder, so he can remain in our country, is absolute insanity," Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, said in a statement. DHS framed the pardon as part of a broader pattern, arguing that California’s policies on this issue and local refusals to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement have allowed thousands of criminal illegal aliens to be released back onto the streets.

San Diego Union Tribune [2/23/2026 7:39 PM, Phil Diehl, 1257K] reports opposition to an Escondido Police Department contract allowing ICE agents to use the department’s outdoor training facility appears to be gaining steam with the submission of a letter Monday signed by 33 regional elected officials. “City leaders are being called to reduce harm from masked federal agents acting without accountability,” said Oceanside Councilmember Eric Joyce, who signed the letter, in a written announcement released by the group Sowing Seeds of Dignity. “It is my hope that Escondido’s leaders find a way to end the contract with ICE as a means to hold public trust and reduce harm across all of our communities,” Joyce said. The one-year contract signed Jan. 14 and effective Jan. 15 is on the Escondido City Council’s agenda for a review and discussion Wednesday at what is likely to be a crowded session with numerous people speaking on the issue. The group also is organizing a rally and news conference outside Escondido City Hall before the 5 p.m. Wednesday council meeting. ““We are sending this letter today to the Escondido City Council because the continued use of the Escondido firing range only magnifies the harmful impacts of ICE, not just in the city of Escondido, but throughout the county,” said Vista Councilmember Corrina Contreras, another signer, in the release. “We are urging the (Escondido) council to terminate the agreements for the benefit of all our constituents in the county.” The joint letter also asks Escondido to reject any future contract with a Department of Homeland Security agency that engages in border security or immigration enforcement and for the city to join an intergovernmental preparedness plan to address the increased enforcement. “We greatly respect your leadership and autonomy to govern on local issues impacting your city; however, this action has harmful consequences that go beyond Escondido city limits that will negatively impact many of the constituents we were elected to represent,” the letter states. “We urge you to immediately cancel any agreements with DHS to ensure the safety and well-being of all San Diego County residents,” it states. “Contracting with an agency that is operating without regard for the Constitution does not align with Escondido’s core values,” it says. Others who signed the letter were: state Assemblymember David Alvarez; San Diego County Supervisors Paloma Aguirre, Monica Montgomery Steppe and Terra Lawson-Remer; San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert; Oceanside Councilmember Jimmy Figueroa; Carlsbad Councilmembers Priya Bhat-Patel and Teresa Acosta; Vista Councilmembers Katie Melendez and Dan O’Donnell; Chula Vista Councilmember Cesar Fernandez; San Juan Capistrano Councilmember Sergio Farias; San Diego County Board of Education President Gregg Robinson and members Rick Shea, Alicia Munoz and Erin Evans; San Diego Unified School District trustees Richard Barrera and Cody Crosby; Vista Unified School District trustees Cipriano Vargas and Martha Alvarado; Oceanside Unified School District trustees Mike Blessing and Nancy Licona; Encinitas Union School District trustees Marlon Taylor and Marla Strich; Carlsbad Unified School District board President Michele Tsutagawa Ward; San Marcos Unified School District board President Stacy Carlson; Fallbrook Union High School District trustee Oscar Caralampio; Fallbrook Union Elementary School District trustee Ricardo Favela; MiraCosta Community College trustees Heather Conklin and Ann Crosbie; and Tri-City Healthcare Board of Directors member Adela I. Sanchez.

New York Post [2/23/2026 10:13 AM, Ryan King, 40934K] reports President Trump continued to unleash his fury at the Supreme Court Monday after his loss in the tariff case, angrily predicting that it may soon deal him another blow in the birthright citizenship case. "Our incompetent supreme court did a great job for the wrong people, and for that they should be ashamed of themselves (but not the Great Three!)," Trump seethed on Truth Social, referring to Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas, who sided with him in the tariff case. "The next thing you know they will rule in favor of China and others, who are making an absolute fortune on Birthright Citizenship, by saying the 14th Amendment was NOT written to take care of the ‘babies of slaves,’ which it was as proven by the EXACT TIMING of its construction.” Now that the Supreme Court has decided the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariff case, the birthright citizenship case — Trump v. Barbara — is perhaps the president’s most high-profile case still pending before the high court. Trump had signed an executive order on the very first day of his second term to end the practice of birthright citizenship, which guarantees almost everyone born on US soil citizenship. Critics, like Trump, argue that the policy has made the US a mecca for illegal immigrants to enter the country and have babies so that their children can become Americans.

USA Today [2/23/2026 2:34 PM, Bart Jansen, 70643K] reports that After a big loss at the Supreme Court on tariffs, President Donald Trump pressed the high court to avoid making the "wrong" decision on a pending case in which his administration has argued that not everyone born in the United States should automatically become a citizen. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution grants birthright citizenship to people born in the United States and has been interpreted for more than 100 years as basically applying to anyone other than the children of diplomats. But Trump argued the provision was meant to cover the children of former slaves, not the children of people in the country temporarily under visas or immigrants without legal authorization to be in the country. The justices scheduled arguments in the case for April 1. “This supreme court will find a way to come to the wrong conclusion, one that again will make China, and various other Nations, happy and rich,” Trump said. Trump’s broadside went beyond criticizing a past decision, as he shifted gears and lobbied for a future decision. His argument against birthright citizenship came in the same social media post that blasted the Supreme Court for an unrelated decision Feb. 20 overturning his emergency tariffs. Both subjects are his top domestic priorities for the economy and immigration. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted in 1868, following the Civil War.

The Hill [2/23/2026 8:24 AM, Tara Suter, 18170K] reports President Trump predicted on Monday morning that the Supreme Court will also rule against him when it comes to birthright citizenship, comments that come after the nation’s highest court rejected some of his most sweeping tariffs. “The next thing you know they will rule in favor of China and others, who are making an absolute fortune on Birthright Citizenship, by saying the 14th Amendment was NOT written to take care of the ‘babies of slaves,’ which it was as proven by the EXACT TIMING of its construction, filing, and ratification, which perfectly coincided with the END OF THE CIVIL WAR,” Trump said in a lengthy Truth Social post. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled against most of Trump’s expansive tariffs. The president’s tariff policy throughout his second term has rattled markets across the globe, worsened relationships with allies like the European Union and Canada and increased economic uncertainty.

Univision [2/23/2026 6:43 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to temporarily suspend the delivery of work permits to people who have applied for asylum. Immigration lawyer Claudia Cañizares explains that the measure could affect up to 1.6 million individuals who remain waiting for the resolution of their cases. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [2/23/2026 5:00 AM, Matthieu Aikins and Wesley Morgan, 148038K] reports Mohammad Iqbal used to command more than 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, but late last year he was working maintenance at a hotel near where he lived in El Cajon, Calif., a working-class suburb of San Diego. Few outside the Afghan community there knew that the slight, soft-spoken father of six was anything more than another ordinary immigrant. He was at his shift on Nov. 26 when his phone started buzzing with notifications from a group chat for former members of his military unit. He was busy and ignored them, until a friend called and insisted that he open a TikTok link that had been shared in the chat. It was a video reporting that an Afghan immigrant had just shot two Army National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. Reeling, Iqbal checked the news, where the shooting was being called an act of terrorism. The authorities had identified the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, as an Afghan refugee who had been part of the Zero Units — the shadow army of Afghan soldiers, funded and directed by America’s Central Intelligence Agency, that Iqbal himself had fought with for more than four years. Iqbal called his former intelligence chief, also now living in the United States, and asked him if Lakanwal had been part of their unit. The officer confirmed that he had, and so had his brother Ismail. For many Americans, news coverage of the attack was their introduction to the existence of the Zero Units, and to the fact that during the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, some 10,000 members of the units were evacuated, along with their families, to the United States. In response to the shooting, President Trump announced a “permanent pause on third-world migration,” part of a newly intensified crackdown targeting asylum seekers from what he called “hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.” Portraying them as sources of crime and terrorism, Trump and his officials have blamed the Biden administration for bringing a total of nearly 200,000 Afghans to the United States without, they claim, proper vetting. A longtime C.I.A. asset like Lakanwal was no exception. “The individual — and so many others — should have never been allowed to come here,” John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, said in a statement the day after the shooting. In fact, it was the C.I.A. that had brought Lakanwal and the rest of the Zero Units to the United States; Ratcliffe’s comments stunned many Americans who served alongside them. The Zero Units were a classified C.I.A. counterterrorism program, what was known as a surrogate force, armed, paid and controlled by the United States. While the C.I.A. has established other surrogate forces since the Sept. 11 attacks, including units in Iraq and Somalia, the Afghan program was the biggest. Their evacuation was regarded by many within the C.I.A. as fulfilling a debt of honor.

