BOSTON— Federal authorities arrested 11 illegal immigrants in Massachusetts they say are tied to a massive taxpayer-funded benefit fraud scheme that exceeded $1 million.
The Justice Department <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/06/18/11-illegal-aliens-indicted-14-million-benefit-fraud-scheme-massachusetts">announced</a> charges against a total of 15 alleged fraudsters, which includes the 11 illegal aliens, during a press conference on Thursday in Boston. Several of the accused fraudsters are &#8220;John Does&#8221; who used stolen identities and their names remain unknown.
Colin M. McDonald, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department&#8217;s fraud division, said federal investigators are &#8220;still working&#8221; to determine the &#8220;true identities&#8221; of the unnamed fraudsters.
&#8220;We don&#8217;t know who they are fully, but we do know who they are not. They are not the American citizens they pretend to be, and from that initial lie the charges [announced] today allege that they gained access to the buffet of benefits generously given by the American taxpayer for needy Americans,&#8221; McDonald said.
&#8220;In some cases, the victims of these crimes, the rightful beneficiaries of these funds, could not access benefits they needed. And why? That was because their identities had been stolen and their names had been already used in the programs to steal benefits. In other words, American citizens were boxed out of these programs because illegal aliens took their names to then take their money, or more accurately your money, the American taxpayer&#8217;s money. Illegal immigration carries real and substantial costs to American taxpayers and places enormous strain on our public benefits systems. And the further we look, the more fraud we find,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨Justice Department CHARGES 11 ILLEGAL ALIENS Among 15 in $1.4M Benefit Fraud Crackdown in Massachusetts
“These cases highlight a broader, deeply troubling pattern: the exploitation of America’s safety-net by illegal aliens,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald.… <a href="https://t.co/ZvUH6yhQA5">pic.twitter.com/ZvUH6yhQA5</a>
— National Fraud Enforcement Division (@DOJFraudDiv) <a href="https://x.com/DOJFraudDiv/status/2067637738635960615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Among those charged was 56-year-old Dominican national Santo Escolastico Cuello who allegedly committed aggravated identity theft and made false statements relating to a health care program in connection with $162,180 in MassHealth fraud.
One of the accused illegal immigrant John Does is charged with false representation of a Social Security number, aggravated identity theft and making false statements relating to a health care program in connection with MassHealth fraud totaling $75,000 and aggravated identity theft.
Another John Doe is charged with illegal acquisition or use of SNAP benefits, theft of government funds, and aggravated identity theft in connection with SNAP benefit fraud totaling $11,000.
Federal authorities also charged Mario Baez Romero, a 45-year-old Dominican national who was living in Somerville, Massachusetts, with aggravated identity theft and passport fraud in connection with $26,942 in SNAP fraud, and $48,785 in MassHealth fraud. He was encountered by federal authorities on a recreational boat near Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida, in May.
One of the suspects, Indian illegal immigrant Mitul Patel, 40, allegedly <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/eleven-indian-nationals-charged-visa-fraud-conspiracy">staged</a> at least six false armed robberies of a convenience store to allow the alleged victims, including himself, to seek U visas for victims of violent crimes.
Another accused fraudster was previously convicted in Massachusetts on federal drug charges, officials said.
Authorities are still working to identify the John Does and have asked the government of the Dominican Republic for assistance, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said during Thursday&#8217;s presser.
Illegal immigrants have traditionally flocked to Massachusetts for the state&#8217;s generous public benefits system, including state health care programs, McDonald told The Daily Wire&#8217;s Kassy Akiva during an interview that followed the press conference.
McDonald also called out Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey, who has sparred with the Trump administration over its demands for the state to hand over data on SNAP applicants and recipients.
&#8220;Things like being transparent for the records that the state maintains because the state is responsible. Not only do they receive the money from the federal government, we give them the money. They are then responsible for the verification checks, the eligibility checks. We are asking and we have been asking for them to give us those records so that we can see and we can pressure test, just make sure that fraud&#8217;s not happening, but they refuse to give us those records,&#8221; McDonald said.
&#8220;It begs the question of what are you trying to hide,&#8221; he said.

