Trump shipped the first planeload of 85 Nigerians who were in the U.S. illegally back to Nigeria as the African nation warns about "dignity."
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Pope Francis on Tuesday issued a major rebuke of the Trump administration’s plans for the mass deportations of migrants, stressing that the forceful removal of people simply for their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and "will end badly."
Francis wrote a letter to U.S. bishops, in which he appeared to criticize Vice President JD Vance's religious argument in defense of the deportation policies.
U.S. border czar Tom Homan responded to the pope, saying that the Vatican is a city-state surrounded by walls and that Francis should leave immigration enforcement to him. Homan, a Catholic, also said Francis should focus on fixing the Catholic Church rather than U.S. immigration policies.
"He wants to attack us for securing our border. He's got a wall around the Vatican, does he not?" Homan told reporters. "So he's got a wall around that protects his people and himself, but we can't have a wall around the United States."
DOZENS OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS SUE TO STOP TRUMP ADMIN FROM ARRESTING MIGRANTS IN PLACES OF WORSHIP
As the first Latin American pope, Francis has long held the position of caring for immigrants, pointing to the biblical command to "welcome the stranger" in calling on countries to welcome, protect, promote and integrate people fleeing conflicts, poverty and climate disasters.
Francis and President Donald Trump have long butted heads over the issue of immigration, including prior to Trump's first term, when Francis said in 2016 that anyone who builds a wall to keep migrants out was "not a Christian."
In his letter, Francis acknowledged that governments have the right to defend their countries and keep their communities safe from criminals, but he added the deportation of people who fled their countries due to various difficult circumstances damages their dignity.
"That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness," he wrote.
Pointing to the Book of Exodus in the Bible and Jesus Christ's experience, Francis emphasized the right of people to seek shelter and safety in other lands and said the Trump administration's deportation plan was a "major crisis."
Anyone educated in Christianity, he said, "cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality."
"What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly," he continued.
POPE FRANCIS CALLS TRUMP'S DEPORTATION PLAN A 'DISGRACE'
The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, thanked the pope for his letter.
"With you, we pray that the U.S. government keep its prior commitments to help those in desperate need," Broglio wrote. "Boldly I ask for your continued prayers so that we may find the courage as a nation to build a more humane system of immigration, one that protects our communities while safeguarding the dignity of all."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that more than 8,000 people had been arrested since Trump took office Jan. 20 as part of the president's plan to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, although hundreds of those arrested have since been released back into the U.S. Others have been deported, are being held in federal prisons or are being held at the Guantánamo Bay Cuba, detention camp.
Vance, a Catholic convert, has defended the administration's deportation plans by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as "ordo amoris," which he has said describes a hierarchy of care: prioritizing the family first, then the neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those from other regions.
However, Francis sought to fact-check Vance's understanding of the concept.
"Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups," Francis wrote in his letter. "The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception."
As Homan referenced, the Vatican is a walled-in, 108-acre city-state inside Rome, and it recently increased sanctions for anyone who enters illegally. The law, approved in December, calls for people to face up to four years in prison and a fine of up to 25,000 euros, or $25,873, if they enter with "violence, threat or deception," including by evading security checkpoints.
The U.S. bishops conference had already released a statement condemning Trump’s immigration policies after his first executive orders.
Anyone "focused on the treatment of immigrants and refugees, foreign aid, expansion of the death penalty, and the environment, are deeply troubling and will have negative consequences, many of which will harm the most vulnerable among us," the statement said.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago praised Francis' letter, telling Vatican Media that it showed the pope viewed "the protection and advocacy for the dignity of migrants as the preeminent urgency at this moment."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A coalition of 27 Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration action allowing federal immigration enforcement to make arrests in places of worship.
The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, was brought on behalf of a range of religious groups, including the Episcopal Church, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists.
The lawsuit challenges an order by President Donald Trump that reversed a Biden administration policy barring agents from arresting illegal migrants in sensitive places like churches, schools and hospitals.
According to the lawsuit, Trump's new policy has sparked fear of raids, which has led to lower attendance at worship services and other church programs. Because of this impact on attendance, the lawsuit argues the policy infringes on the groups’ religious freedom, particularly their ability to minister to migrants, including those in the U.S. illegally.
'SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES': TED CRUZ DELIVERS STRONG WARNING TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FLEEING BORDER PATROL
"We have immigrants, refugees, people who are documented and undocumented," the Most Rev. Sean Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, told The Associated Press.
"We cannot worship freely if some of us are living in fear," he added. "By joining this lawsuit, we’re seeking the ability to gather and fully practice our faith, to follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves."
A similar lawsuit was filed Jan. 27 by five Quaker congregations that was later joined by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and a Sikh temple. That case is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Maryland.
The new lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security and its immigration enforcement agencies as defendants.
"We are protecting our schools, places of worship, and Americans who attend, by preventing criminal aliens and gang members from exploiting these locations and take safe haven there because these criminals knew that under the previous Administration that law enforcement couldn’t go inside," DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement.
"DHS’s directive gives our law enforcement the ability to do their jobs," she said.
A memorandum filed Friday by the Department of Justice, opposing the argument in the Quaker lawsuit, could also apply to the new lawsuit.