New York Times [2/23/2026 1:12 PM, Madeleine Ngo, 148038K] reports that a Border Patrol agent shot a person who was armed near the Canadian border in Pittsburg, N.H., early on Sunday, according to federal authorities. The F.B.I. said in a statement that the person “allegedly fired at the agent” before “the agent returned fire” at about 1 a.m. The person, who was not named, is receiving medical care at a nearby hospital, said Kristen Setera, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I. Boston field office, which is investigating the shooting. The agency is collecting “all relevant evidence from the scene,” Ms. Setera said. The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of New Hampshire is also investigating the shooting, she said. Rodney Scott, the commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, which oversees Border Patrol, said in a statement on Monday that the Border Patrol agent was not injured after firing his weapon “during an encounter with an armed subject.” Shootings involving federal immigration agents have been under scrutiny in recent weeks amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration. Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse, was killed last month in Minneapolis after he was shot by a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer. Witness videos of that encounter appeared to show Mr. Pretti recording immigration officers on his phone and helping a civilian stand back up before several officers pinned him to the ground. His death came about two weeks after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis.

Reported similarly:
AP [2/23/2026 7:18 PM, Kathy McCormack and Patrick Whittle, 1323K]
ABC 9 Manchester [2/23/2026 10:57 AM, Arielle Mitropoulos, 34146K]
NBC News [2/23/2026 11:06 AM, Kaitlin McKinley Becker, 42967K]
FOX News [2/23/2026 1:43 PM, Anders Hagstrom, 37576K]
Daily Caller [2/23/2026 6:10 PM, Alexander Pease, 803K]

Texas Tribune [2/23/2026 7:00 AM, Martha Pskowski, 59K] reports plans for a border wall through the Big Bend region of West Texas are raising alarms among residents and elected officials. U.S. Customs and Border Protection intends to build border barriers throughout this remote region of Texas that encompasses ranchland, small towns and a cherished state and national park. Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security waived 28 laws for environmental protection and historical and archeological preservation to expedite construction in a more than 150-mile stretch from Fort Quitman in Hudspeth County to Colorado Canyon in Big Bend Ranch State Park. An online map posted by CBP indicates that “smart wall” construction is planned both within the state park and in neighboring Big Bend National Park. Historically, the number of people crossing unauthorized into the United States in the Big Bend region is much lower than in more urban, populous areas. But since the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed in July 2025, appropriated $46.5 billion for border wall construction, no region appears to be spared. While unauthorized border crossings have dropped dramatically in the past two years, the Trump administration is moving forward with the border wall, including in Arizona’s San Rafael Valley and wildlife refuges in South Texas. According to the CBP website, construction for the smart wall can include a steel bollard wall or waterborne barrier, “along with roads, detection technology, cameras and lighting and in some cases a secondary wall.”

USA Today [2/23/2026 2:17 PM, Paris Barraza, 70643K] reports that the death of a top cartel leader triggered widespread unrest in Mexico on Sunday, Feb. 22, prompting the United State to urge Americans to shelter in place and rocking travel. And the impacted areas extended to Baja California, the Mexican state California shares a border with. Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, or "El Mencho," was killed in a military operation announced on Feb. 22. He was the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a cartel designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2025 and described by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency as one Mexico’s most "powerful" and "influential" criminal organizations. In the aftermath of his death, which spurred road blockages and violence, the United States urged citizens across numerous regions in Mexico to shelter in place. Among the numerous locations named in the latest security alert shared by the U.S. Embassy on Feb. 22 was Baja California, including cities Tijuana, Tecate and Ensenada. U.S. citizens were encouraged to work remotely on Monday, Feb. 23. Southern California is home to several border crossings, including the highly trafficked San Ysidro border crossing to Otay Mesa to its east. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the USA TODAY Network’s questions about whether any border crossings along Southern California’s border with Mexico have been closed as of Monday, Feb. 23. California Highway Patrol and Caltrans did not immediately respond to questions about any known impacted travel, including border crossing closures.

The Hill [2/23/2026 10:19 AM, Max Rego, 18170K] Video: HERE reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reversed course on Sunday and lifted a suspension on the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) PreCheck program. The DHS had announced a suspension of TSA PreCheck screenings set to take effect at 6 a.m. on Sunday, as the department operates amid a funding lapse that has dragged on for more than a week. The PreCheck decision, however, was met with concern from the traveling public and airline industry groups. “TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public,” the DHS said in a press release Sunday in which it cited the congressional funding lapse in announcing multiple changes. The shutdown has stemmed from Democratic lawmakers demanding changes to federal immigration tactics. “As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” the DHS added. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [2/23/2026 6:33 PM, Marianne LeVine, Isaac Arnsdorf and Karen Tumulty, 24826K] reports the Department of Homeland Security’s plans to temporarily suspend TSA PreCheck were conceived by DHS Secretary Kristi L. Noem and her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, but then pulled back after the White House intervened, according to a White House official and a person close to the Trump administration. The back-and-forth led to brief confusion about what measures the agency planned to take in light of the partial government shutdown, which stems from a congressional impasse over funding for DHS. The department said Saturday that it planned to halt PreCheck, a popular program that allows certain travelers to move through airport security faster, starting at 6 a.m. Sunday, only to reverse itself hours later. The people spoke to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The initial announcement received swift pushback from Democrats and air and travel industry groups. Social media users posted Sunday morning that TSA PreCheck lines were operating as planned. The agency has said that Global Entry, a program run by Customs and Border Protection, will remain paused. A White House spokesperson referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security. A DHS spokesperson did not address whether Noem and Lewandowski came up with the idea to temporarily suspend TSA PreCheck or whether the White House intervened. “We decided to handle TSA pre-check on an airport-by-airport basis depending on workforce and resource strain instead of a blanket policy,” the DHS spokesperson said in a statement. “If the government stays shutdown, we will be forced to implement these emergency measures nationwide to mitigate resource and workforce strain. This political game by the Democrats is putting strain on our TSA workers who are working without pay.” The White House has previously rescinded DHS decisions. Last year, President Donald Trump said he had reversed the agency’s plans to cut $187 million in counterterrorism and law enforcement grants for New York. DHS is also experiencing turnover. Madison Sheahan, the deputy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director and a former Noem campaign aide, said in January that she would step down to run for Congress in Ohio. Tricia McLaughlin, the agency’s top spokesperson, announced last week that she would also be leaving, after a year at DHS.

FOX News [2/23/2026 4:15 PM, Alex Miller, 37576K] reports the Trump administration is escalating pressure on Senate Democrats as negotiations to end the partial government shutdown remain at a standstill. The partial government shutdown, which is only affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), entered its second week on Monday. So far, the impacts of the shutdown have been minimal, but the pain could be coming soon as the agency activates "emergency measures" while the shutdown drags on. DHS announced over the weekend it would be making tweaks to some Transportation Security Administration (TSA) functions that could lead to longer wait times for passengers and lawmakers alike. "Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "The American people depend on this department every day, and we are making tough but necessary workforce and resource decisions to mitigate the damage inflicted by these politicians." The agency announced that, for now, TSA PreCheck would stay operational after a back-and-forth over whether to continue the program during the shutdown. The program is used by more than 20 million people to speed up wait times at airports across the country, according to the agency. However, courtesy escorts for members of Congress have been suspended. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has halted Global Entry at airports and diverted agents to instead help process travelers. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also stopped all public assistance for ongoing disasters, paused non-emergency work, halted non-disaster-related activities and restricted personnel travel to activities "strictly necessary to respond to active disasters and life-safety emergencies," according to the agency.