Texas Governor Abbot Continues To Send Migrants To DC

Feds Nab Nearly A Dozen Illegal Aliens Tied To Massive Fraud Scheme

Department of Justice

Fraud

Illegal Immigration

Massachusetts

A 70-year-old Massachusetts man was charged with attempted murder after a heated dispute over water access at a local beach turned violent, according to authorities. 
Steven Dana was arrested after police responded to a call about a fight. Authorities say Dana assaulted 21-year-old Matt Duffy during a confrontation at Sandy Beach in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Prosecutors say Dana forced Duffy underwater and held him there during the altercation, leading to the attempted murder charge.
Police said the dispute stemmed from Duffy and his friends using Lake Maspenock. Duffy <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/hopkinton-ma-sandy-beach-fight-attempted-murder/">told CBS News Boston</a> that Dana, who appeared to live near the water, became increasingly irritated by the group riding a jet ski.
Dramatic video obtained by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJmF2NvezBM">Boston 25 News</a> shows the confrontation escalating near the edge of the water.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
GRAPHIC VIDEO WARNING: A violent confrontation at a Hopkinton beach was caught on camera and is now drawing serious concern after police say a dispute over &#8220;resident-only&#8221; access escalated into an attempted murder case. <a href="https://t.co/3KrCIbmVtb">pic.twitter.com/3KrCIbmVtb</a>
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) <a href="https://x.com/boston25/status/2062884844900688184?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
“Time to go. You live there and listen to you doing it all day long and see how you like it,” Dana told Duffy. 
“Woopdy doo,” Duffy replied. “You bought a house on the lake. Deal with it. I’m following the rules of the lake.” 
Dana repeatedly told Duffy to take this boat elsewhere. The young men refused and appeared to taunt the 70-year-old. 
As Dana threatened to call the police, one of the young men mocked the idea.
“You want me to shoot you?” Dana asked him.
“Alright, shoot me then,” Duffy said back. 
Dana then walked down to the beach and stood face-to-face with Duffy. 
“Use that big mouth of yours,” Dana said before slapping Duffy in his face. 
The two tussled to the ground. Video appears to show Dana forcing Duffy into the water during the altercation. 
“He tackled me into the water, then we were fighting, and then he shoved my head under and was not letting me breathe until my friend came up and pulled him off me,&#8221; Duffy told <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/hopkinton-ma-sandy-beach-fight-attempted-murder/">CBS News Boston.</a> &#8220;I just knew I couldn&#8217;t use either of my arms or my leg as they were both broken, and it was just praying that he let go or my friends pull him off of me.”
The 21-year-old said he had been using crutches because he was involved in a severe motorcycle accident months before, according to CBS News. 
Authorities charged Dana with attempted murder, strangulation/suffocation, and assault and battery on a disabled person. 
Dana was freed on Friday on $7,500 bail. He is due back in court on July 13.

Cruise ship on the ocean. Luxury liner at sea. Miami Beach with cruise ship. Sea water and cruise liner. Tourist cruise ship near coast. Ocean waves and vessel boat. Summer dream vacation. Boat trip.

WATCH: Man Accused Of Trying To Drown 21-Year-Old Over Beach Dispute

Crime

Fight

News

U.S.

