The northern border has historically been open season for smugglers, who exploit its harsh terrain and wall-less boundary for profit.
Edgar Sanchez-Solis, 23, himself an illegal immigrant from Mexico, helped smuggle hundreds of others through the U.S.-Canada border on a weekly basis for years. Now, the Daily Wire can exclusively report that he&#8217;s pleaded guilty to his role in international conspiracy.
The illegal immigrant led the smuggling operation while living in Kansas City, Missouri, according to court documents.
The group brought hundreds of illegal immigrants from Mexico, Central America, and South America, into the United States through New York each week, <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-leads-investigation-4-mexican-nationals-charged-international-smuggling" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Each migrant presented thousands of dollars in profits for the smuggling ring.
Once his customers crossed into the United States, Sanchez-Solis&#8217; organization sent drivers to pick them up and take them farther south, according to court documents. The group also instructed the smuggled illegal immigrants &#8220;to make testimonial videos touting the enterprise’s services,&#8221; Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, previously said.
For Sanchez-Solis&#8217; part, he directed and participated in the smuggling operations with other top dogs in the group.
The smuggling organization also engaged in dangerous, high-speed chases with border agents on several occasions.
Smugglers set off a Border Patrol sensor in Franklin County and fled the scene at a high rate of speed in April 2023. Border Patrol caught up to them and stopped the car, apprehending the smugglers, who had seven adults and three children in tow.
During one of the smuggling operations in May 2023, Border Patrol engaged in a high-speed chase with a van loaded with illegal immigrants. The agents had to call off the pursuit because of the dangers it posed to the community.
The Clinton County Sheriff&#8217;s Office eventually stopped the vehicle using a tire-deflation device, but the smugglers and their customers fled on foot.
In August 2023, another smuggling vehicle struck a motorist while fleeing Border Patrol agents in Plattsburgh, New York. The driver and six illegal immigrants fled the scene of the collision on foot and were eventually caught.
Sanchez-Solis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and five counts of alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, according to the Justice Department. He now awaits sentencing.
He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years behind bars and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.
Three other Mexican illegal immigrants were arrested and charged alongside Sanchez-Solis. Two of them were previously deported from the United States, according to ICE.

Untitled design – 2026-05-07T104619.832

EXCLUSIVE: How An Illegal Immigrant Smuggled In Thousands More, And Got Rich Doing It

Canada

Department of Justice

Illegal Immigration

Smuggling

A federal prosecutor failed to disclose that an illegal immigrant was wanted for murder in his home country before a judge ordered his release — and was later criticized for that decision.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had publicly <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/04/30/activist-biden-judge-releases-violent-criminal-illegal-alien-wanted-murder" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> U.S. District Court Judge Melissa R. DuBose after she ordered the release of Dominican national Bryan Rafael Gomez, calling it &#8220;yet another example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s mandate from the American people to remove criminal illegal aliens from our communities.&#8221;
But a new court filing reveals the Justice Department failed to inform DuBose that Gomez had an outstanding murder warrant in the Dominican Republic before she made her decision, and an apology was issued to the judge.
In a Friday court filing, Assistant United States Attorney Kevin Bolan said he &#8220;had been informed by ICE&#8221; about the warrant and believed he &#8220;could not disclose that information.&#8221;
He said he &#8220;was not aware that ICE had previously disclosed that same information&#8221; in an April 16, 2026, press <a href="https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-boston-arrests-5-foreign-fugitives-wanted-murder-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>.
&#8220;In failing to disclose the information regarding Petitioner’s criminal history, I relied on ICE’s representation that I was not permitted to disclose that information and understood that a legitimate law enforcement reason prevented disclosure,&#8221; Bolan wrote in the filing.
&#8220;Judge DuBose, therefore, lacked that information about the Petitioner’s criminal background when she granted the petition. I sincerely apologize to Judge DuBose, personally, and to the entire Court for the consequences of this lack of disclosure,&#8221; Bolan added.
During a Monday hearing, the Biden-appointed judge said she&#8217;s considering holding federal officials in contempt of court, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/04/ice-detention-case-contempt-hearing-00905610" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Politico.
She also took aim at the Trump administration over a press release titled, &#8220;Activist Biden Judge Releases Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder.&#8221;
“The April 30th, completely erroneous and dangerous press release is still on their website,” DuBose said, adding, “It puts people at risk. It’s a threat to judicial security.”
“I’m not trying to make this political,” she said. “It’s also very important that the public has the facts. As long as this particular post is out there, it’s setting up a false narrative.”
Gomez crossed the border illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in 2022 and was subsequently released into the country, according to DHS.
The Coordination of the Courts of Instruction of the National District of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, issued a warrant for his arrest on Jan. 24, 2023, according to DHS.
The Worcester Police Department arrested Gomez on April 4, 2026, for assault and battery, according to DHS. Local authorities handed Gomez over to ICE after he was released on $500 bail.
Gomez later filed what is known as a habeas petition, which is a legal challenge to detention, that DuBose granted on “minimal release conditions,” <a href="https://x.com/BillMelugin_/status/2050200540835897432" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Fox News.
Since President Donald Trump&#8217;s return to the White House, ICE detainees have filed more than 18,000 habeas petitions, exceeding the number of detention challenges filed over the last three administrations combined, ProPublica <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/habeas-petitions-immigrant-detentions-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> in February.
The habeas petitions move detainees’ cases out of the immigration court system and into federal district courts, where judges are seen as more favorable to illegal immigrants, experts previously told <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrants-found-a-new-way-to-get-released-from-ice-detention" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire</a>.
Habeas petitions are often filed after it becomes clear that a detainee either has no chance of getting bond from immigration judges or has already been denied bond.

