The House Committee on Homeland Security has released a “Border Brief” <a href="https://homeland.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Nov-FY26-Border-Brief-1.pdf">factsheet</a> highlighting record-low border encounters at the start of Fiscal Year 2026. Attributing the success to Trump administration policies and congressional funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill, the report suggests a significant shift in national security and enforcement effectiveness.
Nationwide encounters in October and November 2025 totaled 60,940 — a 28 percent reduction from previous record lows and the lowest start to any fiscal year on record. Specifically, Southwest border apprehensions between ports of entry plummeted to 7,350 in November, representing an 84 percent decrease year-over-year. Daily apprehension averages have dropped by 95 percent compared to the prior administration. Notably, for seven consecutive months, the Border Patrol reported releasing no inadmissible aliens into the interior.
Beyond the numbers, the Committee emphasized targeted enforcement against violent criminals and drug traffickers. Key achievements include:
<ul style="font-weight: 400;">
<li>Vulnerable Populations: The administration located over 62,000 unaccompanied children previously released to unvetted sponsors.</li>
<li>Counter-Smuggling: While nationwide fentanyl seizures dropped 45 percent in FY25 — interpreted by officials as a sign of successful deterrence — CBP still seized over 1,500 pounds of the drug in November alone.</li>
<li>Maritime Shifts: As land routes become more difficult to navigate, smuggling has shifted toward the sea. This was highlighted by a record Coast Guard seizure of 49,000 pounds of narcotics valued at over $362 million.</li>
</ul>
“Thanks to the work of our federal law enforcement our borders had yet another month of record low encounters,” GOP House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) said. “The historic investments in border security provided in the One Big Beautiful Bill made these successes possible, and I look forward to continued partnership with the administration to extend these historic successes throughout FY26. The Committee will continue working with the Trump administration to ensure our frontline personnel have the tools, resources, and support they need to carry out their mission and keep our homeland secure.”
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Subcommittee Chairman Michael Guest added, “2025 has been a record year for border security. I’m honored to work with President Trump to keep our border secure now and into 2026. Thank you, President Trump, for keeping your promise to secure the border.”
Recent testimony from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI officials further underscored the focus on ensuring law enforcement has the resources necessary to maintain these security gains.

Border Patrol attacked near Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez

House Homeland Security Committee Reports Record-Low Border Encounters For Fiscal Year 2026

Customs and Border Protection (CPB)

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigration

Immigration

U.S.

Massachusetts Mayor Brian DePena made waves for requesting the assistance of a translator during a court appearance on Friday.  
DePena requested that his personal assistant act as a translator during the proceedings, which the judge overseeing the hearing denied due to concerns that the staffer had not been independently verified. Because the judge and opposing counsel do not speak Spanish, it was determined that mistranslations could negatively affect the case, either intentionally or unintentionally, <a href="https://thepostmillennial.com/massachusetts-mayor-asks-for-translator-in-court-hearing-due-to-his-poor-english">per</a> The Post Millennial.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
The mayor of Lawrence, Massachusetts who is from Dominican Republic gets a translator in court because he can’t understand English <a href="https://t.co/9rcre4kLRN">pic.twitter.com/9rcre4kLRN</a>
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/2002911459387605464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The incident occurred during a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and quickly went viral. It’s been <a href="https://www.brianforlawrence.com/about">revealed</a> that DePena hails from the Dominican Republic and immigrated to New York in the early 1980s before moving to Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1989. 
The hearing concerned former Lawrence Police Chief William Castro, who lost his policing credentials after a 2024 police chase and subsequent false report. Castro was accused of driving the wrong way down a city street during the chase. He later filed a report saying he was responding to an armed bank robbery. In reality, he had been going after someone who had allegedly cashed a bad check.  
Documents <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/investigations/lawrence-mayor-police-chief-investigation/3614726/">uncovered</a> by the NBC10 Boston Investigators revealed that DePena tried to curtail the investigation into the acting police chief, who is a political ally of the Lawrence mayor. 
Social media users have been reacting strongly to the clip, saying it’s shocking that an elected official is not able to speak fluent English.
“How is this even real life?” one response <a href="https://x.com/PlanetOfMemes/status/2002911650094211150">said</a>.
“This is absurd. We live in a parody world,” another person <a href="https://x.com/BraedenSorbo/status/2002953268541153776">echoed</a>. 
“If you can&#8217;t speak English, you shouldn&#8217;t even be eligible for citizenship, much less public office,” a third commenter <a href="https://x.com/OldeWorldOrder/status/2002913607743602801">wrote</a>. &#8220;How are you supposed to represent Americans if you can&#8217;t even understand our language?&#8221;
Per <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/geo/lawrence-ma/">census data</a>, Lawrence, Massachusetts, is over 82% Hispanic.