A man accused of randomly shooting at cars in Massachusetts has been identified as a career criminal with a previous conviction for attempting to murder a Boston police officer. The suspect was out on the streets thanks to a soft sentence back in 2021. 
Police arrested 46-year-old career criminal Tyler Brown on Monday after they say he walked down a street in Cambridge waving a rifle and shooting at random. Video captured by witnesses show a man, identified by police as Brown, dressed in black walking down the road while brandishing his weapon. 
Two people were seriously injured in the shooting, and officials say Brown&#8217;s shooting spree was stopped by a former Marine legally carrying a handgun and a Massachusetts State Police who both opened fire on him. Brown was hit multiple times and taken to the hospital, <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/what-we-know-about-accused-memorial-drive-gunman-tyler-brown/3948328/">according</a> to Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Shocking new video shows a gunman opening fire indiscriminately on Memorial Drive in Cambridge. Police say there is no current threat to the public but the incident has shut down the usually busy road for hours on Monday afternoon. <a href="https://t.co/kPkRgUdsSf">pic.twitter.com/kPkRgUdsSf</a>
— Boston 25 News (@boston25) <a href="https://twitter.com/boston25/status/2053947248124289462?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 11, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Brown is accused of firing between 50 to 60 shots at more than a dozen cars on the busy Cambridge street. He is expected to be charged with two counts of intent to murder and multiple gun charges. The shooting took place about an hour after police <a href="https://www.kwtx.com/2026/05/11/gunman-memorial-drive-cambridge-was-shooting-passing-cars-random-witnesses-say-i-was-running-my-life/">attempted</a> to conduct a welfare check on Brown after his parole officer reported he made suicidal statements. 
Back in 2021, a judge gave Brown a much lighter sentence than requested by prosecutors after he was <a href="https://www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/press-releases/items/man-shot-at-police-sentenced">convicted</a> of armed assault with intent to murder and attempted assault and battery by means of discharging a firearm after he opened fire on several Boston police officers back in 2020. 
During that incident, Brown fired 13 shots at police officers who were called to check in on him after he was seen with a weapon.
He was additionally convicted over the incident of three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon for pointing a firearm at Boston Police officers, unlawful possession of a firearm as a subsequent offense, and carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large capacity feeding device.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders sentenced Brown to just five to six years in prison, about half the 10-12 years requested by prosecutors. 
At the time, even leftist Suffolk District Attorney Rachel Rollins said she was “disappointed” with the sentence. 
&#8220;Violence will not be condoned in Suffolk County,&#8221; she said. “Whether that violence is committed ​by or against a domestic partner, a stranger, a loved one, ​a family member, a spouse, an acquaintance, a police officer, a suspect, anyone, we will hold the perpetrator ​of the violence accountable​ and advocate on behalf of the victim. ​​This sentence doesn&#8217;t do that, and I want to ​personally apologize to ​each of the​se officers and their families.&#8221;
Brown also has convictions from 2014 for assault and battery with a knife and witness intimidation.

MixCollage-12-May-2026-08-40-AM-4268

WATCH: Deranged Felon Opens Fire On Drivers In Broad Daylight

Boston

Shooting

The Trump administration opened an investigation on Monday into a historic all-women’s college that admits gender-confused men.
The Department of Education confirmed in a <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Office-for-Civil-Rights-Case-Number-01-25-2398-Smith-College-Parshall-Perry-5-4-26.pdf">letter</a> that it had launched a probe into whether Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, was violating Title IX. The investigation comes almost one year <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-womens-college-breaking-the-law-by-admitting-trans-identifying-men-complaint">after</a> watchdog organization Defending Education filed a civil rights complaint over its transgender policies. 
“The complaint alleges that the College, one of the largest women’s colleges in the United States, discriminates against women on the basis of sex by admitting males who identify as women (‘self-identified transgender women’) and by permitting male students to use intimate facilities designated for women,” the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights wrote in a letter on Monday to Defending Education. “[The Office of Civil Rights] is opening the complaint for investigation.”
The office will determine whether there are any merits to Defending Education’s complaint, which was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/all-womens-college-breaking-the-law-by-admitting-trans-identifying-men-complaint">first reported</a> on by The Daily Wire in June 2025. 
The complaint said that the school violates federal policy by allowing males who identify as females to take the place of females in admissions. Smith College only admitted about 22% of applicants for the 2024-2025 school year. 
The stated policies make it clear that the historically all-women’s college allows men to enter so long as they identify as transgender. The decision to admit males was first made in 2015 after Smith <a href="https://www.smith.edu/president-kathleen-mccartney/letters/2014-15/admission-policy-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noopener">conducted</a> a year-long study group on the topic. 
“People who identify as women — cis, trans, and nonbinary women — are eligible to apply to Smith,” the college <a href="https://www.smith.edu/your-campus/offices-services/equity-inclusion/gender-identity-expression">explains</a>. “Smith’s policy is one of self-identification. The applicant’s affirmation of identity is sufficient.”
Smith also says that it has an “all-gender locker room in the athletic facilities” and is working on making more multi-stall “all-gender” bathrooms. 
Defending Education Vice President Sarah Parshall Perry said she looked forward to the department&#8217;s investigation. 
&#8220;Smith College has a longstanding reputation as a women&#8217;s college of exclusive excellence. But that hasn&#8217;t prevented it from falling victim to the fiction of &#8216;transgender&#8217; womanhood,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Admitting men who feel like women means that the institution — formerly one of the nation&#8217;s prestigious &#8216;Seven Sisters&#8217; all-women&#8217;s colleges — is no longer for women only.&#8221;

