Trump warns he won’t endorse lawmakers who oppose Save America Act
President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that he will not endorse any lawmaker who votes against the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, escalating pressure on Republicans as the bill heads to the Senate. Trump made the pledge in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, warning that any Republican or Democrat who opposes the measure would face political consequences. “The Save America Act is one of the most IMPORTANT & CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress, and America itself,” Trump wrote. “I WILL NEVER (EVER!) ENDORSE ANYONE WHO VOTES AGAINST ‘SAVE AMERICA!!!’” GOP WARNS DEMOCRATS USING DHS SHUTDOWN TO STALL SENATE VOTER ID PUSH Trump has long pushed for stricter election laws — making election integrity a central pillar of his 2024 campaign — and has repeatedly questioned the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden. The SAVE Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and impose stricter voter ID rules. Trump said the bill also touches on issues including mail-in voting, transgender athletes and medical care for minors. “No Men in Women’s Sports, No Transgender MUTILIZATION of our Children. 90% to 99% ISSUES ALL! Only sick, demented, or deranged people in the House or Senate could vote against THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. If they do, each one of these points, separately, will be used against the user in his/her political campaign for office – A guaranteed loss.” The GOP-led House passed the bill in February, largely along party lines. Trump and his allies argue the legislation would prevent noncitizens from voting and strengthen election security, while critics say it could disenfranchise eligible voters who lack documentation. SCHUMER SAYS DEMS WILL FIGHT VOTER ID PUSH ‘TOOTH AND NAIL,’ BALKS AT DHS ROLE IN ELECTIONS The bill now faces steep odds in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster — a threshold Republicans do not currently have given their 53–47 majority. Some conservatives have pushed to force a “talking filibuster” or change Senate rules to bypass that threshold and pass the bill with a simple majority, but GOP leaders have said they lack the votes within their own conference to take that step. Senate Majority Leader John ThuneJohn Thune has indicated the votes are not there to pass the measure, and most Democrats are expected to oppose it. “It’s about the math,” Thune said. “And I’m, for better or worse, the one who has to be a clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.” Republicans are expected to force a vote to put Democrats on record opposing the bill, but the measure faces steep odds of clearing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold. Cracks have also emerged within the GOP. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., a supporter of the bill, acknowledged Republicans “don’t have the votes for the talking filibuster right now” while Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has opposed the legislation and said he plans to “do everything I can to prevent it from even moving forward.” Tillis has objected to the bill’s scope, arguing it goes beyond voter ID and warning against imposing sweeping federal mandates on states. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has also come out against the bill, warning that new federal mandates could disrupt state election systems. The internal divisions come as Trump ramps up pressure on lawmakers, urging voters to contact their senators and back the legislation, which he has described as one of the most consequential bills in U.S. history. Fox News’ Alex Miller and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
Organized and technological: ICE resistance groups posing growing danger, warns former top NSA, DHS official
EXCLUSIVE: A former high-ranking National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security official is warning that coordinated, technology-driven anti-ICE resistance is endangering operations through digital sabotage in cities across the United States. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Stewart Baker, a cybersecurity and national security expert, said that the use of new and emerging technology by agitators “has changed the atmosphere in which ICE is operating.” “It’s already a game changer,” said Baker. Following reports that anti-ICE agitators are using the encrypted messaging app known as Signal to track and impede agents, Baker said, “We’re going to see more of that, and it’s not easy to stop. Much of what’s being done there is perfectly lawful speech, but it is on the edge of causing serious harm.” ANONYMOUS LETTER TO CALIFORNIA GOP CHAPTER CALLS FOR WAR ON ICE, URGES AGENTS BE SENT ‘HOME IN A BODY BAG’ Baker served as NSA general counsel under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and DHS assistant secretary for policy