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

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

The New York Times [3/29/2026 12:44 PM, Aishvarya Kavi, 148038K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could remain at U.S. airports, where President Trump had sent them to respond to a shortage of security employees during a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, even after those employees are paid again, Mr. Trump’s chief border official said on Sunday. “It depends how many T.S.A. agents come back to work,” the White House border czar, Tom Homan, said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” referring to the Transportation Security Administration. “How many T.S.A. agents have actually quit and have no plan coming back to work? I’m working very closely with the T.S.A. administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what.” Mr. Homan added later, in an appearance on CBS, that ICE agents would stay “until the airports feel like they’re 100 percent” and “normal operations” resume. Mr. Trump signed an executive order Friday to pay T.S.A. employees as Congress remains at an impasse over funding the Department of Homeland Security. Department officials have said about 50,000 T.S.A. officers should receive paychecks as early as Monday. But it is unlikely that pay will immediately alleviate operational challenges at the agency and at airports around the country. The Washington Post [3/29/2026 12:47 PM, Mariana Alfaro and Daniel Wu, 24826K] reports that ICE agents, he said, “are keeping the security at the airport at a high level, again, because of heightened threat that we’re in right now.” TSA agents, Homan said, will get paid “hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday” after President Donald Trump issued an order Friday to use preexisting funds for the paychecks. Trump’s move came after Congress failed to strike a deal to end the shutdown of much of the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s good news, because these TSA officers are struggling,” Homan said about the paychecks Sunday. “They’re sitting there right now, working very hard, not being paid by members of Congress [who are] out on vacation getting paid. It’s ridiculous.” Airports around the nation have recorded lengthy wait lines at TSA checkpoints, and nearly 500 TSA officers have quit during the shutdown. On Friday, lines for security at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport stretched outside and wrapped around the building’s exterior. Wait times have gotten so excessive that some travelers are hiring line-sitters. The president’s emergency paychecks for TSA officers may lessen wait times in the coming days, but it does not solve the issue of the ongoing DHS shutdown, which reached 44 days on Sunday. On Friday night, the Republican-led House rejected a measure the Senate passed earlier in the day to fund most of DHS. The bipartisan Senate bill would have funded TSA and the rest of DHS, except for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection. The House bill would have funded the entire department for eight weeks. Neither bill includes reforms for ICE and CBP that Democrats have demanded. While House Republicans voted for their version of the bill, only three House Democrats voted for it. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said House Democrats would’ve supported the Senate bill had House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) let it reach the floor. Both chambers left Washington this weekend for recess without a solution. NewsMax [3/29/2026 2:57 PM, Sandy Fitzgerald, 3760K] reports that Homan said he spoke on Saturday with new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and there is a plan to get paychecks to the TSA agents by Monday or Tuesday. He added that he’s working with acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill and acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons to determine what is needed to keep the airports operational. The ICE agents, Homan said, are working hard to keep airport security at a high level because of the heightened threat the nation is in with the ongoing Iran conflict. McNeill said during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing last week that 480 TSA officers have quit their jobs since DHS lost its funding on Feb. 14. More than 1,100 officers left their jobs as well during last year’s government-wide shutdown. Homan, also appearing on CBS’ "Face the Nation," told host Margaret Brennan that ICE agents will remain in place at the nation’s airports until the facilities feel that they are "100% in a posture where they can do normal operations.". "If fewer TSA agents come back, that means we’ll keep more ICE agents there," he said. "The president has been clear. He wants to secure those airports… ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We’ll be there as long as they need us.". But even with the TSA getting paid, Homan stressed that other vital DHS employees, including those with the Coast Guard and Secret Service, remain unfunded, and he called on members of Congress to vote to restore the funding.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/29/2026 10:16 AM, Max Rego, 18170K]
Breitbart [3/29/2026 11:28 PM, Staff, 2238K]
NPR [3/29/2026 8:00 PM, Jeff Brady, 28764K]
CBS News [3/29/2026 3:10 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE
NBC News [3/29/2026 7:36 PM, Megan Lebowitz and Ryan Nobles, 42967K]
USA Today [3/29/2026 5:14 PM, Kate Perez, 70643K]

Washington Examiner [3/29/2026 12:12 PM, Claire Carter, 1147K] reports Border czar Tom Homan on Sunday said Transportation Security Administration officers could get paid as soon as Monday following President Donald Trump’s executive order to get workers their paychecks. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Homan said he has spoken with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Saturday and that he understands workers’ frustration as the partial government shutdown enters its 44th day. "I talked to Secretary Markwayne Mullin yesterday. There is a plan to get these TSA agents paid, hopefully, tomorrow or Tuesday," Homan said. "Your heart goes out to them because they are sitting there right now working very hard and not being paid, while members of Congress now are on vacation and getting paid.". Homan’s remark follows an emergency directive from Trump ordering the Department of Homeland Security to use available funds to pay roughly 50,000 TSA workers who have missed multiple paychecks since the shutdown began in mid-February. The lapse in pay has strained airport operations nationwide, creating long security lines as hundreds of officers have quit or called out daily. At some airports, wait times stretched for hours as the shutdown entered its sixth week. The emergency payments are intended to stabilize airport security operations ahead of peak spring travel, though they do not resolve the broader funding crisis affecting DHS. Congress remains at an impasse over how to fully fund the agency, with disputes centered on immigration enforcement policy. The Senate passed a funding measure earlier this week that would reopen most of DHS but excluded funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and parts of Customs and Border Protection. Those provisions have been opposed by House Republicans. ICE was recently deployed to airports nationwide to aid in crowd control and security measures due to TSA shortages, but it is unclear if ICE will remain in place once TSA workers are paid. House GOP leaders instead advanced their own short-term funding bill that includes full immigration enforcement funding, but that proposal faces opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers have already left Washington for a two-week recess. Because both chambers must pass identical legislation to end the shutdown, the Senate’s absence complicates any immediate resolution. Lawmakers would need to be called back to Washington to consider the House-passed measure to negotiate a compromise. The standoff has effectively forced the House to remain engaged on DHS funding, as failure to pass a bill acceptable to both chambers prolongs the shutdown and its effects on federal operations. While the White House’s order is expected to deliver short-term relief to TSA officers, other DHS employees, including those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard, remain unpaid.

Reported similarly:
New York Post [3/29/2026 9:48 AM, Ryan King, 40934K]
CNN [3/29/2026 10:30 AM, Jake Tapper, 19874K] Video: HERE
Washington Times [3/29/2026 9:49 AM, Seth McLaughlin, 1323K]

Daily Wire [3/30/2026 12:30 AM, Virginia Kruta, 2314K] reports agents with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should start seeing paychecks Monday or Tuesday, but it could still be quite some time before the business of traveling by air returns to business as usual. Border Czar Tom Homan told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Sunday that he had spoken with newly sworn-in Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about President Donald Trump’s order — which directed him to pay TSA agents out of preexisting funding — and that they expected agents to see their first paychecks in weeks within the coming days. Homan also addressed Trump’s decision to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents into airports — a move made to mitigate the chaos of long lines and wait times as the lack of pay led to mass callouts among TSA employees — and said that they may remain in place for a time yet. “We’ll see. You know, it depends how many TSA agents come back to work. How many TSA agents have actually quit and have no plan coming back to work? I’m working very closely with TSA administrator and the ICE director to decide what airport needs what,” Homan told Tapper. The president issued an executive order on Friday directing Mullin to use funding that had “a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to ensure that agents received pay. They have not been paid since Democrats voted against funding the Department of Homeland Security some six weeks earlier, forcing a partial government shutdown that has also impacted the U.S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Coast Guard and Secret Service. The Democrats voted to block the DHS funding bill after the deaths of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti during the ICE surge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, despite the fact that ICE agents were still being paid under provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

FOX News [3/29/2026 1:34 PM, CJ Womack, 37576K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan said it was ridiculous that TSA officers were struggling to pay rent and feed their families while D.C. lawmakers remained deadlocked over Department of Homeland Security funding on "State of the Union," Sunday. "These TSA officers are struggling. They can’t feed their families or pay their rent," Homan told Jake Tapper. "Your heart goes out to them because they’re sitting there right now working very hard and not being paid by members of Congress [who are] now on vacation, getting paid. It’s ridiculous.". Homan made the remarks as the funding fight over DHS stretched into a sixth week, disrupting airport operations and leaving TSA officers and other Homeland Security personnel without pay. "Well, as soon as Congress opens up the government and funds the Department of Homeland Security, that’s what needs to happen," Homan said. "But yeah, I talked to Secretary Markwayne Mullin yesterday. There is a plan to get these TSA agents pay. Hopefully by tomorrow, Tuesday.". Homan made clear, however, that he sees the TSA pay issue as only part of the problem. He argued that other DHS personnel are still going without pay even if TSA officers begin receiving checks. "Paying TSA agents doesn’t pay the rest of the Department of Homeland Security," Homan said. "You got the Coast Guard, you got the men and women [of the] Secret Service, you got a lot of people working for Homeland Security [who] aren’t getting paid.". Homan mentioned that ICE officers are helping with identification checks, exit-lane coverage and other support duties that allow TSA personnel to focus on screening operations. "They’re checking identification before you go to screening," Homan said. "We’re plugging other security holes. We want to keep the airport safe.". Homan argued that ICE’s presence has produced some measurable results, even as critics questioned whether the deployment could meaningfully solve the staffing crunch.

Daily Wire [3/29/2026 1:25 PM, Drew Berkemeyer, 2314K] rperots former acting ICE Director and current White House Border Czar Tom Homan blasted congressional Democrats over the ongoing Department of Homeland Security funding standoff, accusing lawmakers of trying to strong-arm policy changes by withholding funding. Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Homan said the dispute is not about budgetary constraints, but about efforts to curb immigration enforcement. “President Donald Trump wants the entire Department of Homeland Security funded. He wants the government open and funded,” Homan said. “But the bottom line is they want changes in ICE tactics. They want changes in policy.” Homan argued that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is simply carrying out laws that have remained consistent across multiple administrations. “The same laws ICE follows today have been in place during the Clinton, Obama [administrations], and now,” he said. “The law hasn’t changed.” According to Homan, lawmakers are privately pushing to limit arrests rather than openly advocating for abolishing ICE. “They can say they don’t want to abolish ICE — I’m in the room,” he said. “They want to change operations so we arrest fewer people.” The remarks come as Congress remains locked in a dispute over DHS funding, with negotiations increasingly tied to immigration enforcement demands. Some lawmakers have pushed for additional oversight measures and operational restrictions, including expanded use of body cameras and clearer guidelines around enforcement locations. Homan noted that ICE has already engaged in discussions on some of those issues, including funding for body cameras, which he said has been allocated at roughly $120 million. But he rejected claims that agents are routinely targeting sensitive locations such as churches or hospitals.

