US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander reunites with family after release
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Video from the Israeli military showed the moment of US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander reuniting with his family.
Trump signs executive order to bring down prescription drug prices
President makes push to bring down drug prices that have long been a source of financial strain for US patients. United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that he says will bring down the price of prescription drugs in the US by as much as 90 percent. In an announcement on Monday, Trump said drug companies who have been “profiteering” will have to bring prices down but laid the blame for high prices primarily on foreign countries. “We’re going to equalise,” Trump said during a news conference. “We’re all going to pay the same. We’re going to pay what Europe pays.” People in the US have long been an outlier when it comes to the prices they pay for numerous types of life-saving medication, often paying several times more than their peers in other rich countries for nearly identical drugs. That phenomenon is often attributed to the substantial economic and political influence that the pharmaceutical industry wields in the US. The high cost of medical drugs has been a source of popular discontent in the US for years, and Trump accused the pharmaceutical industry of “getting away with murder” in 2017. Advertisement But in his remarks on Monday, the US leader also seemed to say that US pharmaceutical companies were not ultimately to blame for the difference in prices. Trump instead framed those high prices in the familiar terms of a trade imbalance with partners such as the European Union and said the US has been “subsidising” lower drug prices in other nations. That perspective seems to align with the framing of the pharmaceutical industry itself. The industry’s most powerful lobbying arm stated the cause of high prices for US consumers is “foreign countries not paying their fair share”. Senator Bernie Sanders, a left-wing politician who has railed against the high prices paid by US patients for years, said Trump’s order wrongly blames foreign countries rather than US companies for those prices. “I agree with President Trump: it is an outrage that the American people pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs,” Sanders said in a statement. “But let’s be clear: the problem is not that the price of prescription drugs is too low in Europe and Canada. The problem is that the extraordinarily greedy pharmaceutical industry made over $100bn in profits last year by ripping off the American people.” A fact sheet shared by the White House said the administration will “communicate price targets to pharmaceutical manufacturers to establish that America, the largest purchaser and funder of prescription drugs in the world, gets the best deal”. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr speaks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on drug prices at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 12, 2025 [Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo] The stock prices of US drugmakers ticked upwards after the announcement. Experts have cast doubt on Trump’s optimistic assertion that drug prices would drop quickly and substantially. Advertisement “It really does seem the plan is to ask manufacturers to voluntarily lower their prices to some point which is not known,” Rachel Sachs, a health law expert at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, told The Associated Press news agency. “If they do not lower their prices to the desired point, HHS [the Department of Health and Human Services] shall take other actions with a very long timeline, some of which could potentially, years in the future, lower drug prices.” Adblock test (Why?)
Trump administration welcomes 59 white South Africans as refugees to the US
Move comes as US administration largely closes refugee admissions from countries experiencing widespread violence and poverty. A group of 59 white Afrikaners from South Africa has arrived in the United States as part of a refugee programme set up by the administration of US President Donald Trump to offer sanctuary from what Trump has depicted as racial discrimination against white people. In a press conference on Monday, Trump mirrored the claims of a myth popular on the far right that white people in South Africa have been subjected to systematic violence since the end of white minority rule in that country. “It’s a genocide that’s taking place,” Trump told reporters at the White House, a claim that has drawn criticism from government officials, news media, and even some Afrikaners themselves. The move comes as the Trump administration blocks nearly all refugee admissions from non-white countries and leans into rhetoric about an “invasion” of immigrants from poor countries. While people fleeing widespread violence and persecution in countries such as Haiti and Afghanistan have found a closed door, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane says that the Trump administration “has made a priority of getting these people [white South Africans] into the United States and paying for them to get here”. Advertisement ‘Wrong end of the stick’ The South African government has called Trump’s claims that Afrikaners face persecution “completely false”, noting that they have remained among the richest and “most economically privileged” groups, even after the end of the apartheid system that upheld white minority control of the political, economic, and military resources of the country and denied basic rights to the Black South African majority. South African whites still own about three-quarters of all private land in the country, and have about 20 times the wealth of the Black majority, according to the international academic journal the Review of Political Economy. “We think that the American government has got the wrong end of the stick here, but we’ll continue talking to them,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, himself a veteran of the struggle to end apartheid, said on Monday. Tensions between the Trump administration and the government of South Africa have been high, with the US expelling South Africa’s ambassador over previous criticism of Trump and at odds with the African nation’s prominent position in a case before the International Court of Justice accusing US ally Israel of genocide in Gaza. The Trump administration offered in February to resettle Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa, stating that they face discrimination and violence against Afrikaner farmers. “I want you all to know that you are really welcome here and that we respect what you have had to deal with these last few years,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau told the group of Afrikaners who arrived in the US on Monday. “We respect the long tradition of your people and what you have accomplished over the years.” Advertisement Bill Frelick, refugee policy director with Human Rights Watch, said the fast-track process of bringing Afrikaners into the US was unprecedented. “These are people who were not living in refugee camps; who hadn’t fled their country. They were the group that was most associated with the oppression of the Black majority through apartheid,” said Frelick. “It’s not like these are among the most vulnerable refugees of the world.” Adblock test (Why?)
