ICE arrested on Tuesday an illegal alien who raped and sodomized his 9-year-old stepdaughter, the agency told The Daily Wire.
The Department of Homeland Security released the names of five more criminal illegal aliens, whom it referred to as “the worst of the worst.” The arrests came as the Trump administration has ramped up deportation efforts, and ICE has faced protests from Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists.
One of the men arrested was Michael Kabiona, an illegal alien from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was convicted of sexual conduct against a child.
“Thanks to ICE, this depraved pedophile is not in our communities to hurt and victimize more children,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “It’s disgusting that ICE law enforcement is experiencing a 1000% increase in assaults against them while they are removing creeps like this who commit unforgivable crimes against children. Our ICE agents are heroes, end of story.”
Kabiona was convicted in 2015 for raping and sodomizing his 9-year-old stepdaughter over a two-year period, <a href="https://www4.erie.gov/da/sites/www4.erie.gov.da/files/archive/index.php-2352.html?q=pedophilic-rapist-convicted-after-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Erie County, New York, prosecutors. He was sentenced to just 12 years in prison, much less than the maximum 25 years he faced.
Kabiona was convicted after testimony from the young girl whom he victimized. The victim was left with chronic injuries to her genitalia. He first came to America as a refugee, his lawyer <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/buffalo-man-gets-12-years-for-sexually-assaulting-child/article_d4c24671-f7c2-5f45-85b0-5243c01d74b8.html">said</a> after the trial, claiming that the whole incident was a “shame” because  Kabiona “fought for so long to get here from a war-torn country.”
<div id="attachment_960449" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-960449" class="size-full wp-image-960449" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1810" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-300x212.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-815x576.jpg 815w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-768x543.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-1536x1086.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-2048x1448.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Kabiona via DHS.</div>
ICE also announced the arrest of 41-year-old Lorentino Martinez-Tejeda, an illegal alien from Mexico who was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault on a minor in McHenry County, Illinois. Martinez-Tejeda <a href="https://www.mchenrycountyil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/14873/11527?arch=1&amp;npage=21">pled guilty</a> to sexually assaulting a victim under the age of 13 and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Another illegal alien picked up by ICE was 36-year-old Nidia Tanya Quistian-Nino of Mexico, who was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in Warton County, Texas.
The agency also picked up 51-year-old Francisco Antonio Villalobos, an illegal alien from El Salvador, convicted of kidnapping in Urbana, Illinois.

ICE Agents Carry Out Raid On Undocumented Immigrants In Chicago

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Nabs ‘Depraved Pedophile’ Who Raped 9-Year-Old Stepdaughter

Buffalo

Congo

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

New York

Sex Crimes

Trump Administration

U.S.

The Trump administration announced that it will be partnering with the state of Indiana to create a new ICE detention facility modeled after Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” with the new location dubbed the “Speedway Slammer.”
The new ICE detention facility, which will be established in coordination with the Indiana state government, will be located at the Miami Correctional Facility, located roughly 60 miles north of Indianapolis.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the new facility, explaining that it will allow the federal law enforcement agency to hold another 1,000 illegal aliens at a time.
“COMING SOON to Indiana: The Speedway Slammer. Today, we’re announcing a new partnership with the state of Indiana to expand detention bed space by 1,000 beds. Thanks to Governor Braun for his partnership to help remove the worst of the worst out of our country,” Noem said in a statement to Fox News <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/1952839290993651760">announcing</a> the new ICE detention facility.
“If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana’s Speedway Slammer. Avoid arrest and self deport now using the CBP Home App,” she added, referencing the app that the Trump administration is using to encourage illegal alien self-deportations.
Indiana Governor Mike Braun touted the new partnership with the Trump administration and asserted that the “Speedway Slammer” will assist ICE in its effort to “remove the worst of the worst.”
“We are proud to work with President Trump and Secretary Noem as they remove the worst of the worst with this innovative partnership,” Braun said. “Indiana is taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration and will continue to lead the way among states.”
The “Speedway Slammer” comes on the heels of Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new ICE detention facility located in the Everglades, which appears <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/it-will-be-nearly-impossible-for-illegal-aliens-to-escape-alligator-alcatraz?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=35&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Why+It+Might+Be+Impossible+For+Illegals+To+Escape+Florida%E2%80%99s+%E2%80%98Alligator+Alcatraz%E2%80%99">virtually impossible</a> to successfully escape from due to the treacherous natural conditions in the area and the dangerous wildlife that populate it.
That facility was recently put into service, with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hundreds-of-illegal-aliens-deported-in-first-flights-from-alligator-alcatraz">hundreds</a> of illegal aliens being flown out of the country from the site in late July.

