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.
Senior House Republican eviscerates Dems for ‘fear campaign’ against Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
EXCLUSIVE: The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is accusing Democrats of lying about President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital on Monday he believed Democrats had been waging a “fear campaign to scare Americans” ever since Republicans began discussions about the budget reconciliation process. “Now, Democrats are pedaling incorrect reports that include policies that aren’t even in the bill,” Guthrie said. “This bill refocuses Medicaid on mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly – not illegal immigrants and capable adults who choose not to work.” ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION The Kentucky Republican was specifically referring to his panel’s portion of Trump’s bill, the text of which was released late on Sunday night. The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction, including over federal health programs, telecommunications and energy, was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts to pay for other priorities in the bill. It’s the largest share of any of the 11 committees involved in the reconciliation process – some of which have been given additional funding to enact Trump’s priorities on tax cuts, defense, immigration and the border. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), however, said on Monday the legislation would likely achieve even more savings than its $880 billion benchmark. Guthrie himself told Republicans on a lawmaker-only call on Sunday night that the committee found “north of $900 billion” in savings, a source told Fox News Digital. Democrats immediately seized on the legislation as what they saw as a smoking gun of Republican plans to cut Medicaid. But the details released on Sunday night appear to show House GOP leaders veered away from the much more severe cuts to the low-income healthcare program that some conservative lawmakers were pushing. The legislation would put a new 80-hour-per-month work requirement on certain able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, aged 19 through 64. It would also put guardrails on states spending funds on their expanded Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who make up to 138% of the poverty level. More specifically, states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants could see their federal Medicaid reimbursement dollars diminished, putting more of that cost on the state itself. The bill would also require states with expanded Medicaid populations to perform eligibility checks every six months to ensure the system is not being abused. State Medicaid plans would be affected by a moratorium on any new state provider taxes, while freezing current rates where they are. State provider taxes are state-imposed fees on healthcare providers that help those states get more federal funding for Medicaid. BROWN UNIVERSITY IN GOP CROSSHAIRS AFTER STUDENT’S DOGE-LIKE EMAIL KICKS OFF FRENZY New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the committee, released a CBO projection requested by his own party that said at least 13.7 million people would lose health insurance based on a draft of Republicans’ Medicaid proposals. “Let’s be clear, Republican leadership released this bill under cover of night because they don’t want people to know their true intentions,” Pallone said. “This is not trimming fat from around the edges, it’s cutting to the bone. The overwhelming majority of the savings in this bill will come from taking healthcare away from millions of Americans. Nowhere in the bill are they cutting ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ – they’re cutting people’s healthcare and using that money to give tax breaks to billionaires.” Guthrie dismissed the calculations in the Democrats’ press release. “It is reckless that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claimed an artificially high number in alleged coverage loss just so they can fearmonger and score political points,” he told Fox News Digital. “This reconciliation is a win for Americans in every part of the country, and it’s a shame Democrats are intentionally reflexively opposing commonsense policies to strengthen the program.” Republicans are expected to advance the Energy and Commerce portion of the bill on Tuesday afternoon. If it passes through committee, it will be added to the final bill, which Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., hopes to pass the House by Memorial Day.