A brick wall sign with SMITH COLLEGE.

Top Women’s College Admitted Gender-Confused Men. Now The Feds Are Involved.

Civil Rights

Department of Education

Transgender

A Republican candidate for governor in Massachusetts is facing renewed scrutiny over his role in bringing a Chinese state-owned manufacturer into the Boston subway system, a decision that represents both a financial debacle and a potential national security risk.
Brian Shortsleeve, who is running in a three-way GOP campaign ahead of the September 1 primary election, has built much of his campaign around his tenure as chief administrator of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. But newly surfaced research obtained exclusively by The Daily Wire is casting that record in a harsher light, focusing on a $277 million contract awarded during his leadership to China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, or CRRC.
At the time, Shortsleeve defended the deal as fiscally responsible. “The decision we made today was a good business decision,” he said in December 2016, touting the new Chinese-built subway cars as a cost-saving measure for the struggling transit system. He also appeared at a 2016 ceremony marking construction at CRRC’s Springfield facility, publicly celebrating the partnership.
That relationship has since become a liability, with the project becoming plagued by delays and mechanical issues, and only a fraction of the promised cars delivered years behind schedule. In 2023, CRRC reportedly submitted unfinished cars for inspection, and in August 2025, federal agents detained several new MBTA subway car shells at the Port of Philadelphia amid an investigation into potential forced labor connections.
Security concerns surrounding CRRC have also grown over time. Lawmakers and industry experts have warned for years that Chinese state-owned rail manufacturers could pose a surveillance or sabotage threat to U.S. infrastructure. A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/business/chinese-train-national-security.html?unlocked_article_code=1.cVA.i653.VI8KwYILj5Dk&amp;smid=url-share">2019 report</a> in The New York Times highlighted fears that subway cars built by CRRC might be equipped with technology capable of tracking passengers’ movements or communications.
Those concerns have been echoed at the federal level. In a <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/05/30/marco-rubio-dont-let-chinas-spies-near-the-nyc-subway/">2019 op-ed</a>, then Florida Senator Marco Rubio warned that CRRC is part of a broader effort by the Chinese Communist Party to expand its influence in critical infrastructure sectors, calling it “one tactic China is employing to supplant America.” Federal agencies have since classified CRRC among Chinese military-linked companies, and Congress has moved to restrict federal funding for transit projects involving such firms.
Independent research has reinforced those warnings. A <a href="https://www.rtands.com/passenger/intercity/crrcs-chief-obligation-is-to-the-chinese-state-report/">report</a> published in an industry magazine described CRRC as having “indelible ties to the Chinese Communist Party,” noting that executives often serve dual roles as corporate leaders and party officials. The company, the report found, operates in close alignment with Beijing’s industrial strategy, including efforts to dominate global transportation networks under initiatives like “Made in China 2025.”
Meanwhile, the Rail Security Alliance <a href="https://railsecurity.org/fiasco-mbtas-contract-with-crrc/">has called</a> the MBTA’s contract with CRRC a “fiasco,” citing delays, alleged coverups, and mechanical failures. The group and others have argued that Chinese state-owned enterprises benefit from heavy government subsidies, allowing them to undercut competitors and win contracts that may not serve long-term U.S. interests.
All of that is now intersecting with Shortsleeve’s political ambitions; the 53-year-old Marine veteran and Harvard MBA is positioning himself as a fiscal conservative capable of fixing Massachusetts’ economic challenges.
His business background has been emphasized in <a href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/02/19/brian-shortsleeve-governor-massachusetts-gop-baker-romney">local reporting</a>, and he argues that the state needs “a chief executive … that understands how to get costs under control, provide tax and regulatory relief and get jobs growing.”
But his record complicates that message. While he is now campaigning on a more hardline conservative platform—taking tough positions on immigration and energy policy and attacking Democratic Gov. Maura Healey—Shortsleeve’s political history reflects a more moderate, establishment trajectory. He worked closely with former Gov. Mitt Romney, serving as political director for his 2002 gubernatorial campaign and fundraising for both his 2008 and 2012 presidential runs.
Shortsleeve, a self-described “Cape Cod voter” and founder of venture capital firm M33 Growth, has donated to several Democrats in recent years, including members of Congress and state officials.
He has also shifted party affiliations over time, at one point registering as a Democrat before later switching between Independent and Republican. As recently as 2021, he moved to “unenrolled” status following January 6, before rejoining the Republican Party in 2023.
Political strategist Wendy Wakeman noted that Shortsleeve is now running “a little more Republican, a little more right” than in the past, as he competes in a primary shaped by the Trump-era GOP.
That dynamic leaves him in a delicate position. To win the nomination, he must appeal to a conservative base that has grown increasingly skeptical of establishment figures and foreign economic dealings, particularly those involving China. Yet to compete in a general election in deep-blue Massachusetts, he would likely need to regain support from moderates and independents.
The controversy over the MBTA’s CRRC contract underscores the tension at the heart of his candidacy. What was once presented as a pragmatic, cost-saving decision is now being reframed as a cautionary example of the risks tied to foreign state-owned enterprises—and a potential vulnerability for a candidate trying to redefine himself in a changing Republican Party.