Univision [3/29/2026 5:55 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Tom Homan, the “border czar” and former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated that Democrats have contributed to the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by refusing to fund it, which, according to him, has a direct impact on the effectiveness of immigration operations in the United States. During a conversation with journalist Margaret Brennan, Homan argued that the lack of budgetary support is part of a political strategy. In his view, Democrats are seeking to change immigration policies by reducing the operational capacity of law enforcement agencies. The border czar was emphatic in pointing out that, without the necessary resources, DHS cannot fully carry out its duties, which directly impacts ICE’s performance within the country. Homan stated that the goal of these decisions is to make ICE “less effective within the country.” As he explained, this would limit the agency’s actions regarding immigration enforcement and law enforcement. These statements once again place ICE at the center of the political debate, amid conflicting views on how immigration policies should be implemented and the role that federal institutions should play. For Homan, the link between DHS funding and ICE operations is clear. He insisted that budget decisions are not made in isolation, but rather reflect a broader approach to immigration policy. "The Democrats shut down DHS. They voted to shut down DHS simply because they aren’t funding it, because they want to change ICE’s policies so that it is less effective within the country," stated the border czar.

FOX News [3/29/2026 2:59 PM, Max Bacall, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Republicans should move toward ending the Senate filibuster on "Sunday Morning Futures" as lawmakers battle over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding, arguing the chamber’s 60-vote threshold to end a filibuster is preventing action on border and homeland security priorities. Johnson called Democrats "obnoxious" and "obstructionist," blaming them for the current government shutdown as the congressional stalemate over funding DHS continues. Democrats are refusing to allocate money to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which falls under DHS, unless their proposed reforms to the agency are accepted. The Wisconsin Republican said Democrats would continue to obstruct budgetary votes under the current administration and predicted that, when they reclaimed the majority, they would get rid of the filibuster anyway. "The split in the Senate, in terms of a filibuster, is [between] those of us who believe that Democrats will [get rid of] it next time they have the power, and those who are hoping beyond hope that they won’t.". In practice, most major legislation in the Senate can be delayed or blocked by a filibuster unless 60 senators vote to end debate. As long as this is the case, Johnson argued, the deadlock will persist. He recommended moving toward a reconciliation process, a special budget procedure Congress can use to get around the filibuster and pass certain changes more quickly than ordinary legislation. "Let’s get as much DHS funding as possible, move to reconciliation, pass a reconciliation bill focused on DHS funding through fiscal year 2029, and then be ready for another reconciliation to fund the rest of government, starting in October, when Democrats obstruct the regular order appropriation process," he said.

ABC News [3/29/2026 10:40 AM, Ford McCracken, 34146K] reports Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Sunday that his party is not blocking funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after House Republicans did not take up a vote on the Senate-passed bill to fund most of the department. "We’re not holding up all of the money for all the Department of Homeland Security," Van Hollen told ABC News’ "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "That’s just a false statement. We have said repeatedly, repeatedly, we should fund [the Transportation Security Administration].". Democrats blocked funding for DHS more than a month ago, demanding reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after federal agents shot and killed U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Since the shutdown began, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have missed paychecks and called out from work, leading to hours-long lines at the nation’s busiest airports. Democrats have since proposed passing a bill to fund components of DHS, including TSA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), while leaving out funding for ICE unless reforms are made. The Senate unanimously passed such a proposal early Friday morning, but House Republicans did not take up the measure, instead passing a bill to fund DHS entirely. "You had a bipartisan bill, Republicans and Democrats, passed the Senate that would immediately fully fund TSA and by the way, FEMA and the Coast Guard while we continue to negotiate reforms to ICE, a lawless ICE operation. And the Republican speaker of the House refused to even have a vote on that in the House and went home.".

FOX News [3/29/2026 6:00 PM, Hanna Panreck, 37576K] reports Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-MD., clashed with ABC News host Jon Karl on Sunday as he was questioned over what Democrats have achieved in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown fight. The government has been in a partial shutdown for 44 days, affecting DHS. Democrats are demanding stringent reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the battle to fund DHS. Karl asked Van Hollen about the "bottom line," noting Congress was on recess and the DHS was still not funded and that Van Hollen had issued a statement that Republicans had "finally relented" on Friday. "So when the Senate passed that bill and there was that brief moment, it looked like, you know, dawn had broken you put out a statement saying that Republicans had, quote, finally relented," Karl said. "What did Democrats get out of this? Even if that passed, what did you get out of this this DHS shutdown’s going on for well over a month? What have you gotten for it?". Van Hollen said Democrats wanted to fully fund TSA, and in turn, get rid of the long lines at airports. However, he said, ICE is a "lawless operation," and said the Democrats wanted reforms. "I guess what’s confusing here is you have fought and blocked the funding for the Department of Homeland Security because you object — as you just outlined — to what ICE has been doing, and you wanted to force changes," Karl said during an interview with Van Hollen. "And yet, the only thing that has been assured throughout all of this is that ICE already has the money. Because as you said, $75 billion passed in the budget bill last year. So you’re holding up the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security because you object to ICE and you want changes to ICE, but through it all, ICE continues to have the money.". Van Hollen accused Karl of making a "false statement" in saying that they were holding up the DHS funding.

Daily Signal [3/29/2026 3:30 PM, Jason Cohen, 474K] reports ABC News anchor Jonathan Karl pressed Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen on Sunday over his party’s role in the ongoing partial government shutdown leaving the Department of Homeland Security largely without funding. Democrats have voted against funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of their opposition to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They are demanding new operational restrictions following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good in January. Karl suggested on "This Week" that Democrats’ refusal to fund DHS was causing unnecessary disruptions since ICE is partially funded. "I guess what’s confusing here is you have fought and blocked the funding for the Department of Homeland Security because you object, as you just outlined to what ICE has been doing, and you wanted to force changes," Karl said. "And yet, the only thing that has been assured throughout all of this is that ICE already has the money, because as you said, $75 billion passed in the budget bill last year. So you’re holding up the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security because you object to ICE and you want changes to ICE. But through it all, ICE continues to have the money it needs.". Van Hollen disputed Karl’s comments, calling it "a false statement" that his party was "holding up all of the money" for DHS. He asserted his party has continuously advocated for funding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Coast Guard. "We are not prepared to give ICE another $10 billion on top of the monies they already have and are using in many of these lawless operations," the senator said.

CBS News [3/29/2026 1:45 PM, Robert Costa, 51110K] reports President Trump’s decision to launch strikes against Iran has won support from most Senate Republicans, but Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is the lone exception. Paul, the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said Mr. Trump should not have acted without congressional approval and argues that the president isn’t allowed to begin any military action in the absence of that approval or an imminent attack. For the senator, this moment is testing whether the Republican-controlled Congress will assert itself — as one of the country’s founding fathers, James Madison, intended. "Madison said that we would give the legislature certain powers and the president certain powers. And as each tried to grasp for the power, they would check and balance each other," said Paul. "I don’t think our founders ever imagined our current Congress that is completely lacking in ambition. They don’t check the president.". As for checking Mr. Trump, Paul started doing that more than a decade ago, when they had competing White House bids leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Since then, the two have mostly patched things up. But the senator isn’t afraid to break with Mr. Trump, especially when he feels hawkish advisers are in the president’s ear. "I think he was misled by some of the more aggressive people," said Paul, adding that the president’s "basic instincts have been for less war.". Should the Iran war escalate and continue, Paul said the political and economic costs could be significant. "On the political landscape, I think the longer this goes on, the less likely Republicans are able to hold onto the House and Senate," said the senator, who believes congressional Republicans may face another reckoning soon, as the Trump administration requests $200 billion of additional funding for the war. Paul said he will not vote for the supplemental funding because he doesn’t want the war to continue. The Pentagon has not specifically responded to the news of how Paul has decided to vote. Closer to home, the partial government shutdown continues over fully funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, snarling air travel and causing Transportation Security Administration workers to go for more than a month without pay. Making things even trickier on the homeland front is Paul’s testy relationship with Mr. Trump’s new pick to run DHS, Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Paul opposed the nomination over Mullin’s character and response to a 2017 incident where Paul was assaulted. Mullin addressed the conflict with Paul in his opening statement after being sworn in as secretary, saying he "won’t back down from a challenge" and will also admit when he’s wrong.

FOX News [3/29/2026 1:28 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., criticizes the Senate’s leadership for passing rival funding bills and failing to adequately fund key agencies, exacerbating the impact on federal employees and the traveling public. DHS shutdown causes major airport delays and travel frustrations, with Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) criticizing Senate leadership and raising concerns about FISA Section 702. TSA union representative Johnny Jones highlights the severe financial hardship and mental fatigue faced by unpaid officers, including record callout rates of over 44% at some airports. The discussion covers government funding impasses and national security implications. The Hill [3/29/2026 4:25 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K] reports Burchett called the package a “huge mistake” and said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) should have been informed about the legislation sooner. “Obviously, the leadership in the Senate, and that’s on both sides of the aisle, has a real disgust for this president and House leadership because they didn’t even have the guts to call Mike Johnson and let them know what happened,” Burchett said during an appearance on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing.” “The whole deal of, you know, the stereotype of Congress is, and it’s well deserved, is that we pass stuff in the dark of night because we don’t have any guts. And that’s clearly what’s shown in the Senate leadership. I think they need to get some new leadership over there, in my opinion,” he added. Burchett isn’t the only House Republican to slam Senate GOP leaders over the deal made early Friday morning to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other agencies housed under DHS.

FOX News [3/29/2026 9:00 AM, Leo Briceno, 37576K] reports amid a funding standoff that went into overtime on Friday, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is stressing the need for lawmakers to end travel delays and support the country’s weakened airport security as he warns that security preparations are "significantly behind" for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup. "I could never justify this from the start, but here we are day 39, 40? It’s like, how long are you gonna continue that?" Fetterman told Fox News Digital this past week. Fetterman raised concerns that the shutdown — the second for TSA workers in just three months — has wreaked havoc on the country’s transportation security workforce that won’t be easily undone ahead of high-profile U.S.-based events. "Preparations are significantly behind and now we’re 77 days out and this is still shut down.," Fetterman said, referring to the World Cup. "And you have millions of people from abroad coming and millions of Americans joining these two.". Fetterman’s comments come as the Senate advanced most of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) funding in the early hours of Friday morning. Their bill looked to supply the many agencies that operate under DHS, such as the Secret Service, the Coast Guard, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), TSA and more, but exclude funding for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Funding for DHS first ran dry on Feb. 14, when Democrats made their support for the agency conditional on a set of reforms to rein in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The Senate’s bill didn’t include any of the Democrats’ reforms, but also didn’t include funding for ICE, either. That proposal ran into fierce resistance in the House of Representatives, where even House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., blasted the attempted resolution. As lawmakers continue the back-and-forth over the ICE funding standoff, spokespersons from DHS also echoed Fetterman’s calls to restore travel operations, slamming the compounding effects of the repeated shutdowns. "Now, 366 TSA officers have left the force. Because of this DHS shutdown, Americans are facing HOURS long waits at airports across the country. Democrats must reopen DHS now," Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the agency said in a press release. Although Trump signed an executive order on Friday that looks to fund the salaries of TSA workers, the agency also noted that even with the resolution to the shutdown looking hopeful, the country’s travel security would take time to recover. "TSA does not have the luxury of time. The FIFA World Cup is kicking off on June 11 – less than three months away. We are anticipating a significant influx in passenger volume as fans travel through our airports to see the games," DHS said in a press release. "Even if TSA were to hire new officers upon the conclusion of the DHS shutdown, those officers would not be able to work on the checkpoint until well after the World Cup has concluded.".

