DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

The Biden administration has admitted Israel into a select group of countries whose citizens are allowed to travel to the United States without getting a visa in advance.

The Biden administration is poised to allow Israeli citizens to travel to the United States without a U.S. visa.

The Biden administration is giving temporary legal status to Afghan migrants who have already been living in the country for a little over a year.

When Congress returns this week, Homeland Security officials and those in the chemical industries will be watching to see if a program regulating the chemical sector will be on its agenda.

The head of the nation’s cybersecurity agency says efforts to protect the nation’s election systems have grown exponentially since the 2016 presidential election, but more is needed to defend the integrity and resiliency of the election process ahead of next year’s vote.

An Army combat veteran with extensive cybersecurity and counterterrorism experience is taking over as one of the nation’s top election security officials.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reassigned its chief medical officer after the in-custody death of an 8-year-old girl whose mother’s pleas for an ambulance were ignored despite a high fever and other ailments.

U.S. officials say the Department of Energy is among a small number of federal agencies compromised in a Russian cyber-extortion gang’s global hack of a file-transfer program popular with corporations and governments.

The Department of Homeland Security released new figures that show a declining number of unlawful entries between ports of entry along the Southwest border.

U.S. officials say the number of migrant families they encountered at the Southwest border continues to remain low following the lifting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Title 42 public health order.

Federal officials had about 10,000 encounters with migrants per day at the U.S.-Mexico border before the emergency health order ended late Thursday. Since Friday they have had about 5,000 encounters per day.

The Biden Administration and the United States border communities are preparing for the end of the pandemic era policy Title 42 that is set to expire on Thursday night.

The Austin Republican’s tacit approval only adds fuel to the fire for Texas Democrats recoiling at the report that the Biden administration could detain asylum-seekers.

Top state election and cybersecurity officials are warning about the threat posed by Russia and other foreign adversaries ahead of the 2024 elections.

A federal task force has reunited nearly 700 children who were separated from their families during the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court is temporarily blocking an order that would lift pandemic-era restrictions on asylum seekers.

The Biden administration stopped enrolling new asylum seekers into the Trump-era program in August.

The deadline for obtaining the Real ID needed to board a domestic flight has been pushed back again, with the Department of Homeland Security citing the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic for the slower-than-expected rollout.

The Supreme Court has wrestled with a partisan-tinged dispute over a Biden administration policy that would prioritize deportation of people in the country illegally who pose the greatest public safety risk.

A new Senate report is criticizing the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security for not doing enough to track domestic extremists.

A federal judge has granted the Biden administration a five-week delay to end far-reaching asylum restrictions, writing in upper-case letters that he was doing so “WITH GREAT RELUCTANCE.”.

A Senate investigation has found that U.S. immigration authorities didn’t do enough to adequately vet or monitor a gynecologist in rural Georgia who performed unnecessary medical procedures on detained migrant women without their consent.

A federal judge has ordered the Biden administration to lift Trump-era asylum restrictions that have been a cornerstone of border enforcement since the beginning of COVID-19.

Bexar County Court 13 Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez on Friday paid a $2,475 civil penalty, weeks after a loaded gun was found in her carry-on luggage at San Antonio International Airport.

Cruz and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas accusing him of “gross dereliction of duty.” Mayorkas has been a consistent target of conservative ire over immigration.

U.S. officials say Russia is working to amplify doubts about the integrity of American elections while China is interested in influencing policy perspectives in favor of Beijing.

Top congressional Democrats have requested sit-down interviews and internal documents from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.

A new cybersecurity panel created by President Joe Biden says a computer vulnerability discovered last year in a ubiquitous piece of software is an “endemic” problem that will pose security risks for potentially a decade or more.

Election officials have a long list of challenges as they prepare for the upcoming midterms.

The Trump administration created the Migrant Protection Protocols, also called “remain in Mexico,” in 2019 before the Biden administration canceled it in 2021. The ruling sends the case back to a Texas federal court.

In a bulletin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said that recent and upcoming events could be “exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

The Department of Homeland Security says a looming Supreme Court decision on abortion, an increase of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the midterm elections are potential triggers for extremist violence over the next six months.

The federal government is warning law enforcement agencies around the nation of the increased potential for extremist violence after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down the constitutional right to abortion.

The Department of Homeland Security has paused a new and controversial board’s work on disinformation and has accepted the resignation of its leader.

The Department of Homeland Security has launched a new panel to tackle disinformation.

The Biden administration says U.S. airport security procedures will become more gender-neutral.

A first group of Afghan refugees have arrived at a new temporary housing facility in Northern Virginia as the U.S. works to resettle people who fled the Taliban takeover of their country.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has set off the largest mass migration in Europe in decades, with more than 1.5 million people having crossed from Ukraine into neighboring countries.