House staffer victim of armed carjacking in popular Washington neighborhood
A senior staffer for California Rep. Sara Jacobs’ office was the victim of an armed carjacking in a popular Washington, D.C., neighborhood on Friday afternoon, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report. Metro Police announced on Sunday two arrests in the armed carjacking that occurred on Friday afternoon in a Harris Teeter parking lot in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. In addition to the victim’s personal items, the senior staffer’s government-issued iPhone, MacBook, ID and Capitol parking pass were identified as missing in the police report obtained by Fox News Digital. Jacobs’ office did not provide comment but confirmed the devices were immediately wiped. On Friday, around 12:08 p.m., the suspects approached the victim as they exited their car, demanding the victim’s car keys, according to Metro Police. When the staffer refused, one of the suspects brandished a handgun and obtained the keys before the suspects fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle, police said. FAMILY OF MOM MURDERED IN RITZY DC SUBURB DECADES AGO GETS JUSTICE AS PERP NOBODY EXPECTED PLEADS GUILTY Officers recovered the victim’s car and a firearm on Saturday, and then arrested two suspects. According to police, a 15-year-old juvenile male of Washington was charged with armed carjacking, and a 14-year-old juvenile male of Maryland was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and unauthorized use of a vehicle. WOMAN ARRESTED FOR DRIVING INTO FESTIVAL CROWD HOURS AFTER EXPLOSION ROCKED SAME EVENT As of Sunday, police are still searching for two outstanding suspects whose photos were captured during the incident by surveillance cameras. Navy Yard is a popular Washington neighborhood located south of the U.S. Capitol and home to the Washington Nationals baseball stadium. While the neighborhood has transformed over the past decade into an urban hub for congressional staffers and young professionals, it has also been the subject of criticism for its crime. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he was walking to the Navy Yard Metro Station for a transit safety event last month when he learned a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) police officer had just been stabbed in the face. The WMATA confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital and said the suspect stabbed the officer “with a sharp metal object” after they did not pay their fare at the station. President Donald Trump vowed to clean up Washington while speaking at his “Make America Great Again” rallies on the 2024 campaign trail. Since returning to office this January, Trump has committed to creating a “crime-free capital.” “We’re cleaning up our city. We’re cleaning up this great capital,” the president said. “And we’re not going to have crime, and we’re not going to stand for crime,” Trump said at the Department of Justice earlier this year. The Jacobs staffer did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Andrew Margolis contributed to this report.