Washington Times [3/29/2026 6:01 PM, Lindsey McPherson, 1323K] reports the continued shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday surpasses the record 43-day governmentwide shutdown this fall. The Senate approved a plan to end the six-week shutdown before it set another record, but House Republicans objected and offered an alternative with no path to becoming law. With Congress at a stalemate again, lawmakers left Washington for the Easter and Passover holidays and are not set to return until the week of April 13. That means the shutdown will drag on for at least a couple of more weeks while tens of thousands of Homeland Security Department employees continue working without pay and nonessential department functions remain paused. The record airport security wait times caused by Transportation Security Administration agents calling out of work are likely to dissipate after President Trump signed an executive order Friday ordering the department to find another source of funding to pay them. TSA agents are expected to start receiving paychecks early this week. Democrats are unwilling to fully fund the department without major changes to immigration enforcement policies that they say are needed after federal agents killed two U.S. citizen protesters in Minneapolis early this year. Weeks of bipartisan negotiations have not yielded a result, so Senate Republicans reluctantly agreed to pass a bill that funds the entire department except U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol. That measure fully funded eight of the department’s 10 agencies, including TSA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Secret Service. It also funded the customs functions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “Since Democrats have made fiscal year 2026 the year they choose to repudiate one of their most basic responsibilities as members of Congress, to fund the government, this is what we have been reduced to,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican. House Republicans deemed the partial funding bill unacceptable and instead passed an eight-week stopgap bill to fund the entire department. “These are dangerous times in America. This is not the time to defund the police, to defund the Department of Homeland Security, at any level,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican. Rep. James McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat, called that nonsense, given that Republicans approved $170 billion in multiyear funding for immigration enforcement in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act over the summer. Those funds have allowed Mr. Trump to continue his mass deportation agenda during the shutdown, and for ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents to be paid. “Stop the misinformation that somehow ICE is not being funded,” Mr. McGovern said.

The Hill [3/29/2026 1:56 PM, Tara Suter, 18170K] reports House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Sunday that some senators “expressed buyer’s remorse” over a Senate bill to fund only part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) amid a shutdown of the department. “Well, we actually read their bill, and, frankly, a number of senators have expressed buyer’s remorse with what they did at three in the morning. So, we looked at it,” Scalise told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.” “One of the things that we had real concerns with is it actually defunds over 25 percent of the baseline operations of the Department of Homeland Security. Twenty-five percent. At a time when we’re at a heightened threat level,” Scalise added. “And so, we’ve passed now four bills out of the House to fully fund the department. The one that we sent after the Senate sent over their weak offer, we sent a bill that was short term. It’s not exactly what we want. But at least it allows everybody to get paid.” On Friday, the House passed a Republican bill to fund DHS fully for eight weeks. The move followed GOP leaders’ rejection of a bill passed by the Senate that excluded funding for immigration enforcement.

Washington Examiner [3/29/2026 3:38 PM, Asher Notheis, 1147K] reports Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said Democrats are "demanding" multiple "absurd" requests in the reform for the Department of Homeland Security. The House of Representatives rejected a Senate deal to reopen DHS as it continues its weekslong shutdown, pushing to fund all of DHS through May 22. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said the Democratic caucus "held the line" with this deal, which doesn’t fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or border security operations through Customs and Border Protection. Lankford vented about how "difficult" it is to work with Democrats who don’t want to fund ICE, and said this new deal doesn’t provide any new funding for ICE and CBP. He said Senate Republicans "pre-funded" both agencies for the next three years under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025 to avoid future funding fights on border security. "What Democrats were asking for for ICE and CBP on their quote-unquote reforms were absolutely absurd," Lankford said on NBC’s Meet the Press. "They asked for things, for instance, like ICE could not be at polling places. Well, if you’re not legally present, you shouldn’t be voting in America, but Democrats were demanding that ICE agents would not go to a polling place.". "They were demanding body-worn cameras, which we were fine with and said, ‘Yes, absolutely, let’s add funding for body worn cameras.’ Then they brought back language and said, "Well, the body-worn cameras can only be the footage – can only be used to prosecute agents. They can’t be used to prosecute anyone else on the film, that is anyone else that would actually be not legally be present in the country.’". Lankford added that Republicans want to reopen DHS amid this "very frustrating negotiation." Meet the Press anchor Kristen Welker noted that the Senate vote on this deal "was unanimous," and said it seems Republicans aren’t "on the same page.". Welker then asked Lankford about the strain airport security is facing amid this shutdown, amid the war in Iran, and whether it is safe to travel at this time. The senator assured Welker that it is safe to travel, saying "a lot of great patriots" are working unpaid as they "protect the nation.". Lankford added that cybersecurity professionals are needed, but they’re "not being funded" at the time, calling for Congress to rectify this. Trump announced Thursday that he will sign an executive order to pay thousands of Transportation Security Administration workers as the DHS shutdown continues. Border czar Tom Homan said TSA officers could be paid as early as Monday.

FOX News [3/29/2026 7:58 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, accuses Democrats of weaponizing the government shutdown by refusing to fund DHS, jeopardizing national security and causing airport chaos, on ‘The Big Weekend Show.’

New York Times [3/29/2026 8:00 AM, Alan Feuer, Nick Corasaniti and Alexandra Berzon, 330K] reports that, when President Trump sought to overturn his loss in the 2020 election and remain in power, resistance from within his own government helped to stop him. Top Justice Department officials rejected his specious claims that the vote had been marred by widespread fraud. Senior officials at the Department of Homeland Security refused to go along with his outlandish efforts to seize voting machines. Cybersecurity experts praised the count as secure, and the intelligence community sidestepped his requests to declare that foreign nations had interfered in the results. But Mr. Trump’s second term looks very different. The president has filled his administration with people who are sympathetic to his baseless claims that the presidential race more than five years ago was stolen. These officials have been put into positions across the federal government, at the White House and in agencies where they could play a role in undermining the midterm elections and the 2028 presidential cycle. At the same time, Mr. Trump has maintained allies in Congress and in state governments who could wield significant power over the process of counting votes and the seating of members of the House. Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, sidestepped questions about Mr. Trump’s personnel decisions and instead asserted that he was “committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.” She pointed to the president’s efforts to have Congress pass legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to vote, prohibit mail-in ballots and bar the practice of ballot harvesting — having one person turn in mail ballots for several others. “The vast majority of Americans support President Trump’s common-sense election integrity agenda,” Ms. Jackson said. Officials from the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the agencies were focused on keeping elections safe and secure, and were working to carry out the president’s policies on elections. The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. With Mr. Trump consistently seeking to sow doubts about the integrity of elections, the number of election deniers he has installed across the administration means he would face fewer checks on any efforts to undermine an outcome he did not like, and could more easily amplify baseless claims of fraud.

Breitbart [3/29/2026 11:45 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports participants in the thousands of No Kings demonstrations across the United States said they came out to protest President Donald Trump for his crackdown on immigration, his decision to go to war in Iran, and even his decisions to put his name on federal property and money. The organizers behind the No Kings movement estimated that about 8 million people turned out for Saturday’s protests, which took place across at least 3,000 individual locations in every single congressional district in the country. The New York Times reported, though, that the estimate could be off because organizers’ figures in some cases were higher than those reported by local public safety officials. The marquee event at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul drew more than 200,000, people, organizers said. Among them were Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda and Gov. Tim Walz. Rocker Bruce Springsteen performed his original song, "Streets of Minneapolis, inspired by civilian deaths at the hands of federal immigration officials during an enforcement crackdown earlier this year. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that the St. Paul demonstration had a dual purpose — condemning the Trump administration while also celebrating the those in the state who stood against the federal immigration enforcement surge. Speaking at the St. Paul event, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison called on attendees to "look past Trump and into the society we dream about.". "Every right we fought for and won is under attack right now," he said. "In part, we got ourselves into this mess because of an election, and we’re going to get out of this mess with an election.". At the University of Iowa, organizers Katy Gates told The Times many college-age attendees were inspired to protest in response to the war in Iran. Trump authorized attacks on Iran in conjunction with Israel beginning Feb. 28. Some have taken issue with the now-monthlong involvement in a war without congressional approval.

FOX News [3/29/2026 8:00 PM, CJ Womack, 37576K] reports "No Kings" protesters gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, rewriting a familiar American hymn to include a "thy immigrant" verse, as tensions over immigration enforcement and a prolonged government shutdown continued to escalate. During the rally in D.C. protesters can be seen singing "America the Beautiful," and adding additional lines such as: "For beautiful, thy immigrant / Who hail from every land / By grace and work and diligence / Like gifts from God’s own hands… America, America… To greet the poor, / And reach the shore / With open arms again," according to video captured at the scene by reporter Brecca Stoll with "The Daily Wire.". The protest marked the third nationwide "No Kings" demonstration since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. The D.C. rally was one of many around the nation. An estimated crowd of thousands was seen Saturday outside the Lincoln Memorial during a march in the nation’s capital — numbers similar to "No Kings" protests across the U.S. "No Kings" says on its website that "As President Trump escalates his attempts to control us, it is on us, the people, to show that we will fight to protect one another and our country.". The movement provided protesters a highly-structured document for organizers titled "March 28 Toolkit," instructing viewers on how to recruit their own speakers, delegate roles, register their event and use "No Kings" branded media materials. It also laid out best practices for logistics, as well as how to avoid permitting and insurance requirements for event-holders. The demonstrations come as scrutiny intensifies over ICE operations, particularly following two January 2026 incidents in Minneapolis. Residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed in separate encounters involving federal immigration agents, fueling criticism from activists and lawmakers. Their deaths prompted administrative changes, with border czar Tom Homan stepping in to oversee operations in Minneapolis and ending the ICE operation there. Border patrol commander-at-large Greg Bovino was reassigned and later retired, while former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was replaced by former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin. The broader dispute has also been tied to the ongoing partial government shutdown, which has disrupted travel nationwide. Unpaid TSA agents have skipped shifts, contributing to long airport lines during peak travel periods. Homan maintained that ICE personnel had helped stabilize conditions, arguing their presence reduced delays, while continuing to press lawmakers to restore funding.