San Antonio police say they have rounded up as many as 30 people who were seen climbing out of the back of a big rig at a far West Side shopping center last Friday morning.

Extremist groups in the United States appear to increasingly view attacking the power grid as a means of disrupting the country, according to a government report aimed at law enforcement agencies and utility operators.

A key part of President Joe Biden’s plans to fight major ransomware attacks and digital espionage campaigns has been languishing for more than eight months.

A Biden administration effort to reunite children and parents who were separated under President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance border policy has made increasing progress as it nears the end of its first year.

In a story published Dec. 21 about the use of body cameras by an investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security, The Associated Press erroneously reported that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix and Detroit were the first federal officers to wear body cams.

Security pros say it’s one of the worst computer vulnerabilities they’ve ever seen.

The Associated Press is seeking answers from the Department of Homeland Security on its use of sensitive government databases for tracking international terrorists to investigate as many as 20 American journalists, including an acclaimed AP reporter.

Washington state's Republican secretary of state is preparing to move across the country to take a key election security position within the Biden Administration.

The Department of Homeland Security says the U.S. faces a “heightened threat environment” with the approach of the holidays.

U.S. immigration authorities will limit arrests at schools, hospitals and other so-called protected areas under new guidelines issued by the Department of Homeland Security.

Val Verde County commissioners say the migrants who were camping out in Del Rio are now cleared, just days after almost 15,000 people, most of them Haitians, were seeking asylum.

The Supreme Court says the Biden administration likely violated federal law in trying to end a Trump-era program that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. With three liberal justices in dissent, the high court refused Tuesday to block a lower court ruling ordering the administration to reinstate the program informally known as Remain in Mexico.

The Supreme Court says the Biden administration likely violated federal law in trying to end a Trump-era program that forces people to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. With three liberal justices in dissent, the high court refused Tuesday to block a lower court ruling ordering the administration to reinstate the program informally known as Remain in Mexico.

The Supreme Court is temporarily halting a judge’s order that would have forced the government to reinstate a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. Justice Samuel Alito issued the temporary stay late Friday night.

A federal appellate court has refused to delay implementation of a judge's order reinstating a Trump administration policy forcing thousands to wait in Mexico while seeking asylum in the U.S. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling late Thursday.

The latest terrorism alert bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security warns that the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as approaching religious holidays could inspire violent attacks by extremists.

The Department of Homeland Security has announced new requirements for U.S. pipeline operators to bolster cybersecurity following a May ransomware attack that disrupted gas delivery across the East Coast.

The Biden administration is extending a program that allows people from Yemen to stay in the U.S. temporarily because of the turmoil from the civil war there.

The Biden administration says it is moving to increase the pay and union rights for security screeners at the nation’s airports.

The Biden administration will stop using immigration detention facilities in Massachusetts and Georgia that are the subject of abuse allegations.

Americans will have more time to get the Real ID that they will need to board a flight or enter federal facilities.

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won’t hear a case filed by Texas and 13 other states that seeks to revive a Trump-era “public charge” immigration rule, stating they need an opinion from a lower court first.

The Department of Homeland Security has announced an internal review to address the threat of domestic violent extremism within the sprawling agency.

A prominent cybersecurity firm says suspected state-backed Chinese hackers exploited widely used networking devices to spy for months on dozens of high-value government, defense industry and financial sector targets in the U.S. and Europe.

President Joe Biden’s administration announced an increase Tuesday in the number of temporary seasonal workers who will be allowed to work in the U.S. this year as the U.S. economy recovers from the pandemic.

President Joe Biden has selected two former senior National Security Agency officials for key cyber roles in his administration.

Key lawmakers say they’re concerned they’ve been kept in the dark about what suspected Russian hackers stole from the federal government and they pressed Biden administration officials for more details about the scope of what’s known as the SolarWinds hack.

Republicans and some Democrats fear that relaxing detention policies will exacerbate a surge that is already straining the Biden administration. AdWhile the tally is a fraction of the combined capacity of 3,300 people at three family residential centers, the uptick baffled child-welfare advocates who hoped that the detention centers would finally close. They note that Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas helped to expand use of these detention centers during the Obama administration. “There needs to be open expression of what they’re going to do with these facilities,” said Bridget Cambria, a lawyer representing migrant families in Pennsylvania. AdThe Biden administration has not yet detailed how exactly it will cope with another influx.

About half of the money covered comes from two widely used grants: the State Homeland Security Program and the Urban Area Security Initiative. AdThat translates into at least $77 million to address domestic extremism, funds that Mayorkas said can be used to improve intelligence sharing across state lines, training and public awareness. AdConcerns about domestic extremism have been mounting in recent years. DHS listed domestic violent extremism, particularly by white supremacists, as among the top threats facing the nation late last year, and in January for the first time used a national terrorist advisory to warn about domestic extremism. In the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for increased focus on domestic extremism.

