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 Washington Post [5/17/2026 12:13 AM, Riley Beggin and Dan Diamond, 24826K] reports hundreds of millions of dollars for securing the White House ballroom cannot be included in a Republican spending bill as currently written, the Senate parliamentarian ruled Saturday. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s proposed immigration enforcement bill includes $1 billion for security measures related to what the administration calls the “East Wing Modernization Project” — which includes President Donald Trump’s planned 90,000-square-foot ballroom — and other presidential protection efforts. The project would require the coordination of multiple government agencies and therefore requires oversight from multiple committees, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The ballroom project has been a major priority for Trump, who has invoked it more frequently than other policy priorities this year, and a major target for Democrats, who have criticized GOP leaders for attempting to secure funding for the project. “Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom. Senate Democrats fought back — and blew up their first attempt,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement following the parliamentarian’s ruling. Trump has repeatedly said that his planned $400 million ballroom would be entirely funded by private donations. Administration officials and congressional Republicans had also said that the $1 billion in the Senate spending bill would not go toward the ballroom itself, but related security measures and other protections for the president. Secret Service Director Sean Curran told lawmakers this week that the agency planned to use $220 million of those funds for “hardening” the ballroom above and below ground, including bulletproof glass and drone and chemical detection systems. The rest would be used for other White House security measures, he argued, including $180 million for a new White House visitor screening facility, $175 million each for training Secret Service agents and enhancing “protectee security,” $150 million to counter “emerging threats” such as biological weapons and airspace incursions, and $100 million for securing high-profile national events. A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) on Saturday said they would tweak the bill to meet the requirements. “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit,” spokesman Ryan Wrasse wrote on X. “None of this is abnormal during a Byrd process,” he added, invoking the rule, named after former senator Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia), that shapes the review process used in certain types of spending bills. It’s the second blow to Republicans’ plan to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for the rest of Trump’s term through reconciliation, a legislative tool that would allow them to approve the funding without Democratic support. On Thursday night, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that portions of the bill could not be included in the final spending package because they did not comply with the strict protocols guiding the reconciliation process, according to Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee. The proposed reconciliation bill includes $38.2 billion for ICE, $26 billion for CBP, $1.5 billion for the Justice Department, and $5 billion for other border security, immigration and law enforcement efforts. The AP [5/16/2026 11:15 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick and Kevin Freking, 34146K] reports that it’s unclear if Republicans will be able to immediately salvage any part of the billion-dollar Secret Service proposal, which would fund security for Trump’s ballroom along with other parts of the White House, including a new visitor screening center, additional training for agents and extra reinforcements for large events. Republicans said Saturday night that they are revising the legislation based on the parliamentarian’s advice. Ryan Wrasse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, wrote in a post on X that “none of this is abnormal” during the complicated budget process that Republicans are using to try and pass the immigration enforcement and White House security money on a partisan basis. “Redraft. Refine. Resubmit,” Wrasse said in the post. Democrats have seized on the security request, accusing Republicans of dedicating precious federal resources to the ballroom effort instead of focusing on helping Americans with rising costs. Republicans have insisted that private donations will be used to build the ballroom and that the federal dollars are focused just on much-needed security enhancements. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., took credit for the ruling after Democrats argued to the parliamentarian that the security money doesn’t belong in the bill. “Republicans tried to make taxpayers foot the bill for Trump’s billion-dollar ballroom,” Schumer said Saturday evening. “Senate Democrats fought back — and blew up their first attempt.” Schumer added that Democrats “will be ready to stop them again” as Republicans say they will revise the bill. The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian is just advisory, but such rulings are rarely if ever ignored when lawmakers put together legislation that can pass with a simple majority. Most bills are subject to a filibuster and thus need 60 votes for passage — meaning Republicans must find some Democratic support in the 53-47 Senate. Politico [5/16/2026 10:20 PM, Jordain Carney, 21784K] reports that “While we expect Republicans to change this bill to appease Trump, Democrats are prepared to challenge any change to this bill,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the top Budget Committee Democrat, said in a statement Saturday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer added that “Democrats will keep fighting this every way we can — in the Byrd Bath, on the Senate floor with votes, and anywhere else Republicans try to raid Americans’ hard-earned money for Trump’s gilded palace.” It’s a setback for Senate GOP leaders, who had voiced confidence they would be able to get the blessing of the chamber’s rulekeeper. But Republicans said Friday they are already working to redraft the language, which will need to be resubmitted for MacDonough’s approval. “Conversations and revisions are continuing, as they have been for days,” a spokesperson for Judiciary Committee Republicans said in a statement Saturday night.

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AP [5/16/2026 8:44 PM, Joshua Goodman, 34146K] reports Venezuela’s government said Saturday it deported a close ally of Nicolás Maduro facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President Joe Biden as part of a prisoner swap. The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s "bag man," may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January. The Venezuelan immigration authority in a short statement Saturday did not explicitly say where it had sent Saab but said the decision was made based on several ongoing criminal investigations in the U.S. The statement’s reference to Saab only as a "Colombian citizen" appeared to be a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Following his last arrest, Venezuela’s government submitted a copy of what it said was Saab’s Venezuelan passport to a U.S. court, with then Vice President Delcy Rodríguez — now acting President — claiming he was an "innocent Venezuelan diplomat" who had been illegally "kidnapped" while on a humanitarian mission to Iran to circumvent the "immoral, imperial blockade" imposed by the United States. Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country’s new leadership that took power following Maduro’s ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodríguez demoted Saab, firing him from her Cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela. For months conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest. His removal to the United States is likely to deepen divisions inside Rodríguez’s fragile ruling coalition of Chavistas, named for the movement started by the late Hugo Chávez. Rodríguez has generated enormous goodwill in Washington and successfully stalled any talk of new elections as she bends to the Trump administration’s demands to open up its oil and mining industries to American investment. But those concessions to what Chavistas have long decried as the U.S. "Empire" have angered many of her more radical, ideologically driven allies, some of whom, like Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, wield great influence inside the Venezuelan security forces and face criminal charges themselves in the U.S. The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab’s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food. The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab’s longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, a former law enforcement official said. That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency. Saab is identified in the indictment as "Co-Conspirator 1" and allegedly helped set up a web of companies used to bribe a pro-Maduro governor who awarded the business partners a contract to import food boxes from Mexico at an inflated price.

