Trump Indicates the US ‘Hit’ a Facility That He Tied to Alleged Drug Boats

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Trump Indicates the US ‘Hit’ a Facility That He Tied to Alleged Drug Boats

(Headline USA)  President Donald Trump has indicated that the U.S. has “hit” a facility in South America as he wages a pressure campaign on Venezuela, but the U.S. offered no other details.

Trump made the comments in what seemed to be an impromptu radio interview Friday.

The president, who called radio host John Catsimatidis during a program on WABC radio, was discussing U.S. strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have killed at least 105 people in 29 known strikes since early September.

“I don’t know if you read or saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said. “Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So, we hit them very hard.”

Trump did not offer any additional details in the interview, including what kind of attack may have occurred. The Pentagon on Monday referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or one of the U.S. military’s social media accounts has in the past typically announced every boat strike in a post on X, but they have not posted any notice of any strike on a facility.

The press office of Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment on Trump’s statement.

Trump for months has suggested he may conduct land strikes in South America, in Venezuela or possibly another country, and in recent weeks has been saying the U.S. would move beyond striking boats and would strike on land “soon.”

In October, Trump confirmed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela. The agency did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday.

Along with the strikes, the U.S. has sent warships, built up military forces in the region, seized two oil tankers and pursued a third.

The Trump administration has said it is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels and seeking to stop the flow of narcotics into the United States.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from power.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said in an interview with Vanity Fair published this month that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro ‘cries uncle.’”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

 

China Launches Major Military Drills Encircling Taiwan in Response to US Arms Sales

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China Launches Major Military Drills Encircling Taiwan in Response to US Arms Sales

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has launched major military drills encircling the island of Taiwan, a step Beijing has made clear is a response to the US recently approving more than $11 billion in arms sales for Taipei.

According to CGTN, Chen Binhua, a Chinese government spokesman, said the drills were aimed at curbing “collusion between ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and external elements that endanger peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and fundamentally safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian was asked at his daily press briefing if the US arms sales were the trigger for the drills. He didn’t directly answer, but strongly condemned the deals in his response.

“Let me stress that to advance their separatist agenda, the DPP authorities are turning Taiwan into a powder keg,” Lin said, referring to Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party. “Their massive and desperate arms purchase further reveal their true nature as provocateurs, saboteurs of peace and war-mongers. Anyone who tries to arm Taiwan to contain China will only embolden the separatists and push the Taiwan Strait closer to the peril of armed conflict.”

The South China Morning Post reported that the Chinese drills, dubbed “Justice Mission 2025,” were taking place in the waters and airspace of the Taiwan Strait and in areas to the north, southwest, southeast, and east of Taiwan’s main island, and were expected to continue on Tuesday. China first conducted drills encircling Taiwan in August 2022 in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island.

The Trump administration announced its approval of eight separate sales to Taiwan on December 17, totaling over $11 billion, which is more than the $8.4 billion in arms sold to Taiwan during the entire Biden administration. The deals include a sale worth more than $4 billion for HIMARS rocket systems and related equipment, including Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), rockets that can be fired from the HIMARS and can reach the coast of mainland China if fired from Taiwan.

SCMP reported that footage released by China’s PLA of the drills included a simulated strike against a US-made HIMARS system. The PLA also had footage showing an H6-K bomber taking off with two YJ-12 supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles, which are designed to target aircraft carriers.

Maj. Gen. Meng Xiangqing, who works at the PLA’s National Defense University, was quoted as saying that China has “plenty of strategic options to punish independence forces in Taiwan and to deter the US” and that the PLA “can turn the exercise into a war at any time.”

 

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.  

DOJ Subpoenaed Flight Records for Reporter Who Exposed Epstein Scandal

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DOJ Subpoenaed Flight Records for Reporter Who Exposed Epstein Scandal

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown’s late 2018 series on sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contributed the Justice Department reopening its case against Epstein the next year.

It looks like the DOJ also subpoenaed Brown’s flight records. Brown said she found her name in the recently released “Epstein files”—the trove of documents released by the DOJ earlier this month pursuant to congressional legislation.