ICE Arrest

‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Has Some New Competition: The ‘Speedway Slammer’

Meet "Alligator Alcatraz's" New Competition: The "Speedway Slammer"

deportation

illegal alien

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

An arsonist attacked an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Washington state over the weekend, throwing a rock through a window and lighting a fire on the property.
The unidentified arsonist <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/05/us-news/arsonist-attacks-ice-office-in-washington-state-hurls-rock-through-window/">targeted</a> an ICE field office in Yakima, Washington, about 140 miles away from Seattle. Federal agents, the Department of Homeland Security says, managed to escape from the attack unscathed.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin slammed Democrat politicians for their incendiary rhetoric against ICE agents, accusing them of contributing to the surge in violence against the federal law enforcement force.
“Make no mistake, Democrat politicians like Hakeem Jeffries, Mayor Wu of Boston, Tim Walz, and Mayor Bass of Los Angeles are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE,” McLaughlin charged. “From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi Gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale.”
Pictures from DHS and released by the New York Post show plumes of smoke filling the air as the fire burns on the property.
<div id="attachment_957141" style="width: 711px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957141" class=" wp-image-957141" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-05-at-2.13.59-PM-300x194.png" alt="" width="701" height="453" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-05-at-2.13.59-PM-300x194.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-05-at-2.13.59-PM-891x576.png 891w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-05-at-2.13.59-PM-768x497.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Screen-Shot-2025-08-05-at-2.13.59-PM.png 1438w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px" />From DHS / NY Post</div>
“Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who seeks to harm law enforcement officers will be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the DHS Assistant Secretary went on to say.
Noem has also called out Democrat politicians like Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell for “risking people’s lives” by <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kristi-noem-accuses-nashville-mayor-of-risking-peoples-lives-with-opposition-to-ice?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=15&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Kristi+Noem+Accuses+Nashville+Mayor+Of+%E2%80%98Risking+People%E2%80%99s+Lives%E2%80%99+With+Opposition+To+ICE">opposing</a> ICE and doxxing agents who were active in the southern city.
McLaughlin noted that it has not been confirmed that ICE agents were the target of the attack, though the building is identified as a DHS office and is <a href="https://www.ice.gov/node/62180">identified online</a> as an ICE field office.
The arson attack is the latest assault against the agency tasked with upholding and enforcing federal immigration law. ICE agents have faced attacks from both leftwing activists and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/suspected-tren-de-aragua-member-charged-with-attempted-murder-after-attacking-federal-agent?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=47&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Suspected+Tren+De+Aragua+Member+Charged+With+Attempted+Murder+After+Attacking+Federal+Agent">illegal alien criminals</a>.
One unidentified man is believed to have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/violent-leftists-attack-federal-agents-during-immigration-raids-at-california-pot-farms">fired a pistol</a> at agents near Camarillo, California, while nearly a dozen suspects were <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/10-suspects-charged-july-4-attack-texas-ice-detention-facility">charged</a> early last month after attacking law enforcement at an ICE detention facility in Alvarado, Texas.