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Breitbart [5/16/2026 2:58 PM, Randy Clark, 2238K] reports the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) worked with law enforcement authorities in Colombia to successfully extradite a suspected high-ranking member of the notorious Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang. Jose Enrique Martinez-Flores, a 24-year-old Venezuelan national, arrived in Houston, Texas, this week and will face drug distribution and terrorism charges. According to the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Martinez-Flores made his initial court appearance on Friday on charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization and significant drug trafficking offenses. Martinez-Flores, known as "Chuqui," is alleged to be a high-ranking leader of the hyperviolent Venezuelan Tren de Aragua Gang. In a social media post on X on Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel referred to Martinez-Flores as "the highest-ranking member of Tren de Aragua (TdA) ever brought to justice." According to Patel, this is the first incidence where a suspected TdA member has been charged with terrorism related crimes and been extradited to face justice in the United States, saying "history made pursuant to President Trump’s executive order last summer designating Trend de Aragua as an FTO (Foreign Terrorist Organization)." Martinez-Flores, based in Bogotá, Colombia, is believed to be part of the inner circle of senior Tren de Aragua leadership. Authorities in the South American country arrested the suspect more than a year ago pursuant to a provisional arrest warrant issued at the United States’ request. According to the allegations facing Martinez-Flores, he is charged with providing material aid and support to the gang in the form of personnel (including himself) and services. The indictment against the suspect alleges he is part of an international drug distribution conspiracy based on the distribution of five kilograms of cocaine or more in Colombia, later intended for distribution in the United States. The allegations assert the proceeds were intended to benefit the gang.

Breitbart [5/16/2026 11:08 AM, Ildefonso Ortiz, Brandon Darby, 2238K] reports a top Mexican government official who made headlines last month when he, along with the sitting governor of Sinaloa, was named in a criminal indictment accusing them of working for the Sinaloa Cartel, surrendered this week to U.S. authorities. The official is the former head of the state police in Sinaloa and a retired Mexican Army general. This week, Mexico’s Security Cabinet announced that General Gerardo Merida Sanchez, the former Secretary for Public Safety in Sinaloa, turned himself in to U.S. authorities earlier this week. The accused drug lord and lawman traveled from Hermosillo, Sonora, to Nogales, Arizona, where he turned himself in to the U.S. Marshal Service. Since the announcement of the indictment, tensions have sparked between Mexico’s government and the U.S. government, which has been actively pressuring the southern country to fight cartels. The case has sparked much controversy because Rocha Moya is a close political ally of former Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the founder of the country’s current ruling party, MORENA. Rather than assist in arresting Rocha Moya and his associates, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly claimed that the U.S. has not given them any evidence that proves that Rocha Moya or the other individuals have committed any crimes.

AP [5/16/2026 9:06 AM, Michelle L. Price and Ope Adetayo] reports U.S. and Nigerian forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Nigeria in a mission carried out Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said. Trump announced the joint operation in Africa’s most populous country in a late-night social media post. He said Abu Bakr al-Mainuki was second-in-command of the Islamic State group globally and "thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing." Al-Mainuki was viewed as the key figure in IS organizing and finance, and had been plotting attacks against the United States and its interests, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share sensitive information. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu confirmed the operation and said Al-Mainuki was killed alongside "several of his lieutenants, during a strike on his compound in the Lake Chad Basin." The joint operation is the latest by both countries since their new security partnership that kicked off last year after Trump claimed Christians were being targeted in Nigeria’s security crisis and threatened U.S. military intervention. Residents and security analysts have said Nigeria’s security crisis affects both Christians, predominant in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

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Univision [5/16/2026 12:17 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports a 29-year-old Colombian woman had to choose between returning to her country despite threats from armed groups or remaining in Congo, a nation whose existence she claimed to be unaware of. This occurred even though she was being monitored by GPS in Texas. The details of the migration agreement between the Congolese government and the administration of President Donald Trump are still unclear. Other countries have received millions of dollars for accepting deportees, although Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi asserted that the measure is merely a “gesture of goodwill” and that no financial compensation is involved. The woman explained that the deportees are currently staying in a hotel and can only leave accompanied by staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), who decide where they can go and what activities they can do.

NPR [5/17/2026 3:34 AM, Sydney Lupkin, 28764K] reports the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday. However WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a statement it "does not meet the criteria of pandemic emergency" and advised countries against closing their borders. The outbreak was first reported in the DRC’s eastern Ituri province on Friday and there are already hundreds of suspected cases, including one that crossed the border into Uganda. The latest strain of the virus has no vaccine either, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Ebola is transmitted through blood and other bodily fluid as well as contaminated surfaces. Symptoms include fever, body pain, weakness, vomiting "and, in some cases, bleeding," according to the WHO. Health officials believe the outbreak started in late April, Dr. Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, said during a Saturday press conference conducted by video call. There are now 336 suspected cases and 87 deaths, he said. Cases so far have been mostly detected in two mining towns, called Mongwalu and Rwampara, where many people come and go for work. "We are talking about a region that is a very vulnerable and fragile region," said Kaseya. On May 14, a 59-year-old Congolese man died from the virus in Kampala, the capital of neighboring Uganda. In his remarks Saturday, Kaseya outlined how many people the man was likely in contact with before his death, and the importance of using protective equipment. "Someone came from DRC, landed in Uganda, went to hospital," he said. "He was sick in this community and he was surrounded by a number of people. He took public transportation to Uganda." The man died in the hospital but his body was then transported back across the border to the DRC for burial, Kaseya said. Given its high transmissibility, infectious disease experts recommend that healthcare workers dealing with Ebola patients wear head coverings, as well as goggles, masks or face shields, gloves, gowns and even rubber boots. Kaseya said he didn’t know what type of protective gear those who had come in contact with the man had used to avoid contracting the virus. "We don’t have manufacturing for PPE," he said, adding that his team tells him funds are needed and they are working on solving the problem. It is not yet clear how fast the virus is spreading, officials said. There have been two previous outbreaks of this strain of the virus, called Bundibugyo, but because it is less common than the Zaire strain of Ebola, it is less well understood and there is no known vaccine.