Brian DePena

Massachusetts Mayor Can’t Understand English, Needs Translator In Court

Massachusetts Mayor Can't Understand English, Requests Translator In Court

Court

English

Hispanics

Massachusetts

The Trump administration has found more than 129,000 migrant children who went missing under the Biden administration.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on X Friday that federal authorities located the children after &#8220;the Biden administration lost them&#8221; and that &#8220;too many &#8230; were exploited, trafficked and abused.&#8221;
&#8220;We will continue to ramp up efforts and will not stop until every last child is found,&#8221; Noem said.
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Federal officials combed through immigration court records and data kept by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services to find the children, a federal government source familiar with the operation told The Daily Wire. They only counted those who showed up for their immigration hearings.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Under <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> Trump, <a href="https://twitter.com/DHSgov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DHSgov</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HHSGov</a> have located more than 129,143 unaccompanied children that the Biden Administration lost. Too many of these children were exploited, trafficked and abused.
We will continue to ramp up efforts and will not stop until every last child is…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sec_Noem/status/2002117268906684881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
It was a massive undertaking since the Biden administration kept poor records on the children after they crossed into the United States, said the source, who was granted anonymity because they weren&#8217;t authorized to speak publicly.
&#8220;Under the Biden administration, the data was so bad, and our ability to find where these cases went was so bad, we just had to comb through every single agency to see if these kids [had] ever stepped in front of another agency,&#8221; the source explained.
&#8220;The kid had to be present [in court] for us to count it,&#8221; the source added.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration revealed it had located roughly 62,000 of the missing migrant children.
Border Patrol agents must hand unaccompanied migrant kids to the Department of Health and Human Services, which helps connect them with a sponsor living in the United States.
Under the Biden administration, roughly 500,000 migrant minors crossed the border unaccompanied. Many of them were released to poorly vetted sponsors who, whistleblowers say, never had to appear in person to prove the children were going to safe homes.
The vetting concerns were also corroborated in an inspector general&#8217;s <a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2024-08/OIG-24-46-Aug24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> released last year.
Whistleblowers said they believed some of the sponsors were traffickers and gangbangers.
Roughly 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children were never given their court dates, the government watchdog found.
Another 32,000 migrant children who had future court dates never showed up to their hearings, according to the report, which tracked cases from October 2018 to September 2023.

Migrants continue to cross US border

Trump Admin Finds More Than 129,000 Missing Migrant Children

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Kristi Noem

President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered a pause on the United States green card diversity lottery immigrant visa program, which authorities say allowed the man who killed two Brown University students and a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor to enter the country.
Police <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/brown-shooting-suspect-found-dead-by-suicide-in-new-hampshire-storage-facility?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Nathan+Gay&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Brown+Shooting+Suspect+Found+Dead+By+Suicide%2C+Identity+Released+By+Authorities">identified</a> the shooter as Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, a 48-year-old Portuguese national and former Brown University student who immigrated to the United States in 2017. Authorities found Valente dead in a New Hampshire storage unit on Thursday night, from what investigators believe was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“The Brown University shooter, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente entered the United States through the diversity lottery immigrant visa program (DV1) in 2017 and was granted a green card. This heinous individual should never have been allowed in our country,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem <a href="https://x.com/sec_noem/status/2001873077089767435?s=46&amp;t=o-U3qwC25WnWaylJ0oeG7Q">said</a> on X. “In 2017, President Trump fought to end this program, following the devastating NYC truck ramming by an ISIS terrorist, who entered under the DV1 program, and murdered eight people.”
Trump called on Congress to eliminate the visa lottery after that attack, but the effort failed.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to pause the DV1 program to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program,” Noem added. 
The “diversity visa” program allows up to 55,000 immigrants from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States into the country every year, according to the State Department. 
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Valente, a lawful permanent resident, attended Brown University as a physics student in 2001 and re-entered the United States 16 years later under the diversity visa program as a green card holder. Authorities believe he acted alone and have not revealed a motive. Investigators say Valente remained at large for six days after the Brown shootings, during which he allegedly entered an engineering building and opened fire, leaving two people dead and injuring nine more. While on the run, authorities believe he fatally shot MIT professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro at his home.
Police traced Valente to the New Hampshire storage facility after receiving a tip based on a Reddit post from someone who said they had seen the vehicle used by the gunman. “I’m being dead serious. The police need to look into a grey Nissan with Florida plates, possibly a rental,” the post said, according to a police affidavit. 
That person later came forward to the police and provided a description of Valente. He said that he asked Valente why he was circling the block near the university, to which he replied, “I don’t know you from nobody,” and “Why are you harassing me?” 
Brown University officials and police have faced scrutiny over their handling of the investigation, including questions about why more surveillance footage was not available from the campus building where the shooting occurred.
“I know this has been hard on all of us over the past five days,” Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said at a Thursday night press conference. “Minutes have felt like hours, but the people of Providence have done what we’re best at – we’ve leaned on one another, come together and supported one another, and showed the nation what a tight-knit community looks like.”

Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente

Trump Stops ‘Diversity’ Program That Allowed Brown University Shooter Into U.S.

Brown University

New Hampshire

Politics

Rhode Island

Sanctuary authorities in Virginia released an illegal immigrant from jail who went on to murder a man less than 24 hours later.
Salvadoran migrant Marvin Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly fatally shot a man inside his Reston, Virginia, home Wednesday after authorities in Fairfax County released him from jail and ignored a federal immigration detainer to hand him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to multiple reports.
Federal law enforcement sources told The Daily Wire that Morales-Ortez crossed the southern border illegally in 2016. At the time, Border Patrol agents were preparing to deport him and his mother.
However, the two claimed they had a fear of returning to their home country. In 2022, an immigration judge dismissed his deportation case altogether, effectively allowing him to stay in the country without any legal status, sources said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Soros DA Freed Killer YESTERDAY 
Dec 16th: Fairfax Soros DA Steve Descano dropped ALL Charges vs. Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez (illegal?) including attempt murder/gun 
[September 12th Gun Assault] 
&gt;Malicious Wounding w/ Injury &#8212; Dropped (Nolle Pros) 
&gt;Point/Brandish Firearm… <a href="https://t.co/RJ9CCQpjAy">https://t.co/RJ9CCQpjAy</a> <a href="https://t.co/5Oqw3pqlpu">pic.twitter.com/5Oqw3pqlpu</a>
— Virginians 4 Safe Communities (@VA4SafeComm) <a href="https://twitter.com/VA4SafeComm/status/2001400711876096361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
He has also been tagged as a suspected member of the violent MS-13 gang, according to ABC7.
Morales-Ortez popped back up on authorities&#8217; radar six other times starting in 2019 for a slew of alleged crimes ranging from murder to assault, according to ABC7.
He was charged with first-degree murder in 2021 and spent a year and a half behind bars while awaiting trial, according to ABC7. The charges against him were ultimately dropped after authorities determined that he wasn&#8217;t involved.
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Another individual was ultimately convicted.
Morales-Ortez was found guilty for a previous theft case, where he was fined $300, according to ABC7. He never paid the fine.
Before he was released this latest time, Morales-Ortez was charged for allegedly brandishing a gun and assaulting and injuring someone, the local outlet reported.
He was set free after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office dropped the case.
&#8220;Prosecutors were unable to move forward with the case because the victim told police that they were out of the country and would not be coming to court to cooperate in proceedings. Sadly, without the victim’s necessary testimony, we could not move forward with the case,&#8221; the attorney&#8217;s office said.
The Fairfax County Police Department said they subsequently obtained an emergency order to take the illegal immigrant back into custody, but failed to find him within the allowed time window. Authorities eventually nabbed him after a lengthy manhunt.
&#8220;After his release, a Community Services Board (CSB) clinician obtained an Emergency Custody Order (ECO) for Morales-Ortez. An ECO is valid for eight hours after issuance by a magistrate,&#8221; the police department wrote on X.
&#8220;FCPD Reston District patrol officers were then dispatched to serve the ECO and take Morales-Ortez into custody. FCPD patrol officers responded to the address of record for Morales-Ortez and did not locate him at his residence. The ECO expired shortly thereafter.&#8221;
Fairfax County has notoriously operated as a sanctuary jurisdiction, routinely releasing illegal immigrants from jail without notifying ICE, <a href="https://cis.org/Map-Sanctuary-Cities-Counties-and-States" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Untitled design – 2025-12-18T145331.487