‘Activist’ judges keep trying to curb Trump’s agenda – here’s how he could push back
President Donald Trump and his allies have railed against federal judges for blocking key executive orders in his second term, accusing so-called “activist” judges of overstepping their authority and blocking him from delivering on some of his top policy priorities. Some of Trump’s most sweeping executive orders and actions have been blocked or paused by federal courts to allow for a full hearing on the merits. But the system of checks and balances also means these rulings can be reviewed – either through appeals to the Supreme Court or by Congress, which has the power to pass laws or expand certain executive branch authorities. It’s all part of an expressly designed system of government that affords each branch, including the presidency, plenty of options for review. The Framers “made clear that no one in our system of government was meant to be king– the president included – and not just in name only,” U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell of the District of Columbia said in a ruling earlier this year. But that’s not to say Trump is without options. Here’s how he could seek to push back against the wave of court actions. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT Since taking office, Trump’s executive orders have been challenged by hundreds of lawsuits in federal court, though not all have been successful, and some remain in the earlier stages of review. Plaintiffs have sought to block the dismantling of certain federal agencies, to restore board heads and inspectors general fired by Trump, and to restrict the access of Elon Musk’s government efficiency agency, DOGE, among other things. But like the groups filing the lawsuits, the Trump administration also has the ability to appeal any lower court decisions it views as unfavorable or going beyond the scope of the federal court. In the interim, it can seek an emergency stay to restore the executive order until the case can be heard on its merits. The Supreme Court has agreed to do so in several major cases. It sided with Trump in removing two federal board members he had fired earlier this year, and which a lower court had reversed. Last week, the Supreme Court lifted a lower court order that paused Trump’s ban on transgender military members from taking effect – allowing his order and related policies to proceed, at least for now. BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING The Trump administration can seek more lasting change by working with the Republican majorities in both houses of Congress to codify its biggest policy priorities, shielding the level of review currently afforded to the courts in the absence of any legislation. According to the Code of Federal Regulations and the Federal Register, a president’s executive order can be revoked or modified only by the president or via the legislative branch, if the president was acting on authority that had been granted by Congress. Plaintiffs in federal court have alleged that Trump’s recent executive actions are beyond the scope of what has been authorized by Congress – and, in the absence of clearly written laws, federal judges do have broad authority to interpret the lawfulness of the executive’s actions. Critics of the courts have pushed for Congress to curtail this power – either by stripping the funding for federal courts, impeaching judges or eliminating judicial seats, among other things. “When federal judges take off their judicial robes and climb into the political arena and throw political punches, they should expect powerful political counterpunches from the Article III project,” Mike Davis, the founder and president of the Article III Project, or A3P, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “And when the federal judiciary loses its legitimacy, it loses everything,” Davis said. But these steps are highly controversial, and it’s unclear if they could garner the broad support needed from both the House and Senate. HERE’S WHY DOZENS OF LAWSUITS SEEKING TO QUASH TRUMP’S EARLY ACTIONS AS PRESIDENT ARE FAILING Options available to the White House are more limited by the Constitution. The president can appoint federal judges, but he cannot fire them. The executive branch is also responsible for enforcing court rulings and may either slow-roll or de-prioritize decisions the president disagrees with. Meanwhile, Trump allies have also sought to push back on the power of the courts in other, more unorthodox ways. The America First Legal Foundation, a pro-Trump legal group founded by White House aide Stephen Miller in between Trump’s first and second terms, filed a lawsuit against Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in his capacity as the official head of the U.S. Judicial Conference, and Robert J. Conrad, the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, earlier this month. The lawsuit accuses both parties of performing certain regulatory actions that go beyond the scope of the “core functions” of the judiciary – and which they argue should put them under the thumb of the executive branch. “An American president is not a king – not even an ‘elected’ one – and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute,” Howell said in a case involving the reinstatement of two fired federal board members earlier this year.
Trump official targeted in Biden-era ‘disinformation’ dossier still under wraps days after Rubio revelation
The Trump administration has not revealed which administration official was targeted by the Biden administration’s State Department in a “disinformation” dossier compiling previous social media posts that identified them as “purveyors of disinformation.