NationalWatch

FIRST ON FOX: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is ramping up arrests as a Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship delivered a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration policy.

Fox News Digital obtained figures from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) source that showed more than 10,000 arrests have been made in the last five days alone.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship, upholding the long-standing policy that most children who are born in the U.S. will automatically become citizens, even if the child’s parents are living in the country illegally.

TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP

A source familiar with ICE operations said the agency is currently ramping up operations using funds from the One Big Beautiful Bill as the passage of the legislation nears its one-year anniversary.

The court cited the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution as the basis for the decision, saying “Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”

Trump punched back at the ruling, urging Congress to amend the Constitution to pave a path to abolishing birthright citizenship.

REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS

“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “They will have my Complete and Total Support!”

As ICE seeks to increase arrests, agitators have been mobilizing across the country, demanding better living conditions for those detained in federal facilities and calling for reforms to ICE operational protocols.

In late May, agitators flooded the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, in a violent clash between rioters and ICE agents alongside local law enforcement officers.

FBI ARRESTS PROTESTER WHO THREATENED TO KILL ICE OFFICER’S FAMILY AT NJ DETENTION CENTER PROTEST, BLANCHE SAYS

A Fox News Digital investigation, based on reporting from the ground in Newark, in secret Signal group chats, a number of tax filings, strategy documents, and social media posts, found that the protests outside Delaney Hall were not a spontaneous grassroots uprising. Instead, they were the product of years of coordinated planning by a network of well-funded, highly organized groups that used a local controversy as a platform to challenge federal immigration policies and, more broadly, the United States.

The network behind the Delaney Hall protests includes about 100 groups, some of them big names like the ACLU, Indivisible and Democratic Socialists of America. Together, these organizations report collective annual revenues of about $825 million, approximately equal to the annual budget of Newark.

Despite the organized resistance, ICE operations continued, and DHS Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement that a majority of arrests involve illegal migrants who have previously been charged or convicted of a crime.

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“Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists,” Bis explained.

“Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. More than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country and counting. Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you,” she added.

San Diego County’s officials and its Democratic-led Board of Supervisors are facing backlash after an America 250 Fourth of July celebration originally pitched as a tribute to the Declaration of Independence was reshaped with DEI-focused sponsorship rules.

The celebration’s main programming is expected to feature a tribal blessing, a land acknowledgment, and nearly two-hours of community-story segments centered on “historically underserved populations.”

Bill Wells, the mayor of San Diego County’s City of El Cajon, and other critics pointed out that America’s founding appeared to be sidelined in tentative plans for the upcoming countywide Fourth of July event held along a San Diego-area waterfront. The event, which is lacking funds needed for a full setup, saw at least one sponsor drop after it was mandated they attest to a series of DEI principles as a condition of participating, according to county board materials and internal county emails obtained by Fox News Digital. 

“I have an alternative plan: 1. Acknowledge America and its greatness. 2. Celebrate with fireworks and the American National Anthem,” Wells posted on X, alongside a copy of the 4th of July celebration’s planned schedule, which matches an internal county “run of show” obtained by Fox News Digital.

CALIFORNIA DEMS ACCUSED OF PUTTING SANCTUARY LAW OVER MIGRANT CHILD WELFARE CHECKS: ‘REAL CHILDREN’

The rundown obtained by Fox News Digital lists a “Tribal Intimate blessing welcoming to land” shortly after guest arrival and sound check, followed by a “Welcoming and Land Acknowledgment” led by the emcee, then a “Tribal Invocation,” the Black national anthem and regular national anthem, and then nearly two hours of community-story segments focused on local tribal, Latino, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, LGBT, and Black and African communities.

The event, which will also feature music, food trucks, booths and other “cultural presentations,” then concludes with closing remarks, fireworks and clean-up.

“The official government July 4th itinerary of San Diego reads like the opening ceremony of the Democratic Socialists of America convention,” quipped David McIntosh, President of the conservative political advocacy giant Club for Growth.

DEMS PUT ON BLAST OVER POLL THAT SHOWS RECORD-LOW PATRIOTISM IN US: ‘TEAR OUR SOCIETY APART’

Back in February, Jim Desmond, a Republican San Diego County Supervisor, introduced an agenda item to bring forward a Fourth of July event “commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence,” citing the area’s “deep-rooted relationship to the nation’s defense and civic institutions.”

Subsequently, the board, which is controlled by a 3-2 Democratic majority, introduced and passed a motion to amend weeks later, which directed the county’s chief administrative officer to coordinate with the Office of Equity and Racial Justice and the county’s Tribal Liaison to incorporate community engagement focused on tribal nations, immigrant communities, LGBT communities and other “historically underserved groups.”

“Supervisors Desmond and Anderson brought forward a 250th celebration for the whole region. The three Democrats rewrote it, tied it to the county’s ‘equity, inclusion, and racial justice goals,’ and handed planning to the Office of Equity and Racial Justice,” Wells explained on X, posting images of the meeting minutes that showed the Democrats’ amendments.

“Independence Day, especially this one, is about celebrating and honoring America,” the mayor added in comments to Fox News Digital. “What the county of San Diego has created ignores this in favor of grievance and a sense that our country is not great or worthy of pride. That’s just offensive, especially in light of the fact that they’re using taxpayer money to do so.”

‘JESSE WATTERS PRIMETIME’ QUIZZES BEACHGOERS ON AMERICAN HISTORY FOR JULY 4TH

Among the changes was a requirement for event donors and sponsors to commit themselves to supporting the county’s woke DEI principles, which led at least one to drop out, according to internal county emails obtained and reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

The sponsor’s pending $2,500 donation did not move forward after the donor declined to complete a required form mandating they show alignment with the county’s values on DEI and support for immigrant communities, the county staff emails indicated. Meanwhile, staff separately said in the emails that the event was short thousands of dollars needed for a full stage, lighting and sound setup.

“Democrats are essentially excluding White community members from the Fourth of July” anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck contended in response to the event’s planned schedule and “equity” focus on “underserved populations,” describing it as “vile.”

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Fox News Digital reached out to San Diego County, as well as its Department of Parks and Recreation, for comment on the criticism, but did not hear back.

A coalition of blue states and jurisdictions is suing the Trump administration over new Medicaid work requirements designed to prevent fraud, arguing the policy unlawfully restricts access to health care coverage.

The lawsuit, filed by at least 25 states and the District of Columbia, alleges the newly implemented Interim Final Rule (IFR) — issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — violates federal law and departs from Congress’ original intent and early CMS guidance. 

The IFR requires certain individuals to provide documentation proving they are exempt from Medicaid rules requiring enrollees to work, volunteer or attend school due to severe medical conditions. 

Before the rule was issued in early June, highly vulnerable Medicaid recipients were set to be automatically exempt from such requirements. Agencies would have granted those exemptions by reviewing existing health records, without requiring individuals to complete additional paperwork ahead of the requirements taking effect in January 2027.

DR. OZ UNVEILS MEDICAID OVERHAUL, CLAMPS DOWN ON $2B FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND MANDATES WORK FOR ABLE-BODIED

The lawsuit names Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which issued the IFR, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), as defendants.

Oz previously argued that such guardrails are designed to prevent programs from being “defrauded into a turmoil,” adding that able-bodied enrollees receiving American tax dollars should contribute to society. 

“If you can work, you should get up and work,” Oz said. 

“If we put guardrails around these programs, we’ll allow them to thrive. I’m here because I love Medicaid. The president has already said he loves and cherishes Medicaid and Medicare. … We cannot allow these programs to be defrauded into a turmoil that they cannot pull up from. If we love these programs, we will make the difficult decisions.”

The new rule would require able-bodied individuals to work 20 hours a week, volunteer, or pursue education while enrolled in free healthcare coverage.

Fox News reached out to the White House and HHS for comment. 

FED AUDIT, EMERGENCY MEDICAID UNDERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE

The plaintiffs involve California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Kentucky. 

“People with disabilities, patients in the middle of cancer treatment, or those struggling with another serious or complex health condition, shouldn’t be at risk of losing the care that helps maintain their health,” the suit stated. 