The DOJ claims that the plaintiffs’ request to block the new immigration enforcement policy is based on speculation of hypothetical future harm, which the department says makes for insufficient grounds for the courts to side with the Quakers and issue an injunction.
In the memo, the DOJ said that immigration enforcement affecting places of worship had been allowed for decades and that the new policy announced last month stated that field agents should use "common sense" and "discretion" but could now carry out immigration enforcement operations in houses of worship without pre-approval from a supervisor.
One part of that memo may not apply to the new lawsuit, as it argued the Quakers and their fellow plaintiffs have no basis for seeking a nationwide injunction to protect all religious groups against the new policy.
NOEM, HEGSETH, BONDI PLEAD WITH CONGRESS FOR MORE BORDER FUNDING AMID LARGE-SCALE DEPORTATIONS
"Any relief in this case should be tailored solely to the named plaintiffs," the DOJ memo said, arguing that any injunction should not apply to other religious organizations.
The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit represent a significantly larger number of American worshipers, including more than 1 million followers of Reform Judaism, around 1.5 million Episcopalians, more than 1 million members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the estimated 1.5 million active members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, among others.
"The massive scale of the suit will be hard for them to ignore," lead counsel Kelsi Corkran, who is a lawyer with the Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, told The Associated Press.
Corkran said the plaintiffs joined the lawsuit "because their scripture, teaching, and traditions offer irrefutable unanimity on their religious obligation to embrace and serve the refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants in their midst without regard to documentation or legal status."
Before Trump's change to federal policy, Corkran said immigration agents generally needed a judicial warrant or other special authorization to conduct operations in locations like places of worship, schools and hospitals.
"Now it’s go anywhere, any time," she said. "Now they have broad authority to swoop in — they’ve made it very clear they’ll get every undocumented person."
The lawsuit outlined how some of the plaintiffs' operations may be affected. Some, including the Union for Reform Judaism and the Mennonites, said many of their synagogues and churches host on-site foodbanks, meal programs, homeless shelters and other support services for illegal migrants who may now be fearful of participating.
One plaintiff, the Latino Christian National Network, described the fear among migrants in the wake of the new Trump administration policy.
"There is deep-seated fear and distrust of our government," the network’s president, Rev. Carlos Malavé, a pastor of two churches in Virginia, told The Associated Press. "People fear going to the store, they are avoiding going to church. ... The churches are increasingly doing online services because people fear for the well-being of their families."
One religious group that did not join the new lawsuit is the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which leads the nation's largest denomination, although it has criticized Trump's mass deportation plan.
On Tuesday, Pope Francis criticized the administration's immigration policies, saying that the forceful removal of people because of their immigration status deprives them of their inherent dignity and that doing so, he argued, "will end badly."
Many conservative faith leaders and legal experts across the country, however, share no concerns about immigration enforcement targeting places of worship to arrest migrants.
"Places of worship are for worship and are not sanctuaries for illegal activity or for harboring people engaged in illegal activity," Mat Staver, founder of the conservative Christian legal organization Liberty Counsel, told The Associated Press.
"Fugitives or criminals are not immune from the law merely because they enter a place of worship," he said. "This is not a matter of religious freedom. There is no right to openly violate the law and disobey law enforcement."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
EXCLUSIVE: Retired New York Giants safety Jack Brewer and his global ministry are on the ground in Guatemala City this week, helping officials receive migrant families deported from the U.S., providing food, support and prayer as they essentially start life anew.
Brewer and his Jack Brewer Foundation have years of experience working in impoverished areas of the world like Haiti, Malawi and Central America, which Brewer said has allowed him to work closer than most and interact with the returning families.
While it is President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan enforcing U.S. law and deporting illegal immigrants, Brewer said it is clear former President Joe Biden’s "broken" policies are truly to blame for the heartache and hardship.
"Three years ago, I started to follow the fatherlessness crisis that is happening right here in Guatemala, where a lot of men were leaving their households and coming to Joe Biden’s open borders – and just seeing it literally devastate families."
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Brewer said Guatemala was losing much of its workforce and that a lot of those poor families trying to get to the U.S. actually did not know a "legal" immigration route existed, and they instead took the cartels and others at their word and paid thousands of dollars to be trafficked north.
"They’ve been told by coyotes and different people that you can just come [to the U.S.], and if you come here, if you bring your child, they'll just let you in," Brewer said.
"And so, you know, there's a huge education gap there on the ground."
Brewer also met with Raul Berrios from CONAMIGUA – the National Council for Attention to Migrants of Guatemala – as well as Sergio Samuel Vela-Lopez, head of the Guatemala Penitentiary Department.
Berrios, Lopez and others are trying to create an effective system for welcoming the migrants and processing those who are innocent families versus those who may have criminal records or other issues requiring government attention, according to Brewer.
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Many families returning to the capital city live hundreds of miles into the countryside and have no established way of getting there. Some buses, however, have been hired to take migrants closer to home, and Brewer visited one of them and spoke to its driver.
"It’s really a unique perspective, I think, and just some of the things that we've witnessed since we've been here," he said, adding stories ranged from familial hardships to reports that more than a dozen people have been burnt alive by Mexican cartels for failing to pay for passage.
