Trump looks to enforce trans inmate crackdown as new acting federal prisons chief tapped
A new interim director has been tapped to lead the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) as President Donald Trump looks to enforce a crackdown on transgender inmates in facilities that do not match their biological sex. William W. Lothrop was named the new BOP director after Colette Peters resigned on Inauguration Day. It’s unclear when the Trump administration will appoint someone to permanently fill the role. “As we face ongoing challenges, including staffing shortages and operational issues, I am committed to working alongside you to find real solutions that strengthen our facilities,” Lothrop said in the statement. “We will continue collaborating with our law enforcement partners and stakeholders to maintain robust programming and support services for inmates.” TRUMP’S ‘TWO SEXES’ EXECUTIVE ORDER COMES ON HEELS OF SCOTUS ACCEPTING ANOTHER CHALLENGE TO LGBT AGENDA On his first day in office, Trump announced a temporary hiring freeze for federal positions and reversed former President Joe Biden’s ban on private prisons. His executive order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” defines sex strictly as male or female, based on biological characteristics, and mandates that federal agencies adopt this definition in their policies and practices. The order specifies that individuals should be housed in federal prisons according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity, which will apply to the 2,300 transgender inmates currently housed in federal prisons across the U.S. It also halts federal funding for transgender procedures and treatments for inmates. “The Attorney General shall ensure that the Bureau of Prisons revises its policies concerning medical care to be consistent with this order, and shall ensure that no Federal funds are expended for any medical procedure, treatment, or drug for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex,” the order reads. PRO-LIFE ACTIVIST PROSECUTED BY BIDEN DOJ REACTS TO TRUMP PARDON: ‘I WANT TO GIVE HIM A HUG’ During the Biden administration, several U.S. states implemented policies allowing transgender inmates to be housed in facilities that align with their gender identity. In 2021, California became the first state to enact a policy permitting transgender inmates to request housing based on their gender identity. Since then, the state has seen a significant increase in such requests, with a 234% rise in the transgender inmate population. In January 2022, New York state revised its policies to allow transgender individuals to choose their prison housing. And Colorado reached a legal settlement to house biological men in women’s facilities last year, which was part of a case involving 400 transgender women. Fox News Digital has previously reported multiple cases of male inmates, serving sentences for sexual assault, murder and other violent offenses, in federal prisons being transferred to women’s facilities. Many of them have received taxpayer-funded medical procedures to medically transition genders. Lothrop, who was formerly the BOP deputy director, is replacing Peters, who was appointed by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 and touted as a reform-minded outsider tasked with rebuilding an agency plagued for years by staff shortages, widespread corruption, misconduct and abuse. ‘SCARED’ AND ‘TRAUMATIZED’ WALZ’S SUPPORT FOR TRANS WOMEN IN MINNESOTA WOMEN’S PRISON ‘ENDANGERING’ INMATES The agency has nearly 36,000 employees and is responsible for more than 155,000 federal inmates. The BOP director is not subject to Senate confirmation, according to the legal news service Law 360. During her tenure, Peters appeared before the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and spoke about the challenges the BOP faced, but she had trouble getting results. During the end of Trump’s campaign, he pledged he would crack down on left-wing gender ideology and ran a successful ad campaign attacking his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, for her role in ushering in sex change procedures for incarcerated people in California. “Kamala is for they/them, President Trump is for you,” the narrator of Trump’s campaign advertisement said. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House and BOP for comment. Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
‘Catastrophic threat’: Conservative group’s roadmap shows how Trump can use military to thwart cartels
