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 [3/6/2026 12:26 AM, Matthew Cullen, et al., 148038K] reports President Trump fired Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Thursday and announced plans to replace her with Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, concluding a long-building frustration with Ms. Noem that had come to a head this week with her grilling by Republicans at congressional hearings. Mr. Trump announced the change on social media, along with a new, and previously nonexistent, role for Ms. Noem inside the administration: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which he said would be a new security initiative for the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Trump is close with Mr. Mullin, a Republican, and speaks with him regularly. Mr. Mullin said that Ms. Noem had “done the best that she could do under the circumstances,” but that he hoped to learn from her tenure and “build off things that didn’t quite go as planned.” Mr. Trump said Ms. Noem would remain in her current role until March 31. She thanked him in her own social media post. The immediate catalyst for Ms. Noem’s firing appeared to be her answers during two congressional hearings this week, particularly her under-threat-of-perjury statements that Mr. Trump had approved of tens of millions of dollars of government ads in which she was prominently featured. Mr. Trump denied that to Reuters on Thursday, saying, “I never knew anything about it.” Mr. Trump was shown clips of her answers before a Senate panel and was angry that she blamed him for the contentious spots, according to a person with knowledge of what happened who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The ads were part of a $200 million-plus government-funded campaign that included a subcontractor run by the husband of Ms. Noem’s now-former spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin. The uproar over the ads came as recent Wall Street Journal articles detailed Ms. Noem’s spending decisions — on private jets, including one with a bedroom and only 18 seats that she said would be used for migrant flights — and an inspector general told Congress that she had “systematically obstructed” his office’s work. The National Review [3/5/2026 1:57 PM, Audrey Fahlberg, 109K] reports “I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected United States Senator from the Great State of Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), effective March 31, 2026,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland.’” Politico [3/5/2026 4:28 PM, Jordain Carney, Myah Ward and Eric Bazail-Eimil, 21784K] reports Trump added Noem will become a special envoy for the “our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday” at a summit with Latin American leaders on Saturday in Florida. “I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’” he continued. Trump’s post went out about 20 minutes before Noem began speaking at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Tennessee. Noem did not mention her change of title during prepared remarks. She did address her new role dealing with Western Hemisphere nations in a social media post later Thursday, saying, “I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.” She also hailed “historic accomplishments” under her leadership at DHS. Trump’s message indicated he intends to nominate Mullin to the Cabinet. It appeared the president wants him in that role by March 31, but it’s unclear if the Senate would act that quickly to confirm him. In a separate post, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt clarified that the administration “will work with the Senate to confirm the extraordinarily qualified Senator @MarkwayneMullin as the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security as quickly as possible.” “The president and I are good friends,” Mullin told reporters shortly after the announcement. “We look forward to working closer with the White House. Obviously, I’m gonna be over there a lot more.” Senior administration officials in the last few days had privately urged Trump to replace Noem, according to three Republicans with direct knowledge of the effort and a person close to the White House granted anonymity to disclose the private push. The secretary faced intense scrutiny and calls from some GOP lawmakers to resign over her management of the sprawling department — including her response to federal agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January. But the frustration inside the administration — brewing for months — stretched well beyond that, including concerns over how she used some DHS funding and her relationship with her special adviser Corey Lewandowski, who has played an outsize role at the agency.

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Politico [3/5/2026 5:05 PM, Jordain Carney, 21784K] reports that, in replacing ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Donald Trump is opting for one of the more reliable strategies to guarantee a quick Senate confirmation — nominating a senator. Trump’s choice of Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma sets up a relatively straightforward process, with some Senate Democrats already indicating they are open to voting for him. “We’ve been successful at whipping everybody the president has nominated, and I expect the same for Markwayne Mullin,” Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said Thursday. Senate Majority Leader John Thune separately told reporters that he wanted to move Mullin’s nomination “quickly.” Trump did not indicate in his Truth Social post when he would send Mullin’s nomination to the Senate, but said he would take over “effective March 31.” “He’s obviously pretty well-vetted around here, so hopefully we can get the process going,” Thune said. Mullin thanked Trump for the nomination in a statement Thursday and said, “I look forward to earning the support of my colleagues in the Senate and carrying out President Trump’s mission alongside the department’s many capable agencies and the thousands of patriots who keep us safe every day.” Noem was confirmed 59-34 by the Senate, but she lost the confidence of many of the lawmakers who voted to confirm her more than a year ago. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both called on her to step down after DHS agents killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and she labeled him a “domestic terrorist” without evidence. Both Tillis and Murkowski praised Mullin Thursday in the immediate wake of Trump’s announcement. “He’s a man of his word. I think he’ll go in, get experts in there, and prove to be an executive with the right kind of skills, and get things squared away quickly,” Tillis said, adding that the decision was good for Trump’s “legacy.” Tillis noted separately that Mullin “likes dogs,” an apparent reference to a story Noem included in her memoir about killing a misbehaving dog named Cricket. Murkowski said she had a “great deal of respect” for Mullin. “He has been a really good liaison between the Senate, actually the whole Congress, and the White House,” Murkowski said. “I’ve got strong respect for the guy, so I think he’ll do a good job.

CBS News [3/5/2026 6:33 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE reports Kristi Noem has been ousted as Homeland Security secretary with President Trump announcing that Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will be nominated to replace her. The change comes as the department faces a partial shutdown. CBS News’ Willie James Inman and Hunter Woodall report.

ABC News [3/5/2026 3:35 PM, Ivan Pereira, Oren Oppenheim, and Nathan Lee, 34146K] reports the spotlight is now on Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the Oklahoma lawmaker is poised to take over the Department of Homeland Security following Kristi Noem’s controversial tenure and firing on Thursday. Mullin, 48, has no law enforcement experience but has been a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s policies on immigration and law enforcement. Mullin will need to be confirmed by the Senate.

ABC News [3/5/2026 2:54 PM, Staff, 34146K] reports that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., shares his reaction to being named Department of Homeland Security secretary-designate. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [3/5/2026 6:22 PM, Madeleine Ngo, 148038K] reports President Trump fired Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary on Thursday and said he would seek to install Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, one of his close Republican allies, to the post instead. In a statement on Thursday, Mr. Mullin praised Mr. Trump’s border policies and said he looked forward to supporting the president’s mission to defend the homeland. Mr. Trump has said that he wants Mr. Mullin to start his new position at the end of the month. Senate Republicans have enough votes to confirm Mr. Mullin on their own, although it is unclear how quickly they will move. If confirmed, Mr. Mullin could be taking over the Homeland Security Department at a turbulent moment. The department’s funding lapsed nearly three weeks ago, meaning that many employees deemed “essential” are continuing to work without pay. That includes thousands of Transportation Security Administration officers who began receiving reduced paychecks last week.

FOX News [3/5/2026 6:00 PM, Peter Pinedo, Alex Miller, 37576K] reports Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin, President Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the embattled Department of Homeland Security, is a supporter of strict immigration enforcement who, in the last year, has proved invaluable in getting key pieces of the president’s agenda across the finish line. Lora Ries, a border security and immigration expert at the Heritage Foundation, predicted to Fox News Digital that Mullin will have a focused leadership approach as head of DHS. He said that his focus as DHS secretary will be to "keep the homeland secure."

Wall Street Journal [3/5/2026 4:59 PM, Victoria Albert, Alyssa Lukpat, and Jack Morphet, 646K] reports Markwayne Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma, will be the new head of the Department of Homeland Security, President Trump said Thursday. If confirmed, he will replace Kristi Noem, who has led the department in Trump’s second term. Here’s what to know about Trump’s pick to be the agency’s next leader. Mullin, 48 years old, is a longtime Republican lawmaker who has been a staunch supporter of the president and his agenda. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. In 2022, he was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Jim Inhofe. He has described himself as a successful businessman and working rancher who still lives on the Westville, Okla., ranch where he was raised. He is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation, and was the first tribal citizen to serve in the U.S. Senate in nearly two decades, according to his website. He is married and has six children. Mullin has been closely aligned with Trump and has a solidly conservative voting record. During talks last year between GOP lawmakers and the White House regarding Trump’s tax cuts, Mullin was a key negotiator between different factions fighting over the cap on state and local tax deductions. Mullin indicated his selection came suddenly. Speaking to reporters soon after the president’s announcement Thursday, Mullin said he and Trump still needed to talk and “get on the same page.” He said he found out about the new role “a little bit before you guys did.” The senator said the announcement was humbling, telling reporters he called his father and wife to share the news. He said he planned to call Noem, whom he described as a friend. “She was tasked to do a very difficult job, and I think she has performed the best she can do under the circumstances,” he said. His focus would be on keeping the country secure, he said.

Wall Street Journal [3/6/2026 12:05 AM, Lindsay Wise and Maggie Severns, 646K] reports President Trump’s pick to replace Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is a former MMA fighter who has spent years as a “Trump whisperer”—talking to the president, by his own account, “all the time.” Trump announced his plans to nominate Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R., Okla.) on Thursday as he pushed Noem out as leader of the department. In choosing Mullin, the president selected someone as pugnacious as Noem for the job, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and signaled he doesn’t plan to back off his signature immigration tactics. “Markwayne is a fighter, right? Literally and figuratively. And a proven fighter in the Senate, proven fighter in the House,” said Rep. Brian Mast (R., Fla.). “And I think that’s why the president chose him.” Mullin, 48 years old, has been a vehement defender of Trump’s border policies, and an outspoken advocate for the administration’s foreign policy and national-security agenda. He has also been a key go-between in talks between the White House and congressional Republicans, raising his profile in Trump’s second term. Still, most senators were blindsided by Trump’s decision to tap Mullin. Sen. Eric Schmitt (R., Mo.) said he found out about it during Senate Republicans’ closed-door lunch when a colleague flagged him down and showed him a post online. Schmitt said he then broke the news to the group. Mullin told reporters that he found out moments before they did. “I got to be honest, I wasn’t expecting the call today,” he said. Mullin said he is “super excited” to tackle the job. “There’s a lot of work we can do to get the Department of Homeland Security working, you know, working for the American people.”

Daily Caller [3/5/2026 7:19 PM, Mariane Angela, 803K] reports Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Thursday a new regional initiative aimed at strengthening security cooperation across the Americas. President Donald Trump’s administration is expanding its security partnerships across the Americas, with Rubio revealing a new initiative involving 13 countries. Rubio said he will work with departing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who will serve as special envoy for the newly created initiative. "I look forward to working with Kristi Noem as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas — our new security initiative comprised of 13 countries," Rubio wrote on X. "Kristi has achieved incredible results as Secretary of Homeland Security and will be a tremendous asset in our effort to promote security and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere." The news comes after Trump announced that Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will replace Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security on March 31. "The current Secretary, Kristi Noem, who has served us well, and has had numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!), will be moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida. I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The Hill [3/5/2026 2:09 PM, Staff, 18170K] reports that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is giving previously scheduled remarks in Nashville, Tenn., shortly after President Trump announced he was removing her from Department of Homeland Security leadership. Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said he will replace her at the department with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). Noem will be shifting to the role of special envoy for “The Shield of Americas,” according to the president, a new initiative for the Western Hemisphere. Trump thanked Noem for her service, stating the former South Dakota governor “has served us well.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [3/5/2026 3:36 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday she is looking forward to a new role overseeing a Western Hemisphere security initiative and touted her accomplishments after more than a year leading one of the toughest jobs in the Trump administration. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he was reassigning Noem as special envoy for the "Shield of the Americas," a new security program that Trump said will focus on improving security and cooperation across countries in the Western Hemisphere. He also announced that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., would be his pick to replace Noem. Trump wrote that details of the new security initiative will be unveiled Saturday.

USA Today [3/5/2026 5:09 PM, Kate Perez, 70643K] reports President Donald Trump ousted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem from her role on March 5, announcing on social media that she would be replaced and become special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, the president’s initiative for security against narcotics trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. Noem will be succeeded by Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, effective March 31. The former secretary’s job shift comes ahead of the "Shield of the Americas" Summit scheduled for March 7, a meeting between U.S. federal officials including Trump, as well as a dozen Latin American leaders in Florida. Information is limited on the Shield of the Americas and the role Noem might play in her new position, though Trump described it as a "security initiative" in his post announcing the job switch. According to the post, more information about the security initiative is set to be announced March 7 while at the Shield of the Americas Summit. It is unclear if Noem will be present at the summit. The Hill [3/5/2026 4:50 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 18170K] reports Trump’s Thursday announcement of her removal also comes as the country faces a partial government shutdown due to lawmakers’ refusal to fund the department until agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol get overhauled. While the soon-to-be former secretary will no longer head up immigration and other national security agencies under DHS, her work for “Shield of the Americas” will hit on similar topics, including immigrants in the country illegally, transnational trafficking and border crossings.

The Wall Street Journal [3/5/2026 7:01 PM, Josh Dawsey, Tarini Parti, and Michelle Hackman, 646K] reports for at least a week, President Trump told White House advisers that he was tired of the infighting and drama at the Department of Homeland Security and that he was planning to soon oust its leader. But after Secretary Kristi Noem’s congressional testimony Tuesday, Trump sped up his timeline, according to people familiar with his thinking. He was livid that she said under oath that he had signed off on spending $220 million in ads that promote herself, the people said. That evening, Noem’s top adviser Corey Lewandowski tried to calm the president down in a White House meeting, the people said, but the last-ditch effort to save Noem’s job failed. The meeting was short with Trump expressing his displeasure and ending the discussion quickly, the people said. Trump told advisers that same night that his decision was made. She needed to go, he said, and he began polling senators and aides about Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as a replacement. Noem becomes the first cabinet secretary to be fired by Trump in his second term. Her departure follows a tumultuous tenure that culminated in two high-profile killings of U.S. citizens by federal agents and a pair of congressional hearings that displayed bipartisan frustration with her leadership. Trump fired Noem in a phone call minutes before she took the stage in Nashville, Tenn., to deliver remarks on law enforcement and take questions, according to a person familiar with the call. In a social-media post, Trump said he was naming Noem as his new special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas,” a new security initiative expected to be formally launched by the administration in Florida this weekend. Noem thanked Trump for the new appointment. “In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security,” she wrote on social media. Thursday afternoon, Mullin told reporters on Capitol Hill that he found out the president was nominating him for the role only a “little before” it was public. The AP [3/5/2026 5:41 PM, Michelle L. Price, Rebecca Santana and Seung Min Kim, 3833K] reports that Noem, who appeared at a law enforcement event in Nashville, Tennessee, moments after Trump’s announcement, did not address her ouster there. She read from prepared remarks and was not asked by attendees about the development. Later, in a social media post, she thanked Trump for the new appointment and touted her accomplishments as secretary. “We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again,” she wrote. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration will work with the GOP-led Senate to get Mullin, whom she called “extraordinarily qualified,” confirmed to lead DHS “as soon as possible.” Noem is the first Cabinet secretary to leave during Trump’s second term. FOX News [3/5/2026 6:01 PM, Charles Creitz and Alex Miller, 37576K] reports that ,in her first official statement on X following her departure, Noem thanked Trump for her upcoming appointment. "Secretary [Marco] Rubio and Secretary of War [Pete Hegseth] are incredible leaders and I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren." "The western hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security. In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security. We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again: we delivered the MOST secure border in American history, 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S., we have located 145,000 children, FEMA delivered disaster relief at a 100% faster rate, we ushered in the golden age of travel, saved the American taxpayer $13 billion and revitalized the U.S. Coast Guard," she added. Trump said Mullin has done a "tremendous job" in Congress and cited his resume as a former undefeated MMA fighter. "As the only Native American in the Senate, Markwayne is a fantastic advocate for our incredible Tribal Communities. Markwayne will work tirelessly to Keep our Border Secure, Stop Migrant Crime, Murderers, and other Criminals from illegally entering our Country, End the Scourge of Illegal Drugs and, MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN," Trump said. Mullin is the first Native American senator in decades, following Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado. He appeared just as caught off guard by the announcement as the rest of Washington. After dashing to vote for DHS funding, which ultimately failed again, and then sneaking through the back of the Senate, he held court on the steps outside the upper chamber. When asked if he was headed to the White House to meet with Trump, he said he wasn’t sure.

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CBS News [3/5/2026 6:08 PM, Nicole Sganga, 51110K] reports the decision to replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary came together quickly, and the timing of President Trump’s announcement caught many across DHS off guard, even as tensions had been building for weeks between Noem and the White House, according to senior White House and DHS officials. Though many officials within DHS conceded that the writing was on the wall, the exact timing of the president’s Truth Social post announcing that he intended to replace her with Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma took DHS officials and the secretary herself by surprise. The post went up during her live remarks as the keynote speaker at Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference in Nashville, although just before she took the stage, the president briefly spoke with her by phone to inform her of his decision. Inside DHS, the president’s earlier decision to put border czar Tom Homan in charge of winding down the Minneapolis operation — effectively sidelining Noem — was widely viewed as an early sign of Trump’s dissatisfaction with her performance. Several officials said that in the weeks following the Minneapolis controversy, both Noem and Lewandowski had lost support from key figures inside the White House, even after they appealed directly to both the president and senior White House officials in an effort to salvage their standing. Other controversies compounded the pressure. Republican senators had also grown weary of some of the DHS secretary’s policymaking decisions. Mr. Trump said he plans to nominate Markwayne Mullin, the Republican senator from Oklahoma, to replace Noem. Administration officials described Mullin as an immigration hardliner who is viewed inside the White House as someone who can quickly execute the president’s enforcement agenda and restore some operational discipline to the department. While much of Noem’s leadership team is expected to stay in place for the immediate interim, it is widely assumed among DHS senior leadership that Lewandowski will be departing the department along with Noem. Mullin will still need to be confirmed by the Senate before taking the post, including a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Much of DHS’ current leadership is currently serving in an acting capacity, without Senate confirmation including the Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Karen Evans, senior official performing the duties of the administrator of FEMA; Nick Andersen, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; and Ha Nguyen McNeill, acting administrator of Transportation Security Administration. Noem’s last day on the job will be March 31, according to a department-wide message to staff obtained by CBS News. In her final note to DHS personnel, the secretary said that in her new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas, she "will be working alongside Secretary Rubio and Secretary Hegseth to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our country killing our children and grandchildren."