White South African refugees brought to US due to ‘government-sponsored racial discrimination’: State Dept
FIRST ON FOX: The United States is set to welcome 49 white South African refugees who are victims of “government-sponsored racial discrimination” in their homeland, according to the State Department. The U.S.-chartered flight touched down at Dulles Airport in Virginia on Monday afternoon, when Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau welcomed the group of Afrikaners. “Faced with undeniable government-sponsored racial discrimination in South Africa, the first Afrikaner refugees have arrived in the United States,” a senior State Department official said in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital. “The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program was intended for situations like this. Under President Trump’s strong leadership, the State Department has helped to provide a new life for these refugees in America, where they will live in freedom, safety, and opportunity.” TRUMP TO BRING WHITE AFRIKANERS TO US AS REFUGEES FROM SOUTH AFRICA, IN WAKE OF EXPROPRIATION LEGISLATION President Donald Trump first initiated their resettlement with an executive order entitled, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” directing the State Department to bump up Afrikaners to the front of the line for resettlement. South Africans are now able to submit a statement of interest with the U.S. embassy in Pretoria, which will review the documents and contact those who are eligible for the interview process. Trump has virtually halted the refugee program for those from war- and famine-ravaged nations like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. White South Africans say they have been denied jobs and targeted for violence on account of their race. Trump’s executive order came in response to a law passed by the South African government allowing it to take private land for public use, sometimes without compensation. Trump claimed the law would be used to target South Africa’s White minority Afrikaner group, descended from Dutch and other European settlers who arrived more than 300 years ago. TRUMP, SOUTH AFRICA IN GROWING ROW OVER HOTLY CONTESTED LAND LAW, COUNTRY’S DEALS WITH US FOES The South African foreign ministry said claims that White South Africans faced a “well-founded fear of persecution” were “unfounded.” “It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy; a country which has in fact suffered true persecution under Apartheid rule and has worked tirelessly to prevent such levels of discrimination from ever occurring again,” spokesperson Chrispin Phiri at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation added. The Afrikaners’ arrival comes as Trump tries to push back on the racial politics of South Africa, where adviser Elon Musk grew up during apartheid. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The Afrikaner families traveling to the U.S. are largely from farming communities. Since apartheid ended in the 1990s, South Africa has sought to atone for segregationist policies, including with the land redistribution law signed in January. The policy came after a 2017 audit found that White South Africans owned three-quarters of individually-owned farms and agricultural property, while making up 7% of the population. Black South Africans had been denied the right to own prime agricultural land during the apartheid era.
Dem’s immigration reform plan adds Border Patrol agents, offers select migrants pathway to citizenship
Arizona Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego unveiled a border security and immigration reform plan that was immediately endorsed by several House Democrats. Gallego, the son of Mexican and Colombian immigrants, offered a “five-pillar” framework he said expresses his commitment to securing the southern border. “We don’t have to choose between border security and immigration reform,” Gallego said. “We can and should do both.” STABLECOIN BILL, INITIALLY BIPARTISAN, HITS SNAG AS DEMS SPLINTER “Americans deserve the right to feel safe knowing their border is secure, but for decades, Congress has tried and failed to take action because politics got in the way. It’s time to push forward and enact a plan that works,” Gallego said. Typically seen as a Republican issue, Gallego’s border security plan combines GOP priorities like staffing-up the Border Patrol, with Democrats’ favored “pathway to citizenship” for select migrants, in part for economic benefit. Gallego’s plan also outlines asylum process reform by “expedit[ing]” people’s passage through the system and also seeking to enforce that other countries do their “fair share” to resettle asylum seekers and combat cartel violence and economic instability in their home areas. ARIZONA KAMALA HARRIS RALLY SPEAKERS COURT ‘JOHN MCCAIN REPUBLICANS’ SUPPORT; MAN BRINGS BORDER MAP FOR VP It increases the annual green card quota and increases the use of e-Verify, an application that verifies an employee’s legal status when it comes to working in the U.S. In terms of asylum case reform, Gallego seeks to hire additional officers to process claims and afford them more jurisdiction in deciding the outcome of applicants’ cases. “I commend Sen. Gallego for this pragmatic and much-needed framework,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, a supporter of the plan. “More Democrats need to move to the middle on this issue and embrace this type of approach,” he said. “As a border-district congressman, I know it’s past time we reform our asylum system, stop the flow of dangerous drugs by investing in our Border Patrol officers, develop legal pathways, tackle the root causes of irregular migration, and ensure South Texas, and communities all along the border – can safely thrive.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP In the north, Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., also lent his support to the plan. “Sen. Gallego is a serious Democratic leader, and I applaud him for offering a balanced immigration policy that secures our borders, fixes the broken asylum system, grows our economy, and treats immigrants with dignity,” Suozzi told Fox News Digital. “We can achieve these goals without pandering to the far left’s impractical demands or the far right’s mean-spirited extremism.” Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Gallego’s plan.