Untitled design – 2026-05-05T115041.201

Accused Illegal Immigrant Killer Walked Free Due To Major Error

A Southern California city is suing Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta over the state’s sanctuary policies, arguing they are putting public safety at risk and tying the hands of local police.
Officials in El Cajon say those policies had real-world consequences when federal authorities warned the city that 52 children may have been victims of sex trafficking by illegal immigrants — but the state blocked local officials from acting on that information.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in San Diego County, seeks to overturn Senate Bill 54, a 2017 law that limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies like ICE.
Mayor Bill Wells, a Republican backed by the America First Policy Institute, argues the law forces police into an impossible position — choosing between following state rules or enforcing federal law.
“Our officers are put in a situation every day where they’re breaking either federal law or state law,” Wells told The Daily Wire. “SB 54 is in direct conflict with federal law.”
Wells said the restrictions go even further, preventing officers from coordinating with federal agents or even asking basic questions about immigration status in many cases.
The clash came into sharp focus earlier this year. In February 2025, federal immigration authorities alerted El Cajon officials that dozens of unaccompanied children in the area could be victims of sex trafficking.
A city council member sought permission from the state Attorney General’s office to use that information to conduct welfare checks on the children.
The answer was no.
“Pursuing wellness checks of unaccompanied children alongside or based on information provided by federal immigration authorities may implicate conduct prohibited by SB 54,” Special Assistant Attorney General Jackie Gonzalez wrote in a letter obtained by The Daily Wire, adding that county social services — not local police working with federal agents — should handle such cases.
Wells blasted the response as a “moral failure.”
“I think it’s really important to understand how far this ideology goes,” he said. “They are so wedded to this anti-ICE ideology that when the question is, can we save children who are being sex trafficked, the answer is no. That’s shocking.”
Wells also tied the broader impact of illegal immigration policies to rising crime and drug-related deaths in his city of roughly 100,000 people.
“California used to be the greatest state in the nation,” he said. “Now it’s declined on so many fronts, and a lot of that comes from this idea that the state doesn’t care about enforcing the law.”
SB 54 bars state and local law enforcement agencies from using resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement, including sharing certain information with federal authorities.
The law has already survived a major legal challenge. During President Donald Trump’s first term, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld SB 54, ruling that the federal government cannot force states to participate in immigration enforcement.
“We have no doubt that SB 54 makes the jobs of federal immigration authorities more difficult,” the court wrote, but added that California has the right to decline cooperation.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to take up the case, calling SB 54 the “centerpiece” of California’s immigration policy, but the justices declined to hear it.
Wells argues his lawsuit is different and could ultimately give individual cities more authority to decide how much they cooperate with federal agencies.
“I don’t know a law enforcement officer anywhere in California who wouldn’t want more tools to get bad guys off the street,” he said.
State officials have already signaled they will fight the lawsuit.
“El Cajon should prepare for another loss,” Bonta said in a statement. “There have been endless attempts to mislead the public about SB 54, but the truth is that anyone who commits a crime can be held accountable under California law.”
Wells fired back, accusing the attorney general of ignoring the real-world consequences of the policy.
“It’s so obviously clear he’s making things up,” Wells said. “I really lost respect for his ability to be [an] honest actor in this.&#8221;
Wells said the stakes go beyond a single lawsuit.
At its core, he argued, the case is about whether local communities can work with federal authorities to stop crime — or whether state policies will continue to stand in the way.

