Border czar Homan fires back at Pope Leo, explains what Vatican leaders ‘don’t know’ about immigration
President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, revealed that he would “welcome” a discussion with Pope Leo XIV amid the administration’s ongoing spat with the Vatican over disagreements on immigration policy and the Iran conflict. Differing from Vice President JD Vance, who said that “in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality,” Homan said he is “open to discussion with any of them.” Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Homan, a “lifelong Catholic,” said, “I wish they’d stay out of immigration, they don’t know what they’re talking about.” However, Homan asserted that the pope’s opinion would change if he understood that “illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.” POPE LEO CALLS OUT TRUMP’S IRAN RHETORIC BEFORE LAST-MINUTE CEASEFIRE EMERGES “If they wore my shoes for 40 years, and talked to a 9-year-old girl that got raped multiple times, or stood in the back of a tractor trailer with 19 dead aliens at my feet, including a 5-year-old boy that baked to death, if they understood the atrocities that happened on the open border, I think their opinion would change,” he said. Trump’s border czar went on to say that despite intense criticism over the president’s immigration policy, “He’s saving thousands of lives a year because he has a secure border.” “Where President Trump had the most secure border in the lifetime of this nation, right now, lives are being saved,” he emphasized. In light of this, Homan said, “I welcome discussion with any of them, because they don’t understand illegal immigration is not a victimless crime.” “Human traffickers are out of business, right? The cartels are going bankrupt because of that secure border. I wish they’d understand that,” he lamented. “Because if they did, I think they’d have a different opinion.” Fox News Digital reached out to the Holy See for comment. POPE LEO PICKS NEW VATICAN AMBASSADOR TO US AS TRUMP TENSIONS MOUNT OVER POLICIES Leo has said that “no one has said that the United States should have open borders” and stressed, “I think every country has a right to determine who and how and when people enter.” However, he has also taken a critical tone of the administration’s interior immigration enforcement tactics. “When people are living good lives, and many of them for 10, 15, 20 years, to treat them in a way that is extremely disrespectful, to say the least, and there’s been some violence, unfortunately, I think that the bishops have been very clear in what they said. I think that I would just invite all people in the United States to listen to them,” the pope has said. Trump criticized the pope’s positions on Sunday in a scathing rebuke on Truth Social. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump began in a lengthy post. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church,” he concluded. Regarding the Iran conflict, Trump told reporters, “We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.” “We don’t want a pope that says crime is OK in our cities. I don’t like it,” Trump added. “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime.” BISHOP BARRON SAYS TRUMP ‘OWES THE POPE AN APOLOGY’ In response, Leo told reporters on Monday, “I have no fear of the Trump administration.” “The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone,” he also said, adding, “I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing. I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems.” “Too many people are suffering in the world today,” Leo added. “Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.” For his part, Vance, who has been very vocal about his conversion to Catholicism, told Fox News’s Bret Baier Monday, “I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality… and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.” Vance, who has visited the Vatican twice as vice president, dismissed the feud, saying, “We certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican, but we’re also [going to] disagree on substantive questions from time to time. I think that’s a totally reasonable thing.”
WATCH: Dem Senate hopeful caught plotting to silo conservative media outlets with top aide
FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was caught on a livestream asking a top campaign aide to separate conservative reporters — whom he referred to as “bogeys” — from the rest of the press after a campaign event with Hasan Piker last week. The hot-mic moment came as Piker’s crew was live-streaming backstage ahead of the event, when El-Sayed’s communications director Roxie Richner told him and Piker, “We’re going to do the quick scrum with Fox, the Free Beacon and those folks,” prompting El-Sayed to ask, “Could you separate, like, the bogeys, from everyone else?” After Richner responded in the affirmative, El-Sayed fist bumped her before Piker swooped in to let the pair know they were being filmed. The candid moment followed days of blowback El-Sayed faced for holding an event with Piker, the controversial podcaster who had to walk back comments saying Americans deserved 9/11, justified Hamas’ attacks and slaughter, including rapes, on innocent Israelis, and recently told his followers that “you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore,” because cheap Chinese-made drones can be bought online for anyone who is interested in performing a terror strike. POPULAR FAR-LEFT STREAMER UNLEASHES PROFANE TIRADE AGAINST VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST REFUGEE IN RESURFACED VID El-Sayed responded to those concerns by insisting his goal was to ensure his message speaks to a “broader audience” that has felt left out of contemporary politics, during an interview just days before the event with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer. He told Hemmer that he was talking to him, despite the fact that they frequently disagreed, for precisely that reason of trying to engage with broader audiences. “When I said I’ll talk to anyone, I meant it. I’ll be on Fox News at 9:15am with Bill Hemmer,” El-Sayed tweeted ahead of his talk with Hemmer earlier this month. Piker quickly swooped in after the fist-bump was caught on camera to tell Richner and El-Sayed that he was filming. The trio quickly separated, but the camera kept rolling as it followed a visibly bothered Piker. “Probably some progress being made,” Piker’s camera operator said after the trio had separated, and the live stream settled back on Piker, who had walked away and began guzzling a bottle of water. “I don’t think so,” Piker responded as