"It’s just pretty tough to see and witness and watch."
When a U.S. military plane arrived carrying migrants, Brewer was on the tarmac.
"We were able to provide them with food and, most importantly, with Bibles, and we preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Brewer said the Guatemalan Migration Authority is focusing its efforts on children ages 8 and under. Many of these children have been "lied to," Brewer said.
"They’re told it’s their life’s mission to migrate to the U.S. illegally," he said, recounting stories told by some returning migrants of children on the backs of cartel coyotes and others drowning in rivers.
Then-Vice President Kamala Harris made her own trip to Guatemala City in March 2024, seeking to understand the "root causes" of illegal migration.
"When you look at the root causes, we're also looking at issues of corruption. Again, we're looking at the issue of climate resiliency and then the concern about a lack of economic opportunity," Harris said in 2021.
Brewer rejected that Harris’ work made any difference, saying she and her then-boss’s policies "empowered human traffickers" and that half of Guatemala still lives in extreme poverty with little education.
He said the former leadership at the State Department "misguided resources" through USAID, a practice that Trump is now aggressively cutting back on.
"We need to first put our resources into addressing the issues that are fueling a multibillion-dollar human trafficking industry. Walls, deportations and enforcement are a must, but educating indigenous populations on the truths of coyotes will deliver a devastating blow to the modern human slave trade," Brewer said.
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"Guatemala is not enforcing their migration issue in the country. Haitians and Venezuelans are warned of the dangers of migrating, but there is no enforcement at the time."
"There needs to be arrest and enforcement, but they require resources. Guatemala prisons are already overcrowded, and they don’t have immigration beds available for enforcement," added Brewer, who said he also visited those prisons and saw conditions for himself.
When the Biden administration launched its strategy to tackle "root causes" of migration at the southern border during a time of rapidly rising and historic illegal immigration, the now-frozen United States Agency for International Development (USAID) played a significant role.
During the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris was tasked with leading diplomacy in Latin America to tackle the root causes, identified as issues like gang violence, climate change and poverty. It consisted of both government initiatives and funding from private organizations.
USAID, which was frozen in recent days over concerns about misspending, played a key role in the distribution of funds. While certain operations have been halted to get a full picture of USAID funding to the region, it is possible to get a glimpse of the help it provided.
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In 2021, the first year of the Biden administration, USAID announced Centroamérica Local, a 5-year, $300 million initiative that funded organizations in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to address the root causes of migration to the U.S.
"Under this new initiative, Centroamérica Local, USAID intends to invest up to $300 million, subject to the availability of funds, toward engaging, strengthening, and funding local organizations to implement programs to advance sustainable and equitable economic growth, improve governance, fight corruption, protect human rights, improve citizen security, and combat sexual and gender-based violence," USAID said in a statement at the time.
"These programs are being carried out under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Root Causes Strategy and deliver on the Agency’s goal to foster greater engagement with local organizations and communities in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and advance stability in the region."
More was still to come.
TOP DEM STRATEGISTS WARN USAID FUNDING FIGHT IS A ‘TRAP’ FOR THE PARTY
In 2022, USAID announced programs in Central America to end gender-based violence, including a $6.5 million program in Guatemala and a $2.7 million program in Honduras. That built off a program announced in El Salvadaor.
In March last year, Harris met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo and announced a planned investment of $135 million in USAID funding, alongside $170 million to aid development, economic health and security assistance.
Included in the announcement was an expansion of the Central American Service Corps, which was created in 2022 at the Summit of Americas. The expanded program was funded by USAID and aimed to reach 2,800 people seen at most risk of migrating by engaging them with volunteer work, employment and training.
Also announced for Guatemala was a USAID-implemented "Feed the Future" program to strengthen the capacity of research and education entities to scale agricultural technologies and to support research and education related to "climate smart" agriculture.
USAID was also to implement a new "Guatemala Biodiversity Conservation" program to promote the conservation of biodiversity and strengthen protected areas and other areas of ecological importance.
In September, USAID announced an additional $10.75 million in funding for Guatemala.
USAID STAFFERS STUNNED, ANGERED BY TRUMP ADMIN'S DOGE SHUTDOWN OF $40B AGENCY
That came after USAID invested over $153 million in Guatemala in 2023 to allegedly support the government in efforts to strengthen democracy and improve opportunities. According to a release, funded activities included "integrated rural and agricultural development, sustainable economic growth, support for the construction of climate-resilient infrastructure, and digital development and e-governance."
Harris was dogged by the "border czar" title throughout her unsuccessful presidential bid as she largely dropped the root causes emphasis and instead focused on the Biden administration’s efforts to secure the border.
President Donald Trump’s administration has demonstrated a skepticism of the root causes strategy, both in its leaning in on border security and interior enforcement and also its moves to cut or freeze funding abroad.
In his first week in office, Trump also rescinded Biden's 2021 executive order creating a "comprehensive regional framework to address the causes of migration, to manage migration throughout North and Central America and to provide safe and orderly processing of asylum seekers at the United States border."
He also revoked an executive order to rebuild and enhance programs to resettle refugees and plan for "the impact of climate change on migration."
DHS has put in a request to Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to reassign IRS criminal investigators to perform deportation duties.