mbta-brian-shortsleeve-fb

Three-Way GOP Race Heats Up As China Deal Haunts Hopeful

Communist China

Elections

Politics

Republican Party

ICE agents detained an illegal alien from Ghana convicted on 15 counts for stealing more than $8 million through an online dating fraud scheme targeting the elderly, the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Wire. 
Convicted three years ago in Boston, Massachusetts, for defrauding the elderly through fake dating profiles, ICE agents detained Kofi Ib Osei on Tuesday. Osei was convicted in March 2023 on seven counts of false statement to a bank, six counts of wire fraud, aiding and abetting, and two counts of money laundering. 
“Kofi Osei is a criminal illegal alien who committed fraud throughout New England,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told The Daily Wire. “On April 6, 2026, ICE arrested Osei from jail and took him into custody in Virginia. This is why we need local cooperation.”
Osei first entered the United States in 2010 and was convicted on March 22, 2023, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 
The indictment against Osei revealed that he targeted victims across the country, from Florida to California, from 2016 to 2020, through a romance scheme that involved tricking individuals into sending money to bank accounts operated by Osei under fake names. This money was then used for buying cars and other personal items, according to the indictment.
To open bank accounts, Osei would use passports from South Africa and Lesotho under various names. 
One victim in the indictment included a woman who met Osei on eHarmony under the name “William Karlsen.&#8221; They communicated by phone and text, and Osei claimed he needed her to send him money so he could leave the oil rig he claimed to work on to visit her. Eventually, the victim transferred Osei over $200,000, according to the indictment. 
A second scheme involved Osei using the name “William Woodcox” and getting money from a woman he targeted on the dating website Plenty of Fish. That victim transferred him around $65,000 to help him after an accident in which he&#8217;d claimed to be involved. 
In total, the Justice Department said that Osei scammed hundreds of people out of $8 million. He was sentenced to 54 months in prison over the scheme. 
Osei was just one of the illegal immigrant criminals arrested this week by ICE. 
Others arrested by ICE this week included Pedro Joel Martinez, an illegal alien from El Salvador convicted for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14-years-old; Miguel Angel Vazquez-Garcia, an illegal alien from Mexico convicted for dealing child pornography in Wilmington, Delaware; Ader Aldair Ramirez-Quiroz, an illegal alien from Honduras convicted for importation of fentanyl in San Diego, California; and Anyeli Carolina Peley-Herrera, an illegal alien from Venezuela convicted for acquisition of personal identification by false authority in Bonneville County, Idaho, according to DHS. 
“Yesterday, the heroic men and women of ICE arrested child predators, child rapists, drug traffickers, and other scumbags,” Bis said. “Under President Trump, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our laws, we will hunt you down, arrest you, deport you, and you will never return.”