Daily Signal [3/29/2026 1:15 PM, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, 474K] reports police arrested dozens during "No Kings" protests around the country on Saturday, including 70 in Los Angeles, California. According to organizers, eight million people took to the streets of American cities Saturday in a show of opposition President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and the Iran war. "Multiple demonstrators" failed to disperse at the Los Angeles rally and were taken into custody. More than 70 were arrested by the end of the night, the Los Angeles Times reported. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced that federal agents have "started arresting those who assaulted our personnel at the Los Angeles courthouse.". "To those who were smashing concrete blocks and throwing them at our officers, we have you on video," Essayli’s wrote. "We will find you and arrest you too. You’ve been warned.". Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported seven arrests were made in downtown Las Vegas for charges including throwing rocks, battery against protestors, refusing to remove a prohibited item, and four counts of pedestrian in roadway. Police arrested David Cox, 54, on accusations of traveling to New York City with plans to harm federal agents during the "No Kings" protest there.

Daily Caller [3/29/2026 12:02 PM, Mark Tanos, 803K] reports "No Kings" protests descended into chaos across multiple cities as demonstrators attacked federal officers and a faction in New York City openly called for communist revolution Saturday. Tens of thousands filled Manhattan streets. Near Times Square, a group waving red hammer-and-sickle flags chanted "there is only one solution, communist revolution," the New York Post reported. Actor Robert De Niro and New York Attorney General Letitia James attended the demonstrations. The NYPD reported zero protest-related arrests. Independent journalist Oliya Scootercaster captured the communist chants on video and posted the footage to X. In Los Angeles, the Department of Homeland Security said roughly 1,000 agitators encircled the Roybal Federal Building and pelted officers with rocks, bottles and concrete blocks, Fox News Digital reported. Two DHS officers required medical attention, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned that anyone who assaulted law enforcement would face federal felony charges. Saturday was the third No Kings mobilization since June 2025. An investigation from Fox News Digital identified a network of roughly 500 organizations, including communist and socialist groups, that helped coordinate the protests. The Communist Party USA and the Democratic Socialists of America sit among the coalition’s official partners as previously reported. Both groups have praised authoritarian governments abroad. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson dismissed the demonstrations as "Trump derangement therapy sessions.".

Chicago Tribune [3/29/2026 3:38 PM, Gloria Casas, 5209K] reports No Kings Day protests Saturday drew thousands of Elgin-area people carrying signs, chanting slogans and generating an endless stream of car honks in opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration. In downtown Elgin, a crowd stretched from North Grove Avenue to Foundry Park on Route 31 and a similar event brought out hundreds gathered on Randall Road in South Elgin. They were among about 3,300 protests held nationally. Cheryl Wilkins, wearing a a paper crown with a red slash mark across the top, said she was compelled to attend because of “the injustice, the sleaze, the evil. … Evil. That’s not a word I say often.” Lewis Wilkins, her son and one of the Elgin event organizers, said he believed that protests can elicit change if enough people participate. “The academic research shows protests are extremely impactful,” Wilkins said. “If people just want to come meet their neighbor, get some sunshine and get creative with signs, that’s great. But at the same time, this is how communities form.” And communities are the bedrock of democracy, he said.

AP [3/29/2026 3:59 PM, John Raby, 35287K] reports authorities in Los Angeles deployed tear gas near a federal detention center and made dozens of arrests following one of thousands of "No Kings" rallies held this weekend across the United States and in Europe to protest President Donald Trump’s actions and the war in Iran. Los Angeles police said Sunday that 74 people were arrested for failing to heed a dispersal order that was given after Saturday’s rally ended. One other person was taken into custody on suspicion of possessing a weapon that police described as a dagger. The arrests stood out from what otherwise were mostly peaceful protests. Organizers said there were more than 3,100 events registered in all 50 U.S. states. As hundreds of protesters surrounded a federal complex in downtown Los Angeles, some threw rocks, bottles and broken concrete blocks at officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement late Saturday night. Two officers who were struck by concrete blocks sustained undetermined injuries and received medical attention, DHS said. Andre Andrews Jr., a Navy veteran and independent journalist, had walked the entire route of the Los Angeles rally and captured video of the event. He said after authorities gave the dispersal order, they deployed tear-gas canisters when protesters didn’t comply. Some protesters wearing shields and gas masks on the other side of a fence at the federal complex picked up the canisters and tossed them back at police. Andrews said some people also smashed concrete barriers into smaller pieces and threw them at authorities. "Does it make L.A. look bad? No. They’re bad actors causing problems, for sure," Andrews said. "The peaceful protest was good for the cause. You have the right to do that. But the other people, they were definitely causing problems.".

New York Post [3/29/2026 1:31 PM, Zain Khan, 40934K] reports a video shows protesters throwing cement bricks at cops on Saturday during the "No Kings" rally in Los Angeles. The video — shared by Andy Ngo, a conservative media influencer — shows two men wearing masks, one of whom was carrying the flag of Mexico, breaking a large cement pole into smaller pieces and hurling it at LAPD officers who were controlling the crowd in front of the detention center near the federal building. The unrest in Los Angeles was part of a series of nationwide demonstrations. The LAPD issued a citywide tactical alert at 5 p.m. due to "incidents occurring on Alameda between Aliso and Temple," near the federal Metropolitan Detention Center. About 200 people headed to the site to taunt officers, violently shaking metal gates set up to protect the complex and shouting profanities at officers. Videos from the scene in Los Angeles also showed protesters waving Palestinian and other flags while throwing objects toward Department of Homeland Security agents. DHS personnel deployed tear gas as LAPD officers in riot gear arrived to control the situation. Protesters resisted arrests, creating chaotic scenes in the streets outside the detention center. Police arrested 70 people in relation to the protests yesterday. It is unclear if the duo in the video were among those arrested. LAPD also reported that rocks were thrown at officers, leaving several with minor injuries while taking people into custody. As of Sunday morning, no updates on charges or identifications have been released. Los Angeles police said they are still working to confirm the total number of arrests. Organizers behind the nationwide "No Kings" movement are claiming a massive turnout, calling Saturday the "largest single-day nonviolent protest in modern American history." They say at least 8 million people flooded more than 3,300 rallies spanning all 50 states.

FOX News [3/29/2026 6:45 PM, Greg Wehner, 37576K] reports the Department of Homeland Security on Sunday slammed a plea deal for a transgender illegal alien who admitted to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy in New York City, raising new questions about a case that may result in no additional jail time. DHS criticized the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office after reports that Nicol Alexandra Contreras-Suarez, a 31-year-old Colombian national, could receive a six-month sentence with credit for time served following a guilty plea in the case. "DISGRACEFUL plea deal offered to transgender criminal illegal CHILD RAPIST," DHS wrote on X. "The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has offered ‘Nicol Alexandra’ Contreras-Suarez…an insane SIX-MONTH plea deal in exchange for admitting to following a 14-year-old into the bathroom and RAPING him in February 2025. "Contreras-Suarez was let into our country by the Biden administration and then again released from jail following his arrests for armed robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, and prostitution," DHS continued. "This pervert should have NEVER been in our country. Under @POTUS Trump and Secretary Mullin, we will continue to put the safety of Americans first and fight to get criminal illegal aliens like this out of our communities to no longer prey on and victimize innocent children.". Last week, Contreras-Suarez pleaded guilty to second-degree rape after initially being charged with first-degree rape of a child under age 17 and stalking. At the time of the arrest, Contreras-Suarez was facing prostitution, robbery, and weapons charges in Massachusetts, DHS said. But due to sanctuary policies, DHS added, the suspect was subsequently released. According to DHS, Contreras-Suarez was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in March 2023 after illegally crossing the border near San Ysidro, California. Following the New York City arrest, then-DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin criticized the release, saying the suspect should not have been allowed to remain in the country and blaming federal immigration and local sanctuary policies. McLaughlin said at the time that ICE would seek to ensure the defendant could not continue to pose a threat to the public.

FOX News [3/29/2026 7:52 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports ‘The Big Weekend Show’ co-hosts discuss Vice President JD Vance saying Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., ‘definitely’ committed immigration fraud and an African nation’s calls for her extradition.

NPR [3/30/2026 4:42 AM, Angela Kocherga, 34837K] reports in El Paso, Texas, 911 calls reveal conditions in the nation’s largest immigration detention camp. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

The Hill [3/29/2026 1:00 PM, A. Scott Bolden, 18170K] reports President Trump is a con man who governs incompetently based on emotion, prejudice, self-interest, impulse, ignorance and lies. He has intentionally broken many of his campaign promises and gravely damaged America’s economic and national security. Trump faces few restraints. He has filled top posts in his administration with unqualified sycophants who say “yes, sir” to whatever he proposes, no matter how harmful to our country. Feckless Republican majorities in the House and Senate have abdicated their constitutional duty to act as a check and balance on his flagrant abuses of power. The president is guilty of malfeasance for breaking his campaign promise to make America more affordable, launching a war of choice against Iran despite his promise to end old wars and not start new ones, and carrying out mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants — falsely claiming many of them are violent criminals. In fact, a study found that such immigrants are arrested for violent and drug crimes at less than half the rate of people born in the U.S. Trump’s abysmal performance accounts for the fact that about 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing, according to the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls. On the economy, candidate Trump promised in 2024 to “end inflation” and quickly lower “the price of everything.” But inflation has continued at a rate of 2.4 percent from February 2025 to February this year, driven in part by gratuitous tariffs Trump imposed. And yes, this is his economy now — please stop blaming former President Joe Biden for problems Trump has caused.

USA Today [3/30/2026 4:02 AM, Dace Potas, 67103K] reports we’ve all seen the clips that have gone viral of Transportation Security Administration lines at airports stretching into baggage claims and parking decks, with some airline passengers having to wait hours just to get through security. The result is missed flights, This is all completely avoidable. The TSA’s funding has once again been caught in the crossfire of partisan differences on funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a partial government shutdown ongoing. We shouldn’t even be in this mess in the first place, because airport screening should not be performed by the government. There is no good reason why the TSA hasn’t been privatized. The agency is an inefficient, bureaucratic mess and has its funding subject to the whims of political fights extraneous to its mission. Privatization would both make the agency function better and insulate it from political fights. In a sense, American travel has been taken hostage. Democrats and Republicans are fighting over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, and Democrats are banking on travel disruptions raising the pressure on Republicans to make a deal. This is far from the first time this has happened. Nearly every time we get a government shutdown, strains on travel operations are one of the first pressure points that bring the parties closer to negotiations. I’m not here to litigate whether Democrats or Republicans are at fault for this, both because it doesn’t matter to my overall point and because they have each been on both sides of these fights historically. While the Senate has passed a compromise on Department of Homeland Security funding, the House appears unlikely to pass the legislation in its current form. Other solutions have included sending ICE agents to fill the void left by TSA staffing shortages or Trump signing an executive order to pay TSA staff (though his authority to do so is unclear). Neither gets to the actual problem itself, just stopgaps to control the political bleeding.

