Oklahoma superintendent who brawled with CNN over ICE entering schools doubles down: ‘Deported together’
Oklahoma State School Superintendent Ryan Walters pushed back after a clash on CNN over his openness to allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into schools – with Walters doubling down and rejecting “sanctuary schools.” Walters had told local media that he would not rule out allowing federal agents into schools to remove illegal immigrants, amid an ongoing deportation operation since President Donald Trump took office. The Trump administration has lifted a Biden-era “sensitive places” mandate, which prevented agents from entering schools amid concerns that illegal immigrants could use such places to hide from enforcement. It has sparked pushback from some local officials. CNN ANCHOR SPARS WITH OKLAHOMA SUPERINTENDENT OVER ICE RAIDS ON SCHOOLS: ‘JUST ANSWER MY QUESTION’ However, Walters, in an interview with Fox News Digital, said that such moves could be necessary to avoid family separation. “Are the Democrats and now the left-wing media the party of family separation? If you have adults that are going to be deported from this country, do you not want the Trump administration to know where their kids are, where they’re enrolled in school, so that if the family is to be deported, they’re actually deported together?” he asked. It led to a furious back-and-forth with CNN host Brianna Keilar, who asked him if it would be traumatic for kids. “Do you think it would be traumatic for students to witness a raid in their school and students forcibly removed from their school? Do you think that would be traumatic?” TRUMP-ERA SOUTHERN BORDER SEES MIGRANT ENCOUNTERS PLUMMET BY OVER 60% AS NEW POLICIES KICK IN Walters answered, “I think what would be traumatic is if you didn‘t give President Trump the information necessary to keep families together. So what you would prefer is to just deport the parents and have the kids have no idea what happened to their parents? What we‘re—” “That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking you….That’s not at all what I’m asking, superintendent,” Keilar interrupted again. Many members of the media have also taken issue with a recent rule change by the Oklahoma State Board of Education, titled “Enhancing Enrollment Transparency,” which requires each school district to report the number of students enrolled in schools who are unable to provide proof of citizenship or legal status. According to the rule, the new policy is designed to “provide greater transparency” and to “support the needs” of the schools and students. “We’re saying we want to see your driver’s license, we want to see which country you came from, if you’ve come into the country illegally. I think that is a very commonsense requirement that we’re putting out there. We want to make sure that we’re asking for this information so that we can accurately use resources and personnel in the state to educate our children,” Walters explained. “I think that our taxpayers or our citizens understand that. And the left tries to gaslight the American people into acting like this is some kind of absurd ask.” ICE CRACKDOWN SEES 7,400 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ARRESTED IN 9 DAYS Speaking to Fox Digital, Walters stood by his stance, noting Trump’s victory at the voting booth in November. “We’re talking about families, we’re talking about adults, the adults are in the country illegally. And we’re trying to make sure the Trump administration has the information to move forward with the most aggressive deportation policy in our nation’s history that the American people clearly support,” he said. “The president won an overwhelming victory with his election. He won every swing state. He won every county in Oklahoma. So you look at this and you say: ‘CNN, left wing media, Democrats, you don’t want to have the real conversation because it requires you to admit you created this problem.’ Now the adults are in charge trying to fix it by shutting down the border, deporting illegal immigrants,” he said. MORE ILLEGAL MIGRANTS BUSTED RUNNING MASSIVE GUN-RUNNING OPERATIONS Walters also pointed to the impact of illegal immigration on schools in Oklahoma, including the necessary diversion of resources. “While the left continues to go out and defend and champion the cause of illegal immigrant criminals, we’re looking at the American citizen, Oklahomans, and we’re sitting here saying, ‘listen, what about the kid that’s over a year behind in reading who we’ve now put in a tutoring program? They’re getting caught back up, now all of a sudden, all the tutors have to be diverted because of illegal immigrants that have flocked to their city and flocked to their hometown,’” he said. “Outlets like CNN and other left-wing outlets refuse to talk about the compassion for the victims’ families who have been targeted by the crimes committed by illegal immigrants. They refuse to talk about compassion when it’s your students of American citizens that have fallen behind in school, are working to get caught back up and yet, all of their resources are being moved at the last minute. They refuse to talk about compassion when you see the deaths caused by fentanyl, that oftentimes what a student tries it for the first time and they drop dead,” he said. “Americans are tired of it.” He also pointed to the flow of drugs and criminals into the U.S. via the porous southern border. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “And we know that over 99% of that fentanyl has come across the border. So the left, they can cry their crocodile tears. It’s complete phony outrage that they act like that,” he said. “They have compassion for illegal immigrants. They have no compassion for the American citizens, for the American people, for the American worker. And Americans are tired of it.” Walters also said that other states should be following Oklahoma’s example and backing the deportation and border security effort by the Trump administration. “This country is a law and order country. We cannot continue to allow criminal activity, we cannot continue to allow sanctuary schools,” he said. “Listen, you don’t get to…harbor any other criminals in
Army saw spike in deadly aviation accidents in year before DC plane crash disaster
Wednesday’s deadly collision between an American Airlines flight and a military helicopter outside Washington, D.C., followed the Army’s highest rate of flight mishaps in more than a decade. Army aviation saw 17 class A mishaps, accidents that killed someone or caused more than $2.5 million worth of damage during fiscal year 2024. Fifteen of those were during flights, and two were ground aircraft mishaps. That followed nine flight and one aircraft ground incidents in 2023 and four flight and four ground mishaps in 2022. “FY24 will be a year that Army Aviation looks back on in hopes of never repeating,” stated a dismal Army report, released just before the deadly collision near Reagan National Airport that killed 67 people. THIRD SOLDIER INSIDE BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER INVOLVED IN DC MIDAIR COLLISION IDENTIFIED Fiscal year 2024 saw the most class A mishaps per 100,000 flight hours since 2007. Nine soldiers and one civilian died in flight mishaps, while one contractor died in an aircraft ground accident, according to the report. The 1.9 class A mishaps per 100,000 was nearly four times the rate of 2022, 0.5 per 100,000. In an average year, Army aviation mishaps kill six crew members. There were 66 class A-C mishaps, meaning aviation incidents where over $60,000 worth of damage was incurred or personnel were injured enough to miss work. READ THE ARMY REPORT BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter involved in the Washington, D.C.-area crash is not the force’s most accident-prone aircraft; it was only involved in one of the 2024 major incidents, while nine such incidents involved AH-64 Apaches. Last week’s crash was the first class A mishap for fiscal year 2025. 55 VICTIMS IN WASHINGTON, DC MIDAIR COLLISION PULLED FROM POTOMAC RIVER AS RECOVERY OPERATION CONTINUES The Navy had 11 Class A aviation mishaps in FY 2024, and the Marine Corps had six. Five Marines died in a CH-53E Super Stallion crash last February. The Air Force, which has more aviators than any other branch, had 20 class A mishaps in FY 2024. The Army attributed the spike in incidents to an “ineffective safety culture.” Its aviation review called for more recording and reviewing of flight footage with superiors after it found that the average flight experience is down 300 hours per aviator from 2013. While crew experience was not cited in every incident, the Army deemed it “a hazard that must be considered.” “While it’s understandable to have concerns about “big brother” monitoring, the primary goal of flight data analysis is to improve safety, not to punish or scrutinize individual pilots,” the Army’s Combat Readiness Center said in the report. HARROWING VIDEO FROM MILITARY BASE SHOWS NEW ANGLE OF MIDAIR CRASH CATASTROPHE After more than a dozen aviators died in the first half of fiscal year 2023, the Army conducted an aviation-wide stand down in April 2023, temporarily grounding all regular missions and training to assess safety issues. However, the accidents continued. In April 2024, the Army executed a safety “stand up” with training on new safety protocols and procedures. After the stand up, the class A mishap rate for the remainder of FY 2024 dropped to 0.86 per 100,000 flight hours. Last week Army secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll promised senators he would emphasize a “culture of safety” after the deadly crash, which he said “seems to be preventable.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “There are appropriate times to take risk and there are inappropriate times to take risk,” he said. “I don’t know the details around this one, but after doing it, if confirmed, and working with this committee to figure out the facts, I think we might need to look at where is an appropriate time to take training risk, and it may not be near an airport like Reagan.” The Black Hawk, carrying three Army pilots, was conducting an “annual proficiency training flight” when it collided with a commercial regional jet from Wichita, Kansas, as it was on the descent to land at Reagan, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Army did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Secretary of State Rubio confirms becoming acting USAID chief