MixCollage-08-Apr-2026-01-36-PM-7534

No Love Lost: ICE Nabs Illegal Who Scammed Grandmas In Online Dating Scheme

Department of Homeland Security

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a response to Democrat Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, who was defending New England favorite Dunkin&#8217; from the ire of MAHA.
The exchange came after Kennedy Jr. took aim at Dunkin&#8217; during a rally last week at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas.
“We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s OK for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it,&#8217;” RFK Jr. said at the time. “I don’t think they’re going to be able to do it.”
“No one is taking away your Dunkin&#8217;. But isn&#8217;t it reasonable to ask whether a drink loaded with 180 grams of sugar is safe?” RFK Jr. wrote in response to Healey’s tweet, which included an illustration of a Dunkin’ beverage cup and text beneath it saying, “Come and take it.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
No one is taking away your Dunkin&#8217;. But isn&#8217;t it reasonable to ask whether a drink loaded with 180 grams of sugar is safe? <a href="https://t.co/nV6KLOBf94">https://t.co/nV6KLOBf94</a>
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/2029648656005996907?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
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His position was further clarified after the rally.
“Secretary Kennedy also announced the closure of the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) loophole, requiring any new food ingredient to provide proof of safety,” MAHA Action, a Kennedy-aligned nonprofit, said in a statement <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hhs-secretary-kennedy-announces-nutrition-requirements-for-medical-licensing-baby-formula-safety-standards-at-austin-rally-for-real-food-302701305.html">posted</a> on Monday. 
“Companies including Dunkin&#8217; Donuts and Starbucks will be required to produce safety data they were supposed to have maintained. The reforms aim to ensure American foods follow the highest safety and nutritional standards globally.”
RFK Jr. railed against the GRAS loophole during a “60 Minutes” appearance last month.
“That loophole was hijacked by the industry, and it was used to add thousands upon thousands of new ingredients into our food supply,” Kennedy said at the time. “In Europe there’s only 400 legal ingredients. This agency does not know how many ingredients there are in American food.”
“There is…no way for any American to know if a product is safe if it is ultra processed,” he added.