The post DHS Secretary Kristi Noem Wants to Draft IRS Agents for Deportation Task appeared first on Breitbart.
Rep. Morgan Luttrell, R-Texas, is joining GOP colleagues in the Senate by introducing legislation to protect unaccompanied migrant children from human traffickers.
"Over 300,000 unaccompanied migrant children effectively disappeared under the Biden administration, leaving them vulnerable to trafficking, abuse, and exploitation. Instead of ensuring their safety, these children are released with no follow-up, falling into the hands of cartels and criminals," Luttrell said in a release announcing the Stop Human Trafficking of Unaccompanied Migrant Children Act of 2024.
Luttrell's legislation is a companion to a bill introduced in the Senate by senators Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and aims to prevent further trafficking of migrant children by implementing proper vetting for adults who sponsor a child in the United States, including vetting for parents, immediate relatives and unrelated adults.
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The bill will also require that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) take steps to vet all adults who will live in the home of a migrant child.
"It is terrifying to think that over 300,000 young, innocent children have been brought into this nation, potentially forced into unsafe conditions and at risk for human trafficking," Scott said in the release. "As a parent or grandparent, it’s unimaginable to think what might happen to these children and that former President Joe Biden allowed this to happen by completely dismantling our immigration system and opening our southern border, completely ignoring the consequences or the tolls on human life."
JUDGE APPROVES EMERGENCY ORDER TO CLOSE MIGRANT GANG-INFESTED AURORA, COLORADO, APARTMENT COMPLEX
The bill aims to put multiple steps in place to prevent trafficking of children, including a prohibition on children being released to a sponsor who is in the U.S. illegally, unless the sponsor is the child's legal guardian or a relative. The bill will also require authorities to complete a home visit prior to a child being released to the sponsor and calls for at least five additional unannounced home visits during the child's first year in the country.
The legislation will also require reporting to Congress on actions being taken to account for current missing children, according to the release.
"HHS must implement thorough vetting to ensure these children are placed with responsible adults — not predators," Luttrell said. "President Biden’s border policies failed everyone, and this legislation will support the Trump administration’s efforts to course correct the disaster we were left with."
Two Guatemalan illegal immigrants are accused of human trafficking after police found two women at a residence in Lake Worth Beach that was "actively being used as a brothel," according to authorities.
Yudvin and Glin Zunigalatin are charged with human trafficking, deriving proceeds from prostitution, holding a house of ill fame and resisting, according to county records. Glin Zunigalatin is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sexual battery.
Authorities initially responded to the suspects' residence after they received a phone call around 7:45 a.m. on Feb. 9 from a young woman who reported being held against her will, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said in a press release.
The caller "stated she was sexually assaulted, she was at a club and that someone was going to kill her and she doesn’t want to die," an arrest warrant states.
The woman was unaware of her exact location but said she had been confined in a house for multiple days by two men, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies were able to trace the call to a densely populated area and searching for signs of unusual activity. Eventually, they observed two males exhibiting "suspicious behavior" outside a residence located on the 1400 block of Lake Ave, Lake Worth Beach. Police said in the arrest warrant that the residence was "actively being used as a brothel" and was part of a "larger brothel case."
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When deputies made contact with the two men, they "appeared nervous."
"A third unknown male was complying with lawful order and was asked to step outside. Once he went outside he took off running and disappeared," the arrest warrant states.
Authorities were able to "visually confirm the presence of a female inside the residence" and made entry into the home. They rescued two victims of a "potential human trafficking operation" and arrested Yudvin and Glin Zunigalatin.
FLORIDA SHERIFF ASKS TRUMP'S ICE TO REMOVE BIDEN-ERA ‘SHACKLES’
A preliminary investigation revealed that both victims were recruited under false pretenses and forced to perform sex acts.
The first victim told authorities that the brothers approached her at Miami International Airport and offered her a job making scam calls that would pay $200 per day. She apparently took them up on the offer, and they drove from the airport to the Lake Worth Beach home, where she was shown to her room and confined there for days. She alleged the brothers told her she could leave if she wanted, but she "would be hunted down and hurt," which she interpreted as killed.
The second victim told police that the suspects promised her a job cleaning houses in West Palm Beach. On what was supposed to be her first day of work, one of the suspects picked her up in his vehicle and drove her to the Lake Worth Beach residence, where he and another man made clear that she would instead be forced into prostitution.
At one point, she said she overheard two men arguing outside her room with another victim, and one of the men said, "I will fill you with bullets," the arrest report states.
The suspects are being held on no bond, and authorities placed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers on both men.
The government's leading disaster relief agency reportedly spent millions on hotels for illegal immigrants just last week, according to Elon Musk, who is leading the Trump administration's efforts to cut government spending.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed by the tech billionaire, has been conducting a sweep of federal funding and identifying areas in which "waste" within the government can be slashed. Musk found his most recent target in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the government's disaster relief branch that recently sparked concern over a reported lack of funds during Hurricane Helene.
"The @DOGE team just discovered that FEMA sent $59M LAST WEEK to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants," Musk claimed in a post on X on Monday morning.
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During former President Biden's term, FEMA faced backlash after it was reported that while they lacked the necessary funds needed to help Hurricane Helene victims, they were dishing out money that ended up being used to aid illegal immigrants.