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed at the most recent Trump administration Cabinet meeting April 30 that an unidentified Trump administration official who was present had been the subject of a State Department dossier detailing alleged promotion of social media “disinformation.” Rubio, the State Department and the White House have not yet identified which official the Biden administration targeted. Fox News Digital has reached out repeatedly to the White House regarding the identity of the official, including on Monday, but did not receive replies. When asked for an update on the identity of the Trump official, the State Department directed Fox News Digital to Rubio’s April 30 remark, detailing that, “We are going to be turning over these dossiers to the individuals, and they’ll decide whether they want to disclose it or not.” RUBIO REVEALS OBSCURE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION OFFICE KEPT ‘DISINFORMATION’ DOSSIER ON TRUMP OFFICIAL Rubio said during the April 30 Cabinet meeting that a little-known, now-defunct office within the State Department called the Global Engagement Center (GEC) had compiled disinformation dossiers on Americans across the country as part of an effort to “censor” free speech, including an individual who has since joined the Trump administration. “We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,” Rubio said during the meeting. “And, by the way, I’m not going to say who it is. I’ll leave it up to them. There’s at least one person at this table today who had a dossier in that building of social media posts to identify them as purveyors of disinformation. We have these dossiers. We are going to be turning those over to these individuals.” Vice President JD Vance interjected, asking, “Was it me or Elon (Musk)? We can follow up when the media is gone,” which drew laughter from the Cabinet. RUBIO OVERHAULING ‘BLOATED’ STATE DEPARTMENT IN SWEEPING REFORM “But just think about that. The Department of State of the United States had set up an office to monitor the social media posts and commentary of American citizens, to identify them as vectors of disinformation,” Rubio continued. “When we know that the best way to combat disinformation is freedom of speech and transparency.” Though Rubio did not identify which Trump official the Biden administration kept a dossier on, Elon Musk has previously railed against the Global Engagement Center. “The worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation is an obscure agency called GEC,” Musk posted to X in January 2023. That was more than a year before Musk endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential race and became a fixture of the administration in his temporary role with the Department of Government Efficiency. “They are a threat to our democracy,” Musk added. RUBIO ANNOUNCES CLOSURE OF STATE DEPARTMENT EFFORT THAT ‘WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD ALREADY’ Former President Barack Obama established the Global Engagement Center in 2016 through an executive order aimed at coordinating counterterrorism messaging to foreign nations before it expanded its scope to also include countering foreign propaganda and disinformation, State Department documents show. Conservatives have slammed the office as a political weapon to silence free speech, including Rubio in an April op-ed when he cited a 2020 GEC report claiming that a “Russian disinformation apparatus” was behind public speculation that the coronavirus was an “engineered bioweapon” or was created by “research conducted at the Wuhan institute.” In the years following the pandemic, the Department of Energy under the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray said evidence indicated that COVID-19 was the result of a lab leak, while the Trump administration’s CIA reported earlier in 2025 that a lab leak was the likely origin of the virus. TWITTER BOSS ELON MUSK ACCUSES GOVERNMENT AGENCY OF BEING ‘WORST OFFENDER IN US GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP’ In 2024, lawmakers did not approve new funding for the office in the National Defense Authorization Act, and it was scheduled to terminate on Dec. 23, 2024. The Biden administration, however, shuffled staffers and rebranded the office. It became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub just days before Trump’s inauguration, the New York Post reported in January. Rubio announced in April that the office would officially shutter. “I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio said in an April 16 statement announcing the office’s closure. “Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” he wrote. “This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America. That ends today.” WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL AXES UN, NATO FUNDS AND HALVES STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET Rubio has railed against the office in previous interviews and op-eds, including authoring an opinion piece for the Federalist in April touting that he was dismantling the “censorship-industrial complex” that had gripped agencies such as the State Department. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Over the past half-decade, bodies like GEC, crafted by our own governing ruling class, nearly destroyed America’s long free speech history,” he wrote in the op-ed. “The enemies of speech had new lingo to justify their authoritarian impulse. It was “disinformation,” allegedly pushed by nefarious foreign governments, that was the No. 1 threat to ‘our democracy.’ To protect ‘our democracy,’ this ‘disinformation’ had to be identified and stamped out.”
No millionaire tax hike in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
House Republicans have seemingly dropped plans for a new millionaire’s tax hike to pay for other priorities in President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” The Ways & Means Committee, the House’s tax-writing panel, released nearly 400 pages of legislation on Monday, setting the stage for permanently extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), as well as a host of other new Trump tax priorities. That includes no taxes on tipped and overtime wages, both of which are accomplished via new tax deductions. For Trump’s promise to cut taxes on seniors’ Social Security, the legislation temporarily increases the standard tax deduction that seniors are allowed to take, affecting the end of last year through the beginning of 2029. It would also raise the debt limit by $4 trillion – something Trump specifically asked Republican lawmakers to deal with before the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, risking a national credit default. Notably absent from the sweeping piece of legislation is a proposal floated last week that would have established a new tax bracket for people making $2.5 million per year or more, taxing them at 39.6% – which was the top tax rate before TCJA lowered it to 37%. Conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Foundation fiercely fought any notion of a tax increase on the wealthy. It was also publicly opposed by a number of leading Republican figures like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Vice President Mike Pence, along with Pence’s interest group, Advancing American Freedom. Several House GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital last week they could not support a millionaire’s tax hike. But Republicans find other cost-savings in the legislation, including stripping tax-exempt status from “terrorist-supporting organizations” and using artificial intelligence (AI) software to identify and root out improper Medicare payments. The bill would also dramatically reduce tax breaks for professional sports team owners, a measure known as amortization, which allows those owners to write off a portion of their purchase price. This story is breaking and will be updated…