REPUBLICANS PRAISE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’S’ WORK REQUIREMENT FOR MEDICAID: ‘WE’VE GOT TO GET BACK TO WORK’

According to the suit, CMS’s own projections estimate that 2.3 million enrollees will lose Medicaid coverage in the first year alone. 

The agency also estimates that 7% of enrollees who are working or qualify for an exemption will lose coverage due to confusing paperwork requirements, strict deadlines or missing documentation, according to the document. 

Beginning in 2028, enrollees who do not have immediate medical records on file would be limited to a single opportunity to submit a “self-attestation” form declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they are too sick to work.

Under previous guidance, enrollees were allowed to use self-attestation multiple times as their medical needs evolved.

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In addition, plaintiffs said the new rules would force states to abandon automated systems they have already invested in and instead build more complex and costly manual review processes. 

As the Aug. 31 deadline to mail notices to Medicaid enrollees approaches, the plaintiffs are seeking a temporary stay and a preliminary injunction to block CMS and HHS from enforcing the rules. 

Minnesota officials, including Democrat Gov. Tim Walz, last month pardoned an illegal immigrant who was previously convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and who was slated to be deported.

With the recommendation of the Minnesota Clemency Review Commission (CRC), the Minnesota Board of Pardons — led by Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — granted a pardon for Laos national Tou Lue Vang, 42, at its June 10 meeting, according to a letter informing Vang of the decision from Carli Stark, the executive director of the state CRC.

The pardon essentially gives Vang a clean slate.

“Being granted a pardon is a notable achievement and a reflection of the work you have done since your conviction,” Stark wrote in her letter to Vang.

TIM WALZ PARDONS ILLEGAL ALIEN CONVICTED OF ARMED ROBBERY BEFORE ICE DEPORTATION TO LAOS

Vang was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Between 2002 and 2006, he repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl.

At one point, he offered her $10 to keep quiet about the abuse, according to DHS.

He pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct in a plea deal that spared him from going to prison.

“Governor Tim Walz’s decision to pardon an illegal alien convicted child rapist so he can remain in our country is disgusting,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These are the criminal illegal aliens he and his Minnesota sanctuary politicians are protecting.”

COLOMBIAN NATIONAL SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS FOR RAPING, IMPREGNATING 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL IN MISSOURI

Bis noted that Vang lost his legal status following his conviction.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Walz, the White House and the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Vang for the assaults.

When he was arrested on charges in 2005, Vang admitted to having sexual contact with the girl but blamed cultural norms in Thailand, according to the complaint obtained by the New York Times.

The CRC, which includes nine members, voted to approve Mr. Vang’s petition in April. Four members voted in favor, two voted against, and three were absent, the Times reported.

The board takes the commission’s review into account but retains the ultimate authority to grant or deny pardons.

In his application, Vang cited his years of rehabilitation and argued that he has taken full responsibility for his actions.

WALZ POST CALLING SCOTUS GIRLS’ RULING ‘CRUEL’ BACKFIRES ONLINE AS CRITICS REVEAL WHAT’S EVEN CRUELER

Vang entered the U.S. through California in 1994, and was granted legal status by the Clinton administration. That status was revoked upon his conviction and final order of removal in 2006.

He was detained by federal authorities last year as part of the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota.

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President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Walz and Minnesota officials over sanctuary policies that protect illegal immigrants, even those convicted of violent crimes, from federal authorities.

DHS noted that the Review Commission has granted pardons to undocumented immigrants before.

In May, the state pardoned Jai Vang, a Laotian citizen whose criminal history includes convictions for robbery, armed robbery of a business, and driving under the influence of liquor.

The Justice Department escalated its push against state gun restrictions Wednesday, filing lawsuits against California and Virginia just a week after the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the Second Amendment is not a “second-class right” in its decision in Wolford v. Lopez.

The coordinated legal challenges target Democratic-backed firearm laws in both states, with the department seeking to block California’s restrictions on the sale of new Glock-style semiautomatic pistols and Virginia’s ban on the manufacture, sale, transfer and purchase of certain semiautomatic firearms classified as assault weapons.

The California lawsuit was filed hours after the state’s new handgun restrictions took effect, following Attorney General Rob Bonta’s refusal to negotiate with the Justice Department over what federal officials contend are unconstitutional limits on gun rights. Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said the administration is taking alleged infringements of the Second Amendment seriously.

COMER PROBES ALLEGED BIDEN COLLUSION WITH GUN CONTROL ACTIVISTS IN GLOCK LAWSUIT

“This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms,” Dhillon said in a press release.

Bonta revealed Tuesday that the Justice Department had sent California a notice of intent to sue, arguing the law violates the Second Amendment. In a response letter, Bonta rejected the Department’s legal position and refused to negotiate.

“The Unsafe Handgun Act and Penal Code section 27595 are commonsense handgun design safety laws that help to prevent accidental discharges by experienced and non-experienced firearm users as well as the conversion of semiautomatic pistols into deadly automatic firing weapons,” Bonta wrote.

“If the U.S. Department of Justice decides to file the lawsuit described in your letter, it will not be breaking any new ground.”

Dhillon responded on X with a brief message: “See you in court.”

The Justice Department soon afterward announced its lawsuit against California, naming Dhillon and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jesus Osete as counsel.

SPANBERGER’S LATEST ‘GUN-GRABBING NONSENSE’ PROMPTS ACTION FROM TRUMP DOJ: ‘STAY TUNED!’

Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s office accused the Trump administration of attempting to dismantle California’s gun safety laws.

“Our response is simple — these laws save lives,” Newsom spokeswoman Diana Crofts-Pelayo said. “California has proven that strong, evidence-based gun safety measures can reduce gun violence while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners.”

Crofts-Pelayo said California would not be “intimidated” by what she called politically motivated litigation and would continue enforcing laws designed to keep dangerous weapons off the streets.

California has some of the nation’s strictest firearm regulations, which state officials credit with helping produce one of the country’s lowest gun death rates.

The California lawsuit came shortly after the Justice Department sued Virginia over a newly enacted ban on so-called assault firearms.

The lawsuit challenges Senate Bill 749, sponsored by state Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Dunn Loring, and signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger in May. The ban took effect Wednesday, making it a misdemeanor to import, sell, manufacture, purchase or transfer certain semiautomatic firearms defined as assault weapons under state law.

SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN BLUE STATE’S ‘VAMPIRE RULE’ IN MAJOR WIN FOR GUN RIGHTS

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Constitution “is not a suggestion” and that the Second Amendment is not a “second-class right.”

Dhillon said she warned Spanberger in April that the Justice Department would sue if she signed the legislation and said Wednesday the administration was following through on that pledge.

A spokesperson for Spanberger defended the law, saying the governor “firmly believes that firearms designed to inflict maximum casualties do not belong in our communities, near our kids and schools, or on Virginia’s streets.”

“The Governor signed this commonsense legislation to save lives and protect law enforcement officers, kids, and families from gun violence — and the Governor remains committed to making the Commonwealth a safer home for every family,” the spokesperson said.

Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, welcomed the lawsuit, saying the state is now using taxpayer dollars to defend “an unconstitutional gun ban against the United States itself.”

“That is where the Richmond Democrats’ agenda has led — into court, on the wrong side of the Constitution,” Kilgore told Fox News Digital.

“House Republicans said this law could not stand. A Virginia court has already blocked it, and now the Justice Department agrees. It should be repealed.”

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The National Association for Gun Rights also praised the department’s actions.

“Thank God a small number of committed individuals in DC realize we only have a few years of opportunity to make moves like this, and they’re seizing it,” the group said.

Hannah Hill, executive director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in Wolford v. Lopez, which she said strengthened Second Amendment protections, gave the Justice Department additional legal support for its latest lawsuits against California and Virginia.

“The timing is perfect for the Department of Justice to begin to be filing these lawsuits to strike out gun bans all across the country, it’s a really bad time to be a gun grabber,” Hill told Fox News Digital.

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The lawsuits came the same day the Supreme Court agreed to hear two Second Amendment cases next term challenging state and local bans on certain semiautomatic rifles.

Fox News Digital reached out to Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones for comment.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday it is consolidating oversight of all military drones and autonomous systems under a newly created office as the Department of War moves to accelerate development and fielding of the technology across the armed forces.