“What I didn’t expect to see was an American Airlines flight record from 2019 with my full name on them, including my maiden name, which I don’t use professionally. It’s an unusual name, so it’s clear it’s me,” Brown wrote on her Substack.

“The document appears to be details of an itinerary for a series of flights I booked in July just before the SDNY and FBI arrested Epstein.”

According to journalist Michael Tracey, the DOJ may have been tracking Epstein accuser Annie Farmer. Brown and the Miami Herald reportedly booked a flight for her in July 2019.

“Julie K. Brown now says she personally booked this flight. It stands to reason that the DOJ would’ve subpoenaed American Airlines, and other entities, for travel records pertaining to Annie Farmer, as she’d been identified as a purported victim of Epstein/Maxwell,” Tracey said on Twitter/X.

“It further stands to reason that Julie K. Brown’s name would appear in these records, as the person who booked the flight on Annie Farmer’s behalf.”

Epstein was arrested in July 2019 and found dead in a prison cell a month later.

Meanwhile, the DOJ has yet to release all the Epstein files. The DOJ said last week that it’s found 1 million more records, and is going through them to redact sensitive information.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

US Missiles Hit Two Nigerian Villages Far From Intended Target

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US Missiles Hit Two Nigerian Villages Far From Intended Target

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Two villages in Nigeria that were hit by US missiles as part of the first US strikes in Nigeria launched on Christmas Day were not the intended target, according to a statement from the Nigerian government.

On Friday, Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris said the strikes, which were launched by a US warship in the Gulf of Guinea, targeted “two major Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist enclaves” in the forests of the Tangaza district in Nigeria’s northwest Sokoto State, an area that’s not known as a hub for ISIS-affiliated militants, raising questions about why it was the US’s first target.

Idris also said that debris from US missiles landed in the village of Jabo in Sokoto, as well as Offa, a village in the central western Kwara state, hundreds of miles from Sokoto. Idris downplayed the damage to the villages, saying there were no civilian casualties, but residents of Offa say several homes were destroyed by the US missile, and some injuries were reported.

“At first, we were confused about what happened,” Benji Omale, a resident of Offa, told News Central TV, describing the loud sound he heard when a munition landed on the village. “So, we ran toward the area to find out. When we got there, we saw that several houses had been destroyed and many properties damaged.”

Omale added that the residents of the village are now “appealing to the government to take steps to address the destruction and provide some form of assistance.” Reports based on images of debris posted on social media suggest that at least three Tomahawk missiles fired by the US warship fell short of their target.

Tajudeen Alabi, a former special assistant to the Kwara State governor, told the BBC that some people were injured by the falling debris. “At least about five structures were destroyed in different locations. We saw some objects in a popular hotel, which we call Offa Central Hotel. It looked like a bomb,” he said.

In Jabo, residents described fear and confusion after US missile debris landed in a field, though there were no casualties in the village. “Our rooms began to shake, and then fire broke out,” Abubakar San, a resident of Jabo, told The Associated Press. “The Nigerian government should take appropriate measures to protect us as citizens. We have never experienced anything like this before.”

Residents of Jabo questioned President Trump’s claims that he launched the airstrikes to defend Nigeria’s Christians. “In Jabo, we see Christians as our brothers. We don’t have religious conflicts, so we weren’t expecting this,” Suleiman Kagara, a villager, told CNN.

Other Jabo residents said they didn’t understand why their village was hit since their community has not been subject to attacks by armed bandit groups or the Lakurawa, an armed group suspected of being affiliated with ISIS. Analysts suspect Lakurawa was the target of the US airstrikes, though the group’s ties to ISIS are unclear. The more well-known jihadist groups in Nigeria — Boko Haram and ISWAP — operate in northwest Nigeria.

Daniel Bwala, a spokesman for President Bola Tinubu, told the AFP on Saturday that the strikes targeted ISIS militants who were in the country to work with the Lakurawa. A day earlier, he said the US claims about the strikes were “sketchy” and said he would have more information in the coming hours.

While the US launched the strikes in cooperation with the Nigerian government, Nigerian officials have pushed back on the Trump administration’s claim that there is a “Christian genocide” in Nigeria, saying the violence affects everyone.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

 

NYC Council to Override Adams on Sex Abuse Lawsuits

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NYC Council to Override Adams on Sex Abuse Lawsuits

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) The New York City Council is planning to override outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ objections to a bill that would have granted sexual abuse victims an 18-month window to sue alleged perpetrators.