Daily Caller [3/5/2026 8:31 PM, Reagan Reese, 803K] reports outgoing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s final weeks on the job were tumultuous — and the White House wasn’t the only place where grievances piled up, insiders told the Daily Caller. Trump announced Thursday on Truth Social that he was replacing Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin and moving her to a new role as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. The shakeup followed a tense Senate hearing and a wave of press coverage about Noem’s alleged infidelity and her management of the department. "It wasn’t a matter of if, it was a matter of when," one source briefed on the situation told the Caller. One source briefed on the matter and one administration official told the Caller that Noem was pushed out because of what they described as "unfortunate leadership failures," including "the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE," the administration official said. The source briefed on the matter told the Caller that there were factions inside the White House that did not like Noem and Corey Lewandowski — a special government employee whom press reports have linked romantically to Noem. The tension, the source said, seemed to stem from the 2024 election, when Lewandowski tried to get Trump campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita fired. "There were major differences between the two groups," the source said. A second administration official pushed back on that characterization, saying Noem and Lewandowski’s relationship with the White House has always been "cordial and respectful.” Thank you @POTUS Trump for appointing me as the Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas. @SecRubio and @SecWar are incredible leaders and I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and… The second official said that at the end of last year, Noem told Trump and his White House that she was not getting the support she needed. Trump agreed and stepped in to help, the official said, and conditions improved — until Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. The DHS immigration crackdown drew protests and condemnation from Minnesota officials and involved two officer-involved shootings that left two Americans dead. Noem felt that she was thrown under the bus after the Minneapolis situation, the second administration official told the Caller. "It’s laughable that Kristi is trying to blame her own self-inflicted issues on someone else. The issues that led to Kristi’s replacement were a result of her own wrongdoings, not a lack of support from the White House," the first official asserted. Reports have pointed to Noem’s congressional hearings — where she said the president was aware of her $220 million DHS ad campaign — as the nail in the coffin.

CNN [3/6/2026 3:00 AM, Michael Williams, Priscilla Alvarez, Lauren Fox, Gabe Cohen, 19874K] reports that, after a year of controversies, Kristi Noem’s fate was sealed over just a few days. It started with a heads-up from the Hill. Sen. John Kennedy let the White House know Sunday that he was not going to go easy on the Homeland Security secretary when she appeared before the Judiciary Committee. The Louisiana Republican planned to pepper Noem with tough questions about her agency’s lavish spending on an advertising campaign that prominently showcased her. Before cameras and a packed audience Tuesday, Kennedy eased into his line of questioning. Properly vetting people at the southern border isn’t racist, right? Both Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are needed to do that, are they not? Noem responded in the affirmative. "OK," Kennedy said. "I just wanted to get my congratulations on the record.” He then delivered on his plan, unleashing a series of questions about the $220 million ad campaign and how that squared with Noem’s stated promise to root out waste from her agency. He had to ask more than once whether Trump approved that spending spree before Noem provided a direct answer: "Mmhmm, yes.” That response, it turned out, was the embattled Cabinet secretary’s final straw. Kennedy got a call from Trump later that evening. The president, Kennedy told CNN, "was pissed.” "Her version and the president’s version of whether the president, A) was informed and B) consented are decidedly different," Kennedy said. (Trump told NBC News Thursday that he hadn’t known about the advertising campaign. "I wasn’t thrilled with it," he said.). It was in that same conversation with Kennedy that Trump floated an idea for a replacement: What did he think about his colleague in the Senate, Oklahoma’s Markwayne Mullin? "I told him I’m very fond of Markwayne," Kennedy recalled of their conversation. Even if he didn’t like Mullin, a former mixed-martial arts fighter, he added: "I wouldn’t say otherwise because he’d whoop my ass.” By Thursday, Trump had ruminated with other allies on Capitol Hill about replacing Noem, finally selecting Mullin for the job and announcing it in a midday social media post before the senator could even talk to his wife about the opportunity. Minutes after Trump posted the news — including a new title for Noem as "Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas" — she was scheduled to step on a stage in Nashville to deliver preplanned remarks to a friendly audience of police officers at the Sergeant Benevolent Association Major Cities Conference. Noem learned of her firing as she was arriving at the Nashville event, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Two of the sources said Trump called Noem directly to inform her of his decision. Noem remained in the car for several minutes upon arrival at the conference, multiple local law enforcement officials present at the conference told CNN. She then got out of the car and went into the reception room where she met staffers who were present. While Noem was backstage waiting to give her speech, the news alert that she had been fired began to cross on staffers’ phones. Throughout her speech, Noem made no mention of her departure from the agency. In fact, some of her remarks indicated she had a forward-looking role at the department — though she did make some vague allusions to a new role Trump had selected her for focusing on drug trafficking. Noem sent a memo to employees Thursday afternoon, describing her role as the "honor of my life.”

New York Times [3/5/2026 9:24 PM, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz, 148038K] reports the display of a Rolex at a notorious prison in El Salvador. A self-promotional advertising campaign for mass deportations. The lingering story of the killing of her dog. Kristi Noem never appeared able — or particularly keen — to step out of the spotlight during her time leading the Department of Homeland Security. But even for a White House familiar with political crises, Ms. Noem’s streak of controversies, handling of government funding and flair for theatrics might have proved too much for President Trump. On Thursday, Mr. Trump announced on social media that he was firing Ms. Noem, and that he had selected Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, to replace her. The decision capped an embattled two-year arc for the former governor of South Dakota, in which she went from a contender for vice president to the first cabinet member to be ousted from Mr. Trump’s second stint in the White House. Under Ms. Noem’s leadership, the Department of Homeland Security made progress on some of Mr. Trump’s core campaign promises, including his effort to bring illegal crossings at the southern border to historic lows. “The American people and our posterity are better off today, tomorrow, and for generations to come because of Secretary Noem’s dedication to public service,” the department posted on social media Thursday. Ms. Noem wrote on X on Thursday that “we have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again.” But a number of episodes over the course of her tenure also prompted frustration among Mr. Trump’s allies and some White House officials.Ms. Noem appeared on the cusp of a major transformation. After Republicans suffered losses in the 2022 midterm elections, she told New York Times that she did not believe Mr. Trump offered “the best chance” for the party in 2024. But she then worked to gain favor with him, deploying the National Guard to the border and endorsing him before many other Republican governors. She was front and center in an ad promoting her cosmetic dental work that some saw as a move to catch Mr. Trump’s attention, even as it drew legal scrutiny. She was widely seen as a potential pick for vice president. But she drew criticism from a number of political figures when she defended a story in her autobiography in which she killed a family dog on her farm, to her daughter’s distress. Ms. Noem wrote that she had hoped to train the dog, Cricket, to hunt pheasant, but that she proved “untrainable” and “less than worthless” as a hunting dog. “I hated that dog,” Ms. Noem wrote. The Trump administration had just used a wartime law to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador. Ms. Noem wanted to see the facility for herself — and wanted to make sure her presence was noticed. Ms. Noem toured the prison, known for its harsh conditions, in a baseball cap emblazoned with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement logo. She also wore a gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona that sells for about $50,000. Ms. Noem filmed a video during the tour in front of rows of prisoners crowded tightly into bunks behind bars.

(B) NBC News Daily [3/5/2026 3:22 PM, Staff] reports President Trump is replacing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Trump made the announcement on Truth Social this morning, saying he is tapping Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin from Oklahoma to take on the new role. He still needs to be confirmed. Trump also mentioned that Noem would take on a new role as envoy for the Shield of the Americas.

ABC News [3/5/2026 9:54 PM, Luke Barr and Ivan Pereira, 34146K] reports Kristi Noem’s firing Thursday capped a rocky 13-month tenure at the Department of Homeland Security marked by constant controversy and questions about her management style that ultimately became a political liability in the eyes of President Donald Trump. She drew especially heavy fire over how she carried out his immigration crackdown and mass deportation policy. While the president praised her as a fighter, critics called out her self-promoting social media use, including videos showing her in tactical gear at raids with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents. Critics also questioned her ride-alongs on those operations, especially since it was later revealed in some cases that the people arrested in the promotional videos were never charged with crimes. She also drew criticism for appearing in TV, radio and online ads warning undocumented immigrants that the federal government was targeting them for deportation. Other ads offered money to undocumented immigrants to self-deport. She repeatedly defended herself by contending she and ICE were simply carrying out Trump’s agenda to make the country safer. "These law enforcement officers are out there every day doing the work to protect the American people, and they will keep doing that because they believe in enforcing the law, which is exactly what President Trump has charged them with," Noem told CBS’s "Face the Nation" in January. As she launched Trump’s deportation program, Noem was slammed for a March 26, 2025, visit to the Terrorist Confinement Center, aka CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, where she posed for a social media post in front of detainees crammed behind bars in a cell behind her. "They shouldn’t be coming here illegally," she told reporters during the visit when asked about the prison conditions. Federal judges have said Noem and the administration have defied court orders that prohibited the agency from sending undocumented migrants, some of whom DHS admitted did not have criminal records, to CECOT. Calls for her resignation or removal grew after her agency surged resources into Minneapolis and the shooting deaths there in January of American citizens Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal law enforcement and her characterizations of the incidents as "domestic terrorism.” Before now, the president had backed her as she defended ICE agents’ and sending migrants to faraway third countries.

Reported similarly:
CNN [3/5/2026 3:37 PM, Aaron Blake, 19874K] r

FOX News [3/5/2026 5:31 PM, Alex Miller, Adam Pack, 37576K] reports Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., was just tapped to replace embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, but first he must be confirmed by the Senate. But with anger and frustration over the direction of the Department of Homeland Security under Noem still simmering, and the agency still shut down, Senate Democrats aren’t likely to make that an easy process. Still, Mullin said he was ready for the challenge ahead. Mullin’s confirmation process could become the next battleground for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democrats to continue their campaign of handcuffing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). They have so far rejected every offer from the White House on compromise reforms to the agency and on Thursday again blocked a full-year funding bill to reopen DHS.

ABC News [3/5/2026 12:47 PM, Luke Barr, 34146K] reports a Democratic senator says Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem provided false testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. In her appearance before the committee on Tuesday, Noem was asked by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., whether her adviser Corey Lewandowski, who is serving as a special government employee, has any role in approving DHS contracts, and she said no. "Evidence suggests that your testimony was false. Internal DHS records show that Mr. Lewandowski has personally approved contracts at DHS, including, but not limited to, a multimillion-dollar contract," according to a letter Blumenthal sent to Noem on Wednesday. "And current and former DHS employees have stated that Mr. Lewandowski’s signature is a green light for money to be transmitted to contractors.” Blumenthal sent the letter on Wednesday night, after Noem’s testimony in front the House Committee. In a follow-up appearance before a House committee on Wednesday, Rep. Jared Moskowitz asked Noem if she would like to correct her answer from Tuesday. "What I would say is that he is an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security," she said.

Daily Wire [3/5/2026 6:24 AM, Luke Rosiak, 2314K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) only allowed four hand-picked companies to bid on a $200 million ad campaign, including a brand new company that later subcontracted the work to the spouse of a top department official, a document reviewed by The Daily Wire shows. The records raise questions about the testimony by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the Senate on Tuesday, in which she told senators that contracts for a television ad campaign starring herself "went out to a competitive bid and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials." Procurement records show that the anti-illegal immigration ad work was awarded using "other than full and open competition." A justification for that decision says, "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Procurement Operations (OPO), on behalf of the Office of DHS Public Affairs office intends to limit competition to three contractors." The competition waiver suggested the department used internet research and "industry publications" to identify Safe America Media LLC as one of only four companies capable of quickly doing a successful $200 million ad campaign, even though Safe America Media was only incorporated days earlier. A Google search brings up little web presence or industry publications about the firm.

Reuters [3/5/2026 12:23 PM, Steve Holland and Ted Hesson, 38315K] reports President Donald ​Trump told Reuters on Thursday that he did not sign off on a $220 million border security ‌advertising campaign featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who faced bipartisan criticism over the commercials during U.S. congressional hearings this week. "I never knew anything about it," the Republican president told Reuters in a phone interview. Shortly after his comments to Reuters, Trump posted to Truth Social ​that Noem would be replaced with Markwayne Mullin, a Republican U.S. senator from Oklahoma. Noem, a top official overseeing ​Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, faced scrutiny about the campaign while testifying before congressional panels on Tuesday ⁠and Wednesday. Lawmakers from both parties asked about the contract and process to select the companies for the ​campaign. The ads prominently featured Noem, including a scene of her on horseback at Mount Rushmore in the former South Dakota ​governor’s home state. In one of the exchanges over the contracts, U.S. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican from Louisiana, asked Noem if Trump had approved the commercials. "The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?" ​Kennedy asked Noem. "Yes, sir. We went through the legal processes, did it correctly," Noem replied. During testimony before U.S. Senate ​and U.S. House of Representatives panels, Noem faced criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, including for her remarks in January calling the acts ‌of ⁠two U.S. citizens shot dead by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis "domestic terrorism."

NBC News [3/5/2026 11:34 PM, Garrett Haake, 42967K] reports President Donald Trump suggested Thursday night that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s ouster was less about her job performance and more about elevating Sen. Markwayne Mullin to the Cabinet post. In his first public comments since he fired Noem, Trump was complimentary of her year-plus tenure, while he also praised Mullin, R-Okla. "She’s a fine person. She did a good job. I’m a big fan of the senator from Oklahoma. It wasn’t a hard choice," Trump said in a phone call with NBC News. He also dismissed the idea that there was a "last straw" regarding Noem’s performance and instead praised her handling of the border. Trump, however, was critical of Noem when it came to her exchange with a Republican senator this week, when she was asked during congressional testimony about her role in approving contracts, particularly a $220 million ad campaign encouraging immigrants to self-deport. "I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent less money than that to become president. I didn’t know about it," Trump said.

Bloomberg [3/5/2026 10:02 PM, Irene Casado Sanchez and Eric Fan, 18082K] reports President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would remove Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary after she faced bipartisan criticism for her handling of the department, including a $240 million ad campaign prominently featuring herself. A Bloomberg News investigation found that the bulk of the funds are allocated for placing ads through at least two firms with longstanding ties to Trump campaigns. One of the DHS ad buyers, Virginia-based Strategic Media Services Inc., received more than $269 million to work on Trump’s 2024 campaign while Noem’s top aide, Corey Lewandowski, was advising the campaign’s senior leadership team, according to OpenSecrets. The second media buyer, Smart Media Group LLC, has a subsidiary that got more than $329 million in the same year working for Trump’s political action committee, Make America Great Again Inc. The DHS ad campaigns were designed to persuade undocumented immigrants to self-deport and to recruit immigration officers. Of the $240 million, at least $54 million had been spent on TV ad placements through the end of 2025, according to data from AdImpact, an ad-tracking company. The ad campaign started after Trump declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border on his first day in office. Officials at DHS used the declaration to justify bypassing full and open competition for contracts to run the advertising campaigns — the most ever spent on a DHS marketing effort. Federal procurement rules usually require agencies to seek out a large pool of bidders to secure the best value and avoid favoritism while promoting transparency and accountability. Instead, DHS officials picked three firms that bid on the work. A DHS spokesperson said the agency doesn’t decide which media buyers its contractors hire or how much they pay them. “We have only become aware of these companies because of this inquiry and did not hire those companies,” the spokesperson said in response to questions from Bloomberg. The spokesperson said Noem and the White House Office of Management and Budget reviewed and signed off on “contract summaries.” Previously, the agency had said Noem approves all DHS contracts over $100,000, but she disputed that at a US Senate hearing on Tuesday. DHS awarded the largest contract, worth $143 million, to a newly incorporated company with no office, website or publicly listed phone number. The firm, Safe America Media LLC, then hired Strategic Media Services Inc. and Smart Media Group LLC as subcontractors to place the TV ads. Both firms have worked on multiple political campaigns during the past decade with Lewandowski and numerous other Trump allies and affiliated political organizations. The other lead contractor, People Who Think LLC, won a $52 million contract to execute an international version of the DHS ad campaign. That company was co-founded by Jay Connaughton, a former Trump media adviser who worked on the president’s 2016 campaign, among other MAGA-backed political candidates and right-wing causes. A federal procurement document obtained by Bloomberg shows that the sole losing bidder was Knox Strategies, a public relations firm that features a number of Republican political clients on its website, including Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel. “It looks like a textbook case of cronyism,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs director at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog. “That’s precisely the opposite of how we should be making critical decisions on how to use taxpayer dollars.”

Reuters [3/5/2026 1:46 PM, Ted Hesson, Nolan D. McCaskill, Richard Cowan, and Jasper Ward, 38315K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday after months of controversy, including the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal officers in Minneapolis and lawmakers’ questions over a $220 million advertising contract. The Republican president will tap Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace her by the end of the month, he said on his Truth Social platform on Thursday. The appointment would ‌require U.S. Senate confirmation. Her departure, after emerging as the face of an aggressive immigration crackdown that had grown unpopular according to recent polling, could allow Trump to reset his approach on immigration policy, a centerpiece of his agenda. Shortly after Trump announced Noem’s replacement, she posted on X: "We have made historic accomplishments at the Department of Homeland Security to make America safe again."

The Hill [3/5/2026 6:58 PM, Alexander Bolton, 18170K] reports Kristi Noem’s assertion at a Senate hearing Tuesday that President Trump had given his blessing to a $220 million Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advertising campaign promoting Noem’s leadership was the final straw that cost the DHS secretary her job on Thursday, according to Republican senators and other sources familiar with the events. Trump considered firing Noem after the fatal shootings of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis in January, but he held off because he didn’t want to appear as giving in to Democrats’ demands for her resignation, according to sources familiar with Trump’s deliberations. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Thursday acknowledged that conversations about Noem’s future had been going on for “a while.” “There’s been conversations going on, I think, for a while and I haven’t been privy to all of them but I’m aware of some of the discussions,” he said. One GOP senator who requested anonymity said that Noem’s claim that Trump personally approved the controversial ads was the “last straw” because it had the effect of “dragging” the president into a potential scandal. The $220 million taxpayer-funded advertising campaign has come under scrutiny because the Department of Homeland Security skipped the normal competitive bidding process and awarded the ad to the Strategy Group, a firm that has ties to Noem’s political operation. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the appearance that Noem may have steered business to friends and allies is troubling. “I think there are appearances we’ll have to work through,” he said. “I’ve got to believe some of those factors weighed into the ultimate decision in the White House.” “It certainly looks bad,” he said.

New York Post [3/5/2026 6:35 PM, Chris Nesi, 40934K] reports fired Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem sealed her fate with two answers at a pair of disastrous congressional hearings. Noem, who is the first cabinet secretary ousted during the second Trump administration, faced pointed questions from committee members on a range of thorny matters, from a recent DHS ad campaign with a Hollywood blockbuster budget to whether she’s sleeping with top aide Corey Lewandowski. After answering the questions in a way that reportedly left President Trump "mad as a murder hornet," she was out of a job less than 24 hours later. Trump was reportedly angered by the exchange, and Noem’s claim that he had green-lit the controversial ad campaign, Kennedy telling reporters the president was "mad as a murder hornet" and already considering replacing her. The final straw followed an uncomfortable exchange during Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, in which Noem was asked point-blank if she ever slept with Lewandowski, who works as a special government employee. On Thursday, he announced that she was leaving her post at DHS and would be replaced by Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

USA Today [3/5/2026 2:48 PM, Melina Khan, 70643K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rebuffed a question about her relationship with a top adviser while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on March 4 about immigration enforcement actions. When Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-California) asked Noem if she "had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski," Noem replied, "I am shocked we’re going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee." Lewandowski, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump and the manager of his 2016 presidential campaign, is an adviser to the Department of Homeland Security. "He is a special government employee who works for the White House. There are thousands of them in the federal government," Noem said, adding that Lewandowski does not have the authority to make decisions for DHS. Noem and Lewandowski’s relationship has been the subject of speculation before, but both have denied reports about a rumored affair. Both Noem and Lewandowski are married. Kamlager-Dove’s question about Noem and Lewandowski’s relationship came during hours of testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on March 4. She similarly testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee the day prior. Both days, Noem faced questions about, in part, DHS’ handling of the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota earlier this year. Opening her questioning period, Kamlager-Dove said she believed Noem’s judgment should be "unassailable" because of the nature of her role. The representative then asked questions about Lewandowski’s role within DHS and Noem’s relationship with him. When Noem did not answer the question, Kamlager-Dove interjected, "It is okay for you to be offended by the question. But it is also a real question, and you should be able to answer the question clearly and without any hesitation." "If someone is asking if you or any federal official is sleeping with their subordinate, you should be wanting to answer that question, because it is not about your sex life, it is about your judgment," Kamlager-Dove continued.