According to a War Department memo, the newly established Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager for Unmanned Systems will report directly to Deputy Secretary of War Stephen Feinberg, and oversee unmanned and autonomous systems across the land, sea and air domains.

The office also will oversee funding, acquisition and policy for unmanned systems programs currently spread across the military services, the Defense Innovation Unit, Joint Interagency Task Force 401 and the Defense Autonomous Warfare Group.

CHINA’S GRIP ON RARE-EARTH MAGNETS COULD CRUSH US DRONE INDUSTRY BEFORE IT GROWS

The move is intended to centralize oversight of the Pentagon’s rapidly expanding drone and autonomous systems programs.

“Drones and autonomous systems represent the most consequential battlefield innovation of this generation,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement announcing the reorganization.

“Adversaries collectively produce millions of unmanned systems each year across all domains,” he continued. “While global military production has skyrocketed over the last three years, the United States must move at the speed this moment demands to field these capabilities at scale and secure our tactical and strategic edge.”

‘A NEW KIND OF WAR’: INSIDE UKRAINE’S HIDDEN FACTORIES MASS-PRODUCING COMBAT DRONES

The announcement follows the Trump administration’s broader push to expand the military’s use of drones and autonomous systems.

In December, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth touted the administration’s “Drone Dominance” initiative, calling it “a billion-dollar program funded by President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.”

“We cannot afford to shoot down cheap drones with $2 million missiles. And we ourselves must be able to field large quantities of capable attack drones,” Hegseth said in a video message.

ARMY TRAINS FOR MODERN BATTLEFIELD WITH TEXAS EXERCISE FOCUSED ON SPEED, TECHNOLOGY

Hegseth said the Pentagon plans to deliver tens of thousands of small drones to U.S. forces in 2026 and hundreds of thousands more by 2027 while reshaping warfighting doctrine to integrate unmanned systems throughout combat units.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has also repeatedly argued that drones will dominate future battlefields.

“Drones are the future of warfare. Manned aircraft are not,” Musk wrote in a post on X last year.

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The department said the new office will consolidate specialized expertise under a single leadership structure to speed the development, procurement and fielding of autonomous capabilities and help preserve the U.S. military’s tactical and strategic advantage over potential adversaries.

Fox News’ Liz Friden contributed to this report.

Three Cuban nationals, including a man the Trump administration says spent more than a decade working for a Cuban government influence organization in the United States, were apprehended by federal agents this week after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their legal status.

The State Department announced Wednesday that Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, along with his wife and son, are in federal custody pending removal from the U.S.

Lloga Dominguez spent more than a decade as a “foreign subversive” employed by the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People (ICAP), the communist Cuban regime’s “premier influence and intelligence front group in the United States,” according to the State Department. He is accused of continuing to maintain ties to the transnational communist subversion network throughout his time residing in the U.S.

“This is America First leadership in our region,” a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital of the apprehensions.

FEDS INVESTIGATE NONPROFITS AND LEADERS ALLEGEDLY COORDINATING WITH CUBA IN INFLUENCE CAMPAIGN

ICAP was sanctioned earlier this month. The group has denied any wrongdoing and says it’s a civil society organization.

The State Department maintains that ICAP “maintains an outsized footprint across the United States, trafficking in vile anti-American propaganda, cultivating pro-Havana regime activists and politicians, and lobbying federal, state and local politicians on behalf of the Cuban dictatorship.”

FIRST ON FOX: POWERFUL HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS CHAIR THROWS HAMMER DOWN ON ‘FOREIGN-ALIGNED INFLUENCE NETWORK’

ICAP, which was founded in Fidel Castro in 1960 to spread Marxism all over the world, was accused of working with far-left groups in America to “export Cuba’s Communist revolution to the United States.”

The State Department describes ICAP as the “the central node in a sprawling Cuban intelligence and influence operation, claiming to span more than 2,000 organizations across more than 150 countries.”

The sanctions against ICAP, enacted by Rubio, froze all its U.S.-based assets and generally banned Americans from doing business with the organization.

“America will never become home for foreign communists who peddle propaganda, run subversive influence operations, or support radical anti-American movements within the United States,” Rubio said in a statement on social media. “Transact with ICAP and you will be sanctioned, prosecuted or deported from our country.”

A Fox News Digital investigation found that over the last decade, ICAP officials have closely coordinated with American nonprofits to support the Communist Party of Cuba.

PROBE INTO ‘SUBVERSIVE’ ANTI-AI SINGHAM NETWORK IS ‘ENORMOUS,’ FORMER TREASURY ADVISOR SAYS

These nonprofits — many of them funded by businessman and far-left activist Neville Roy Singham — include the People’s Forum, Breakthrough News, Tricontinental, CodePink, the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Altogether, there are 145 nonprofits, labor groups, advocacy organizations and activist collectives across the U.S. that are mobilizing in support of the Cuban government, Fox News Digital reported. The organizations report about $1 billion in combined revenue.

The DOJ and the Treasury Department is investigating this alleged influence campaign.

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CodePink, founded by Jodie Evans, Singham’s wife, led a convoy to Cuba earlier this year to deliver aid to the country. The trip came after President Donald Trump imposed an oil blockade on Cuba earlier this year.

The convoy has since attracted federal scrutiny, with CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin confirming she received questions from federal officials who were investigating whether she violated American sanctions on Cuba.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Asra Nomani contributed to this report.

Former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan is suing the Trump administration and demanding a court order to require officials to preserve records of the criminal investigations against, which he alleges amount to “phantom criminal conduct.”

According to the lawsuit reviewed by Fox News Digital, Brennan, who served as CIA director from 2013 to 2017, is seeking preliminary injunctive relief to “protect his constitutional rights as the current target of two federal investigations that the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Brennan asserts that the DOJ has launched its investigations “at the direct urging of President Trump.”

FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS BLUE STATE’S LAW PROHIBITING ICE AGENTS FROM WEARING MASKS ON THE JOB

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The suit says that, “Regrettably, some in the current DOJ and Federal Bureau of Investigation leadership have acceded to that direction, and are converting the Justice Department into a tool of retribution against Director Brennan and the President’s other perceived adversaries.”

Fox News’ Jake Gibson contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

FIRST ON FOX: A pair of former top executives at the Southern Poverty Law Center used a network of checking accounts to secretly funnel $4.1 million to extremists, including one nicknamed “The Aryan Barbarian,” in a long-running pay-to-hate scheme, federal officials told Fox News Digital.

The SPLC’s former chief financial officer Teenie Hutchison and ex-Intelligence Project chief Heidi Beirich allegedly created the accounts at Synovus Bank in 2008, making the beleaguered nonprofit’s trusted bank a hub for diverting supporters’ donations to sketchy groups, sources said. The network ultimately supported secret payments to as many as 50 confidential “field sources,” called “Fs,” embedded within extremist organizations around the country. Some 13 field sources have so far been identified in court filings.

“The SPLC found its niche, and its leaders built a fiefdom with donations they got like crazy,” former NYPD intelligence official, attorney and Fox News contributor Paul Mauro said.

Former SPLC Chief Executive Officer Margaret Huang allegedly signed a letter acknowledging the operation to Synovus bank officials in September 2021 before ending her tenure at the SPLC in July 2025.

SPLC supporters have characterized the payment recipients as “informants,” and they included a right-wing extremist behind the infamous 2017 “Unite the Right” protests in Charlottesville, Va.

“The government can run informants,” said Mauro. “Private industry cannot.”

The new revelations show the federal investigation of the SPLC is significantly larger than initially reported and was orchestrated at the organization’s highest level. Beirich was previously believed to be involved in the alleged payments, but this is the first time federal officials have confirmed her involvement.

The new details about the SPLC case emerge as the Trump administration’s Justice Department intensifies scrutiny of influential nonprofit organizations. Earlier this week, Fox News Digital reported exclusively that federal prosecutors launched a grand jury investigation into Shanghai-based Marxist tech mogul Neville Roy Singham over possible illegality in his funding of left-wing activist groups. Together, the two federal investigations signal an aggressive effort by the administration to examine whether certain organizations are using their nonprofit status to conceal financial operations.

A spokesperson for Synovus Bank told Fox News Digital that the lender, based in Columbus, Ga., is working with federal investigators in the “ongoing investigation.” 