Speaker Mike Johnson clarified that emergency relief funding is separate from FEMA funds allocated to immigration, but said that the agency should not have any part in funding the border crisis.
FEMA partners with Customs and Border Control (CBP) and administers money to the Shelter and Services Program (SSP), a government-funded program that provides assistance and housing for illegal immigrants released into the U.S.
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In his message Monday, Musk charged that "sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order," which put FEMA under review to improve the agency’s "efficacy, priorities and competence."
"That money is meant for American disaster relief," Musk wrote.
A New York City Hall spokesperson confirmed to Fox that the city had received funds "through the past week" that were allocated by the Biden administration for the purpose of housing and supporting illegal immigrants.
Of the $59.3 million, $19 million was for direct hotel costs, while the balance funded other services such as food and security. According to NY City Hall, the funds were not part of a disaster relief grant.
The Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital that those who made the payment will be "held accountable."
"As Secretary Noem said yesterday, we must get rid of FEMA the way it exists today. This is yet another egregious example," DHS said in a statement. "Individuals who circumvented leadership and unilaterally made this payment will be fired and held accountable."
The report comes just one day after Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, suggested getting rid of FEMA "the way it exists today."
After Hurricane Helene made its deadly sweep across the south in the fall, Republican lawmakers warned that "FEMA’s continued entanglement in DHS’ efforts to respond to the border crisis could impact its readiness and emergency response mission."
President Donald Trump has also called for FEMA to be reformed, suggesting during his first week in office that states be in control of their own disaster funding.
"FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," Trump said while delivering remarks on the Hurricane Helene damage in January. "I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away, and we pay directly — we pay a percentage to the state."
Fox News Digital reached out to FEMA for comment.
Fox News' Grace Taggart, Adam Shaw and Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Lawmakers in Democrat-run Maryland are considering a bill to roll back sanctuary policies and increase cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in certain scenarios.
Maryland’s Senate Bill 387, or the Protecting Marylanders From Violent Offenders Act of 2025, would require local law enforcement and correction officers to turn over illegal immigrants to ICE if the individual was convicted of a violent crime, terrorism, participation in a criminal street gang, or an aggravated felony such as trafficking drugs or firearms.
Republican Sen. William Folden, the bill’s author, told FOX45 Baltimore that the bill is "only for the most violent offenders."
"This isn’t about trying to turn any communities against each other," Folden said. "This is about keeping our communities safe from these repeat violent offenders that some jurisdictions keep putting back out into the community and that’s not safe for anyone."
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Critics of the bill, however, say the legislation threatens constitutional rights.
Sanctuary policies in Howard and Prince George's County currently prohibit local authorities from cooperating with ICE agents.
Maryland’s attorney general has also issued guidance to local authorities on immigration detainers in a 2025 memorandum, stating detainers "are requests only; local officers are not obligated to honor them, and, in fact, risk violating constitutional rights by doing so."
The Maryland bill, which is currently under committee consideration in the state Senate, would take effect on Oct. 1, 2025, if enacted.
TRUMP DOJ SLAPS ILLINOIS, CHICAGO WITH LAWSUIT OVER SANCTUARY LAWS
Since taking office last month, President Donald Trump has conducted a sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration, with ICE officials making several criminal arrests over the last weeks in many left-leaning "sanctuary" cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, and Washington, D.C.
While leaders in some sanctuary cities have refused to cooperate with ICE as immigration raids continue, Trump border czar Tom Homan delivered a bold message to those cities: "We're going to keep coming" no matter what.
"They're not going to stop us," he said Sunday, stressing that criminal illegal immigrant gang members such as Tren de Aragua have "no safe haven" from the rule of law.
"We're going to find them. We're going to arrest them, and take them off the streets," Homan said, referring to the criminal gang members.
Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Taylor Penley contributed to this report.
FIRST ON FOX: Two lawmakers in the House and Senate are introducing separate bills to slap limits on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) they believe are undermining U.S. immigration law – coming amid broader questions about funding of NGOs and a funding crackdown by the Trump administration.
Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas is reintroducing the "Protecting Federal Funds from Human Trafficking and Smuggling Act," while Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., is introducing the Fixing Exemptions for Networks Choosing to Enable Illegal Migration (Fence) Act.
Hagerty’s bill would end tax-exempt status for organizations that help illegal immigrants, requiring that exempt organizations do not engage in a pattern of providing assistance, benefits, services or other support to those who they know "to be unlawfully present in the United States."
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"Tax-exempt status is a privilege, not a right, and these organizations will be able to preserve their tax-exempt status simply by ceasing these activities," his office said in a release.
Gooden’s bill would prevent federal contracts and grants being awarded to NGOs unless they certified to the Office of Management and Budget that they are not involved in human trafficking or smuggling. It also would yank tax-exempt status from organizations who knowingly violate federal law.
The bill also requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop a written strategy and best practices guide for non-profits to ensure they are in compliance with the law.
It also requires NGOs to go through a verification process to ensure illegal immigrants are not receiving benefits.
"For years, non-governmental organizations have exploited taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal immigration under the guise of ‘humanitarian aid,’" Gooden said in a statement. "The exploitation of the American taxpayer will end under the Trump Administration. This bill ensures that not a single cent of hard-earned American tax dollars will fund organizations complicit in human trafficking and illegal border crossings."