Anti-ICE Vandalism

ICE Agents Narrowly Escape Arson Attack In Washington State

Arsonist Attacks ICE Office In Washington State, Throws Rock Through Window

Crime

WASHINGTON—The Department of Homeland Security is renewing its calls for Americans to join ICE following the arrest of more criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, sexual predators, and pedophiles, The Daily Wire can first report.
Among those arrested Monday were Israel Cobian-Sandoval, convicted of homicide in Chicago; Rey Bautista-Osorio, convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to ill/cause serious injury in North Carolina; Edgar Allan Becerril, convicted of aggravated assault of a child and six counts of sexual assault of a child in Texas; Kevin Sosa-Ayala, convicted of statutory rape in Tennessee; and Simon Torres-De Leon, convicted of rape in Ohio.
“Murderers. Pedophiles. Rapists. These are the dirtbags ICE is arresting and removing from our country,” Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “We are delivering on President Trump’s promise to remove the worst of the worst. Serve your country today by signing up to join ICE and help us get these dirtbags out of our country.”
<div id="attachment_957087" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dhs-exposes-worst-of-the-worst-illegal-criminals-calls-for-americans-to-join-ice/edgar-allan-becerru" rel="attachment wp-att-957087"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957087" class="wp-image-957087 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Edgar-Allan-Becerru.jpg" alt="Edgar Allan Becerril, convicted of aggravated assault of a child and sexual assault of a child (six counts) in Guadalupe County, TX." width="266" height="200" /></a>Edgar Allan Becerril, convicted of aggravated assault of a child and sexual assault of a child (six counts) in Guadalupe County, TX.</div>
<div id="attachment_957089" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dhs-exposes-worst-of-the-worst-illegal-criminals-calls-for-americans-to-join-ice/israel-cobian-sandoval" rel="attachment wp-att-957089"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957089" class="wp-image-957089 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Israel-Cobian-Sandoval.jpg" alt="Israel Cobian-Sandoval, convicted of homicide in Chicago, IL. " width="266" height="210" /></a>Israel Cobian-Sandoval, convicted of homicide in Chicago, IL.</div>
<div id="attachment_957091" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dhs-exposes-worst-of-the-worst-illegal-criminals-calls-for-americans-to-join-ice/kevin-sosa-ayala" rel="attachment wp-att-957091"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957091" class="wp-image-957091 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Kevin-Sosa-Ayala.jpg" alt="Kevin Sosa-Ayala, convicted of statutory rape in Sumner County, TN. " width="266" height="200" /></a>Kevin Sosa-Ayala, convicted of statutory rape in Sumner County, TN.</div>
<div id="attachment_957093" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dhs-exposes-worst-of-the-worst-illegal-criminals-calls-for-americans-to-join-ice/rey-bautista-osorio" rel="attachment wp-att-957093"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957093" class="wp-image-957093 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Rey-Bautista-Osorio.png" alt="Rey Bautista-Osorio, convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill/cause serious injury in Wilson County, NC. " width="266" height="210" /></a>Rey Bautista-Osorio, convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill/cause serious injury in Wilson County, NC.</div>
<div id="attachment_957095" style="width: 276px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dhs-exposes-worst-of-the-worst-illegal-criminals-calls-for-americans-to-join-ice/simon-torres-de-leon" rel="attachment wp-att-957095"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-957095" class="wp-image-957095 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/Simon-Torres-De-Leon.jpg" alt="Simon Torres-De Leon, convicted of rape in Franklin County, OH. " width="266" height="200" /></a>Simon Torres-De Leon, convicted of rape in Franklin County, OH.</div>
All the criminal illegal aliens arrested this week are from Mexico, DHS told The Daily Wire, except for Sosa-Ayala, who is from Honduras.
In the wake of these arrests, DHS urged “patriotic Americans” to join ICE and help to “remove more of these barbaric criminals.” The agency is recruiting ICE agents through messaging that mirrors that of military recruitments in the past, featuring a photo of a stern-looking Uncle Sam looking the viewer in the eye and telling them: “America needs YOU!”
“America has been invaded by criminals and predators,” the ICE recruiting website says. “We need YOU to get them out.”
Many top Trump administration officials have promoted the ICE recruiting information, notably the president’s Deputy Chief of Staff for policy, Stephen Miller. The messaging is designed to appeal to Americans of all backgrounds, with lines like: “Serve your country! Defend your culture! No undergraduate degree required!”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Protect. Serve. Deport. <a href="https://t.co/nZkBEj3GGi">https://t.co/nZkBEj3GGi</a> <a href="https://t.co/2nNr5nh3vx">pic.twitter.com/2nNr5nh3vx</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1952771243112862206?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
ICE promises that those who join may be entitled to up to a $50,000 signing bonus, $60,000 student loan repayment, 25% premium pay, and more. The agency is looking for deportation officers, criminal investigators, general attorneys, and more.
“ICE is looking for individuals with integrity and courage,” the recruitment website states. “ICE is interested in hiring law enforcement personnel who aspire to the highest standards of performance, professionalism, and leadership. Deportation officers and special agents must be in excellent physical condition, able to tolerate environmental stresses and have strong critical thinking skills.”
“ICE employees should be committed to its mission to protect America from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threaten national security and public safety.”

ICE Agent

EXCLUSIVE: DHS Exposes ‘Worst Of The Worst’ Illegal Criminals, Calls For Americans To Join ICE

Donald Trump

Illegal Immigration

The State Department is rolling out a new pilot program that will require some foreign visitors to the United States to pay bonds up to $15,000 for entry. 
The trial program, announced on Monday, is intended to crack down on the hundreds of thousands of visa overstays that occur every year. 
The notice from the State Department said that the 12-month pilot program will primarily impact those “who are nationals of countries identified by the Department as having high visa overstay rates&#8221; and &#8220;where screening and vetting information is deemed deficient.” 
The purpose was to address the “clear national security threat posed by visa overstays and deficient screening and vetting,” according to the State Department. 
Consular officers will be authorized to require nonimmigrant visa applicants from countries with high visa overstay rates to post a bond of $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000 during their time in the United States. The amount would depend on individual circumstances and official discretion. 
“The Department believes these three levels will provide consular officers discretion to require a bond in an amount that is sufficient enough to ensure the alien does not overstay, while taking into account the visa applicant’s circumstances,” the notice said. 
The Trump administration previously tried to implement a similar program in 2020, but that never took effect because of travel shutdowns triggered by the COVID pandemic. 
The new <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/08/05/2025-14826/visas-visa-bond-pilot-program">pilot program</a> is another means to curb illegal immigration and encourage cooperation from foreign governments. 
“By its design and intention, the Pilot Program is a tool of diplomacy, intended to encourage foreign governments to take immediate action to reduce the overstay rates of their nationals when traveling to the United States for temporary visits, and to encourage countries to improve screening and vetting and the security of travel and civil documents, including in the granting of citizenship,” the notice said. 
Since 2015, the number of visa overstays has averaged in the hundreds of thousands every year, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security. The department found in 2023 that there were around 500,000 visa overstays. Countries with high levels of visa overstays <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2024-10/24_1011_CBP-Entry-Exit-Overstay-Report-FY23-Data.pdf">included</a> Afghanistan, Angola, Burma, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Haiti, Sudan, and Yemen.