“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on specific client relationships,” the spokesperson said. “We have cooperated fully with the ongoing investigation and will continue to do so.”

Hutchison, Beirich and Huang didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment. In late May, the SPLC filed a motion to dismiss the case. On June 9, days after the U.S. government filed a superseding indictment against the SPLC, the nonprofit’s interim president and chief executive officer, Bryan Fair, denied any wrongdoing by the SPLC during a fiery hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

The allegations sit at the center of a federal case accusing the SPLC of bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Sources familiar with the investigation say additional charges will likely be filed against individual executives and former executives of the nonprofit.

Fox News Digital’s investigation unpacks the government’s theory of the alleged operation through the traditional three stages of money laundering: placement, layering and integration. In the first stage of placement, U.S. officials say Hutchison and Beirich created and controlled a hidden financial infrastructure at SPLC that became the entry point for $4.1 million in allegedly illicit payments made to so-called field sources.

In the second stage, layering involves moving money through multiple accounts, transactions and entities, like a series of bank accounts Hutchison and Beirich allegedly set up for fake companies, designed to obscure the money’s origin. Finally, in the third stage, integration occurs when the proceeds or products of an operation become absorbed into legitimate activities, like the organization’s “Extremist Files,” and become difficult to distinguish from ordinary business operations.

According to federal prosecutors, the SPLC’s alleged operation involved all three stages.

DOJ LAUNCHES GRAND JURY PROBE INTO MARXIST MOGUL NEVILLE ROY SINGHAM’S FUNDING OF LEFTIST GROUPS

Without naming the finance and intelligence chiefs, a grand jury indictment made public in April revealed that “Employee-1” and “Employee-2” in 2008 created a secret network of nine bank accounts at “Bank-1” and “Bank-2” that funneled millions of dollars to far-right extremists from 2014 through 2023. The initial indictment put the amount at $3 million, but it was increased to $4.1 million in a superseding indictment.

The indictment notes that “individuals at the SPLC” were the ones who “secretly funneled donated money to the Fs,” including “Employee-1,” a “person who would become the Chief Financial Officer, and “Employee-2,” a “person who would become the Director of the Intelligence Project.”

Federal officials told Fox News Digital that Hutchison, who moved from the position of treasurer and corporate secretary to chief financial officer, is “Employee-1.” They said “Employee-” 2 is Beirich, who started in 1999 as a newly-minted Ph.D. student, and was named deputy director of the Intelligence Project in 2004 and later director of the Intelligence Report.

The duo allegedly created a banking account structure under names that didn’t identify the SPLC. The nine shell entities were dubbed “Center Investigative Agency,” “Fox Photography,” “Imagery Ink,” “J&J Electronics,” “Kelly’s Marine,” “North West Technologies,” “Tech Writers Group” and “Turner Personnel” and “Rare Books Warehouse.”

Federal prosecutors allege the accounts were used to pay informants while concealing the source of the money. The government’s theory is that the accounts became the financial infrastructure supporting a sprawling money laundering operation.

Federal prosecutors allege the accounts remained active for years, surviving leadership transitions and internal turmoil at one of the nation’s most influential civil-rights organizations.

TOP SPLC OFFICIAL ALLEGEDLY FUNNELED $1.2M TO NEO-NAZI INFORMANT WHO WAS SECRET ROMANTIC PARTNER

Over two decades, Beirich became one of the nonprofit’s most influential figures, shaping how “far-right extremism,” “White supremacy” and “neo-Nazi hate” were documented, defined and communicated.

She testified before Congress, and appeared regularly on television and radio. Journalists, academics and policymakers frequently turned to her for analysis of White-nationalist groups, anti-government movements and domestic extremism. By 2017, ABC News described her as “the woman tracking hate in America.”

In contrast, Hutchison maintained a low profile and was rarely photographed, working quietly behind the scenes. In 2017, she was on the renewal document for the nonprofit’s “Mississippi Charitable Registration” as the SPLC’s treasurer and secretary, the custodian of financial records and one of the nonprofit’s two “check signers.”

The SPLC listed its official bank as Sterling Bank, a Synovus Bank subsidiary based in Montgomery.

In October 2019, Beirich co-founded a new 501(c)(3) nonprofit, “Global Project Against Hate and Extremism,” with a mailing address just three miles away from SPLC headquarters in Alabama’s capital.

Two months later, Beirich left SPLC after 20 years, according to her LinkedIn profile, just as the dragnet was closing in on the alleged pay-to-hate operation she’d been running for years. According to the SPLC’s tax filing that year, she last earned a salary of $173,090 and a bonus of $25,721.

The alleged violations continued after Beirich’s and Hutchison’s tenures at SPLC.

FIRST ON FOX: SPLC’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS UNDER THREAT AFTER FIERY CAPITOL HILL HEARING

One of the alleged recipients of secret SPLC payments was Erich Gliebe, the former chairman of a neo-Nazi organization, National Alliance. Known as “The Aryan Barbarian” during his time as a boxer, Gliebe allegedly received more than $140,000 from the SPLC between 2016 and 2023.

At the same time he was allegedly collecting payments, Gliebe was featured in SPLC materials describing extremist figures and organizations. An SPLC “Extremist Files” profile dedicated to Gliebe contained a link through which visitors could donate to the organization.

Gliebe didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Daniel Harvill, a Virginia attorney who represented National Alliance members in litigation involving Gliebe, described Gliebe as an ineffective leader.

“Gliebe was a joke,” Harvill told Fox News Digital. “He didn’t know how to run a business or political organization. There was a large pile of stupid among them.”

Harvill said bitterness from that litigation may have contributed to Gliebe becoming an SPLC informant.

Court filings indicate that larger accounts associated with the alleged operation remained active until August 2020, when the hidden account structure finally drew scrutiny from bank officials. Synovus Bank did an internal investigation, according to court filings. That review became a pivotal moment in the government’s case.

According to the indictment, around Sept. 9, 2021, the SPLC “President and Chief Executive Officer” and the SPLC “Board Chair” admitted in writing to Bank-1 – Synovus Bank – that the fictitious accounts were “opened for the benefit of the Southern Poverty Law Center operations and operated under the Center’s authority.”

They signed a document also stating that “pursuant to the discussion we had earlier this week…the accounts had been opened and operated for the benefit of the organization.” The CEO was Huang, federal sources told Fox News Digital.

Huang’s acknowledgment now sits near the center of the government’s legal theory that the account structure wasn’t the work of rogue employees but operated under organizational authority.

The nonprofit and its sister organization, the SPLC Action Fund, had hired Huang the year earlier, describing her as an “internationally renowned human and civil rights leader,” previously serving as executive director of Amnesty International USA.

It isn’t clear who the board chair was at the time of the signing, but former Goldman Sachs executive Bennett Grau was a board member at the time. Grau didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment.

Huang’s role in signing the admission hasn’t been publicly disclosed before.

SPLC INDICTMENT BUILDS MOMENTUM FOR BESSENT’S TREASURY TO PROBE PARTISAN NONPROFITS

SPLC last listed Hutchison on its IRS 990 filing for the period ending on Oct. 31, 2022. According to that IRS filing, she last earned $237,749 and a bonus of $32,697.

In early July 2025, Huang announced her resignation as president, stepping down “to prioritize family life.” The board of directors named constitutional scholar and former SPLC Board Chair Bryan Fair as interim president and CEO.

The role of senior SPLC officials in this alleged operation raises significant red flags for law enforcement, federal officials told Fox News Digital, saying the alleged activity reflects a structured ecosystem directed from the top. Investigators describe an operation in which financial flows, informants, public content and political work by the SPLC and its sister organizations were closely linked, with senior officials like Hutchison and Beirich positioned to control the money, narrative and influence of the SPLC.

INDICTED SPLC CHIEF FACES HOUSE GRILLING OVER ALLEGED SECRET PAYMENTS TO KKK MEMBERS

The court proceedings represent a form of vindication for some targets of the SPLC. 

Back in October 2017, the SPLC and three other groups – Media Matters, ReThink Media and the Center for New Community – released a publication titled “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” In interviews at the time, Beirich confirmed that Democratic billionaire George Soros’s Open Society philanthropy had provided funding for the production of the report.