FIRST ON FOX: A top conservative group is offering a roadmap as to how President Donald Trump can effectively deploy the military to secure the southern border, arguing that there is a “substantial historic precedent” for such a use. “A broad and diverse set of options and legal authorities are available to the second Trump Administration for using the resources and capacities of the U.S. military to ensure the integrity of the border with Mexico,” the Heritage Foundation report, obtained first by Fox News Digital, says. “Additionally, there is substantial historical precedent for an active U.S. military role in border security and managing migration crises.” The report, “How the President Can Use the U.S. Military to Confront the Catastrophic Threat at the Border with Mexico,” argues that an “unchecked growth” of Mexican cartels, as well as illegal immigration and narcotics have “deepended and accelerated,” posing a destabilizing threat to the U.S. TRUMP DHS MAKES KEY MOVE AGAINST MIGRANTS ALLOWED IN VIA CONTROVERSIAL BIDEN PAROLE PROGRAMS Simultaneously, it argues that there has been a “rapid deterioration” in U.S.-Mexico security cooperation and Mexico’s own anti-cartel operations. It is a view shared by the new Trump administration. Trump issued an executive order on day one to deploy the military to the border as part of a slew of broader efforts to secure the southern border and crack down on illegal immigration. TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW Authors Robert Greenway, Andres Martinez-Fernandez and Wilson Beaver argue for a number of follow-up measures to confront the threat of the cartels and what they see as a “reluctant” Mexican government. “The first steps on this front should consist of measures, such as substantial bolstering of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) border security capacities, increasing restrictions on formal and informal border crossings, ramping up U.S. law enforcement efforts, targeting illicit financial flows tied to the cartels, and sanctioning corrupt Mexican officials,” they wrote. The report stressed the need for appropriate funding from Congress and planning from agencies in order to prevent impacting other missions. It highlighted the potential for military equipment for immigration purposes, including deportation. “When it comes to large-scale illegal-alien detention and deportation, some of the underused but most impactful resources include U.S. military transport vehicles and facilities around the world which could support detention and repatriation of illegal aliens, including to higher-risk and extra-hemispheric countries of origin,” it says. As for direct military action against cartels, the authors say that it should be a “last resort,” with joint military action with Mexican coordination being the ideal condition. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “However, in the appropriate context, unilateral U.S. military action may be employed to disrupt cartel activity and prompt cooperation from a resistant Mexican government,” it says. It argues that Mexico is unlikely to change its stance with the election of President Claudia Sheinbaum, even in response to what the authors argue is a dramatically escalating threat from the cartels. “Today, drug cartels are the fifth-largest employer in Mexico, with between 160,000 and 185,000 members,” they wrote. “Cartels are also equipped with military-level weaponry, including anti-aircraft weapons and armored vehicles, while increasingly employing advanced technologies, such as drones and signal jamming systems.” The report also touts other uses for the military, including aiding border wall construction, helping supplement an overstretched Border Patrol, and the use of intelligence and surveillance methods to detect cross-border activity, as well as migrant detention at U.S. military facilities. The report comes after a flurry of activity from the administration, including the deployment of the military to the border, to tackle the border threat and limit illegal immigration. Troops began arriving in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego on Thursday evening, providing 1,000 U.S. Army personnel and 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton in California. “This represents a 60% increase in active-duty ground forces since President Trump was sworn-in Monday,” then-acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said in a statement late Wednesday. There are already 2,500 U.S. service members stationed at the southern border. Fox News’ Christina Shaw contributed to this report.