he continued guzzling the water bottle. Richner, El-Sayed’s staffer seen fist-bumping him, told Fox News Digital that the campaign took questions from a “broad scrum” after the event that day, as well as after a second event held later the same day at Michigan State University. Richner also reiterated El-Sayed’s claims that he welcomes conversations with people of all political stripes. “Following both rallies, our campaign took questions in a broad scrum that included all press who attended: local news outlets, student reporters, and national outlets that spanned ideologies,” Richner said. “We go everywhere and talk to everyone.” DEM SENATE CANDIDATE TAKES SWIPE AT JOE ROGAN AFTER REFUSING TO DISAVOW HASAN PIKER’S PAST COMMENTS Since entering the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, El-Sayed has faced blow back for staking out fringe anti-Israel and anti-law enforcement positions, like abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and blaming Israel for committing “genocide.” Fox News Digital previously reported how El-Sayed quietly deleted old social media posts he made online espousing support for the “defund the police” movement between 2020 and 2021, including calling the police “standing armies we deploy against our own people.” Meanwhile, recently uncovered audio showed El-Sayed didn’t want to publicly say anything about the death of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamanei because he was worried some Michiganders might be “sad” following the terror regime leader’s death. El-Sayed recently faced criticism for campaigning with Piker, who has been slammed for justifying Hamas’ attacks and slaughter, including rapes, on innocent Israelis, was forced to walk back comments about how Americans deserved 9/11, and told his followers that “you really don’t need suicide bombing anymore,” because cheap Chinese-made drones can be bought online for anyone who is interested in performing a terror strike. Piker sympathizes with communist ideals, but has labeled himself a socialist and Marxist while rejecting communist labels. At the same time, Piker has also described communism as the “honorable end goal” of socialism. When asked at his event with Piker whether he would disavow any of the controversial podcaster’s comments, El-Sayed would not, and defended the far-left podcast and internet personality’s emerging position in the Democratic Party. “It’s an active decision to reach out to people who feel locked out of their politics to have a conversation, just like I’m making an active decision as somebody who is running in the Democratic primary to have a conversation on Fox News,” El-Sayed said to Hemmer about his decision to campaign with Piker. “Just because you invite somebody to campaign with you, or you’re engaging with them, does not mean that you agree with them.” El-Sayed’s Democratic Party primary election, against a slew of other formidable candidates, will take place in August, followed by the general election in November.
Johnson faces GOP revolt over warrantless surveillance powers ahead of key vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing a brewing conservative revolt ahead of a high-profile vote on reauthorizing the government’s warrantless surveillance powers. House GOP leadership is up against an April 20 deadline to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., support a clean 18-month extension of the government’s spying powers, but key conservative lawmakers want guardrails added to the program. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said Tuesday that she would oppose a test vote scheduled to occur Wednesday afternoon that would advance the renewal measure to a vote on final passage. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., also predicted Tuesday in an interview with Punchbowl News that the test vote would fail if leadership did not tack on additional reforms demanded by GOP privacy hawks. Section 702 permits the federal government to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals abroad, even when those individuals are communicating with American citizens. REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: GOP PUSHES ELECTION SECURITY BILL DESPITE SLIM ODDS, AS TRUMP PRESSURE LOOMS Conservative lawmakers — and many in the Democratic caucus — are pushing for an amendment to prohibit the warrantless surveillance of Americans. But when Democrats on the House Rules Committee tried to add an amendment from Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., incorporating warrant requirements, Republicans on the panel voted it down. House Democrats are also not expected to supply the necessary votes during the anticipated procedural vote, which tends to be party-line. In that scenario, Johnson would be able to lose just a handful of GOP defections. Other Republicans, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have pledged to vote “no” unless the Trump-backed election measure, known as the SAVE America Act, is added to the bill. GOP RIPS FISA COURT FOR TAPPING EX-BIDEN ‘DISINFORMATION’ LAWYER TO ADVISE ON SURVEILLANCE Despite potential GOP holdouts, Trump has urged Republicans to “UNIFY” during the critical votes. The Trump administration has warned about potentially catastrophic effects for national security if lawmakers fail to renew the program, especially as the conflict with Iran continues. In a letter to Congress on Monday, Gen. Dan Caine said that “the loss or reduction of FISA Section 702 authorities would increase risk to the Joint Force, degrade our worldwide combat lethality, and significantly impair the U.S. security.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended a House GOP conference meeting on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to back a clean extension. “There’s a lot at stake,” Ratcliffe told Fox News. Prior FISA skeptics have also touted the more than five dozen reforms that Congress made to the program in 2024 to justify their support for a clean extension. “In light of the progress that has been made and the threats we face, we think a temporary short-term extension of the program makes sense,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Tuesday. “But again, 2026 is not 2024 and a short-term clean extension of the 702 part of FISA law is an acceptable outcome for the situation that we find ourselves in.” Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
From White House hopeful to scandal: Swalwell’s short-lived 2020 bid resurfaces after resignation