Reported similarly:
Washington Times [3/5/2026 10:56 AM, Staff, 1323K]

New York Post [3/5/2026 6:33 PM, Steven Nelson, Emily Goodin and Marisa Schultz, 40934K] reports the "final straw" prompting President Trump to fire Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was her stunning non-answer at a House hearing Wednesday about whether she had "sexual relations" with top aide Corey Lewandowski, sources inside and close to the White House told The Post. Trump had been nearing a boiling point in his frustration with Noem and already was considering ousting her after she claimed to senators Tuesday that he approved $220 million in ads starring herself — but her inability to answer the question sealed her fate. Trump’s ouster of Noem — the first cabinet shakeup of his second term — came shortly after he told Reuters that she lied to Congress about his approval of advertising spending, giving the impression that that was the core reason for his decision to swap her out for Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). Sources said that the ad issue was indeed a key motivation for Trump, though her poor handling of the affair query sealed her fate. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters after Noem’s termination that Trump was "mad as a murder hornet" and considering replacing her with Mullin on Tuesday night after her Senate testimony — though he didn’t do so until Thursday following her disastrous House testimony on Wednesday.

Daily Signal [3/5/2026 7:36 PM, Virginia Allen, 474K] reports three Department of Homeland Security officials expressed optimism after President Donald Trump announced he is appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin to lead the agency while reassigning Kristi Noem to a new position. "I think there was kind of a sense of relief, and I think optimism," an agency official told The Daily Signal. "I mean, I think there’s still a lot more that DHS can do in this administration, and I think Sen. Mullin, you know, he’s going to bring a fresh perspective, fresh change, and get us back on track and not have so much drama and distractions that get in the way of the president’s agenda.” Another DHS official said he was "looking forward to seeing how Sen. Mullin leads the agency.” "I’m very optimistic," he added. Trump on Thursday thanked Noem for her service to the "Homeland" and announced her appointment "to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere," in a post on Truth Social. Another DHS official told The Daily Signal the move could result in a more unified agency. "I think this is a great relief that, you know, maybe there’s a chance to have one unified team at DHS working on these really high-priority presidential missions," the official said. Noem faced scrutiny and criticism in recent weeks following two fatal shootings of protesters by immigration enforcement agents in Minneapolis. Noem justified the shootings by calling protesters’ actions "domestic terrorism," a characterization that drew widespread backlash. Both shooting incidents are under investigation. Trump’s announcement also follows a report from National Review’s Audrey Fahlberg that Trump was "furious" with Noem following her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. During the hearing, Noem said Trump had approved a $220 million ad campaign featuring her that encouraged illegal aliens to self-deport. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., pressed Noem on the ads while she was under oath, asking: "The president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently?". While Noem said Trump knew about the ads, the president later told Reuters he "never knew anything about it.” One DHS official criticized Noem’s "tactics" as secretary as "loud and noisy," referencing a video posted on social media last year in which Noem sported an AR-15 and a tactical vest while discussing arrests of illegal aliens. However, the official also said that Noem "was a good spokesperson some of the time, and she was a Trump defender," adding, "I think that the job that they gave her actually sounds really good for her.” Trump previewed a Saturday announcement of the new security Initiative, where he is expected to provide more details about Noem’s role. "The Western Hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security," Noem wrote on X Thursday. "In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security.”

ABC News [3/5/2026 2:44 PM, Staff, 34146K] reports that Senators on Capitol Hill react after learning that President Trump is appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin as the new Department of Homeland Security secretary. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [3/5/2026 8:46 PM, Staff, 7946K] reports Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., discusses the factors in the firing of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on ‘The Evening Edit.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [3/5/2026 9:10 PM, Sam Barron, 3760K] reports Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised Kristi Noem after she was fired by President Donald Trump on Thursday as secretary of homeland security. Noem "did an excellent job over there securing our border," Hegseth said at a briefing on the operation in Iran. "The president is making a change. "We all serve at the pleasure of the president.” He also praised Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., who has been tapped by Trump to replace Noem. "I’m sure Markwayne Mullin will do a fantastic job. He’s been a friend of mine for a long time, but Kristi did a great job setting us up for success," he continued. Hegseth said he had no concerns about safety under Mullin’s leadership. "Kristi did a great job setting this up for success," Hegseth said. "So, I don’t have any concerns about whether or not the homeland will be covered.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio also praised Noem for her work. Noem was appointed special envoy for the Shield of the Americas after her removal. "I look forward to working with Kristi Noem as Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas — our new security initiative comprised of 13 countries," Rubio wrote on social media. "Kristi has achieved incredible results as Secretary of Homeland Security and will be a tremendous asset in our effort to promote security and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere," Rubio added. President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he was reassigning Noem as special envoy for the "Shield of the Americas," a new security program that Trump said will focus on improving security and cooperation across countries in the Western Hemisphere. Trump wrote that details of the new security initiative will be unveiled Saturday. He said Noem has had "numerous and spectacular results" at DHS. "I thank Kristi for her service at ‘Homeland,’" Trump wrote. Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.

Daily Caller [3/5/2026 6:15 PM, Jason Cohen, 803K] reports Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch praised Republican Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Thursday after President Donald Trump announced Mullin would replace Kristi Noem as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on March 31. Trump’s announcement on Truth Social followed two Congressional oversight hearings where lawmakers pressed Noem on her role, two high-profile fatal DHS shootings in Minnesota and an alleged affair with her top aide. Welch predicted on CNN’s "The Arena" that Mullin would be successfully confirmed, calling him "competent," "honest" and "respected." "He’ll be confirmed. The question is whether there’ll be bipartisan support for him. Markwayne Mullin is competent, and he’s honest. So those are two good things that Kristi Noem did not have," Welch said. "This is going to give us an opportunity to have a real discussion about what’s going on with the Department of Homeland Security. Number one, what we saw with that rampage in Minneapolis cannot ever happen again. You had Kristi Noem, who essentially was calling two people who got killed domestic terrorists.” Host Kasie Hunt asked Welch if he believed Mullin would get bipartisan support beyond Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman. "He’s respected, he’s honest and he’s competent," Welch said of Mullin. "So the issue, I think, with Markwayne is going to be much more about the policy and what he is going to be offering us as we look ahead, rather than his personal qualities," he said. "Because people respect Markwayne.” Fetterman indicated on X that he was uncertain how many of his Democratic colleagues would back Mullin. Mullin’s departure for DHS will leave his Senate seat vacant, leaving Republican Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt to appoint a successor. Trump touted Mullin’s combined 10 years of experience in both chambers of Congress, dubbing him a "MAGA Warrior" who "truly gets along well with people." He also underscored Mullin’s ability to advocate for Tribal Communities across the country as the first American Indian to serve as DHS Secretary. "Markwayne will work tirelessly to keep our border secure, stop migrant crime, murderers, and other criminals from illegally entering our country, end the scourge of illegal drugs and, make America safe again," Trump wrote. "Markwayne will make a spectacular Secretary of Homeland Security.”

Breitbart [3/5/2026 10:45 PM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Thursday on MS NOW’s "The Briefing," Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) said former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will have to answer questions from investigators in Minnesota. Walz said, "Former Secretary Noem should probably get used to spending more time in Minnesota because I have a pretty good feeling in the future she may be doing that because we have got to get accountability.” Host Jen Psaki said, "When you say she, she’s just expect to spend some time, more time in Minnesota what do you mean by that?" Walz said, "Well, look, our folks are going to be, looking into each and every one of these incidents that happened. We’re going to want answers. Who gave the orders to do this? Who said that these folks could do that? Why within 20 minutes before understanding what happened, she found the need to slander Minnesotans, American citizens. Why did they not retract that? And why were why were Minnesota investigators at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension not allowed to be on these scenes? Where’s the evidence? We need the evidence to do this. And I know both County Attorney Moriarty, Attorney General Ellison are people are looking for accountability. That’s what the system is. This isn’t as Donald Trump is. He came here on retribution. We’re not looking for retribution. We’re looking for justice. And we’re looking to make sure that no one is above the law. So Kristi Noem, I it sure seems to me there’s a lot of unanswered questions."

New York Times [3/5/2026 8:05 PM, Pooja Salhotra and Ernesto Londoño, 148038K] reports Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis had two words after Kristi Noem was fired as homeland security secretary: “Good riddance.” After a monthslong surge in federal immigration enforcement in his state, Mr. Frey and some other elected officials in Minnesota welcomed Ms. Noem’s ouster on Thursday. Ms. Noem’s agency oversaw a large operation that killed two American citizens in Minneapolis this year, prompting nationwide protests over President Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said in a social media post on Thursday that Ms. Noem had done “a stunning amount of damage.” He added, “this doesn’t change the fact that we need a complete overhaul of DHS, impartial investigations into the killing of two American citizens, and information on children that were taken from Minnesota.” Indeed, some Minnesotans remain wary of federal immigration agents and warned that Ms. Noem’s exit should not give them peace of mind. “To think removing her alone changes the bad infrastructure under her is mistaken,” said Paschal O. Nwokocha, an immigration lawyer in Minneapolis. “I’m not going to just relax and say, ‘oh, she’s no longer there.’” Alex Plechash, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party, said he hoped Ms. Noem’s firing would “move the conversation away from personalities and back to the policies that matter.” He said he wanted to see more attention on the widespread fraud in Minnesota’s social service programs, which the Trump administration had cited to justify the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. In December, the Trump administration began sending thousands of immigration agents to the Twin Cities region for the immigration crackdown, which it called Operation Metro Surge. The operation intensified in the new year after the fatal shootings of two Americans: Renee Good, a poet and mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an intensive-care nurse, both 37. After Mr. Pretti’s killing, Democratic lawmakers demanded new guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement as a requirement to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans rejected those measures, and the department is now in its third week of a partial shutdown. Ms. Noem has suggested that both Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good were domestic terrorists, in defense of the federal agents who shot them, remarks that drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans. Videos of both shootings quickly spread on social media and countered Ms. Noem’s claims. Mr. Trump announced that he planned to appoint Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, as Ms. Noem’s successor. Aisha Chughtai, a Minneapolis City Council member, said Mr. Mullin is likely to push the same policies Ms. Noem did. “Our work is nowhere near done,” she said. “We have to continue to resist this regime that believes in cruelty.”

NewsMax [3/5/2026 6:08 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 3760K] reports Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told Newsmax on Thursday that Kristi Noem "did a good job" leading the Department of Homeland Security before President Donald Trump nominated Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., to take over the post. Appearing on "American Agenda," Norman said Noem served the country well despite political challenges that came with the high-profile position. "I thought Kristi was doing a good job," he said, before acknowledging that Noem faced criticism for decisions made during her tenure. "She had had some missteps, but overall she did what she thought was right," Norman added. Trump announced Thursday that he intends to replace Noem with Mullin to head DHS, as she transitions to a new role as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new coalition focused on cartels, gangs and illegal mass migration. Norman said Noem handled the job as effectively as she could, given the intense scrutiny that comes with national security leadership. "Kristi did as well as she could do with all the things she had been through," he said. The congressman also praised Noem’s response on social media after the leadership change was announced.

New York Times [3/5/2026 7:15 PM, Reid J. Epstein, 148038K] reports President Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to be his next Homeland Security secretary throws open what could be a series of Republican contests in a deeply conservative state. President Trump’s announcement that he will nominate Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma to be his next Homeland Security secretary throws open what could be a series of Republican contests in a deeply conservative state. A vacancy for Mr. Mullin’s Senate seat may attract multiple members of Oklahoma’s five-member, all-Republican congressional delegation, and open seats for those districts would likely draw competitive Republican primaries of their own. Gov. Kevin Stitt would appoint a replacement for Mr. Mullin, but state law forbids that person from remaining in the seat following the next regularly scheduled general election. “I will be looking to appoint a strong, small government conservative voice to support President Trump and protect Oklahomans’ way of life,” Mr. Stitt wrote on social media. Mr. Mullin’s term expires at the end of this year, so whoever Mr. Stitt appoints will be a short-termer in the Senate. Oklahoma’s filing deadline for candidates seeking to replace him is April 3, which may come before Mr. Mullin can be confirmed as a cabinet secretary. The field of Oklahoma Republicans interested in running for an open Senate seat could be large. Representative Stephanie Bice, whose district includes much of Oklahoma City, wrote on social media that she has “received encouragement from every corner of this great state to run for the US Senate. And it’s something I’m carefully considering.”

New York Times [3/5/2026 7:29 PM, Carl Hulse and Michael Gold, 148038K] reports Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said on Thursday evening that he would press for a perjury investigation into Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary whom President Trump fired hours earlier. Mr. Blumenthal said that he would call for the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to investigate whether Ms. Noem had lied under oath during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, when she said that Corey Lewandowski, one of her top advisers, did not approve contracts for the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Blumenthal said that Democrats had evidence to suggest that Mr. Lewandowski had done so, and that Ms. Noem’s removal did not protect her from an investigation. “Her firing doesn’t absolve her or relieve her of potential liability for perjury, and we are going to pursue an investigation of the evidence that she lied, because it relates to corruption in the administration,” said Mr. Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the panel. With Republicans in control of the Senate, Democrats cannot launch a full investigation without their support. Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and the subcommittee’s chairman, would need to agree to issue any subpoenas. But Mr. Blumenthal can still hold public forums on the topic, send letters requesting information and solicit whistle-blowers. Ms. Noem was fired two days after she faced tough bipartisan grilling at congressional hearings on various topics, including her relationship with Mr. Lewandowski and his role at the Homeland Security Department.

Breitbart [3/5/2026 10:43 PM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports that, Thursday on MS NOW’s "All In," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said that there was "exhilaration" that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had been removed from her position. Host Chris Hayes said, "Congressman, your reaction to the news?". Raskin said, "Well, there’s a little bit of exhilaration, and satisfaction that we were able to, move things in this way. Of course none of it brings back Renee Good or Alex Pretti. And she’s done profound damage that we still need to be working on. I mean, you know, there have been dozens of injuries and deaths, under her leadership of ICE, and we need to turn that situation around. I mean it is a clear and present danger to the lives of a lot of people who are being swept up in their dragnet policies, but also $220 million for a PR ad contract.” He added, "That corrupt bargain deal needs to be invested from top to bottom as my colleague Joe Neguse was saying yesterday in questioning, we need to investigate the entire thing. And the taxpayers have got to get their money back. But it is riddled with corruption over there. And then, you know, I raised the question yesterday of dozens of cases where federal judges have corruption of Homeland security for lying in affidavits and testimony before the court. All of that has got to end. All of that’s got to stop.”

Washington Examiner [3/5/2026 6:55 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1147K] reports joy, celebration, and even happy tears swept through Department of Homeland Security agency offices Thursday afternoon as news that President Donald Trump had removed Secretary Kristi Noem from her post. Trump administration insiders, including senior DHS officials, told the Washington Examiner they were stunned by Trump’s sudden decision to replace Noem at the helm of the third-largest federal department, following several months of scandal and negative press. But the shock was short-lived as relief and joy set in among those who had worked under and even alongside Noem and her adviser, special government employee Corey Lewandowski. "People in the office are actually crying out of happiness," said one person. Noem served in her post for more than 13 months and helped the White House carry out its mass deportation operation. She was frequently out in front of cameras while visiting with DHS employees nationwide and was the star of flashy social media videos, but behind closed doors, senior officials in Washington and in the field said her team made their jobs incredibly difficult. "We’ve seen fake news and calls for resignation. I usually sympathize with the principle and instinctively, and actually, know the stories of their behavior are overstated or inaccurate. I cannot say that today," a senior DHS official wrote in a text message Thursday afternoon. "Her actions have led to the reputational loss of the DHS. Her continued hobbling of the component heads leads to more negativity regarding law enforcement pros. I suspect this is hard for POTUS, he deserves better!".

Blaze [3/5/2026 4:15 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1556K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has fired back at a Minnesota prosecutor who announced an investigation into federal agents’ actions in Minnesota. The office of Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said Monday it was investigating Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino and other federal agents and opening an online portal for the public to send in tips about their "potentially unlawful behavior." Moriarty’s investigation likely includes video captured of Bovino tossing a canister of irritant at protesters and a photograph of an agent spraying irritant directly into the face of a protester pinned to the ground.

CBS News [3/5/2026 4:53, Caitlin Yilek and Kaia Hubbard, 51110K] reports the House passed a measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, but Senate Democrats blocked similar legislation across the Capitol, meaning the partial government shutdown will continue for now. The House approved the measure to fund DHS through September in a 221 to 209 vote. Earlier in the day, the Senate voted 51 to 45 to move forward, failing for a third time to reach a 60-vote threshold needed to advance. GOP leaders have called on their colleagues across the aisle to support a bipartisan agreement that appropriators reached earlier this year to fund DHS through September. But that deal was reached before a second fatal shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, which prompted Democrats to oppose any funding for the department without reforms to immigration enforcement. President Trump announced shortly before the Senate vote that he was replacing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, adding a new twist to negotiations. Some Democrats indicated the move could help lead to a compromise. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said earlier that "it might be easier for us to negotiate" on DHS funding if Noem was fired. Republicans have argued that ending the impasse has grown more urgent since the beginning of the war with Iran. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota said this week that "there are always threats to the homeland that have to be addressed," but the stakes are higher now. "It shouldn’t need saying that it’s always a terrible idea to use the Department of Homeland Security as a political pawn," Thune said. "But above all right now, with enhanced terror threat from Iran and Iran-funded terrorist groups, it is vital that we ensure the Department of Homeland Security is fully funded and fully functioning." House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in a statement Tuesday that "military action in Iran makes it all the more urgent and crucial to have a fully staffed, fully funded Department of Homeland Security across all departments."

