Bloodthirsty Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua sets up shop in US as border authorities sound alarm
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is warning agents to be on the lookout for members of a notorious Venezuelan prison gang coming across the southern border — just as the socialist country is refusing to take its citizens back. A CBP source provided Fox News with an internal CBP intelligence bulletin revealing tattoos and identifiers for Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan prison gang. Members of that gang have been entering the U.S. illegally through the southern border. Fox News reported this week that the brother of the suspect in the killing of Georgia student Laken Riley has ties to the gang. Both the suspect and his brother are Venezuelans who entered the U.S. illegally. ILLEGAL BROTHER OF LAKEN RILEY MURDER SUSPECT LINKED TO VENEZUELAN CRIME GANG: DOJ Federal authorities have been warning that the gang, also known as TdA and known for its violent turf wars as it expanded into other countries in South and Central America, is trying to establish itself in the U.S., where police are already linking it to organized crime. The FBI has also warned that the gang could team up with the bloodthirsty MS-13. Last month two suspects in the assault of two NYPD officers were revealed to be members of TdA. But CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sources have expressed frustration to Fox News that Venezuelan gang members are extremely difficult to deport because Venezuela is currently not taking them back. Only 834 Venezuelans were deported in FY 2023, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data, despite there being over 335,000 encounters at the border. The administration had started returning illegal immigrants from Venezuela directly to the socialist dictatorship in October as part of a way to discourage the flow to the border. While the administration took heat for the flights from immigration activists, who argued Venezuela was not an appropriate country to return migrants due to its human rights abuses, administration officials told reporters in January that it was looking to increase the number of flights. One official said that “we do have the intention of ramping up repatriation flights to Venezuela” and that the administration sees it as a “critical part” of the broader immigration strategy. “It’s an important deterrent,” they said, with officials also saying they were pleased that Mexico was also now flying migrants straight to Venezuela. FBI FEARS VENEZUELA MIGRANT GANG MEMBERS COULD POTENTIALLY TEAM UP WITH MS-13 KILLERS In December, the administration had made limited exceptions to sanctions on a Venezuelan airline to help facilitate deportation flights from Canada and Latin America. But last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Maduro regime has stopped flights of deported migrants from both the U.S. and Mexico after the U.S. reimposed some economic sanctions. The flights ended at the end of January, officials told the outlet, after around 1,800 returns. Before beginning the flights last year, the administration had extended deportation protections to nearly 500,000 Venezuelans already in the U.S. in September. Venezuela is also part of a controversial parole program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV) which allows 30,000 migrants with sponsors to fly into the U.S. each month. Fox is told that Venezuelans can still be removed to Mexico, but that many then typically re-enter the U.S. illegally as a “gotaway.” Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.
Indiana GOP Sen. Todd Young renews his pledge not to support Trump in 2024
Indiana Republican Sen. Todd Young told the media on Friday, days after former President Trump’s commanding Super Tuesday performance, that he will not be endorsing the former president. “Nothing’s changed from my standpoint,” Young told CNN after WWEV 44 News reported that Young will not support Trump due to the former president’s position and comments on Russia’s war in Ukraine. “I trust the people I represent to make their own decisions on who they’re going to vote for.” The outlet reported that Young has not decided who he will support in November. TRUMP SET TO TAKE OVER REPUBLICAN PARTY BY INSTALLING KEY ALLY, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW TO LEAD RNC Young’s position reiterates comments he has made in the past, including nine months ago when he said he doesn’t “intend to support him.” “Where do I begin?” Young said when asked what the reasons for not supporting Trump are. “I think President Trump’s judgment is wrong in this case,” Young previously said, referring to Trump declining to call Putin a “war criminal” in 2023. “Putin and his government have been engaged in war crimes. . . . That’s why I don’t intend to support him for the Republican nomination.” TRUMP POSTS $91M BOND, APPEALS $83M E JEAN CARROLL JUDGMENT Young took office in 2017 and was re-elected to the Senate in 2022, beating his Democratic challenger Thomas McDermott Jr. by about 20 points. Young was one of only four GOP senators Trump did not endorse for re-election that year, according to Politico. Young is the third sitting Republican senator to decline to support Trump, along with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Utah Sen. Mitt Romney. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
UN warns surge in gang violence puts pregnant women at risk in Haiti