Illegal Immigrant Murders Man One Day After Sanctuary Authorities Release Him From Jail

Border

Crime

Sanctuary Cities

The Trump administration will begin efforts to denaturalize certain foreign-born individuals with United States citizenship over fraud concerns — marking a massive expansion of the federal government&#8217;s immigration crackdown.
Personnel at United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) were issued new guidance on Tuesday to “supply Office of Immigration Litigation with 100-200 denaturalization cases per month,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/us/politics/trump-immigration-citizenship-denaturalization.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to The New York Times.
“It’s no secret that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ war on fraud includes prioritizing those who’ve unlawfully obtained U.S. citizenship — especially under the previous administration,” USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said in a statement.
“We will pursue denaturalization proceedings for those individuals lying or misrepresenting themselves during the naturalization process. We look forward to continuing to work with the Department of Justice to restore integrity to America’s immigration system,&#8221; he said.
Since 2017, more than 120 such cases have been filed, according to The New York Times, citing Department of Justice data.
The effort comes as President Donald Trump pushes accusations that Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar entered into a fraudulent marriage with her brother in order to obtain American citizenship.
Trump&#8217;s Border Czar Tom Homan said last week that the Trump administration is investigating Omar for immigration fraud.
Omar responded, saying administration officials are &#8220;sick&#8221; and that they would not find anything.
Omar, who was born in Somalia, came to the United States in 1995 after her family was given asylum, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ilhan-omar-lashes-out-sick-republicans-investigating-marriage-her-brother" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Fox News. In 2000, she became a naturalized citizen.
Omar had a religious marriage with Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi in 2002. Despite that, she entered into a legal marriage with British national Ahmed Elmi while she continued having children with Hirsi, Fox News reported.
Omar and Elmi reportedly separated in 2011 and formally divorced in 2017. She then married political consultant Tim Mynett in 2020.
It is not clear if Omar will be the subject of USCIS&#8217;s new campaign of scrutiny.
If she&#8217;s found to have committed the alleged fraud, Omar could face up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and deportation, Fox reported. She may also face charges in Minnesota for allegedly violating the state&#8217;s incest laws, which could result in a 10-year prison sentence.
In another recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/feds-denaturalize-immigrant-who-fraudulently-obtained-citizenship-after-raping-stepdaughter-for-years">example</a>, the federal government stripped Salvadoran-born immigrant Jorge Antonio Graciano Lara of his United States citizenship, which he obtained by lying about his criminal past as a child sex offender.
Between 2012 and 2016, Graciano Lara raped his stepdaughter, who was younger than 14 years old at the time, on “several occasions” at their home in Montgomery County, Maryland, while the child’s mother was at work, according to court documents. In 2015, he received his citizenship by lying about his crimes on his naturalization application and in an interview with a federal official.
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In July, the Justice Department directed U.S. attorneys to “prioritize” and “pursue” denaturalization proceedings for new citizens who may “pose a potential danger to national security.”
There are roughly 26 million naturalized citizens living in the United States, <a href="https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT1Y2024.B05011" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Census Bureau. Between October 2023 and September 2024, USCIS swore in more than 800,000 new citizens, <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship-resource-center/naturalization-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the agency.
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Naturalization Ceremony at the Old South Meeting House

Trump Admin Opens Door To Yanking Citizenship As Part Of ‘War On Fraud’