President Trump Meets With Visiting Crown Prince Of Bahrain

High-Risk Foreign Visitors Must Pay Up To $15K To Enter U.S. Under Trump Admin Visa Crackdown

State Department

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Left can’t meme, but can only scold the Right for memeing well.
This dynamic was once confined to esoteric feuds among terminally online partisans. Now, it’s playing out in the open — between government agencies and what remains of the legacy media — and the stakes are increasingly tangible.
The Trump administration’s social media accounts have spent their summer appropriating classic images of Americana, notably J.M. Flagg’s famous<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Montgomery_Flagg#/media/File:I_Want_You_for_U.S._Army_by_James_Montgomery_Flagg.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 1917 Uncle Sam poster</a>. But things really hit a fever pitch when the Department of Homeland Security shared three seemingly innocuous images: <a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1948150126494482555" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Gast’s 1872 “American Progress,”</a> with the caption “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.” <a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1940164863793549747" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thomas Kinkade’s “Morning Pledge”</a> with the caption “Protect the Homeland,” and<a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1944875154745778525" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Morgan Weistling’s “A Prayer for a New Life”</a> captioned “Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Protect the Homeland.
“Morning Pledge” by Thomas Kinkade <a href="https://t.co/JLs26R3VlO">pic.twitter.com/JLs26R3VlO</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1940164863793549747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
According to the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/29/trump-dhs-immigrants-social-paintings/">Washington Post</a>, “the art world is not happy” with these posts because they are “part of an effort to rewrite the past with an exclusionary view of American history,” one in which there are clear standards of good and evil.
The Post doesn’t attempt to show why ordinary Americans should care about this. But while the Post’s freakout may be amusing to behold, it also gets at something important. Liberals are right to panic about these posts — and conservatives should pay attention.
The second Trump administration is staffed with right-wing Zoomers. These staffers are digital natives: born in the memeworld, molded by it, and in many cases more radically opposed to the leftwing hegemony that reached its apogee during their formative years than those of us who remember the days when cable news still dictated the terms of national conversation.
Those days are gone. Millennials like JD Vance and Stephen Miller hold high office. The aesthetic sensibilities of the Zoomers on their staff are shaping the administration’s narrative warfare, providing unprecedented air cover to the administration’s ground operations. Their social media habits are a visible sign of just how far the Left has fallen from its media and, thus, meaning-making monopoly.
The recent dustup about Homeland Security posting Americana paintings is just a minor skirmish in the larger war that is being waged for the sensibilities of the American people. Liberals have long realized that he who controls the production, distribution, and regulation of images controls the hearts, minds, and imaginations of the population.
Despite their confusion over other fundamental truths such as the difference between a man and a woman, liberals grasp this reality — and in it, something essential to the human condition.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.
American Progress &#8211; John Gast <a href="https://t.co/agU6bl8TZ8">pic.twitter.com/agU6bl8TZ8</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1948150126494482555?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
We are imaginative as well as rational creatures, embodied as well as capable of abstract thought. Our reasoning about right and wrong, true and false, never gets very far without referring to something particular we’ve experienced, either directly in our own lives or vicariously through the testimony of others — including stories and history. “Music,” in the classical and comprehensive sense of “the arts of the Muses,” matters.
In ancient Greece, the nine Muses were the daughters of “Memory” and presided over the arts. Mythology and biography, parable and narrative, have always been the primary means of moral and political education, and they remain so today. Americans in general still recognize the power of the “Muse-ical arts,” mainly in the potency of historical narratives such as the Civil War, World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement.
We would do well to recover the sense of power contained in other forms of “Music,” especially the storytelling power of films. Newer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/movies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ventures</a> on the <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/07/20/2025/founders-films-aims-to-remake-hollywood-with-patriotism-palantir-and-ayn-rand" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Right</a> are beginning to do this.
But we still have a long way to go. Even the artists whose work the Trump administration is now using aren’t safe from the Left’s appropriation.
The Kinkade Family Foundation, scandalized by the Trump administration’s use of his work, <a href="https://www.kinkadefamilyfoundation.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> it was “deeply troubled to see this image used to promote division and xenophobia associated with the ideals of DHS” and pledged solidarity with “our communities who have been threatened and targeted by DHS, especially our immigrant, BIPOC, undocumented, LGBTQ+, and disabled relatives and neighbors.” Weistling, the only artist of the three still alive, took to his <a href="https://www.morganweistling.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> to distance himself from the politics of the moment: “The recent DHS post on social media using a painting of mine that I painted a few years ago was used without my permission.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Remember your Homeland’s Heritage.
New Life in a New Land &#8211; Morgan Weistling <a href="https://t.co/nFL61Nljbw">pic.twitter.com/nFL61Nljbw</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1944875154745778525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Still, there is a virtually inexhaustible store of classic works of mythology, literature, and history, ancient as well as American, waiting to be adapted by artists who love rather than revile our inheritance.
There is a lesson here for older conservatives. Liberal donors have long appreciated the political utility of culture. As a class, they have lavished funds on all manner of artistic ventures, sowing seeds broadly in the expectation that just a few of their investments will blossom into captivating cultural products. As a result, they have dominated the culture for generations — not because young people are naturally more liberal (Zoomer men are currently disproving this myth) — but because their cold, hard cash has helped drag the next generation leftward.
Conservative donors are more comfortable running a business than patronizing the arts. They tend to focus their charitable giving on well-defined causes with short-term returns on investment. They have thereby won discrete battles — winning this election, pushing that policy through Congress — while losing the broader war for the soul of the nation.
That the unembarrassed Americanism of artists like Kinkade and Weistling has enjoyed commercial success while swimming against the tide of liberal cultural hegemony is a sign of just how high a demand remains in the American public for non-leftist cultural products. Liberal hegemony is cracking up, and as the Trump administration gets serious about winding down its taxpayer-funded power bases, from NPR and PBS to elite universities, the crack-up is bound to continue.
The emergence of an energetic and effective American Right has far more to do with digital disruption than with a strategic change in the conservative donor class. Conservatives who are serious about reclaiming American culture, and consigning the most anti-American elements of the Left to the dustbin of history, should put a shoulder to the wheel — not just in lobbying and campaign donations, but in directly patronizing the artists, educators, and other culture creators who celebrate rather than denigrate our civilizational heritage.
Pavlos Papadopoulos is Associate Professor of Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