under President George W. Bush. Beyond Signal, there is chatter among activists about the use of sophisticated but cheap technology that serves as counter-surveillance measures. Some of these methods are detailed in a thought piece titled “How Hackers Are Fighting Back Against ICE” by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit digital civil liberties organization. Among the methods identified by EFF are a piece of hardware called “OUI-SPY” and a database called “DeFlock” that can be used by activists to detect and log the presence of law enforcement cameras and other technology that would otherwise be hidden. EFF also describes an open-source app called WiGLE, which it says has the ability to alert the user when specific Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signals from federal law enforcement are detected. The group notes that it is not affiliated with these projects and does not endorse them or make any statements about the legality of using them. Cindy Cohn, EFF executive director, told Fox News Digital that the group, which she said “has been defending digital civil liberties and pushing back on overbroad surveillance since 1990, defends people’s indisputable constitutional right to observe and record law enforcement activities that occur in public places, so long as that recording does not interfere with those activities.” Cohn said, “We also defend people’s legal and constitutional right to share that information with others. The Constitution and Supreme Court case law are crystal clear on these rights” and “we also support and defend people’s rights to detect, map, and share information about surveillance technology deployed in their communities, as a matter of transparency and accountability.” She added that “the predominant danger today to both federal officers and protestors, bystanders, immigrants and U.S. citizens derives from the violent tactics being used by federal forces in U.S. cities, rather than from the tools observers are using to document this behavior.” Baker told Fox News Digital that though he is “pretty skeptical of most of the technology that these groups are thinking they can use,” it does show that “they are remarkably organized.” BLOCKING ICE COOPERATION FUELED MINNESOTA UNREST, OFFICIALS WARN AS VIRGINIA REVERSES COURSE He said that for the last 30 years technology has been “moving to a place where anonymity is just impossible,” even in a law enforcement context. “You can identify [people] from the signals that their tires send to the dashboard to say you’re flat. You can identify them by their Bluetooth signals, by their Wi-Fi signals … there are so many signals that we put off that increasingly trying to keep them all from being read by the rest of the world is just going to fail,” he explained. “And that means for law enforcement, they’re much more trackable at a very individual level.” The result is that law enforcement operations are much more hazardous for not only agents, but also protesters, bystanders and even the illegal immigrants being targeted. The fatal shootings of activists Alex Pretti and Renee Good at the start of the year are evidence of this, Baker said. “The people who are protesting ICE have set up a network for getting hostile people at the scene of ICE operations and [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] operations as quickly as possible and in as large numbers as possible,” Baker went on. “That is setting up more confrontations that are also going to end badly for the people who go there.” Fox News Digital reported that the anti-ICE mobilization that unfolded around the killing of Pretti in Minneapolis mirrored the methods used to overthrow governments and spark bloody revolutions around the globe. Encrypted Signal chats, command-and-control centers, rapid-response propaganda and orchestrated tear-gas clashes with law enforcement have served to mobilize forces and shape public opinion in the ongoing conflict. Close analysis of guidelines distributed online by anti-ICE groups and the minute-by-minute events surrounding Pretti’s death reveal tactics and strategies well known to military and intelligence analysts as elements of global insurgencies. ‘MOB MENTALITY’ ENDANGERS OFFICERS AMID ANTI-ICE UNREST AND CHAOS IN MINNEAPOLIS, RETIRED COPS WARN What does this all boil down to? Baker believes that this means that “everybody is going to be doxed.” “We’re all going to be living in a world where we are doxed by people who don’t like us. And ICE agents are there first, but plenty of other people are going to end up there and tracked.” “There are people who are willing to use violence against agents, and that fear of violence is going to drive hair-trigger responses by the agents. It’s a very dangerous situation,” said Baker. “It’s dangerous for everybody. And I understand why people are enthusiastic about having discovered this technology … but it carries with it risks for the people who are running those networks.”