Univision [5/16/2026 12:31 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the daughter of Justo Betancourt, a 54-year-old Cuban man who was released this Thursday from the Alcatraz of the Alligators migrant detention center, gave an interview to USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect and recounted what her father experienced during his time at the detention center located in the Florida swamps. Justo Betancourt was released after his lawyers managed to prove that he had been wrongfully detained, and after US District Judge Kyle Dudek granted him habeas corpus last Wednesday. Justo’s daughter said in the USA TODAY Network interview via Reuters Connect that she speaks for her father not only because he doesn’t speak fluent English, but also because he is struggling physically and emotionally after his time in the migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades. Arianne added that she is worried about her father’s health. She also said that he hasn’t been able to walk for six months, so he has lost mobility, and that he slurs his speech. She said she is very worried about what a doctor might tell them about his condition. Justo Betancourt was arrested on October 29, 2025, when he appeared at the ICE offices, as he was required to do every year. According to court documents, he had completed his probation after numerous criminal convictions. But that day, instead of receiving a new date for his appointment, according to his daughter, he was told to sign a self-deportation document in English, although he, who does not understand the language, was told that it was an agreement for him to register every year. Betancourt was detained at the Alligator Prison and later at the Krome Immigration Detention Center, before being taken to Mexico for self-deportation. However, Mexico refused to accept him, and he was returned to the Alligator Prison.

ABC News [5/16/2026 4:45 PM, Julia Jacobo, 34146K] reports the situation for those living in Cuba is growing more dire by the day as the island grapples with dwindling oil supplies to fuel everyday life, experts on Cuban-U.S. relations told ABC News. On Thursday, the U.S. embassy in Cuba issued a security alert about the country’s worsening power crisis -- stating that the national electrical grid "is increasingly unstable." Prolonged power outages, both scheduled and unscheduled, have been occurring daily across the island, including in the capital city of Havana, U.S. officials say. The outages are impacting water supply, lighting, refrigeration and communications. A shortage of fuel is also affecting transportation and causing long lines at gas stations, the U.S. embassy said. Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy announced during a press conference on Wednesday that the island had run out of fuel reserves. Havana experienced a blackout that day that exceeded 20 hours, O Levy said. "We have absolutely no fuel; we have absolutely no diesel," he said. This is the first grid failure Cuba has experienced since early March, when Cuba experienced the first major blackout following the Trump administration’s blockade. The current energy crisis began on Jan. 3, when the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife from the country and forced the Venezuelan government to stop sending oil to Cuba.

CNN [5/16/2026 5:42 PM, Patrick Oppmann, 19874K] reports a few days ago, the manager of the building where CNN’s Havana bureau is located rapped on our door with an urgent message: She needed to know if we would be coming to work during the "imminent" US invasion. Washington’s intense pressure campaign on Cuba had already been keenly felt in day-to-day life. Under the ongoing US oil blockade, power flickers off in our offices several times a day. The compounding economic crisis means there’s no fuel for the building generator or even toilet paper for the bathrooms. Every day, I walk past an enormous artificial Christmas tree in the lobby that no one has bothered to take down. But now the building manager told me she had been tasked with "orders from above" — like all office buildings in the city, it is owned by the state — to come up with a plan for the building in case of imperialist attack. As in an American attack. (The Trump administration has not said that it is planning any military operations in Cuba.). Cubans have lived with the threat of US military action for so long that it has become a dark joke. "Cuando vienen los americanos" — when the Americans come — is the expression Cubans employ with their trademark black humor to say how a long-running problem — of which there are countless — will one day be resolved. Now it really does look, one way or another, like the Americans are coming. CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s visit to Havana this week aboard a not-very-clandestine airplane emblazoned with the words "United States of America" was deeply shocking for many Cubans, and the clearest sign yet that tensions are reaching critical mass.

Univision [5/16/2026 3:57 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the Cuban exile community in Miami reacted this Friday to reports that the Justice Department is preparing an indictment against Cuban dictator Raúl Castro for the downing of the Brothers to the Rescue planes in 1996. For Cuban activist Rosa María Paya, it’s all part of a larger pressure plan to strangle the Cuban regime. “We are, of course, in conversation with the United States government. We have presented a series of actions that can be taken from the United States, prosecution being among them, as well as the sanctions that we have seen in recent weeks ,” Paya said. For his part, Ramón Saúl Sánchez, of the democracy movement, wonders how long that might take, since “Raúl Castro is 94 years old and if the indictment is achieved, then how to bring Raúl Castro to justice is the other imponderable; previously many officials of the regime have been prosecuted in the United States and yet they were never able to answer to justice here.” Regarding the unusual presence of CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Havana , activists like Ramón Saúl Sánchez have questions.

FOX News [5/16/2026 2:11 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares discusses his state’s current sanctuary policies, Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s leadership amid the crisis and more on ‘Fox News Live.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [5/16/2026 12:36 PM, Alex Swoyer, 1323K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that as a younger man, he was on a path of mayhem that seemed destined to end behind bars — until he got scared straight by a viewing of "American History X.". The 1998 movie is about an ex-skinhead who goes to prison for murder, suffering a brutal three years behind bars, then emerges to try to stop his younger brother from repeating his cycle of hate and violence. Mr. Mullin, speaking at a ceremony during Police Week celebrating U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that film was the start of his journey, though ultimately it took him to fully embrace Christianity. "My life changed when I got saved and I was 20 years old. Until then, my dad said I was more likely to go to prison than I was to be successful," Mr. Mullin recounted. "The truth is, I probably was going down that path. I watched this little movie called ‘American History X’ that really changed my life, and I thought, I’m never going to prison after that one," he said. "But I wasn’t walking down the path I should have been walking down until I realized there was something higher, something bigger than myself."