The report included Maajid Nawaz, a British Muslim reformer who founded the Quilliam Foundation to combat Islamist extremism. The next year, in 2018, he sued the SPLC for defamation, winning a $3.375 million settlement and a public apology.

Nawaz recently told Fox News Digital that the SPLC’s alleged system of paying extremists is corrupt, and he feels vindicated by the federal prosecution against the nonprofit.

“They were funding both sides,” Nawaz said. “If you control the rules of the game… you’re able to control where the hate comes from… and then control the reaction.”

“They were taking money to fight hate,” he said, “and then funding the very hate they took money to fight.”

As the SPLC mounts its defense, Nawaz said, “This indictment demonstrates clearly that the SPLC should now cease to exist. It should come to an end.”

Fox News Digital’s Bonnie Chu and Adriana James-Rodil contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE – Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters predicted Wednesday that Republicans will “knock it out of the park” at the party’s first-ever midterm convention, casting the Dallas gathering as a “Trumpapalooza” aimed at firing up GOP voters in a difficult midterm climate.

Gruters spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital a day after President Donald Trump announced the Sept. 9-10 convention in Dallas, an unusual effort to put Trump and the GOP’s 2026 message center stage before voters decide control of Congress.

“It gives us a chance to highlight all the wonderful things this president has done in our effort on this great American comeback to highlight the ideas, policies and people that’s making it happen,” Gruters said.

TRUMP MAKES MAJOR 2026 ANNOUNCEMENT

National political conventions, where party delegates from around the country formally nominate their party’s presidential candidates, normally take place during presidential election years.

But with Republicans facing a rough political climate as they aim to protect their narrow control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in this year’s elections, they see the midterm convention as an effective vehicle to get their message out.

“We can win. It’s going to start here at the convention. I’m super excited about it,” Gruters emphasized.

And pointing to primary victories in recent weeks by far-left and socialist candidates over the Democratic Party establishment, Gruters said “we’re going to be able to highlight and contrast where the Republican Party is versus what the left is, and the fact that they’re getting pushed and now controlled and being run by these radical leftists that want to fundamentally change our country.”

SOCIALIST SURGE: DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN AGAIN, THIS TIME IN COLORADO

Party leaders are also hoping the convention will help to energize MAGA voters who don’t always vote when Trump isn’t on the ballot.

Gruters called Trump the “best showman that’s ever existed in politics, bar none… He knows how to deliver these low-propensity voters. He knows how to get people up, motivated, excited about the midterms, and that’s what we’re going to need.”

Currently, the president’s approval ratings remain well underwater, with many Americans rating him poorly on his handling of the economy and on the issue of affordability.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Director of Rapid Response Kendall Witmer told Fox News Digital on Tuesday evening, “The American people can’t afford their bills or to fill up at the pump because of Donald Trump, and Republicans’ response is to throw a multi-million dollar televised celebration for Trump that will only remind Americans of his failed promise to them and tie already flailing Republican swing-seat candidates to a historically unpopular president.”

DEMOCRACY ’26: STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FOX NEWS ELECTION HUB

The DNC, which significantly trails the RNC in fundraising, considered holding a midterm convention but decided earlier this year not to move forward with the costly event.

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Witmer emphasized that “Democrats are already hitting the trail and speaking directly with American voters about our plans to cut costs and make health care affordable.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is courting New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and other progressive power players as 2028 speculation builds around another possible White House bid.

The phone call with Mamdani last week, first reported by Axios and confirmed by Fox News Digital, along with other closed-door meetings with progressive groups, suggests Harris is trying to shore up support from factions of the party that didn’t support her during her 2024 run.

Additionally, Harris met with progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., behind the scenes at a Black women empowerment summit in Chicago, Axios first reported, and Fox News Digital confirmed.

Harris reportedly has also been reaching out to pro-Palestinian groups after she faced pushback from those groups during her 2024 presidential run. Harris reached out to at least one group that was part of the “Uncommitted Movement” that developed as a result of President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel and Gaza conflict.

KAMALA HARRIS DROPS BIGGEST HINT YET ON 2028 WHITE HOUSE RUN

Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani and Harris’ office for comment.

News of the Harris and Mamdani call sparked criticism from conservatives online.

“Kamala Harris 2020 was desperate, Kamala Harris 2024 was pathetic, Kamala Harris 2028 will be unhinged,” GOP political strategist Nathan Brand posted on X.

Mamdani’s influence in the party has only grown since he was sworn into office in January, as highlighted by a clean sweep of socialist-aligned candidates he endorsed winning their races in the New York Democratic primary last month.

CARVILLE WARNS DEMOCRATS ANTI-ISRAEL ‘LOUDMOUTHS’ COULD COST ELECTIONS

“The fact that she’s courting people like Mamdani, these socialists and communists, it goes back to the radical leftists, because the Democrats are in big trouble as a party,” RNC chair Joe Gruters exclusively told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“They’re in the death spiral, because now they have these people inside their tent,” he continued. “This is who the Democratic Party is today: these radical leftists that want to fundamentally transform our country. And that’s why we have to fight. That’s why we have to come together, unite, and we have to win. We have to win to save the country. We have to win to move our policies forward. There’s a lot at stake. Certainly, Kamala Harris, the meeting with Mamdani and these radicals shows you where the left continues to go where they want to go, but listen, she has to kowtow to these radicals to try to win.”

Earlier this year, Harris made stops in the crucial primary state of South Carolina less than a week after she dropped a tantalizing comment at the first major cattle call of Democratic presidential contenders.

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“I might. I might. I’m thinking about it… I’ll keep you posted,” Harris said in April at the National Action Network’s 35th Anniversary Convention, when asked by the event founder, the Rev. Al Sharpton, if she would seek the presidency in 2028.

Harris, who replaced then-President Joe Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee but later lost the election to President Donald Trump, was greeted by the crowd with chants of “run again.”

BOYERS, Pa. — Deep inside a limestone mine more than 230 feet underground, the Trump administration marked what it called the “Last Day of Paper” for federal retirements Tuesday, giving Fox News Digital rare access to the long-secretive Pennsylvania facility where millions of government records helped keep the retirement process trapped in an analog system for decades.

“It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before, which I think is the reaction that I generally hear from lots of people… I believe that many [government employees] have just been constrained by a system that does not allow innovation and does not allow some element of risk-taking,” U.S. Office of Personnel Management Director Scott Kupor told Fox News Digital in a sit-down interview.

“The only thing I did that was different than any other predecessor was we gave people permission to actually solve the problems that I knew needed to be solved,” he continued. 

FEDERAL HR OFFICE PULLS BACK CURTAIN ON SWEEPING NDA PLAN AIMED AT CURBING GOVERNMENT LEAKS

For decades, retirement applications were physically mailed between federal agencies before arriving at OPM’s Retirement Operations Center in Boyers, where workers manually processed roughly 10,000 retirements each month and houses over 400 million paper records. OPM celebrated moving from the paper system to digitized records, explaining the millions of documents languishing in the mine will be shredded.

OPM functions as the federal government’s human resources department, overseeing the policies, benefits and personnel systems that affect millions of civilian federal employees and retirees.

Kupor said the Biden administration and previous officials had discussed modernizing the online retirement application, but the effort never gained momentum. 

“The idea of the online retirement application was an idea,” he said. “I think what happened was it never got traction.”

The federal retirement system has relied on a largely paper-based process since it opened in the 1980s. 

Over the years, officials launched multiple modernization efforts, including pilot programs and attempts to digitize retirement applications. Despite those initiatives, the government remained dependent on paper until the Trump administration accelerated adoption of OPM’s Online Retirement Application following Musk’s public criticism of the system.

The underground operation became a national symbol of government bureaucracy after Elon Musk revealed its existence last year, calling it “like a time warp,” while in the Oval Office.

“Now people can retire as soon as they want, instead of waiting 6 months for paper to be carried into a mine,” Musk exclusively told Fox News Digital. 

READ: DR. OZ PUTS ALL 50 GOVERNORS ON NOTICE OVER BILLIONS LOST TO MEDICAID FRAUD

Kupor shared that both Musk and U.S. Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia deserve an “enormous amount of credit.”