CNN’s State of the Union With Jake Tapper and Dana Bash [3/29/2026 12:19 PM, Staff, 892K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan, who just visited the Houston airport to monitor the very long security lines. Mr. Homan has also been involved in the talks on Capitol Hill to end the shutdown. President Trump now says that there is in fact a way to pay TSA workers possibly as soon as tomorrow. Can TSA agents expect a paycheck tomorrow? And when can Americans expect the long wait times to die down? "Well, as soon as Congress opens up the government and funds the Department of Homeland Security. That’s what needs to happen. But, yes, I talked to Secretary Markwayne Mullin yesterday. There is a plan to get these TSA agents pay hopefully by tomorrow or Tuesday. So, yes, it’s good news, because these TSA officers are struggling. They can’t feed their families or pay the rent. And your heart goes out to them, because they’re sitting there right now working very hard and not being paid, while members of Congress are now on vacation getting paid. It’s ridiculous." Homan comments.

CBS’ Face The Nation [3/29/2026 11:50 AM, Staff, 1292K] reports Congress is gone until mid-April. Will the president compel them to come back and sort this out? "Well, look, I hope so. I mean, they got to- they got to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Again, we’re talking about the Department of Homeland Security, and we’re in an increased threat posture right now because what’s going on in the world, we’ve got to keep this country safe, which means we got to we got to fund the members of the Coast Guard and, and CISA and- and Secret Service and all these other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security. I know the president found a way to pay TSA workers so we can get the American public through those lines and he also came up with the idea of sending ICE agents to the airport, which has had an impact. So we just need to get the department funded. They want to talk about, you know, immigration policies. We can talk about that. But, why do you got to hold the rest of the DHS hostage to do that? Let’s sit down and talk. I’ve been talking to them for the last two weeks. " Homan comments.

CBS’ Face The Nation [3/29/2026 11:50 AM, Staff, 1292K] reports back in January, those two Americans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot during immigration actions. Democrats point to that and say this is why they need to force change. The letter Homan signed has been seen, and in it he was very willing. Homan told lawmakers to expand the use of body cameras to limit enforcement activities at locations like schools and hospitals and require officers to identify themselves. So if he’s willing to make those changes, what’s the harm in legislating them? "The bill they’re holding up right now actually gives $120 million to buy more cameras. I’ve already talked to them. They want to, you know, talk about policy and legislative policy. Look, if they want to change the law, change the law. We’re enforcing laws they enacted." Homan states.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports House Republican Majority Leader Congressman Steve is asked a loaded question, Does he, at this point, have any concerns whatsoever with the direction of this war and what President Trump may be preparing to do next? "If you look at what President Trump has laid out in terms of the objectives, he’s been meeting them. He’s been very clear about what those objectives are. And I think the whole world knows that a nuclear armed Iran would have been a danger to the world. Just look at what Iran is doing right now. They’ve actually united, not only Israel, but all the other Arab nations around them against Iran, because of the danger that they pose. And so, President Trump’s doing something that, frankly, Republican and Democrat presidents before him have thought about, contemplating, but President Trump’s the one who had the guts to do what needed to be done to keep America and the rest of the world safe. And so, we’re going to get through this mission, but as you’re seeing it being carried out, Epic Fury has been successful in achieving its objectives." Scalise states.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports Steve Bannon, a prominent figure in the MAGA movement comments on his “WAR ROOM” PODCAST: "You have to be convinced that this is the right thing to do, particularly now that we’re on the eve of potentially the insertion of American combat troops. Your sons, daughters, granddaughters, grandsons could be on Kharg Island or be holding a beachhead down by the Strait of Hormuz." Representative Scalise colleague from Louisiana, John Kennedy, said that if the president’s going to make that decision, he needs to come to Congress first. Does Scalise agree with Kennedy? "The president’s already come to Congress. They’ve addressed -- number one, they’ve let all of the congressional leadership know in advance of the strikes, but they’ve also had briefings on Capitol Hill. Like I said, I was at one of those classified briefings with Republicans and Democrats, and they took questions from everybody. There were a lot of questions from people on both sides. And you’ll continue to see the president engage. There’s engagement with the White House right now on the possibility of a supplemental funding bill. No formal request has been made, but we’re having internal conversations as well. Members of Congress are having those discussions. So, there are no boots on the ground today, but we’re having a lot of conversations about what could happen next. But I think most people, most civilized people recognize a nuclear armed Iran is not an option that any of us want." Scalise states.

ABC’s This Week With George Stephanopoulos [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports Congress is on recess for two weeks. Homeland Security is not funded. Where is this going? "So the bottom line, as you just discussed with Steve Scalise, is that you had a bipartisan bill, Republicans and Democrats, passed the Senate that would immediately fully fund TSA, and by the way, FEMA and the Coast Guard, while we continue to negotiate reforms to ICE, a lawless ICE operation. And the Republican speaker of the House refused to even have a vote on that in the House and went home, as we have these big lines at airports. Now, President Trump has said he has the emergency authority to spend money for TSA. And the question I have is, why didn’t he use that 45 five days ago? And is he going to now use it?" Van Hollen comments.

FOX News Sunday [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., discusses Democrats’ opposition to funding DHS, the prospect of ground operations in Iran and more on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

FOX News Sunday [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., discusses GOP primary races in Texas and Kentucky and the ongoing fight in Congress over DHS funding as tensions rise amid the Iran conflict on ‘Fox News Sunday.’

FOX News Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo [3/29/2026 11:51 AM, Staff, 1717K] reports House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain discusses the House rejection of a Senate-passed bill that zeroed out funding for ICE and CBP.

Breitbart [3/29/2026 10:39 AM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union," Trump border czar Tom Homan said Democrats want to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from doing their job. Homan said, "President Trump wants the entire Department of Homeland Security funded. He wants the government open and funded. And look, I’ve been on Capitol Hill talking to both sides and bottom lines. They want changes in ICE tactics. They want changes, and policies look the same as the laws that ICE follows today. The same laws about immigration enforcement have been in place during the Clinton, Obama and now the laws hasn’t changed. And the things we’re talking about, I they want to prevent ICE from doing their job. They can say they don’t want to abolish ICE. I’m in the room. They want to change operations so we arrest less people.". He continued, "They’re holding the department hostage because they don’t like what ICE is doing and ICE enforcing the laws enacted. If they don’t like what ICE doing, then change the law. That’s your job.".

Daily Wire [3/29/2026 4:51 PM, Drew Berkemeyer, 2314K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responded after a large "No Kings" protest in downtown Los Angeles escalated Saturday, and demonstrators vandalized a federal building with threats against ICE agents, clashed with law enforcement, and sparked multiple arrests. "If you threaten ICE, or their families, you WILL face the full force of federal law," the response read. "Our courageous men and women face death threats, just like this, every day. Individuals making the threats will be held accountable.". Earlier in the afternoon, Leftist radicals had vandalized a federal building in Los Angeles on Saturday, scrawling the message "Kill your local ICE agent" alongside two crosshairs as thousands flooded downtown for a "No Kings" protest. The threatening graffiti came amid a day of demonstrations that drew tens of thousands into the city’s streets, with organizers estimating attendance as high as 50,000 at a rally held at Gloria Molina Grand Park outside City Hall. The Los Angeles Police Department placed the city on tactical alert around 5:30 local time and issued a dispersal order, warning demonstrators to leave the area near Alameda Street or face arrest. When multiple individuals refused to comply, officers began taking people into custody 30 minutes later. Federal officials also reported violence directed at law enforcement. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents had "started arresting those who assaulted our personnel at the Los Angeles courthouse," warning that suspects who hurled projectiles at officers had been captured on video. The Department of Homeland Security wrote in a post on X two federal officers were struck by cement blocks and required medical attention. Authorities confirmed that at least two individuals were arrested on felony charges for assaulting federal law enforcement.

NewsNation [3/29/2026 3:26 PM, Katelyn Quisenberry, 4464K] Video: HERE reports a Nashville reporter who was detained by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement is speaking out. Estefany Rodríguez Florez was taken by immigration enforcement officials earlier this month. She said her life changed on March 4 when immigration agents surrounded her Nashville Noticias news car as her husband parked it at the gym. Rodríguez’s attorneys claim the arrest was in retaliation for her reporting on ICE activity in the area. They added that she obtained a work visa after coming to the country legally on a tourist visa, applying for asylum, and receiving a work permit. Still, she was granted bond last week. Before Rodríguez was released last week, she said she witnessed “inhumane” conditions, like people being limited to no time outside and barely enough time to eat or interact at one facility. Rodríguez said that in her time under ICE custody, she worried for people with medical conditions. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Telemundo [3/29/2026 9:39 PM, Staff, 2524K] reports that, after 18 years in the U.S., Mireya was already at an airport in Oklahoma preparing to return to her home country when she was arrested. Her husband and two children were also detained at their home and taken to a facility in Texas. Experts advise using CBP Home to self-deport. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [3/29/2026 8:55 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51110K] reports the Trump administration is scaling back a crackdown on asylum that brought hundreds of thousands of immigration applications to a halt, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News. In late November, after the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., allegedly at the hands of an Afghan man who had been granted asylum in 2025, the Trump administration enacted a pause on asylum cases overseen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. One of those National Guard members died from her injuries. The unprecedented move, which the Trump administration argued was necessary to address national security concerns, amounted to an indefinite suspension of all asylum requests filed outside of immigration court, regardless of the applicant’s nationality. But the administration has decided to lift the asylum adjudication pause for most cases, except for those filed by nationals from countries affected by a travel ban or steep immigration restrictions stemming from a previous proclamation by President Trump, the DHS sources said, requesting anonymity to describe an internal plan that had not been formally announced. The asylum freeze will remain in place for immigrants from 39 nations whose citizens currently face full or partial entry restrictions under the "travel ban" proclamation, which Mr. Trump expanded in December. That list includes African countries like Senegal, Somalia and Nigeria; Asian nations like Afghanistan, Iran and Laos; and Latin American countries like Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela. In a statement to CBS News on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed "USCIS has lifted the adjudicative hold for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non high-risk countries.". "This move allows resources to focus on continued rigorous national security and public safety vetting for higher-risk cases," DHS said, adding that the administration’s "maximum screening and vetting for ALL aliens continues unabated.". The Trump administration has also frozen all other legal immigration applications filed by nationals of the 39 nations listed on the "travel ban," including requests for work permits, green cards and even American citizenship. That suspension, which was also enacted after the shooting of the National Guard soldiers in Washington, remains in place. The pause in asylum and other immigration cases is one of several policies the second Trump administration has rolled out to tighten the legal U.S. immigration system. The administration has also sought to restrict work permits for asylum-seekers and to reexamine the cases of legal refugees admitted under the Biden administration. Trump administration officials have said their policies are designed to combat immigration fraud and national security concerns, and bolster vetting procedures they believe became too lax under the Biden administration. Pro-immigration advocates, meanwhile, have accused the administration of punishing legal immigrants who are complying with immigration rules.