Dunkin

RFK Jr. Takes Not So Sweet Dig At Democratic Governor In Dunkin’ Donuts Fight

Food

Health

MAHA

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Democrat Boston mayor Michelle Wu credited the Somali community for the achievements in the city’s history. 
The far-Left official is getting blasted for comments she made during a Somali-American community rally on Saturday. The clip started circulating on social media, leading to big pushback from viewers.
<blockquote class="tiktok-embed" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@officeofmayorwu/video/7586790944276483358" data-video-id="7586790944276483358" data-embed-from="oembed" style="max-width:605px; min-width:325px;">
<section> <a target="_blank" title="@officeofmayorwu" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@officeofmayorwu?refer=embed">@officeofmayorwu</a> 
Two weeks ago, federal officials pulled Somali-Americans out of line at Faneuil Hall where they waited to be sworn in as naturalized citizens. We will not be quiet. Boston is the cradle of liberty and we stand with our Somali neighbors.
 <a target="_blank" title="♬ original sound - Boston Mayor Michelle Wu - Boston Mayor Michelle Wu" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-Boston-Mayor-Michelle-Wu-7586790777071307551?refer=embed">♬ original sound &#8211; Boston Mayor Michelle Wu &#8211; Boston Mayor Michelle Wu</a> </section>
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“You cannot talk about any achievement that the city of Boston has had in safety, jobs, and economic development, in education, without talking about the Somali community that has lifted our city up. We are proud and we are grateful for our Somali community and for our Somali-American neighbors. Boston and the country are clear that hate has no place in our society,” the Boston mayor said.
“We will use every attack to actually strengthen and expand the services available, to empower and work alongside our community members who are already doing so much good in the world and setting the example for the rest of the country.”
“Can you list those achievements here for everyone?” one commenter on X <a href="https://x.com/OfAthenry/status/2003463406901428350">replied</a>.
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Another commenter quipped, “Remember when the [Somalis] tossed the tea into the harbor?”
Her comments come on the heels of a massive Somali-tied welfare fraud scheme that was uncovered in Minnesota involving billions of taxpayer dollars being stolen from the state, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-somali-welfare-fraud-scandal-is-even-worse-than-you-think?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Somali+Welfare+Fraud+Scandal+Is+Even+Worse+Than+You+Think">reported</a>.
“We believe that the Somali fraud operation in Minnesota is the single greatest theft of taxpayer dollars, through welfare fraud, in American history,” Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller said on Fox News. “We believe we have only scratched the very top of the surface of how deep this goes.”
The mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boston-mayor-michelle-wu-blasted-for-white-jokes-at-st-patricks-day-breakfast?author=Tim+Meads&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Boston+Mayor+Michelle+Wu+Blasted+For+%E2%80%98White%E2%80%99+Jokes+At+St.+Patrick%E2%80%99s+Day+Breakfast">made her position clear</a> months after being elected to office. At a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in 2022, Wu caught heat for joking that she was “getting used to dealing with problems that are expensive, disruptive, and white,” before quickly adding that she was allegedly referring to “snowstorms, [and] snowflakes.”
She also seemingly compared ICE agents to neo-Nazis this June. “I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks. We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks,” Wu told reporters at the time, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sickening-dhs-rips-dem-boston-mayors-seeming-comparison-of-ice-agents-to-neo-nazis?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=%E2%80%98Sickening%E2%80%99%3A+DHS+Rips+Dem+Boston+Mayor%E2%80%99s+Seeming+Comparison+Of+ICE+Agents+To+Neo-Nazis">reported</a>.
“Mayor, just to clarify, are you comparing ICE to — you said — to NSC-131, a neo-Nazi group? Are you comparing them to a neo-Nazi group?” a reporter asked.
“What I said is that Boston police, and no police department that I know of at the local level, routinely wears masks” she replied.
The Department of Homeland Security fired back on social media, calling the apparent comparison “sickening.”

Mayor Michelle Wu

Boston Mayor Says Somali Community Gets Credit For ‘Any Achievement’ The City Has

Boston Mayor Says Somali Community Gets Credit For 'Any Achievement' The City Has

General

Leftism

Michelle Wu

Somalis

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

Immigration

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.