“It’s a great example to me of the more meta level of what Elon and the DOGE team was doing, which is rethink processes from ground zero, be creative in terms of what the solutions are and recognize that, look, you have to actually make significant change if you want to ultimately drive efficiency in the government,” said Kupor.

Iron Mountain provides secure archival storage for numerous museums, archives, cultural institutions and government agencies. Its holdings include materials for Getty Images, CBS, Disney, artifacts related to the Flight 93 National Memorial—near Shanksville, Pennsylvania—and Holocaust-related collections, Fox News Digital learned.

TRUMP SAYS ANTI-FRAUD EFFORTS ARE UNCOVERING BILLIONS IN WASTE, CLAIMS SAVINGS COULD BALANCE BUDGET

“We have a great team who does a lot of security, and obviously we’re in a building here with other very highly secure agencies. There’s a number of kind of three-letter agencies who also have records here,” said Kupor.

“I think by far the benefits of obviously getting off paper going to electronic records. Way outweigh any potential risks we might have from a security perspective,” said Kupor when asked about any security concerns the physical copies presented.

Kupor argued that government innovation is key to reducing costs for taxpayers.

PENTAGON ANNOUNCES INVESTIGATION INTO LEAKS, WHICH COULD INCLUDE POLYGRAPH TESTS

“I think the president has done and told us is take the skills that you have around innovation and creative thinking and apply that to modernization for the government and if we do that, we’ll not only improve the quality of service, but that is where we get efficiency,” said Kupor.

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“That’s how we actually deliver more for the American people without constantly going to have to go back to the till and ask Congress for more money.”

President Donald Trump is taking his first presidential flight aboard a newly retrofitted Boeing 747 serving as Air Force One on Wednesday, traveling to Medora, North Dakota, to mark the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and promote a conservation push tied to America’s 250th birthday.

“This will be the first flight of what I think is maybe the greatest commercial plane ever built. I said to Boeing, what’s the best one? He said, ‘this is the best plane ever built, and you’re going to have the privilege of flying it,'” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.

Trump is traveling aboard a $400 million Boeing 747-8i donated by the government of Qatar and refurbished for presidential use. Trump is also set to meet with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other officials in Medora, where he will mark the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and promote Roosevelt’s conservation legacy.

NEW AIR FORCE ONE TAKES FLIGHT AS TRUMP UNVEILS REVAMPED PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT

“I’m excited about the first flight. It’s something nobody’s ever seen anything like it. Even you people, with all your experience and all of your talents, you will never see anything like it. They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a president,” Trump added. “That means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on very complex stuff.”

He said the previous plane was around 36 years old and Americans should be proud of the new plane.

“It would be parked next to the new ones like this. It really didn’t look appropriate for our country… you can do two things. You can low-key it or you can show it,” added Trump.

NEW AIR FORCE ONE TAKES FLIGHT AS TRUMP UNVEILS REVAMPED PRESIDENTIAL AIRCRAFT

Trump and Burgum will arrive to the museum with a ceremonial Rough Riders horseback escort before touring the presidential center later on Wednesday. 

Roosevelt was known for his passion for the outdoors – dramatically expanding federal protection of natural resources and public lands. He established national parks, created national monuments, and strengthened the U.S. Forest Service.

“The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired,” Roosevelt famously said, which is inscribed on the museum’s wall.

BIDEN-APPOINTED JUDGE ORDERS TRUMP TO RESTORE SLAVERY, CLIMATE CHANGE REFERENCES AT NATIONAL PARKS

Trump will sign the “Great American Outdoors Act Reauthorization,” which centers around previous legislation signed by the 45th and 47th president but renews funding in honor of America’s 250th birthday.

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The act continues investing about $1.9 billion per year for deferred maintenance projects, such as repairing roads, bridges, trails, campgrounds, visitor centers, and water systems on public lands.

As the Trump administration weighs implementing tariffs on Mexican beer, a new report argues the move would hurt the very American workers it is intended to protect by squeezing one of the U.S. beer market’s most profitable segments.

The report, authored by Unleash Prosperity co-founder Stephen Moore and economist David Ozgo, comes as the Trump administration continues to expand its tariff agenda, which officials say is aimed at re-shoring manufacturing, reducing trade deficits and strengthening American industry.

“There probably are some products for which tariffs are appropriate — products where there might be national security implications,” Ozgo told Fox News Digital. “But obviously, beer is not one of those products.”

While Mexican beer is brewed south of the border, Ozgo said most of the jobs it supports, like distribution, wholesaling and retailing, are in the United States.

‘WE WERE RIGHT’: WINE IMPORTER TOOK TRUMP’S TARIFFS TO THE SUPREME COURT AND WON

The report backs that claim with data showing the U.S. beer business supports roughly 1.74 million jobs, but only about 5% are directly involved in brewing. Most workers are employed by wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and suppliers that handle beer after it is brewed, jobs that remain in the U.S. even when the beer is imported.

“If you end up slapping tariffs on Mexican beer, you’re not protecting American workers,” Ozgo said. “What you’re really doing is cutting into the most profitable segment of the beer market right now and in turn putting U.S. jobs at risk.”

According to the report, Mexican beer already sells for about 52% more than mass-market domestic lagers in grocery and liquor stores. The authors say those higher prices mean bigger profits for U.S. distributors, retailers, restaurants and bars, helping support more American jobs than cheaper domestic lagers.

Those higher prices create more value across the U.S. economy, the report notes.

FROM BOURBON TO BORDEAUX: TRUMP’S TARIFFS SPILL INTO GLOBAL BOOZE MARKETS

The authors estimate that every gallon of Mexican beer generates about $26.27 in economic value. About $19.42 of that — roughly 74% — goes to U.S. businesses and workers through distribution, retail, transportation, marketing, taxes and other domestic economic activity. By comparison, leading domestic beers generate about $15.76 in total value per gallon.

Ozgo said tariffs would ultimately force brewers to either absorb the added costs, reduce investment, or pass the costs on to consumers through higher prices.

“Either the company itself has to eat the cost of the tariff, or they pass the cost to the consumer,” he said. “Either outcome isn’t very good.”

The report also argues that moving production of Mexican beer to the United States could undermine the brands’ authenticity and value, pointing to Anheuser-Busch InBev’s decision to move production of Beck’s beer from Germany to Missouri, which led to consumer litigation after the company continued marketing the beer as German.

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It also notes that Constellation Brands, which imports Corona, Modelo and Pacifico, operates under a Justice Department consent decree requiring those brands to be produced in Mexico.

“Consumers really, really value authenticity,” Ozgo said. “When you move an import into the United States and you continue to market it as an import, you end up losing value.”

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The Trump administration has argued more broadly that tariffs are intended to encourage domestic manufacturing and strengthen American industry, though officials have not specifically outlined a final policy regarding Mexican beer imports.

The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Read the full report:

Dan Koh, a candidate for Congress in Massachusetts’s 6th Congressional District, deleted a handful of Black Lives Matter (BLM) posts from then-Twitter, according to the Wayback internet archives tool.

Koh’s resurfaced posts, which come as he wages a campaign to become the next representative for Massachusetts’s 6th Congressional District, suggest efforts to distance himself from BLM even as Koh highlights other elements of “racial justice.”

“JusticeForGeorgeFloyd,” Koh wrote on May 29, 2020.

“Pretty sure centuries of systemic racism exemplified by the murder of George Floyd has something to do with the ‘situation,’” Koh said in one of the posts, reacting to a press briefing about the riots that had broken out in Minnesota in 2020 shortly after Floyd’s death at the hands of a law enforcement officer.

The posts, which originally went up on May 29 and May 30 in 2020, have since been deleted.

TLAIB-BACKED SENATE CANDIDATE IN THE HOT SEAT AFTER DELETING ‘DEFUND THE POLICE’ SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS

In another post published on April 20, 2021, Koh wrote simply, “JusticeForGeorgeFloyd.”

Notably, Koh has not shied away from making racial equity an element of his campaign and displays it as a part of his platform on his website.

“President Trump is using the power of the federal government to target people of color at every turn. We must confront every action that systemically erodes justice and equality in American life, from attacks on fair housing and labor protections to efforts that undermine public education, environmental justice and civil rights enforcement,” the website reads.