California Governor Newsom Announces Lawsuit Challenging Trump Tariff Authority

EXCLUSIVE: Democrat Law Blocking Police From Saving Trafficked Kids Is Getting Called Out

California

Immigration

Lawsuit

Turkish Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was held in ICE detention last year after her visa was revoked over alleged &#8220;activities in support of Hamas,&#8221; has returned home to Turkey following a legal settlement with the United States.
The State Department canceled Ozturk&#8217;s student visa after she co-authored an op-ed in her college newspaper calling on Tufts to recognize the “Palestinian genocide” and to divest from companies with ties to Israel.
In March 2025, ICE agents arrested Ozturk while walking on a street in Somerville, Massachusetts. She spent six weeks in federal custody before a judge ordered her release.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
WATCH 🔴
Federal agents have arrested Turkish national Rumeysa Ozturk for her role in leading anti-Semitic, anti-Israel protests on her university campus. <a href="https://t.co/WsU1VraUfK">pic.twitter.com/WsU1VraUfK</a>
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) <a href="https://twitter.com/Osint613/status/1904951208432841138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
The government appealed the decision, but the case ultimately ended in a settlement after Ozturk completed her PhD in child study and human development.
Under the agreement, Ozturk returned to Turkey &#8220;without further interference by the Department of Homeland Security,&#8221; according to the ACLU.
&#8220;The time stolen from me by the U.S. government belongs not just to me, but to the children and youth I have dedicated my life to advocating for,&#8221; <a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/after-earning-ph-d-rumeysa-ozturk-chooses-her-next-chapter">she said in a statement released by the ACLU.</a> &#8220;With them in mind, I am choosing to return home as planned to continue my career as a woman scholar without losing more time to the state-imposed violence and hostility I have experienced in the United States – all for nothing more than co-signing an op-ed advocating for Palestinian rights.&#8221;
The resolution is welcome news to the Trump administration, which has taken a more aggressive approach toward foreign students involved in anti-Israel activism.
“Attending elite colleges and universities in the United States is a privilege afforded to foreign students who respect our values and follow our laws,” a Justice Department official <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/17/rumeysa-ozturk-deportation-case-00878694?utm_medium=bluesky&amp;utm_source=dlvr.it">said in a statement to Politico.</a> “We will continue to seek the deportation of any foreign student who abuses their opportunity to study in America by engaging in vile antisemitism, harassment, or other illegal behavior.”
Ozturk&#8217;s detention became a flashpoint in President Donald Trump&#8217;s immigration enforcement efforts and emphasis on stopping antisemitism on college campuses.
Esha Bhandari, director of the ACLU&#8217;s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, accused the government of violating the Constitution.
“Rumeysa should never have been detained for expressing her opinions in a country that is supposed to protect freedom of speech,” Bhandari said.
As of early 2026, the State Department has revoked more than 100,000 visas, <a href="https://x.com/StateDept/status/2010740549469557010?s=20">including roughly 8,000 student visas. </a>
In a separate case, Mahmoud Khalil, a Syrian green card holder who led anti-Israel protests at Columbia University, recently lost a bid to have his deportation case thrown out.
“The bottom line is if you come here to stir up trouble on our campuses, we will deny you a visa,” Secretary of State <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rubio-faces-off-with-democratic-senator-during-heated-confrontation">Marco Rubio said last year.</a> “These kids pay money to go to school, and they have to walk through a bunch of lunatics who are here on student visas.”

Tufts PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk arrives at Boston Logan Airport

She Wrote An Anti-Israel Op-Ed. Trump Moved On Her Visa.