Trump Admin To Denaturalize Foreigners With U.S. Citizenship As Part Of 'War On Fraud'

citizenship

Maine will be limiting how its state and local authorities interact with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, further amplifying how immigration is becoming a key issue in northeastern races in the 2026 midterm elections.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat running for Senate, announced on Tuesday that she would allow LD 1971 to go into effect next month. The proposal allows for authorities to comply with federal immigration officials only for an additional criminal probe, not just for immigration reasons, according to <a href="https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/12/15/politics/state-politics/janet-mills-maine-ice-limited-cooperation-becomes-law/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bangor Daily News</a>.
“As a former District Attorney and Attorney General and now as Governor, I carefully considered this bill. I&#8217;ve weighed my concerns that it imposes confusing restraints on law enforcement about when they can and can&#8217;t interact with Federal authorities against the extraordinary and horrifying actions of a Federal agency that has been weaponized by the President to undermine the rights of us all. And I also agree with the bill&#8217;s aim of ensuring that Maine law enforcement are enforcing Maine laws, not Federal immigration law,&#8221; Mills wrote in a <a href="https://www.pressherald.com/2025/12/15/maine-law-enforcement-will-not-make-dangerous-promises-with-ice-gov-janet-mills/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Portland Press Herald</a> op-ed.
She said the bill is “imperfect,” but Maine law allows the bill to go into effect if she chooses not to directly veto it days after the Legislature comes back, according to a <a href="https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/press-herald-op-ed-governor-mills-announces-ld-1971-become-law-2025-12-15" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>.
&#8220;LD 1971 is imperfect, and we should not need it, but the times call for it. We cannot turn a blind eye to ICE&#8217;s unacceptable actions, and so I have chosen to allow LD 1971 to become law,” she continued. In addition, Mills announced in a press release that she scrapped former Republican Gov. Paul LePage’s 2011 Executive Order that allowed “for enhanced cooperation between state and Federal officials in the enforcement of Federal immigration law.”
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The National Republican Senatorial Committee took aim at Mills on her decision.
“Radical Janet Mills is trying to BAN Maine law enforcement from working with ICE so that criminals illegal immigrants can stay in the state,” the NRSC posted to X. “Mills continues to put Mainers last EVERY TIME.”
Mills is in a closely-watched primary contest against populist veteran Graham Platner, who’s been riddled with a wide range of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-bad-news-keeps-rolling-in-for-graham-platners-senate-campaign">scandals</a>. Whoever wins the primary will face off against Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) in what promises to be a competitive November general election.
Abigail Jackson, White House spokeswoman, told The Daily Wire, “Every locality should be willing to cooperate with ICE officers to get dangerous criminal illegal aliens out of their communities. It’s common sense.”
The governor&#8217;s decision and the criticism from the NRSC are showing how immigration has turned into an issue far beyond the southern border for the midterms. Although the Northeast is thousands of miles away from the United States-Mexico border, ICE has conducted major operations in Boston and the New England region, which has sparked outrage among Democrats.
In Massachusetts, anti-ICE activist Jonathan Paz announced a primary challenge to House Minority Whip Katherine Clark on Monday, and touted immigration as a major campaign issue.
“From organizing renters’ rights in Waltham to standing up to big tech and now resisting Trump’s ICE, I’ve seen what’s possible when we organize our communities and stay true to our principles,” Paz said in his campaign launch video.

18 Dead After Mass Shooter Goes On A Rampage In Maine

Battleground State Governor OKs ‘Confusing’ Bill To Limit Police Cooperation With ICE