Reported similarly:
The Hill [3/5/2026 4:53 PM, Sudiksha Kochi, 18170K]

New York Post [3/5/2026 10:21 PM, Victor Nava, 40934K] reports House lawmakers approved legislation on Thursday that would reopen the Department of Homeland Security, but most Democrats remain opposed to ending the partial government shutdown despite a leadership shakeup at DHS and military operations against Iran. The bill to fund DHS – including ICE, FEMA and TSA – through Sept. 30 cleared the House of Representatives in 221-207 vote, and now heads to the Senate where it needs 60 votes to pass. Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez (D-Wash.) and Don Davis (D-NC) were the only House Democrats to vote in favor of ending the 20-day shutdown. The bill included Democrats’ demands, such as a body camera mandate and training requirements for ICE agents. A similar version passed the House in January. House Republican leaders, however, wanted to force another vote on the measure, given the heightened concerns over the potential for Iran and its terrorist proxies to attempt some type of attack on the homeland. The vote also came on the same day President Trump announced he’s replacing Kristi Noem as head of DHS with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.). "It’s not like Kristi Noem was the one who was involved in negotiating anything," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters, according to Fox News, signaling that the leadership change won’t be enough. "She was a corrupt lackey. So we were dealing with the White House before, and we’re going to continue to deal with the White House at this point.” Jeffries further described the GOP argument that DHS should be funded immediately because of the Iran conflict as "insane," the outlet reported. "Donald Trump launches an unauthorized war in the Middle East … He decides that he wants to spend billions of dollars to bomb Iran, rather than spend taxpayer dollars to lower the grocery bills that are crushing the American people, and then wants to use his unauthorized war as an excuse to continue spending taxpayer dollars to brutalize or kill American citizens by continuing to unleash ICE without restriction on the American people?" Jeffries said. "I think it’s ridiculous.” The Senate also voted again Thursday on the House-passed DHS funding bill from January, but it failed to garner the 60 votes needed to pass. "Having kept DHS shut down now for three weeks and counting, Democrats will once again leave Washington today and head to the airport, where they will walk past some of the 50,000 TSA agents who are missing part of their pay because of Senate Democrats," Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on the floor of the upper chamber. "This is the second time in six months the Democrats have subjected thousands of workers to the pain and uncertainty of a government shutdown," Thune fumed, noting that many of the federal employees impacted by the shutdown have "nothing to do with immigration enforcement.” He continued, "Let’s be clear, this is not some principled stand by Democrats … it’s looking a lot like Democrats just want to keep this alive as a political issue.” "They’re interested in politics, not policy. And public safety ends up suffering as a result of their decision to shut down the Department of Homeland Security.”

New York Times [3/5/2026 5:15 PM, Catie Edmondson, 148038K] reports Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked for a third time a spending bill to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, insisting that they would not approve the measure without new curbs on immigration enforcement even amid President Trump’s war in Iran. Twenty days after federal money for the department lapsed, Republicans had sought to pressure Democrats to relent and agree to fund the department without any new restrictions on the agents carrying out Mr. Trump’s deportation drive. They argued that the war in the Middle East made it even more important to fund security agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration and the Secret Service. But the failed vote showed that Democrats — at least for now — were holding firm in their demands. Democrats have said they will not allow even a temporary, business-as-usual funding bill to proceed without measures to curtail the tactics of federal immigration agents. Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, said that Ms. Noem’s removal “changes nothing” about the shutdown.

FOX News [3/5/2026 4:51 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 37576K] reports House Democrats largely voted to allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown to keep going on Thursday, shrugging off Republicans’ concerns about the increased domestic terror threat amid the U.S.-Israeli operation in Iran. It comes hours after President Donald Trump shocked Capitol Hill by ousting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and appointing Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as his replacement. But that did not stop the vast majority of Democrats from voting against a bipartisan DHS funding bill aimed at funding the cabinet agency through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. The bill did pass the House in a 221 to 209 vote, with all but four House Democrats voting against it — a significant indicator that Noem’s firing is not enough to tip the scales in the ongoing standoff. While largely symbolic, it shows Republicans’ pressure strategy is falling on deaf ears as the left continues to protest President Donald Trump’s strategy to combat illegal immigration. It would fully fund all aspects of DHS while also including new guardrails on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) demanded by Democrats, like a body-worn camera mandate and new required training on public engagement and de-escalation. Democratic leaders are still insisting on withholding their caucus’ support, however, until further restrictions are put on ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on the ground in various cities. And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., signaled to reporters that Noem’s ouster was not enough.

Breitbart [3/5/2026 11:28 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports the House Judiciary Committee marks up the Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act on Thursday, March 5. The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act would "supersede any and all State and local laws, ordinances, regulations, and policies that directly or indirectly prohibit or restrict" federal immigration enforcement and cut off funding and grants if federal law is ignored. Democrat-run sanctuary cities and states continue to try to resist President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda by preventing local authorities from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NPR [3/5/2026 3:31 PM, Joel Rose, 28764K] reports with the busy spring break travel season looming, travel and aviation industry leaders urged Congress to end the stalemate over funding for the Department of Homeland Security before federal workers at airports miss a full paycheck. DHS has been shut down for nearly three weeks after lawmakers failed to negotiate a budget deal to fund the agency or agree on changes to how immigration officers operate. Many of the Transportation Security Administration’s roughly 64,000 employees are considered "essential" workers and have to stay on the job anyway. In past shutdowns, TSA officers stayed home from work in greater numbers when they started missing paychecks, citing "financial limitations." Travel and aviation industry leaders worry that could happen again just as travel volume picks up in March and April. Industry leaders also criticized the decision to suspend Global Entry, a program of U.S. Customs and Border Protection that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to use expedited kiosks when entering the United States from abroad. The industry leaders gathered to launch a messaging campaign with the slogan, "Pay Federal Aviation Workers." They’re urging Congress to fund DHS, and to pass legislation ensuring that essential federal aviation employees can be paid during future government shutdowns.

THe Washington Post [3/5/2026 5:27 PM, Riley Beggin, 24826K] reports lawmakers remain at odds over funding the Department of Homeland Security, despite President Donald Trump’s move to fire Secretary Kristi L. Noem on Thursday. Democrats cheered her departure but said it wasn’t enough to end the DHS shutdown that will soon enter its fourth week. Democrats have demanded that Republicans agree to new accountability measures for federal immigration agents after the killing of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis in January, such as holding federal immigration officials to a code of conduct similar to state and local law enforcement that is enforced through independent investigations. Republicans have said they’re open to changes but have dismissed some of Democrats’ key demands, including a requirement that agents identify themselves and seek judicial warrants for raids. Congressional Democrats have swapped offers with the White House, but an agreement remains elusive. Noem’s chosen replacement, former House member and now-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma), is a known quantity to both chambers. But many Democrats said this doesn’t change their calculation. That impasse was underscored Thursday when both parties sought to reopen DHS with dueling proposals, neither of which will result in the agency reopening in the near term. The Hill [3/5/2026 3:07 PM, Mike Lillis, 18170K] reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday welcomed the ouster of Kristi Noem from atop the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) but warned that the leadership shake-up won’t soften the Democrats’ demands for reforms at the agency. A short time earlier, President Trump announced that he was removing the embattled Noem, who has come under fire from lawmakers in both parties for her management of the DHS, and would replace her with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a close ally of the president. Jeffries quickly emphasized that the roster change at the DHS will not affect the Democrats’ insistence on new rules governing federal immigration officers as a condition of reopening the department, which has been shuttered since Feb. 14. The Washington Examiner [3/5/2026 5:19 PM, Ramsey Touchberry, David Sivak, 1147K] reports Democrats concede Mullin presents an "upgrade" from Noem’s rocky handling of the agency and Trump’s deportation agenda, but they say the personnel switch is not enough to unfreeze stalled funding negotiations over ICE that have seen DHS shuttered for nearly three weeks. Senate Democrats on Thursday used a filibuster to block the latest attempt by Republicans to fund the agency with a House-passed spending bill. It was rejected 51-45 in a mostly party-line vote — well short of the required 60 votes needed to break a filibuster — and laid bare the stalled progress over Democratic demands for use-of-force restrictions on ICE. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) expressed optimism that Mullin, who Trump hopes is confirmed by the end of the month, could change the shutdown dynamics moving forward in light of longtime calls from Democrats for Noem’s ouster over the deaths of two citizens protesting immigration operations earlier this year in Minnesota. Politico [3/5/2026 5:22 PM, Katherine Tully-McManus and Jennifer Scholtes, 21784K] reports “The problems at ICE transcend any one individual ... It goes beyond any one person,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters. “You need to straighten out the whole agency. The rot there is deep.” Democrats in the House took a similar stance on their side of the Capitol Thursday afternoon when they voted largely in lockstep against legislation to reopen DHS. “Of course this change in personnel is welcome. Kristi Noem was a disgrace, and we made clear what was going to happen one way or the other,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) at a news conference. “But let me also make clear, a change in personnel is not sufficient. We need a change in policy, and that has to be bold, dramatic, transformational and meaningful.” Democrats have refused to shore up the votes to fund DHS following the fatal shootings in January of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota at the hands of federal immigration enforcement agents. Noem sought to cast the people killed, Renee Goode and Alex Pretti, as “domestic terrorists,” and refused to hold the officers accountable. In the nearly three weeks since funding lapsed for DHS, Democrats and the White House have been trading proposals on possible changes to ICE and CBP operations, but there have so far been no breakthroughs in negotiations. Democrats are demanding new policies that would prohibit federal immigration agents from wearing masks, require officers to display identification and limit places where agents can seek to detain undocumented immigrants. Democrats have also been insisting that ICE agents must use warrants signed by judges, which Republicans say is a nonstarter. Just as the Noem exit was announced by Trump, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, sought unanimous consent to pass a separate bill from Democrats. It would fund parts of DHS — including the Coast Guard, TSA, Secret Service, FEMA and the nation’s cybersecurity agency — but not the agency’s immigration enforcement operations.

Breitbart [3/5/2026 1:29 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2238K] reports President Donald Trump is imploring Republican lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote — a measure widely supported among Americans of all political persuasions. Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday morning to call for the legislation’s passage. "The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT — And not the watered down version," he wrote. "This is a Country Defining fight for the Soul of our Nation!". A February 25-26 Harvard-Harris poll of 1,999 registered voters found overwhelming bipartisan support for the SAVE America Act. Of the respondents, 71 percent support the SAVE America Act, including the requirements of proof of citizenship to register, voter ID, states to boot noncitizens off the voter rolls, and states to share voter rolls with the Department of Homeland Security. The Save Act has support from 91 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents. Harvard-Harris also sampled elements of the Save Act in individual poll questions, finding that 85 percent, including 82 percent of Democrats, 90 percent of Republicans, and 84 percent of independents, believe only U.S. citizens should be allowed to vote in elections. Moreover, 75 percent of those sampled, including 61 percent of Democrats, 90 percent of Republicans, and 73 percent of independents, support proof of citizenship to vote. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X on Thursday morning to share the poll and call for the passage of the SAVE Act. "It’s time to pass the Save America Act," she wrote. "The overwhelming majority of the American people want this commonsense election integrity law passed immediately!"

Washington Examiner [3/5/2026 2:11 PM, Hailey Bullis, 1147K] reports that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is offering to consider dropping his primary challenge to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) if the Senate GOP leadership skirts the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act. Paxton, who narrowly placed second to Cornyn in Tuesday’s GOP primary, said he was a loyalist to President Donald Trump and would do anything possible to pass the White House’s agenda. "The Save America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I’m committed to helping President Trump get it done," Paxton wrote in a statement on X. "I would consider dropping out of this race if Senate Leadership agrees to lift the filibuster and passes the SAVE America Act." Spearheaded by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship and voter ID to register to vote. The legislation is an edited version of the SAVE Act, which has passed the House twice but has been stalled in the Senate chamber as it has been unable to pass the 60-vote filibuster threshold. "For the good of our country and for the good of passing President Trump’s agenda, I am determined to help him get this done," said Paxton. The attorney general also accused Cornyn of being a "coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill." Cornyn supports the SAVE America Act, but has expressed discomfort with weakening the filibuster.

FOX News [3/5/2026 5:41 PM, Preston Mizell, 37576K] reports an illegal migrant has been indicted after he allegedly created a fake branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and held fraudulent training seminars to sell DHS and FBI identification cards to attendees, saying the IDs would provide "immunity" from federal immigration officers. Brazilian national Mario Cesar Dos Santos, Jr., 50, was indicted and arrested in Ocala, Florida, last week for fraudulent use of government seals. He was allegedly the self-proclaimed president of the "Chaplain Emergency Management Agency," which he referred to as "CEMA," a completely fake government agency that swindled attendees into believing they were paying for immunity from federal immigration officials. Dos Santos allegedly charged a $400 fee (generating $14,000 in total revenue) for individuals who took the fake course and received a certificate that featured the FBI and DHS seals as well as the "CEMA" seal falsely associated with FEMA. Dos Santos now faces deportation proceedings after he overstayed an expired visa.

San Francisco Chronicle [3/5/2026 5:03 PM, Michael Barba, 3833K] reports shortly after President Donald Trump ousted her on Thursday, outgoing U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie for his cooperation with federal law enforcement, adding that they “talk quite often.” San Franciscans have long known that Lurie spoke with Trump and his top deputies last fall to convince the administration to reverse course on a federal immigration surge into the Bay Area. But her comments portrayed a level of cooperation between the mayor and the federal government that went beyond the current understanding, opening Lurie up to potential scrutiny as the mayor of a sanctuary city strongly opposed to many Trump policies. Noem was taking questions after delivering her keynote address at a law enforcement conference in Nashville, Tenn., when Chris Galligan, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, asked her how DHS could better support local agencies. A City Hall source familiar with the matter said the mayor had not spoken with Noem since late October, when San Francisco narrowly avoided the immigration surge. Lurie spoke with Trump, Noem and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi at the time and leveraged his relationships with the city’s tech elite to convince the president to call off the operation. Trump announced Noem’s ouster in a post on Truth Social on Thursday morning, saying that she would be “moving to be Special Envoy for The Shield of the Americas, our new Security Initiative in the Western Hemisphere.”

CBS New York [3/5/2026 7:20 AM, Christina Fan, 51110K] reports officials ordered a formal review after reports surfaced that the NYPD and the Department of Corrections might be breaking the city’s sanctuary laws. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [3/5/2026 12:26 PM, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, 24826K] reports the prosecutor displayed photos on a courtroom television of evidence seized from the garage of defendants on trial for alleged involvement in a radical left-wing conspiracy: Photocopiers, a bookbinding machine and leaflets called “zines.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn Smith asked the FBI agent on the witness stand to identify the evidence. Special Agent Morris Boatner said he had found the items in a search for “mass production of propaganda.” The defense was quick to object. “Hasn’t it been part of American history to publish written material contrary to the government?” Miles Brissette, an attorney representing one of the accused, asked the FBI agent, citing Thomas Paine’s famous Revolutionary-era essay “Common Sense.” “That’s not part of our training at the academy,” Boatner said. District Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of President Donald Trump, interjected his own question for the witness. “There is a robust history going back to the Founding Fathers of folks printmaking contrary to the government,” he said, “and there’s nothing illegal about that, right?” No, Boatner conceded. The brief exchange in the second week of this closely watched federal case highlighted the challenges the government faces in its first attempt to prosecute an alleged group of antifa protesters as “domestic terrorists” who share an ideology bent on violence. The case stems from what the defendants call a “noise demonstration” last July 4 outside the Prairieland Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detention Center about 30 miles south in Alvarado, Texas, and ended with one of the protesters allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer called to the scene. The nine defendants — including a middle school teacher, a college student, a mechanical engineer, a UPS worker and two transgender women — were indicted by a grand jury collectively on charges of attempted murder of a police officer and unarmed correctional officers, providing material support to terrorists, rioting, using weapons and explosives, and obstruction. All pleaded not guilty. If convicted on the multiple charges with enhancements, the accused could effectively receive life sentences. Weeks before the indictments in November, Trump signed an executive order that federal law enforcement should take “investigatory and prosecutorial action” against those who financially support antifa and labeled it a domestic terrorist organization. Even though that designation isn’t part of existing U.S. law, the Prairieland case could become a playbook for prosecuting left-wing groups.

NewsNation [3/5/2026 2:15 PM, Dan Santella, 4464K] reports that the deadly shootings in January of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by federal agents in Minneapolis have prompted ongoing conversations around the country about immigration and security. Former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who currently is secretary of the federal Department of Homeland Security, testified Wednesday in front of the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, and Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland asked Noem about how she views the conduct of Good and Pretti: actions captured on videos seen all over the world. “Were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?” Raskin asked Noem. “Congressman, what happened in Minnesota in those two incidents was an absolute tragedy,” Noem said in response. “Were they domestic terrorists, as you said to the country?” Raskin asked in return. “My condolences to their families, because I know that their lives will never be the same,” Noem said. “Is that an apology for what you said?” Raskin said. “We, in those incidences, offer as much information as we can from officers and agents on the ground in a chaotic scene,” Noem said. “I’ll repeat my question, reclaiming my time,” Raskin said. “Based on what you know today, Madam Secretary, based on what you know today, were Renee Good and Alex Pretti domestic terrorists?” Noem has claimed both Good and Pretti committed domestic terrorism. More than once Wednesday, Noem cited unfinished investigation. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [3/5/2026 12:20 PM, Robert Klemko, 24826K] reports after the Texas Ranger knocked on her door and delivered the numbing news, Rachel Reyes realized she hadn’t thought to ask who shot her son. She figured it had been another Ranger that killed Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, after he allegedly failed to comply with a law enforcement officer’s orders. But a week later, Reyes read an article from a local news outlet in South Padre Island that confused her. The police in that small, South Texas beach community were saying there had been an officer-involved shooting and a man was dead, but a separate, unnamed agency was responsible. Reyes called the Ranger who notified her and was now investigating the shooting: Who shot Ruben? A Department of Homeland Security agent assigned to immigration enforcement was responsible, the Ranger said. Reyes didn’t go public, instead deciding to await the results of the investigation by the Rangers, who are part of the Texas Department of Public Safety. The March 15, 2025, killing of Martinez, a U.S. citizen, drew almost no public attention, even as protests erupted over the January shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renée Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse. South Padre Island Police put out a press release on Martinez but did not identify the agency responsible for his death. A two-sentence police report described Martinez striking a federal agent with his vehicle but did not mention the shooting that allegedly happened a moment later. Texas officials, citing their ongoing investigation, declined to release footage of the incident. DHS did not publicly acknowledge that one of its agents had fatally shot Martinez until last month, when a lawsuit over a year-old public records request unearthed an internal narrative of the shooting by a Homeland Security Investigations agent. The request by American Oversight, a nonprofit government watchdog group, sought internal emails from the agency containing a variety of phrases and words, including “use of force.” Martinez is now the first known American citizen shot to death by federal immigration agents during President Donald Trump’s second term. Some Texas lawmakers are expressing alarm at the lack of transparency, demanding a public hearing and immediate release of all body-camera footage and other records. They have also raised concerns about conflicting information between DHS’s account of the shooting and a witness statement describing what happened. “When government uses its most serious power, the power to take a life, the facts cannot remain hidden,” said state Rep. Ray Lopez, a Democrat whose district includes the city of San Antonio, where Reyes lives. Michael Sierra-Arévalo, an associate professor at the University of Texas who studies policing and use of force, said DHS’s failure to promptly disclose the shooting to the public fits a pattern during the Trump administration, in which officials have at times taken extraordinary measures to defend and shield immigration officers who use deadly force from scrutiny. A spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which includes Homeland Security Investigations, said the department’s policy requires that agents report every use-of-force incident. They are then reviewed “in accordance with agency policy, procedure, and guidelines.” Shootings, the spokesperson said, are first examined by “an appropriate law enforcement agency” and then ICE conducts an internal review. A DHS spokesperson declined to explain why the shooting of Martinez was not publicly acknowledged by the department for 11 months. The agency documents released through the records request state that Martinez’s car struck an agent and lifted him onto the hood of Martinez’s vehicle. In a statement that followed that disclosure, a DHS spokesperson said Martinez “intentionally ran over” the agent and that another agent shot and killed him.