Top JD Vance political advisors to steer Ramaswamy run for Ohio governor
Vice President JD Vance’s political team, including two top advisors, is joining Vivek Ramaswamy’s soon-to-be announced 2026 Ohio gubernatorial run, a source with knowledge confirmed to Fox News. The news follows conversations between Ramaswamy and Vance, who until he stepped down earlier this month to assume the vice presidency was a senator from Ohio, added the operative, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely. Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate, for weeks has been putting the pieces together to launch a gubernatorial campaign in the race to succeed GOP Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio, who is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. “Expect Vivek to announce his candidacy in mid-February,” the source told Fox News. RAMASWAMY DONE AT DOGE AS HE HEADS BACK ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL Ramaswamy was among the contenders who challenged President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination before dropping out of the race and becoming a top Trump ally and surrogate. The two Vance advisors are Andy Surabian and Jai Chabria, who played major roles in Vance’s 2022 Senate race and in his vice presidential campaign last summer and autumn, after Trump named the first-term senator as his running mate. MUSK AND RAMASWAMY IGNITE MAGA WAR OVER SKILLED WORKER IMIMGRATION The Ohio-based Chabria, a veteran in Buckeye State politics, is expected to serve as the Ramaswamy campaign’s general consultant. Surabian, who is also a top advisor to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son and a top figure in the MAGA movement, will steer an outside political group allied with Ramaswamy. Tony Fabrizio, the veteran Republican pollster who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns, as well as Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, is also on board, according to the source, as is Arthur Schwartz, another close ally to Vance and Donald Trump Jr. Vance, who has known Ramaswamy since they both studied at Yale Law School, has put his imprint on Ohio politics since winning his 2022 Senate election in the one-time key battleground state that has shifted to the right over the past decade. Vance endorsed now-Sen. Bernie Moreno ahead of his 2024 GOP Senate primary victory, and key members of Vance’s political team steered Moreno’s campaign. “It should not come as a surprise that JD’s top operatives are working with Vivek, given that JD and Vivek have had a longtime friendship,” a source in Vance’s political orbit told Fox News. A longtime Ohio-based Republican operative, who asked for anonymity to speak more freely, said Vance is “sending a message” with this move. He added that the advisors joining the Ramaswamy effort are “an all-star caliber campaign team.” CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON VIVEK RAMASWAMY Also part of that team, according to the source, are three veterans from Ramaswamy’s White House campaign – Ben Yoho, Mike Biundo and Chris Grant. Ramaswamy, who’s now 39 years old, launched his presidential campaign in February 2023 and quickly saw his stock rise as he went from a long shot to a contender for the Republican nomination. He campaigned on what he called an “America First 2.0” agenda and was one of Trump’s biggest supporters in the field of rivals, calling Trump the “most successful president in our century.” Ramaswamy dropped his White House bid a year ago after a distant fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses and quickly endorsed Trump, becoming a top surrogate on the campaign trail. Trump, in the days after his November presidential election victory, named Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, along with Ramaswamy, to steer the Department of Government Efficiency initiative, which is better known by its acronym DOGE. But last Monday, as Trump was inaugurated, the new administration announced that Ramaswamy was no longer serving at DOGE. Ramaswamy’s exit appears to clear the way for Musk, Trump’s top donor and key ally, to steer DOGE without having to share the limelight. “It was my honor to help support the creation of DOGE. I’m confident that Elon & team will succeed in streamlining government. I’ll have more to say very soon about my future plans in Ohio. Most importantly, we’re all-in to help President Trump make America great again!,” Ramaswamy wrote. DeWine announced a week and a half ago that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted would fill the U.S. Senate seat that was held by Vance until he stepped down ahead of the Trump/Vance inauguration. Before the Senate announcement, Husted had planned to run for governor in 2026 to succeed DeWine. Ramaswamy, for his part, had expressed interest in serving in the Senate. DeWine’s decision to choose Husted to fill the vacant Senate seat appeared to accelerate Ramaswamy’s move toward launching a run for governor. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, a major Trump ally in the Senate, on Monday endorsed Ramswamy’s all-but-certain gubernatorial bid. “I’ve had the privilege of working closely with Vivek G. Ramaswamy, and he is totally focused on trying to save our country,” Scott said in a social media post. “Ohioans want a shakeup in Columbus just as much as in Washington, and Vivek Ramaswamy is the bold leader to bring that change,” attorney and political commentator Mehek Cooke, who was in the running to be named to Vance’s Senate seat that ultimately went to Husted, shaking up the gubernatorial race, told Fox News Digital. “Already gaining strong favor among Ohio conservatives, his high name ID and unwavering energy make him a formidable force for Governor. Much like President Trump, Vivek will bring a commitment to job creation, efficiency, and bold leadership. A businessman at heart, he knows how to drive economic growth, while as a father, he prioritizes merit over mediocrity for the future of Ohio’s children. With a powerful team led by seasoned strategists Vivek has the winning combination of grassroots support and strong fundraising to make Ohio economically vibrant and secure for all us.” The race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination could be competitive. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, 68, announced late last week his candidacy for
Abbott sends state troops to U.S.-Mexico border to work with Border Patrol
The 400 members of a special tactical unit left bases in Houston and Fort Worth on Monday morning, according to the governor’s office.