Federal judge’s order for Trump to return deported migrant temporarily halted on appeal
A U.S. appeals court will review the Trump administration’s bid to avoid returning a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year, keeping him in Salvadoran custody for now. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last week to take up Trump’s appeal – staying through May 15 a lower court’s ruling that required the Trump administration to immediately return him to U.S. soil. The appeals court also ordered plaintiffs in the case to submit their response to the court before noon on Monday. The Trump administration will have through 9 a.m. Tuesday to respond. At issue is the case of Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan national previously referred to in court documents as “Cristian,” who was deported to El Salvador in March in the Trump administration’s early wave of Alien Enemies Act removals. FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS RETURN OF DEPORTED MIGRANT TO US, REJECTING TRUMP REQUEST U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ruled in April that his deportation violated an agreement the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck in 2024 with Lozano-Camargo and a group of young asylum seekers who had entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children. Under that agreement, DHS agreed not to deport the migrants in question until their requests for asylum could be fully adjudicated in U.S. court. Last month, Gallagher said Lozano-Camargo’s deportation was a “breach of contract,” since his asylum case had not yet been heard, and ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his release. She reiterated that decision in court last week, rejecting a new filing from the Justice Department that said it had determined Lozano-Camargo was eligible for removal under the law, citing his earlier arrest and conviction for cocaine possession in Houston this year. Justice Department officials claimed in earlier court documents that Lozano-Camargo was a member of a “violent terrorist gang” but have not linked him to Tren de Aragua. Portions of their most recent court filing have been redacted. Gallagher had specifically ordered the Trump administration to make a “good faith request to the government of El Salvador” to “release Cristian, [or Lozano-Camargo], to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS,” which it had not done. BOASBERG GRILLS DOJ OVER REMARKS FROM TRUMP AND NOEM, FLOATS MOVING MIGRANTS TO GITMO IN ACTION-PACKED HEARING Gallagher emphasized in court last week that her decision has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request, and is based solely on due process protections. “I don’t think that this is a case about whether or not Cristian is going to eventually get asylum,” she told lawyers for the Trump administration. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Process is important. We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end so we’ll just skip that part,’” she said. “Whether he ultimately receives asylum is not the issue. The issue is – and has always been – one of process.” Still, Gallagher agreed to stay her ruling for 48 hours, giving the administration time to appeal it to the higher court, which it did.
Senate parliamentarian: Who is the unelected official getting say on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill?’
House and Senate Republicans have been working for months on a sweeping piece of legislation addressing a litany of President Donald Trump‘s agenda items. Such a bill is possible via the budget reconciliation process, which allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to pass broad policy overhauls while totally sidelining the minority. It lowers the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, lining it up with the House’s simple majority rules. However, one of the caveats is that the measures tucked into the bill must deal with taxes, spending or the national debt. One key person gets the final say over what is relevant to that sphere – the Senate parliamentarian. The parliamentarian, who heads the Senate’s parliamentarian office, is a nonpartisan, unelected role appointed by the Senate majority leader. It does not have a fixed term. ANTI-ABORTION PROVIDER MEASURE IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ COULD SPARK HOUSE GOP REBELLION The person’s role is to advise the Senate and its staff on the chamber’s rules and precedent. The normally low-profile role has been thrust into the spotlight several times in congressional history, however, particularly surrounding reconciliation. “At the end of the day, it really is a judgment call. And sometimes you’re making a judgment call