MAYOR OF SANCTUARY CITY ADVANCES TO NOVEMBER ELECTION AMID ICE CRACKDOWN RESISTANCE

In the past, BLM has acted as a lightning rod issue, pitting criticisms of racial prejudice in law enforcement against support for police. It would later feed into sentiments like calls to “defund the police.”

Koh’s campaign did not say why he deleted the posts or whether he sees them as at odds with his current positions.

A spokesperson for the campaign did say, however, that Koh intends to make racial representation a facet of his time in office, if elected.

“For years, Dan has spoken up, including on social media and national TV, about the murder of George Floyd and the injustices Black Americans have faced — and as a Member of Congress, he will fight every day against Trump’s racist agenda that is trying to strip Black Americans of their rights and freedoms,” Olivia Brandon, a campaign spokesperson, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

In his time before running for office, Koh worked in the Biden White House, holding multiple senior roles and advising the administration on infrastructure-related matters. He has also worked as chief of staff to the U.S. Department of Labor and chief of staff for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh.

Koh is running to replace outgoing Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass. The seat, which has been safely Democratic for decades, last went to Moulton in a 69.9% to 35.2% victory over Republican challenger Robert May.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE CANDIDATES TRADE SHARP ATTACKS IN FIERY DEBATE AS UNCUMBENT MARKEY SKIPS EVENT

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In turn, Moulton is pursuing a U.S. Senate seat in a primary challenge to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Massachusetts will hold its primaries on Tuesday, Sept. 1. If he clinches the Democratic nomination, Koh will face off against Republican candidate Micah Jones.

The mother of an 18-year-old college freshman killed in March by a criminal illegal immigrant asked lawmakers Tuesday to look her in the eye and explain why “people here illegally matter more” than American citizens, delivering emotional testimony during a congressional hearing on sanctuary policies.

Jessica Gorman, whose daughter Sheridan Gorman was fatally shot after going to the Chicago lakefront with friends to see the Northern Lights, accused sanctuary city leaders and politicians of failing to protect her child during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on sanctuary policies.

“I want you to imagine that little girl on the ‘buddy bench,’ that innocent college freshman with a heart full of compassion and a head full of dreams that was gunned down by an illegal immigrant,” Gorman said. “I want you to imagine that was your daughter, not mine. What if she was yours?”

CHICAGO MAYOR ASKED ABOUT CITY’S IMMIGRATION POLICIES AFTER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLEGEDLY KILLED COLLEGE STUDENT

Gorman’s remarks came as she invoked a childhood story about Sheridan “stalking” the “buddy bench” at recess, waiting to help classmates who felt lonely or left out.

She lamented that her daughter, who spent her life making others feel seen, had been failed by the people responsible for protecting her.

“I bring this back to the buddy bench. I think Congress needs one. Yes, I think every governor, every mayor, every sanctuary city official and politician shifting blame and interest, hiding behind their slogans and talking points should have to all sit on one,” Gorman said. 

“I challenge you all to sit down with me. Take my hand, look me in the eye, and then explain to me, because I just don’t understand. Explain why people here illegally matter more than your American citizens. Explain why sanctuary policies matter more than my Sheridan’s life. Explain why cooperation with ICE was too much to ask for, but asking our American parents to bury our children is somehow acceptable. Ask me — I need you to tell me.“

BIDEN BORDER OFFICIALS RELEASED ALLEGED KILLER OF CHICAGO STUDENT ‘DUE TO LACK OF SPACE,’ DOCUMENTS SHOW

Gorman identified the man accused of killing her daughter as Jose Medina, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who she said “should not have even been in this country.” She said Medina had previously committed a crime and had an outstanding warrant before he was left on the streets of Chicago.

“But this story is not about him,” Gorman told lawmakers. “The story is about my Sheridan.”

The hearing focused on sanctuary policies and whether jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities are putting Americans at risk. Republicans argued those policies allow criminal illegal immigrants to be released back into communities instead of being turned over to ICE, while Democrats pushed back by arguing such policies preserve trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., who chairs the subcommittee, opened the hearing by saying Republicans would continue highlighting the families of victims until sanctuary policies are “rectified.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the ranking member, offered condolences to Gorman and another witness whose daughter was killed, but criticized the hearing as the committee’s fourth on sanctuary cities and argued Democrats should instead be examining the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies.

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The hearing grew heated even before Gorman testified, when Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., introduced her and was interrupted by Democrats who said his remarks had turned from an introduction into a broader speech on immigration policy.

Gorman later told lawmakers she had never expected to become a public advocate, but said her daughter’s death forced her into the fight.

“I’m a lover, not a fighter,” Gorman said. “I’m not a public speaker. I’m not someone who ever speaks out about things. I have to.”

A moderate Democrat mounting his last campaign staved off a progressive challenger in Colorado, marking a small speed bump in the rapid far-left evolution of the Democratic Party. 

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., a longtime fixture in Colorado politics, overcame a challenge from state Sen. Julie Gonzales, his progressive challenger, who has argued that Democrats need to be more aggressive in their pushback against President Donald Trump. 

Hickenlooper, who is vying for a second term in the upper chamber, said this would be his final campaign for the Senate. Gonzales hoped to speed up his exit with a campaign that went after the lawmaker’s moderate position and votes in favor of some of Trump’s nominees. 

DEMOCRATS TORN BETWEEN PROGRESSIVE FIRE AND CENTRIST CAUTION AS NOVEMBER ELECTIONS LOOM

“John Hickenlooper has been in office for over 20 years,” Gonzales said in her campaign launch ad. “I know that we’re not fooled by his so-called ‘commonsense approach,’ cause there is no sense in voting for Donald Trump’s nominees.”

Still, Gonzales’ defeat Tuesday night was a stumble for the progressive wave that has swept the Democratic Party during this midterm election cycle, which has seen new blood hungry for change challenging the old guard and party leadership in Washington, D.C. 

Hickenlooper, 74, who served two terms each as Denver’s mayor and Colorado’s governor before launching a failed bid for president, has been a stalwart fixture in the Centennial State, while Gonzales, 43, positioned herself as part of the new wave. 

THE PLOT TO STOP MAMDANI: DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO BLOCK FAR-LEFT TAKEOVER IN NEW YORK

Their battle for the Democratic nomination came just a week after a trio of progressive candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani clinched their Democratic nominations. Notably, Mamdani-backed Darializa Avila Chevalier, a community organizer and socialist, toppled five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y.

And the battle between Hickenlooper and Gonzales was not the only intraparty fist fight between a moderate incumbent and progressive in Colorado. 

‘IT’S A MESS’: GOP TURNS ON HOUSE CONSERVATIVES AS VOTER ID BLOCKADE STALLS TRUMP’S AGENDA

Melat Kiros, a socialist, is squaring off against longtime Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District. Kiros also sported the endorsement of one of Hickenlooper’s colleagues: Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Meanwhile, Hickenlooper will now face state Sen. Mark Baisley in November. Baisley, who ran unopposed in the Colorado GOP primary, initially launched a campaign for governor in the race to replace term-limited Gov. Jared Polis but dropped out of the contest to run for the Senate. 

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Fox News Digital did not immediately receive comment from the Hickenlooper and Gonzales campaigns.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are taking their political playbook nationwide. 

One week after DSA-aligned candidates scored ballot-box victories over establishment-backed contenders in two congressional primaries in New York City that grabbed outsized national attention, the group scored another major upset in a deep-blue U.S. House district in Denver, Colorado.

Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who was first elected to Congress in 1996 and took office in 1997, was defeated by DSA-backed Melat Kiros, a first-time candidate and former attorney who is 29 years old.

Kiros’ victory comes a week after Darializa Avila Chevalier, a 32-year-old progressive community organizer in New York City, ousted incumbent Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and state Assembly Member Claire Valdez, another DSA-aligned contender, won a congressional primary to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez.

VICTORIES BY MAMDANI-BACKED CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES SPOTLIGHTS GROWING RIFT IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY

The victories by Chevalier and Valdez, who were backed by socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, coupled with the win this week by Kiros, are further emboldening the progressive left as it takes on the center-left establishment in a high-stakes battle for the future of the Democratic Party. 