New York Post [5/17/2026 6:00 AM, Geoff Earle, 40934K] reports Team USA is getting ready to defend its goal against swarming World Cup attackers on the field next month – while Team Fed is deputizing local authorities to fend off swarms of potentially deadly drones in the sky. The US has appropriated $250 million this year to battle “nefarious and unlawful” drone use. “Drones are a big threat now. I think they take it very seriously,” said Rep. Robert Aderholdt (R-Alabama), a House Appropriations subcommittee chairman. “It’s a big deal. We’ve got all of this converging on New Jersey,” added Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.). “It’s a real challenge.” In June, the FBI opened its new National Counter-UAS Training Center in Huntsville, Ala., where it teaches local law enforcement how to identify and track – as well as “mitigate” – drones, an FBI spokesperson told The Post. That includes taking them out of the sky if necessary. The two-week course has now schooled 60 locals from each of the 11 World Cup host sites, including from New York and New Jersey. That includes “hands-on training” and a “capstone field exercises” to build “coordinated counter-drone capability nationwide.” They will be joined by officials from FBI field offices and the Secret Service to safeguard the tournament action that stretches 39 days. The government has been doling out millions to protect against the rising threat. Texas just got another $3.2 million to “mitigate unauthorized or potentially dangerous drone activity” and guard crowds and critical infrastructure for matches in Dallas in Houston. New York and New Jersey are getting $17 million in drone funds to shield MetLife Stadium – home to the July 19 final that will include performances by Madonna and Shakira –– plus fan events in the city. Officials were cagey about revealing which specific drone-neutralizing weapons will be deployed. Commercial companies offer many options, including drone jammers, “directed energy weapons,” tech that allows the cops to override control of intruder drones, and even defensive drones that fire nets to take out enemy drones.

Breitbart [5/16/2026 12:33 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2238K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is moving forward with plans to convert warehouse spaces to immigration detention centers even in the face of lawsuits by migrant activist groups. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that it is preparing to award contracts to oversee construction at facilities in Texas in San Antonio and outside El Paso, according to a report by the Washington Post. ICE also reported that it is looking into ways to continue preparing its facility near Hagerstown, Maryland, despite a court injunction aimed at halting the plans. The April injunction "prevents all renovations except minor repairs and improvements to security, internal drywall, and communications systems," the paper reported. DHS says it is moving forward to make the improvements that it can in keeping with the injunction. The Trump administration had planned to open several large facilities to make it easier to process larger numbers of illegal migrants for deportation. But DHS has also said it plans to conduct environmental studies for the facilities, too, which some say will take months. Activist groups have also surged forward with numerous nuisance lawsuits to stop the plans, which has thrown an additional wrench in the works. Further, newly emplaced Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he plans to review the $38 billion warehouse conversion policy put in place by former DHS Director Kristi L. Noem. Pressures inside DHS have also emerged after the DHS Office of Inspector General announced it launched an audit to determine if the buildings had been purchased "in a cost-effective manner."

USA Today [5/16/2026 5:59 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 70643K] reports federal immigration agents forcibly detained an American citizen in New York City in early May, prompting a Democratic congressman to call for an investigation into the incident. Surveillance and cell phone footage published by multiple news outlets captured the May 6 incident when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had their weapons drawn and brought Jeury Concepcion down to the ground, detaining him in the Bronx. The incident again raised questions about U.S. citizens detained by ICE during the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement actions across the country. Concepcion told NBC New York he was on the way to get a haircut when multiple masked ICE agents followed him, then three agents forced him onto the sidewalk. Cellphone video showed officers handcuffing and pressing him against an unmarked sedan, with his forehead bloodied. "They threw me on the floor," Concepcion later told News 12. "I don’t know what was going on," he said, adding agents didn’t ask for his identification. Concepcion told reporters agents only later realized they made a mistake when they saw his ID and phone. ICE then dropped him off at a park he didn’t know. Concepcion later told reporters he had to get stitches on his head. "I’m from New York, I was raised and born here," he told News 12. "It shouldn’t be no reason why I’m going through none of this, you heard.". DHS: Man was ‘combative and refused to identify himself’. In an emailed statement, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, said it is not arresting American citizens by mistake. At the time, ICE was conducting what DHS called a targeted enforcement operation, when they encountered a man "who matched the physical description of the target outside of the target’s residence," the agency’s statement said. When agents approached him, DHS said he became "combative and refused to identify himself.". "A large crowd of anti-ICE agitators descended and swarmed officers. For their safety, they temporarily detained the individual to safely finish asking their questions. Once officers finished their questioning, he was promptly released.". DHS didn’t respond to questions about the need for American citizens to identify themselves to immigration officials or on the tactics that resulted in Concepcion later requiring stitches. Concepcion could not be reached at the Bronx address listed on his identification card.

Washington Post [5/16/2026 5:00 AM, Maria Sacchetti, 24826K] reports after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained his mother, 2-year-old Orlin Hernandez Reyes moved into a shed. His uncle, Samuel Maldonado Erazo, was charged with taking care of the toddler and his three cousins, the oldest of whom was 7, while Orlin’s mother and her sister waited in ICE detention to be deported to Honduras. Maldonado had once served in the Honduran military, a co-worker later told investigators, and now lived in the Florida Panhandle. He was separated from Orlin’s aunt, and police said he drank heavily and whipped the children with a wire. Orlin repeatedly endured the worst of the abuse. An autopsy showed he had multiple broken bones. There were signs his tiny body had been sexually battered. Authorities allege Maldonado repeatedly struck Orlin in the head, stomped on his body and burned his skin with a lighter. His hands bore bruises, a sign that Orlin had tried to shield himself from the blows. The coroner listed his cause of death as multiple blunt force traumas. Maldonado has been charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. In a statement a week after Orlin died, acting ICE director Todd M. Lyons berated Orlin’s mother, Wendy Hernandez Reyes, alleging that she had “abandoned” her child to the man who allegedly killed him — an undocumented immigrant who “never should’ve been in this country in the first place,” but was nonetheless allowed to care for the children while Orlin’s mother was in detention. “Reyes chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer who took his life,” he asserted. But a review of court records and the mother’s own account contradict ICE’s narrative and raise questions about how the Trump administration is deporting scores of parents, many without their children.