New York Times [3/5/2026 5:35 AM, Annie Correal and Anatoly Kurmanaev, 148038K] reports there was one last place to go before James Luckey-Lange could say he had visited every country in the continental America: Venezuela. U.S. officials had been warning with increasing urgency that Venezuela was off limits to Americans. Its authoritarian regime had been capturing U.S. citizens to use as pawns in negotiations. But Mr. Luckey-Lange, 28, had disregarded such warnings before. In a Haiti overrun by gangs, he sold fruit at a roadside stand. In Nicaragua, he worked on a coffee farm and taught martial arts, though U.S. officials had said Americans also risked arbitrary detention there. He said he had assumed that in Venezuela, as in other countries he had visited, the main hazard was random crime, not the government. So Mr. Luckey-Lange said he felt no particular sense of danger when he climbed onto a motorcycle taxi in Brazil on Dec. 7 and crossed the border. He was detained the next day. What followed, he said, was an ordeal unlike anything he could have imagined. Instead of quickly checking Venezuela off his list, he was held there for more than a month. He said he was beaten, starved and given a sham online trial. Mr. Luckey-Lange’s captivity ended after the U.S. military attacked Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, captured its leader, Nicolás Maduro, and started pressuring the interim government to release American detainees. “I just happen to be American, so I lucked out,” Mr. Luckey-Lange said.

Telemundo [3/5/2026 9:34 PM, Staff, 2524K] reports the Cuban regime’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) announced Thursday that one of the six people detained in an operation against a boat registered in Florida last week died from injuries sustained in a shootout with border guards. In a message posted on social media, Cuban authorities said that "the injured detainees continue to receive specialized medical care according to their health status and the severity of their injuries. In the case of Roberto Álvarez Ávila, he died on March 4 as a result of his injuries." The text states that "from the outset, Cuban authorities have maintained timely communication with their US counterparts. On March 2, 2026, US authorities conveyed through diplomatic channels their willingness to cooperate fully in the investigation. Cooperation could include the exchange of information and evidence, as well as other joint actions." On March 4, the Cuban regime announced that it had filed terrorism charges against six men accused of firing at coast guard personnel from the boat. The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the Cuban suspects remained in preventive detention and that they would be guaranteed due process.

Wall Street Journal [3/5/2026 5:24 PM, Staff, 646K] reports Kristi Noem is out as Secretary of Homeland Security, effective March 31, President Trump said Thursday. His nominee for her replacement will be Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin. While Mr. Trump praised Ms. Noem’s “spectacular results,” there’s no mistaking this move as anything other than a fed-up President cutting loose an aide who made herself into a serious liability. The Department of Homeland Security currently is operating in shutdown mode, without funding. Ms. Noem’s testimony before the Senate on Tuesday could have been a chance to put Democrats on the spot for refusing to fund DHS at a time of heightened threats, as Mr. Trump bombards the terrorist regime in Iran. Instead the headlines were about Ms. Noem’s floundering, including under hard questions from Republican Senators. Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy pressed her on having “spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently,” and whether Mr. Trump approved this beforehand. Ms. Noem insisted the President did, and that these ads were effective migrant deterrence. Mr. Kennedy: “Well, they were effective in your name recognition.” After the hearing, a reporter quoted Mr. Kennedy saying he’d spoken to Mr. Trump, and “his recollection and her recollection are different.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis fumed about DHS’s deportation priorities. “What we’ve seen is a disaster under your leadership,” he said, including “innocent people getting detained that turn out are American citizens.” Mr. Tillis said the disorderly approach, including in Minneapolis, is “beginning to get the American people to think that deporting people is wrong.”

USA Today [3/5/2026 5:07 AM, Rex Huppke, 70643K] reports so it turns out Americans don’t love widespread cruelty. For the first time ever in YouGov polling, 50% of Americans now strongly or somewhat support abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Only 39% of respondents strongly or somewhat oppose abolishing ICE and, in a remarkable twist, nearly a quarter of Republicans want ICE gone. That’s a mighty big shift from the not-too-long-ago days when Democrats were warned that "Abolish ICE" was an electorally risky slogan best avoided. Perhaps it’s the way roving bands of masked federal agents have descended onto American cities like invading forces, violently stuffing migrants and U.S. citizens into unmarked vehicles while gunning down innocent protesters and later falsely labeling them "domestic terrorists." Maybe it’s the twisted, unapologetic way President Donald Trump and his vampire-the-other-vampires-avoid adviser Stephen Miller speak about the administration’s deportation surge, as if the rest of America shares their barbarism kink. The YouGov report explained the drop in ICE support like this: "One factor is that many Americans distrust the agency. Only one-quarter (26%) of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in ICE. Nearly half (44%) say they have no confidence in ICE at all." A whopping 75% of Americans think ICE agents "should have to wear identifying uniforms," and nearly 60% think masks should be forbidden.

The Hill [3/5/2026 10:00 AM, Amy Austin and David Sklar, 18170K] reports American intelligence agencies assess that between 15,000-20,000 former prisoners affiliated with the Islamic State are now at large in Syria. This comes after President Ahmed al-Sharaa launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces — a key partner of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS for over a decade. Under Al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda leader, the Syrian military has carried out sectarian violence against minorities in Syria in a chilling pattern: first against Alawites, then Druze, and now Kurds, committing numerous potential war crimes, including executions of civilians. On Jan. 9, President Trump called for an end to the conflict between the Syrian military and the Syrian Democratic Forces after al-Sharaa had launched an offensive against Kurds in Aleppo. On Jan. 17, U.S. Central Command’s Admiral Brad Cooper called upon al-Sharaa to stop the violence and cease offensive actions, but he ignored the warnings. For his part, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, tweeted on Jan. 20 that the role of the Syrian Democratic Forces as the primary U.S. coalition partner had “largely expired,” and that the Syrian interim government in Damascus would take over the mission, including “control of ISIS detention facilities.” As al-Sharaa’s army continued their assault, ISIS militants were sprung from multiple detention camps. Al-Sharaa tried to blame the Syrian Defense Forces, which had maintained the camps securely for years after militarily defeating the territorial Islamic State caliphate in 2019. U.S. intelligence pins the blame squarely on Al-Sharaa’s government. Al-Sharaa seems to think he can simply ignore the U.S. Congress must therefore investigate the unfolding disaster over which he presides. If actual pressure had been applied to al-Sharaa, could the mass ISIS jailbreak have been prevented? What has happened to the tens of thousands of ISIS fighters on the loose? Why did al-Sharaa ignore U.S. warnings? Most importantly, Congress should make clear that U.S. support for al-Sharaa is not unconditional.

NBC News [3/5/2026 2:10 PM, Julia Ainsley, 42967K] reports that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem handpicked contractors to lead a $100 million campaign to recruit Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers instead of allowing competitive bidding for the jobs, according to three administration officials and internal communications reviewed by NBC News. Typically, multiple companies are allowed to bid on a contract and officials who handle government procurement — not the leaders of departments — decide based on who can do the best job for the lowest price. President Donald Trump announced in a social media post Thursday that Noem would leave office effective March 31. Her place in the administration became increasingly unstable following the killing of U.S. citizens during immigration operations in Minneapolis; her fraying relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard, the only branch of the military under her command; and her comments this week in a Congress hearing that rankled Trump. The president said that Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., would replace her. Trump said Noem would move to a new position, special envoy for "The Shield of the Americas."

NPR [3/5/2026 4:41 PM, Staff, 28764K] Audio: HERE reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using a variety of tools to surveil folks they want to intimidate and apprehend. That web helps federal agents find people to deport. But it also allows them to identify U.S. citizens who criticize the federal government and its policies. NPR has compiled dozens of stories of people caught up in the surveillance web. Some were monitoring ICE activities and found themselves in interactions with agents who identify them by their names and home addresses. NPR’s Scott Detrow talks with Meg Anderson and Jude Joffe-Block who have been collecting the stories, and tracking ICE’s surveillance tactics.

Bloomberg Law [3/5/2026 1:14 PM, John Crawley, 763K] reports four Trump judicial picks advanced as Sen. Thom Tills (R-N.C.) re-upped his threat to disrupt business on future nominees unless homeland security officials answer his questions about an ICE crackdown in his state. The Republican-led Judiciary Committee on Thursday voted along party lines to send the nominees to the full Senate for consideration. They include Andrew Davis and Christopher Wolfe for the Western District of Texas, John Shepherd to the Western District of Arkansas, and Anna St. John to the Eastern District of Louisiana. The 12-10 committee votes replenished the pipeline of judicial nominees on the floor where action to fill court seats has slowed this year with fewer judges stepping aside for President Donald Trump to replace. The last confirmation was Feb. 5. Before the vote, Tills clarified his plans to procedurally disrupt nominees in groups on the Senate floor as well as the regular order of business in the Judiciary Committee and other panels that he sits on unless DHS satisfies his request for information about the recent immigration operation in Charlotte. “You know this pains me for this committee, in particular, because I’m proud of being one of the members that make quorum here and get markups done,” Tillis said, restating his blistering criticism of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s management of the agency.

NewsMax [3/5/2026 2:39 PM, George Mentz, 3760K] reports that let it be known, polls show that 97% support deporting immigrants convicted of violent crimes, terrorism, and child rape. Wall Street Journal/other polls found that roughly 85% - 90% of Americans support Trump-type enforcement of deporting undocumented immigrants convicted of any serious crimes and sexual offenses are generally included in that category. Overall, my experience as law enforcement government commissioner, law professor, legal chancellor, and occasional judge is that people should obey the laws. Having completed immigration and international law related qualifications, the rules are clear. The citizens of the USA must allow the US government to remove the "international criminals," which includes pedophiles, terrorists, poison drug dealers, murderers, arsonists, and child rapists and send them back to their homes from where they came from. With over 750 million people ready to immigrate to the USA right now, no reasonable person would want mass immigration, as it could disenfranchise all citizens, especially African Americans, Hispanics, and ethnic communities. There are roughly 200 million people in Asia, 200 Million in Arabia, and 300 million in Africa who would migrate to the USA tomorrow if they could get the visa and secure financial benefits that American citizens depend upon.

Univision [3/6/2026 12:11 AM, Staff, 4937K] reports that, on February 26, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided dormitories at Columbia University in New York City, allegedly under false pretenses. During the operation, they arrested Azerbaijani student Elmina “Ellie” Aghayeva, a case that has raised concerns within the university community; this is not an isolated incident. During Donald Trump ‘s administration , which launched an aggressive deportation campaign, immigrant students from all over the world have not been exempt from these measures. During Trump’s second term, the State Department has revoked 8,000 student visas, according to a report released by the agency last January. This was done under the pretext of having participated in "encounters with U.S. law enforcement regarding criminal activity." In recent months, at least four cases have been documented of immigrant university students being detained despite being enrolled in prestigious Ivy League universities, with whom the Donald Trump administration has an open confrontation. Mahmoud Khalil is a graduate student and activist at Columbia University who was actively involved in student protests related to the war in Gaza. During 2024 and 2025, he became one of the main mediators between the protesters and the university administration. His activism placed him at the center of public and political attention both on and off campus. On March 8, 2025, ICE agents arrested him at the residential building where he lived in Manhattan. According to court records, the agents acted after the State Department ordered the revocation of his student visa. When they learned that Khalil had permanent residency in the United States , they stated that that status could also be revoked. Following his arrest, he was transferred to the LaSalle Detention Center in Louisiana. He remained there for more than three months while legal proceedings related to his possible deportation took place. During that time, he was not charged with any criminal offense, but the government maintained that his presence could have implications for U.S. foreign policy. The case sparked a strong public reaction. Civil rights organizations, academics, and politicians argued that his detention could constitute retaliation against freedom of expression and participation in student protests. The debate spread nationwide regarding the role of universities and the reach of immigration authorities on campuses. In June 2025, a federal judge ordered his release on bail after determining that he posed neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk. Khalil had spent approximately 104 days in detention and continued to face immigration proceedings while his case remained in court. Mohsen Mahdawi is a student originally from Palestine , who studied at Columbia University, lived for several years in the United States as a legal permanent resident, and was known on campus for participating in political activities related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On April 14 of last year, Mahdawi went to an immigration office in Vermont for an interview related to his application for U.S. citizenship. During that appointment, he was detained by ICE agents and handcuffed as he left the building. The arrest surprised his lawyers and several state legislators who were familiar with his immigration case. Immigration authorities indicated they could initiate deportation proceedings using a rare provision in immigration law that allows for the expulsion of a person if their presence is deemed to negatively impact U.S. foreign policy. His lawyers argued that his detention was retaliation for his political activism.

CBS News [3/5/2026 12:58 PM, Alexandra Simon, 51110K] reports officials in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, approved a resolution barring federal agents from using county-owned property for civil immigration activities. The Board of Commissioners approved the measure by a 2-1 vote during a meeting Thursday. "We want to make sure in Montgomery County we do everything we can to make sure all of our residents can continue to access essential services and live their lives safely," Commissioner Jamila Winder said before the vote. Winder said the resolution bars U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from using county parking lots, garages or other spaces as staging areas, processing locations and operations bases for the purpose of immigration enforcement unless given explicit permission. Commissioner Tom DiBello said he agreed with some aspects of the resolution, but couldn’t support the measure without additional studies. During a public comment period ahead of the vote, Montgomery County Sheriff Sean Kilkenny said he supported the resolution.

CBS Baltimore [3/5/2026 5:00 PM, Adam Thompson, 51110K] reports the private owner of a planned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Elkridge, Maryland, is suing Howard County and elected officials. The owner, listed on the claim as Genesis GSA Strategic One LLC, county officials interfered with and obstructed the federal government’s authority to enforce immigration law and open detention sites. The lawsuit alleges that the county signed off on more than 90% of the construction before abruptly revoking permits last month because officials learned ICE would occupy the building. Howard County’s council then passed an emergency bill to ban private immigration detention centers in the county. Howard County laws restrict private detention facilities. ICE told WJZ that it has no plans to purchase or open a detention center in Howard County. The county revoked the building permit, which detailed renovations to "tenant spaces, supported areas, detention facility, detainee processing and secured waiting areas," according to Ball.

New York Post [3/5/2026 4:06 PM, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, 40934K] reports cops in a lefty Washington, DC, suburb repeatedly warned prosecutors that a serial criminal illegal immigrant was a danger to the community and had to be locked up — months before he allegedly stabbed a local mom to death at a bus stop. Fairfax, Virginia, police raised the alarm about Abdul Jalloh — who has been arrested more than 30 times — as early as May 2025 in emails to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney, WJLA-News found in a bombshell report Wednesday. "I wanted to bring Mr. Jalloh’s release to your attention," a police major emailed the prosecutor’s office in November 2025, the outlet said. "Because Mr. Jalloh is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders we discussed when we met. I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? "Unfortunately, based on… numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status," the email said. That warning followed an August 2025 email from another high-ranking cop, who noted that Jalloh had "over 100 involvements" with the Fairfax County Police Department, WJLA reported. "JALLOH’s offenses began with domestic violence incidents and escalated to assaulting other victims and threats with weapons (knives)," the message said. The US Department of Homeland Security, which said it lodged an immigration retainer for Jalloh as early as 2020, slammed "Virginia’s sanctuary politicians." It’s not clear when Jalloh was last released from jail.

USA Today [3/5/2026 10:58 AM, Irene Wright, 70643K] reports it started with a call from a reporter with the Washington Post. Officials in Oakwood, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, had just heard that a 10,000-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center was coming to another north Georgia town a few weeks earlier when the phone rang. The reporter asked if Oakwood knew it was shortlisted for an ICE processing facility. No, this was the first they were hearing about it, officials told him. In the weeks that followed, the city of less than 6,000 people prepared for two warehouses within their boundaries to be converted to an ICE processing facility. To their knowledge, detainees would be brought to Oakwood after being arrested, spend a few days there and then be transported to the larger and longer term detention facility in Social Circle, Georgia. Oakwood officials are estimating costs over $2 million as water and sewer capacities are tested and their police force requires additional training. As of Feb. 27, the town has never been contacted by the Department of Homeland Security. B.R. White, Oakwood’s city planner, says the only contact they’ve gotten from Washington has come from Andrew Clyde, a representative in the House from Georgia’s 9th district which includes Oakwood. In a February statement, Clyde said his office had received information from ICE, that was passed along to Oakwood, identifying two warehouses on Atlanta Highway as the right fit for a detention processing facility. "The identification and fit for purpose of each facility included an engineering review of the existing utilities and facility infrastructure. The engineering team reviewed the proposed use and capacities for electricity, water usage, waste exportation, and water capacities for life safety building systems (fire protection systems)," Clyde shared. "The final selection of the facility was predicated on a ‘No Detrimental Effect’ determination.” But White says cost is unavoidable, and absolutely detrimental to Oakwood.

CBS News [3/5/2026 5:06 PM, Zachary Bynum, 51110K] reports the treatment of a disabled immigrant detainee inside one of Georgia’s largest immigration detention centers is drawing renewed scrutiny after a tense congressional exchange between U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — just hours before President Donald Trump fired Noem from her post. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, McBath confronted Noem about the case of Rodney Taylor, a double amputee detained at Stewart Detention Center in southwest Georgia. McBath accused federal officials of allowing inhumane conditions inside the facility. Taylor, who has lived in the United States since childhood, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for nearly a year despite severe disabilities and a decades-old conviction that was later pardoned. McBath described disturbing conditions Taylor allegedly experienced while detained. Noem told lawmakers she was unfamiliar with the case but promised to review it. According to a letter sent to detention center leadership and federal immigration officials, Taylor has endured nearly 12 months of what advocates describe as medical neglect, including a failure to provide required disability accommodations and adequate prosthetic care. Taylor, who is originally from Liberia and arrived in the United States at age two, is currently being held in connection with a 1997 burglary charge that was pardoned in 2010. He has a pending green card application.