Hasan Piker, the controversial, far-left streamer, at the Kiros primary night event in Denver, told Fox News, “I think progressive politics, left populism, a politics that centers the needs of the working class, can work in every district, in every state. That’s why I kept saying over and over again, it’s coming to a city near you.” 

The latest DSA primary victory came in Colorado’s 1st Congressional District, a Democrat-dominated seat anchored in Denver that then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried by nearly 56 points in the 2024 election.

“Another Democratic Socialist is going to Congress!,” the DSA touted in a social media post. “Congresswoman Kiros will take the fight for a better world to D.C: to Abolish ICE, free Palestine, and win Universal Childcare and Medicare for All.” 

Kiros, who lost her job as a lawyer in New York after writing an essay critical of Israel, was also supported by Justice Democrats, the nearly decade-old political group known for heavily supporting “Squad” members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib as they toppled entrenched incumbents in their initial elections to Congress. 

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University of Colorado regent Wanda James, who jumped into the Democratic congressional primary in April and was described as a spoiler, finished third, in single digits. 

Progressives also scored an impressive victory in the neighboring 8th Congressional District, a crucial swing seat which stretches along the I-25 corridor north of Denver. 

State Rep. Manny Rutinel tallied a convincing double-digit victory over former state Rep. Shannon Bird, a more moderate candidate. Rutinel will now take on Republican Rep. Gabe Evans, who flipped the seat in the 2024 cycle. 

The race is considered one of two or three dozen that will determine if the GOP holds onto its razor-thin House majority in the midterms. 

Immigration was a top issue in the Democratic primary in a district where roughly 40% of the population is Latino. Rutinel criticized Bird for a vote she cast last year opposing a measure limiting cooperation between local and state law enforcement and ICE. And Rutinel was boosted by big spending from allies, including prominent Latino groups. 

While Rutinel has tempered his previous support for top progressive issues, including Medicare for All and opposition to fracking, Republicans viewed him as the easier general election challenger than Bird. During the primary campaign, the right spotlighted pictures of him rallying alongside Mamdani.

“Democrats have chosen a far-left, radical socialist, Mamdani-wanna-be extremist — someone who supports eliminating oil and gas, defunding law enforcement, calling farmers and ranchers horrific, and threatening the industries that power our economy,” Evans charged in a statement. 

Another primary showdown highlighting the split between progressives and moderates, as well as the party’s generational divide, was the Senate nomination battle between incumbent Sen. John Hickenlooper, 74, and former state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a 43-year-old progressive. 

Hickenlooper, a former Denver mayor and two-term governor, saw his once-large advantage over Gonzales, a one-time DSA member, narrow in the weeks ahead of the primary. 

Hickenlooper prevailed and will now be the clear favorite in the general election against Republican state Sen. Mark Baisley, who was unopposed in his primary. 

But Gonzales saw a silver lining in defeat, writing in a statement, “My heart is full, knowing that we’ve put the Democratic establishment on notice: keep taking folks like us for granted at your own peril.” 

Meanwhile, state Attorney General Phil Weiser topped U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the expensive and combustible Democratic gubernatorial primary. 

Weiser, who ran to Bennet’s left on certain issues, closed the gap with the senator as he spotlighted his efforts to take on President Donald Trump, including filing or joining dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration as attorney general.

Longtime Democratic strategist Joe Caiazzo, a veteran of progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, told Fox News Digital that “it is undeniable that progressives have built a coalition and have a message that can serve to buoy a candidate when they are an acceptable alternative to the status quo.” 

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While plenty of mainstream Democrats have racked up primary victories in recent weeks, it is the far-left that’s grabbing the media spotlight. And that’s giving Republicans more ammunition as they portray all Democrats as radicals. 

“The socialist takeover of the Democrat Party is no longer confined to deep-blue strongholds. The radicals are taking over battleground districts, putting must-win seats out of reach for Democrats and sinking their chances of flipping the House,” NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella said as he pointed to Rutinel’s victory.

 Fox News’ Olivia Palombo and Matthew Donnell contributed to this report

The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would pursue enforcement action that could include withholding federal funding from Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools over its policies that the administration says prevent staff from notifying parents of a transgender student’s gender identity.

The Education Department said that Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools’ policy of not disclosing a student’s transgender status to their parents violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

The agency announced it was partnering with the Justice Department to take “appropriate enforcement measures,” including applicable judicial proceedings and potential loss of federal funding.

LOUDOUN COUNTY PARENTS NOT ‘SATISFIED’ AFTER SCHOOL OFFICIALS TESTIFY ON TRANSGENDER POLICIES

“Kansas City Kansas Public Schools’ sustained efforts to sidestep FERPA, conceal its true policies, and obstruct parents’ lawful access to their children’s education records represents a serious and deliberate breach of federal law,” said Frank Miller, Director of the Student Privacy Policy Office at the Education Department.

“A strong and coordinated enforcement partnership between the Department of Education and the Department of Justice will ensure districts are held accountable and fully honor parents’ rights,” he added.

According to the government, the district’s policy affirms that school personnel “should not disclose information that may reveal a student’s transgender status or gender nonconforming presentation to others, including parents.”

“Despite the Department’s proposed Resolution Agreement, which outlined specific actions the District should take to remedy their FERPA violations, the District continues to ignore federal parental rights law,” the Education Department said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the district for comment.

SUPREME COURT MAKES MAKES RULING ON TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS

The administration has threatened to pull federal funding from several other districts across the country over transgender policies.

Earlier this year, the Education Department said policies concerning transgender students in four Kansas school districts, including Kansas City and Kansas Public Schools, were violating federal law.

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President Donald Trump has issued an executive order aimed at barring transgender women and girls from competing in girls’ and women’s sports. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that states may bar transgender women and girls from girls’ and women’s sports, upholding Idaho and West Virginia laws while not requiring states without such bans to adopt them.

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Trump administration says it has complete support from the Venezuelan government amid humanitarian efforts just months after the removal of former dictator Nicolás Maduro, which sparked rage among the president’s opponents.

After magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes struck the northern part of the South American nation last week, the American government stepped in to help in a move that the administration says has been welcomed by the Venezuelan government and citizenry alike.

“We have seen total compliance from the interim authorities in Venezuela as a result of the unprecedented response by the United States to these deadly earthquakes,” a State Department official told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

US MILITARY TOUTS WORK TO ASSIST IN VENEZUELA FOLLOWING DEADLY EARTHQUAKES

The death toll from the natural disaster stands at nearly 2,000 and continues to rise.

“Every request we have made has been immediately granted and in turn, we have seen an incredible outpouring of support from the Venezuelan people towards Americans on the ground,” the official continued.

TRUMP ‘SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING’ PLAN TO MAKE VENEZUELA AND ITS $40 TRILLION IN OIL PERMANENT PART OF USA

On Jan. 3, U.S. special forces successfully took Maduro into custody after a daring nighttime mission that overwhelmed the dictator’s armed guards. After penetrating Maduro’s palace, they took him into custody. He was relocated to the United States where he remains in jail awaiting trial on narco-terrorism and gun charges.

The progressive political left rushed to the defense of the brutal socialist authoritarian in the wake of his capture.

US CAPTURE OF MADURO THROWS SPOTLIGHT ON VENEZUELA’S MASSIVE OIL RESERVES

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., warned that the event risked violating international law, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., called the United States a “rogue state.”

“Trump’s illegal and unprovoked bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president are grave violations of international law and the U.S. Constitution. These are the actions of a rogue state,” Tlaib wrote on social media.

“The American people do not want another regime change war abroad,” she added.

“Maduro’s illegitimate election does not give the president the power to invade without congressional approval, nor does it create a national security justification. That contention is laughable,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

The Trump administration has taken swift action to help the Venezuelan people amid the crisis, including mobilizing $150 million in humanitarian relief.

It has assembled a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) composed of more than 250 people, including three specialized Urban Search-and-Rescue (USAR) teams. The administration says the teams have conducted critical life-saving measures.

The U.S. military has assisted with logistics.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court installed Delcy Rodríguez as the country’s interim president.

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Since then, diplomatic relations with the country have been restored, though officials in Washington have made it clear that such cooperation is temporary, while emphasizing the U.S. does not view her presidency as a permanent solution.