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he is now the acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Rubio told this to reporters while taking questions from the press in El Salvador. “USAID is not functioning. It has to be aligned with US policy. It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the US,” he said. “They’re not a global charity these are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money? We are spending taxpayers money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest.” “I am the acting director,” he confirmed when asked if he is now in charge. “Our goal was to allow our foreign aid with the national interest. It has been 20 or 30 years. They have tried to reform it. That will not continue.” USAID staffers were instructed earlier Monday to stay out of the agency’s Washington headquarters after Elon Musk announced President Donald Trump had agreed with him to shut the agency. Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off and programs shut down. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Republican state AGs back Trump birthright citizenship order in court filing: ‘Taxpayers are on the hook’
FIRST ON FOX: Republican attorneys general from 18 states are pushing back against lawsuits filed by Democrat AGs and legal groups nationwide challenging the Trump administration’s executive order on birthright citizenship through an amicus brief filing set to be filed Monday, Fox News Digital has learned. “If someone comes on a tourist visa to have an anchor baby, they are not under that original meaning of the United States Constitution,” Iowa AG Brenna Bird told Fox News Digital in an interview Monday. Bird is the lead AG leading an amicus brief filing in support of the executive order on Monday. “Oftentimes, when this has happened. It’s the taxpayers that are paying for the health care through Medicaid or through hospitals, paying for care for someone to have a child, or the state child health insurance system as well,” Bird said. “Each state has a system that helps kids without insurance, and so the taxpayers are on the hook here for all the costs.” TRUMP ADMIN HITS BACK AS ACLU LAUNCHES LAWSUIT ON BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP: ‘READY TO FACE THEM’ Bird’s amicus brief comes in response to 18 Democrat-led states who launched their own lawsuit, claiming the order is unconstitutional and “unprecedented.” “The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit reads. Attorneys general from California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and others signed on to the suit, along with the city and county of San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration the same day he signed the order “on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order.” The ACLU also claimed the order is unconstitutional and against congressional intent and Supreme Court precedent. TRUMP’S HOUSE GOP ALLIES PUSH BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP BILL AFTER PROGRESSIVE FURY AT PRESIDENTIAL ORDER Bird’s brief – signed by Republican AGs from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming – focuses on several arguments. The first part of the 13-page brief claims that President Donald Trump’s executive order complies with the “original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.” The second portion claims Trump’s order “reduces harm to the states.” The brief states that the “Plaintiffs’ erroneous Citizenship Clause interpretation will continue the powerful incentive for citizens of foreign countries to give birth on American soil, even if they must illegally enter this country to do so.” “The lure of American citizenship motivates pregnant women to travel to America to give birth,” the brief reads. “Some women, desperate to give birth in the United States, cross the border the day they deliver their baby.” A border hospital administrator described witnessing pregnant women arriving at the hospital in active labor, still wet and shivering from crossing the river, determined to give birth in the U.S., the brief, which will be filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, says. PRESIDENT TRUMP’S BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP EXECUTIVE ORDER FACES LEGAL CHALLENGES FROM 22 STATES Trump’s order, titled the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” states that “the privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States” when the individual’s parents are illegal immigrants living in the U.S. or if their presence is lawful but temporary. It was among the first orders he signed after taking office in early January. “President Trump is restoring the meaning and value of American citizenship, and also making sure that if someone is breaking the law, they won’t be rewarded for that by getting citizenship,” Bird said. “And so it’s following the Constitution and making sure that we’re upholding our immigration laws.” Fox News Digital’s Haley-Chi-Sing contributed to this report.