Trump-endorsed Sen Lindsey Graham files for re-election: ‘Nobody is better prepared’
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a Monday post on X that he filed for re-election. “It’s official. I just left my campaign headquarters after filing for re-election. Thanks to all the family, friends and supporters that make this possible,” Graham wrote in the post. President Donald Trump endorsed Graham for re-election last year. GRAHAM SAYS REPUBLICANS WON’T LET DEMS ‘DEFUND’ ICE, CBP AT ‘A TIME WE’RE UNDER SERIOUS THREAT’ “Senator Lindsey Graham has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election — HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN. Everyone in South Carolina should help Lindsey have a BIG WIN next year!” Trump declared in part of a March 2025 Truth Social post. Some on the political right pushed back against the president’s move. But others on the right have backed Graham for re-election. Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson endorsed Graham last year, describing the senator as “a steadfast conservative leader for South Carolina and our nation.” Graham has served in the U.S. Senate since early 2003. The long-serving lawmaker is a staunch supporter of President Trump’s decision to launch the war against Iran in conjunction with Israel. “Through Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury, @POTUS acted in the nick of time to prevent a nuclear armed Iranian regime. Past administrations failed to effectively confront this threat,” Graham said in part of a Monday post on X. TOP IRANIAN LEADERS ALI LARIJANI, GHOLAMREZA SOLEIMANI KILLED IN STRIKES, ISRAEL SAYS There are some candidates seeking to challenge Graham in the South Carolina Republican U.S. Senate primary. “Senator Lindsey Graham officially filed for re-election today with the South Carolina State Election Commission, formally launching his campaign to continue representing the people of South Carolina in the United States Senate,” a March 16 press release noted. “Following his filing, Senator Graham was joined by family, supporters, volunteers, and campaign staff at his campaign headquarters in Columbia, where he shared his vision for South Carolina’s future and outlined how he plans to continue delivering President Trump’s agenda for communities across the state,” the release added. “Nobody is better prepared to help President Trump protect us from evil than I am. Nobody is better prepared to help him get his agenda through the Senate than I am. Nobody running is better prepared to help our state than I am,” Graham said, according to the release.
Trump says he believes he has ‘honor’ of ‘taking Cuba,’ calls Caribbean island a ‘very weakened nation’
President Donald Trump said he believes he has the “honor” of “taking Cuba” as he described the Caribbean island as a “very weakened nation.” Trump made the remark to Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy on Monday, the same day Cuba plunged into a blackout after its entire electrical grid suddenly suffered a total collapse. “When you say Cuba is next, is Cuba – whatever you do with the military there, it seems like something – will that look more like Iran or Venezuela?” Doocy asked the president in the Oval Office. “I can’t tell you that. I can tell you that they’re talking to us. It’s a failed nation. They have no money, they have no oil, they have no nothing,” Trump responded, before later saying, “I do believe I’ll be the honor of, having the honor of taking Cuba… That’s a big honor.” CUBAN PRESIDENT REVEALS TALKS WITH TRUMP ADMINISTRATION AS FUEL BLOCKADE CHOKES DOMESTIC ENERGY SUPPLY AND ECONOMY “Taking Cuba?” Doocy said. “Taking Cuba in some form. Yeah. Taking Cuba, I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it, you want to know the truth?” Trump said. “They’re a very weakened nation right now. They were for a long time. A very violent, very violent leaders. Castro is a very violent leader. His brother is a very violent leader, extremely violent. That’s how they governed. They governed with violence. But a lot of people would like to go back.” PROTESTERS TORCH COMMUNIST PARTY HQ IN CUBA; VIDEO APPEARS TO CAPTURE GUNFIRE The Cuban government is in talks with Trump administration officials, the country’s president said Friday, as Havana works to halt a potential regime change as it deals with a widening energy crisis. Cuba’s economy has struggled since the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his home in Caracas at the start of the year. The Trump administration immediately cut off oil exports to the island. Earlier this month, Trump also vowed to “take care” of Cuba’s regime following America’s focus on Iran. Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
New names emerge in Jack Smith’s wide-ranging bid for GOP lawmakers’ phone records, unearthed emails show