‘Too many women and young women in Haiti are victims of indiscriminate violence committed by armed gangs,’ UN says. The United Nations has warned that nearly 3,000 pregnant women could be cut off from essential health services in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which has been paralysed as a result of surging gang violence. In a statement on Friday to mark International Women’s Day, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said nearly 450 pregnant women could suffer “life-threatening” complications without access to healthcare. Another 521 survivors of sexual violence — a prevalent problem that has worsened amid the instability in Haiti — also could be cut off from medical services by the end of the month if the violence persists, the UN office warned. “Today, too many women and young women in Haiti are victims of indiscriminate violence committed by armed gangs,” said Ulrika Richardson, BINUH’s deputy special representative. Widespread gang violence has plagued Haiti for nearly three years, particularly after the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021 deepened political instability in the Caribbean nation. The crisis worsened last weekend when gunmen overwhelmed the main penitentiary in Port-au-Prince and another nearby prison, freeing thousands of inmates in a raid that left several people dead. Haiti’s de facto leader, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, was out of the country when the recent spate of violence erupted, and gang leaders have called for his immediate resignation. Henry — who has faced a crisis of legitimacy since he took up his post less than two weeks after President Moise’s killing — has been in the US territory of Puerto Rico since earlier this week, apparently unable or unwilling to return to Haiti. He had previously travelled to Kenya in late February in an attempt to revive plans for a multi-national security force to help bolster Haiti’s police forces. On Friday, the US Department of State said Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Henry a day earlier and urged the Haitian leader to “expedite a political transition through the creation of a broad-based, independent presidential college”. This would then help “steer the country toward the deployment of a Multinational Security Support mission and free and fair elections”, the State Department said in a readout of the talks. “The Secretary [Blinken] urged Henry to support this proposal in the interest of restoring peace and stability to Haiti so the Haitian people can resume their daily lives free from violence and despair.” Adblock test (Why?)
Former Israeli security agency chief: Netanyahu wants an endless war
Marc Lamont Hill challenges former head of Israeli navy and former director of Israel’s security service Ami Ayalon. After five months of Israel’s brutal bombing campaign and siege of Gaza, which has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and seen Israel facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, negotiations continue and a ceasefire may be imminent. In the meantime, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is intensifying with shortages of food, water and basic medicine. And as people near starvation, there are reports of people eating grass and animal feed to survive. Can Israel realistically achieve its objectives? And will there be accountability for any war crimes committed? On UpFront this week, Marc Lamont Hill interviews Ami Ayalon, former commander-in-chief of the Israeli navy and former director of Israel’s security service, about Israel’s violations of international law in its war on Gaza. Adblock test (Why?)
Turkey offers to host Russia-Ukraine peace talks as Erdogan hosts Zelenskyy
Erdogan pitches himself as go-between, Zelenskyy indicates Russia would not be invited to the first meeting. Turkey is ready to host a summit between Ukraine and Russia to end the war, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Istanbul. Speaking after their meeting on Friday, Erdogan, who has balanced relations with Moscow and Kyiv throughout the two-year war, spoke of “opportunities that Turkey can provide with its stance”. “While we continue our solidarity with Ukraine, we will continue our work to end the war with a just peace on the basis of negotiations,” he said. Zelenskyy said the talks had been “sincere and fruitful”, though he refrained from alluding to the mooted peace summit in a statement released on X after the meeting. Talks between Ukraine and Türkiye are always sincere and fruitful. Today, we have reached agreements on joint defense projects both at the government level and between companies. I met with the Turkish defense industry representatives. We are prepared to move quickly to put… pic.twitter.com/mDpYDDEnwi — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024 However, the Ukrainian leader, who is on a mission to obtain more munitions and weaponry from allies to halt his foe’s advance on the eastern front, was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying that Russia would not be invited to the first meeting of the summit, due to be held in Switzerland. Zelenskyy also thanked Erdogan for his efforts in negotiating the release of Ukrainian prisoners “held in Russian prisons and camps under extremely harsh and inhumane conditions”. I am grateful to President @RTErdogan for his efforts to release our citizens from Russian captivity. Thanks to Türkiye’s mediation, we have achieved significant humanitarian results. We are now counting on further efforts. Today, I submitted a list of our Ukrainian citizens,… pic.twitter.com/qFBW7AEDXh — Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 8, 2024 Erdogan, who reiterated Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s “territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence”, said he and Zelenskyy had discussed port security, safety in the Black Sea, prisoner exchanges and food security. Turkey’s strategic location on the Black Sea and its control of the Bosphorus Strait gives it a unique military, political and economic role in the conflict. Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Turkey hosted failed ceasefire talks between Kyiv and Moscow. “Both sides have now reached the limit of what they can achieve through war,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said this month. “We think it’s time to start a dialogue towards a ceasefire.” In July 2022, Ankara with the United Nations brokered the Black Sea Grain deal, the most significant diplomatic agreement so far reached between Kyiv and Moscow. But Moscow ditched the initiative a year later, complaining that the terms were unfair. Kyiv has since used an alternative shipping route hugging the coastline to avoid contested international waters. The Erdogan-Zelenskyy meeting comes a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Turkish counterpart Fidan at a diplomatic forum in Antalya. Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to visit Turkey last month, but postponed the trip, according to Turkish and Russian media citing diplomatic sources. The Kremlin said it is rescheduling the visit. Adblock test (Why?)
Watch: What the Texas wildfires mean to the Panhandle region
Hemphill County Judge Lisa Johnson said the region has been overwhelmed with the response of support, but work remains.
WATCH: GOP lawmakers confront leftist protesters who interrupt anti-communism event
House Republican lawmakers confronted a small group of leftist protesters on Thursday after the activists attempted to interrupt their press conference urging President Biden to keep Cuba’s terror designation in place. Four Cuban-American lawmakers – Reps. Maria Salazar, R-Fla., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. – were just minutes into their press conference outside the U.S. Capitol when two members of the group Code Pink and one other person abruptly stepped in front. The protesters were holding signs that said, “Take Cuba off Terror List” and refused to move from the area in front of the lawmakers’ display when asked. “I wish the average Cuban could have the same privilege that you’re having right now,” Salazar told the activists. One shot back, “Well, thank you for giving us the privilege.” FORMER US AMBASSADOR, NSC MEMBER CHARGED WITH ACTING AS SECRET AGENT FOR COMMUNIST CUBA FOR DECADES: DOJ Salazar continued, “You know, I love this, because if we traveled to Cuba now, and you and I go … you will not be able to come close this close to the Capitol and speak your mind and have a dialogue like we could be having right now, because they will either put you in jail or put you back on a plane back to Miami.” “Isn’t it beautiful over there?” the protester replied. Code Pink is an antiwar group that has staged several demonstrations in and around the U.S. Capitol complex in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza. PROGRESSIVE HOUSE DEMS MADE SECRET ‘HUMAN RIGHTS’ TRIP TO CUBA AMID WORSENING BORDER CRISIS AT HOME Malliotakis, whose mother is a Cuban refugee, pointed out that Cuba has close ties to Iran, which backs groups like Hamas. “Instead of standing here protesting our press conference, you should be at the southern border, or maybe standing at the other side of the ocean where we’re seeing Cubans fleeing in makeshift rafts,” she said. “And maybe you can learn about what’s actually happening in communist Cuba, because you’re using a privilege that we only have here in the United States and the Cuban people do not have.” “You will be jailed, you will be beaten, you will be killed, if you do what you’re doing right here, protesting in freedom, if you do it in Cuba. . . . It’s ironic that we stand here with signs supporting a communist regime that does all those things.” At one point, another protester holding a Spanish-language sign got close to lawmakers, prompting police officers to attempt to intervene. The House Republicans stopped her from being taken away and instead asked her to move to a space that didn’t raise security concerns. The demonstrators did not move for the duration of the press conference. US STATE AGRICULTURE LEADERS LOOK TO CUBA’S PRIVATE FARMING SECTOR FOR POSSIBLE COOPERATION At least one of them appeared to be Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, who has been seen in the halls of Congress in recent weeks participating in various protests, including a Gaza ceasefire demonstration with progressive activist and actress Susan Sarandon. Malliotakis called her a “professional agitator.” Benjamin confirmed her attendance at the event and said in a statement to Fox News Digital: “Politicians like these have been pushing the same tired position for over 70 years, and the only result has been impoverishment of the Cuban people. If they really cared a whit about Cuban families, they would call for measures to ease shortages, including lifting sanctions and taking Cuba off the terror list.” Cuba was designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1982 “because of its long history of providing advice, safe haven, communications, training, and financial support to guerrilla groups and individual terrorists,” according to the U.S. State Department.