An Angel Mom whose daughter she says was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant slammed sanctuary policies, arguing they have hindered her family&#8217;s pursuit of justice.
Jennifer Bos&#8217; daughter, Megan, was found dead in April 2025 after an illegal immigrant stuffed her body into a trash can and doused her in bleach in a Chicago suburb. Mexican national Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, was charged with abuse of a corpse, two counts of concealing the death of a person, and obstructing justice.
Local authorities released Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, after a court appearance. He was later nabbed by ICE.
Bos shared her daughter&#8217;s story during an ICE press conference on Thursday for its Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office (VOICE), which she credited for assisting her family in the aftermath of Megan&#8217;s death.
&#8220;The tragedies like mine and the other families that are here could have been prevented and that knowledge creates an agony for us like no other. For me, it was further compounded when I had to fight bureaucracy and ideological sanctuary policies trying to get him detained to await trial,&#8221; Bos said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Listen to the words of angel mother Jennifer Bos, who slams sanctuary officials in Illinois and the Biden admin, which closed the office for victim of illegal immigrant crime.
Her daughter, Megan, was murdered by an illegal immigrant who stuffed her body in a trash can and… <a href="https://t.co/5frAZTZKgY">pic.twitter.com/5frAZTZKgY</a>
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) <a href="https://twitter.com/JennieSTaer/status/2042276733362020600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bos went on to explain that she &#8220;made enough noise&#8221; about her daughter&#8217;s case to get &#8220;the attention&#8221; of the Trump administration.
&#8220;And after three months walking free, ICE came and took him into custody,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I had no idea what was going to happen at that point, but I was incredibly relieved that he was off the street. And at the time, I didn’t know anything about the VOICE office. President Trump has so passionately tried to honor and support angel families. He created the VOICE office in his first term.&#8221;
The grieving mother also criticized the Biden administration for shutting down the VOICE office, which was repurposed as a tip line for illegal immigrants to report abuse in ICE detention centers. Trump, who established the office in his first term, reopened it in his second term.
&#8220;The Biden administration didn’t have any use for it, so they shut it down and it had just been reopened when I received the call telling me they were here to help us,&#8221; Bos said.
&#8220;They would tell us how to track Megan’s perpetrator while he was in custody and they offered to connect us to local support services. They were there to listen to our needs and they would help us any way that they could,&#8221; she said.

ICE Director Lyons Holds News Conference On 1st Anniversary Of Dept.’s Victims Of Immigration Crime Engagement Office

Angel Mom Rips Sanctuary Officials Who Allowed Illegal Charged In Daughter’s Death To Walk Free

Trump Administration

House Republican leaders seem poised to kill the Department of Homeland Security shutdown deal passed by the Senate early on Friday morning.
The Senate bill would fund all elements of DHS except for ICE and Border Patrol, with no immigration reforms made. However, many House Republicans have strongly opposed the deal passed by the Senate, arguing it caves to the Democrats.
“We are not playing their games. These people want open borders, and they want criminal illegal aliens in the country,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said of Democrats while addressing reporters on Friday.
Johnson said Trump “supports” the plan, noting that this will be the fourth time the House has voted to fund DHS. The Daily Wire reached out to the White House for comment.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that a continuing resolution proposal would not succeed in the Senate, calling it “dead on arrival.”
“Senate Democrats worked with Senate Republicans to reach a UNANIMOUS agreement to fund vital functions at DHS, including TSA, FEMA, CISA, and secure our ports of entry,” Schumer said in a <a href="https://x.com/SenSchumer/status/2037581253365412224?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
“We&#8217;ve been clear from day one: Democrats will fund critical Homeland Security functions — but we will not give a blank check to Trump&#8217;s lawless and deadly immigration militia without reforms,” the Democrat added.
Some members, like Rep. <a href="https://x.com/RepOgles/status/2037508704786952385?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Andy Ogles</a> (R-TN), want to see voter identification added to a DHS funding bill, as the Senate struggles to pass the SAVE America Act, which is considered the top legislative priority of the president.
Rep. <a href="https://x.com/RepMarkHarrisNC/status/2037552402992169048?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mark Harris</a> (R-NC) even explicitly blamed Senate Republicans for backing the deal made.
“I am done with Senate Republicans. Their failure to fully fund DHS is not just disappointing — it’s a disgrace,” Harris posted to X. “They refused to fund ICE units that target sex traffickers. They refused to fund Border Patrol agents. And where is the SAVE America Act?”
“Once again, they have failed the American people. They have made one thing clear: Americans’ safety is not their priority,” he added.
Meanwhile, some Republicans in the House, like Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) and Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL), argued that the House pursuing an alternative solution would only delay funding the department, according to the <a href="https://x.com/Olivia_Beavers/status/2037572638474661936?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wall Street Journal</a>.
On the Senate side, Senate Majority Leader <a href="https://x.com/LeaderJohnThune/status/2037562792153137425?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Thune</a> posted to X on Friday that “Dems got ZERO restrictions that would prevent ICE and CBP agents from doing their jobs safely.”
“Dem leadership has proven once again they can’t be trusted to make a deal,” Thune continued. “Which begs the question if you’re a Dem senator or one of their left-wing supporters: What was this really all about?”

Mike Johnson

Congress Erupts As House Poised To Reject Senate Deal To End DHS Shutdown

Congress Erupts As House Seems Poised To Reject Senate Deal To End DHS Shutdown

Congress

homeland security

Senate

How many tragic deaths, like that of 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, are we willing to tolerate before enough is enough? How does this keep happening? 
 
Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University Chicago, was fatally shot on March 19th while walking with friends near the school&#8217;s Lake Shore campus by an illegal alien criminal from Venezuela. The group was walking to see the northern lights when a masked gunman emerged from the shadows and opened fire. 
 
The suspect, Jose Medina-Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national, has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder.
Why does such a heinous tragedy happen?
The Department of Homeland Security put it bluntly: Sheridan Gorman &#8220;was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who released this illegal alien twice before he went on to commit this heinous murder.&#8221;
While most cities and states are working to undo the disastrous policies of the Biden administration that allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens into the country, certain blue cities are vehemently resisting anything the Trump administration does. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are spearheading this &#8220;resistance&#8221; — and actively making life not only worse for their constituents, but dangerous. 
 
Here are a few of the ways Chicago created the perfect storm that ultimately led to Gorman&#8217;s death.
On a municipal level, Johnson and his cadre of progressives enacted the Welcoming City Ordinance — Chicago&#8217;s primary sanctuary law, which was expanded in 2021 to remove previous &#8220;carve-outs&#8221; that had allowed police to cooperate with ICE in cases involving individuals with felony convictions or those in the gang database. Essentially, police are barred from assisting ICE during operations, ICE agents aren&#8217;t permitted in local jails, and officers are prohibited from asking about a person&#8217;s immigration status during routine interactions.
To make matters worse for citizens — and better for criminals — Mayor Johnson issued an order preventing ICE from using city-owned parking lots, garages, or any other city property for enforcement work.
On a state level, the TRUST Act prohibits state and local law enforcement from detaining any individual based on a federal immigration detainer or administrative warrant. In other words, it&#8217;s nearly impossible for ICE to do their job. 
 
Then there’s the Illinois Way Forward Act (2021), which significantly expanded the TRUST Act by prohibiting state and local government from contracting the federal government to house or detain illegal immigrants, banning local police from transferring individuals into ICE custody without a judicial warrant, and restricting the flow of information to ICE officers about individuals in local custody.
And of course, they signed the Keep Illinois Families Together Act, which restricts ICE from entering schools, health centers, libraries, courthouses, polling locations (strange, considering the leftist claim that noncitizens aren&#8217;t voting), and more.
Those are policies carved out specifically for illegal aliens. But to understand exactly how a criminal, an illegal Venezuelan national, ended up murdering a young American girl, you only need to look at Medina&#8217;s timeline. 
 
Medina entered the U.S. illegally in May of 2023 under Biden. He was apprehended and released into the interior of the country without asylum claims. Just one month later, he was arrested in Chicago for shoplifting — and released from local custody shortly after, because of the very policies listed above. 
 
In September of that same year, he failed to appear for his court date. A warrant was issued but never served. He claims he missed the hearing due to a hospital stay — which means he was receiving free healthcare as an illegal criminal. 
 
And then, not even three years later, he murdered Sheridan Gorman in cold blood. 
 
Medina was a symptom, not an anomaly. Since January 20, 2025 alone, Governor Pritzker&#8217;s sanctuary state of Illinois has released 1,768 criminal illegal aliens with active ICE detainers — including individuals charged or convicted of murder, sexual offenses, and weapons crimes. Another 4,015 criminal non-citizens remain in Illinois custody with detainers that local officials refuse to — or aren&#8217;t allowed to — honor.
If you’re wondering how in the heck this could continue to go on? It will — because these Democrat leaders are tone deaf and are willing to trade their constituents&#8217; and our fellow citizens&#8217; safety for the comfort and protection of criminal illegal aliens. Even after Sheridan’s blood was spilled, Mayor Brandon Johnson doubled down. Just days after the murder, he proudly unveiled a new city snowplow named ‘Abolish ICE’ — while the city was still mourning an 18-year-old Loyola freshman gunned down by a man his policies had shielded.
Don&#8217;t let them tell you that sanctuary city policies aren&#8217;t dangerous or destructive. Because again and again, we&#8217;re being reminded — they are.

People Protest in Chicago, IL as Part of the No Kings Rallies on October 18, 2025

Chicago’s Sanctuary Policies Allowed A Girl To Be Murdered In Cold Blood.

Chicago

illegal alien

Illinois

Sanctuary Cities

If you were told that in the year 2026, elected Democrats in Congress would get away with prolonging the longest partial shutdown in history — all to protect illegal aliens — would you believe it? You should, because it’s happening.
Forty days in, and Democrats are holding the entire Department of Homeland Security hostage over a tiny fraction, 8.5 percent, of the agency. Not the TSA. Not FEMA. Not the Coast Guard. Just ICE — and apparently, that’s worth burning the whole thing down. 
 