FIRST ON FOX: Internal Department of Justice emails obtained by Fox News Digital show prosecutors working for special counsel Jack Smith sought phone records in 2023 for a wide-ranging group of Republican lawmakers, including newly revealed names such as a current Trump administration official. The email exchanges between prosecutors beginning Jan. 9, 2023, show Smith’s team mapped out a web of House and Senate lawmakers who interacted with key people in Smith’s probe into the 2020 election, including figures like President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led many of Trump’s unsuccessful legal challenges to the election results. New names within the emails obtained by Fox News Digital include Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., and then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who now leads the Environmental Protection Agency. “I’d like to seek [the Public Integrity Section’s] concurrence to get phone tolls for several MOCs who had contact with pertinent parties in our investigation,” wrote former DOJ lawyer Timothy Duree. “I’ll keep the timeframe tight—probably October 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021.” The emails were part of Smith’s investigation and prosecution of Trump over the 2020 election, which initially began as an FBI probe called Arctic Frost. Ongoing House and Senate Judiciary Committee investigations have revealed through various public disclosures that the Biden DOJ targeted a large web of Republican people and entities with subpoenas during the probe, but the lawmakers’ records requests have become a top source of scrutiny. JACK SMITH DEFENDS SUBPOENAING REPUBLICAN SENATORS’ PHONE RECORDS: ‘ENTIRELY PROPER’ Duree produced 16 names and said he wanted to discuss whether to “subpoena these all at once.” The list included Babin and Biggs and now former Reps. Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar, Louie Gohmert, Zeldin and Jody Hice. The list also included Gohmert’s chief of staff Connie Hair, and seven senators whose names were previously revealed through public disclosures, such as Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. Public disclosures previously showed that some of the 16 members’ phone records were indeed subpoenaed, but the new emails with new names, including Babin, Biggs and Zeldin, do not make clear if Smith ultimately executed subpoenas for their phone records. The phone records, also known as toll records, would have included dates, times and phone numbers but not the content of calls and messages. Raymond Hulser, a prosecutor on Smith’s team, responded at one point in the January 2023 email chain by acknowledging the scale of the subpoena request. “And please there’s no hurry this morning, [Duree]” Hulser wrote. “It just occurred to me that before we tell Main we are going to fire off subpoenas for so many members tolls I should make sure Jack’s aware.” DEM REP DEFENDS DOJ OBTAINING GOP SENATOR CALL RECORDS IN 2023: ‘YOU WEREN’T SURVEILLED’ Smith, who has since testified to the House Judiciary Committee about his work, has stood by the subpoenas, saying they were “entirely proper” and followed DOJ protocol. The Republicans who were targeted have, however, condemned the subpoenas as egregious violations of the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, which gives Congress members an added layer of immunity from investigations. In addition to members of Congress, public disclosures by the congressional committees revealed that Smith targeted hundreds of Republican-affiliated people and entities as he pursued charges against Trump. Smith eventually brought four criminal charges against the then-Republican presidential candidate alleging he illegally attempted to overturn the 2020 election results. But he dropped the case after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a DOJ policy against prosecuting sitting presidents. In another email from the January 2023 email chain, Hulser directed Duree to check the Jan. 6 Committee’s report for members who interacted with Trump and Giuliani on Jan. 6, the day of the U.S. Capitol breach, underscoring how Smith’s prosecutors used the investigative work of the committee to help with their probe. Republicans have widely dismissed the since-disbanded Jan. 6 panel as hyper-partisan as it comprised seven Democrats and two vocally anti-Trump Republicans. Hulser later said Smith wanted to “narrow” down the list of 16, leading Duree to provide a bolded list of names “we should get in the first round.” No. 1 on the list, for instance, read “Brian Babin (texts with Meadows; calls with Chip Roy, [Scott] Perry, Ratcliffe, and Meadows).” Other names noted on the list followed a similar structure. Roy and Perry were known targets in Smith’s probe and previously revealed that they had their records subpoenaed by the special counsel’s team. Fox News Digital reached out to a Smith representative for comment, as well as the current House lawmakers mentioned in the emails and Zeldin’s office.