2026 election

2026 Midterms

janet mills

Maine

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claimed during a Sunday interview that her son had been &#8220;pulled over&#8221; by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after a trip to Target — but ICE has no record of any such stop.
As The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-says-her-son-was-pulled-over-by-ice-agents">reported</a>, Omar told interviewer Esme Murphy — with local CBS News affiliate WCCO — that her son had been &#8220;pulled over&#8221; by immigration agents and that he&#8217;d only been released because he always carries his passport in case of just such a situation.
But as Newsmax reporter James Rosen said in a Monday evening X post, ICE has no record of Omar&#8217;s son being stopped.
&#8220;Officials ⁦@ICEgov⁩ tell @NEWSMAX the agency has no record of stopping a car driven by the son of ⁦⁦@Ilhan⁩, as the congresswoman claimed,&#8221; Rosen posted, adding, &#8220;Acting Director Lyons called the charge a &#8216;ridiculous effort to unfairly demonize our law enforcement officers.'&#8221;
Omar&#8217;s claim came on the heels of increased ICE activity in her home state of Minnesota as the Department of Homeland Security steps up efforts to detain and deport illegal aliens across the United States.
The Minnesota Democrat claims that the Somali immigrants in her community in particular are being targeted by President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration. She wrote a letter on Friday addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, demanding answers about ICE activities in her home state and claiming that they were driven by President Donald Trump’s “racist comments.”
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“Constituents, advocates, and local officials have documented blatant racial profiling, an egregious level of unnecessary force, and activity that appears designed for social media rather than befitting a law enforcement agency,” she wrote in part. “I am demanding answers on behalf of my constituents whose constitutional rights are being violated on a daily basis.”
“It is clear to me that this surge came in direct response to Trump’s racist comments about Somali people, and about me in particular. Earlier this month, Trump called Somali immigrants ‘garbage’ and ranted that he does not want us in this country,” she added.
The surge in Minnesota follows the news that broke in previous weeks about a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesotas-somali-welfare-fraud-taxpayer-cash-funneled-to-terrorist-group">massive fraud</a> scheme in which billions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled through non-profits into the pockets of wealthy executives and into the hands of Al-Qaida-linked Al Shabaab terrorists. The majority of those arrested and convicted thus far in the fraud investigation have been Somalis.
&#8220;What we see are schemes stacked upon schemes, draining resources meant for those in need. It feels never-ending,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Thompson said of the scope of the case. “I have spent my career as a fraud prosecutor and the depth of the fraud in Minnesota takes my breath away.&#8221;

Congressional Lawmakers Continue Budget Reconciliation Process On The Hill

Ilhan Omar Claims Her Son Was Pulled Over By ICE Agents. ICE Says Otherwise.

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The Massacre In Australia Is Proof That Diversity Is Not Our Strength

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mass migration

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Democratic attorneys general in 19 states, led by California and Massachusetts, are suing the Trump administration over its $100,000 fee for H-1B visas.
The lawsuit announced on Friday argues that the fee imposed by the administration goes far beyond the actual cost for an H-1B application, and goes against the Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“As the world’s fourth largest economy, California knows that when skilled talent from around the world joins our workforce, it drives our state forward. President Trump’s illegal $100,000 H-1B visa fee creates unnecessary — and illegal — financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labor shortages in key sectors,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement Friday.
“The Trump Administration thinks it can raise costs on a whim, but the law says otherwise,” Bonta continued.
The visa is meant for a limited number of jobs, and there are only 65,000 new ones doled out annually. However, 20,000 more H-1B visas are issued for those who have a “master’s degree or higher” from a college within the United States.
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, there have been “enough petitions” sent to the federal government for both caps for fiscal year 2026.
“President Trump promised to put American workers first, and his commonsense action on H-1B visas does just that by discouraging companies from spamming the system and driving down American wages, while providing certainty to employers who need to bring the best talent from overseas,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told The Daily Wire in a statement.
“The Administration’s actions are lawful and are a necessary, initial, incremental step towards necessary reforms to the H-1B program,” she continued.
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A September presidential proclamation stated that the program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor” and it has veered off from its original intention.
The proclamation added that companies “have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”
The lawsuit comes at a major tipping point for immigration nationwide, as the Trump administration recently stopped immigration processes for people from 19 &#8220;high-risk&#8221; countries following the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan national who entered as part of a refugee program following the botched 2021 troop withdrawal from the Middle Eastern nation. In addition, deportation efforts are still underway as the Supreme Court will soon be tackling whether or not birthright citizenship is constitutional.

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Dems Sue Trump Admin Over Major Fee For H-1B Visas