where you’re relying on similar situations or maybe analogous situations where we dealt with reconciliation in the past, maybe other times you’re dealing with a completely novel issue, and you’re having to figure it out,” one former senior Senate aide described to Fox News Digital. “Or maybe, and this happens a lot, people are trying get things through, debating or citing past provisions of previous reconciliation bills…saying ‘Hey, this provision is very similar, and this got through.’” The Senate parliamentarian leads the “Byrd bath,” a key part of the reconciliation process where the legislation is carefully examined, and any measures found not relevant to the contours of reconciliation are stripped out. Notably, progressive Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., called for the firing of the Senate parliamentarian in 2021 when she forced Senate Democrats to scuttle their $15 per hour minimum wage effort from their reconciliation bill at the time. That same parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed by the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is still serving today and has largely garnered bipartisan respect for her handling of the role. MacDonough, appointed in 2012, is the first woman in the job. She was a part of the parliamentarian’s office before that and briefly served as an attorney in the Department of Justice, according to NPR. “I would say that this particular parliamentarian sees herself more as, almost an administrative law judge, and I think that she has generally viewed some of the things that the Senate has been allowed to get away with in reconciliation as a departure from precedent,” said Paul Winfree, president of the Economic Policy Innovation Center and a former Senate Budget Committee staffer himself, told Fox News Digital. “I think that she has more of a ‘small-c’ conservative approach to what is allowable. At the same time, a lot of what is considered to be allowable under reconciliation is dependent on estimates that are produced by the Congressional Budget Office or the joint tax committee.” When asked if any of the current public reconciliation plans could face issues with the parliamentarian, both people who spoke with Fox News Digital floated an accounting maneuver that would largely obscure the cost of permanently extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. That scoring method, known as current policy baseline, would zero out the cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts by measuring it as an extension of the current economic conditions, rather than factoring in how much less the government is taking in via tax revenues with the cuts in effect. Senate Republicans have signaled they believe they have the legal basis for moving forward with that calculation, however, without the parliamentarian’s say. “We think the law is very clear, and ultimately the budget committee chairman makes that determination,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters last month. HOUSE REPUBLICANS RELEASE TAX PLAN FOR TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ The Senate GOP aide who spoke with Fox News Digital said, “If that were to have fallen out or just, you didn’t know what was going to happen, that would just affect so many provisions in the bill.” “Because all of a sudden, you know, all these things start scoring [as an increase to the deficit]…and things become more problematic with your instructions,” the former aide said. Winfree, however, said Republicans have appeared to be mindful overall with how they have written the text so far. “They’ve actually been pretty conservative in how they’ve approached the language,” he said. He said it was “possible some of the immigration provisions could get a second look,” but that even then, he believed it would “ultimately be okay.” Republican leaders have said they hope to have a bill on Trump’s desk by Fourth of July. Fox News Digital reached out to the current Senate Majority Leader’s office for comment.
Trump’s Saudi talks, Houthi ceasefire strain ties with Netanyahu ahead of Middle East trip