Washington Times [3/29/2026 5:33 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K] reports you don’t have to delve deeply into the U.S. Constitution to see the word “citizen.” The word first appears in Article I, Section 2, which states that to serve in the House of Representatives, a person must have been a citizen for seven years. “Citizen” appears 10 more times in the original seven articles that discuss the qualifications for office, legal disputes and rights. Yet nowhere does the Constitution define what a citizen is. In 1866, when Congress was debating the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing citizenship rights to former slaves, Sen. Edgar Cowan made that point: “I am really desirous to have a legal definition of ‘citizenship of the United States.’ What does it mean? What is its length and breadth?” Thus began a curious — and, to the modern ear, perhaps xenophobic — debate over categories of people whom senators wanted to include, or exclude, from the ranks of citizenship. The “Mongolians” — Chinese — in California. “Gypsies” in Pennsylvania. Some Indian tribes, such as the “Navajoe,” who at that time had been rounded up and force-marched to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. Some 160 years later, the Supreme Court will again leap into that debate during an oral argument Wednesday. The issue this time will be for the justices to decide whether children born on U.S. soil to illegal immigrant parents or foreigners in the country on only a temporary visitor’s visa fall under the 14th Amendment’s language, or whether President Trump can change more than a century’s worth of law and practice through an executive order. The sticking point is what the amendment means when it says citizenship is guaranteed to all people born in the U.S. and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” “Children of temporarily present or illegal aliens do not qualify because their parents are not domiciled in, and thus do not owe the requisite allegiance to, the United States,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the justices in his final brief in the case. “Temporarily present aliens are by definition not domiciled here, while illegal aliens lack the legal capacity to form such a domicile.” He said that was the understanding for much of the country’s history, expressed by justices before the Civil War, by some of the key lawmakers who crafted the 14th Amendment, and by the executive branch in the years after the amendment’s ratification. The problem for Mr. Sauer is that, for more than a century, the academic consensus has weighed heavily in the opposite direction.

Telemundo [3/29/2026 11:42 PM, Lawrence Hurley, 2524K] reports that, in a moment that could take on new significance almost 150 years later, Omaha election official Charles Wilkins refused on April 5, 1880, to register John Elk to vote, on the grounds that he was a Native American and therefore not a U.S. citizen. Elk —who is believed to have been a member of what is now known as the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska— objected, claiming that he had severed all ties with his tribe and voluntarily submitted to the authority of the United States. He filed a legal challenge, arguing, among other things, that he was a citizen by birth because he was born within the territory of the United States. However, the Supreme Court, in an 1884 case known as Elk v. Wilkins , ruled against him, determining that Native Americans born within U.S. territory did not possess citizenship by birthright. Their status was identical to that of "the children of subjects of any foreign government born within the dominion of such government," the court noted. The Trump administration is now invoking that case to defend its plan to end birthright citizenship, giving a new twist to the historical interpretation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on Wednesday. Trump’s executive order, issued on the first day of his second term, seeks to limit birthright citizenship only to people who have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. The order is not in effect; lower courts have suspended it. Attorney General John Sauer, representing the Government, referenced the Elk case in court documents, stating that the Supreme Court has "categorically rejected the premise that any person born on U.S. soil—regardless of circumstances—is automatically a citizen, as long as the federal government can regulate them." White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that this case gives the Supreme Court an opportunity to "restore the meaning of citizenship in the United States to its original public sense." The Trump Administration’s arguments regarding the relevance of the Elk ruling are strongly refuted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the entity leading the challenge to Trump’s executive order. "At a fundamental level, this case is about an attempt to strip the children of immigrants, who have always been U.S. citizens, of their citizenship. The Native American issues raised by the government are, in reality, irrelevant," said Cody Wofsy, an ACLU attorney, in an interview.

NPR [3/30/2026 5:00 AM, Domenico Montanaro, 34837K] reports the Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday on whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship. The decision, not expected for months, could reshape what had been a longtime, constitutionally enshrined practice that has been challenged by the Trump administration. Public opinion on the issue is complicated. Americans are heavily in favor of granting citizenship to children born to parents who were also born in the U.S. — or to those who immigrated to the U.S. legally. But they are split on — or much less in support of — automatic citizenship for children born to parents who immigrated illegally.

NPR [3/30/2026 4:42 AM, Jason DeRose and Michel Martin, 34837K] reports ahead of a Supreme Court case, U.S. Catholic bishops have filed a brief in support of birthright citizenship, arguing that its absence would "increase the susceptibility of children to statelessness." [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Washington Post [3/30/2026 5:01 AM, Justin Jouvenal, 24826K] reports Alexander Porter Morse, a Confederate officer during the Civil War and a Louisiana attorney, argued for legalized segregation in the landmark 1896 Supreme Court case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine and buttressed Jim Crow laws. He is again playing a key role in a monumental case to be argued before the justices Wednesday: The Trump administration has tapped Morse as an authority in its push to upend long-settled law that virtually everyone born in the United States is a citizen. Over a century ago, Morse was among a trio of thinkers who spearheaded a failed effort — steeped in anti-Black and anti-Chinese racism — to erase birthright citizenship. The Trump administration is reviving their arguments to make its case today, some legal scholars say. The administration is citing arguments “built on a racist foundation,” Justin Sadowsky, an attorney for the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA), wrote in a friend-of-the-court brief. Lucy Salyer, a University of New Hampshire history professor who has written on Morse and others, said she was struck that the Trump administration had chosen to elevate those figures and their ideas: “If you know the history and the broader context of what they were trying to achieve, it does ring alarm bells.” The case, which could redefine who is considered an American, centers on the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which grants citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

The Hill [3/29/2026 3:16 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K] reports Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Sunday said immigration policy could have been “more secure” during the Biden administration while weighing in on lawmakers’ current impasse on reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “The Biden administration did not do immigration enforcement the way it should have. We should have [had] the border more secure than it was,” Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, said during an appearance on Fox News’s “Fox News Sunday.” “But there’s plenty of room between that policy, between the radical-left policy you keep talking about, you know, open borders and all that. And having, you know, masked unidentified ICE agents show up. No probable cause,” he added. Citizens remain subject to a partial government shutdown over ICE funding and tactics, although the Senate approved a funding package for other agencies housed under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over the weekend. House Republicans rejected the bill and countered with an eight-week funding package that would fully fund DHS. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the bill is “dead on arrival” in the upper chamber.

NewsMax [3/29/2026 1:19 PM, Jim Thomas, 3760K] reports U.S. officials have expressed mounting concern over the potential for Iranian "sleeper cells" on American soil following the interception of about 1,500 Iranian nationals at the southern border during the prior administration. The unknown number of illegal immigrants who may have entered undetected has heightened worries amid recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran and fears of retaliation. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the New York Post that the figures are deeply concerning because authorities "have no idea how many people got around." He noted that about half of those intercepted were released into the country pending court proceedings. However, the documentary record is narrower than some of the rhetoric. Reuters reported on March 2 that a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment said Iran and its proxies "probably" posed a persistent threat of targeted attacks in the United States, while judging a large-scale physical attack unlikely and identifying cyber retaliation as the likeliest short-term risk. ABC News later reported that a federal alert reviewed by the network stated that encrypted transmissions believed to be of Iranian origin could be intended to activate "prepositioned sleeper assets" outside Iran, but the alert noted there was no operational threat tied to a specific location. Iran remains designated by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism, and its leadership has faced significant setbacks from airstrikes that destroyed parts of Tehran and other sites earlier this month. Hagerty referenced data showing 1,504 Iranian nationals apprehended at the border between fiscal years 2021 and 2024, with roughly 700 released into the U.S. while awaiting immigration hearings. A separate analysis citing Customs and Border Protection figures put encounters with Iranian nationals at about 1,650 from 2022 through 2025. Many reportedly traveled through Sao Paulo, Brazil, described as a hub for passport fraud.

ABC News [3/29/2026 4:39 PM, Emily Chang, Clara McMichael, and Bill Hutchinson, 34146K] reports some of the nation’s airports are still seeing long wait lines as Transportation Security Administration officers continued to call out sick over the weekend, despite President Donald Trump signing a presidential memorandum ordering the Department of Homeland Security to begin issuing paychecks. The TSA workers have been required to work without pay for the past 44 days due to an ongoing fight between Democrats and Republicans over the way immigration enforcement has been handled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. White House Border Czar Tom Homan said during an interview on CNN on Sunday that TSA officers’ paychecks will "hopefully" arrive by Monday or Tuesday. Despite the promised resumption of pay, many of the TSA officers who haven’t yet quit continue to call out sick, according to DHS officials. At least 10.27% of all scheduled TSA workers called out sick on Saturday, according to DHS. The airport with the highest number of TSA officers calling out sick on Saturday was Bush International Airport in Houston, where 38.3% of the officers scheduled to work didn’t show up, according to the DHS. The second-highest number of TSA officers calling out sick on Saturday was at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, where 36.8% of TSA officers were no-shows, according to DHS. More than 500 TSA officers have quit since the funding crisis began on Feb. 14, according to DHS. Trump signed a directive on Friday, instructing his newly sworn-in DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds "that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations" to pay the agency’s workforce. "TSA officers should begin seeing paychecks as early as Monday, March 30," the TSA said in a statement on Sunday. "TSA is grateful to the President and Secretary for their leadership to put money back into the pockets of TSA employees who worked without pay during the longest government shutdown in history.".

CBS News [3/29/2026 3:33 PM, Staff, 51110K] reports even after President Donald Trump ordered emergency pay for Transportation Security Administration agents to ease long security lines, major U.S. airports on Sunday were still urging travelers to arrive hours early — and federal immigration officers brought in to help may not be leaving anytime soon. Trump’s executive order on Friday instructed the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately, though it’s unclear how quickly travelers will see an impact. The move comes during a busy travel stretch, with spring breaks underway and Passover and Easter approaching. Tens of thousands of TSA employees have been working without pay since DHS funding lapsed on Valentine’s Day. The department’s shutdown reached 44 days on Sunday, eclipsing the record 43-day shutdown last fall that affected all of the federal government. Trump deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to some airports a week ago to help with security as TSA callouts rose nationwide — the same officers who may now remain in place if TSA staffing strains continue. Making the rounds on Sunday morning news shows, White House border czar Tom Homan said it depends on how many TSA employees would be returning to work after they start receiving their pay. "ICE is there to help our brothers and sisters in TSA. We’ll be there as long as they need us, until they get back to normal operations and feel like those airports are secure," he told CBS’ "Face the Nation.".

FOX News [3/29/2026 2:03 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports TSA agent and AFGE representative Johnny Jones discusses high TSA callout rates, the ongoing fight in Congress over DHS funding, and President Donald Trump’s deployment of ICE agents to airports on ‘The Sunday Briefing.’ Jacqui Heinrich highlights the severe repercussions of the DHS shutdown, as TSA agents at major U.S. airports miss paychecks, leading to record-high callout rates, with some locations seeing over 40% absenteeism. Johnny Jones, a TSA union representative, explains the immense financial hardship, including missed bill payments and damaged credit, faced by agents. He underscores that federal employees continue to work without pay due to their oath.