D6D02C5F-008E-4A27-A9F4-F345022ACA74_1_201_a

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

California

Economy

Trump Administration

Visas

White House

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has launched a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/12/11/hud-boston-fair-housing-discrimination">sweeping civil rights investigation</a> into the city of Boston, accusing Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration of implementing housing policies that unlawfully favor black, Latino, and other minority residents. The probe, announced Thursday, represents one of the most aggressive federal interventions yet in the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle local diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives it argues violate anti-discrimination law.
In a <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/default/files/Main/documents/Letter-FHEO-Fair-Housing-Act-Investigation.pdf">sharply worded letter</a> to Wu, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity said, “The context of race, fair housing is not about ‘the absence of racial discrimination . . . but the presence of deliberate systems . . . to achieve and sustain racial equity.’ But this is wrong. The text of the Fair Housing Act is unmistakably focused on eliminating discrimination in the housing market and outlining the penalties for engaging in this kind of discrimination.”
Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor wrote to Wu, “At your office’s direction, however, City officials have set out to smuggle ‘racial equity into every layer of operations in City government.’” The letter added, “City Officials Have Enthusiastically Embraced and Appear to Have Implemented the City’s Proposed Racial Spoils System.”
HUD Secretary Scott Turner echoed that language, calling Boston’s approach a “social engineering project” driven by DEI ideology rather than legitimate housing needs. “This warped mentality will be fully exposed,” Turner said, vowing the city would be brought into compliance with federal law. Turner has previously criticized what he calls race-based policymaking and, earlier this week, blamed former President Joe Biden for housing pressures tied to immigration, citing HUD’s newly released “Worst Case Housing Needs” report.
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At issue are several city housing plans—most notably the Boston Housing Strategy 2025, the Assessment of Fair Housing, and the Anti-Displacement Action Plan—which call for targeted outreach to black and Latino families, increased lending in communities of color, and allocations of homeownership opportunities intended “particularly” for BIPOC households. One goal states that 65 percent of city-supported homeownership opportunities should go to BIPOC residents. HUD argues that these provisions constitute explicit racial preferences prohibited under federal civil rights law and past Supreme Court precedent that rejects “outright racial balancing.”
HUD’s letter also criticizes Boston’s use of racially based data tools, including maps that classify neighborhoods partly by racial composition to identify areas at “high risk” of displacement and thus eligible for more city investment. The department said these classifications revive the logic of “government-sponsored redlining,” even if intended to combat inequity. It further alleges that city agencies and nonprofit partners have implemented “race-conscious marketing and buyer selection,” and that Boston has pressured banks and developers to adopt race-based benchmarks.
The investigation reflects the Trump administration’s broader shift in civil rights enforcement, which has increasingly targeted DEI programs while cutting back on traditional fair housing oversight.
HUD will request documents from the city within 10 days, after which investigators may file formal discrimination charges or refer the case to the Justice Department.

Trump Admin Accuses Boston Of Illegal Race-Based Housing Policies

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Housing and Urban Development

Race

Social Issues

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton suggested Sunday that the Trump administration might soon begin to “murder” Americans.
Moulton, who is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, made the radical claim during an appearance on CNN in which he suggested that the administration’s actions against narcoterrorists in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean may be replicated against Americans.
“The President of the United States and his secretary of Defense are conducting murder on the high seas. They&#8217;re committing murder and Americans should care,” <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/1997768199379505464">said</a> Moulton. “None of us like drug traffickers, but we have laws that say that drug traffickers don&#8217;t get summarily executed, and if it&#8217;s happening off the coast of America with people that we don&#8217;t know, just give it time before Donald Trump starts doing the same kind of thing to people we do know right here at home.”
The administration has declared major drug cartels in South America as terror groups, and positioned roughly 15,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea to combat narcoterrorists trafficking fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States. The U.S. military has destroyed roughly two dozen boats and submarines in international waters that the administration said were trafficking illicit drugs.
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Democrats ramped up criticisms of the Trump administration’s war on drugs after a report from The Washington Post last month claimed that War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a “kill them all” order carried out against survivors of a destroyed drug-running vessel.
Top military officials have contested the report. Adm. Mitch Bradley said in a closed-door hearing in Congress last week that Hegseth never gave such an order. In one September incident that has become the basis for Democratic claims of war crimes, Bradley made the call to send a follow-up strike against a vessel that he deemed was still a threat.
Democrats have pushed to have the classified video of the follow-up strike made public. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has seen the video, appeared on NBC News on Sunday and said he had “no problem” with releasing it as long as doing so does not risk national security.
“I will say that the [Department of War] may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-cotton-has-no-problem-with-releasing-video-of-drug-boat-double-tap">said</a> Cotton. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there’s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”

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