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump Hails China ‘Opening Up’ to Competition
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content. Here’s what’s happening… -American hostage Edan Alexander released by Hamas after more than 580 days in captivity -Trump defends Qatar jumbo jet offer as troubled Boeing fails to deliver new Air Force One fleet –Southern border apprehensions plunge more than 90% from year ago in April, CBP says China has agreed to “open itself up to American business” following trade negotiations between Washington, D.C., and Beijing on Saturday, according to President Donald Trump. The arrangement was arguably the most significant development stemming from the trade negotiations, Trump told reporters Monday at the White House. Plans have yet to be finalized and “papered,” but Trump said that China is on board with the agreement. “The biggest thing to me is the opening up,” Trump told reporters Monday during an announcement regarding an executive order on drug prices in the U.S. “It would be, I think it would be fantastic for our businesses if we could go in and compete and compete with China. It would be a lot of jobs for China.”…READ MORE CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE EAST: Trump Middle East tour tests ties with Netanyahu ‘PUNK’: DNC vice chair slams Trump as ‘punk,’ ‘would-be dictator’ in fiery Pa. town hall THE PRINCIPLE IS SIMPLE’: President Trump takes on ‘Big Pharma’ by signing executive order to lower drug prices TRUMP TOOLS: Legal expert reveals why centuries-old law is crucial for Trump admin in immigration fight MIDDLE EAST TRIP: Trump’s 17th week back in office to focus on Middle East trip, admin leaders ironing out China trade talks POLITICAL PAYOFF?: Trump China tariff truce ignites stock markets – will it also pump up president’s poll numbers? LEO’S ADVICE: Pope Leo dishes advice to journalists, mentions AI challenge in first news conference AYATOLLAH’S SHADOW: Fourth round of US-Iran talks ends as Trump set to embark on historic Mideast tour ‘FAILED EXPERIMENT’: UK to tighten immigration rules over voter frustration with high immigration numbers CONSULATE CLOSURE: Poland orders Russian consulate in Krakow closed after blaming Kremlin for 2024 arson BALLS AND STRIKES: Senate parliamentarian: Who is the unelected official getting a say on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill?’ ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’: GOP senator unleashes bill with severe consequences for harming police ‘ILLEGAL CONDUCT’: GOP senators accuse Biden ATF of promoting agents who engaged in ‘illegal’ scheme to inflate salaries CASH PAYMENT: Trump’s $1,000 self-deportation plan draws mixed reaction from House GOP TRUMP CARD: House GOP unveils Medicaid work requirements in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ ‘FLYING GRIFT’: House Democrat calls for ‘immediate’ ethics probe of Qatari plane gift to Trump DEM BORDER PLAN: Dem’s immigration reform plan adds Border Patrol agents, offers select migrants pathway to citizenship ‘GRAVY TRAIN IS OVER’: Homeland Security subpoenas California for possible cash benefits to illegals CAMPUS CRACKDOWN: Swing state outlaws college protest encampments amid nationwide campus crackdown on anti-Israel agitators Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Clergy members descend on Newark ICE facility, say they won’t move until they are arrested
Dozens of clergy members protested outside an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., on Monday, saying they would continue to block the gates accessing the facility until they are arrested. The group is composed of roughly 50 clergy members from Faith in N.J. and Faith in Action. They linked arms outside the main gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center as they chanted and sang songs. Several speakers also said prayers for the inmates inside the facility and condemned their detention. The clergy members say they have “volunteered” to be arrested and that they will attempt to enter the ICE facility. NEWARK MAYOR ARRESTED AS DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’ The protest comes days after Democratic lawmakers and protesters on Friday stormed the gate of the facility. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has said the detention center is housing “murderers, terrorists, child rapists and MS-13 gang members.” The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media about the identities of several inmates. WHITE HOUSE BLASTS DEMS ‘CROSSING THE LINE’ BY STORMING ICE FACILITY “The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false. Meet who the New Jersey lawmakers are fighting for,” the DHS wrote. In response to Fox News’ reporting on the events on Monday, McLaughlin asked, “Who do they want released from Delaney Hall? The child rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, MS-13 gang members or known terrorists?” McLaughlin’s comments come after the ICE director told Fox that 75% of the detainees at the facility have either committed a crime, are convicted of a crime, or have pending criminal charges. Recent polling shows an overwhelming majority of Americans, 83%, support the deporting at least some illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. Roughly 32% of Americans say they support deporting all illegal immigrants, and of those who only support deporting some, 97% are in favor of removing any who have committed violent crimes. ICE FACILITY DEMOCRATS ‘STORMED’ HOLDS CHILD RAPISTS, MURDERERS: OFFICIALS A trio of Democratic lawmakers who participated in the “storming” of Delaney Hall last week doubled down on their actions this week, arguing the Trump administration is “weaponizing law enforcement.” Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, all Democrats from New Jersey, made the comments during a joint appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property and lock the mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey up,” Coleman said. “That’s absurd. That’s un-American. That’s scary. That’s determination to intimidate people in this country,” she added, claiming the administration is “lying at all levels.” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also present and was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim an ICE agent was assaulted in the confrontation, which was caught on camera.