NewsMax [2/23/2026 10:27 AM, Theodore Bunker, 3760K] reports that Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., warned on Newsmax on Friday that the ongoing partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security is harming critical national security and emergency response functions as a powerful winter storm batters the Northeast. The shutdown, which entered its second week after lawmakers failed to agree on DHS funding, has already led to the suspension of some programs and strained federal operations. Malliotakis, speaking to Newsmax’s "Wake Up America" from Washington, where she was attending a scheduled session, said she had heard from constituents enduring difficult conditions back home in New York as the storm brings heavy snow, high winds, and travel disruptions. She said residents and staff have described conditions as "brutal," stressing the importance of safety during severe weather. "But it is really an unprecedented storm. For the last few years, we haven’t had a significant storm like this," Malliotakis said. "And let’s see if the mayor learned from the mistakes of that first storm, and we’ll see things run a little more smoothly." Her remarks come as the DHS shutdown has led to operational disruptions, including the brief suspension and reinstatement of TSA PreCheck and the suspension of the Global Entry program because of funding gaps.

AP [2/23/2026 6:39 PM, Staff, 35287K] Video: HERE reports video of a wildfire north of New Orleans shows thick smoke and trees catching fire. An interstate was closed for several hours because of low visibility but reopened Sunday evening.

Washington Examiner [2/24/2026 4:48 AM, Staff, 1147K] reports a 43-year-old woman from Boise, Idaho, was arrested on Monday for allegedly stealing an ambulance and crashing it into a building owned by a hospital that was leasing office space to the Department of Homeland Security. The ambulance theft and crash occurred last week. Sarah Elizabeth George was arrested on Monday after the Meridian Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the FBI served a search warrant at her residence shortly before 5 p.m., Meridian Police Department Chief Tracy Basterrechea announced in a press conference on Monday night. “Today, I am glad to announce that we have made an arrest of Sarah Elizabeth George, a 43-year-old female of Boise, Idaho,” said Basterrechea. “The Meridian Police Department, along with the local Federal Bureau of Investigation, the local bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, served an arrest warrant on George and executed a search warrant at George’s residence earlier this evening.” On Wednesday, Feb. 18, law enforcement officers responded to calls of a stolen ambulance at St. Luke’s Meridian Medical Center at 11:10 p.m. local time. Shortly thereafter, at approximately 12:30 a.m., the suspect reportedly drove the ambulance into the office building that DHS is leasing from the hospital, and then tried to light the ambulance on fire by pouring “gasoline or another accelerant” before fleeing.

(B) NBC News Daily [2/23/2026 3:22 PM, Staff] reports that a second building that is being rented by DHS was damaged on Saturday. The City of Boise is investigating. They say the Department of Homeland Security building had shattered windows and spray paint on it when officers got there. The city says it is unknown at this time if this incident is related to what happened in Meridian when a stolen ambulance crashed into the building.

NewsNation [2/24/2026 12:40 AM, Rob Taub, 4464K] reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a warning to Americans about the rise of ATM “jackpotting” across the country. It follows analysis stating 700 incidents occurred in 2025 alone and accounted for over $20 million in losses. The FBI has identified about 1,900 jackpotting incidents across the country since 2020. “This FLASH is being provided to encourage organizations to implement the recommended mitigation steps and to outline the information requested from the public,” the agency says. The scam uses threat actors — individuals or groups that intentionally cause harm to digital devices or systems — deploying malware, including the Ploutus family malware to infect ATMs and force them to dispense cash. The FBI’s bulletin adds Ploutus allows threat actors to force an ATM to dispense cash without using a bank card, customer account or bank authorization. “The malware can be used across ATMs of different manufacturers with very little adjustment to the code as the Windows operating system is exploited during the compromise,” the bulletin acknowledged. Just last week, a federal grand jury in Nebraska charged six people with ATM jackpotting. The Justice Department says this indictment follows a previous one returned in December alleging the Tren de Aragua gang of conducting jackpotting attacks across the country.

New York Post [2/23/2026 12:12 PM, Emily Goodin, 40934K] reports President Trump made his first public remarks about the gun-wielding intruder shot and killed by the Secret Service as he entered Mar-a-Lago’s grounds early Sunday. Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, NC, tried to sneak into Mar-a-Lago while carrying a gun and a gas can and was shot by Secret Service agents after he refused to drop the weapon. The president, who survived two assassination attempts in 2024, joked that maybe he should be "a little bit less consequential" in order to stop drawing such attention. "You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents," he said at his Angel Families event at the White House on Monday. "They don’t go after non-consequential presidents." Citing Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, Trump reiterated: "They were consequential," adding: "They only go after consequential. So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [2/23/2026 1:10 PM, Jeff Mordock, 1323K]

NewsMax [2/23/2026 10:49 PM, Mark Swanson, 3760K] reports President Donald Trump on Monday publicly addressed the weekend shooting of an armed intruder at Mar-a-Lago, reflecting on the ongoing threats he faces and telling supporters, "Got a lot of people gunning for me, don’t I?" The remarks came during an Angel Families event in the White House East Room, one day after Secret Service agents shot and killed a 21-year-old North Carolina man who allegedly breached the perimeter of Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, residence. Authorities identified the suspect as Austin Tucker Martin of Cameron, North Carolina. According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, Martin was discovered around 1:30 a.m. Sunday carrying a shotgun and a gas can. He was "ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him," Bradshaw said during a Sunday press conference, "at which time he put down the gas can and raised the shotgun to a shooting position." Secret Service agents protecting the property opened fire and "neutralized the threat," officials said. Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time. He and first lady Melania Trump had hosted a governors’ dinner at the White House the previous evening. Speaking Monday, Trump noted that violent threats often target leaders who leave a mark on history. "You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents," Trump said. "They don’t go after nonconsequential presidents." Referencing Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, he added, "They were consequential." "So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential," he said, drawing laughter from the audience. "Nice and easy. Let’s be a normal president for a little while." Trump, who survived two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign — including a July rally shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman grazed his ear and killed an attendee — acknowledged the reality of the dangers surrounding him. "I don’t know how long I’ll be around," he said. Sunday’s incident occurred just miles from Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club, where another assassination attempt was thwarted months after the Butler incident.

(B) NBC News Daily [2/23/2026 3:36 PM, Staff] reports that at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, officials say a man armed with a shotgun and a gasoline can broke through a security perimeter of the estate early Sunday morning. He was shot and killed by Secret Service agents and a sheriff’s deputy after officials say he pointed his gun at them. No one else was injured in that shooting. The White House says President Trump was in Washington, DC, not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of this incident. The FBI investigation is underway.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [2/23/2026 10:52 AM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE

New York Times [2/24/2026 3:41 AM, Sonia A. Rao and Christina Morales, 330K] reports the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed after entering Mar-a-Lago with a weapon was a recent high school graduate who started an artwork company last year that specialized in handmade drawings of golf courses. The man, Austin Tucker Martin, of Cameron, N.C., was confronted by the Secret Service and officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office inside the north gate of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s residence and private club in Palm Beach, Fla. Mr. Martin was carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel canister. Officers told him to drop the items, but he put down only the canister and was shot and killed after raising the shotgun to a “shooting position,” the authorities said. President Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the shooting, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The incident follows two assassination attempts against Mr. Trump during his 2024 presidential campaign. Mr. Martin very likely drove from North Carolina to Florida on Saturday afternoon, based on information posted by family members on social media as well as a statement from the sheriff’s department in the rural North Carolina county where he lived. Family members of Mr. Martin, including his mother, Melissa Martin, had posted on Facebook throughout the weekend that he was missing. On Sunday morning, at around 7 a.m. — hours after Mr. Martin was killed by authorities — Ms. Martin posted to her followers, asking them to help “find my boy.” An hour later, she shared an image of a poster with a picture of Mr. Martin and information about his car, a 2013 silver Volkswagen Tiguan. He had last been heard from at 7:51 p.m. on Saturday, the poster said. Ric L. Bradshaw, the Palm Beach County sheriff, said that the car found near the scene was a silver Volkswagen believed to belong to Mr. Martin, and that a box in the back seat appeared to have been carrying the shotgun. Sheriff Bradshaw said that authorities were not sure where Mr. Martin obtained the weapon. On Sunday morning, police were seen surrounding a silver Volkswagen parked at Midtown Beach, a public area that is about a 30-minute walk from Mar-a-Lago. Chrissie Fields, a woman who appeared to be Mr. Martin’s aunt, also posted on Facebook, saying that he left his home at 1 p.m. Saturday. “This is not like him at all,” she wrote. Neither Ms. Martin nor Ms. Fields responded to multiple requests for comment. In a statement, the sheriff’s office of Moore County, N.C., said that a relative of Mr. Martin reported him missing at 1:38 a.m. on Sunday, around the same time that the incident at Mar-a-Lago occurred. The sheriff’s office said that it did not have any record of prior interactions with Mr. Martin.