Laken Riley’s mother blasts Biden as ‘pathetic’ for getting daughter’s name wrong during SOTU
Laken Riley’s mother slammed President Biden on Friday for saying her daughter’s name incorrectly during his State of the Union speech Thursday night. The president seemed to refer to the 22-year-old Georgia nursing student, who was allegedly killed by a Venezuelan migrant in the country illegally last month, as “Lincoln” rather than “Laken” in his speech. “Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal. That’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by legals?” the president said in an off-script moment prompted by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shouting at Biden, “Say her name!” while he was discussing the border crisis. BORDER PATROL UNION BOSS SAYS BIDEN ‘SLAPPED EVERY AMERICAN IN THE FACE’ DURING STATE OF THE UNION “Biden does not even KNOW my child’s name – it’s pathetic! If you are going to say her name (even when forced to do so) at least say the right name!” Laken’s mother, Allyson Phillips, wrote on Facebook in response after someone noted Biden called her “Lincoln” and said he was trying to “minimize” her murder by invoking his son Beau’s death from cancer. LAKEN RILEY’S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT ‘AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY’ AFTER DAUGHTER’S FUNERAL Former President Trump said late last month while he was at the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, that he had spoken to Riley’s parents who are “devastated.” “The parents are devastated, and they’re incredible people,” he said. “This is a Joe Biden invasion. A Biden invasion. I call him crooked Joe… the most incompetent president we’ve ever had.” Trump added, “A beautiful 22-year-old nursing student from Georgia was barbarically attacked. She was on a morning run… she was a beautiful young woman. I spoke to her parents yesterday. They are incredible people. They are devastated beyond belief. She was so beautiful in so many ways.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump visited the border on the same day that Biden made a speech in Brownsville, Texas, another border town. Riley, a nursing student from Augusta University, was found dead on the University of Georgia campus on Feb. 22, after her roommate reported to authorities that she had not returned home from her morning run.
Sen. Schmitt says Biden failed to address key issues during ‘divisive,’ ‘bizarre’ SOTU address
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said President Joe Biden’s “divisive” and “bizarre” State of the Union speech did not address key issues that are important to the American people. “I thought it was the most divisive State of the Union from the most out-of-touch president in American history. I thought it was bizarre,” Schmitt told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview after the speech. The Republican senator added that the president “didn’t seriously address” illegal immigration, a top issue for voters going into 2024. “It felt like he was yelling at the time. So the delivery was weird, and then it fell short on substance. He really didn’t seriously address the number-one issue in the minds of the American people, which is illegal immigration.” BIDEN’S SOTU BLASTED AS ‘NAKEDLY PARTISAN’ CAMPAIGN SPEECH: ‘UTTER DISGRACE’ Biden pointed to Congress for the ongoing crisis at the southern border, repeatedly saying he is waiting on Congress to pass the bipartisan border agreement before taking any serious action. Schmitt, agreeing with many Republicans, said that Biden can secure the border now. BiIDEN ASSAILS ‘PREDECESSOR’ TRUMP, GOP IN SHARPLY PARTISAN STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH Schmitt told Fox that Biden “doesn’t want to secure the border,” however, and that “the American people see through that. Basically, his speech was – don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. And, people have had enough of it.” “It’s the ultimate head fake, because the same laws that were on the books when President Trump had the lowest level of illegal immigration in 40 years are on the books now. So he could undo his 90 executive actions that created the crisis. If he just did that, if he just went back to where we were in January of 2021 and wanted to enforce our laws, we could secure the border.” He added that it was “laughable” when the president suggested the U.S. is the safest it has ever been under his administration. “Ask people whose communities have been ravaged by gang violence and by fentanyl, and ask the families of those who have loved ones who’ve been murdered by illegal immigrants who have come across the border recently,” Schmitt said of the president’s comment regarding crime. “We’re less safe, we’re less secure. We’re less prosperous under Joe Biden’s lack of leadership.” Biden made several mentions of his “predecessor,” former President Donald Trump, during the speech, as he faces a likely 2020 general election rematch against the former president in the fall. “This was like a campaign speech,” Schmitt said, adding that the president appeared “really divisive” and “over-the-top partisan.” Schmitt brought Kari Rosbeck, executive director of the Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance, as his guest to the address.