DAs may try to charge Jan. 6 participants granted clemency by Trump with new crimes on state, local levels
The ordeal may not be over for some of the more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal defendants granted clemency by President Donald Trump, as certain prosecutors are currently investigating whether some of the individuals — particularly those alleged to have committed violent crimes — could be charged at the state or local level. That loophole was floated by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who told CNN that his office was looking into the possibility of bringing state election- or conspiracy-related charges against some of the Pennsylvania residents who were pardoned or saw their prison sentences commuted during the first week of the Trump presidency. Krasner’s office could theoretically take action against the more than 100 Pennsylvania residents who received full pardons or sentence commutations, including a Philadelphia-based Proud Boys leader who was sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of seditious conspiracy and another Pittsburgh-area man sentenced to 14 years in prison for indiscriminately spraying pepper spray at police officers, throwing a folding chair at officers and wielding a large wooden “tire thumper,” according to the Justice Department. Krasner declined to detail further how, or if, his office will move on the state charges, and his office did not respond to several requests for comment from Fox News Digital. However, Krasner maintained that in his view, “there is a path” for charging Jan. 6 individuals — and not just those living in the Keystone State. AN ‘ILLEGAL LOTTERY’: PHILADELPHIA DA SUES TO STOP MUSK’S $1 MILLION VOTER GIVEAWAYS Trump’s decision to sign a sweeping act of clemency freed more than 1,500 individuals that were charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol breach. More than 100 police officers were injured, according to officials, and the incident ultimately sparked the largest FBI investigation in the bureau’s history. “In many cases, it will be possible to go after people who have been federally pardoned,” Krasner told CNN Thursday. “The focus for most state prosecutors should be what occurred within their jurisdiction,” he said. “Texting, phone calls, emails, reservations for transportation or hotels. Conspiratorial activity could give rise to a local charge — meaning a state charge — of criminal conspiracy.” ‘BLATANTLY UNCONSTITUTIONAL’: US JUDGE TEMPORARILY BLOCKS TRUMP’S BAN ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP Legal hurdles, “double jeopardy” concerns Still, that is not to say that the strategy is without significant hurdles. Former prosecutors told Fox News Digital that those looking to bring state charges against Jan. 6 rioters will almost certainly find themselves mired in a complex legal minefield. The difficulty of securing state convictions has nothing to do with the seriousness of the crimes committed by the Jan. 6 rioters — which range from charges of seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding to assault and assault against police officers — but rather, jurisdictional issues and wide double jeopardy protections. Here, the facts are especially complex, since both Washington, D.C., and U.S. Capitol grounds fall under federal court jurisdiction, former U.S. prosecutor Andrew McCarthy explained in a Thursday message to Fox News Digital. This means any conspiracy to commit a crime would inherently be at the federal level — a complex catch-22 that would be difficult for state prosecutors to isolate in court. WORLD LEADERS REACT AS TRUMP RE-ENTERS THE WHITE HOUSE State prosecutors also have a very narrow scope in trying to prove new criminal action. That is because they must do so while respecting the broad double jeopardy protections included in the U.S. Constitution, which prevent individuals from being tried for the same case twice. It also is taken to mean that they cannot be tried twice for the same conduct. In fact, for state prosecutors to bring charges against an individual, they must prove successive actions are focused on remedying a “very different kind of harm or evil” than the federal charges, and it is unclear whether states will be able to meet that burden of proof. McCarthy and other lawyers pointed to the 2019 decision by a New York judge who cited the double jeopardy clause as the rationale for tossing a 16-count indictment state prosecutors brought against Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, ruling that the conduct was not sufficiently different. VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE REVEALS BIG TECH ‘VERY MUCH ON NOTICE’ AFTER CEO’S INAUGURAL DONATIONS It is unclear how, or if, any charges brought by state prosecutors could