Top counterterrorism official resigns in protest of US war against Iran
The nation’s top counterterrorism official resigned Tuesday in protest of the U.S. war against Iran, saying Tehran posed no imminent threat. Joe Kent said in a post on X, “After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.” “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” he wrote. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” In a pointed letter to President Donald Trump, Kent said the war marked a departure from the administration’s earlier approach to avoiding prolonged conflicts in the Middle East. IRANIAN REGIME SPREADING ANTI-ISRAEL PROPAGANDA ACROSS DOZENS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: REPORT “Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation,” he said, seemingly referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, a series of U.S. strikes in June 2025 on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Kent wrote that in his first term, Trump understood how to “decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars,” citing the killing of former Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. Prior to the current conflict known as Operation Epic Fury, Kent claimed that “high-ranking Israeli officials” and members of the media had deployed a “misinformation campaign” to “undermine” America First. “This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was an clear path to swift victory,” Kent said. The National Counterterrorism Center director reports directly to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and is a top five intelligence community post in any administration. WHY GULF STATES AREN’T JOINING THE WAR AGAINST IRAN — DESPITE ATTACKS ON THEIR SOIL Gabbard, a longtime critic of regime change operations, has been quiet since the Iran conflict. Her office could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation. She recently hired Dan Caldwell, a prominent voice for restraint-minded foreign policy, as an advisor to senior intelligence officials, a source familiar with the move confirmed to Fox News Digital. Caldwell was fired from his role as a senior advisor to War Secretary Pete Hegseth during a leak investigation that has not produced public results. A former Army Green Beret and CIA paramilitary officer with 11 combat deployments, Kent ran for Congress unsuccessfully twice with Trump’s backing in the state of Washington before being appointed to his role as counterterrorism chief. Kent’s late wife, Shannon, was a Navy intelligence officer killed in 2019 in an ISIS bombing in Syria. Kent wrote on X Tuesday, “As a veteran who deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my wife Shannon in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people or justifies the cost of American lives.” The White House could not immediately be reached for comment on Kent’s resignation. Taylor Budowich, who departed his role as Trump’s deputy chief of staff in September 2025, claimed on X that Kent was a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.” “This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned,” Budowich wrote on X Tuesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Kent was “clearly wrong.” “I got all the briefings,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “We all understood there was clearly an imminent threat, that Iran was very close to the enrichment of nuclear capability, and they were building missiles at a pace that no one in the region could keep up with.” Kent’s tenure drew sharp opposition from Democrats during his confirmation, largely over his past political statements and associations, including reported contacts with figures tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, movement and his alignment with election denial rhetoric during his congressional campaigns, but supporters pointed to his extensive combat and intelligence experience. Operation Epic Fury is now in its third week, with sustained air and missile exchanges across the region, including Iranian retaliatory strikes against U.S. forces, Israel, and Gulf states. While the Trump administration initially signaled the operation could last four to six weeks, officials have acknowledged the timeline could stretch longer as Iran continues to resist and regional tensions remain high.
Map shows glaring scope of auto theft increase in Walz’s Minneapolis: ‘Deterrence problem’
The city of Minneapolis has seen a dramatic increase in auto thefts so far in 2026, causing rising pressure on Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey to address the situation. The worrying trend was highlighted by Crime Watch Minneapolis, a volunteer-operated news organization, which shared a graphic on X showing how widespread the problem has become throughout the city. More than 1,000 auto thefts were reported in January and February of this year in Minneapolis, a city of approximately 430,000 people. This represents an increase of nearly 35% compared to the same period last year, according to Crime Watch Minneapolis. The trend appears to be continuing into March, with at least 14 reported auto thefts between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. on March 14 and six more during the afternoon on that same day, according to the news site. Over the last few months, Walz and Frey have made numerous statements attacking ICE and blaming federal immigration authorities for making the city less safe. Earlier this year, the two were the focus of a