GOP lawmaker leads letter condemning CCP’s ‘infiltration’ of the US pork industry
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., is urging the House’s agriculture committee to reject the Exposing Agriculture Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2024 farm bill over concerns the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) will continue dominating control of the U.S. pork industry. On Friday, Luna will send a letter to the committee warning the EATS Act could undermine state laws and standards for agricultural production, posing a threat to American farmers in the pork industry while benefiting foreign-owned companies. “If the House Agriculture Committee adopts this harmful proposal, it will hurt thousands of American farmers, and substantially benefit foreign-owned farms that have come to dominate the domestic U.S. pork industry — especially pork production in the United States under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in Beijing,” Luna wrote. GOP BILL TO SAFEGUARD US AGRICULTURE FROM CHINA ADVANCES WITH HEAVY BIPARTISAN SUPPORT Opponents of the bill, like the Humane Society of the U.S., argue it would effectively roll back nearly 1,000 local animal welfare laws that would create “the extreme confinement of egg-laying hens, baby veal calves and breeding pigs, while threatening other animal welfare laws, such as those dealing with cruel puppy mills and the slaughter of horses, dogs and cats for their meat, as well as wildlife trafficking.” Luna agreed. “The EATS Act is simply a veiled attempt by these foreign-owned corporations to subvert the will of American voters, who chose to adopt a series of measures through ballot initiatives and state lawmaking to allow more space for animals raised for food production,” Luna’s letter states. “The EATS Act proposes to unwind these legitimately enacted animal housing standards, and the Chinese government, with its profound level of control of pig production in the United States, stands to reap a substantial benefit.” NEARLY 200 DEMS JOIN REPUBLICANS IN BLOCKING CHINA FROM BUYING RURAL LAND Several GOP represenatives signed onto the letter with Luna: Matt Gaetz, Jeff Van Drew, Byron Donalds, Andy Biggs, Nancy Mace, Matt Rosendale, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Bob Good. They wrote that they are “gravely concerned about infiltration of American pork production by foreign adversaries, principally the CCP.” Smithfield Foods, a Virginia-based pork producer, is wholly owned by the CCP, the letter notes, and controls nearly 26% of the U.S. pork market. The big meat producer also supports the EATS Act. “A Brazil-based agribusiness giant, JBS, controls an additional 14% of pig production, meaning just two foreign companies control production and distribution of 40% of the U.S. pork supply,” Luna added. “That level of foreign control is unprecedented in any other sector of American agriculture. Rather than do their bidding in the upcoming Farm Bill, we should be working to reduce this level of penetration in our pork industry so that we can restore the dominance of domestic pork producers in our homeland.” In January, a GAO report detailed the findings of its investigation of the Biden administration’s failure to track Chinese investment in U.S. farms. BIDEN ADMIN FAILING TO TRACK CHINESE OWNERSHIP OF US FARMLAND: GOVT WATCHDOG The report revealed the Department of Agriculture (USDA) has failed to consistently share timely data on foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land as required under the 1978 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA). Further, Pentagon officials told investigators that USDA needs to regularly provide more up-to-date and specific AFIDA data, according to the report. USDA’s most recent data suggests that, as of 2021, foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land grew to approximately 40 million acres. Additionally, Chinese agricultural investment in the U.S. increased tenfold between 2009 and 2016 alone. Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci contributed to this report.