TRUMP DOJ SLAPS ILLINOIS, CHICAGO WITH LAWSUIT OVER SANCTUARY LAWS
It comes amid longstanding concern about the role of NGOs in assisting the government during the 2021-2024 migration crisis at the southern border, where millions of dollars went to NGOs that would receive migrants, assist them and potentially give them shelter and travel to their final destination. The funding is provided via contracts and grants from DHS, Health and Human Services and the State Department.
Gooden has introduced a number of pieces of legislation on the matter, and has been working for years to bring attention to the issue.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced Wednesday that it has stopped funding nonprofits, saying they have been facilitating illegal immigration. It is part of a broad effort by the administration to ramp up border security and crack down on illegal immigration.
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"Many of these NGOs actually have infrastructure and operations set up in Mexico, on that side of the border, and are telling those illegal immigrants to come to them, and they will get them across the border," Noem said on Fox News Channel's "Will Cain Show." "So they're not just operating in the United States, they're operating outside the United States to help make it easier for those who want to break our laws."
Until an evaluation is completed, Noem said the department is "not spending another dime to help the destruction of this country."
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding a review of all federal funding going to NGOs. These two pieces of legislation would enshrine limits beyond this administration. Meanwhile, the administration has also frozen USAID as the agency's funding is being reviewed over concerns about how the funding is being used.
Fox News' Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
A federal court on Sunday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from sending three Venezuelan immigrants held in New Mexico to the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp as part of the president's efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the U.S.
Lawyers for the trio said in a legal filing that the detainees "fit the profile of those the administration has prioritized for detention in Guantánamo, i.e. Venezuelan men detained in the El Paso area with (false) charges of connections with the Tren de Aragua gang."
In the filing, the lawyers asked a U.S. District Court in New Mexico for a temporary restraining order to block the administration from flying them to the U.S. military base. The lawyers noted that "the mere uncertainty the government has created surrounding the availability of legal process and counsel access is sufficient to authorize the modest injunction."
TRUMP DEPORTING CRIMINAL ALIENS TO GUANTANAMO BAY: MEET THE HARDENED TERRORISTS THEY'LL JOIN
Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales granted the temporary restraining order, according to attorney Jessica Vosburgh, who represents the three men.
"It's short term. This will get revisited and further fleshed out in the weeks to come," Vosburgh told The Associated Press.
The filing came as part of a lawsuit on behalf of the three men filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Las Americas Immigrant Advisory Center.
FIRST 10 ‘HIGH THREAT’ ILLEGALS ARRIVE TO GUANTÁNAMO BAY ARE ALL TREN DE ARAGUA MEMBERS
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt separately said that flights carrying detained illegal immigrants had been sent to Guantánamo.
Immigrant rights groups sent a letter on Friday demanding access to people who are now being held at the U.S. naval station, arguing that the base should not be used as a "legal black hole." Guantánamo has been criticized around the world for its inhumane abuse and torture of detainees, including interrogation tactics.
The immigrants are being held in the Guantánamo detention camp that was set up for detainees in the aftermath of 9/11. The immigrants are separated from the 15 detainees who were already there, including planners in the 2001 terrorist attack.
Trump has promised to expand the detention camp to hold up to 30,000 "criminal illegal aliens."
Leavitt said Wednesday that more than 8,000 immigrants have been arrested since Jan. 20 as part of Trump's plan to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally, although hundreds of those arrested have since been released back into the U.S.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem called the FBI "corrupt" and appeared to accuse the bureau of leaking plans for "large-scale" immigration enforcement plans in the Los Angeles area.
The LA Times published an article Friday that said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would lead the operation, focusing on those without legal status in the U.S. or who have pending orders of removal, according to an internal government document reviewed by the publication.
The document was reportedly circulated among some government officials last week. The Times also reported that a federal law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal said LA FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration officers and agents are being called in to assist.
Noem shared the article on X, taking a dig at the FBI.
"The FBI is so corrupt," Noem wrote. "We will work with any and every agency to stop leaks and prosecute these crooked deep state agents to the fullest extent of the law."
ICE sources told Fox News they do not know where Noem got the information or what she is basing it on.
Fox News Digital reached out to DHS for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
The FBI had no comment on the matter.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi joined "Fox Report" on Sunday, where she discussed immigration enforcement and was asked about leaks within the government.
"Well, you know, if anyone leaks anything, people don’t understand that it jeopardizes the lives of our great men and women in law enforcement, and if you leaked it, we will find out who you are, and we will come after you," Bondi said. "It’s not going to stop our mission. It’s not going to stop the president’s mission to make America safe again."
She also said if people do not want to follow the law, the Department of Justice will prosecute them.
Bondi was then asked about an operation in Denver, Colorado, where individuals used bullhorns to let people know that ICE was coming, advising illegal immigrants of what they should and should not do if approached by agents.
In cases where people inform illegal immigrants that they are in danger, Bondi was asked if anything could or should be done to stop it.