Washington Post [3/5/2026 5:00 AM, Joe Heim and Jasmine Golden, 24826K] reports in this bright-red pocket of an otherwise deep-blue state, many of President Donald Trump’s positions are popular with residents, particularly his pledge to shut down borders and deport people who are in the country illegally. Matthew Young, a 34-year-old truck driver who lives in the county, agreed wholeheartedly with the president on the issue. “He never made it a secret that he was going to have the biggest deportation in American history, from day one,” Young said. But in December, county residents learned that the Department of Homeland Security planned to convert an enormous empty warehouse in Williamsport into a detention center that would house as many as 1,500 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Though the president still had his supporters, the news didn’t land well with everyone. Some residents were hostile to an ICE facility opening, and others worried their county would become another hot spot in the rancorous nationwide debate over how immigration should be enforced. With the facility now expected to begin operating next month, according to a person briefed on the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal agency matters, still more residents are frustrated by what they say has been a lack of public input over the decision. “It happened without the community having a voice, and that’s very crucial and very important, especially in small towns,” said Paula Jackson, a county resident and business owner.

Daily Wire [3/5/2026 5:33 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports a prosecutor in Fairfax County, Virginia, was warned against releasing an illegal immigrant with a rap sheet before he went on to fatally stab 41-year-old mother Stephanie Minter, according to ABC7. Abdul Jalloh, 32, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone, allegedly murdered Minter at a local bus stop on Feb. 23. He allegedly fled the scene, leaving behind her lifeless. Police nabbed him the next day. Jalloh had at least 30 previous arrests for charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and pickpocketing, according to the Department of Homeland Security. An officer with the Fairfax County Police Department notified Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office in November, warning that he could continue on his crime rampage upon release, according to emails obtained by 7News reporter Nick Minock via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. "I want to bring Mr. Jalloh’s release to your attention because Mr. Jalloh is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders we discussed when we met. I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe five years) was pursued by your office?" the email read. "Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it’s not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe prompts me to follow up on his status," it added. Most of the 40 previous charges against Jalloh have been dropped by Descano, according to ABC7. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer with local police on Feb. 25, asking them to transfer Jalloh to federal custody so he’s not released, DHS said. But Democratic Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has indicated she won’t allow local law enforcement to honor the detainer without a judicial warrant, which is not standard protocol for ICE, according to ABC7. DHS is now putting the pressure on Spanberger to hand him over.

Breitbart [3/5/2026 4:25 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports outgoing Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem says Virginians "should be alarmed" over Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s seemingly refusing to honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer against a repeat criminal illegal alien now accused of murdering 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, a mother, in a random attack in Fairfax County. As Breitbart News reported, 32-year-old illegal alien Abdul Jalloh of Sierra Leone was arrested by the Fairfax County Police Department and charged with stabbing Stephanie Minter, a mother, to death at a Fredericksburg, Virginia, bus stop in a random attack. Jalloh had more than 30 prior arrests before Minter’s murder, but Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano repeatedly dropped charges against him. ICE officials have lodged a detainer against Jalloh, requesting Fairfax County officials to make sure he is not released from jail at any time and instead turned over to their custody. A spokesperson for Spanberger’s office suggested she will only honor the detainer if ICE agents secure a criminal judicial warrant from a criminal court judge — a standard that is not required by law.

Washington Examiner [3/5/2026 5:00 AM, Staff, 1147K] reports Virginia Democrats, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, are again refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials who want to deport a violent illegal immigrant who recently murdered a Fairfax County mother in cold blood. This is not the first time anti-ICE Democrats have gotten innocent people killed, and it won’t be the last unless they reverse themselves and start cooperating with federal immigration law enforcement officials. Sierra Leone national Abdul Jalloh illegally entered the United States in 2012. In the decade and more he’s been in the country, he has racked up more than 30 arrests, including for assault, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, drug possession, firing a weapon, identity theft, larceny, pick pocketing, rape, and trespassing. Most recently, in 2023, Jalloh was convicted of stabbing a man in a Fairfax County 7-Eleven parking lot while trying to steal his cellphone. Jalloh had been arrested on charges of stabbing three times before, but this one produced his first conviction, and he served two years in prison before being released by Fairfax County officials, who failed to notify ICE that a violent, convicted immigrant was being let out to mingle with the public.

Reuters [3/5/2026 9:56 PM, Kanishka Singh, 38315K] reports a reporter working for local news outlet Nashville Noticias was arrested by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Nashville without a warrant, an emergency petition filed by her attorneys in federal ‌court said. Nashville Noticias said on Thursday the journalist, Estefany Maria Rodriguez Flores, was taken to an ICE detention center and remained in custody. ICE did not respond to a request for comment. Rodriguez Flores is from Colombia, has lived in the U.S. for five years, and "frequently reports on stories critical of ⁠ICE," her lawyers said in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The media outlet said the reporter was with her husband outside a gym on Wednesday when the vehicle they were in, which was marked with the Nashville Noticias logo, was surrounded and she was detained. U.S. District Judge Eli Richardson directed federal immigration officials to give their preliminary response to the emergency petition by Friday. Rodriguez Flores had a meeting scheduled for March 17 with ICE’s Enforcement ‌and Removal ⁠Operations, her lawyers said.

NewsMax [3/5/2026 10:17 PM, Michael Katz, 3760K] reports the Trump administration secured a victory Thursday when a federal appeals court vacated a lower-court ruling that placed use-of-force restrictions on immigration enforcement officers during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago. In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals called the lower-court ruling "constitutionally suspect" and questioned the manner in which U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis dismissed the underlying suit. Ellis was appointed by former President Barack Obama. Chief Judge Michael Brennan and Judge Michael Scudder formed the majority, and Judge Frank Easterbrook dissented. Brennan and Scudder were appointed by President Donald Trump, and Easterbrook was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan. "Tonight the @thejusticedept delivered a huge legal win in the 7th Circuit for President Trump in support of Operation Midway Blitz – @POTUS’s crucial law enforcement surge into Chicago," Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote in a post on X. "President Trump is trying to protect American citizens while local elected officials REFUSE to do so," she continued. "@thejusticedept attorneys were proud to argue this case. We will continue fighting and WINNING for the President’s law-and-order agenda.” Ellis issued the preliminary injunction in November after journalists and protesters sued federal officials, alleging immigration agents used tear gas, pepper balls, and other crowd-control weapons against demonstrators during Operation Midway Blitz, a surge in immigration enforcement activity in the Chicago area. Her order broadly restricted the use of certain force tactics and applied to federal officers operating throughout the Northern District of Illinois. The appeals panel said the injunction swept far beyond the incidents described in the lawsuit, effectively applying to entire federal agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security and Justice. The court said the order also intruded on executive authority by requiring federal officials to submit internal policies and directives for judicial review. The panel wrote that the injunction effectively placed federal immigration enforcement under judicial supervision, saying it "established the district court as the supervisor of all Executive Branch activity in the city of Chicago.”

Chicago Tribune [3/5/2026 7:23 PM, Jason Meisner, 5209K] reports a Chicago federal appeals court on Thursday vacated a lower court’s injunction placing use-of-force restrictions on immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz, calling it “constitutionally suspect” and questioning the manner in which the district judge dismissed the underlying suit. The three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was split 2-1, with Chief Judge Michael Brennan and Judge Michael Scudder in the majority and Judge Frank Easterbrook dissenting. The ending of the Trump administration’s appeal was a foregone conclusion after U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in January granted a motion by the plaintiffs to dismiss the underlying lawsuit. But the 7th Circuit went beyond a mere dismissal of the appeal and ordered what’s known as “vacatur,” which essentially treats Ellis’ preliminary injunction ruling as though it never existed. In the 15-page majority opinion, the judges wrote that Ellis, “working on a highly compressed timeline … granted an overbroad, constitutionally suspect injunction.” The majority was particularly critical of Ellis for dismissing the lawsuit “without prejudice” even though the parties didn’t ask for it, leaving the door open for plaintiffs to refile the case at some point down the road. “Because the district court dismissed this case without prejudice — against the plaintiffs’ unopposed request for a dismissal with prejudice — any class members or the lead plaintiffs could refile these claims tomorrow,” the majority opinion stated. “They could ask the district court to reinstate a near-identical preliminary injunction, adopting the facts and legal reasoning from the district court’s order.” The majority opinion said they “can help avoid that pitfall by vacating the order that depends on these conclusions.”

NPR [3/5/2026 5:00 AM, Arthur Allen and Kate Wells, 28764K] Audio: HERE reports Gabi has big brown eyes, pigtails, and a genetic condition that makes her bones brittle. They fracture easily, leaving the 2-year-old in such pain that her mother quit her job cleaning offices to stay home and cradle her. They share a one-bedroom apartment in Minneapolis with six relatives. When federal immigration agents descended on their city, officers deported Gabi’s father, then detained her aunt. Gabi is an American citizen. Her best chance to stand, or even walk, someday is a complex surgery on her legs and feet that was scheduled for January. But her mother, too terrified to take out the garbage, let alone venture through the city to a hospital, canceled the procedure. KFF Health News and NPR agreed not to identify patients and their families in this article because they fear becoming targets of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. "I want more than anything for my baby to walk," her mother said in Spanish, as Gabi cooed and wriggled in her arms, a feeding tube snaking from her stomach to an IV pole. "But with the situation that’s happening, I canceled the surgery and all the physical therapy appointments" that would have followed. "Because I’m afraid to leave." The Department of Homeland Security has declared an end to what it called Operation Metro Surge, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers. Even so, weeks later health care workers say immigration agents are still camping out in hospital parking lots. And drones fly overhead in agricultural areas beyond Minneapolis, where Somali and Latino immigrants have settled in recent years. The Minnesota crackdown revealed the sweep of the surveillance and capture system the Trump administration is using to uproot immigrant communities in the United States, and its powerful brake on the medical system. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, blamed protesters for the disruption. "If anyone is impeding Americans from making appointments or picking up prescriptions," she said, "its [sic] violent agitators who are blocking roadways, ramming vehicles, and vandalizing property." While Minnesotans rose up to oppose the surge in the streets, doctors and nurses have quietly operated informal, underground medical networks, dodging detection to care for patients at home.

FOX News [3/5/2026 6:00 AM, Peter Pinedo Fox, 37576K] Video: HERE reports the more than six-year prison sentencing of illegal alien Jose Melgar-Rivas for causing serious injuries to a federal officer by dragging him with his vehicle shows why the agent who shot activist Renee Good feared for his life, an expert told Fox News Digital. U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced Tuesday that Melgar-Rivas had been sentenced to serve 78 months in federal prison for assaulting, resisting or impeding a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, resulting in bodily injury. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, lauded the sentencing as "great news." She noted, however, that "unfortunately, this is just one of many examples of either aliens and/or rioters, illegal obstructionists, assaulting federal agents with vehicles.” She pointed to a dramatic rise in vehicular assaults on federal immigration enforcement officers, most notably including an attack on ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who was dragged by an illegal immigrant’s vehicle in a similar incident in Minnesota. That agent later shot and killed activist Renee Good when she allegedly accelerated her vehicle at him in a confrontation with law enforcement. Ries called for Melgar-Rivas’ sentencing to be "announced far and wide." She said that "others need to know that there are, in fact, consequences for both obstructing ICE carrying out their lawful federal enforcement duties, but also there are severe consequences for assaulting and harming ICE agents [and] federal agents." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The Hill [3/5/2026 3:18 PM, Sophie Brams, 18170K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is conducting a review of its largest migrant detention center in the country amid reports of illness and inhumane conditions at Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, according to a statement from the agency. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told KTSM in a statement. Bis said that the contract for Camp East Montana, which is currently under evaluation, was “inherited” from the Defense Department. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that ICE was taking steps to close the facility that opened less than a year ago. The Post cited internal documents stating ICE intended to terminate the facility’s $1.2 billion contract awarded to Acquisition Logistics LLC last July. The move comes as DHS is under scrutiny for what human rights groups described as “significant abuse” against detainees housed in the sprawling tent camp, including allegations of physical and sexual abuse by officers, medical neglect and insufficient food, among other complaints. At least three people have died at the facility since December, one of which was ruled a homicide, according to Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), whose district includes the Fort Bliss Army base. On Tuesday, Escobar said the facility was temporarily closed to visitors and attorneys because of a measles outbreak. There were 14 active cases and 112 people in isolation, she said. The Washington Examiner [3/5/2026 4:49 PM, Rena Rowe, 1147K] reports that the facility’s contract with Acquisition Logistics LLC is set to expire in September 2027. The document did not include a time frame or reason for the possible termination. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Lauren Bis, however, said DHS is reviewing the contracts, but "no decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award." The review comes after a recent measles outbreak at the facility, which closed the camp to visitors. As of Tuesday, there were 14 confirmed measles cases, and 112 individuals were isolated.

AP [3/6/2026 12:07 AM, Morgan Lee, Ryan J. Foley, and Michael Biesecker, 31753K] Video: HERE reports the calls to 911 poured in from staff at Camp East Montana in Texas, the nation’s largest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility, at a rate of nearly one a day for five months, each its own tale of pain and despair. A man sobs after being assaulted by another detainee. Another bangs his head against the wall after expressing suicidal thoughts. A pregnant woman complained of severe back pain and also had coronavirus. “Every day felt like a week. Every week felt like a month. Every month felt like a year,” said Owen Ramsingh, a former property manager in Columbia, Missouri, who spent several weeks in the camp before his deportation in February to the Netherlands. “Camp East Montana was 1,000% worse than a prison.” Fueled by billions of dollars in new funding, ICE operations across the nation have roiled communities, separated families and created a culture of fear in pursuit of President Donald Trump’s vow to rid the country of unauthorized migrants. The mass arrests have swelled detention centers, and set ICE off on a national chase for space to warehouse those who have been apprehended. Far from the “worst of the worst” that Trump vowed to deport, the data from ICE show that 80% at the camp had no criminal record and were instead caught up in a far-reaching dragnet. Camp East Montana looks like a pop up village, with six long tents along a stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert outside El Paso at the U.S. Army base Fort Bliss, once the site of an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II. Inside the hastily constructed camp, a series of communal living pods shelter thousands of immigrants in color-coded uniforms and Croc-style shoes. But the stories of the conditions at the facility, revealed in data and recordings from more than a hundred 911 calls obtained by the AP — in addition to follow-up interviews and court filings — offer a disturbing portrait of overcrowding, medical neglect, malnutrition and emotional distress.

Reported similarly:
CNN [3/5/2026 5:22 PM, Chris Boyette, 19874K]

CBS News [3/5/2026 10:50 PM, Kelsy Mittauer, 51110K] reports the eighth day of the federal trial for the alleged attack on the Prairieland detention center in Alvarado last July started with Lynette Sharp back on the witness stand. Nine men and women are on trial, facing a variety of federal charges, accused of being part of a "North Texas Antifa cell." According to court documents, the group attacked the ICE facility, setting off fireworks, vandalizing property, and shooting at police officers who responded. One officer was struck in the neck with a bullet and survived. Charges include attempted murder, aiding terrorists and weapons charges. Those supporting the defendants have called those charges outrageous, saying the defendants were there protesting ICE and that the government has gone overboard to send a message.

ABC News [3/5/2026 1:59 PM, Laura Romero and Armando Garcia, 34146K] reports that the contract for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement tent facility in El Paso, Texas, is under review, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a statement. Camp East Montana, a detention center on the grounds of Fort Bliss, was opened in August by the Trump administration. The facility has faced criticism from immigrant advocates following the deaths of three detainees and a current measles outbreak. "ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody," Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. "The contract for Camp East Montana was inherited from the Department of War. DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards." "DHS is reviewing this facility and contract," Bis added. "No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award." Last year, Acquisition Logistics LLC, a Virginia-based company, was awarded $1.2 billion to build the 5,000 bed, short-term detention facility with an estimated date of completion of Sept. 30, 2027, according to a Department of Defense notice. Acquisition Logistics did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Houston Chronicle [3/5/2026 11:26 AM, Matt deGrood, 2493K] reports Houston police officers in at least two instances have arrested drivers and personally transported them to immigration agents — a new level of cooperation with federal officials that could risk violating the U.S. Constitution and internal policies, according to legal experts. The details, gleaned from police reports, come days after Houston-area religious leaders appeared before city council to denounce a general uptick in the Houston Police Department’s cooperation with ICE agents. Officers called federal authorities in more than 154 cases in 2025, an increase of more than 1,000% from prior years. Elected leaders in Houston have long debated what the law requires of officers after President Donald Trump’s administration added more than 700,000 noncriminal warrants to a federal database available to law enforcement agencies nationwide. But the revelation that officers have directly arrested people on immigration inquiries could be considered a violation of the Fourth Amendment, some legal experts said. "If a local officer was engaging in immigration enforcement when they did not have any legal authority to do so, that could amount to a constitutional violation," said Seth Stoughton, a professor of law and an associate professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. "The officer has effectively no more authority than any random community member to detain someone."

NBC News [3/5/2026 12:33 PM, Laura Strickler and Julia Ainsley, 42967K] reports the Department of Homeland Security said it is re-evaluating the future of the largest immigrant detention center in the country just seven months after it opened at Fort Bliss outside El Paso, Texas. The tented facility known as Camp East Montana has had a troubled history starting with a fatal construction accident and three detainee deaths in less than six weeks, one of which was ruled a homicide. There have also been outbreaks of both tuberculosis and measles. "ICE is always looking at ways to improve our detention facilities to ensure we are providing the best care to illegal aliens in our custody," an agency spokesperson said in an email. She added that the contract for the facility "was inherited" from the Defense Department. "DHS undergoes rigorous audits and inspections of our facilities to ensure they are meeting our high standards. DHS is reviewing this facility and contract. No decisions have been made related to contract extension, termination, or award," the spokesperson wrote. The detention center houses almost 3,000 immigrants as of mid-February and the vast majority, 82%, have no criminal histories, according to ICE data. On Tuesday, ICE confirmed that 14 detainees at Camp East Montana tested positive for measles. The disease is highly contagious and those infected have been "cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread," the spokesperson said. More than 100 other individuals have been isolated in connection with the outbreak, said Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, whose El Paso district includes the detention center. She added that Camp East Montana is closed to lawyers and visitors because of the outbreak.

NBC News [3/5/2026 1:14 PM, Nicole Acevedo, 42967K] reports the number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces. A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24. State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider. "The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination," Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. "Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.” Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure. All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees. The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory. Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center. Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement. New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.

Yahoo News [3/5/2026 4:17 PM, Coral Murphy Marcos, 46783K] reports a man being held at a US immigration detention facility in Arizona died this week after reporting severe tooth pain and not receiving "timely medical attention", according to a local official. Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian asylum seeker, was being held at the Florence correctional center in Arizona when he began to feel a toothache in mid-February, a pain that weeks later led him to the hospital before he died on Monday. "His reported struggle to receive timely medical attention before being transferred to a hospital raises serious and painful concerns about the quality of care provided to individuals in custody," Christine Ellis, a Chandler city council member, said in an Instagram post. According to Ellis, Damas was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Boston in September 2025 and was later transferred to the facility in Florence, Arizona. The Arizona Daily Star reported that Ellis had called for an investigation into Damas’s death. "He was complaining for almost two weeks straight, until he collapsed and got septic from the infection," Ellis told the local news outlet. Ellis said Damas was transferred to a Scottsdale hospital sometime last week. Ellis’s office, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Guardian. The stark number of deaths has been just one component of a tumultuous tenure for Kristi Noem as homeland security secretary. On Thursday, Donald Trump announced he would be ousting Noem and replacing her with Markwayne Mullin, a Republican Oklahoma senator, starting on 31 March. Under her helm, the DHS has faced bipartisan backlash after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration agents earlier this year. Noem accused both US citizens of being involved in "domestic terrorism".