AP [2/23/2026 12:58 PM, Allen G. Breed, 31753K] reports the 21-year-old North Carolina man who drove through a gate at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort with a shotgun before he was shot and killed worked as a golf course groundskeeper and liked to sketch. Austin Tucker Martin rarely, if ever, talked about politics, seemed afraid of guns, and came from a family of Trump supporters, according to Braeden Fields, a cousin who said the two grew up together. "I wouldn’t believe he would do something like this. It’s mind-blowing," Fields said. "He wouldn’t even hurt an ant. He doesn’t even know how to use a gun." Martin walked up to the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday and went through a gate when it opened for employees to leave, a U.S. Secret Service spokesperson said Monday. Martin dropped a gas can and raised a shotgun at two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy who then opened fire “to neutralize the threat,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Investigators have not identified a motive.

Washington Times [2/23/2026 5:06 PM, Lindsey McPherson and Jeff Mordock, 1323K] reports the 21-year-old North Carolina man who was killed Sunday after entering the north gate of Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a gas can did not know how to use a gun and comes from a family of Trump supporters, according to his cousin. Austin Tucker Martin was reported missing in Moore County, North Carolina, early Sunday morning, around the same time that authorities said he crossed the perimeter of President Trump’s Florida estate and was killed in a confrontation with two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy. While the incident has yet to be officially characterized as an assassination attempt, Mr. Trump took it as such. Mr. Martin’s cousin, Braeden Fields, told The Associated Press that the two grew up together and that Mr. Martin seemed afraid of guns. He would never pick one up whenever they’d go hunting or target shooting. The Secret Service said the confrontation at Mar-a-Lago in which Mr. Martin was killed occurred around 1:30 a.m. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said investigators believe Mr. Martin bought his shotgun while driving to Florida. He said Mr. Martin walked through the north gate of Mar-a-Lago early Sunday when it opened for employees to leave before he was confronted by the two Secret Service agents and a sheriff’s deputy working security.

FOX News [2/23/2026 6:15 PM, Morgan Phillips Fox, 37576K] reports a deadly confrontation at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Sunday is the latest in a string of high-profile security incidents threatening President Donald Trump, as former Secret Service officials warn that low-tech, lone actors now pose one of the toughest challenges to presidential protection. "It should be quite clear to all of us by now that Trump is the most threatened president in the history of the U.S.," former Secret Service agent William "Bill" Gage told Fox News Digital Monday, pointing to multiple high-profile incidents in recent years. Unlike past presidencies, where threat levels often subsided over time, Gage said, "the longer he’s president, the more these attacks keep happening.” Gage said the most difficult cases to prevent are often the least sophisticated. The recent incidents, he noted, were "super low-tech attacks by people with zero training," using rudimentary weapons. "If you were standing behind them in line at Starbucks, you wouldn’t have given them a second look," he said. Gage said the threat landscape shifted over the course of his 12-year career as a Secret Service agent. When he joined the Secret Service in 2002, he said the agency was moving away from what he described as the traditional "lone gunman" model — figures like Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated John F. Kennedy, or international militants such as "Carlos the Jackal," one of the world’s most wanted terrorists in the ‘70s and ‘80s — and adapting to a post-9/11 world focused on coordinated terrorist networks like al Qaeda and later ISIS. "But if you look at Butler and the two incidents at Mar-a-Lago, those were super low-tech attacks," Gage said. "The low-tech actors are the ones that tend to slip through the cracks.” He also warned of a potential copycat effect when details of such incidents become public.

NBC News [2/23/2026 4:36 PM, Raquel Coronell Uribe, 42967K] reports the U.S. struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, the military announced Monday afternoon. More than 40 such strikes have been carried out in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 137 people, according to statements from the Defense Department tracked by NBC News. The targeted boat on Monday was "transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," U.S. Southern Command said in a post on X, adding that no U.S. forces were harmed. It did not provide evidence that the boat or people on board were involved in drug trafficking. U.S. Southern Command said that Gen. Francis L. Donovan directed the strike.

Reported similarly:
CBS News [2/23/2026 2:40 PM, Staff, 51110K]

Daily Caller [2/23/2026 3:05 PM, Hailey Gomez, 803K] reports the Department of Homeland Security rejected a nearly $58 million contract for advertising and marketing support services for the U.S. Coast Guard Recruiting Command after determining that the outside vendor promotes LGBTQ and other "inclusive" ideology as part of its core offerings, the Daily Caller News Foundation first learned. In June 2025, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem issued a policy requiring her personal review of contracts and grants over $100,000 to increase oversight and curb wasteful spending. The contract under review, obtained by the DCNF, sought $57,971,387 from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for media consulting firm Lempugh, Inc. (LMD) to "execute Option Period Three for continued Advertising Support Services" for one year. In a memo seeking approval of the LMD contract, USCG Commandant Adm. Kevin E. Lunday wrote that it would increase "awareness of the USCG among the target recruiting audience, which results in both more online applications and improved recruiter effectiveness." The Commandant also told DHS in the memo that failure to approve the contract would "substantially diminish" recruitment and "impede the ability to meet personnel requirements," adding that "one in four recruits has been directly attributable to advertising" under the existing Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA). However, upon further review of the media agency, Noem identified ideology promoting the inclusion of transgender marketing along with other culturally "inclusive" measures. The nearly $58 million contract with LMD was requested to begin on Friday, lasting till Feb. 26,2027.

Reuters [2/23/2026 6:06 AM, Ted Hesson and Erin Banco, 38315K] reports top U.S. homeland security aide Corey Lewandowski entered the cockpit of a government jet uninvited during a flight last year, after which he fired a pilot over a misplaced blanket, two people familiar with the matter said. Lewandowski, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump, was traveling with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when they discovered her blanket was missing, the people said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal government operations. The new details about the pilot incident suggest Lewandowski may have violated the safety guidelines set out by the U.S. Coast Guard, which operated the plane. Lewandowski entered the cockpit before the plane had reached 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) and while the seatbelt sign remained on, one of the people said. In response to a Reuters request for comment, Lewandowski said in a text message: "There was never a conversation in the cockpit when the flight was taking off." The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard, which falls under DHS, declined to comment on the flight in question. They did not respond to a Reuters request to interview the pilots. The FAA did not respond to a request for comment.

Washington Post [2/23/2026 4:53 PM, Tara Copp and Marianne LeVine, 24826K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard has opened an internal investigation after a hand-drawn swastika appeared at its primary recruit training center, prompting a swift response from its top admiral, who faced significant scrutiny last year after the service temporarily downgraded the hate symbol in its workplace harassment manual to “potentially divisive.” A Coast Guard instructor discovered the swastika Thursday evening on a men’s bathroom wall at the Cape May training center in New Jersey, according two people familiar with the incident and correspondence reviewed by The Washington Post. Adm. Kevin Lunday, the Coast Guard commandant, was informed Saturday and immediately flew from Washington to Cape May, where he spoke to about 900 recruits and staff members to address the incident, the Coast Guard said. In a statement to The Post confirming the incident, Lunday on Monday reiterated that any display of a swastika — a symbol of Nazi Germany and white supremacy that is inextricably linked to the murder of millions of Jews — will not be tolerated. The drawing was removed and the Coast Guard Investigative Service was directed to look into the matter, the service said.