satisfy the test of proving a “very different kind of harm or evil” — but Krasner, a self-proclaimed Democrat who has spent more than 20 years as a prosecutor, said he believes so. He is not the only one sharing that sentiment. One partner at the Democrat-aligned Elias Law Group told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement Friday that it is their belief that “any individuals who committed crimes that day should be held accountable.” “If any of the rioters may have violated state laws, it is up to state and local law enforcement officials to review the facts and bring charges as appropriate,” the attorney said. “The rule of law must be upheld, regardless of President Trump’s political incentives.” TRUMP DHS REPEALS KEY MAYORKAS MEMO LIMITING ICE AGENTS, ORDERS PAROLE REVIEW Meanwhile, Republicans were forced to toe a delicate line in the aftermath of Trump’s pardons — facing tough questions as to what the clemency orders meant for a party that has long been seen as one that “backs the blue” and supports police officer protections. Vice President JD Vance used an interview on CBS News on Sunday to accuse former Attorney General Merrick Garland of applying “double standards in how sentences were applied to the J6 protesters, versus other groups,” in an attempt to soften his earlier remarks. Vance, a former U.S. senator, previously told Fox News that Jan. 6 participants who committed violence “obviously” should not be pardoned. Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Wednesday “the president has made his decision.” “I don’t second-guess those,” Johnson said. Others were more direct in their criticism. Sen. Lisa Murkowski,
Trump’s crackdown on trans troops: New order nixes preferred pronouns and restricts facility use
President Donald Trump is expected to sign a new executive order restricting transgender troops from serving in the military on Monday. The new order requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to update medical standards to ensure they “prioritize readiness and lethality” and take action to “end the use of invented and identification-based pronouns” within DOD, per a White House document reviewed by Fox News Digital. The order also restricts sleeping, changing and bathing facilities by biological sex. It’s not an immediate ban, but a direction for the secretary of Defense to implement such policies. It revokes former President Joe Biden’s executive order the White House argues “allowed for special circumstances to accommodate ‘gender identity’ in the military – to the detriment of military readiness and unit cohesion.” The order builds on another directive Trump issued last week that revoked a Biden-era order allowing transgender people to serve in the military. DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ On the campaign trail, Trump promised to reinstate the ban on transgender troops he imposed during his first term. In his inauguration speech, he said he would formally recognize that there are only two genders: male and female. There are an estimated 9,000 to 14,000 transgender service members – exact figures are not publicly available. Between Jan. 1, 2016, and May 14, 2021, the DOD reportedly spent approximately $15 million on providing gender-affirming care (surgical and nonsurgical care) to 1,892 active duty service members, according to Congressional Research Service. The move comes as part of a campaign taken up by Trump and Hegseth to weed out any diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices across the military. And GOP lawmakers successfully included an amendment in their 2025 defense policy bill that bans irreversible transgender care for minors in the military healthcare system. WHITE HOUSE OPM ORDERS ALL DEI OFFICES TO BEGIN CLOSING BY END OF DAY WEDNESDAY A day-one order banning DEI policies across the federal government has already sidelined 395 bureaucrats, Fox News Digital reported. An order requiring the federal government to only recognize two genders has prohibited the use of taxpayer money for “transgender services” following reports that some inmates were receiving transgender care funded by the government. Medicaid, in some states, currently covers such treatments. Also, under that order, federal prisons and shelters for migrants and rape victims are to be segregated by biological sex. It would block requirements at government facilities and at workplaces that transgender people be referred to using pronouns that align with their gender. Trump’s team says those requirements violate the First Amendment’s freedom of speech and religion. The order does not issue a nationwide mandate on which bathrooms transgender people can use or which sports competitions they can participate in, though many states have passed laws in those areas.