Daily Caller [3/5/2026 3:58 PM, Jason Hopkins, 803K] reports Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office claims it has no records of outreach from a family irreparably harmed by an illegal migrant truck driver, but phone records show otherwise. Newsom staffers have repeatedly stated that their constituent affairs team has zero records of outreach from Dalilah Coleman’s family after she was struck by an illegal migrant trucker in June 2024 and left with life-altering injuries. However, call logs obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation confirm Marcus Coleman, Dalilah’s father, reached out to Newsom’s office just days after the horrific crash and left a message.

San Francisco Chronicle [3/5/2026 4:57 PM, Jessica Flores, 3833K] reports immigration attorneys were scrambling Thursday to find a Bay Area mother and her two young children, one of whom has severe disabilities, after she was arrested by federal immigration officers in San Francisco this week. Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez was arrested Tuesday evening after reporting for her check-in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office on Tehama Street, said Nikolas De Bremaeker, an immigration attorney with Centro Legal de la Raza. A Colombian asylum-seeker, Gutierrez was with her two children, ages 5 and 7, when all three were detained, De Bremaeker said. The 7-year-old boy is deaf and did not have his hearing aids with him, according to De Bremaeker. Immigration attorneys have not been able to contact or locate Gutierrez and her children. ICE officials have given attorneys and Gutierrez’s family confusing and false information about which detention center Gutierrez was sent to, said De Bremaeker.

Los Angeles Times [3/5/2026 6:00 AM, Salvador Hernandez, 12718K] reports communities have used loud sirens to warn people about approaching storms, tsunamis and tornadoes, but now some activists in Los Angeles are using sirens to warn about immigration agents. Since President Trump took office, Los Angeles communities have seen a stark increase in the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, targeting business districts and neighborhoods, and some community groups have responded by looking for ways to alert residents. For weeks, activists have been installing small — but loud — sirens across Highland Park. The purpose: to get people off the streets and indoors to safety and avoid being detained. "At the very least we can alert the community," said one local activist. The sirens cost about $70 each, and activists have taken to online fundraising to buy more. Several have been placed around the busy sections of York Boulevard and Figueroa Street, an activist said, inside businesses in the area as well as homes. The Department of Homeland Security is not thrilled with the idea. "This is quite literally insane," a department spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "The residents of Highland Park want to buy an air raid siren, the same device that was used in London when German planes flew over — to alert the community about ICE. Seems like a public nuisance.”

Telemundo Washington DC [3/5/2026 9:00 PM, Staff, 120K] reports Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum emphasized on Thursday that her government presented a diplomatic note to the United States following the death of a Mexican migrant while in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), while also assuring that legal support is being provided to the family so that the facts can be clarified. “A diplomatic note was immediately presented and the family is being supported, and the way we file the complaint is now through the families,” the president said during her morning press conference. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) reported that it demanded an “immediate and thorough” investigation from US authorities to clarify the death of the Mexican, which occurred at the Adelanto Processing Center in California, while he was in ICE custody. So far, the identity of the Mexican national and the cause of death have not been made public, so the Mexican Foreign Ministry requested detailed information from the United States about the case, including the medical file and custody reports. In that regard, Sheinbaum emphasized that her government has acted similarly in previous cases and that the goal is to support families in filing complaints in U.S. courts. “So, that’s the work we’re doing, and it always depends on the victim. Now, this isn’t the first case, and this diplomatic note was stronger because we must always protect the lives of our fellow citizens,” he said. The president added that Mexico urges Washington to clarify the circumstances of the death and determine if there is any responsibility. “In all cases, a diplomatic note has been sent, and in all cases, the families are being supported in filing complaints in the United States, in the corresponding courts, and obviously in this case, we are also demanding all the information: how it happened, why it happened, and everything related to it,” he stated. The Mexican Consulate in San Bernardino , California, activated consular assistance protocols to support the family of the deceased, offer legal support, and facilitate the necessary procedures for the eventual repatriation of the remains. The Mexican Foreign Ministry also warned that it will seek to investigate the systemic conditions that have led to these types of cases occurring. According to local media, seven Mexicans died last year while in ICE custody, the highest number since the creation of that immigration agency.

Reuters [3/5/2026 3:28 PM, Nate Raymond] reports President Donald Trump has the authority to indefinitely suspend admissions ​of foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States under the U.S. refugee resettlement program, a ‌federal appeals court ruled on Thursday, backing a key element of his hardline approach toward immigration. A California-based three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reached that conclusion as it overturned most of the injunctions issued by a judge in Seattle last year against ​Trump’s halt on refugee admissions and related actions. The 9th Circuit last year allowed Trump’s policy to proceed, pausing ​most of U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead’s decisions in favor of the plaintiffs while the ⁠U.S. Justice Department’s appeal played out. The Republican president froze refugee resettlement after taking office in January 2025, saying the U.S. ​Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, must ensure that refugees admitted to the U.S. "appropriately assimilate." Senior U.S. Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, writing on Thursday for the 9th Circuit panel, said the court recognized the "enormous practical implications" of its decision to largely overturn rulings issued in the case by Whitehead. But Bybee, who like the other appellate judges was appointed by ‌a Republican ⁠president, said the result was due to Congress granting the president sweeping powers to suspend entry to immigrants. While the 9th ⁠Circuit panel overturned most of Whitehead’s rulings, it upheld on a 2-1 vote the judge’s injunctions blocking the end of services to already-admitted refugees and the termination of cooperative agreements with resettlement support centers.

Newsweek [3/5/2026 8:38 PM, Sam Stevenson, 52220K] reports green card holders face several policy shifts in 2026, with new rules affecting business loans, border screening and how some refugees are processed for permanent residency. Green card holders face several policy shifts in 2026, with new rules affecting business loans, border screening and how some refugees are processed for permanent residency. Several of the changes below are set out in primary, official documents that specify effective dates and the scope of who is covered. The Small Business Administration (SBA) said that starting March 1, 2026, only businesses owned entirely by U.S. citizens or U.S. nationals living in the United States can qualify for SBA‑backed loans, according to a policy notice published February 2, 2026. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a final rule titled “Collection of Biometric Data from Aliens Upon Entry to and Departure from the United States,” described as advancing the government’s biometric entry/exit program. A DHS memorandum issued on February 18, 2026, says that refugees are only admitted to the United States temporarily at first and must be reviewed again after one year in the country. If a refugee does not show up on their own, the memo says DHS can arrest and detain them in order to carry out that review. The memo also says DHS can keep the person in custody for as long as the review takes. The practical impact will become clearer over time as applications are reviewed under the new standards, potentially prompting legal challenges and calls for guidance.

Bloomberg [3/5/2026 8:00 AM, Alicia A. Caldwell, 18082K] reports the Trump administration’s overhaul of the US visa system for highly skilled immigrants is about to get its first major test. The annual lottery for H-1Bs, the most popular visa for white-collar professionals looking to build a career in the US, gets underway with new rules this month. For the first time, successful sponsors for immigrants arriving from another country will need to pay a $100,000 fee. And the system will now favor more experienced and higher paid workers, rules likely to disadvantage IT consulting firms that won an outsize share of the visas in recent years. It’s the biggest revamp in decades, and employers, lawyers and staffing firms are studying how to get the best chance at winning one of the 85,000 coveted slots that will be awarded at the end of March. Last year, about one-third of petitioners were successful. “This is going to be a bit of a sea change,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, the executive chairman of global research firm Everest Group, which works with companies that routinely use the H-1B program. He added that staffing firms are likely to balk at the $100,000 fee for workers from overseas, so that should free up slots for employers in tech and finance better able to absorb the cost.

FOX News [3/5/2026 7:30 AM, Leo Briceno, 37576K] reports Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., plans to introduce a bill that would halt entry from a set of Muslim countries, an effort Ogles framed as a continuation of travel restrictions President Donald Trump implemented in 2017. "Mass Islamic immigration, legal or illegal, has transformed America and brought destructive consequences," Ogles said. "America’s moral exemplar is a meek carpenter who rose from the dead, not a warmonger with 12 wives and countless slaves. My bill will preserve this truth." Ogles’ bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prevent admission of aliens from a series of countries with predominantly Muslim populations and a handful of other U.S. adversaries as Republicans continue to express concerns about Islamic ideologies and possible ties to recent acts of violence. The bill, dubbed the "Halt Immigration from Countries with Inadequate Verification Capabilities Act" (HICIVA), targets Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. The bill describes those countries as regions "where the government or prevailing conditions do not allow for reliable verification of the identities, backgrounds, or intentions" for travelers looking to enter the U.S. The ban would also apply to individuals who have lived in the listed countries in the five years before the date of their attempted entry. It makes an exception for U.S. citizens.

FOX News [3/5/2026 6:01 PM, Staff, 37576K] Video: HERE reports Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, discusses the nomination of Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., as DHS secretary and criticizes Democrats for blocking funding on ‘The Will Cain Show.’

FOX News [3/5/2026 6:39 PM, Ashley Oliver Fox, 37576K] reports a federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to begin the drawn-out task of refunding billions of dollars to companies that paid tariffs the Supreme Court recently invalidated.
Judge Richard Eaton, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, laid out the estimated $130 billion refund process in a three-page order, saying it would begin with U.S. Customs and Border Protection calculating what importers would have paid without the now-invalid tariffs. Eaton also made clear he had sole jurisdiction over the refunds, which more than 1,000 companies have sued over in the U.S. Court of International Trade. "The Chief Judge has indicated that I am the only judge who will hear cases pertaining to the refund of [International Emergency Economic Powers Act] duties," Eaton wrote. "So there is no danger that another Judge, even one in this Court, will reach any contrary conclusions.” The case in question was brought by Atmus Filtration, Inc., a company that paid President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which Trump imposed on nearly every country on an emergency basis under IEEPA last year. The IEEPA is a 1977 law that allows the president – after declaring a national emergency in response to foreign threats – to regulate or block certain economic transactions, such as by imposing sanctions. The Supreme Court decided 6-3 in February to block Trump’s use of the emergency law to impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners. The majority held that IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, even after a national emergency declaration, because Congress did not clearly grant the executive branch that power. All importers who paid those duties were entitled to benefit from the Supreme Court’s ruling, Eaton said. Eaton said CBP should calculate the affected imports as if the tariffs had never applied, which the judge signaled would eventually pave the way for refunds to the companies.

Reuters [3/5/2026 6:32 PM, Staff, 38315K] reports a federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. government to begin paying refunds of President Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs that the U.S. Supreme Court deemed illegal in late February. This could ultimately return $168 billion to $182 billion to importers, budget ​analysts estimate. The mechanism for doing that is far from clear, but Court of International Trade Senior Judge Richard ‌Eaton ordered the Customs and Border Protection agency to report on Friday its initial ideas for a refund plan that would avoid thousands of individual lawsuits. "I want to make it clear to the customs service that they have to refund any money that was unlawfully collected," Eaton told a hearing ​on Wednesday. Economists at this University of ​Pennsylvania fiscal research group estimate that CBP has collected up to $182 billion in gross revenue from ⁠tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act between February 4, 2025 and February 23, 2026. The estimate, produced at Reuters’ ​request, is derived from a ground-up forecasting model that cross-references tariffs on about 11,000 product categories across 233 countries. IEEPA tariff revenue through February 19 totaled $168 billion, based on forward projections of the CBP ​assessments data through December 14, putting the Yale group slightly lower than the PWBM estimates. After the Supreme Court ruling, the Trump administration ​imposed a temporary 10% global ​tariff under Section 122 of ⁠the Trade Act of 1974 and announced it would rise to 15%.

Reuters [3/5/2026 11:42 AM, Staff, 38315K] reports groups representing major U.S. airlines and travel groups warned on Thursday that an ongoing partial government shutdown ​could snarl air traffic as the busy U.S. spring break travel season nears. Funding ‌for the Homeland Security Department lapsed on February 13 after Congress failed to reach a deal on immigration enforcement reforms demanded by Democrats. That halted operational funding for several government agencies, including the ​Transportation Security Administration. About 50,000 TSA airport security screeners are working without pay and as ​the shutdown continues more workers could be unable or unwilling ⁠to come to work because of financial hardship. Carriers are expecting a record-breaking spring ​travel period, with 171 million passengers expected to fly, up 4% over the ​same two-month period last year, said Chris Sununu, CEO of trade association Airlines for America. He castigated lawmakers for not voting to end the shutdown. "The fear is that, once again, they’re not going ​to act until something really desperate happens, until we get long lines," Sununu said, ​adding the repeated shutdowns are putting the U.S. aviation system at risk. Spring break travel will heat ‌up ⁠as TSA workers get their first zero paycheck on March 13, Sununu said. He urged the Trump administration to reinstate Global Entry, which expedites U.S. customs and immigration clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers entering the United States.

New York Times [3/5/2026 4:17 PM, Scott Dance, 148038K] reports for months, Kristi Noem’s handling of disaster assistance as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security had been raising concern across the country. A rule she imposed requiring that her office review all contracts and grants of $100,000 or more had stalled Federal Emergency Management Agency aid that state and local governments were counting on, waiting to be reimbursed for relief and recovery efforts they had paid for months or years earlier. This week, frustration over those delays fueled criticism of Ms. Noem even from some Republicans — adding to the storm of controversy that on Thursday cost Ms. Noem her job. After Ms. Noem’s dismissal, disaster relief experts said they hoped aid would begin flowing more quickly. FEMA officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether disaster spending would continue to be subject to the reviews Ms. Noem imposed, and, if so, who would oversee them in the coming weeks. Mr. Trump tapped Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, to replace Ms. Noem, but it was unclear how quickly the Senate would move to confirm him. Mr. Trump has not nominated anyone for Senate confirmation as FEMA administrator in his second term. The agency’s current leader, Karen Evans, is the third person to run it on an acting basis in the past year.

Heatmap News [3/5/2026 4:33 PM, Jeva Lange, 77K] reports the Federal Emergency Management Agency has suspended all of its training and education programs for emergency managers across the country — except for those "directly supporting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.” FEMA’s National Training and Education Division offers nearly 300 courses for local first responders and emergency managers, while FEMA’s National Disaster and Emergency Management University (formerly called the Emergency Management Institute) acts as the central training organization for emergency management in the United States. Since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 14, FEMA has instructed NTED partners to "cease course delivery operations," according to communication reviewed by Heatmap. The NDEMU website and independent study materials have also been taken down. The decision to remove NDEMU materials and freeze NTED courses not related to the World Cup has left emergency management students around the country in the lurch, with some just a few credits shy of certifications that would allow them to seek jobs. Mid-career employees have likewise been unable to meet their continuing training requirements, with courses pending "rescheduling" at a later date. In states like California, where all public employees are sworn in as disaster service workers, jurisdictions have been left without the resources to train their employees. Additionally, certain preparedness grants require proof that emergency departments are compliant with frameworks such as the National Incident Management System and the Incident Command System. "The federal government says we need to be compliant with this, and they give us a way to do that, and then they take it away," Laura Maskell, the emergency training and exercise coordinator for the city of San Jose, told me. Depriving emergency managers and first responders of training seems at odds with the safe streets emphasis of the Trump administration. But FEMA has been in crisis since the DOGE cuts of early 2025, which were executed by a series of administrators who believe the agency shouldn’t exist; another 10,000 employees may be cut this spring. (Sure to deepen the chaos at the agency, Trump fired Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem earlier Thursday. FEMA did not respond to a request for comment on this story.) The White House says it wants to shift responsibility for disaster planning and response back to the states — a goal that nevertheless underscores the importance of keeping training and resources accessible, even if the website isn’t being actively updated during the DHS shutdown.

AP [3/5/2026 5:18 PM, Jeff Martin, 35287K] reports that concern is rising that the first major storm outbreak in the run-up to spring could strike the nation’s heartland, putting millions of Americans from Texas to Iowa at risk of potentially strong tornadoes. Some scattered severe thunderstorms were expected to begin firing up late Thursday in the Texas Panhandle and across western Oklahoma and parts of Kansas, the National Weather Service said. Large hail, damaging winds and possibly a few tornadoes were also expected, according to the forecasters. But the strongest storms were expected Friday in a zone that includes much of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri and extends into some nearby states, according to weather service projections. More than 6 million Americans are at the highest risk of severe weather Friday in an area that includes the metropolitan areas of Kansas City and Tulsa, Oklahoma, according to the national Storm Prediction Center. Another 22 million people are at a slightly lesser risk in a zone that includes Oklahoma City; St. Louis; Omaha, Nebraska; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The general setup for the strong storms is a clash between warm air streaming north from the Gulf coast and cooler Canadian air behind cold fronts, according to meteorologists with the private forecasting service AccuWeather.

NBC News [3/5/2026 10:00 AM, Evan Bush, 42967K] reports when Americans are killed in plane crashes or train accidents, an independent board steps in to investigate what went wrong and how to avoid the same mistakes again. No such process exists after deadly floods or hurricanes. A bill introduced Thursday by Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., aims to create such a review board to examine weather disasters and prevent their worst consequences in the future. The bill, called the National Weather Safety Board Act, calls for an independent board of at least seven members appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, with backgrounds in meteorology, social sciences and emergency management, among other disciplines. The board would be styled after the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates all civilian aviation accidents, along with other disasters. The proposed board would investigate severe weather disasters, have subpoena power to obtain testimony and evidence, and issue reports of findings and recommendations to agencies like the National Weather Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency and Army Corps of Engineers. The concept has been a topic of conversation among meteorologists and emergency managers for years. But it gained new traction in the wake of the Texas flooding disaster in July, when more than 130 people died, including 27 campers and counselors at a sleepaway camp along the Guadalupe River. Finger-pointing quickly followed the floods. Some Texas officials criticized the National Weather Service — whose offices were short-staffed after cuts made by the Trump administration — alleging that the forecasts had underestimated rainfall. Additional scrutiny centered on the actions of local emergency managers, cellphone warning systems, siren warning systems and federal flood maps. "I immediately saw that politicians were making it political, and we need to make real change so that that type of disaster doesn’t happen again," Sorensen told NBC News. "We’re going to have the brightest people in an independent board that will produce the findings that Congress needs to create the policy that will keep people safe." Sorensen is the only meteorologist in Congress.