The legislation, approved by the Council in November, carved out an 18-month “lookback” window for victims to file claims against abusers as well as institutions that may have shielded perpetrators from prosecution, even if the statute of limitations has lapsed. It would also allow plaintiffs to revive hundreds of cases that had been previously dismissed, including claims against the estate of now-deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

But Adams vetoed the measure on Christmas Eve, saying the proposed changes would have exposed the city to costly litigation estimated at more than $1 billion, which would force the next mayor to cut services and programs.

“My administration attempted to work with the City Council to secure compensation for survivors in a fiscally responsible manner, but the City Council did not engage on any alternative proposals,” Adams, a Democrat who leaves office on Jan. 1, wrote in his veto message.

But incoming Council President Julie Menin pushed back on Adam’s claims in a statement that said his administration didn’t previously raise concerns about the cost of the legislation and accused the mayor of using his final days in office “to deny survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence the opportunity to hold their abusers accountable.”

Menin said the council will override the outgoing mayor’s veto once it convenes for a new session in January.

“The mayor’s veto message suddenly mentions a price tag to the city that was simply never raised in their testimony at the hearing,” she said in a statement. “However, we clearly heard directly from survivors of sexual and gender-motivated violence, including horrific accounts from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.”

In 2022, the Council approved a bill allowing survivors to sue under the Gender-Motivated Violence Act, regardless of the statute of limitations. But a state Superior Court judge tossed out hundreds of sexual abuse cases earlier this year after ruling that the legislation was too vague to be enforced. The dismissed lawsuits included those filed by people abused in city-run institutions, including 450 cases at juvenile detention facilities.

Councilors responded to the ruling by approving a new version of the law that created a new 18 month “lookback” window and authorized plaintiffs to sue individuals and institutions — including the city — for incidents that occurred before the 2022 law.

Under the city’s charter, the Council can override a mayor’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote. The bill passed with a veto-proof margin, with 48 of the council’s 51 members supporting it.

Pennsylvania Principal Caught on Hot Mic in Antisemitic Rant

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Pennsylvania Principal Caught on Hot Mic in Antisemitic Rant

(José Niño, Headline USA) A Montgomery County, Pennsylvania elementary school principal is staring down the end of his tenure after a voicemail captured what district leaders and Jewish community advocates describe as antisemitic stereotyping, according to reporting from the JTA. 

The principal, Philip Leddy of Lower Gwynedd Elementary School, acknowledged to the Wissahickon School District that he made the remarks after leaving a voicemail for a Jewish parent and believing the call had disconnected, as described in the district’s parent email. 

According to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the recording includes references to “Jew camp,” claims that the parent has “Jew money,” and the assertion that “they control the banks.” When asked whether the parent was a lawyer, Leddy responded, “the odds are probably good.” 

Jewish Federation leaders sharply condemned the incident.“What is most concerning is not only the language itself, but the mindset it reflects,” the federation wrote in a statement. “The comments rely on well-known antisemitic stereotypes that reduce a parent to caricature and signal hostility rather than respect. For a family entrusting their child to a school community, hearing this kind of language, particularly from a principal, is profoundly unsettling.” 

District Superintendent Mwenyewe Dawan told families that administrators recommended Leddy’s termination, pending an “informal private hearing on Monday morning,” and confirmed that Leddy was placed on administrative leave. Dawan also said another staff member heard on the call was put on paid administrative leave while the district investigates. 

“The fact that any employees entrusted with the care and well-being of students could make, or passively tolerate, such remarks raise concerns that extend beyond the conduct of a single individual,” wrote Dawan. “This incident underscores concerns for broader, systemic issues related to antisemitism that must be examined and addressed.” 

The parent, who requested anonymity, told 6ABC that the call came in response to an email about an incident involving his daughter. “I couldn’t believe it, like I was seeing Jew this, Jew that, and I was thinking, ‘This can’t be the principal leaving a voicemail,’” the parent said. 