Department of Justice investigation into an alleged conspiracy to coerce or obstruct federal law enforcement during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minnesota. MCDONALD’S LOCKS DOORS TO KEEP OUT INDIVIDUALS WHO PRESENT ‘A RISK’ IN CRIME-RIDDEN MINNEAPOLIS AREA Additionally, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara suggested to local media that Trump’s Operation Metro Surge was a “contributing factor” to the rise in auto thefts because “officers and investigators were consistently pulled from their normal assigned duties.” “This isn’t an ICE problem,” retired Minnesota State Patrol Lt. John Nagel told Fox News Digital. “It’s a deterrence problem.” “As a 30-year law enforcement veteran, I can tell you this: auto theft goes down when city leaders make it a priority and criminals know there will be consequences. We’ve seen that in St. Paul, where focused enforcement drove car theft down sharply, while Minneapolis is back over 1,000 auto thefts in just the first two months of this year.” Nagel, running for Congress as a Republican against Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that Frey and Walz have “spent years making excuses, undermining deterrence, and tolerating a revolving door for repeat offenders—especially juveniles.” WALZ IN THE HOT SEAT AS CRITICS’ PREDICTIONS ON HIS CONTROVERSIAL NEW LAW COME TRUE: ‘CONCERNING TRENDS’ “If you want fewer stolen cars, you need more officers, proactive policing, prosecutors willing to act, and a juvenile system with the capacity to intervene before these kids become career criminals,” Nagel said, referencing the understaffed Minneapolis Police Department that has been severely understaffed since losing 40% of its ranks after the death of George Floyd in 2020. A Minneapolis Police Department spokesperson acknowledged to Fox News Digital that the department “continues to be understaffed” and pointed to differences between Minneapolis and St. Paul, including the policy that MPD does “not pursue stolen vehicles.” The spokesperson also reiterated the claim from Chief O’Hara that Operation Metro Surge was a “contributing factor” and said that the 1,196 auto thefts in the city year to date break down into: “Non-Kia/Hyundai vehicles taken without keys — auto theft up 59%, Kia/Hyundai taken without keys (ignition peeled and punched) auto theft up 25% (313 vs 251), Keys-In auto theft up 18% (291 vs 247) cases. Victim said they left vehicle running, attempted auto theft up 10% — 99 this year vs 90 last year. Car not actually stolen.” “While the recent spike earlier in the year reversed the trend somewhat, the rolling 12-month data still shows that auto thefts remain 38% below their mid-2023 peak,” the spokesperson said, adding that the city “is also seeing signs of a broader nationwide trend involving the use of key-programming technology to steal vehicles.” Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Walz and Frey for comment but did not receive a response. A spokesperson for County Attorney Mary Moriarty told Fox News Digital that motor vehicle thefts are “really tough for police to solve,” noting that only about 3% of cases result in an arrest, making “deterrence much less likely.” The spokesperson added that the office launched an initiative in mid-2023 in response to a spike in car thefts and said University of Minnesota research later found a 58% drop in cases involving teens stealing cars since the program began, though the official said multiple factors likely contributed to the decline. “It takes a very wide-angle lens and adherence/interest in what the data actually indicates to properly address these dynamics,” the spokesperson said.
Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia released from ICE detention
NewsFeed Palestinian activist Leqaa Kordia was released from an ICE detention facility in Texas after a year in custody. The 33-year-old from the occupied West Bank was the last person connected to the Columbia University anti-genocide protests still held by US immigration authorities. Published On 17 Mar 202617 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Israel policy looms large over US elections in Illinois amid Iran war
Washington, DC – Pro-Israel groups in the United States are spending millions of dollars in elections to assert their influence over the rising anger towards Israeli policies. A set of primaries in the Midwestern state of Illinois on Tuesday represents an early test for the strength of pro-Israel politics in the US amid the countries’ joint war on Iran. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The Chicago area Democratic primaries, where groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) have emerged as some of the largest spenders, come as Israel’s popularity in the US hits a historic low. As AIPAC’s brand becomes increasingly rejected by Democrats, newly formed political action committees (PACs) with generic names that share vendors with the pro-Israel lobby group have been spending heavily against progressives in Illinois. Several so-called dark-money groups that do not have to reveal their funders until after the vote have endorsed the same candidates as AIPAC. According to an investigation by Chicago’s public radio WBEZ, AIPAC and its donors have spent $13.7m on the primaries, including through funds funnelled to shadow PACs. Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for the progressive group Justice Democrats, said AIPAC is using “covert shell” groups because it is aware of the unpopularity of Israel, especially after the “live-streamed genocide” in Gaza. He noted that AIPAC’s election arm is called the United Democracy Project, a name that does not mention Israel. “AIPAC has always relied on voters not knowing the whole story,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “AIPAC has become such a toxic force in the Democratic Party that voters now, when they see a candidate backed by AIPAC, they reject them simply for that support.” A source close to AIPAC told Jewish Insider this week that the group is focused on defeating six candidates who are critical of Israel across four contests in Illinois. The Kat Abughazaleh race In one of the most closely watched contests, Kat Abughazaleh, a 26-year-old progressive activist with a large online following, is locked in a crowded race for the open seat vacated by retiring Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. Abughazaleh, who has openly called Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide, is running against several candidates for the safe Democratic seat. Her most viable opponents are Daniel Biss, the mayor of the Chicago suburb of Evanston, who is critical of some Israeli policies and backed by the liberal Zionist group J Street, and State Senator Laura Fine, seen as the pro-Israel candidate in the race. An AIPAC-linked group initially attacked Biss to prop up Fine. But fearing another miscalculation, as in the recent race in New Jersey, where attacks on the centrist candidate who is mildly critical of Israel helped an all-out progressive activist win, pro-Israel groups have focused on Abughazaleh in recent days. And in a bizarre twist, a group linked to AIPAC ran an advertisement last week supporting Bushra Amiwala, a long-shot candidate who is fiercely opposed to US aid to Israel, in an apparent effort to siphon off votes from Abughazaleh and possibly Biss. Amiwala was quick to disavow the advertisement. “This is an attempt to smear my name by putting my name next to pro-genocide, pro-war… billionaires,” she said. AIPAC did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment by the time of publication. Andrabi from Justice Democrats said that AIPAC’s tactics show the degree to which the lobbying group has become a “toxic” brand for Democratic voters. Justice Democrats has endorsed Abughazaleh in the race, but Andrabi said that even if Biss wins, it would be a defeat for AIPAC. A recent Public Policy Polling survey suggested that Abughazaleh is a close second to Biss, at 20 percent to 24 percent, respectively, with Fine behind them at 14 percent. In a Democratic primary in a neighbouring district, progressive candidate Junaid Ahmed has also been making inroads and closing the gap with the pro-Israel candidate, former Congresswoman Melissa Bean. While Ahmed has focused his campaign on domestic issues, he has highlighted AIPAC’s interference in the race. Advertisement “It’s dark money vs democracy, and tomorrow we will send AIPAC packing,” Ahmed wrote in a social media post on Monday. ‘AIPAC is losing the long-term battle’ Other competitive races include a primary contest to fill the seat of Representative Robin Kelly, who is now running for the Senate. The race pits Jesse Jackson Jr, son of the late civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, against several candidates, including Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller, backed by pro-Israel groups, and State Senator Robert Peters, who has been critical of AIPAC. To fill the seat of retiring Democratic Congressman Danny Davis, another crowded contest is taking place on Tuesday. According to Jewish Insider, AIPAC’s priority is to defeat activist Kina Collins in that race. The other candidates include Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin and State Representative LaShawn Ford. A primary election will also take place to determine the Democratic and Republican nominees for the Senate, as incumbent Dick Durbin is set to leave Congress at the end of his term. On the Democratic side, where the winner will likely replace Durbin, Congresswoman Kelly, who has also accused Israel of genocide, is facing Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi – both strong Israel supporters. Andrabi said that no matter the results on Tuesday, polls show AIPAC’s shrinking influence. He also accused the pro-Israel lobby group of “moving the goal posts” from electing its favoured candidates to blocking progressive hopefuls. “We want to win all these races without a doubt. But I think it is very clear that AIPAC is losing the long-term battle for the future of this party,” Andrabi told Al Jazeera. Although the majority of Democrats in Congress are pro-Israel, an NBC poll published on Monday suggests that only 17 percent of the party’s voters sympathise more with Israelis than Palestinians. Tuesday’s elections pose an early test to voters’ attitudes towards the war on Iran, whose impact is starting to bite Americans at the petrol pump. While most Democratic candidates have voiced opposition
Top Democrat in US House slams Trump’s ‘reckless war of choice’
NewsFeed “Reckless war of choice.” US House of Representatives Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries criticised Donald Trump for what he called a failure to adequately prepare for the consequences of launching a war on Iran. Published On 17 Mar 202617 Mar 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share plus2googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)