NBC News [3/5/2026 5:41 PM, Doha Madani, 42967K] reports seven FIFA World Cup games that were set to be held in Massachusetts are in question after a delay in federal funding left a small town fearful it might be stuck paying millions in security costs. The seven games are set to be played at Gillette Stadium in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, one of 11 U.S. cities that are hosting World Cup games this summer. But the town, which is in metropolitan Boston, has to approve licenses for the games to be held. Its Select Board is reluctant to do that after funds the U.S. government promised to help guarantee security were delayed. More than $600 million was aside in federal grant money in last year’s "One Big Beautiful Bill" budget to assist the cities hosting the World Cup. The funds were supposed to be distributed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency by Jan. 30, according to the agency’s website. But the cities have yet to receive the money. FEMA said in a statement it shared with NBC News that it was in the final stages of awarding the grants when its funding lapsed last month. It said its grants management system "is not operational," as much of its workforce has been furloughed.

Houston Chronicle [3/5/2026 12:00 PM, Sondra Hernandez, 2493K] reports Gov. Greg Abbott has activated state emergency response resources in preparation of expected weekend storms across the state. The stormy weather is expected to arrive as several Houston-area school districts begin the first weekend of Spring Break, when many families will be traveling. Strong to severe thunderstorms are expected Thursday to Sunday across portions of the state, according to the National Weather Service, as a cold front sweeps through. "Texas stands ready to deploy all necessary resources to help local officials respond to potential severe weather across the state," Abbott said in a news release. "Texans are urged to remain weather-aware, regularly check road conditions, and heed the guidance of state and local officials to ensure the safety of themselves and their loved ones." Houston has a low risk for severe weather Friday, but drivers traveling north and west of Houston should use caution, Houston Chronicle meteorologist Justin Ballard reported. Ballard said Saturday’s potential for rain comes in two rounds, in the morning and in the afternoon. The storms could produce damaging winds, hail and even a brief tornado, along with heavy rain rates that could lead to flash flooding.

Washington Times [3/5/2026 10:15 AM, Sean Salai, 1323K] reports the federal government has an estimated $50 billion in unsustainable deferred maintenance and repair liabilities at its underused agency buildings, an independent watchdog reported Thursday. The Public Buildings Reform Board, a bipartisan agency established under the Obama administration with a mandate to shed crumbling properties, estimated that the General Services Administration has received repair allocations equaling just 0.375% of the portfolio’s functional replacement value for decades. That’s well below the industry standard of 2% to 4%, resulting in what the report called “backlogs that increase building lifecycle costs, accelerate asset deterioration, and degrade facility performance.” “Congress is never going to be able to appropriate its way out of this problem,” Talmage Hocker, the board’s acting chairman, said in a statement. “The only way to handle this is through a radical reduction in the GSA’s portfolio size.” GSA, the federal government’s chief landlord, manages more than 350 million square feet of properties nationwide. Roughly 40% are in the District, where extended telework during the pandemic turned them into ghost towns. During a press call on Thursday morning, board member David Winstead noted that D.C. agency buildings, such as the Agriculture Department and Energy Department headquarters, “really lost a lot of their equity” as the Biden administration extended telework beyond what other cities allowed. “Part of the issue is we’ve had this incredible change,” said Mr. Winstead, a commercial real estate attorney who served as GSA public buildings commissioner from 2005 to 2009. The Trump administration has leaned on the board’s recommendations to expedite the disposal of unused D.C. agency headquarters, bolstering its campaign to shrink the size of government.

New York Post [3/5/2026 6:26 PM, Khristina Narizhnaya and Ben Kochman, 40934K] reports a Pakistani man charged with a half-baked plot to kill US politicians posted a photo of President Trump with a severed head — and believed he’d get up to $1 million if the hit was successful, a court heard Thursday. Asif Merchant, 47, testified that he posted the gruesome image on his Facebook page after the US military’s killing of prominent Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in 2020, during Trump’s first term. "Whichever items were popping up, I was sharing them," the accused terrorist matter-of-factly explained during his second and final day on the stand — after he opted to testify in his own defense. Merchant said his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps handler offered him up to $1 million depending on the outcome of his mission — which he has told the jury involved possible assassinations of Trump, President Joe Biden and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. "I was interested in intelligence work and I wanted money," he said in Brooklyn federal court. Merchant claimed on Wednesday that he was forced into the 2024 murder plot — which the FBI foiled before it was even close to fruition — because Iranian spies had "threatened" his family. But an FBI agent who questioned the bumbling accused plotter after his arrest in August of that year told jurors Thursday that Merchant never mentioned any purported threats to relatives back then.

AP [3/5/2026 6:01 PM, Staff] reports a commercial fishing vessel overturned off Cape Cod on Thursday, prompting a search in which one person was recovered from the water and the other is still missing, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. The person who was recovered was “transported to higher medical care,” Coast Guard spokesperson Keira Shantry said. Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification just before noon that the vessel Yankee Rose was overturned about three nautical miles (3.5 miles) northeast of Race Point in Provincetown, Shantry said. Coast Guard crews arrived on the scene along with local agencies minutes later, Shantry said. One of the people on board has been transported for medical care while the search for the other person is ongoing, Shantry said. Responders found two people passed out due to what appeared to be carbon monoxide exposure, Boston radio station WBUR reported. The two people and six others — five emergency responders and a harbormaster — were sent to a hospital to be evaluated for carbon monoxide exposure. All eight were discharged by the following day.

CyberScoop [3/5/2026 3:25 PM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports the FBI found evidence that its networks had been targeted in a suspected cybersecurity incident, the bureau confirmed on Thursday, without sharing any further details. “The FBI identified and addressed suspicious activities on FBI networks, and we have leveraged all technical capabilities to respond,” the agency said in a statement. “We have nothing additional to provide.” CNN and CBS reported that the suspicious activity targeted a digital system the FBI uses to manage and conduct surveillance, including work related to foreign surveillance warrants, wiretaps and pen registers, which are used to trace phone and computer data like IP addresses and dialed phone numbers. News broke in 2024 that the Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon had exploited the U.S. wiretapping system under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act that law enforcement and intelligence agencies rely upon, but CNN reported that it wasn’t clear if there was a connection between the 2024 and recent suspected incidents. It also wasn’t clear when the incident occurred, or who was responsible.

Reported similarly:
CNN [3/5/2026 1:17 PM, Paula Reid, et al., 19874K]

CyberScoop [3/5/2026 1:25 PM, Matt Kapko, 122K] reports Russian national Evgenii Ptitsyn pleaded guilty to running the Phobos ransomware outfit that extorted more than $39 million from more than 1,000 victims globally, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Ptitsyn assumed a leadership role in the Phobos ransomware group in January 2022, yet his criminal activities began by April 2019, according to court records. He continued leading the cybercrime syndicate until May 2024 when he was arrested in South Korea. Ptitsyn was extradited to the United States in November 2025. Federal prosecutors dropped multiple charges against Ptitsyn as part of a plea agreement he signed last month. He faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud conspiracy. Ptitsyn agreed to forfeit $1.77 million in assets and is required to pay at least $39.3 million in restitution, representing the full amount of his victims’ losses. The 43-year-old pleaded guilty to engaging in a global ransomware scheme with co-conspirators beginning in November 2020. Ptitsyn and alleged associates distributed Phobos ransomware to other co-conspirators who broke into victim networks, often with stolen credentials, to steal and encrypt data, which they used to extort victims for payment.

AP [3/5/2026 6:40 PM, Lekan Oyekanami] reports newly released police body camera footage shows bargoers and pedestrians fleeing and ducking for cover in the moments after a gunman began firing outside a Texas bar, leaving three dead in what is being investigated as potential terrorism. The terrifying moments captured on video by officers and surveillance cameras that were released Thursday show how the shooting that wounded more than a dozen others unfolded quickly early Sunday in downtown Austin’s entertainment district. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said officers arrived within 56 seconds of the first 911 call, shooting and killing the suspect after he fired at police. Davis said the investigation is ongoing and would not discuss a possible motive for the shooting that erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran. The FBI has said it’s investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press that the gunman was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and bearing the words “Property of Allah.” Police have identified the gunman as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne and say he legally bought the pistol and rifle that he used in the attack outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden. Authorities now know 19 people were hit by gunfire, including the three who died, Davis said Thursday. One person remains in critical condition.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [3/5/2026 6:54 PM, Randy Clark, 2238K]
CBS News [3/5/2026 4:06 PM, Steven Rosenbaum, 51110K]
FOX News [3/5/2026 3:56 PM, Adam Sabes and Brooke Taylor, 37576K] Audio: HERE

Washington Times [3/5/2026 3:03 PM, Matt Delaney, 1323K] reports Texas authorities on Thursday said three people were killed and 19 wounded during Sunday’s mass shooting in a popular Austin nightlife hub, but officials were mum about the gunman’s suspected links to terror groups that the FBI is reviewing. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis updated the number of casualties in the briefing and noted that all the victims were hit by gunfire. Police shot and killed the suspect, Ndiaga Diagne. Chief Davis said Jorge Pederson, a 30-year-old who moved to the city two weeks before the shooting, died late Monday after being taken off life support. Mr. Pederson was among three people who were rushed to hospitals in critical condition following the shooting early Sunday. One person remains in treatment, while another has stabilized and is in recovery. Police previously announced that Ryder Harrington, 19, and Savitha Shan, 21, were killed at the scene of the shooting outside Buford’s Backyard Bar on West Sixth Street. Chief Davis showed police body camera footage of the officers who responded to the shooting and stopped the gunman in the middle of his rampage. Just hours after the attack, the FBI said Diagne had a “potential nexus to terrorism,” but Chief Davis did not share any progress on that part of the investigation Thursday.

FOX News [3/5/2026 11:40 AM, Andrew Mark Miller, 37576K] reports a shooting in Austin, Texas, over the weekend that left three innocent people dead and is being probed as a terror-related incident is putting a renewed focus on the potential spread of radical Islam in the United States, particularly in deep red Texas where concerns about Islamic fanaticism are hitting a fever pitch. The deceased shooting suspect, identified as Ndiaga Diagne, was a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal and lived in Pflugerville, Texas, after entering the country in 2000. Diagne was wearing a shirt that said "Property of Allah" and another shirt underneath that depicted the Iranian flag. The FBI said the shooting, which came shortly after the U.S. and Israel’s attack on Iran, was "potentially an act of terrorism." The likelihood that Diagne was motivated by religious ideology, bolstered by a CBS News report on his social media presence, has prompted widespread alarm about the rise of radical Islam in Texas along with the heightened scrutiny of possible Iranian sleeper cells activating in the United States in response to recent U.S. military strikes on Iran. "Texas is currently under siege by Islamists who want to reshape our state and America as a whole," Republican Congressman Chip Roy, running for attorney general in the state, told Fox News Digital. "The tragic shooting over the weekend in my home of Austin, Texas, is another example of why we need to pause immigration until the system is fixed. We need to stop bringing people into our country who want to kill us.”

Reuters [3/5/2026 6:03 AM, Emily Green, 38315K] Video: HERE reports Mexico’s security chief, the man who helped lead the operation that killed the drug lord known as "El Mencho," spends his days and nights inside fortified office buildings, including a one-bedroom apartment in the security ministry built for him. His quarters – inside a modern complex beside a busy thoroughfare – include a bedroom, gym, kitchen and a conference room that seats 25. From the living room, guests can hear the crack of ​gunfire from a firing range within the building complex, according to a high-ranking government official who has visited the apartment. A red telephone on his desk provides a direct line to the president. Omar Garcia Harfuch, 44, has lived this way since 2020, when on ‌his commute to work a truck cut off his armored Suburban and gunmen disguised as road workers sprayed his vehicle with more than 400 bullets. Harfuch returned fire and survived with three gunshot wounds. Two of his bodyguards and a bystander were killed. The security chief blamed the assassination attempt on Nemesio Oseguera, 59, better known as El Mencho, leader of the brutal Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s largest and bloodiest crime groups. Six years later, bringing down the cartel leader was a deeply personal moment for Harfuch, who friends say was devastated by his security guards’ deaths. Harfuch declined to comment for this story. The account is based on interviews with a dozen friends, colleagues and security analysts.

Breitbart [3/5/2026 12:43 PM, Staff, 2238K] reports the US campaign to hunt down and destroy boats allegedly bringing drugs from South America has been so successful it is now hard to find targets, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Thursday. The United States began targeting these alleged smuggling speedboats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in early September and has since destroyed dozens of them, with at least 150 people killed. The attacks have drawn criticism that they amount to extrajudicial killings. Hegseth hailed them as he spoke at a conference on fighting drug cartels that was attended by officials from 18 Latin American countries. "Last month, we went a few weeks without targeting a single boat. Why? Well, because we couldn’t find a whole lot of boats to sink," Hegseth said. "And that’s the whole point, is to establish deterrence from narco-terrorists who have been able to traffic almost unfettered," said Hegseth. President Donald Trump’s administration insists it is effectively at war with what it calls "narco-terrorists" operating in Latin America.

Washington Times [3/5/2026 7:55 AM, Mike Glenn, 1323K] reports Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth traveled to Florida on Thursday for meetings with senior military leaders about two priority issues for the Trump administration — the ongoing conflict in Iran and narcotics trafficking. Mr. Hegseth hosted the Americas Counter Cartel Conference at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in the Miami area. Pentagon officials said he will be meeting with Latin American officials to compare strategies for combating the international drug trade. White House official Stephen Miller told a conference room filled with generals from Latin America that military force is the only effective means of defeating drug traffickers. “The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, and should be treated just as brutally and just as ruthlessly as we treat those organizations,” he said. He said nations have learned that, after decades of effort, there isn’t a criminal justice solution to the cartel problem. “The reason why this is a conference with military leadership and not a conference of lawyers is because these organizations can only be defeated with military power,” Mr. Miller said. “I see heads nodding up front because they understand. You’re dealing with lawyers in your own country.”

Los Angeles Times [3/5/2026 11:52 AM, Joshua Goodman, 12718K] reports Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday urged Latin American countries to take a more aggressive approach against drug cartels, warning that the Trump administration would be forced to act by itself if governments fail to effectively combat criminal organizations that directly threaten the United States and border security. “America is prepared to take on these threats and go on the offense alone if necessary,” Hegseth said in a speech at U.S. Southern Command in Miami with defense officials from allied governments around the region. Hegseth spoke at what the Pentagon billed as the first “Americas Counter Cartel Conference,” with representatives from Argentina, Honduras and the Dominican Republic among more than a dozen conservative governments closely aligned with President Trump. Most of the military leaders came to Florida with their presidents, who on Saturday are scheduled to attend a summit with Trump at his nearby golf club. The defense secretary said the U.S. and Latin America had a shared Christian heritage and that it was at stake as a result of decades of inaction and a purely law enforcement approach to fighting organized crime and terrorist networks in the Western Hemisphere. “Business as usual will not stand,” he said, pledging U.S. support to combat cartels, restore deterrence and “make the Americas great again.” His comments were echoed by Stephen Miller, the deputy White House chief of staff who is a key architect of Trump’s aggressive stance in the region.

New York Post [3/5/2026 10:45 AM, Samuel Chamberlain, 40934K] reports War Secretary Pete Hegseth boasted Thursday that the Trump administration has achieved "operational control of our southern border" and all but stopped the flow of suspected drug trafficking boats to the US from South America. As the American war with Iran entered its sixth day, Hegseth sought to reassure officials from the Caribbean, Central America and South America that Washington has not forgotten its own hemisphere. "President Trump recognizes the wisdom of the Monroe Doctrine, and the days of us betraying and endangering our own citizens are finished," Hegseth said in kicking off the Americas Counter Cartel Conference at the US military’s Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Doral, Fla. "President Trump has re-established the Monroe Doctrine, the Trump corollary of the Monroe Doctrine, or if you like, for short, you can just call it the Donroe doctrine," the Pentagon chief went on. "Under President Trump, securing America’s interests in the Western Hemisphere and keeping our homeland safe are our top national security priorities.” The Post coined the term "Donroe Doctrine" on its front page in January 2025, in reference to Trump’s desire to keep America’s adversaries from gaining footholds in the Western Hemisphere.

Breitbart [3/6/2026 4:47 AM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2238K] reports the United States and Venezuela on Thursday agreed to restore diplomatic ties between both countries after seven years, both countries announced. The U.S. State Department said in a statement: The United States and Venezuela’s interim authorities have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations. This step will facilitate our joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery, and advance political reconciliation in Venezuela. Our engagement is focused on helping the Venezuelan people move forward through a phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government. The United States remains committed to supporting the Venezuelan people and working with partners across the region to advance stability and prosperity. The Venezuelan regime, for its part, confirmed its intention to restore diplomatic and consular ties with the United States through an official statement published by Foreign Minister Yván Gil on social media.

DefenseScoop [3/5/2026 7:30 PM, Drew F. Lawrence, 150K] reports members of the Pentagon’s counter-drone task force were in Kyiv last week to understand how Ukraine’s military was protecting infrastructure and troops against Russian unmanned aerial systems — just before the start of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran. The revelation — which was delivered by Joint Interagency Task Force 401 director Brig. Gen. Matt Ross at an industry event in Virginia on Thursday — came just hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he received a request from the U.S. to support counter-drone operations in the Middle East against Iranian one-way attack platforms Russia has also used. The U.S. and Israel launched a campaign against Iran on Saturday, dubbed Operation Epic Fury. Six American troops were killed by an apparent Iranian drone attack in Kuwait the following day, the military said, and news outlets have since reported additional UAS attacks on U.S. infrastructure in the region. JIATF 401, an Army-led entity within the Defense Department, was established late last summer to proliferate counter-drone capabilities across the military. Since then it has developed expanded authorities for stateside base commanders to defend against drones and signaled a widespread fielding of “low-collateral” interceptors for U.S. installations, among other efforts. Now, its top official said the task force recently visited Ukraine to inform U.S. counter-UAS operations. His comments come as troops face drone threats from Iran and Kyiv leadership signals support for Americans in countering them amid the new Middle East conflict. “I did go to Ukraine, and I went to understand the technology that they’re using to protect their sites and their people from the threat of unmanned systems,” Ross told reporters Thursday. “I did it to understand the TTPs — the tactics, techniques and procedures that they’re employing very effectively to protect their forces.”

Reuters [3/5/2026 8:25 AM, Alexander Cornwell and Rami Ayyub, 38315K] reports Israel’s war in Iran is entering a second phase that will see its fighter jets attacking ballistic missile sites buried ​deep underground, two sources familiar with Israel’s military campaign said. The joint air assault with the U.S. in Iran is ‌nearing the end of its first week after opening salvos killed the country’s leaders and set off a regional war with Iranian attacks in Israel, the Gulf and Iraq, and Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Israel’s military says it has hit hundreds of Iranian missile launchers above ground that could target Israeli cities. The second phase will include bunkers storing ballistic missiles and equipment, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. One said Israel aimed to neutralise Iran’s ability to launch aerial attacks at Israel by the end of the war, ⁠which was also focused on taking out the Islamic Republic’s leadership. A military spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its attack plans. The military has previously asserted that it and the U.S. military took control of much of Iran’s airspace in the opening days of the attacks.

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