Reported similarly:
ABC News [2/23/2026 6:54 PM, Staff, 34146K]

Breitbart [2/23/2026 12:59 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2238K] reports that far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro on Sunday acknowledged that the Ocean Mariner, an oil tanker intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard near Cuban waters this month, had loaded fuel in Colombia. The far-left newspaper the New York Times, citing ship-tracking data, reported over the weekend that the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted the Ocean Mariner this month while it was within 70 miles of Cuba and carried over 84,000 barrels of Colombian fuel oil. The vessel reportedly made an abrupt U-turn on February 11 as "it appeared to have realized it was being pursued." U.S. Coast Guard reportedly pulled up alongside the tanker on February 12. According to the Times, the tanker claimed to the Coast Guards officers that it was headed to the Dominican Republic. "The Coast Guard then sailed alongside the Ocean Mariner for nearly two days, escorting it into Dominican waters, the data show. The ship remained there, full of fuel, for several days," the report read. "On Thursday, a Coast Guard vessel again began escorting the Ocean Mariner — this time north toward the Bahamas, which the Ocean Mariner broadcast as its destination," the report continued.

CyberScoop [2/24/2026 3:30 AM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports cyberattacks reached victims faster and came from a wider range of threat groups than ever last year, CrowdStrike said in its annual global threat report released Tuesday, adding that cybercriminals and nation-states increasingly relied on predictable tactics to evade detection by exploiting trusted systems. The average breakout time — how long it took financially-motivated attackers to move from initial intrusion to other network systems — dropped to 29 minutes in 2025, a 65% increase in speed from the year prior. “The fastest breakout time a year ago was 51 seconds. This year it’s 27 seconds,” Adam Meyers, head of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, told CyberScoop. Defenders are falling behind because attackers are refining their techniques, using social engineering to access high-privilege systems faster and move through victims’ cloud infrastructure undetected. “Threat actors are exploiting those cross-domain gaps to gain access to environments, so they’re wriggling in between the seams in cloud, identity, enterprise and unmanaged network devices,” Meyers said. Starting from an already disadvantaged position — made worse by faster attacks and living-off-the-land techniques — defenders face burnout, stress and other factors that can lead to mistakes, he added.

FOX News [2/23/2026 5:46 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K] reports an alleged top leader of the Sinaloa Cartel accused of funneling massive quantities of fentanyl into the U.S. appeared in federal court Monday, facing charges that could put him behind bars for life. According to the Department of Justice, 53-year-old Fidel Felix-Ochoa was a senior figure in the cartel who oversaw its drug trafficking and money laundering operations. Prosecutors allege he coordinated the smuggling of hundreds of kilograms of fentanyl and cocaine into the U.S., using couriers who transported the narcotics by vehicle and through the mail. Prosecutors allege Felix-Ochoa directed co-conspirators to store the narcotics at stash houses before distributing them to dealers and customers across the country, including Florida, Arizona, California, Texas and Massachusetts. The investigation led to the seizure of roughly 73,000 fentanyl pills, 21 kilograms of pure fentanyl, 243 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, two kilograms of cocaine and 24 firearms. Felix-Ochoa is charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance and, if convicted, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. The case unfolds amid an escalating crackdown on the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl network.

CNN [2/23/2026 9:18 AM, Eric Levenson, 612K] reports that Marcee Gray, the mother of the Apalachee High School shooter, testified Monday that her estranged husband, Colin Gray, was not supportive of getting their son into crisis counseling in the weeks before the shooting. After a stint in jail and rehab, Marcee Gray lived with Colin and their three children in July and August 2024 and noticed their oldest, Colt Gray, then 14, was riddled with anxiety, easily agitated and had a panic attack. "It was very obvious that he needed some professional help, especially with the anxiety," she said. She said Colin Gray didn’t have much to say about it. "I think in general the defendant just didn’t want to deal with it. He just wanted to not pay attention to it and hope it would go away," Marcee Gray said. "My personal opinion is that he was afraid Colt would go in and start talking about the emotional mental abuse that he was suffering at the hands of the defendant," she added. The defense objected to that comment as speculation and moved for a mistrial. The judge denied the mistrial request but advised the jury to disregard the comment. The mother’s testimony Monday offered key insights into what Colin Gray knew about their son and what he did about that knowledge in the months before Colt Gray brought an AR15-style rifle to Apalachee High in Winder, Georgia, and opened fire on September 4, 2024. Four people were killed and nine were injured, before he surrendered to police.

Washington Examiner [2/23/2026 11:26 AM, Mia Cathell, 1147K] reports the trial of nine suspected members of a self-admitted antifa cell is restarting, following an abrupt mistrial declared last week, as they face federal terrorism-related charges stemming from their alleged roles in a July 2025 ambush on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Alvarado, Texas. The criminal proceeding, which will start again on Monday with jury selection, is considered the first-known federal trial to treat antifa as a terrorist organization after President Donald Trump officially designated far-left groups that organize behind an antifa ideology as domestic terrorism threats. Here’s what to know about the case, seen by some observers as a test case for the federal government to put the broader antifa movement on trial for the first time in U.S. history. Benjamin Hanil Song; Zachary Jared Evetts; Savanna Sue Batten; Daniel Rolando Sanchez-Estrada; Maricela Rueda; Elizabeth Andrea Soto; Ines Houston Soto; Cameron James Arnold, also known as "Autumn Hill"; and Bradford Winston Morris, alias "Meagan Elizabeth," were jointly indicted as coconspirators in connection with the Alvarado shooting. The defendants, believed to be cell operatives or associates of a Dallas-area antifa faction, are standing trial on a slew of charges — including obstruction, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy to conceal documents, attempted murder of federal officers, and unlawful use of explosives — for either allegedly participating in the coordinated attack or tampering with evidence afterward.

AP [2/23/2026 12:18 PM, Matthew Lee, 3760K] reports that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the Caribbean country of St. Kitts and Nevis this week to reassert the Trump administration’s interests in the Western Hemisphere just a month after the U.S. military operation that removed then-Venezuelan President Nicol s Maduro from power. With the eyes of much of the world on the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and President Donald Trump’s threats to potentially attack Iran, Rubio will make a one-day visit to St. Kitts on Wednesday to participate in a summit of leaders from the Caribbean Community, the State Department said. Rubio has long championed a greater U.S. role in the Western Hemisphere and aims to keep it in focus even as Trump’s Republican administration has now shifted its top foreign policy priority to Iran. American forces are massing in even larger numbers in the Middle East than in the run-up to the Jan. 3 operation in Venezuela that captured and deposed Maduro. Trump, Rubio and others have likened the administration’s Western Hemisphere strategy to the Monroe Doctrine, with its rejection of outside influences and assertion of U.S. primacy throughout what they consider to be "America’s backyard."

Reuters [2/23/2026 10:07 AM, Simon Lewis, 38315K] reports U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hold talks with Caribbean leaders on regional security, and efforts to counter migration and drug trafficking in Saint Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday as Washington seeks to ramp up pressure on Cuba’s leaders while seeking to steer Venezuela in the wake of the operation to seize President Nicolas Maduro. "During his visit, the secretary will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to working with CARICOM member states to enhance stability and prosperity in our hemisphere," spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement on Monday, referring to the Caribbean Community that comprises 15 member states and five associated members. Discussions would also cover economic growth, health and energy security, Pigott said.

FOX News [2/23/2026 1:10 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports that Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports on Republican efforts to mandate AI for Pentagon audits. The Department of Defense has failed audits for eight straight years. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [2/23/2026 2:51 PM, David Shepardson, 38315K] reports that the Pentagon raised significant concerns about an aviation safety bill set to be taken up on Monday by the U.S. House of Representatives meant to address safety issues that arose from a 2025 aircraft collision over Washington airspace that killed 67 people in the worst U.S. aviation disaster since 2001. The ROTOR Act, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in December, would require aircraft operators to equip their fleets with a safety system known as the automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system, or ADS-B, by the end of 2031. It would also require the military to use ADS-B on routine training flights but not on sensitive military missions. The legislation follows the January 2025 disaster, when an American Airlines (AAL.O) regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided in the crowded airspace over the nation’s capital. Major aviation unions and many of the families of those killed have urged the House to quickly pass the bill. In December, the Pentagon said it supported the legislation, sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz and the panel’s top Democrat, Maria Cantwell. But in its letter released Monday, the Pentagon said the bill could create "significant unresolved budgetary burdens and operational security risks affecting national defense activities." The National Transportation Safety Board said the use of ADS-B could have given the passenger plane pilot an alert 59 seconds before the collision and the helicopter crew 48 seconds before.