Univision [5/16/2026 3:30 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Congressman Joaquin Castro reported that Juan Chavez Velasco , the ‘dreamer’ who was detained by ICE when he was going to see his newborn daughter , was released from a detention center in Webb County. Through a post on his social media, Castro said that Juan’s wife, Stephanie, was the one who shared his story and fought to obtain his release. “His wife Stephanie shared the family’s story with members of Congress this week and stood up to the Trump administration’s attacks on the Dreamers. Now Juan is home with his wife and three children, where he belongs. Keep speaking out, your voice makes a difference,” Castro wrote. “Juan was detained by ICE while on his way to the hospital to see his newborn daughter in the Intensive Care Unit. He is a DACA recipient and a medical worker who was on the front lines fighting the coronavirus during the pandemic,” the congressman’s post continued. Juan Chavez Velasco, 35, was intercepted by agents in Weslaco, Texas, while he was taking milk to the hospital where his prematurely born baby was hospitalized . His wife, who was speaking with him on the phone at the time, recounted hearing the officers order him out of the vehicle. Although Chávez Velasco informed them that he was protected under DACA, he claims the officers responded that “it didn’t matter . “ According to Congressman Joaquín Castro, Chávez Velasco faced medical complications, as he suffers from kidney stones and had lost a lot of weight due to gastrointestinal problems. Castro also noted that Chávez Velasco worked during the pandemic in a laboratory in South Texas, where he helped process COVID-19 tests in the Monte Cristo area and around Edinburg . "He was literally risking his own health during the pandemic as a DACA recipient, working on the front lines to help take care of people and make sure they were okay," he noted. In this case, Chávez Velasco’s immigration protection expired while he was already in custody , after his renewal application was not processed in time. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told the media outlet that the man has had a final deportation order since 2005 and reiterated that DACA does not grant permanent legal status or automatically protect against deportation. Chávez Velasco came to the United States from Colombia as a child and has lived in the country for more than two decades. According to his family, he has no criminal record and worked in the medical field, including during the pandemic. The fear of deportation is a constant feeling for millions of undocumented immigrants who wonder whether or not they can travel by plane within the United States . Many questions arise about whether or not you should fly, whether you’re traveling by plane out of necessity or for pleasure .

Univision [5/16/2026 11:36 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) published an interim rule modifying the procedures of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS ) for handling applications for immigration benefits. The change establishes that if an application has already been accepted and is subsequently found to contain an invalid signature , the agency may, at its officials’ discretion, reject or deny it. The main objective of the measure is to strengthen the validity of signatures in immigration procedures and reduce the risk of fraud, errors, or irregularities in documents submitted to USCIS . The government argues that in recent years, cases have been identified of signatures that were copied, pasted, digitally generated, or made by people other than the applicant. The rule will take effect on July 10, 2026, which also marks the end of the public comment period for the regulatory change. From that date forward, USCIS will be able to formally apply these new provisions in the evaluation and resolution of immigration applications. The regulation impacts most applications for immigration benefits in the United States, including applications for permanent residence, naturalization, work permits, family petitions , and other procedures before USCIS. The central point of the change is the applicant’s signature, which is a mandatory requirement for validating any application. If it does not meet the established standards, the process may be rejected or denied even after it has been initially accepted. USCIS maintains that a valid signature is one that demonstrates the applicant’s approval of the form’s content and the veracity of the information provided. Handwritten signatures , authorized electronic signatures within official systems, or marks such as an "X" in specific cases are generally accepted. Conversely, signatures copied from other documents, computer -generated without authorization, placed by third parties , or those that do not correspond to the actual applicant will be considered invalid . The measure applies to all individuals who file applications for immigration benefits in the United States . The DHS maintains that it seeks to protect the integrity of the system and prevent abuses that cause delays and additional costs in the review of cases. With this rule, USCIS will have greater flexibility to act on irregularities in the signature, which could result in a greater number of rejections or denials if the forms do not properly meet the established requirements.

NewsMax [5/16/2026 10:12 AM, James Morley III, 3760K] reports the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that the U.S. Border Patrol recorded its 12th consecutive month of zero illegal alien releases at the southern border, as illegal crossings remained at historically low levels. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin credited President Donald Trump’s border policies for what he called "the most secure border in American history," while CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott contrasted current enforcement figures with April 2024, when more than 68,000 illegal aliens were released under the Biden administration. According to CBP, southwest border apprehensions in April totaled 8,943, down 94% from the Biden-era monthly average and 96% below the peak reached in December 2023. Daily apprehensions averaged 298, a 94% decline from the prior administration. CBP also reported that total encounters so far this fiscal year are lower than the total recorded in April 2024 alone. The agency highlighted increased narcotics interdictions, saying combined seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl, and marijuana rose 60% compared with April 2024. CBP seized 463 pounds of fentanyl during the month. In trade enforcement, CBP processed $312 billion in imports in April and identified $21.6 billion in duties for collection. The agency also reported stopping 263 shipments worth more than $810 million over suspected forced-labor violations and seizing nearly 3 million counterfeit goods valued at more than $1.5 billion. CBP agriculture specialists issued more than 7,100 emergency notifications involving restricted plant and animal products and conducted more than 105,000 passenger inspections in April.

NewsNation [5/16/2026 3:03 PM, Sandra Sanchez, 4464K] reports new U.S. Customs and Border Protection maps released this week show new border wall to be built through several popular wildlife and recreation areas in the Rio Grande Valley, including the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. On Friday, Border Report went to the Santa Ana refuge after hearing that border wall surveyors had been spotted at Santa Ana earlier this week. The refuge is one renowned among birders, brings in eco-tourism to the who come to the South Texas border and had previously been protected from border wall construction. While looking for survey markers on the border levee, Border Report came upon a group of men who drove on the levee in a truck marked “Spencer Construction” and then got out and began looking at the property. Spencer Construction on March 18 was awarded a $1.1 billion contract with the Department of Homeland Security to build border barrier, according to federal government documents. When asked what they were doing, one said they were “bird watching” and another denied they were surveyors. But they did not have any birding binoculars, hats, camera equipment or any of the gear that nature watchers typically bring when they come to this nature refuge in deep South Texas. They also drove their trucks on the border levee, which is restricted to the public and used by U.S. Border Patrol agents to patrol the southern border with Mexico. The Obama administration built the levees decades ago to help with regional flooding. The Trump administration says it is building 280 miles of border wall on the levee from the Gulf to far western Starr County, according to new CBP maps out this week.