CBS News [3/29/2026 7:33 PM, Andy Bast and Sharyn Alfonsi, 51110K] Video: HERE reports it was a week of chaos at airports across the country. Gridlock in Washington left TSA workers without pay, triggering four-hour security lines in some of the nation’s busiest airports. Last Sunday a commercial jet crashed into a fire truck while landing on a runway at New York’s Laguardia airport. Dozens were injured and two pilots were killed. Authorities are investigating. But the air traffic controller on duty said they were dealing with an earlier emergency — and soon after the accident said "I messed up.". It is a chilling reminder of just how thin our aviation system is stretched. Last year, American Airlines flight 5342 and an Army helicopter collided over the Potomac River near D.C., the deadliest aviation disaster in almost a quarter century. Tonight, you will hear from an air traffic controller who was inside the tower the day of that collision. She tells us why controllers at Washington’s busiest airport have been warning of danger for years. It is a story of a system pushed to the breaking point, and the shattered families left to pick up the pieces. In southern Maryland, seven widows whose husbands were on Flight 5342 agreed to share their story, together, for the first time.

CNN [3/30/2026 5:02 AM, Staff, 19874K] reports TSA agents could be paid this week via Trump executive order. Professor of Government, Natasha Lindstaedt, joins CNN’s Brian Abel to weigh in. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [3/29/2026 5:08 PM, Ryan King, 40934K] reports a security scare at Palm Beach International Airport Sunday prompted the Air Force to scramble F-16 fighter jets and deploy flares — hours before Air Force One was slated to fly President Trump back to DC. Authorities imposed a ground stop at the airport as they rushed to confront the civilian aircraft. The White House said that the security scare took place after authorities lost communication with a general aviation plane. "The civilian aircraft violated the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) at approximately 1:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The aircraft was safely escorted out of the area by NORAD aircraft," the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service explained in a statement shared by the North American Aerospace Defense Command — which controls the airspace over the US and Canada. "The flares were used to draw attention from or communicate with the pilot. Flares are employed with the highest regard for safety, burn out quickly and completely, and pose no danger to people on the ground.". The White House and Secret Service said that neither Air Force One nor Trump was in danger. "A general aviation aircraft was briefly out of communication with the air traffic control tower at Palm Beach International Airport, but contact was ultimately established and the ground stop was lifted," a White House official told The Post.

Yahoo! News [3/29/2026 3:09 PM, Anna Ashcraft, 46783K] reports around a dozen migrants are in Border Patrol custody after the Coast Guard intercepted three separate boats off the coast of San Diego on Wednesday and Thursday, the Coast Guard announced on Friday. Just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, a Coast Guard crew from Station San Diego was sent to a suspicious boat that was seen about three miles offshore from San Diego. The Coast Guard crew said all eight people onboard the boat complied and all claimed Mexican nationality. They were transferred to Border Patrol custody. The Coast Guard on Thursday afternoon intercepted another boat off the San Diego coast carrying suspected migrants that was seen crossing north into U.S. waters. A Coast Guard cutter crew was redirected from a boat they were already boarding, the "Flying Fish," to the suspicious boat spotted named "Down Time.". The Coast Guard said the crew was able to intercept "Down Time" without force and found three suspected migrants aboard — two claimed Mexican nationality and one made separate claims of United States and Mexican nationality. Another Coast Guard boat crew was deployed to assist with the boarding and escort of the "Flying Fish" back to port, but while the boat was being escorted, the Coast Guard says the boat changed its course and started heading south, increasing speed to evade the Coast Guard boarding team. The Coast Guard crew used disabling fire to stop the engines and was able to gain control of the boat. Three migrants who all claimed Mexican nationality were found onboard the "Flying Fish.". The Coast Guard reports all migrants were transferred to Border Patrol custody.

New York Times [3/30/2026 3:27 AM, Jack Nicas and Eric Schmitt, 330K] reports the United States Coast Guard is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, delivering a critical supply of energy to the island nation after months of an effective oil blockade by the Trump administration, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter. The tanker, which is carrying an estimated 730,000 barrels of oil and is owned by the Russian government, was within several miles of Cuban territorial waters on Sunday evening, according to MarineTraffic, a ship-data provider. At its speed of 12 knots, it could reach its expected destination of Matanzas, Cuba, by Monday night. The Russian ship’s arrival would shift the trajectory of a rapidly accelerating crisis in Cuba, buying the island nation at least a few weeks before its fuel reserves run out, analysts said. It would also reduce pressure on a Cuban government facing a looming economic collapse and escalating threats from Washington, and show that, at least for now, the island can still depend on its longtime ally Russia. The Trump administration had been enforcing what amounted to an oil blockade around Cuba since January, threatening nations that had been sending fuel to the country and, in one case, escorting a tanker heading toward Cuba away from the island. The Coast Guard has two cutters in the region that could have attempted to intercept the Russian tanker. Yet the Trump administration did not order those vessels to act, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss operations. Barring orders instructing it otherwise, the Coast Guard planned to let the tanker reach Cuba as of Sunday afternoon, the official said. It was unclear why the White House did not issue orders to block the tanker or whether it would allow future Russian oil shipments to reach the island. The decision avoids a potential thorny confrontation with Russia just off the coast of Florida. Asked by reporters about this article on Air Force One Sunday evening, President Trump confirmed it. “We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, because they need — they have to survive,” he said. “I told them, if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that. Whether it’s Russia or not.” But he played down the benefit for Cuba. “It’s not going to have an impact — Cuba is finished,” he said. “They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership. And whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter.”

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [3/29/2026 10:15 PM, Karen DeYoung, Samantha Schmidt and Anthony Faiola, 24826K]

CNN [3/30/2026 12:00 AM, Danya Gainor, Chris Lau, 612K] reports President Donald Trump suggested Sunday that the United States will allow a Russian-flagged oil tanker to reach Cuba as the island faces a deepening energy crisis, a move that would break his administration’s fuel blockade. Washington has ratcheted up pressure on the communist-run island in recent months, cutting supplies from its main oil supplier Venezuela and threatening other providers with additional tariffs, as it billed Havana as "an extraordinary threat.". The effective oil blockade has caused blackouts and trash to pile up in the capital, with hospitals struggling to host patients and keep operating theaters open due to the energy crunch. The Anatoly Kolodkin, a Russian tanker with nearly 730,000 barrels of oil on board, was spotted off the coast of Cuba and could arrive in coming days, Jorge Piñón of the University of Texas Energy Institute told CNN. As of Sunday evening, the tanker was located in the waters off Cuba’s Holguín province, according to ship tracking site MarineTraffic. It showed the vessel could dock in Matanzas port, an oil logistic hub, as early as Tuesday. Speaking aboard Air Force One Sunday, Trump confirmed a tanker was heading towards the Caribbean country. "We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload, because they have to survive," he told reporters, when being asked about the vessel. "If a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem. I prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need," the president added. Cuba stopped receiving oil from Venezuela, its main supplier, after the United States captured President Nicolás Maduro in January. Shipments from other countries, such as Mexico, were later cut off after the Trump administration threatened to impose additional tariffs on countries that supplied crude directly or indirectly. The fuel shortage has increased the frequency and lengths of blackouts and led to severe gas shortages, soaring prices, and the deterioration of infrastructure in Cuba. In just the past month, the island has suffered several total power grid collapses that left Havana and other cities in the dark. The oil shortage has also affected public services and food transportation, prompting rare protests in some cities, with citizens banging pots and pans and lighting bonfires in the darkness. Last week, the Kremlin said it is in contact with the Cuban government to discuss possible aid options for the island, although it did not mention tankers with fuel en route to Cuba. On Sunday, Trump dismissed suggestions that letting the tanker through helps Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He loses one boatload of oil, that’s all it is," Trump said. "If he wants to do that, and if other countries want to do it, doesn’t bother me much.".

Washington Examiner [3/29/2026 10:23 PM, Zach LaChance, 1147K] reports President Donald Trump indicated that he has "no problem" with other countries sending oil to Cuba to help shore up its energy supply, seemingly confirming a report that the United States would allow a Russian oil tanker to circumvent the de facto oil blockade and dock in the Caribbean country. New York Times reported that the U.S. Coast Guard would let a sanctioned Russian tanker, dubbed the Anatoly Kolodkin, sail through and reach Cuba. The vessel, which is carrying 730,000 barrels of crude oil, could reach the country as soon as Monday night. "We have a tanker out there. We don’t mind having somebody get a boatload because they need, they have to survive," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday night. "I told them if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem, whether it’s Russia or not.". Trump was unconcerned about the move potentially helping Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has faced crippling oil sanctions over the war in Ukraine that have since been eased due to energy shortages brought about by the Iran war. "It doesn’t help him. He loses one boatload of oil. That’s all it is. It’s fine," he said. "If he wants to do that and if other countries want to do it, it doesn’t bother me much.". Trump ultimately predicted the oil shipment wouldn’t matter because Cuba’s "finished.". "They have a bad regime They have very bad and corrupt leadership, and whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter," he added. "I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and all of the other things that you need.". The comments show the Trump administration is, at least for now, easing its blockade on oil to Cuba. Trump previously imposed it in the wake of the U.S.’s capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, cutting off a key source of supply for the island. At the time, Trump also moved to financially punish countries selling oil to Cuba, threatening tariffs against any nations that did. Trump has been monitoring Cuba closely for months, even flirting with a U.S. takeover of the Caribbean country. On Sunday night, he told reporters Cuba would be "next" after the hostilities in Iran conclude. "Cuba’s a mess. It’s a failing country, and they’re going to be next. Within a short period of time, it’s going to fail and we will be there to help it out," Trump said. "We’ll be there to help our great Cuban Americans out who were thrown out of Cuba and, in many cases, their family members were mutilated and killed by Castro. Cuba’s going to be next.".

USA Today [3/29/2026 10:21 PM, Bart Jansen, 70643K] reports President Donald Trump on March 29 confirmed that he would allow a Russian tanker to supply Cuba despite the blockade against the island. The United States has blocked shipments from Venezuela, which supported Cuba before the U.S. removed its former leader, Nicolas Maduro. Ship-tracking data showed the sanctioned Russian-flagged tanker, Anatoly ⁠Kolodkin, was just off the eastern tip of Cuba and due to reach the port of Matanzas on March 30, Reuters reported, citing Cuban news site Cubadebate. "I told them if a country wants to send some oil into Cuba right now, I have no problem with that, whether it’s Russia or no," Trump told reporters March 29 aboard Air Force One. "Whether or not they get a boat of oil, it’s not going to matter. I’d prefer letting it in, whether it’s Russia or anybody else, because the people need heat and cooling and everything else.". The oil would provide relief to Cuba, which, according to President Miguel Diaz-Canel, has not received any oil imports for three months. The lack of oil led to strict rationing of gasoline and worsened an energy crisis that resulted in power outages across Cuba. New York Times, citing an unnamed U.S. official, reported on March 29 that the Coast Guard allowed the sanctioned Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba. Trump repeated his vow that Cuba would be next, which critics have worried could mean military action against the island nation after the military removal of Venezuela’s leader and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. By "next," Trump has said that could mean helping free it or "taking it.". "Cuba’s a mess," Trump said. "It’s a failing country. It’s going to fail. We’ll be there to help it out.". Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents immigrated from Cuba, have said the communist government must be overhauled or replaced for the country to thrive. "If other countries want to do that, it doesn’t bother me much. It’s not going to have an impact. Cuba is finished. They have a bad regime. They have very bad and corrupt leadership."