Los Angeles Times [2/23/2026 6:10 PM, Kate Linthicum, 12718K] reports a top-secret special forces operation that killed the world’s most wanted drug trafficker Sunday was meant to highlight the Mexican government’s prowess in combating crime. But retaliatory violence by angry cartel members who torched cars, killed dozens of soldiers and spread mayhem in 20 of Mexico’s 32 states instead sparked widespread fear about the vast reach of organized crime here — and the government’s ability to tame it. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to quell fears Monday after mayhem erupted over the killing of a long-elusive cartel kingpin: Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho.” “The country is at peace,” Sheinbaum told reporters at her daily news conference in Mexico City on Monday. “It’s calm.” “Mexico has solid institutions,” said Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo. “What was demonstrated? The strength of the Mexican state.” But many Mexicans remained unconvinced that the military operation would in fact weaken Oseguera’s cartel, and that the spate of brazen lawlessness was over. “The Army killed El Mencho, their leader. His followers aren’t going to sit around with their arms crossed,” said José Armando Torres, 45, a businessman and father of two in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state.

Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 7:00 PM, Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba, 646K] reports for many drug-enforcement officials in North America, there was one cartel boss who was too big and too dangerous to ever try to take down—Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Now that Oseguera is dead, after a firefight Sunday with Mexican security forces, Mexico is bracing for a civil war among his top lieutenants for control of a cartel that quickly rose to be the country’s most powerful and deadly organized-crime syndicate. Mexico is already struggling with another cartel civil war in the state of Sinaloa, where clans have been fighting for more than a year after one faction affiliated with former drug boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman betrayed the head of another family clan. That conflict has left more than 2,000 people dead and 3,000 missing, likely kidnapped and killed. The possibility of a Jalisco cartel war carries larger risks because of its wider territorial reach, former security officials say. Oseguera exerted control over smuggling routes that spanned from Mexico’s border with Guatemala to the Gulf Coast state of Tamaulipas neighboring Texas and the Baja California peninsula in the Pacific. “This is the biggest blow that the government has ever struck against a criminal group in Mexico,” said Eduardo Guerrero, a leading security consultant in Mexico City. “It has national implications, given the vast number of states where the cartel operates, and it’s too early to tell whether it turns into a great war.” Guerrero said a second narco civil war in western Mexico would upend security of the World Cup this summer, as the international soccer tournament is played in Mexico, the U.S. and Canada. Jalisco’s state capital, Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s largest and most affluent cities, is set to host World Cup matches. The Jalisco cartel, which experts estimate boasts around 30,000 operatives, already gave security forces a taste of its power Sunday when gunmen closed roads across Mexico and burned vehicles, sending black plumes of smoke across the skies, including in Puerto Vallarta, a Pacific beach resort popular with U.S. tourists. Mexican authorities said Monday they had deployed thousands of soldiers in the country’s west to restore calm and prevent a flare-up in violence.

New York Times [2/23/2026 6:01 PM, Matthew Cullen, 148038K] reports many people in Mexico awoke today with unease. Violence erupted across the country over the weekend after the leader of the nation’s most powerful criminal organization was killed yesterday in a Mexican military raid. Followers of the cartel boss attacked government security forces, blocked roads and set fire to stores. Videos show how the violence spread. Order appeared to be largely restored by this afternoon. But schools, gas stations and supermarkets remained closed today in Guadalajara, a city near the epicenter of the chaos. “Normally clogged thoroughfares had nearly empty stretches of asphalt,” our reporter there, Paulina Villegas Vargas, said. “Along the main highway near the airport, a charred bus lay on its side, its metal frame still smelling of smoke.” Airlines and bus companies canceled routes, trapping tourists in beach destinations like Puerto Vallarta. They were told to shelter in place. Twenty-five members of the national guard were killed in the operation targeting Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — who went by “El Mencho” and was widely regarded as one of the country’s most violent criminal figures. Officials said they had located Oseguera, who led the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, by tracking one of his romantic partners. They were also aided by C.I.A. intelligence. Here’s what we know about the operation. Oseguera’s death was a major victory for President Claudia Sheinbaum, who, unlike her predecessor, has mounted an aggressive offensive against the cartels. It could also help reduce pressure from President Trump, who has been threatening strikes in Mexico and demanding a crackdown on the cartels.

Washington Examiner [2/23/2026 1:22 PM, Molly Parks, 1147K] reports that twenty-five Mexican National Guard members were killed after Mexico’s army took out the leader of one of the country’s largest drug cartels on Sunday night. The country’s security head, Omar Garcia Harfuch, confirmed that over two dozen guard members were killed in six separate attacks across the state of Jalisco after the army took out the drug lord "El Mencho." El Mencho, or Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, ran the fentanyl-trafficking Jalisco New Generation Cartel for over 15 years before he was killed in a military operation. The response to El Mencho’s killing sent shockwaves through the Jalisco state as the JNGC cartel members set cars on fire, and the 25 National Guard members were reported killed. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico issued a security alert for Jalisco and surrounding Mexican states, urging U.S. citizens in the area to shelter in place, as the government and embassy officials are doing as well. Coastal Puerto Vallarta is a popular beach destination for American tourists. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson shared an image on X of him shaking hands with a Mexican military officer, saying he salutes the military and safety officials who "confront criminal organizations with courage and professionalism." "The United States stands firmly with Mexican authorities in our shared responsibility to stop the violence that threatens and poisons our people on both sides of the border. I have the utmost respect for the Mexican officials who serve honorably, so that others may live in peace," Johnson said.

Reported similarly:
Daily Caller [2/23/2026 2:10 PM, Jack Cowhick, 803K]

NewsMax [2/23/2026 9:18 PM, Sam Barron, 3760K] reports the Central Intelligence Agency provided Mexico with intelligence on the location of the drug lord known as "El Mencho," which led to his killing Sunday, a U.S. official told New York Times. The drug lord, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, was the Mexican government’s biggest prize yet as it sought to demonstrate to President Donald Trump’s administration its commitment to cracking down on the cartels. His death was met with a forceful reaction from the cartel, known by its initials CJNG. Mexican authorities said Monday that Oseguera Cervantes, the longtime leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was tracked through one of his romantic partners. Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, Mexico’s secretary of defense, said an elite intelligence wing of the Mexican army helped locate him. Trevilla also acknowledged that Mexican authorities used "complementary information" from U.S. agencies to track Oseguera Cervantes, the Times reported. One source told the Times the CIA was "instrumental in removing" him after the United States stepped up intelligence sharing and pressured Mexico to act on the information provided. Under former President Joe Biden, the CIA began covert drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl production labs and cartel leaders, the Times reported. The flights have been expanded under the Trump administration, with CIA Director John Ratcliffe pressing agents to recruit more informants. A Mexican official told the Times the cooperation showed that the government was able to act quickly and effectively on information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies, at a time when U.S. officials have been pushing for the two countries to conduct joint raids against labs or cartel leaders. The raid comes a month after U.S. Northern Command established a task force designed to counter drug cartels. The task force includes 300 military and civilian personnel, including representatives from U.S. intelligence agencies and law enforcement, the Times reported.

USA Today [2/23/2026 11:49 AM, Zac Anderson, 70643K] reports the Mexican government’s military operation that killed a prominent drug lord was executed with the help of U.S. intelligence, according to the White House. "President Trump has been very clear – the United States will ensure narcoterrorists sending deadly drugs to our homeland are forced to face the wrath of justice they have long deserved," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a social media post that mentioned the U.S. intelligence support for the operation, which also had been announced by Mexico’s defense ministry. Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," was killed in the operation. Leavitt thanked the Mexican military for military "for their cooperation and successful execution of this operation." Trump has launched an aggressive anti-drug campaign in his second term that has included military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific and pressuring the Mexican government to crack down on traffickers.

Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 12:03 PM, Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba, 646K] reports security forces launched a massive operation to capture Mexico’s top drug lord after U.S. and Mexican intelligence agencies tracked one of his girlfriends to a secluded love nest in a colonial town, Mexican officials said Monday. Early on Sunday, a team of elite Mexican army and National Guard special-operations soldiers descended on the community of Tapalpa in western Mexico, where Nemesio “Mencho” Oseguera, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, remained holed up after his girlfriend left, Mexico’s Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said on Monday. The soldiers chased Oseguera and several bodyguards, surrounding them deep into nearby woods, Trevilla said. A battle ensued, as Oseguera’s desperate bodyguards, armed with two rocket launchers, fired on the pursuing troops. In the fighting, eight people were killed, including Oseguera and two other bodyguards who were seriously wounded and then died in a military helicopter later. Trevilla said Mexican intelligence services identified a man close to Oseguera’s lover who took her to Tapalpa, a mountain weekend getaway community surrounded by pine forests in western Jalisco state. Mexican officials said U.S. intelligence helped the operation. “The intelligence process is very complex; it requires a great deal of time to gather a lot of information from diverse national and international sources,” Trevilla said with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum standing alongside him. More than 50 people died in the aftermath of the raid during the gang’s counteroffensive. The dead included 25 Mexican soldiers and security officers and 30 alleged gunmen. There were also civilians caught in the crossfire, including a pregnant woman, authorities said.

Reported similarly:
NBC News [2/23/2026 12:35 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 42967K]

FOX News [2/23/2026 6:50 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports ‘The Five’ co-hosts discuss the aftermath of cartel boss ‘El Mencho’s’ death leaving American tourists stranded and sheltering-in-place as chaos erupts across Mexico.

CNN [2/23/2026 6:48 PM, Niah Humphrey, 19874K] Video: HERE reports Yoni Pizer tells Jim Sciutto about his account of being carjacked and attacked in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico after the killing of a cartel leader.

FOX News [2/23/2026 6:52 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Robert Charles, former assistant Secretary of State at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and Maine gubernatorial candidate, said that the CJNG’s reign of violence expands far beyond Mexico.

New York Post [2/23/2026 6:22 PM, Ben Chapman, 40934K] reports Mexican drug lord El Mencho sowed death and destruction south of the border — but the evil drug kingpin also left his mark on Los Angeles. Federal Drug Enforcement Agency officials pointed the finger at the leader of Mexico’s New Generation Cartel, also known as CJNG — whose real name is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — as the prime culprit behind the hideous explosion of homelessness and meth and fentanyl addiction in Skid Row. Bill Bodner, former Special Agent in Charge of DEA Los Angeles, told Fox 11 that El Mencho and CJNG were behind the hoards of drugged-out zombies that gripped the downtown LA neighborhood in a televised interview when he was still running the DEA office, back in 2020. "CJNG, probably the most prolific cartel in Mexico right now as far as perpetrating violence and trafficking and drugs, is a huge influence on those of us in California," said Bodner. "They’re pushing the drugs that are coming into the community here," Bodner continued. "They’re responsible for part of the homelessness.” Oseguera Cervantes was located and killed on Sunday after intelligence agencies were able to track down one of his lovers to his secluded resort compound in the mountainside getaway of Tapalpa, Jalisco, Mexico’s Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said Monday. The death of Mexico’s most powerful and notorious drug lord set the entire nation on fire and triggered cartels to wage a violent revolt across at least 20 of Mexico’s 31 states, killing at least 25 Mexican National Guard members as of Monday.

Washington Post [2/23/2026 1:43 PM, Andy Beshear, 24826K] reports that on Sunday, Claudia Sheinbaum’s government recorded a significant success in its fight against organized crime. In an operation led by its armed forces, Mexican authorities killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes — “El Mencho” — the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the most powerful criminal organization to emerge in Mexico in decades. Oseguera had become an almost mythical figure for members of his cartel, who often refer to themselves as “Mencho’s men.” The CJNG itself has grown into a terrifying and cruel force in Mexico’s criminal landscape, responsible for systematic extortion, drug trafficking (especially fentanyl) — and spectacular acts of violence. Oseguera’s death also marks a definitive break with years of permissiveness under the previous administration led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador. López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy allowed criminal organizations such as the CJNG to expand their dominance. Oseguera’s killing suggests that the constant pressure exerted by the Trump administration has pushed the Mexican government to change course. Indeed, early reporting suggests U.S. intelligence helped make the operation a success. Sheinbaum may have embarked on this more aggressive path only reluctantly, but she must now stay the course. It will probably be a complicated and bloody ride. Oseguera’s death triggered violent convulsions in roughly a dozen Mexican states — about one-third of the country.

Blaze [2/23/2026 8:39 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1556K] reports that the U.S. State Department issued an advisory on Sunday instructing Americans in Jalisco State as well as in several other Mexican states to "shelter in place until further notice" following the elimination of Nemesio "El Mencho" Oseguera Cervantes, Mexico’s most-wanted cartel boss. With firefights breaking out across the country, radicals blocking key roads, and flights being canceled, many tourists really had no other option than to hunker down. Mexican Army special forces, aided by the nation’s air force and national guard, launched a military operation on Sunday aimed at capturing Oseguera Cervantes in Tapalpa, Jalisco. Under Oseguera Cervantes, 59, the Jalisco New Generation cartel became one of the most formidable criminal enterprises south of the border. The State Department noted that the CJNG, which the Trump administration designated a terrorist organization last February, "has been assessed to have the highest cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine trafficking capacity in Mexico, and over the past few years, includes the trafficking of fentanyl into the United States.” In addition to trafficking deadly drugs, the savage and allegedly cannibalistic CJNG developed a reputation for murdering Mexican police and rival drug traffickers. The cartel was also allegedly involved in several assassination attempts against Mexican government officials.

Los Angeles Times [2/23/2026 12:39 PM, Keegan Hamilton, 12718K] reports that long before he had a $15-million bounty on his head as the leader of Mexico’s ruthless Jalisco New Generation cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes was a scruffy-haired kid trying to eke out a living on the streets of San Francisco. He crossed the border illegally sometime before he turned 20, making the migrant’s journey north from the avocado and lime orchards that surround his family’s small town in the state of Michoacán. He was picked up first on meth charges on May 14, 1986, according to news reports and a San Francisco police booking photo, which shows him in a blue hoodie scowling into the camera. He was arrested twice more, finally for selling $9,500 worth of heroin to two undercover officers at a bar in 1992. He went to prison, got deported and, despite his record, became a local police officer back home. So began the criminal career of one of the most infamous figures in the world of international drug trafficking. It ended in spectacular and violent fashion Sunday, with Mexican authorities announcing that the kingpin nicknamed "El Mencho" had been killed in a shootout with government forces in Jalisco, the state his group, known as the CJNG, has long dominated. The killing unleashed shock waves of violence across the swaths of Mexico where the CJNG holds sway. Flights into some Jalisco airports were grounded and cartel gunmen blockaded highways by setting fire to vehicles in 20 states, according to Mexican authorities. The country’s top security official said 25 members of the National Guard were killed Sunday in reprisal attacks. President Claudia Sheinbaum called on the public to remain calm and maintained that most territory in the country was in a state of "complete normality."