Following the Minnesota shootings, Democrats have entered another frenzy to abolish, this time targeting ICE officers instead of police. Because “abolish cops” and demonizing a whole group of people whose job is to protect us went so well the first time. They want masks off —despite forcing them on everyone and their grandmother during Covid. Identification shown — despite their open hostility to requiring ID at the ballot box. And operations paused, unless ICE can navigate numerous legal hurdles to get judicial warrants. 
 
All nonstarters for Republicans. So the shutdown drags on. 
 
Democrats are standing ten toes down on defunding ICE — and by extension, all of DHS — while Republicans and the American people plead with them to at least vote to fund TSA, FEMA, the Coast Guard, and Cyber Security Intelligence. One would think these are reasonable requests, given that we are at war with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. But common sense left the building a long time ago. 
 
The consequences are not abstract. Yesterday on Capitol Hill, the directors of FEMA, TSA, and CISA testified about the devastating impacts this shutdown is having on their institutions. TSA: &#8220;We are really concerned about our security.&#8221; Think about that — the people responsible for keeping bombs off planes are telling Congress they’re scared. CISA: “The threat environment is too dynamic to allow this shutdown to continue.” And FEMA: “We are crippling our disaster response.” Acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill put a number to it: over 480 Transportation Security Officers already gone, with airports running at 40-50% staff capacity, because officers simply cannot afford to show up. 
Democrats did that. They own every single minute of it.
Luckily for Republicans, when political leverage fails, public animosity tends to move the needle. And right now, the public is not happy. TSA lines are seeing historic wait times, and Americans are on edge as terrorism threatens to run amok. And little girls are being <a href="https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/sheridan-gorman-loyola-killing-venezuelan-court">killed</a> on Chicago streets by the very people Democrats are going to the mat to defend. 
 
To make problems worse for the “party of love and tolerance,” and in direct contradiction to the Democrats&#8217; broken record narrative, Americans are now seeing ICE agents as they shuffle through these historically long airport lines, not arresting and kidnapping! people, but <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2036502819000160539">handing out water bottles and shaking hands</a> with the citizens they work to protect. 
 
The flame is burning at both ends for the Left: they’re defending illegal criminals at the expense of Americans, while ICE gets a PR boost for dissolving an airport bottleneck that Democrats created. ICE deployed to Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston has drastically improved security wait times — and more importantly, Americans are meeting these officers in the flesh, share a laugh, and realize that maybe they aren’t the Gestapo after all. 
 
While Democrats are busy mourning the fact that ICE is finally getting good press — press they manufactured —  Sheridan Gorman&#8217;s family in Chicago is planning her funeral, a tragedy Democrats manufactured. 
 
If the very agency Democrats have tried to dehumanize, defund, and destroy were simply allowed to do their job, a young girl would still be walking the earth. Last weekend, Sheridan Gorman was shot in the head and killed by an illegal alien who was protected from ICE and released from prison because of Democrat sanctuary policies. This horrific tragedy, and the adjacent horrors like it, never seem to be enough to get Democrats to budge. They will keep the entire Department of Homeland Security defunded despite American loss. 
 
What will bring them to the negotiating table, apparently, is a streak of good PR for ICE. They can’t have that going on. 
 
It’s a sad day when the killing of a teenage girl at the hands of an illegal alien can’t get Democrats to do their jobs — but footage of ICE agents smiling in an airport might.