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When twice-deported Honduran illegal immigrant Oscar Gerardo Solorzano-Garcia allegedly fatally stabbed a passenger on a North Carolina train, the incident immediately drew national attention.
&#8220;Another stabbing by an Illegal Migrant in Charlotte, North Carolina,&#8221; President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social. &#8220;What&#8217;s going on in Charlotte? Democrats are destroying it, like everything else, piece by piece!!!&#8221;
But North Carolina had become a flashpoint in the national immigration debate well before Trump&#8217;s post. The Department of Homeland Security has been conducting “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in the region, which has yielded over 400 arrests so far, according to <a href="https://www.wbtv.com/2025/12/03/425-arrested-operation-charlottes-web-federal-officials-say/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WBTV</a>.
Michael Whatley, a Republican Senate candidate in the state and the former Republican National Committee chairman, told The Daily Wire that immigration-related woes are no surprise, as the Biden-era crisis turned “every state, including North Carolina, into border states.”
The Republican is poised to face off against Democrat Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, in one of 2026&#8217;s most hotly competitive races If elected, the Republican said that “we need to make sure that ICE is going to be funded,” along with Border Patrol.
He also took a jab at Cooper, who left office at the start of this year, for his immigration stances. The Democrat vetoed House Bill 10 last November, which would have required sheriffs to work with ICE. His veto was <a href="https://dailytarheel.com/article/city-ncga-ice-regulations-sheriff-deportation-20241126">overturned</a> by the North Carolina General Assembly.
“He has set up a revolving door for criminals in North Carolina,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He is fighting harder for criminals and illegal aliens than for his own constituents as governor.&#8221;
“When we talk about going into the Senate, ultimately it&#8217;s a vote, and it&#8217;s going to be a vote for the president and his agenda, or it&#8217;s gonna be a vote for Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer and the rest of the card-carrying woke mob that Roy Cooper belongs to,” Whatley continued.
“Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars as attorney general, and signing tough-on-crime laws and stricter bail and pretrial release rules as governor,&#8221; a Cooper campaign spokesman told The Daily Wire.
Whatley also pushed back on the notion that some Trump voters were surprised at how immigration enforcement was going to be conducted. On the campaign trail, signs even said “Mass Deportation Now.”
“The fact is, the American people voted for security. They voted for safe communities and safe kids, right? They voted to shut down the border. They voted to deport violent, criminal, illegal aliens,” Whatley said.
“President Trump made it very clear that that was his plan. So any voter who was voting on those issues knew that the president was going to be moving very forcefully to get this done. And that we&#8217;re seeing those protests and in a lot of different places is a little bit surprising to me,” he continued. “But you also have paid organizations that are out there, you know, fomenting these protests as a very real point.”
Whatley said that immigration is likely to be a top issue once again in 2026, along with the economy.
“We need the economy to be clicking. I think ultimately the economy is the most important factor when people vote, right? We need to create jobs, we need to raise wages, we need to lower costs,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And the American people need to feel like we have a very strong economy. All signs right now are pointing towards us having a very strong, robust economy.&#8221;

Lara Trump, Michael Whatley

Illegal Immigrant Crime Could Tip The Scales In North Carolina’s Crucial Senate Race

Michael Whatley

North Carolina

Roy Cooper

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A federal judge on Thursday ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be &#8220;immediately&#8221; released from an immigration detention facility as the Department of Homeland Security vows to challenge the decision.
“This is naked judicial activism by an Obama appointed judge. This order lacks any valid legal basis and we will continue to fight this tooth and nail in the courts,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis said that &#8220;since Abrego Garcia&#8217;s return from wrongful detention in El Salvador, he has been re-detained, again without lawful authority&#8221; and granted his petition to be freed from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
&#8220;Abrego Garcia&#8217;s case demands judicial intervention,&#8221; Xinis said.
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Xinis instructed the federal government to inform Abrego Garcia of her order and to notify the court by 5 pm ET on Thursday of the time and location of his release.
&#8220;Because Abrego Garcia has been held in ICE detention to effectuate third-county removal absent a lawful removal order, his requested relief is proper,&#8221; Xinis added.
In March, Abrego Garcia, 30, was deported to El Salvador&#8217;s CECOT mega-prison after President Donald Trump and other administration officials claimed he was a member of the MS-13 crime gang. Over the summer, the Salvadoran native was returned to the United States to face human smuggling charges and released into his brother&#8217;s custody. He has pleaded not guilty and denies being a gang member. He was later detained again by federal authorities and is now being held in a Pennsylvania detention facility.
In November, the Trump administration asked Judge Xinis to dissolve a ban on deporting Abrego Garcia to Liberia, a West African nation. The administration has been seeking to deport him to at least five other countries.
He reportedly lived in Maryland for more than a decade after entering the United States illegally.
Abrego Garcia&#8217;s human smuggling trial in Tennessee is set to start in January, but he&#8217;s trying to get the charges dropped, claiming he is being unfairly prosecuted. According to the indictment, Abrego Garcia and accomplices conspired to unlawfully transport aliens from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, and other nations into the United States.

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