Rabbi Kevin Lefkowitz of Tiferet Bet Israel said Leddy’s rhetoric had “boiled my blood.” “He’s in charge of keeping our kids safe. For it to come out of his mouth so carelessly, so easily, it boiled my blood,” Lefkowitz added.

In the days after the voicemail became public, the school board voted to fire Leddy, according to local coverage from NBC10 Philadelphia and reports by CBS News. 

The episode lands amid heightened scrutiny of antisemitism in schools. In late November, the House Education and Workforce Committee opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitism in the School District of Philadelphia. And Pennsylvania recorded 465 antisemitic incidents in 2024, an 18 percent increase from 2023, according to ADL reporting summarized in its annual audit and local coverage. 

ADL Philadelphia regional director Andrew Goretsky said, “No one promoting antisemitic rhetoric should be leading and teaching our children,” adding, “We are urging them to fully investigate the situation, take the appropriate systemic action, and meet with Jewish families to begin the process of rebuilding trust.” 

Dawan also noted the district’s partnership with the ADL for trainings and urged the community not to paint all staff with the same brush. ‘While this incident is clearly deeply damaging, upsetting, and concerning, it is important to remember that our staff as a whole are deeply caring, respectful, and sensitive,” wrote Dawan. “I do not believe the actions and words of this principal reflect the views of our staff. One person’s hateful actions should not negatively impact the way our community views the rest of our staff.” 

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

After Talks With Zelensky, Trump Says Territorial Issues Still Not Settled

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After Talks With Zelensky, Trump Says Territorial Issues Still Not Settled

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Florida, President Trump said the issue of “land” remains a major sticking point in negotiations for a potential peace deal with Russia.

The initial US-drafted peace plan leaked to the media called for Ukraine to cede the territory it still controls in the Donbas, a key Russian demand, but Zelensky continues to refuse to make territorial concessions.

During a joint press conference with Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago resort, Trump was asked what the “thorniest” issue was in negotiations. “The land. Some of that land has been taken, some of that land is maybe up for grabs,” he said.

Trump and Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago on December 28, 2025 (Office of the President of Ukraine)

Trump also suggested that Ukraine should cede the Donbas now, since it will likely lose the territory in battle as Russian forces continue to make gains. “It may be taken over the next period, a number of months, and you’re better off making a deal now,” he told reporters.

The meeting came a few days after Zelensky released his own 20-point peace proposal, which includes a point that says the battle lines in the “Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts, the line of military positions on the date of signing will be recognized as the de facto front line” and does not say that Ukrainian forces will withdraw from any territory.

The Ukrainian proposal also calls for the US, NATO, and European states to provide Ukraine with an “Article 5-like” security guarantee, referring to the section of the NATO treaty that outlines mutual defense and declares that an attack on one member is an attack on all.

Zelensky said on Sunday that the US was in “100%” agreement on the security guarantees. Russia is almost certainly going to reject any arrangement where Ukraine gets a NATO-style guarantee, since a primary motive for its invasion was Ukraine’s alignment with NATO and its potential future membership, something recently acknowledged by a former Biden official.

Zelensky said that, overall, the US and Ukraine have reached agreements on 90% of the issues. “We agreed that our teams would meet as early as next week to finalize all discussed matters,” he said in a post on X after the talks.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

 

Catholic Bishop in Nigerian State Hit by US Missile Strikes Opposes Bombing

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Catholic Bishop in Nigerian State Hit by US Missile Strikes Opposes Bombing

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) “Violence cannot defeat violence,” said Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the head of the Diocese of Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria. He added that Christianity has survived oppression through resilience, not force, saying, “Let us heed those solemn words of Jesus to Peter: Put your sword back in its place.”

Kukah has previously criticized the narrative from the Trump administration that a Christian “genocide” is taking place in Nigeria, while also urging an end to the violence. “The genocide stuff has been escalated by the Trump administration,” Kukah told The Crux earlier this month.

“This is what they used to muscle their way in, but I no longer want to be dragged into this. It is a distraction. My position is simple: By whatever name, stop the killings,” the bishop added.