President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week to advance a flurry of high-stakes negotiations, but his trip comes as cracks seem to have appeared in his relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On the agenda are reviving hostage talks with Israel and Hamas, exploring an off-ramp for the Russia-Ukraine war and potentially a civil nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, even if the kingdom refuses to normalize ties with Israel. However, an apparent chill between Trump and Netanyahu has grabbed the attention of Middle East watchers. Yanir Cozin, a correspondent for Israeli Army Radio, claimed this week that Trump had “cut contact” with the Israeli leader. That report has not been independently confirmed, but it aligns with an emerging perception in Israeli political circles that the Trump-Netanyahu axis may be fraying. 4TH ROUND OF US-IRAN TALKS ENDS AS TRUMP SET TO EMBARK ON HISTORIC MIDDLE EAST TOUR “There’s always a method to the president’s madness, so to speak,” said Scott Feltman, executive vice president of the One Israel Fund. “There is a prevailing thought that [Trump] very much wants Israel to stand on its own two feet… To some extent, he may be giving the prime minister a little bit of tough love.” Sources told Reuters Trump is prepared to move forward with a civil nuclear deal with Riyadh even if Saudi Arabia holds off on normalizing relations with Israel – a dramatic shift from both his first administration and Biden’s, which had tied such deals to broader normalization goals. For Israel, that shift may be unsettling. Riyadh has long insisted on the creation of a Palestinian state as a precondition for full ties with Israel, an outcome Netanyahu has rejected. Over the weekend, it was revealed Trump was in talks with Doha officials about a potential deal for Qatar to loan the U.S. a jet to replace Air Force One. Israeli supporters have long been skeptical of Qatar, claiming it has ties to Hamas. Meanwhile, frustration in Jerusalem grew this week when the U.S. reached a ceasefire agreement with Yemen’s Houthi militants. The deal, brokered without Israeli input, required the Houthis to halt attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes but made no mention of their assaults on Israel. “Trump, to a large extent, basically threw Israel under the bus,” said Avi Melamed, a former Israeli intelligence official and regional analyst. “I think the Israeli government is puzzled, embarrassed … particularly in the context of the Houthis.” Netanyahu made clear Israel would not rely on the U.S. to handle the Houthi threat. “Israel will defend itself by its own forces,” he said Thursday, with Defense Minister Israel Katz echoing that position. TRUMP SAYS LAST LIVING AMERICAN HOSTAGE EDAN ALEXANDER WILL BE RELEASED BY HAMAS Despite the rhetoric, the U.S. continues to support Israel’s defenses. On Friday, a U.S. THAAD missile system intercepted rockets fired toward Israel by Houthi forces. “The United States isn’t required to get permission from Israel to make some type of arrangement that would get the Houthis from firing on our ships,” U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told Israel’s Channel 12 this week. However, Huckabee shot down any report of tensions between the two world leaders. “It’s reckless & irresponsible for press to allege that @POTUS and @IsraeliPM are not getting along,” Huckabee said in a post on X. “Bibi has spent more time with @realDonaldTrump than I have in past 3 months & I’m his ambassador! The relationship between US & Israel remains STRONG!” “Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump. We continue to work closely with our ally Israel to ensure remaining hostages in Gaza are freed, Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon, and to strengthen regional security in the Middle East,” National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Fox News Digital in response to the reports of tensions. Other experts caution against reading too much into the friction. “The Israelis never had any false impressions that the U.S. was striking the Houthis to defend Israel,” said Gregg Roman of the Middle East Forum. “It was to protect global commerce… And it’s not like the U.S. has abandoned Israel.” Roman also downplayed tensions over the potential Saudi nuclear deal. “I think a safer Saudi Arabia, at the end of the day, will lead to a safer Israel.” Adding to the regional uncertainty is Netanyahu’s silence on Iran. While his government has tallied recent gains against Iranian proxies – Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Assad regime – he has so far refrained from weighing in publicly on nuclear negotiations with Tehran. Still, Netanyahu says he remains in close contact with the Trump team about Iran. “I said to President Trump that I hope that this is what the negotiators will do,” he recently told reporters. “We’re in close contact with the United States. But I said one way or the other—Iran will not have nuclear weapons.” Trump “is not scheduled to visit Israel on this trip, and I actually think that that might very well be a good thing, because he may find that he hears from the Sunni states that they’re just as upset about the path that is taking place right now with negotiations with Iran,” said Feltman. “They have just as much to lose from a nuclear Iranian regime.”