Trump delays tariffs on Mexico for one month
President Trump and Mexican President Sheinbaum said they agreed to send more troops to the border and tackle U.S. arms smuggling into Mexico in exchange for a pause on tariffs.
Dems claim Trump tariff could ‘drive up’ costs despite deflecting blame from Biden’s inflation
Democratic lawmakers are claiming that President Donald Trump‘s impending tax on international goods will raise costs, despite spending years deflecting blame for high prices from the Biden administration. Trump signed an executive order Saturday night to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% tax on all imports from China, fulfilling a promise he made during his 2024 presidential campaign as a way to circumvent drug trafficking into the U.S. The tariffs on Canada and China are set to go into effect at midnight, but Trump announced on Monday that he would pause the tariff on Mexico for one month after discussions with President Claudia Sheinbaum. However, as the tariffs loom, Democrats are claiming they could drive up bills for everyday Americans, despite supporting several tax hikes under the Biden administration. “This is a terrible idea,” Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said in a statement. “Folks are already struggling to get ahead because of high prices, and now President Trump is about to drive up grocery and gas prices while raising costs on Arizona businesses.” TRUMP DEFENDS TARIFFS, ACCUSES CANADA OF BEING ‘VERY ABUSIVE OF THE UNITED STATES’: VIDEO Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., claimed Trump’s tariffs “could cost a typical family $1,200 per year,” while Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that “President Trump owns the economic and national security fallout.” TRUMP’S TARIFFS ON MEXICO, CANADA ARE THE ‘BEGINNING OF A NEGOTIATION,’ SAYS KEVIN O’LEARY Additionally, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton of Arizona cosigned a letter with 42 lawmakers calling on Trump to “immediately” rescind the 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. “Trump’s tariffs on Canada will do nothing but hurt American workers and auto manufacturers. He’s giving our overseas competitors a leg up,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., claimed in a reaction to the impending tax. “It would be nice if Donald Trump could start focusing on getting the prices down instead of making them go up,” wrote Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “I am concerned these new tariffs will further drive up costs for American consumers. We should be focused on going hard against competitors who rig the game, like China, rather than attacking our allies.” While Democrats are uniting to criticize Trump’s tariffs, members of the party did not widely push back on tax increases implemented by former President Joe Biden. During his administration, Democrats backed Biden’s proposals for a range of tax increases, including hikes on small businesses, corporations, capital gains and dividends, personal income, energy and a second estate tax. When gas prices doubled under Biden, according to data from the Energy Information Administration, Schumer, then-Senate majority leader, claimed that it was oil companies “gouging us at the pump” who were to blame. Despite the backlash, Trump has defended his decision to authorize the tariffs, telling reporters on Sunday night that Canada has been “abusive” toward the U.S. in terms of trade.