FOX News [3/29/2026 12:11 PM, Kurt Knutsson, 37576K] reports here’s the uncomfortable truth. If someone can break into the personal email of the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, your inbox is not off limits. Malicious actors targeted the personal email account of FBI Director Kash Patel, according to the FBI, and a group known as the Handala Hack Team in Iran has claimed responsibility for posting photos and documents online. No classified systems were breached. But that is not the point. The real story is this: the front lines of cyber warfare now run straight through personal accounts like yours. Hackers gained access to Patel’s personal email account, not any official FBI systems. The stolen material included photos, travel details and older messages that spanned more than a decade, with emails dating from around 2011 through 2022. The FBI said "malicious actors" targeted Patel’s personal email account but did not attribute the attack to a specific country. A group known as the Handala Hack Team, which operates out of Iran, has claimed responsibility for the breach. The Federal Bureau of Investigation says no government or classified data was compromised. The U.S. State Department is offering up to a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification of members of the Handala Hack Team. CyberGuy reached out to the FBI for comment, but did not receive a response before our deadline. A cybersecurity expert described the exposed material as a "personal junk drawer." That detail is what makes this incident hit close to home. Most people have one too. The threat is real and it is getting more sophisticated.

Breitbart [3/29/2026 7:49 PM, Staff, 2238K] reports a Russian oil tanker under US sanctions is due to arrive in Cuba by Tuesday despite a de facto American fuel blockade of the energy-starved island, according to shipping data. The Anatoly Kolodkin, which is carrying 730,000 barrels of crude, was off the eastern tip of Cuba on Sunday, according to shipping tracker MarineTraffic. The tanker, traveling at 12 knots, is now scheduled to arrive at the western port of Matanzas on Tuesday. It was previously forecast to arrive Monday. It would be the first shipment of oil to the island since January, bringing some temporary relief to a country of 9.6 million people that has endured a deepening energy and economic crisis. Communist-ruled Cuba lost its main regional ally and oil supplier in January when US forces captured Venezuela’s socialist leader Nicolas Maduro. US President Donald Trump subsequently threatened to impose tariffs on any country sending oil to Cuba and has mused about "taking" the island. He renewed his threats on Friday, saying "Cuba is next" at an investment forum in Miami. Jorge Pinon, an expert on Cuba’s energy sector at the University of Texas at Austin, said he was surprised the United States did not try to intercept the Russian tanker before it approached Cuba. "I think now the chances that the United States will try to stop her have basically disappeared," Pinon told AFP. Once the boat enters Cuban waters, he said, it "is almost impossible for the US government to stop it.". The New York Times, citing an unnamed US official briefed on the matter, said the US Coast Guard was allowing the tanker to reach Cuba.

New York Post [3/29/2026 7:03 PM, Ryan King, 40934K] reports Vice President JD Vance speculated that UFOs could actually be "demons" flying around Earth, contending that ancient civilizations believed they had encounters with such vile creatures. "I don’t think they’re aliens. I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a long discussion," Vance told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. "I mean, every great world religion, including Christianity, the one I believe in, as understood, there are weird things out there," he later added. "When I hear about [an] extra natural phenomenon, that’s where I go to: The Christian understanding that there’s a lot of good out there, but there’s also evil out there. "I think that one of the devil’s great tricks is to convince people he never existed.". Notably, right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson had conveyed similar beliefs about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) being demons rather than aliens. Carlson also claimed to have been attacked in the middle of the night by a demon and left with claw marks while sleeping next to his wife and dog. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, underscored his obsession with UAPs and vowed to "get to the bottom of it.". "When I came in, I was obsessed with the UFO files, and you start getting really busy worrying about the economy and national security, and things like that. But I’ve still got three years left as vice president," Vance. "I have not been able to spend enough time on this to really understand it, but I am going to. Trust me, I’m obsessed with this," he added. "I’m more curious than anybody, and I’ve got three years of the very tippy top of the classification.". The VP admitted that he wants to go explore Area 51, but hasn’t been able to yet due to scheduling concerns.

New York Times [3/30/2026 12:01 AM, Jeffrey Gettleman and Maya Tekeli, 148038K] reports that, last year, Denmark’s national broadcaster delivered a bombshell of a story: Three Americans with ties to President Trump, it reported, were running “covert influence operations” in Greenland, the Danish territory that Mr. Trump covets. Without naming the mysterious men, the report laid out in tantalizing detail how they had shuttled back and forth between the United States and Greenland, compiled lists of pro-American Greenlanders and tried to stoke a Greenlandic secessionist movement. Hours after the report aired, the Danish government summoned the top American diplomat in Copenhagen to protest. It turns out that the figures at the center of the mystery have not exactly been hiding. Their activities have been less cloak-and-dagger and more the quite open blend of business and foreign policy that defines the Trump administration’s approach to the world. Two of them acknowledged to New York Times that the Danish report most likely centered on them, and a person familiar with the matter said that Danish intelligence agents were indeed closely watching the two men. Both dismissed the suggestion that they were up to any skulduggery as nonsense. One, Drew Horn, is a former Green Beret with a far-fetched plan to build a gigantic data center off a remote fjord that will one day be connected to an electricity plant powered by glacial runoff in a climate-changed world. Another, Thomas Dans, is an Arctic adviser to Mr. Trump who has organized highly publicized trips for the president’s inner circle, including his eldest son. The third Trump ally who has been evangelizing for Mr. Trump in Greenland and who has caught the eye of Danish intelligence is, according to the person familiar with the matter, Chris Cox, the founder of an organization called Bikers for Trump. Mr. Cox is also a member of the Trump administration’s Homeland Security Advisory Council, a board that provides advice on security matters. He has blasted Denmark for mistreating Greenlanders and was featured last year on “60 Minutes.” He was traveling around Greenland, he said on the episode, “to try to make some friends.” He declined to speak with The Times. If the three have been running an influence campaign, it has been conducted in plain sight. They have all made public announcements about their attempts to further American interests in Greenland, sat for television interviews and appeared in countless social media posts.

CNN [3/30/2026 4:48 AM, Staff, 19874K] reports President Donald Trump said he believes Iran has already undergone “regime change” following recent strikes, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the US will “probably" make a deal with them. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Bloomberg [3/29/2026 10:18 PM, Hadriana Lowenkron, 18082K] reports President Donald Trump said that Iran “gave” the US most of the 15 demands it issued to Tehran to end the war, even as it remains unclear whether either side is negotiating. “They gave us most of the points. Why wouldn’t they?” he told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. “We’re going to be asking for a couple of other things.” He declined to specify what concessions Iran has offered. Publicly, Iran has rejected the US’s 15-point list of ceasefire terms delivered by the Trump administration via intermediaries in Pakistan, and has countered with five conditions of its own — including maintaining sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier Sunday, however, Trump said he wanted to seize Iran’s oil resources, a move that would mark a major escalation in the conflict. “To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘Why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. Taking Iran’s oil would require a risky military operation involving the invasion and occupation of its main export hub, Kharg Island, which also houses an Iranian naval base. Trump added that taking Kharg Island “would also mean we had to be there for a while.” The president has said the war would end “soon,” as the economic fallout risks spiraling into a political liability for his Republican Party ahead of the November midterm elections. The US has sent dissonant messages about the next stages of the war. Trump has pushed for ceasefire talks with Iran even as the military ramps up forces in the region. The president said Sunday that negotiations don’t preclude further military action. “We’re doing extremely well in that negotiation,” Trump said. “But you never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them, and then we always have to blow them up.”

Breitbart [3/30/2026 3:05 AM, Joshua Klein, 2238K] reports President Donald Trump is seriously weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium from Iran, insisting Tehran must surrender what he called the regime’s "nuclear dust" or face annihilation, according to a report published Sunday night. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump has not made a final decision, but remains open to a risky mission that could place American forces inside Iran for days or longer to secure material he has made clear Tehran cannot be allowed to keep. Trump reinforced that position hours later aboard Air Force One, warning that Iran must do what the United States demands or "they’re not going to have a country." Referring to the uranium, he added, "They’re going to give us the nuclear dust.". The report said Trump has encouraged advisers to press Iran to hand over the material as part of any settlement ending the conflict, while also discussing the possibility of taking it by force if Tehran refuses. Officials cited in the report said Trump has stopped short of publicly committing to such an operation, but has signaled privately that preventing Iran from retaining enriched uranium remains a central objective of the campaign. Even so, Trump continued Sunday night to signal he still sees a possible diplomatic off-ramp. He said the United States is "doing extremely well" in negotiations with Iran and indicated a deal could soon be reached, while cautioning, "You never know with Iran.". Still, the Journal reported any effort to seize the uranium militarily would rank among the most dangerous operations under consideration, with former U.S. military officials and nuclear experts warning the mission could trigger retaliation, prolong the conflict, and require combat troops, engineers, specialized transport teams, and makeshift airfield operations inside hostile territory. Teams would likely need to fly into heavily defended sites, secure the material under threat of Iranian missiles, drones, and ground fire, and transport it out under tightly controlled conditions — a complex operation that could take days or longer. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi has said he believes most of the uranium is located at two of the three sites struck by the United States and Israel last June — an underground tunnel complex at Isfahan and a cache at Natanz. Before those strikes, Iran was believed to possess more than 400 kilograms — roughly 880 pounds — of uranium enriched to 60 percent, along with nearly 200 kilograms of 20 percent fissile material. Experts have warned the 60 percent stockpile can be rapidly enriched to weapons-grade levels. The concern has been sharpened by failed diplomacy leading up to the current operation. President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said Iranian negotiators made clear during talks that Tehran would not relinquish its enrichment program, insisting it would not give up diplomatically what the United States could not take militarily. Witkoff added the Iranians also boasted about their enriched uranium stockpile and its potential weapons capability.

AP [3/30/2026 4:21 AM, Jon Gambrell and David Rising, 16072K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in hard-hit Kuwait, part of its campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states. As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as “a sign of respect.” At the same time, with 2,500 U.S. Marines now in the region and a similar sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Iran’s Kharg Island. “Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he told the Financial Times in an interview published early Monday. “We have a lot of options.” Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack. Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defenses. In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable. Israel’s military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze. In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south. Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group. Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about a global energy crisis. In early trading, the spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, was around $115, up nearly 60% from when the U.S. and Israel started the war with attacks on Iran on Feb. 28. As pressure has grown on Trump to bring an end to the conflict, the U.S. has presented Iran a 15-point plan that includes it agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. Iran, meantime, has produced a five-point plan with its own terms, including maintaining its sovereignty over the key waterway. Pakistan announced Sunday that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran, though there was no immediate word from Washington or Tehran, and it was unclear whether discussions on the monthlong war would be direct or indirect. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar the talks would be held “in the coming days.”

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