DNC vice chair slams Trump as ‘punk,’ ‘would-be dictator’ in fiery Pa. town hall
A Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chairman fired up a crowd outside Philadelphia on Saturday after calling President Donald Trump a “punk” and accusing his administration of modern-day book burning for adjusting content on government websites. “There is a strategy of authoritarians and would-be dictators and punks like Donald Trump,” Malcolm Kenyatta said at a town hall in Levittown that was officially targeting swing-district Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. As part of that “strategy,” Kenyatta said, “one of the first things they go after is history.” “We know that before, they used to take the books, put them in a little pile and burn them. Now they try to delete stuff off of our federal websites. But the effect is the same. They want us to forget what we are made of,” he went on, in a clip circulated by the left-leaning outlet “The Keystone.” OBAMA SLAMS PRO-TRUMP MEN AT PHILADELPHIA RALLY WHILE SPRINGSTEEN WARNS GOP NOMINEE IS ‘AN AMERICAN TYRANT’ Since taking office, Trump has overseen agencies that have altered or removed content relating to DEI, climate change and gender ideology. “Donald Trump is not the first bully or would-be authoritarian that Americans have taken on. We know it here in Pennsylvania. We don’t have a good relationship with kings,” he said, as Penn’s Woods was founded by Quakers and other religious exiles fed up with European authoritarians. “I’m not bowing to a king.” Kenyatta is also the state representative for the Temple University area of North Philadelphia, and the first openly gay person of color to serve in Harrisburg. WHO IS THE DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING AT ICE DETENTION CENTER? He added that “people like Fitzpatrick” lack the “guts” to stand up to Trump. At another recent appearance in Berks County – which includes Reading and Hamburg – Kenyatta railed against the arrest of Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka at an ICE detention facility there. “He was peacefully protesting and speaking up for his constituents and his neighbors. He wasn’t inciting an insurrection… because if he was doing that, they might have offered him a position in the Cabinet,” Kenyatta said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Kenyatta notably finished third in the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate primary won by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and unsuccessfully ran for auditor general in 2024 against GOP incumbent Timothy DeFoor. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields responded Monday, telling Fox News Digital that Kenyatta is a “no-name state representative who was trounced in the Pennsylvania Senate primary due to his radical and unserious positions.” “The prominence the Democrat Party affords him reflects the party’s disarray and desire to satisfy its radical base,” Fields said. Fox News Digital reached out to Fitzpatrick for comment.
Homeland Security subpoenas California for possible cash benefits to illegals
The Department of Homeland Security issued subpoenas to the government of California on Monday seeking records related to alleged disbursements of federal funds to illegal immigrants. ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations [HSI] office in Los Angeles filed the subpoenas this week, targeting the state’s Cash Assistance Program for Immigrants [CAPI]. According to the program’s website, CAPI is intended to provide monthly cash benefits to aged, blind, and disabled non-citizens who are ineligible for federal Supplemental Security Income, but the White House claims it provides benefits to illegal immigrants who cannot access social security benefits. DHS Sec. Kristi Noem criticized California politicians in a statement, saying, “Radical left politicians in California prioritize illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens access to cash benefits. The Trump Administration is working together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally.” She added, “If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over. While this subpoena focuses only on Los Angeles County – it is just the beginning.” TRUMP GOES TOE-TO-TOE WITH SANCTUARY CITIES OVER DEPORTATION AS ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION CRACKDOWN SET TO BEGIN HSI’s subpoenas seeks records including the name and date of birth of CAPI applicants dating back to 2021, as well as copies of applications, the immigration status of those applicants and other documents relating to the program. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. ICE ARRESTS MORE THAN 530 MIGRANTS IN ONE DAY AMID TRUMP’S CRACKDOWN The investigation comes more than a month after a separate study found that California is funneling billions of federal taxpayer dollars into paying for illegal immigrants. The Economic Policy Innovation Center [EPIC] report drew a line between California’s Medicaid provider taxes and what, on paper, appears to be nearly $4 billion in state funding going toward illegal immigrants’ healthcare and other initiatives. But that funding is actually coming from the federal government, according to EPIC, via reimbursements to California. “The state of California, colluding with insurance companies who cover Medicaid beneficiaries, has created one of the most outrageous ones yet, a money laundering scheme that results in California obtaining more than $19 billion in federal money without any state contribution over the period from April 2023 through December 2026,” EPIC’s report says. The paper continued that those funds were “used to implement major expansions in the Medicaid program to fund illegal immigrants and long-term care (LTC) for the wealthy.” A spokesperson for California’s Department of Healthcare Services pushed back on EPIC’s report, arguing it is “misleading” and urging people to visit a link on their website “for accurate information on this topic.” Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.