Los Angeles Times [5/16/2026 5:32 PM, Salvador Hernandez, 12718K] reports a train boxcar where six migrants were found dead in Laredo, Texas, on Sunday originated from Long Beach, police officials said. The six victims, from Honduras and Mexico, are believed to have died from heatstroke during the deadly journey, but officials on Thursday said they believed they boarded the boxcar on a Union Pacific train Saturday, during a stop in Del Rio, Texas. "This tragedy weighs heavily on all of us," said Laredo Mayor Victor D. Treviño during a press conference Thursday. "I understand that every life lost is a tragedy, but there are crimes that are against humanity and against our American principles." Laredo Police received a call about the bodies discovered in the boxcar at 3:21 p.m. Sunday, said Laredo Chief of Police Miguel A. Rodriguez Jr. "That’s when we saw the bodies, and we initiated an immediate investigation," Rodriguez said. A spokesperson with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement that a Union Pacific employee made the discovery. "[Homeland Security Investigations] is actively investigating this case as a potential human smuggling event with assistance from the Laredo Police Department and Texas Rangers," the spokesperson said. "Due to the ongoing investigation, no additional information can be released at this time." Rodriguez said a preliminary investigation revealed that the victims include a woman and two men from Mexico, and three men from Honduras, Rodriguez said.

Univision [5/16/2026 8:33 AM, Staff, 4937K] reports the Trump administration wants to expropriate 14 acres of land on an iconic mountain outside El Paso, owned by the Catholic Diocese of neighboring Las Cruces, New Mexico, which attracts thousands of people on an annual religious pilgrimage, in order to install more border barriers. The land that the federal government wants to expropriate is located at the foot of Mount Cristo Rey, a 720-foot-high mountain with a 29-foot-tall statue of Jesus Christ on its summit, overlooking Ciudad Juárez, El Paso, and Sunland Park, New Mexico. Last week, lawyers for the Trump administration filed a lawsuit in a New Mexico federal court against the Diocese of Las Cruces, which is resisting the government’s attempt to seize the land. The lawsuit argues that the federal government needs the land to install barriers and other technology "designed to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border." The administration stated in court documents that it has offered the church $183,000 for the land. The church stated in court documents that the Trump administration’s measures violate its right to freedom of religious expression, protected by the First Amendment.

Los Angeles Times [5/16/2026 2:01 PM, Greg Braxton, 12718K] reports a Daly City man suspected of purchasing and exporting hundreds of poached turtles from Florida is facing federal wildlife trafficking charges, according to Department of Justice officials. The agency announced Friday that Donald Do was arrested and charged with submitting false paperwork in an attempt to obtain a permit that would enable him to ship wild and protected turtles to Asia. Do’s arrest was part of a joint state and federal crackdown called Operation Southern Hot Herps, which was initiated to detect and deter turtle poachers in the southeastern United States engaged in the Asian pet trade. According to the Justice Department, Do and an accomplice tried to export 292 loggerhead musk turtles to Taiwan. The co-conspirator obtained an export permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on a false claim by Do that he hatched and raised the turtles, the Justice Department said.

Reported similarly:
San Francisco Chronicle [5/16/2026 6:04 PM, Lucy Hodgman, 3833K]

CNN [5/17/2026 6:01 AM, Ella Nilsen, 19874K] reports When the remnants of Typhoon Halong’s flood water receded last October, entire villages in western Alaska had been leveled by the storm. In the remote native villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, on the coast of the Bering Sea, Halong’s fierce flooding lifted homes off their foundations and carried them down a river with people still inside. It unearthed long-buried caskets from the ground at gravesites. When it was all over, one person was dead and two more missing. The remaining flood water quickly turned toxic with an acrid mix of sewage and fuel oil used for heating, cooking and fueling snowmobiles and ATVs. The scent permeated the air and residents’ clothing. The displaced villages — home to more than 1,000 people — were built in a flood zone, on top of permafrost that has been thawing for decades as the planet warms. The erosion of the ground compounded the impacts of the flooding, collapsing the foundations of homes, schools and infrastructure like wastewater systems. Alaska is the fastest-warming US state and is no stranger to sudden major rainstorms and strong typhoons. Alaska’s Western coast experienced three federally declared disasters in three years. But, President Donald Trump’s administration has frozen key funding programs that would help communities prepare for such disasters and recover after they hit — and rescinded two Biden-era federal grants intended to go to the two villages. Contaminated with oil and debris, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok are now ghost towns. Both villages recently voted to relocate and build on higher ground. But they are locked in an ongoing battle with FEMA, which tribal leader