NewsMax [2/23/2026 7:19 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports the Department of War said Monday it has received no orders to deploy any Navy vessels to Greenland, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal, countering President Donald Trump’s announcement that a hospital ship was on its way to the self-governed Danish territory. Trump wrote Saturday on Truth Social: "Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there. It’s on the way!!!" The Navy has two hospital ships, the East Coast-based USNS Comfort and the West Coast-based USNS Mercy, which are designed as floating medical treatment sites, according to the Journal. Both vessels are in a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, according to maritime tracking information. The Comfort’s repairs are expected to be completed in April, and the Mercy is in the middle of a one-year maintenance period that began in July, the Journal reported. Spokespersons for the Navy and Pentagon referred questions from the Journal to the White House. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly referred to Trump’s social media post. Should the Pentagon send one of the ships to Greenland, a formal request for their assistance by Danish authorities is required before they could dock on the island, one of the U.S. officials told the Journal. Greenland’s prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, on Sunday asked Trump to talk to him instead of making "random outbursts on social media." Nielsen said, "It’s going to be a no thanks from us," adding that Greenland provides free healthcare for its citizens, unlike the U.S. Landry, Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, slammed Nielsen’s comments, saying he had spoken to many Greenlanders about their healthcare problems, the Journal reported. He said many villages and small towns lack basic medical services, forcing citizens to travel long distances for treatment. "A healthy Greenland is vital for America’s national security," he said. "America is committed to defending Greenland, and that begins by ensuring its people are defended against basic illnesses and ailments." Trump’s post about the hospital ship came hours after Denmark’s military said that it evacuated a crew member of a U.S. submarine who needed urgent medical treatment off the coast of Greenland. The Danish Joint Arctic Command posted on Facebook that the crew member had been evacuated and transferred to a hospital in Nuuk, Greenland’s capital.

FOX News [2/23/2026 9:01 AM, Eric Mack, 37576K] reports Greenland’s rejection of President Donald Trump sending a U.S. military hospital ship has touched off a private-public healthcare debate amid ongoing diplomatic talks about Arctic security. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen on Sunday turned down Trump’s offer, and now Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, has weighed in. "Shame on Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen!" Landry wrote in response to a Fox News report on Nielsen’s objection. "President Donald J. Trump and America care. After speaking to many Greenlanders about the day to day problems they face, one issue stood out — healthcare.” Greenland has sought more self-governance from Denmark under the Self Government Act in 2009 to take more local authority under home rule, but Danish officials’ instant rejection of Trump’s offer is aligned with Greenland’s own rejection that came later Sunday. "President Trump’s idea of ​​sending an American hospital ship here to Greenland has been noted," Nielsen wrote in a translated Facebook post. "But we have a public healthcare system where treatment is free for citizens. "It is a deliberate choice.” Greenland remains open to dialogue and cooperation with the U.S., with a caveat, according to Nielsen. "But talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media," Nielsen said in his own public Facebook protestation.

Reuters [2/23/2026 12:42 PM, Staff, 16072K] reports that Islamic State militants ⁠killed ⁠four Syrian government ⁠security personnel in northern Syria on Monday, the Syrian state news agency reported, in what would be the group’s deadliest attack on government forces since the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. The assault ⁠on ⁠a checkpoint west of Raqqa city underlined an escalation in attacks by the jihadist group against President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, two days after the jihadist group declared "a new phase of operations" against it. Islamic State issued no immediate claim of responsibility for ⁠Monday’s ⁠attack. On Saturday, the ⁠group claimed two attacks targeting Syrian army personnel in northern and eastern Syria, in which ⁠a Syrian soldier and a civilian were killed. The Syrian state news agency said forces foiled Monday’s attack and killed one of the militants. It quoted a security source as ⁠saying Islamic State carried out the attack. The Syrian government joined the ⁠U.S.-led coalition to combat Islamic State last year. In January, government forces seized control of Raqqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, along with much of the surrounding territory in northern and eastern Syria.

Wall Street Journal [2/23/2026 4:35 PM, Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, and Shelby Holliday, 646K] reports the Pentagon is raising concerns to President Trump about an extended military campaign against Iran, advising that war plans being considered carry risks including U.S. and allied casualties, depleted air defenses and an overtaxed force. The warnings have largely been voiced by Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, within the Defense Department and during meetings of the National Security Council, current and former officials said, but other Pentagon leaders also have noted similar worries. Such discussions are always part of the contingency-planning process before military operations, some officials said, noting that military leaders—especially the Joint Chiefs chair—provide prudent estimates of possible casualties and other potential costs of military operations. Options being studied for strikes on Iran range from initial limited strikes to a dayslong aerial campaign aimed at toppling the regime. All options carry risks, but a prolonged campaign in particular could incur significant costs to U.S. forces and munitions stockpiles, officials said, complicating the protection of regional partners if Iran is able to retaliate. If the U.S. uses up large amounts of air-defense munitions and other items that are in limited supply, it could also impact preparations for a possible future conflict with China. Officials say the issues raised by Caine, widely seen as a trusted aide by Trump, and others will be a factor in the president’s decision on whether to attack Iran and how. Officials say Trump has yet to make up his mind. The U.S. has assembled the largest amount of air power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq war, including an aircraft-carrier strike group. A second carrier is now in the Mediterranean. The Trump administration is still negotiating with Iran about a potential deal that the U.S. hopes would block Tehran’s pathways toward a nuclear weapon, which Iranian leaders have denied pursuing, while curbing its ballistic-missile program and its support for regional proxy militias such as Hezbollah and Hamas. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, officials say, where Iran is expected to present its positions to Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iran has threatened to retaliate as hard as possible against any American attack, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week said his forces could sink a U.S. warship.

CBS News [2/23/2026 7:32 PM, Eleanor Watson, Jennifer Jacobs and James LaPorta, 51110K] reports President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with what aides describe as the limits of military leverage against Iran, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CBS News under condition of anonymity to discuss national security issues. Unlike previous targeted operations, including the recent one removing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power, Mr. Trump has been told that any strike on Tehran’s assets would almost certainly not be a singular, decisive blow. Instead, limited strikes could open the door to a wider confrontation — one that risks drawing the United States into a protracted conflict in the Middle East. Axios first reported details of the president’s frustrations. President Trump, in a social media post refuted any reports that Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "is against us going to War with Iran." Caine, he said, "would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won.” Mr. Trump said Caine "has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack.” A senior military official told CBS News that military planners are providing unbiased advice. The White House referred CBS News to the president’s social media post. At the heart of the president’s impatience is a desire for a forceful action that would reset the diplomatic table. He has pressed advisers for options that would deliver a punishing strike — one substantial enough, in his view, to compel Iranian leaders to return to negotiations under more favorable terms for Washington. But military planners have cautioned that such an outcome cannot be guaranteed.

Breitbart [2/23/2026 12:21 PM, John Hayward, 2238K] reports that a senior Iranian official said on Sunday that his government is prepared to offer concessions on its uranium enrichment program, in an effort to hold off possible strikes from the United States – but only if the U.S. agrees to meet Iran’s demands and lift all economic sanctions. The maximalist demands presented to Reuters on Sunday by the unnamed Iranian official were not much different than Iran’s position ever since President Donald Trump withdrew from his predecessor Barack Obama’s nuclear deal in 2018. For that matter, Iran constantly complained that even Obama’s nuclear deal – with its infamous "pallets of cash" secretly delivered to the world’s worst state sponsors of terrorism – did not furnish Tehran with the economic benefits it was expecting. Much of the Iranian cheating and intransigence that led Trump to withdraw from the JCPOA (as the nuclear deal is formally known) was justified in Tehran’s eyes because they expected Obama and the Europeans to give Iran more benefits, in exchange for slightly reducing the speed of Iran’s march to nuclear weapons. The "fresh concessions" offered by the official who spoke to Reuters included "a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium." Iran would also reportedly offer "openings for U.S. companies to participate as contractors in Iran’s large oil and gas industries," a proposal that builds on previous comments from Iranian officials that the JCPOA fell apart because it did not include enough benefits for the United States.

Breitbart [2/23/2026 5:35 AM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2238K] reports China’s Commerce Ministry on Monday called for the United States to rescind all tariffs after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs. "China has consistently opposed unilateral tariff increases in all forms and has repeatedly stated that there are no winners in a trade war and that protectionism leads nowhere," a Commerce Ministry spokesperson said, as per the Chinese state-owned Global Times. The spokesperson reportedly asserted that "the unilateral measures taken by the U.S., including the reciprocal tariffs and fentanyl-related tariffs, not only violate international trade and economic rules but also contravene US domestic law, and they do not serve the interests of any party.". "Repeated experience has shown that cooperation between China and the U.S. benefits both sides while confrontation harms both," the spokesperson continued. "China urges the U.S. to cancel relevant unilateral tariff measures imposed on its trading partners".

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