Hegseth arrives for 1st day at Pentagon stressing Defense’s mission to protect ‘sovereign territory of the US’
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth arrived for his first day at the Pentagon on Monday with a message regarding the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) mission. Greeted by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. and a gaggle of reporters, Hegseth said it was “an honor to serve on behalf of the president and serve on behalf of the country,” adding, “The warfighters are ready to go.” Hegseth quickly turned to the border crisis, acknowledging how President Donald Trump was “hitting the ground running” with executive orders declaring an emergency at the southern border and designating cartels foreign terrorist organizations. Hegseth said the DOD “snapped to” last week in sending more troops to aid in erecting barriers along the southern border, as well as to “ensure mass deportations,” adding: “That is something the Defense Department absolutely will continue to do.” “He’s made it very clear. There is an emergency at the border,” Hegseth said. “The protection of the sovereign territory of the United States is the job of the Defense Department.” DEFENSE SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH SAYS ‘NO MORE DEI AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’: ‘NO EXCEPTIONS’ Last week, the Defense Department announced 1,500 active-duty service members and “additional air and intelligence assets” were being sent to the southern border “to augment troops already conducting enforcement operations in that region.” When asked if more troops would be deployed to the border now that he is taking the helm, Hegseth said, “Whatever is needed at the border will be provided. Whether that is through state active duty, Title 32 or Title 10, because we are reorienting.” “This is a shift. This is not the way things have been done in the past,” Hegseth said. “The Defense Department will support the defense of the territorial integrity of the United States at the southern border to include reservists, National Guard and active duty with compliance with the Constitution, the laws of our land, and the directives of the commander in chief.” Hegseth, a combat veteran who deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan, said he anticipated more executive orders from the White House later Monday. Those would include orders to remove diversity, equity and inclusion inside the Pentagon, reinstate troops who were “pushed out” over COVID-19 vaccine mandates and to implement the construction of an “Iron Dome for America,” Hegseth told reporters, vowing to comply with Trump’s directives “rapidly and quickly.” “Every moment I am here I am thinking about the guys and gals in Guam, in Germany, in Fort Benning, in Fort Bragg, on missile defense sites and aircraft carriers,” Hegseth said. “Our job is lethality and readiness and warfighting.” TRUMP TO REINSTATE SERVICE MEMBERS DISCHARGED FOR NOT GETTING COVID-19 VACCINE “We hold people accountable. I know the chairman agrees with that,” Hegseth, who most recently was a Fox News host before Trump nominated him to lead the Defense Department, continued. “The lawful orders of the President of the United States will be executed in this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse. We will be no better friend to our allies and no stronger adversary for those who want to test us and try us.” When asked about a wristband he was wearing, Hegseth said he wore it every day to remember Jorge Oliveira, a soldier he served with in Guantánamo Bay when he was a platoon leader. Oliveira was later killed in Afghanistan while Hegseth was there in a separate unit. “It’s these guys that we do this for. Those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Hegseth said. The secretary was also asked about assistance for Afghans who worked with the U.S. government. Last week, Trump issued an executive order pausing all U.S. foreign development aid for 90 days pending an assessment into whether the funds align with his administration’s foreign policy. Reuters reported that flights for approximately 40,000 Afghans who were approved for special visas following former President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal have been suspended as a result. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “We are going to make sure there is accountability for what happened in Afghanistan, and we stand by our allies,” Hegseth said.