"It very well could rise to the level of obstruction, and we will be looking at every single case where someone jeopardizes the lives of the great men and women in law enforcement, and they will be held accountable," Bondi said. "If you leak, if you do anything, like you said, if you come out with bullhorns that could jeopardize their lives, we will investigate it, and we will come after you."
Trump border czar Tom Homan delivered a bold message to sanctuary cities trying to stop ICE in its tracks: "We're going to keep coming" no matter what.
"They're not going to stop us," he said Sunday.
"It's less efficient to arrest a bad guy in public where he's hiding from us, and we're trying to arrest him on his turf rather than arrest them in a county jail, which is where we should be arresting them. It takes one agent to arrest the bad guy in the county jail. It takes a whole team to find somebody that doesn't want to be found in the neighborhoods, but we're going to keep doing this until TDA [Tren de Aragua] is eradicated from this country."
Homan, who has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump's illegal immigration crackdowns, described his number one goal as putting every member of the violent Venezuelan gang on notice across the U.S.
Since Trump assumed office last month, several TDA members have been apprehended, including an alleged ringleader recently nabbed in the Bronx.
As the Trump administration moves to relocate members of the gang to the U.S.'s most secure prison – the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp in Cuba — the Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed the first 10 "high threat" illegal migrant criminal arrivals were all members of TDA.
Homan has insisted that he "will not rest" until the gang is eradicated from U.S. soil. In his on-air warning on Sunday, Homan stressed that such gang members have "no safe haven" from the rule of law.
"We're going to find them. We're going to arrest them, and take them off the streets," he warned.
President Donald Trump’s promised border crackdown appears to be influencing groups of migrants looking to enter the United States illegally.
Internal Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) memos obtained by Fox News indicate that two groups of migrants recently ended their journeys to the U.S. and turned around to return to their home countries.
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Honduran officers encountered a group of 23 migrants previously headed for the United States. The individuals hailed from Honduras, Venezuela, Panama and El Salvador.
FRUSTRATED CHICAGOANS BACK ICE DEPORTATIONS, APPLAUD DOJ LAWSUIT TARGETING SANCTUARY POLICIES
According to the CBP memo, upon interviewing the migrants, officials learned that they had entered Mexico through the country’s border with Guatemala. However, they decided to turn around after "learning about the multi-agency force security on the Southwest Border in social media and through family members in the United States."
In its memo, CBP also noted that the migrants surrendered to Mexican authorities before being sent back to Guatemala where they boarded buses headed to Honduras.
CBP detailed a Feb. 3 incident in another internal memo obtained by Fox News in which the Honduran authorities encountered a group of 26 migrants. These migrants were also headed for the U.S., but turned around when they learned about the increased security and opted instead to return to their countries of origin.
TIDAL WAVE OF BORDER SECURITY BILLS HIT HOUSE AS REPUBLICANS MOVE FAST ON DC TAKEOVER
The migrants in this group were apparently from Venezuela and Cuba. They were initially turned away by Nicaraguan immigration officials and sent back to Honduras, but after a discussion between the two nations, they were allowed to cross into Nicaragua as they made their way back home.
President Donald Trump focused much of his 2024 campaign on illegal immigration, vowing to take a completely different approach from former President Joe Biden. While campaigning for his second term, Trump often appeared with families who lost loved ones to illegal immigrant crime or fentanyl.
Following November’s election, there were reports of illegal immigrants leaving the U.S. or choosing to "self-deport" prior to Trump’s return to D.C. out of fears of his potential policies.
The first piece of legislation that President Trump signed in his second term was the Laken Riley Act, named for a nursing student who was killed during a jog on the University of Georgia’s campus by an illegal immigrant. Jose Ibarra, who previously had been arrested but never detained by ICE, received a life prison sentence for killing 22-year-old Laken Riley.
President Trump is also taking a novel approach to detaining illegal immigrants. Under President Trump’s order on "Expanding Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Full Capacity," illegal immigrants will be housed with the 15 last detainees remaining in the infamous facility.
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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who joined an immigration raid last month in New York City, confirmed that a second flight of illegal immigrants left for Gitmo ahead of her visit.
Noem previously said that only "the worst of the worst" of illegal immigrants would be sent to the facility in Cuba, which could eventually be home to up to 30,000 migrants.
President Donald Trump has for weeks suggested that Canada become the United States’ 51st state, and while opinion has been divided about whether Trump is serious or merely trolling its neighbor, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has reportedly said that it’s the former, according to reports.
In a closed-door meeting with Canadian business and labor leaders, Trudeau reportedly affirmed that Trump’s ambitious aims of annexation are "a real thing."
"Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on …" Trudeau said before the microphone cut out, according to CBC.
TRUMP IMPOSES TARIFFS ON IMPORTS FROM CANADA, MEXICO AND CHINA: 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY'
The news media had been asked to leave the room before Trudeau delivered his comments, but CBC and The Toronto Star were able to hear them and record them.
"I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state," Trudeau added according to people in the room who listened to his comments. "They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those."
Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labor, confirmed what Trudeau said in a post on social platform X.
"Yes, I can confirm that Trudeau said his assessment is that what Trump really wants is not action on fentanyl or immigration or even the trade deficit, what he really wants is to either dominate Canada or take it outright," McGowan wrote. "Tariffs are a tactic towards that end."