American Progress

Americana Posting And The War For Culture

Conservatives

Gen Z

Painting

Washington Post

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump is directing the Department of Homeland Security to develop policies to block male international athletes from competing against women in the United States, The Daily Wire can exclusively report.
On Monday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will issue guidance building off Trump&#8217;s Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports executive order, ensuring that certain athlete-related petitions and applications will be available only to women.
“Men do not belong in women’s sports,&#8221; USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser told The Daily Wire. &#8220;USCIS is closing the loophole for foreign male athletes whose only chance at winning elite sports is to change their gender identity and leverage their biological advantages against women.&#8221;
&#8220;It’s a matter of safety, fairness, respect, and truth that only biological female athletes receive a visa to come to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports,&#8221; he added. &#8220;The Trump administration is standing up for the silent majority who have long been victims of leftist policies that defy common sense.&#8221;
The agency&#8217;s update will clarify and revise guidance related to the visa categories &#8220;O-1A aliens of extraordinary ability,&#8221; &#8220;E11 aliens of extraordinary ability,&#8221; &#8220;E21 aliens of exceptional ability,&#8221; and &#8220;national interest waivers (NIWs).&#8221;
When considering these categories, if USCIS is considering a male athlete who says he is a transgender woman and thus wants to compete in women&#8217;s sports in the United States, USCIS will view the fact that this man has competed against women in the past as a negative factor when determining if he is among &#8220;the small percentage at the very top of the field.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_955815" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/?attachment_id=955815" rel="attachment wp-att-955815"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-955815" class="wp-image-955815 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2197854021-1-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2197854021-1-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2197854021-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2197854021-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2197854021-1.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Riley Gaines watches as President Donald Trump delivers remarks before signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order in the East Room at the White House on February 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)</div>
Similarly, when looking at a male athlete who has &#8220;gained acclaim in men&#8217;s sports and seeks to compete in women&#8217;s sports&#8221; in the United States, USCIS will not consider him to be trying to &#8220;continue work in his area of extraordinary ability.&#8221;
The agency also says that male athletes who want to enter the country in order to compete in women&#8217;s sports &#8220;do not substantially benefit the United States&#8221; and that it is not in the national interest of the United States to &#8220;waive the job offer and, thus, the labor certification requirement for male athletes whose proposed endeavor is to compete in women’s sports.&#8221;
The move, which is part of USCIS&#8217;s efforts to protect all-female athletic opportunities, will ensure that &#8220;male aliens&#8221; who want immigration benefits aren&#8217;t coming to the United States to participate in women&#8217;s sports by pretending to be women.
A USCIS spokesman told The Daily Wire that the president&#8217;s February executive order was the catalyst for the agency&#8217;s decision. That order directed that all funds be rescinded from &#8220;educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities,&#8221; saying that allowing men in women&#8217;s sports is &#8220;demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies women and girls the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports.&#8221;
&#8220;It shall also be the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports more broadly, as a matter of safety, fairness, dignity, and truth,&#8221; Trump&#8217;s executive order stated.
The move is also interesting since the next Summer Olympic Games will be held in the United States in 2028 ( the 2026 Winter Olympics, will be hosted by Italy). The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee quietly changed its policy in July to comply with the president&#8217;s executive order and ban men from competing against women, a major win for conservatives and the White House.