Washington Examiner [5/16/2026 10:44 PM, David Sivak, 1147K] reports the Senate parliamentarian has struck millions in White House security funding out of Republicans’ immigration enforcement bill, sowing further doubt about whether the money will be approved by Congress later this month. The Saturday decision, part of a "Byrd bath" that sorts out what language can skirt the filibuster’s 60-vote threshold, may be a temporary setback. Republicans can submit legislative tweaks to Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough aimed at meeting the strict rules of reconciliation, a budget process that lets them sidestep Democratic opposition, and have signaled they will do so. "Conversations and revisions are continuing, as they have been for days," said a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson. Its fate, however, remains unclear even if revised language survives a challenge from Democrats, who are seeking to derail the legislation ahead of a floor vote slated for next week. Several Senate Republicans are publicly undecided on whether to approve the $1 billion for the Secret Service, around $220 million of which is earmarked for President Donald Trump’s planned East Wing ballroom. Democrats have painted the ballroom as an elaborate vanity project and sign that the president is out of touch with voters’ cost-of-living concerns. There is also uncertainty over whether House Republicans will go along with the provision, a late addition to the bill that came after a shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner last month that appeared to target the president. The legislation is otherwise focused on providing $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and related agencies, and until now, leadership has been reluctant to expand its scope. Undecided members have expressed openness to some aspects of the funding, aimed at securing a new East Wing expansion where the ballroom, currently under litigation, is expected to be built. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told reporters a new checkpoint to screen visitors, estimated to cost $180 million, would be a "legitimate" use of taxpayer dollars. But the price tag has given some Republicans pause, and GOP leadership can only afford to lose three votes on the Senate floor. "I do think that the effort to have a more user-friendly security entry is legitimate to look at," Murkowski said. "But if you’re tacking on every ask that the Secret Service wants for the next three years and trying to roll that all into the cover of ballroom renovation, I think our job is to sort this out.". Trump has promised to finance the ballroom with private donations, but Republicans also fear the security funding will be viewed as tacit approval for the project as Democrats promise to make it a campaign attack line. The Trump administration began a full-court press to win over reluctant members this week, with Secret Service Director Sean Curran briefing Senate Republicans on Tuesday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also updated centrist House members on Capitol Hill Wednesday. On Thursday, Curran briefed a group of House Republicans at the White House. The ruling from the Senate parliamentarian comes ahead of multiple committee votes that will tee up the immigration enforcement bill for the Senate floor. That includes a "vote-a-rama" during which Democrats will be given another chance to strip the $1 billion out of the bill. "Democrats will keep fighting this every way we can — in the Byrd Bath, on the Senate floor with votes, and anywhere else Republicans try to raid Americans’ hard-earned money for Trump’s gilded palace," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a Saturday night statement. "The contrast couldn’t be clearer: Democrats fight for American families. Republicans fight for Trump.".

Houston Chronicle [5/16/2026 2:05 PM, Maliya Ellis, 2493K] reports the United States Secret Service recovered 14 illegal credit card skimming devices at Houston-area businesses this week during an operation ahead of the World Cup. Law enforcement officials found the devices while inspecting more than 3,000 point-of-sale terminals, ATMs and gas pumps at 372 businesses in Harris County. Removing the skimming devices, which scammers use to steal consumers’ credit card information, prevented about $14.5 million in fraud, the agency said. "Card skimming threatens the financial security of individuals and families across our community," said Thomas Rizza, acting special agent in charge for the Secret Service’s Houston office, in a statement. "I am proud of our team’s dedication to identify and remove these devices before they can cause harm, and for their education efforts." The agency did not say exactly where the devices were found. But skimmers often target areas with high volumes of Electronic Benefit Transfer transactions and use.

New York Post [5/16/2026 5:25 PM, Shane Galvin, 40934K] reports accused terror commander Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi worked through a new Iranian-backed terrorist group that emerged "essentially overnight" after the outset US-Israel war and urged followers to kill President Trump. The group — Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HIYA) — appeared in March 2026 after the war against Iran started and in just weeks the group was able to carry out 18 bombings, stabbings, and arson attacks targeting Americans and Jews in Europe, according to prosecutors. "Essentiall overnight, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya was able to activate terrorist cells across Europe to carry out nearly 20 attacks in the weeks immediately following that start of the Iranian Military Conflict," reads an indictment in the Southern District of New York filed on Friday. He is alleged to have been involved in the planning and promoted the attacks carried out by Hiya, prosecutors said.

FOX News [5/16/2026 9:34 PM, Brie Stimson, 37576K] reports Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the U.S. Navy to help with the investigation into the sinking of a fishing vessel earlier this year that left seven crew members dead, the Navy and the governor’s office confirmed to Fox News Digital. Healey and State Sen. Bruce Tarr sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy this week asking for help retrieving a video recorder and a hard drive from the wreck of the Lily Jean in January, which lies more than 300 feet down in the Atlantic about 25 miles off the coast of Massachusetts, that could determine the cause of the sinking. "Governor Healey is requesting the Navy retrieve a piece of equipment on board that could provide critical information into what caused the ship to sink," Healey’s office told Fox News Digital on Saturday. "She has also requested that the Navy assess the feasibility of recovering the remains of lost crew members, in keeping with the wishes of each family.". The governor’s office added that Healey had "previously asked the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the equipment on board, but unfortunately, the NTSB informed us that they do not intend to lead an effort to retrieve it.". A spokesperson from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy told Fox News Digital, "The Office of the Secretary of the Navy is in receipt of the correspondence. A response is being prepared and will be transmitted directly to the Governor’s office.". The body of Lily Jean Captain Accursio "Gus" Sanfilippo is the only one that has been recovered. The six others who died in the Jan. 30 sinking include crew member Paul Beal Jr.; crew member John Rousanidis; crew member Freeman Short; crew member Sean Therrien; and NOAA fisheries observer Jada Samitt. "What caused it is not as important as retrieving the crew," Donna Short, the mother of Freeman Short, a 31-year-old who was planning a wedding, told WFXT. She said she spoke to him a few days before he went out on the doomed trip. "He told me, ‘Hey mom, you know I’m going to be going,’ and I told him I loved him," she said, adding that recovering his body is a "matter of laying him to rest where his legacy began next to both of his grandfathers, who are veterans.". The National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard are involved in an ongoing investigation into the sinking. The Coast Guard’s search for the missing crew members was suspended on Jan. 31, a day after the sinking, and the NTSB said it doesn’t do recoveries, according to WFXT.

NBC News [5/16/2026 1:58 PM, Matt Lavietes, 42967K] reports a passenger on board the plane that crashed into the ocean off the coast of Florida earlier this week has been arrested on cocaine smuggling charges. Jonathan Gardiner, one of the 11 Bahamian adults rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force on Tuesday, was charged with one count of cocaine import conspiracy for allegedly smuggling cocaine since 2023, according to a federal complaint. The complaint, which also refers to Gardiner as "Player," alleges that he was carrying a brown paper bag containing $30,000 in Bahamian currency. The cash was labeled with the name of a Bahamian politician who was previously in connection with receiving a large shipment of cocaine from Colombia. Gardiner also had three phones on him when the plane went down this week. The twin-engine turboprop airplane departed from Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, bound for Freeport on Tuesday, and crashed approximately 80 miles off the coast of Melbourne, Florida. All 11 passengers and the pilot survived and were rescued by an Air Force helicopter that was airborne in the area. One passenger told reporters at a press conference earlier this week that the survivors were stranded at sea for roughly five hours. Some were treated for injuries, but all remain in stable condition or have since been discharged from medical care.