GOP hardliners rally around Trump, Musk scaling back USAID
House conservatives are cheering the apparent scale-down of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), led by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. “USAID is a corrupt governmental organization run by unelected bureaucrats created to shovel taxpayer dollars to Democrats’ pet projects overseas,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital. “At nearly $37 trillion in national debt – and a $1.8 trillion annual deficit – we can’t afford to continue giving money to countries that hate America and everything we stand for,” he said. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital that shutting down USAID “will help reduce our national debt and relieve the burden on taxpayers, while compelling aid-dependent countries to achieve true self-reliance, snapping them out of the dependency cycle USAID has perpetuated under the false banner of ‘development.’” RUBIO PAUSES FOREIGN AID FROM STATE DEPARTMENT AND USAID TO ENSURE IT PUTS ‘AMERICA FIRST’ House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., endorsed the idea of ending its independent agency status on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” over the weekend. “I would be absolutely for, if that’s the path we go down, removing USAID as a separate department and having it fall under one of the other parts of the Department of State, because of its failure,” Mast said. USAID is an independent agency in the federal government that provides civilian foreign aid to help encourage development, fight poverty and disease, and promote democracy overseas. However, conservatives argue that the agency has strayed from its intended purpose and have called for steep cuts to its multibillion-dollar budget. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X, “7 months ago, I tried to DEFUND USAID. Only 81 Republicans voted ‘aye’ which is ‘yes’ to my amendment to prohibit funding to USAID. 127 Republicans and 204 Democrats voted NO to my amendment and voted to FUND USAID. I FULLY SUPPORT ELIMINATING USAID!!!” Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., similarly said on the platform, “I once proposed an amendment on the House floor to cut the USAID budget by 50%. A sensible start. You won’t be shocked to know that it didn’t have enough support from my fellow Republicans.” Fifty senior USAID staff have been placed on administrative leave, sources told Fox News over the weekend. Staff have also been barred from communicating with anyone outside the agency without approval. Its computer systems have also been taken over by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, the sources said. AFTER RAUCOUS FIRST WEEK IN OFFICE, DONALD TRUMP TO KEEP HIS FOOT ON THE GAS Democrats have criticized the USAID crackdown, particularly with regard to Musk – who they point out is an unelected ally and donor to Trump. “Agency watchdogs track down waste, fraud and abuse. Trump fired them all. The Government Accountability Office monitors federal spending. What Elon Musk is doing isn’t oversight. An unaccountable billionaire doesn’t have the power to cancel spending he disagrees with,” Rep. Shontel Brown, D-Ohio, wrote on X. Rep. Diane DeGette, D-Colo., said, “USAID is critical in advancing U.S. national security interests, providing humanitarian aid, and strengthening global stability. Musk is an unelected billionaire with no authority to make these decisions. This isn’t governance, it’s authoritarianism.” Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
Trump-aligned group putting pressure on Republican senators in push to confirm RFK Jr.
A newly formed outside group aligned with President Donald Trump says it’s taking aim at Republican senators who remain undecided on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as it pushes to confirm Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary. Patient First Coalition (PFC), a nonprofit advocacy group launched last week, says it’s now beginning what it describes as a “massive grassroots effort” to encourage Republican senators to support Kennedy, the vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White House in 2024 before ending his bid and endorsing Trump. Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings last week, where Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments, including his repeated claims in recent years linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific research. TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS The move by PFC, which says it’s a collective group of organizations committed to advancing Kennedy’s so-called “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, comes ahead of Tuesday’s key confirmation vote by the Senate Finance Committee. “All uncommitted Republican Senators will be targeted in this grassroots effort,” PFC highlighted. Shannon Burns, the group’s senior advisor, shared that “our grassroots phase will include television, radio and podcast interviews with our advisory board members, as well as guest columns in newspapers across the country.” RFK’S CONFIRMATION HEARING QUICK GOES OFF THE RAILS “We will enable thousands of calls and emails into Senate offices from millions of Americans who support this agenda. We want to organize them, mobilize them, and make sure their voices are heard before the Senate votes,” Burns added. PFC pointed out that it will initially give “special focus” to GOP senators in Louisiana, Maine, Alaska, Kentucky and North Carolina. Those states are home to Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician and chair of the Senate Health Committee, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who are often at odds with Trump, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former longtime Senate Republican leader, and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. HEAD HERE FOR LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING ON PRESIDENT TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS BACK IN THE WHITE HOUSE “Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s confirmation hearing. PFC is one of a handful of outside groups targeting GOP senators in the fight to confirm Trump’s nominees. A source in Trump’s political orbit tells Fox News that those groups could “exact consequences” on Republican senators who don’t support the president’s Cabinet nominees. And Trump on Sunday took to social media to demand that Senate Republicans ‘GET TOUGH VERY FAST” in confirming the rest of his Cabinet.