Agitators clash with police, arrests made as clergy members descend on Newark ICE facility
Dozens of clergy members protested outside an ICE facility in Newark, N.J., on Monday, saying they would continue to block the gates accessing the facility until they are arrested. The group is composed of roughly 50 clergy members from Faith in N.J. and Faith in Action. They linked arms outside the main gate of Delaney Hall Detention Center as they chanted and sang songs. Several speakers also said prayers for the inmates inside the facility and condemned their detention. The clergy members say they have “volunteered” to be arrested and that they will attempt to enter the ICE facility. NEWARK MAYOR ARRESTED AS DEM CONGRESS MEMBERS STORM NEW JERSEY ICE PRISON TO CONDUCT ‘OVERSIGHT VISIT’ An ambulance was turned away from entering a gated area that the protesters were blocking on Monday because authorities feared the protesters might rush in if the gate were opened. One protester told Fox News nobody called the ambulance, calling it a tactic to get them to move. “There was no danger there,” he said. “We’re not going to be moved. We’ll be here as long as it takes until people start to realize this is not acceptable.” By around 5 p.m., events began to flare up as employees of the facility attempted to drive out of the gated area. Police moved protesters out of the way, though the protesters would resist and oppose to being touched. At least two protesters were arrested by Newark police during the event. Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda said the two individuals who were arrested face obstruction and resisting arrest charges. One officer suffered a minor laceration to the arm during the incident, though he will remain on duty. No other injuries were reported. WHITE HOUSE BLASTS DEMS ‘CROSSING THE LINE’ BY STORMING ICE FACILITY In response to Fox News’ reporting on the events on Monday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin asked, “Who do they want released from Delaney Hall? The child rapists, murderers, drug traffickers, MS-13 gang members or known terrorists?” “This was a cheap political stunt by the Democrats and by these protesters,” she said. “We’re not having it. They put law enforcement officers at risk. They put our staff in the facility at risk and put the detainees at risk. You saw that they didn’t even let an ambulance through. This is not something that this administration is going to put up with. And that’s part of the reason that this mayor was arrested. You can’t just storm a detention facility and assault law enforcement officers with impunity.” McLaughlin’s comments come after the ICE director told Fox that 75% of the detainees at the facility have either committed a crime, are convicted of a crime, or have pending criminal charges. Recent polling shows an overwhelming majority of Americans, 83%, support deporting at least some illegal immigrants, according to the Pew Research Center. Roughly 32% of Americans say they support deporting all illegal immigrants, and of those who only support deporting some, 97% are in favor of removing any who have committed violent crimes. ICE FACILITY DEMOCRATS ‘STORMED’ HOLDS CHILD RAPISTS, MURDERERS: OFFICIALS A trio of Democratic lawmakers who participated in the “storming” of Delaney Hall last week doubled down on their actions this week, arguing the Trump administration is “weaponizing law enforcement.” The protest comes days after Democratic lawmakers and protesters on Friday stormed the gate of the facility. Meanwhile, McLaughlin has said the detention center is housing “murderers, terrorists, child rapists and MS-13 gang members.” The Department of Homeland Security posted on social media about the identities of several inmates. “The allegations by Newark politicians that Delaney does not have the proper permitting is false. Meet who the New Jersey lawmakers are fighting for,” the DHS wrote. Reps. LaMonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez, all Democrats from New Jersey, made the comments during a joint appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Chaos ensued when someone on the phone above the leaders of ICE who were with us at that facility instructed them to go out of the facility, go to the private property and lock the mayor of the largest city in the state of New Jersey up,” Coleman said. “That’s absurd. That’s un-American. That’s scary. That’s determination to intimidate people in this country,” she added, claiming the administration is “lying at all levels.” Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was also present and was arrested and charged with trespassing. Authorities claim an ICE agent was assaulted in the confrontation, which was caught on camera. Fox News’ Sandy Ibrahim contributed to this report.