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s political collapse amid scandal was sudden. With sexual assault and harassment allegations mounting, the Democratic representative who was one of the leading contenders in California’s 2026 campaign for governor dropped out of the race on Sunday. Two days later, he resigned from Congress. The congressman’s stunningly swift collapse comes seven years after a then 38-year-old Swalwell made a short-lived and highly unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination. OUT THE DOOR: SWALWELL STEPS DOWN AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS LISTEN: CRIME & JUSTICE PODCAST ON SWALWELL SEX PROBE “We’re getting close. I’ve got staff in Iowa. We’re hiring in New Hampshire, South Carolina right now. I’m starting to put together the infrastructure that you need. But I see nothing but green lights on this journey so far,” an optimistic Swalwell said in a January 2019 Fox News Digital interview. The soon-to-be candidate was in New Hampshire courting supporters and activists in the state that for a century held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. SWALWELL ACCUSERS REVEAL WHY THEY CAME FORWARD Swalwell officially launched his campaign during an April 8, 2019, appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” SWALWELL ISN’T THE ONLY MEMBER OF CONGRESS WHO RESIGNED TUESDAY AMID SCANDAL His campaign slogan was, “Go Big. Be Bold. Do Good.” And Swalwell made gun control and student debt reform key components of his presidential platform. Swalwell was one of 20 Democratic presidential candidates who qualified and took part in the first round of debates, which were held over two nights in June 2019. But failing to poll above 1% and facing the prospect of failing to make the stage at the second Democratic presidential debate, Swalwell suspended his campaign on July 8, 2019, just three months after declaring his candidacy.
Gavin Newsom sets August 2026 special election to fill Eric Swalwell’s vacant congressional seat
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation on Tuesday setting Aug. 18 as the date for a special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress on Tuesday. “I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim and order that a special election shall be held on the 18th day of August 2026, within the 14th Congressional District of the State, to fill the vacancy in the office of the U.S. House of Representatives from said district resulting from the resignation of Representative Eric Swalwell,” the proclamation declares. Members from both sides of the political aisle had called for Swalwell to resign or else face expulsion due to accusations against him of sexual misconduct and rape. SWALWELL OUT AMID SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS AFTER 13 YEARS IN CONGRESS LISTEN: CRIME & JUSTICE PODCAST ON SWALWELL SEX PROBE The Democrat, who had been running in the Golden State’s gubernatorial race, announced Sunday night that he was suspending his campaign. On Monday, he announced that he planned to resign from Congress. SWALWELL ACCUSERS DETAIL EXPERIENCES WITH LAWMAKER AFTER HE ANNOUNCES HIS RESIGNATION FROM CONGRESS Swalwell’s resignation letter was read in the House on Tuesday. “I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations made against me,” Swalwell’s letter read, in part. FORMER SWALWELL ALLY SAYS LONGTIME FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM ‘CLOUDED MY JUDGEMENT’ AS RUMORS SWIRLED IN DC The resignation came after he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade, having taken office in 2013.
Federal judge hands Biden’s home state a loss in battle of ICE access to labor data
A federal judge ordered Delaware officials to turn over confidential employer and employee data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), delivering a legal defeat to former President Joe Biden’s home state in a dispute over immigration enforcement. U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly ruled that the Delaware Department of Labor (DDOL) must comply with a federal subpoena seeking wage reports and employee records from 15 businesses as part of an investigation into the suspected hiring of undocumented workers. Delaware officials argued they could refuse the request and warned that compliance would harm worker reporting and state programs, but Connolly rejected that position. “This is a political argument; not a legal one,” Connolly wrote. “This Court is not the proper ‘forum in which to air [DDOL’s] generalized grievances about the conduct of government.’ It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.” DOJ SUES NEW JERSEY OVER EXECUTIVE ORDER LIMITING ICE COOPERATION, EXPANDING SANCTUARY STATUS The records include employees’ names, Social Security numbers and wages reported to the state as part of its unemployment insurance system. Federal investigators said the records will help identify potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers, compare reported employees to workers observed onsite and detect off-the-books labor. Connolly, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote that the subpoena was lawful, relevant to a legitimate investigation and not overly burdensome for the state to fulfill. The subpoena seeks 30 records covering two quarters for the 15 businesses, which the judge said would not be burdensome for the state to produce. He also dismissed Delaware’s argument that sharing the data would harm its unemployment insurance system, calling the claim unsupported. “I am neither willing nor able to adopt DDOL’s cynical view of the State’s employers,” Connolly wrote. FEDERAL JUDGE WHO ORDERED NO WARRANTLESS ICE ARRESTS IN COLORADO ASSERTS DOJ NOT COMPLYING The ruling marks a setback for Delaware in its battle over ICE’s access to state labor data, as the federal government moves to expand immigration enforcement. The court said Delaware officials ignored the subpoena and failed to respond even after a follow-up warning from federal prosecutors. Delaware’s newly appointed U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wallace said the ruling reinforces that federal law applies broadly. “We are gratified that the court recognized the simple truth at the core of this case: federal law applies to everyone, whether they are a state or private entity, and whether they agree or disagree with the federal government’s policy priorities,” Wallace told the Delaware News Journal. The dispute escalated after Delaware ignored multiple ICE subpoenas in early 2025, prompting the federal government to sue for enforcement. State officials have not said whether they plan to appeal. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware and DHS and ICE for comment. Read the ruling below.