During a speech at the Vatican in October, Kukah noted that he could travel and celebrate Mass freely in Sokoto, a predominantly Muslim state. “If we were dealing with outright persecution of Christians on grounds of identity, both myself and my small flock would not exist,” he said.

“By whatever names we choose, the fact is that Nigerians are dying unacceptable deaths across the country. In many cases, they are targeted because of their beliefs but also because of their ethnicity. We are in the cusp of a weak state with a clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy,” Kukah added.

The bishop has been harshly criticized by other Christians in Nigeria for his comments. Other Catholic leaders support the US strikes, including Auxiliary Bishop John Bogna Bakeni, who is based in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, where Nigerians face threats from Boko Haram and an ISIS affiliate known as the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP).

“It’s long overdue,” Bakeni told OSV. “It is also good that the Nigerian government is open to international assistance in the face of overwhelming insecurity.”

President Trump said in his announcement of the strikes, which he later called a “Christmas present,” that they targeted “ISIS Terrorist Scum” who have “been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”

Back in October, Massad Boulos, President Trump’s envoy for Arab and African affairs, a Lebanese-born Christian who has lived in Nigeria, met with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and said that ISIS and Boko Haram kill more Muslims than Christians since they operate in predominantly Muslim areas. Last week, five Muslims were killed in a suicide attack in a mosque in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state.

Christians face other threats besides ISIS and Boko Haram, as Christian communities and churches in central Nigeria are frequently targeted by Fulani herdsmen, who are Muslim. Catholic priests are also frequently kidnapped for ransom in the country.

Alleged Jan. 5/6 Pipe Bomber Initially Denied Accusations

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Alleged Jan. 5/6 Pipe Bomber Initially Denied Accusations

(Headline USA) The man accused of placing two pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021, protest at the U.S. Capitol told investigators after his arrest that he believed someone needed to “speak up” for people who believed the 2020 election was stolen and that he wanted to target the country’s political parties because they were “in charge,” prosecutors said Sunday.

The allegations were laid out in a Justice Department memo arguing that Brian J. Cole Jr., who was arrested earlier this month on charges of placing pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees, should remain locked up while the case moves forward.

The memo provides the most detailed government account of statements Cole is alleged to have made to investigators and points to evidence, including bomb-making components found at his home after his arrest, that officials say connects him to the act. The homemade bombs did not detonate and were discovered Jan. 6, right as violence at the Capitol was starting—leading some to speculate that the devices were meant to divert law enforcement resources.

Cole was arrested on the morning of Dec. 4 at his Woodbridge, Virginia, house in what law enforcement officials described as a major breakthrough in their nearly five-year-old investigation. His lawyers will also have an opportunity to state their position on detention ahead of a hearing set for Tuesday in Washington’s federal court.

During a search of Cole’s home and car after his arrest, prosecutors say, investigators found shopping bags of bomb-making components. He at first denied having manufactured or placed the pipe bombs, prosecutors say, and when pressed about his whereabouts on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, initially told investigators he had driven by himself to attend a protest—parking on D Street between two public parks.

Over the course of hours of questioning, prosecutors say, Cole acknowledged he went to Washington not for a protest but rather to place the bombs. He stowed the explosives in a shoebox in the back seat of his Nissan Sentra and placed one apiece outside the RNC and DNC headquarters, setting the timer on each for 60 minutes, the memo says.

Neither device exploded, a fact Cole says he was “pretty relieved” about because he planted them at night because he did not want to kill anyone, the memo says.

According to the memo, he told agents who interviewed him that if people “feel that, you know, something as important as voting in the federal election is being tampered with, is being, you know, being — you know, relegated null and void, then, like, someone needs to speak up, right? Someone up top. You know, just to, just to at the very least calm things down.”

He said “something just snapped” after “watching everything, just everything getting worse” and that he wanted to do something “to the parties” because “they were in charge,” according to the Justice Department’s memo. Prosecutors say when Cole was asked why he had placed the explosives at the RNC and DNC, he responded, “I really don’t like either party at this point.”

The fact that the devices did not detonate is due to luck, “not lack of effort,” prosecutors said in arguing that Cole poses a danger to the community and must remain detained pending trial.