President Trump Signs No Men In Women’s Sports Executive Order

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Admin Updates Visa Categories To Block Men From Women’s Sports

Riley Gaines

The Department of Homeland Security has busted scores of illegal alien human traffickers and sex predators, and The Daily Wire has obtained exclusive details on the criminal illegals busted by the federal law enforcement agency.
Operations spanning from Newark, New Jersey, to Camarillo, California, resulted in the arrest of dozens of illegal aliens perpetrating the heinous crimes, with the federal agency saying that “the full weight of the American government is bringing the hammer down on human trafficking rings.”
“The brave men and women of DHS are the best in the world at going after traffickers. They are always able to track down those who are trafficking individuals, find the ringleaders, and rip that evil off by its head,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told The Daily Wire.
“I’m so thankful that I get the chance to lead individuals like that, and agents who get up every day to help save our children and to save women and men from the kind of slavery that we’ve seen,” the secretary went on to say, celebrating the work of DHS agents to bust human trafficking rings on the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
One late July operation in Newark resulted in the arrest of four illegal alien child predators by ICE agents over a four-day span. Those arrested in the enforcement action, which was part of Operation Apex Predator, were all registered sex offenders.
A July 22 operation resulted in the arrest of a human smuggler in Laredo, Texas, who was found to be smuggling 101 migrants in a locked trailer. Of those 101 individuals, 12 were children. The man was sentenced to 63 months in prison.
ICE and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation teamed up to levy a four-count indictment against eight people with ties to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua, with the defendants charged for their involvement in a “transnational commercial sex enterprise.”
In one particularly disturbing case, Homeland Security Investigations arrested an Ecuadoran national in New York for the sexual violation of a minor. Authorities discovered that a 15-year-old girl who was pregnant with the man&#8217;s child had been apprehended after attempting to illegally enter the United States, and that the man had been in a relationship with the child in Ecuador since she was 13 years old. The Ecuadoran national, authorities say, arranged to have her smuggled into the United States.
Not all of the perpetrators busted by federal authorities were illegal aliens. One American citizen, who was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals working in coordination with Customs and Border Protection, was identified as a &#8220;high-priority target linked to a criminal syndicate operating in human exploitation.&#8221; The suspect was arrested in Yuma, Arizona, and was wanted for placing individuals into prostitution, residing in a house of prostitution, and profiting from the earnings of prostitution.
Other operations targeted human smuggling rings that sought to bring illegal aliens into the United States for profit. The federal agency busted a transnational smuggling ring on May 2, when it discovered that four Mexican illegal aliens were running an “international human smuggling conspiracy” to bring illegal aliens into the United States from the Canadian border. Those smuggled into the United States would pay thousands of dollars to the criminal ring.
Homeland Security busted another smuggling ring on March 25, when a woman who had smuggled more than 100 Colombians into the United States was sentenced to 30 months in prison following her arrest by ICE in Arizona.
Customs and Border Protection apprehended a Mexican national in California’s Port San Luis who sedated a child and attempted to smuggle the child across the border. The woman claimed that she was the mother and presented a false birth certificate, with agents discovering that the woman did not have any familial ties to the child.
Under Trump and Noem, Homeland Security has also cracked down on forced labor rings. One South Korean company, Taepyung Salt Farm, is <a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/cbp-issues-withhold-release-order-taepyung-salt-farm">no longer able to import</a> its products to the United States, with Customs and Border Protection agents detaining their imports on account of “information that reasonably indicates the use of forced labor in the production of the company’s sea salt products.”
Agents also shut down a now-infamous marijuana growing operation in Camarillo, California, rescuing 14 migrant children who were at risk of exploitation, trafficking, and forced labor. Agents arrested a whopping 361 illegal aliens, including some with charges for rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, and attempted child molestation.