Trump first pitched the idea during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trudeau in late November. Trump has also suggested annexing Greenland.
Canada is home to more than 40 million people and is a founding NATO partner. It is a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities such as oil.
Trump has long said Canada – as well as Mexico – has failed to do enough to prevent the flow of illegal migrants and drugs, particularly fentanyl into the U.S. In addition, Trump claims the U.S. has subsidized Canada to the tune of $200 billion annually.
CANADA WILL NOT BE '51ST STATE,' AMBASSADOR PROTESTS AMID TRUMP TARIFF THREAT
Last weekend, Trump again repeated his suggestion of absorbing Canada, noting that it would not be subjected to his incoming tariffs should the country join the U.S.
"We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true!"
"Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State," Trump added. "Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!"
But Trump agreed to pause the tariffs for 30 days on Monday after a call with Trudeau, who made some concessions to temporarily stave off the levies.
Trudeau said Canada will implement a $1.3 billion border plan and appoint a fentanyl czar. In addition, Canada will reinforce its border with new helicopters, technology, personnel and enhanced coordination with American authorities. He added that nearly 10,000 personnel are and will be working on border protection.
"We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering," Trudeau wrote on X. "I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million."
The U.S. imports approximately 60% of its crude oil from Canada, with Alberta alone supplying 4.3 million barrels per day. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels a day, while domestically producing about 13.2 million barrels a day. This means about a quarter of the oil the U.S. consumes every day is from Canada.
Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.
Meanwhile, Canada is home to dozens of minerals considered critical for use in various industries, including for electric car batteries, solar panels, and semiconductors, according to the New York Times. Some commonly recognized examples of critical minerals include lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and zinc.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and Louis Casiano, as well as The Associated Press, contributed to this report.
The Trump administration is using federal prisons to house illegal immigrants as part of an expansive deportation operation, Fox News Digital confirmed on Friday.
In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said it is helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "by housing detainees and will continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration's policy objectives."
The bureau said that for privacy, safety and security reasons, it does not comment on the legal status of any individual, "nor do we specify the legal status of individuals assigned to any particular facility, including numbers and locations."
TRUMP'S ICE LIMITS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT RELEASES AMID MOVES TO SHAKE OFF BIDEN ‘HANGOVER'
The Associated Press reported that facilities in Los Angeles, Miami and Atlanta are being used for detention.
The move comes as ICE has been over capacity as it has quickly ramped up the number of illegal immigrants being arrested in raids in sanctuary cities and elsewhere across the country.
ICE currently has just under 42,000 beds available to it, and it has been exceeding capacity under the current administration. The administration has been pushing hard to get more beds and detention space, but sources tell Fox that it typically takes around 30 days for contractors to deliver, given the time it takes to identify buildings, hire people, conduct background checks and comply with related requirements. That help is expected soon.
Fox News Digital reported on Thursday that ICE has requested an apportionment of around $575 million from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as an advance of its funding for the year in order to be able to work more quickly and get another step closer to a reported target of 100,000 beds and one million removals per year.
TRUMP DOJ SLAPS ILLINOIS, CHICAGO WITH LAWSUIT OVER SANCTUARY LAWS
Fox also reported that ICE is working with the BOP to identify space to house illegal immigrants, as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), where there may be unused space in soft-sided facilities. Fox News Digital was also told that, as of this week, officials are being instructed that any release of an illegal immigrant in ICE custody must be personally signed off on by acting ICE director Caleb Vitello.
Meanwhile, the administration is using Guantánamo Bay to house up to 30,000 detainees, with the second flight of migrants leaving for the facility on Thursday.
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"We are looking well outside the box," a senior ICE official told Fox News Digital.
"The Biden administration cut down so many of our beds, and they canceled so many contracts. And the problem with that is you can't just immediately turn those back on. It's not a switch, it's a dial," they said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Catholic Relief Services is making massive cuts after President Trump slashed the federal government's funding for mass migration.
The post Catholic Relief Services Cuts Staff, Migration Efforts, as USAID Scandal Grows appeared first on Breitbart.
The feds have busted a gang of illegal migrant alleged burglars who posted photos of themselves with high-dollar items stolen from NFL quarterback Joe Burrow’s home.
The post Illegals Who Allegedly Broke Into Joe Burrow’s Home Posted Photos Posing with Loot appeared first on Breitbart.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently apprehended an illegal immigrant in Texas, who was wanted for murder in Guatemala.
Dennis Alexander Valenzuela, 37, was arrested on Jan. 31 at his home in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a statement from ICE.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT SEXUALLY ABUSED CHILD IN THE US AFTER BEING REMOVED FROM THE COUNTRY FIVE TIMES
"Our officers pursue criminal aliens who attempt to hide in the shadows of our communities daily," said acting ICE Dallas field office director Joshua Johnson. "The apprehension and pending removal of this individual underscores our dedication to upholding the laws of our country and safeguarding our communities."
Valenzuela, who is from Guatemala, entered the United States at or near Hidalgo, Texas on June 16, 2021, without an immigration inspection, admission, or parole by an immigration officer, according to ICE.
U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered Valenzuela on the same day and served him a Notice to Appear, pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, officials noted.
Valenzuela will be housed at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, pending removal proceedings, according to the statement.
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