“The defendant’s choice of targets risked the lives not only of innocent pedestrians and office workers but also of law enforcement, first responders, and national political leaders who were inside of the respective party headquarters or drove by them on January 6, 2021, including the Vice President-elect and Speaker of the House,” prosecutors wrote.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

 

Trump Admin Revamps Visa Process in 2025, Shaking Up Immigration System

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Trump Admin Revamps Visa Process in 2025, Shaking Up Immigration System

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) The Trump administration this year began revamping immigration processes administered by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including what it says is the rooting out of waste, fraud and abuse in a range of programs and strengthening the citizenship process.

The goal is to “restore integrity” to the immigration system, ensuring “only individuals who love America, align with our culture, and share our values, are welcomed into the country,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.

Enforcing immigration law

The administration reversed a Biden-era policy enabling USCIS officers to enforce immigration law. This includes identifying those in violation of federal laws and issuing Notices to Appear before a federal immigration judge. Since Jan. 20, USCIS has issued 196,600 NTAs, DHS says.

Also since Jan. 20, USCIS officers made more than 29,000 immigration fraud referrals nationwide to its Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate. The FDNSD investigated more than 19,300 of them, identifying fraud in 65% of the cases.

USCIS also launched targeted operations, including the largest enforcement operation in agency history in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. Through Operation Twin Shield, USCIS uncovered what it says was “blatant marriage fraud, visa overstays, people claiming to work in businesses that can’t be found, forged documents, abuse of the H1B visa system, abuse of the F1 visas, and many other discrepancies.” In more than 50% of the cases, investigators found “non-compliance or public safety and national security concerns.”

USCIS helped arrest more than 2,400 illegal foreign nationals and referred more than 14,400 to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump’s first day in office. They were flagged “for public safety, national security, and fraud concerns, including 182 aliens who were confirmed or suspected to be national security risks,” DHS said.

Terminating parole, TPS and asylum 

USCIS terminated the Biden administration’s “broad abuse of humanitarian parole authority,” including ending nearly all parole programs identified as illegal by Congress when impeaching the former Secretary of Homeland Security, The Center Square exclusively reported. This included terminating a so-called family reunification program – Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan (CHNV) – and other country-specific programs.

The CHNV parole program ushered in more than three million people in three years deemed inadmissible under federal immigration law, The Center Square reported. They totaled more than the individual populations of 17 states.

That was in addition to another 2.5 million paroled through a similar program for citizens of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, The Center Square reported. They totaled more than the individual populations of 15 states.

The Trump administration also ended Temporary Protected Status for citizens of Afghanistan, Burma, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, South Sudan, Syria and Venezuela. It issued notices for them to self-deport and warned that those who didn’t would be apprehended and deported.

USCIS also terminated all asylum processing for all foreign nationals after an Afghan national released into the country by the Biden administration shot two National Guard soldiers, killing one, before Thanksgiving. It is also holding all immigration applications, including “a full-scale reexamination” of every Green Card holder, made by citizens from 19 high-risk countries, The Center Square reported.

Imcreased vetting, verification, worker permits, citizenship requirements

USCIS also changed processes to better identify waste, fraud and abuse in immigration and other federal programs this year.

USCIS issued new guidance closing loopholes and permanently barring those who make false claims on their citizenship application. It also issued a new directive prohibiting applicants from entry and/or receiving federal benefits who’ve been involved “in anti-American or terrorist organizations … including those who support or promote antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, and antisemitic ideologies.”

USCIS overhauled its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database and began sharing information with states to verify citizenship information for benefits programs and voter registration. The previous administration didn’t do so, prompting lawsuits by Texas and other states, The Center Square reported.
A new rule was proposed to amend the Public Charge rule to prohibit illegal foreign nationals from receiving federal benefits. Texas first sued over the policy in 2021 and Texas’ U.S. senators proposed a law to make federal benefit fraud a deportable offense.
USCIS halted automatic extensions of employment authorizations and reduced the maximum validity period for certain employment authorization documents from 5 years to 18 months “to ensure more frequent vetting and screening of aliens.”
USCIS is also working with ICE to uncover labor law violations. Recent cases in Nebraska and North Carolina involved American companies hiring illegal foreign nationals using fraudulent documentation, committing identity theft against Americans nationwide.
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