EXCLUSIVE: DHS Arrests Scores Of Criminal Illegals In Nationwide Anti-Trafficking Raids

Border

Noem

Tren De Aragua

Trump

Illegal alien deportation flights have begun at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new Department of Homeland Security detention site nestled in the Florida Everglades.
Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis announced during a press conference that the first deportation flights had left from the new facility this week, with hundreds of illegal aliens being sent out of the country from the location.
“I’m pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun. The cadence is increasing,” the Florida Governor <a href="https://x.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1948736523807195326">said</a>. “We’ve already had a number of flights in the last few days,” he added, also noting that “hundreds of illegals have been removed from here.”
“This provides an ability to enhance the mission to increase the number and frequency of deportations,” he said of the site.
The site’s name is a nod to the natural conditions that made Alcatraz virtually impossible to escape from. The new illegal alien detention facility is surrounded by a harsh landscape, which The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/it-will-be-nearly-impossible-for-illegal-aliens-to-escape-alligator-alcatraz">detailed</a> would make it incredibly difficult to escape from.
“The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens, and that is the goal,” DeSantis said during the press conference, adding that the site is a “sensible spot” for an ICE detention facility given that it has an airplane runway on-site.
“You don’t have to drive them an hour to the airport, you only have to go a couple thousand feet and they can be on a plane and out of here.”
Other officials noted the strategic value of Alligator Alcatraz, also highlighting that its location makes escape from DHS custody unlikely. “There is only one road leading in and the only way out is a one-way flight,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-alligator-alcatraz-detention-center-florida/">noted</a>. “It is isolated, and surrounded by dangerous wildlife in unforgiving terrain.”
“If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier added.
The first deportation flights out of the facility come just after the Trump administration has secured a massive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ice-will-soon-get-more-money-than-the-fbi-have-capacity-for-a-million-annual-deportations?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=10&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=ICE+Will+Soon+Get+More+Money+Than+The+FBI%2C+Have+Capacity+For+A+Million+Annual+Deportations">influx of funding</a> for ICE, with much of the funding set to be used to increase the agency’s detention capacity.

Alligator Alcatraz

Hundreds Of Illegal Aliens Deported In First Flights From ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

Hundreds Of Illegal Aliens Deported In First Flights From 'Alligator Alcatraz'

Florida

An illegal alien from Senegal attacked multiple ICE officers last week after he was detained in New York City, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. 
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Thursday announced charges against Bass Ndiaye for allegedly assaulting ICE officers and about one dozen other detainees on July 18 with a pair of scissors. Ndiaye faces one count of assaulting an officer of the United States using a deadly or dangerous weapon. 
“This criminal illegal alien, who released into the country under President Biden, will face justice for his violent crimes,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “Our ICE law enforcement are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them. Secretary [Kristi] Noem stands with the brave men and women of law enforcement as they risk their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens and protect Americans.”
Ndiaye was first arrested on July 17 in New York, where he was taken to the 26 Federal Plaza immigration center in Manhattan for processing. The stabbing incident occurred the next day and the ICE officers were able to disarm Ndiaye, the Department of Homeland Security said
Ndiaye illegally crossed the border on October 22, 2023, when he was arrested by Border Patrol. He was then released into the country by the Biden administration. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. 
In recent months, ICE officers and Border Patrol officials have faced increased attacks and hostility. 
Over the weekend, an off-duty Border Patrol officer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/suspect-in-shooting-of-border-patrol-officer-released-under-biden-dhs-says">was shot</a> during an attempted burglary in Manhattan. Both suspects are illegal aliens with extensive criminal histories. 
“These violent thugs have committed a smorgasbord of crimes and been arrested multiple times and yet New York continued to release them, ignore an ICE detainer and allow them to continue to prey on Americans and terrorize our streets,” McLaughlin said. “How many people have to die, how many lives have to be changed forever for Mayor [Eric] Adams and his sanctuary politician ilk to end these performative politics?”

MixCollage-24-Jul-2025-01-48-PM-6219

EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Alien Released Under Biden Charged With Stabbing ICE Officers