Trump Sends ICE Agents To Airports As DHS Remains Unfunded

The Shutdown Is Democrats’ Gift To ICE

Democrats

Government Shutdown

Politics

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents assisting at airport security checkpoints are being asked not to wear masks, President Donald Trump said Monday morning, as staffing shortages strain Transportation Security Administration (TSA) operations during the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
Trump said last week that ICE agents would be deployed to help manage security amid a surge in TSA callouts. ICE agents began assisting at some major airports on Monday.
“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals, many of whom were let into our Country by Sleepy Joe Biden and his wonderful ‘Border Czar,’ Kamala (she never even went to the Border!), through their absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.”
The use of masks by ICE agents has become a point of contention in shutdown negotiations. Democrats have pushed to limit the practice, while supporters argue that face coverings help protect agents from being identified and targeted. ICE personnel have faced an increase in assaults in recent years, particularly during heightened immigration enforcement operations.
Former acting ICE Director Jonathan Fahey said the risk could be lower in an airport setting.
“I think there’s less of a danger in these situations […] because they’ll be functioning in a security role and most people will be welcoming their help to move the lines quickly,” Fahey told The Daily Wire.
Fahey added that masking is not unique to ICE, noting it is also common in drug enforcement operations where officers could face retaliation or doxing.
The ICE deployment comes as airports nationwide grapple with staffing disruptions. More than 300 TSA agents have quit since the shutdown began in mid-February, according to reports, and remaining agents are working without paychecks as essential employees.
Some airports have advised travelers to arrive significantly earlier than usual. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport urged passengers Monday to arrive “at least 4 hours early.”
The decision to send ICE agents into airports has drawn immediate pushback from Democrats, who say it could worsen disruptions. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said the presence of ICE would &#8220;only aggravate delays &amp; lines,&#8221; while raising broader concerns about enforcement tactics.
Shutdown negotiations remain stalled. The White House sent a counteroffer to the Senate last week, but progress has been slow. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has been the only Democrat to oppose the shutdown from the beginning.
The standoff comes at a pivotal time for the DHS, as Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) undergoes the confirmation process to succeed Secretary Kristi Noem.

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Airports

The Department of Homeland Security will presumably face a lapse in funding starting on midnight Saturday, as negotiations still continue to move at a slow pace, with few public details on any possible immigration reforms.
The White House sent a counteroffer to Democrats, who made a long list of demands ranging from a change in warrants used for immigration arrests to a ban on agents wearing masks, earlier this week.
A continuing resolution to fund the agency is in place until the end of the day on Friday, which was part of a deal to keep the rest of the federal government funded through the end of September. Both chambers are scheduled to be out of Washington next week.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) pushed for another continuing resolution to keep talks going without stopping DHS funding, which was ultimately unsuccessful because it was blocked by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), according to <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/2022024832314225089?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
“We want to continue this conversation, but yet you’re penalizing a TSA agent. A TSA agent is gonna go without a paycheck. Why? So that you can posture politically. I’m over it. Everybody on that side of the aisle knows that ICE and CBP will continue to be funded,” Britt said in a passionate floor debate with Murphy, expressing concerns about TSA workers missing more checks after the 43-day-long shutdown last fall.
Murphy said that there needs to be &#8220;reforms&#8221; and &#8220;more serious engagement from the White House than has happened thus far&#8221; in order for DHS to get funding.
A shutdown of the department might not heavily impact funding for President Donald Trump’s immigration goals, as much of that funding was already appropriated in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” signed in July, but DHS’s other key agencies, like the U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA, and TSA, will be more seriously impacted.
As for the negotiations themselves, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Thursday, according to <a href="https://x.com/cami_mondeaux/status/2021982594531729419?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Deseret News</a>, “I think you all know the issue of warrants is going to be very hard for the White House or for Republicans, but I think there are a lot of other areas where there has been give and progress.”
&#8220;The proposals that Senate and House Democrats presented last week and keep pushing for are very reasonable. We want ICE simply to follow the same standards that law enforcement agencies across the country already follow,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor Thursday, calling some immigration tactics “thuggery.”
“No more rogue police forces roaming through our cities,” he said.
On X, Thune spokesman Ryan Wrasse wrote on Thursday that “based on the totality of the evidence, it seems like Dems are defining ‘progress’ as ‘agree to all of our demands otherwise we&#8217;re taking our ball and going home.’”
In the House, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries referred to the White House proposal as a “so-called offer,” according to <a href="https://x.com/allymutnick/status/2021991755584090448?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Punchbowl News</a>.
&#8220;But my preliminary assessment of it is that it falls short of the type of dramatic changes necessary in order to change ICE,” he said.

Longest Shutdown Tests Air Travel, Federal Workers And Patience

Homeland Security Shutdown Likely As Schumer Accuses Trump Admin Of ‘Thuggery’