CNN [5/17/2026 5:05 AM, Katie Hunt, 19874K] reports the clock is ticking on Q-Day, the looming yet unknown date when quantum computing will have the capacity to quickly and easily break the encryption keys that keep most internet communication safe. Experts have known about the hypothetical risk of Q-Day since the 1990s. But Google recently warned that quantum computers may be able to hack some encrypted systems by 2029 — a timeline that drastically narrows the window to safeguard data that many cybersecurity specialists had previously predicted. The new estimate means that governments, companies and other entities may have far less time to prepare. "It’s the day when people, perhaps adversaries, will have access to a quantum computer that can break cryptographic codes that are in use," said Michele Mosca, cofounder and CEO of cybersecurity company evolutionQ. Q-Day marks the moment a quantum computer gains enough resources and stability to crack conventional crytopgraphy. When that happens, every financial transaction, medical file, email, location history and crypto wallet protected by today’s commonly used algorithms could be unlocked by a machine capable of solving the complex math that currently keeps sensitive data secure. At that game-changing turning point, "everything’s safe — safe, safe — and then suddenly it’s not safe. It’s a very drastic jump," said Mosca, who is also a professor at the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. Adversaries and bad actors may already be collecting encrypted data, with the intention of launching "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks. In this scenario, information is stolen, stored and then decrypted when a full-scale quantum computer is available, he added.

FOX News [5/16/2026 5:14 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports Former DHS advisor Charles Marino discusses terror threats facing the United States, including an alleged Iran-backed plot targeting Jewish institutions, on ‘Fox Report.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [5/16/2026 11:11 AM, Asra Q. Nomani and Michael Dorgan, 37576K] reports several masked demonstrators carried Hamas flags at an anti-Israel protest in Manhattan on Friday, while a Hezbollah flag waved above the crowd, hours after federal authorities charged an alleged Kataib Hezbollah operative of plotting attacks on Jewish community centers and a Manhattan synagogue. The protest drew about 500 demonstrators carrying Palestinian flags to Washington Square Park, where chants of "globalize the intifada" rang out as one speaker declared Israel has no right to exist and said Palestinians would take over Israel "by any means necessary." Just as the protest was kicking off at around 4:30 p.m., New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the alleged terror plot by Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander in the Kataeb Hezbollah terrorist operation in Iraq. "Let me be clear: antisemitism, violent extremism, and terrorism have no place in our city. This kind of hate is despicable," Mamdani said. Two minutes later, a starkly different scene unfolded in Lower Manhattan off W. 4th Street. The activists descended on the busy Washington Square Park with Palestinian flags, pre-printed signs and banners, transforming a corner of the park into a rally staging ground to protest the existence of the state of Israel and demand its dismantling and replacement with a state called Palestine.

Daily Caller [5/16/2026 4:22 PM, Mark Tanos, 803K] reports federal prosecutors want the man charged in the fatal shooting of two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Washington Jewish museum to die for the crime. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro wrote Friday that her office would seek the death penalty against Elias Rodriguez, in a post on X. "After extensive review of the facts and the law, my office will seek the death penalty against Elias Rodriguez," she wrote. Pirro added a warning to would-be attackers, "Let me be clear: anyone who commits acts of political violence in the nation’s capital will face the full force of the law." Pirro wrote that the superseding indictment alleges "the intentional and premeditated murders" of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, describing the attack as "the targeted killing of individuals associated with an event for young Jewish professionals at the Capital Jewish Museum." She added that Rodriguez engaged in "conduct that created a grave risk to additional innocent victims."

AP [5/16/2026 2:15 PM, Megan Janetsky and Fernanda Pesce, 35287K] reports when bombs fell from and bullets ricocheted off her concrete floors, 74-year-old María Cabrera and her family fled into the night-cloaked mountains of central Mexico with only the clothes on their backs. A week later, Cabrera picks through the charred scraps of her life, salvaging pots, woven cloths and a small wooden cross. She knows it’s the last time she’ll return to her home of 60 years. "Oh, God, why have you abandoned me?" she said through sobs, wandering past burned ashes of what was once her mattress in a small room with a collapsed roof and a melted refrigerator just through the door. "How are we going to rebuild? We don’t have money, we don’t have anything." She joined a growing number of people in conflict-torn regions of Mexico forced to flee their homes. Experts have described the displacement phenomenon as an invisible crisis with long-term humanitarian consequences — there are few official figures on the number of displaced people, who have almost no resources to turn to once violence forces them to leave.

Reuters [5/17/2026 4:01 AM, Sean Hogan, 38315K] reports Israel’s military on Saturday said it had killed the chief of Hamas’ military wing in an air strike on Gaza the previous day, the most senior Hamas official killed by Israel since an October U.S.-backed ceasefire agreement that was meant to halt fighting. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [5/16/2026 6:00 PM, Benoit Faucon and James T. Areddy, 646K] reports Iran seized a support vessel owned by a Chinese security firm near the Strait of Hormuz, appearing to signal it is unwilling to permit armed protection even for ships sailing on behalf of its strongest global backer. It was the first known seizure of a private-security vessel since the start of the war between the U.S. and Iran. It also came at a sensitive time. Owner Sinoguards Marine Security said Iranian authorities impounded the ship Thursday, the same day President Trump held a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Securing Xi’s help in pressuring Iran to accept peace terms was high on Trump’s agenda. A day earlier, a Chinese tanker had been allowed to transit through the strait in what Iran said was an agreement to allow some Chinese ships to pass. Granting passage of commercial ships while arresting security vessels “is a way to remind the Chinese who is in control of Hormuz and they shouldn’t even think of providing their own security,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House, a London-based think tank. The seized ship, the Hui Chuan, was sailing under a Honduran flag and had been at anchor just outside the Strait of Hormuz, about 38 nautical miles northeast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. Hong Kong-registered Sinoguards said it was asked for “documentation and compliance inspection by the relevant authorities” in Iran, who took the Hui Chuan into Iranian waters.

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