Saif Ali Khan stabbing case: Woman, linked to prime accused, arrested in West Bengal
Investigation revealed that the SIM used by the Bangladeshi national, who was arrested earlier in Mumbai for the attack, was registered in the name of the woman
Delhi: Four-storey building collapses in Burari, rescue operations underway
The incident occurred around 6:56 pm, prompting an immediate response from emergency services.
Trump officials give ICE goal on number of arrests per day: report
President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to increase the number of arrests per day from a few hundred to between at least 1,200 to 1,500 people, according to a new report on Monday. Citing four sources who spoke on condition of anonymity about a purported internal call with ICE officials on Saturday, The Washington Post first reported about the new objective, categorizing the 1,200 to 1,500 daily targets as “quotas.” During the call, each ICE field office was told to aim for 75 arrests per day and that management would be held responsible if the quotas were not reached, they said. The Post also reported that current and former ICE officials said that they are concerned that the quotas make it more likely that agents will “engage in more indiscriminate enforcement tactics or face accusations of civil rights violations.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reportedly told the Post via an email that, “your story is false,” but did not elaborate. When asked about the report, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified, telling Fox News Digital, “Goals is the correct phrasing.” ICE ARRESTS NEARLY 1,000 ILLEGAL ALIENS DURING SIXTH DAY OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION “The bottom line is DHS enforcement, whether they be at the border or the interior, needs to keep and get criminal aliens out of the country,” the spokesperson added. Fox News Digital also reached out to Leavitt and ICE regarding the report. Later in its report, the Washington Post cited another unnamed ICE official who reportedly said that the agency already has a long list of criminal suspects, so agents could continue to target public safety and national security threats to reach the quotas. Last week, acting DHS Secretary Benjamine Huffman rescinded a directive that had prevented ICE from carrying out immigration enforcement at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and doctor’s offices. Huffman said the reversal ensured criminals, including murderers and rapists, cannot use those areas to hide. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, further defended the decision on Sunday, explaining that many MS-13 gang members are often around age 14 and ICE agents are well-trained and should have the discretion to weed out public safety and national security threats. In an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” Homan said the number of immigration-related arrests would “steadily increase” as he continues Trump’s mass deportation plan. “The aperture right now is constrained to public safety threats, national security threats as a smaller population,” Homan said. “We’re going to do the same priority base as President Trump’s promise. But as that aperture opens, there’ll be more arrests nationwide.” In sanctuary cities, Homan said, ICE is locked out of jails. That means instead of being able to safely apprehend targets already in custody before they are released back onto the streets, ICE agents must conduct enforcement operations in the community, increasing the risk of collateral arrests of illegal immigrants not charged with violent offenses but who law enforcement find associating with criminal illegal immigrants and take into custody as well. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Sweeps don’t occur anywhere,” Homan told Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, inside the ICE Command Center in Chicago on Sunday night. The border czar and television doctor teamed up to showcase on McGraw’s streaming service, Meritt TV, how ICE operations are targeting violent offenders. Another video shared Sunday night showed Dr. Phil questioning an illegal immigrant, a convicted sex offender from Thailand who federal agents took into custody in Chicago. For the past decade, ICE has had a staffing level of about 5,500 officers nationwide dedicated to immigration enforcement, according to the Post. Trump has directed Homeland Security Investigations, the DHS agency focused on counterterrorism, drug smuggling, human trafficking cases and child exploitation, to also assist with immigration enforcement operations. Last week, Huffman also issued a directive giving Department of Justice law enforcement officials in the U.S. Marshals, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Federal Bureau of Prisons authority to investigate and apprehend illegal immigrants. TRUMP’S ICE RACKS UP HUNDREDS OF ARRESTS, INCLUDING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARRESTED FOR HORROR CRIMES “Thanks to the last Administration’s open border policies, we’ve seen violent criminals and gang members terrorize American communities,” Huffman said in a statement. “Mobilizing these law enforcement officials will help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to carry out mass deportations. For decades, efforts to find and apprehend illegal aliens have not been given proper resources. This is a major step in fixing that problem.”