The partisan battle lines are being drawn as a federal government shutdown on Friday appears increasingly likely.
Democrats have said that they want the DHS funding bill separate from other spending bills, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a list of immigration-related demands on Wednesday during a press conference on Capitol Hill, including no more masking of agents, no “roving patrols,” and more accountability measures like body cameras and clearer identification of authorities.
“No more anonymous agents. No more secret operatives,” he said, claiming that Democrats are “united” behind the proposals.
“These are common-sense reforms – ones that Americans know and expect from law enforcement,” Schumer continued.
“Let me be clear: Democrats stand ready today to pass the five bipartisan bills in the Senate, but the DHS bill needs serious work,” he said. Some Democrats were invited to the White House to discuss ways to avert a shutdown, but they did not take the offer up, according to <a href="https://x.com/AlexMillerFox1/status/2016614243462713633?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>.
In addition, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) has posted on X that he will not support DHS funding until key Trump adviser Stephen Miller is fired from the White House. Many Democrats and a small number of Trump-critical Republicans, such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Thom Tillis (NC), have publicly stated they would like to see leadership changes made following the Alex Pretti shooting in Minneapolis amid Homeland Security&#8217;s Operation Metro Surge.
As for Republicans, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) indicated that there is some GOP support for separating the DHS funding component from the other spending bills needed to keep the federal government funded, according to <a href="https://x.com/alexanderbolton/status/2016596283197194658?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hill</a>.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said a lot of the discussion about dividing up the spending bills to isolate the DHS funds is “all hypotheticals at this point. And I would reserve optionality to consider that,” <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/2016599586626760706?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> reported.
“But I think the best path forward, as I said, is to keep the package intact [&#8230;] if the bill goes back to the House of Representatives [&#8230;] who knows what happens with it over here,” he continued. However, the lawmaker said he wants to get the six spending bills approved without the legislation needing to go back to the House, which is out of session this week anyway.
Earlier this week, Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-AR) pushed back against the possibility of a “mob veto” by Democrats, as the administration warns that a lapse in funding will harm the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Much of the funding for the president’s immigration goals was already signed into law in July under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
If the government does close, it would be the second time in just three months — and some are still recovering from the nation’s longest government shutdown, which lasted for 43 days in the fall. That shutdown revolved around Affordable Care Act subsidies — and a solution still has not been reached on that front.

US Government Shutdown Looms With Trump, Democrats At Odds

Schumer Makes Bold Immigration Enforcement Demands As Shutdown Odds Increase

Chuck Schumer

John Thune

The Department of Justice could take major legal action after an anti-ICE protest hijacked a service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday.
United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told The Daily Wire in an interview Monday morning that she’s working closely with Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate for “federal offenses,” including breaking the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act, which Dhillon noted “criminalizes blocking, interfering with, disrupting a house of worship.&#8221; The protest was sparked over one of the pastors&#8217; employment with ICE, according to the Associated Press.
“That&#8217;s exactly what these people did. Clearly. So, the only question really is who they are and what other offenses there may be,” she said, later adding that “we don&#8217;t prejudge a situation, but we&#8217;d like to make the strongest case possible.” During the interview, the DOJ official noted that were two prosecutors flying to Minnesota as of Monday morning to dive into the case.
“I find the silence of the Attorney General of Minnesota, the District Attorney Mary Moriarty of Hennepin County, and the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz, shocking. They&#8217;re the governor, District Attorney, and Attorney General of these people, too. And where&#8217;s the reassurance to them?” Dhillon asked.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office. Gov. Tim Walz’s office told <a href="https://x.com/MattFinnFNC/status/2013329688458932309?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>, “The Governor has repeatedly and unequivocally urged protesters to do so peacefully. While people have a right to speak out, he in no way supports interrupting a place of worship.”
Dhillon also empathized with churchgoers who may be concerned about protests when attending a service in the coming weeks.
“I feel like I have to give a First Amendment 101 primer to people, including journalists like Don Lemon, because you don&#8217;t have a First Amendment right to trespass and invade a house of worship. It&#8217;s literally illegal to do that. And it&#8217;s not protected by the First Amendment on top of that,” she said. Former CNN anchor Don Lemon live-streamed the protest inside the church, and Dhillon suggested in other interviews on Monday that it could potentially open the door for charges against the liberal commentator.
“And so you can have your protest a safe distance away from a private facility. You can have your protest in a park, you can have a march, you can get a permit for a large gathering, but you can&#8217;t just go wherever you want and tear things up and disrupt. And that&#8217;s what these people did. And so now, people are afraid to go to church. And that is an absolute disgrace in this country,” the assistant attorney general continued.
She also recommended that houses of worship have cameras outside of their buildings to &#8220;be prepared to record what&#8217;s going on and who&#8217;s coming.”
“I would just tell people that they should not be on edge. We believe in the Almighty and this DOJ has the right and the ability to step in and protect where the local authorities won’t,” Dhillon noted.
Anti-ICE protests escalated in the Minneapolis area after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a woman who allegedly attempted to hit the officer with her vehicle, as the Department of Homeland Security said the agent suffered from internal bleeding after the incident.

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