Israeli attacks kill 11, including two children, in day of strikes on Gaza
A three-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those killed in Israel’s latest strikes on northern Gaza. Published On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026 Israel’s military has killed at least 11 Palestinians, including two children, in separate attacks across the war-torn Gaza Strip, the latest violations by Israel of a “ceasefire” with Hamas that came into effect on October 10 last year. Gaza’s Civil Defence authorities and the Reuters news agency said that a three-year-old and a 14-year-old were among those killed in the Israeli strikes in the northern part of the enclave on Tuesday. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for Gaza’s Civil Defence, said four people were killed, including the three-year-old, “in a strike targeting a police vehicle” in Gaza City. Gaza’s Ministry of Interior said in a statement that Israeli warplanes had “targeted” the police vehicle in the city centre, “causing several deaths and injuries”, with a police officer among those killed and at least nine bystanders wounded, some critically. Bassal also said another person was killed by Israeli fire in the northern Beit Lahiya area earlier in the day. Later on Tuesday evening, Civil Defence reported that another Israeli strike killed several people near an intersection in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Medics at Al-Shifa Hospital later confirmed receiving five bodies from “an Israeli drone bombing”, involving two missiles, that hit a group of people in the Shati refugee camp. Reuters reported that the Israeli strike hit near a cafe and, along with those killed, it had also wounded several people, according to health officials. Despite a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas that began last October and slowed two years of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Israeli forces continue to carry out daily strikes on the territory, killing almost 760 Palestinians since the truce was agreed upon. Advertisement Gaza Ministry of Health said on Tuesday that an additional 2,111 Palestinians have been injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced, while a total of 72,336 people have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of Israel’s war on the territory on October 7, 2023. Adblock test (Why?)
US forces kill 4 people in latest strike on vessels in eastern Pacific
The killings mark the fourth US deadly strike in the past four days on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Published On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026 The US military has killed four more people in its fourth deadly attack on vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean over the past four days. US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced the attack in a social media post on Tuesday, alongside a video that showed a stationary boat with outboard engines being hit by a missile and exploding into a huge ball of flames. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list SOUTHCOM, which is responsible for US military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, claimed that the four people killed were “narco-terrorists”, but provided no evidence to support its claims. Justification for the lethal attack, according to SOUTHCOM, was due to intelligence – details of which were not provided – that confirmed that “the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”. The latest killing of people on board vessels in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean brings the overall death toll to at least 175 since early September, when US President Donald Trump ordered the attacks to stop what the White House claims are Latin American cartels transporting drugs to the US. Tuesday’s killings came after two people were killed in a US strike on Monday, and five people were killed in two separate strikes on Saturday, also in the eastern Pacific. The Associated Press news agency reported that the US coastguard has suspended a search for one survivor from the two attacks reported on Saturday. International legal experts and rights groups say the US military campaign amounts to “extrajudicial killings” in international waters and that the attacks have targeted civilian fishing boats. Advertisement Legal experts have said that if some vessels were involved in drug trafficking, those on board should face the law, rather than deadly attacks. Critics have also questioned the effectiveness of the US military operation in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses in the US, which Trump has used to justify his campaign, is typically trafficked to the US over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India. Adblock test (Why?)
Israel and Lebanon hold direct talks for first time in decades
NewsFeed After the first direct talks in decades, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to begin ongoing negotiations for the ‘security of both countries’. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna explains why US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sees this ‘milestone’ meeting as just the ‘start of the process’. Published On 15 Apr 202615 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Sopore unrest: Students protest turns violent after allegation of harassment by teacher; 8 arrested
Jammu and Kashmir students led massive protest in Sopore which turned violent on Tuesday, forcing police to intervene. Police have taken action against violent protestors. The students have alleged misconduct on the part of a school teacher.