Department of Justice

Kristi Noem

New York City

An illegal alien who was released by the Biden administration was involved in the shooting of a Customs and Border Protection officer in New York City on Saturday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 
The department announced on Sunday that two suspects, including one illegal alien, shot the federal immigration officer during an apparent attempted robbery. The officer is hospitalized in stable condition, DHS said in a social media post. 
“On the evening of July 19, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was shot in what looks like an attempted robbery,” DHS posted on X. “The officer, who was off duty at the time, is currently in the hospital in stable condition. One of the alleged perpetrators was an illegal alien with prior arrests for felony 2nd and 3rd degree assault and an order of deportation.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
On the evening of July 19, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection <a href="https://twitter.com/CBP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBP</a> officer was shot in what looks like an attempted robbery.
The officer, who was off duty at the time, is currently in the hospital in stable condition. One of the alleged perpetrators was an illegal alien with…
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1946978793832481089?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The incident is currently being investigated by the New York City Police Department. 
Local news outlets <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/national-international/off-duty-border-patrol-officer-shot-face-nyc-park/3793606/">reported</a> that the 42-year-old officer was shot in the face and arm at Fort Washington Park in Manhattan just before midnight. According to NBC New York, the officer exchanged gunfire with the suspects as the attempted robbery took place. One of the suspects was taken into custody, the outlet reported.
The department identified one of the suspects, Miguel Francisco Mora Nunez, as a citizen of the Dominican Republic who was released into the country by the Biden administration after he was apprehended on April 4, 2023, crossing the border near San Luis, Arizona.
Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for Homeland Security, <a href="https://x.com/TriciaOhio/status/1946988101127032918" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the suspect had a warrant for kidnapping from Massachusetts and was first ordered deported in 2003. 
The department also released footage of the incident. In the footage, two people can be seen arriving near a body of water on a motorcycle. One gets off the motorcycle and walks towards another on an embankment before opening fire. The two individuals then drive off on the motorcycle. 
“UPDATE: footage shows two assailants, one an illegal alien with criminal charges, ambushing and shooting a<a href="https://x.com/CBP"> @CBP</a> officer yesterday in New York City,” the post from DHS said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
UPDATE: footage shows two assailants, one an illegal alien with criminal charges, ambushing and shooting a <a href="https://twitter.com/CBP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBP</a> officer yesterday in New York City. <a href="https://t.co/m4BHRjhXpD">pic.twitter.com/m4BHRjhXpD</a>
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1946992590496100624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

US-SECURITY-CUSTOMS-ANIMAL

Suspect In Shooting Of Border Patrol Officer Released Under Biden, DHS Says

Customs and Border Protection (CPB)

Manhattan

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem slammed Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell in a Friday morning press conference in the southern city, accusing him of “risking people’s lives” after he doxxed ICE agents.
Noem showcased some of the criminal illegal aliens, including rapists and murders, captured in the Nashville area before warning that left-wing politicians have sided with illegal aliens and in some cases, even endangered federal law enforcement.
“One of the open border politicians is right here in this state and right here in this city, and I’m specifically calling out the mayor of Nashville,” Noem charged.
“Freddie O’Connell has gone after our ICE individuals and agents who work with HSI,” she said, referring to Homeland Security Investigations. “He’s openly doxxed them, revealed them to the public, and encouraged people to go against them and their efforts to clean up the streets of Nashville.”
“What the mayor is doing to this city is shameful. What he needs to do is participate with us and make sure that he is helping us enforce the rule of law,” Noem said of the Democrat mayor, also accusing him of playing politics and “risking people’s lives.”
Noem’s statements came after O’Connell <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nashvilles-democrat-mayor-doxxes-ice-agents">doxxed the names</a> of ICE agents involved in raids in Nashville, which The Daily Wire revealed resulted in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-dems-rage-over-nashville-ice-raids-that-targeted-rapists-and-gang-members?author=Spencer+Lindquist+and+Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Dems+Rage+Over+Nashville+ICE+Raids+That+Targeted+Rapists+And+Gang+Members">capture</a> of 196 illegal aliens, 96 of whom had criminal histories or pending criminal charges beyond illegally entering the country.
The city’s mayor said that the doxxing was done by accident, but one DHS official charged that there was &#8220;zero chance it was a mistake.&#8221;
The DHS Secretary also told The Daily Wire that she blames the rhetoric of liberal politicians and leftist organizations for the rise in assaults against ICE officers.
“It’s the rhetoric of elected officials, of leaders, of leftist organizations and the media. When they don’t tell the truth, there’s consequences to that,” Noem said. “When they don’t talk about the facts of what’s happening out on our streets and what the American people need, then it gets distorted and the information is used in a way that can undermine what the rule of law is.”
A small group of leftist protesters gathered outside of the Homeland Security Investigations building where Noem held her press conference.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
A meager crowd of leftist demonstrators showed up to protest DHS Sec. Noem’s Nashville press conference, where she showcased some of the murderers and rapists captured by ICE.
I’m here for <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> <a href="https://t.co/y9Ncv809mI">pic.twitter.com/y9Ncv809mI</a>
— Spencer Lindquist 🇺🇸 (@SpencerLndqst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerLndqst/status/1946239336871031267?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
Noem also told The Daily Wire at a Thursday night press conference that it will refer those who dox ICE agents to the Department of Justice for prosecution.
“We will detain these individuals if the law allows and it&#8217;s up to the Department of Justice if they decide to prosecute … doxxing very much exposes them and their families up to dangerous situations,” Noem said. “We’ve had many of our ICE officers, CBP officers who’ve been victimized, their families have been threatened and attacked.”
“Any elected official, anybody who does this on purpose and causes harm or brings harm to them and their families  … they will be referred to them and the Department of Justice has indicated that they will prosecute them where it is appropriate,” she went on to say.

Sec. Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem Accuses Nashville Mayor Of ‘Risking People’s Lives’ With Opposition To ICE

Deportations

Nashville

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