New Jersey governor houses migrant at his house, tells feds ‘good luck’ trying to get her
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy revealed he is housing a immigrant at his home and dared the Trump administration to do something about it. Murphy made the admission during an interview this past weekend with Blue Wave New Jersey, a progressive grassroots organization. “Tammy [Murphy] and I were talking about – I don’t want to get into too much detail, but there is someone in our broader universe whose immigration status is not yet at the point that they are trying to get it to. And we said, you know what? Let’s have her live at our house above our garage,” the Democrat governor said. “And good luck to the feds coming in to try to get her,” Murphy added, seemingly hinting that the person may be an illegal immigrant. Fox News Digital reached out to Murphy’s office for more information, but they did not immediately respond. DEMOCRATS RAIL AGAINST ‘EGREGIOUS’ ICE RAID IN NEW JERSEY AFTER MILITARY VETERAN QUESTIONED The revelation comes as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been conducting operations in New Jersey, most notably with a raid in Newark in late January. TRUMP SHARES UPDATE ON DRONES SEEN FLYING OVER NEW JERSEY “Public trust is essential to public safety. Our office has requested more information from the Trump Administration about the recent immigration enforcement action in Newark so we have a clear understanding of the facts of this case,” a spokesperson for Murphy told PIX11 following that operation. ICE did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Trump border czar Tom Homan told Fox News in December that knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal immigrant from ICE is a “violation of the law.”
Trump admin ends deportation protections for massive number of Venezuelans amid illegal immigration crackdown
The Trump administration is ending a deportation shield for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in the U.S., opening the door to them being deported — just as President Donald Trump has secured an agreement with the socialist country to take back its nationals. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed to Fox News Digital that more than 300,000 nationals protected by Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in 2023 are having their statuses revoked. The New York Times, which first reported details of the move, reported that they will lose temporary status 60 days after the government first publishes the notice. TPS grants protection from deportation and allows work permits for nationals living in the U.S. from countries deemed unsafe for them to be returned. Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced extensions for TPS for Venezuela, as well as El Salvador, Sudan and Ukraine, for an additional 18 months in the final few days of the Biden administration. That move, if left in place, would have complicated Trump efforts to deport large numbers of those nationalities. COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT URGES ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS IN US TO RETURN HOME DAYS AFTER DIPLOMATIC SPAT Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week announced that the extension was being revoked, but this move would prematurely end the status altogether. It will apply to those protected by the 2023 designation, but not those protected by a 2021 designation. Republicans have long been skeptical of the program, arguing that it has been used too broadly, with 17 countries designated at the end of the Biden administration. The first Trump administration cut down on the use of TPS and has indicated it intends to do the same in the second administration. ‘WE STOPPED THAT’: NOEM CANCELS BIDEN ADMIN’S 11TH HOUR DEPORTATION SHIELD FOR VENEZUELAN MIGRANTS Venezuelans were one of the top nationalities coming into the U.S. at the height of the 2021-2024 border crisis, with many also coming in through a separate parole policy for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans — a program now ended by the Trump administration. On Saturday, Trump said that an agreement had been made with Venezuela to take back its illegal immigrants. Venezuela had started taking back illegal immigrants in 2023 but stopped in early 2024. “…Venezuela has agreed to receive, back into their Country, all Venezuela illegal aliens who were encamped in the U.S., including gang members of Tren de Aragua,” Trump said on Truth Social. CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE “Venezuela has further agreed to supply the transportation back. We are in the process of removing record numbers of illegal aliens from all Countries, and all Countries have agreed to accept these illegal aliens back.” The moves come amid a flurry of efforts by the Trump administration to secure the border and significantly ramp up the numbers of deportations and removals from the U.S. The administration has ended parole programs, limited the use of asylum and deployed the military to the southern border. Meanwhile, Noem visited the southern border on Sunday, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio is currently on a tour of Latin America. Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth is heading to the southern border on Monday.