President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with labor leaders in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON – Immigration enforcement in the U.S. would be more targeted under President Joe Biden than under his predecessor, with authorities directed to focus on people in the country illegally who pose a threat, according to guidelines released Thursday. The guidelines set a new course for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, which drew fierce criticism under President Donald Trump for arresting and removing anyone in the country illegally regardless of criminal history or community ties. Under Biden, ICE would primarily apprehend and remove people who pose a threat to national security, committed crimes designated as “aggravated” felonies or recently crossed the border. AdTrump, whose administration took hundreds of measures to restrict both legal and illegal immigration, early on directed ICE to apprehend anyone who was in the country illegally.

Launched by the Trump administration, the Migrant Protection Protocols forced asylum seekers to wait in Mexico border towns for their hearings in American courtrooms. Officials in Mexico have said that many migrants have since gone back home or decided to cross illegally instead of waiting. AdThe DHS advised asylum seekers in the program to remain where they are for now while a virtual registration process is rolled out next week. Asylum seekers will be tested for COVID-19 before being allowed to cross the border. “This latest action is another step in our commitment to reform immigration policies that do not align with our nation’s values,” said DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Drivers with a vaccine appointment enter a mega COVID-19 vaccination site set up in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. One of the largest vaccination sites in the country was temporarily shut down Saturday because dozen of protesters blocked the entrance, stalling hundreds of motorists who had been waiting in line for hours, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles Fire Department shut the entrance to the vaccination center at Dodger Stadium about 2 p.m. as a precaution, officials told the newspaper. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)WASHINGTON – The U.S. government says it won’t be making routine immigration enforcement arrests at COVID-19 vaccination sites. Vaccination sites will be considered “sensitive locations” and generally off limits for enforcement actions, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Monday.

The state crossed that mark Monday, exactly a year after officials reported the first case of a coronavirus infection in Massachusetts. — Maryland’s acting health secretary says the state’s hospitals have received less than half of their expected allocations of second doses of the coronavirus vaccine for front-line health workers this week. Schrader says state officials were talked with the federal Department of Health and Human Services all weekend trying to figure out what happened. The CDC says Iowa has delivered 190,689 first vaccine doses to individuals, or 6,044 per 100,000 people, the third lowest rate in the nation. Ad___PRAGUE — The Czech Republic is not planning to limit use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for elderly people like some other European Union nations.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 file photo, Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. In contrast, the deadly attack by rioters on the U.S. Capitol targeted the very heart of government. It brought together members of disparate groups, creating the opportunity for extremists to establish links with each other. The document singles out crimes motivated by racial or ethnic hatred, such as the 2019 rampage targeting Hispanics in El Paso, Texas, as well as the threat posed by extremists motivated by foreign terror groups. The alert comes at a tense time following the riot at the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump seeking to overturn the presidential election.

A federal judge on Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of President Joe Biden. Tipton said the Biden administration had failed to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations. (AP Photo/Emilio Espejel, File)HOUSTON – A federal judge on Tuesday barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of President Joe Biden. That was a reversal from Trump administration policy that made anyone in the U.S. illegally a priority for deportation. The 100-day moratorium went into effect Friday and applied to almost anyone who entered the U.S. without authorization before November.

The group requested asylum in the United States, but were returned to Mexico under the Migrant Protections Protocol to await their court proceedings. DHS said in its statement that more information about people in MPP will be forthcoming and asks the asylum seekers to stay in Mexico for now. She also said Biden should reject the Trump administration's health policy to expel future asylum seekers. Lives are on the line, and asylum seekers continue to be subjected to kidnappings, attacks and other targeted violence," she said in a statement. The "remain in Mexico" policy began in California and expanded to the Texas-Mexico border in early 2019.

President-elect Joe Bidens pick for national intelligence director Avril Haines arrives for a confirmation hearing before the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. Neither Blinken nor Biden's other nominees for national security Cabinet posts encountered substantial opposition Tuesday. “When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics — ever,” she told the Senate Intelligence Committee. The House majority leader, Rep. Steny Hoyer, indicated Tuesday that the full House would consider an Austin waiver bill on Thursday. Like Blinken, Austin said he views China as the leading international issue facing Biden's national security team.

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2021 file photo, The Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge overlooks the newly-completed Moynihan Train Hall in New York. Two major railroad workers unions have asked the Department of Homeland Security to beef up security on Amtrak and other passenger rail lines, including by creating a no-ride list akin to the no-fly list that prevents people identified as risks from boarding planes. The unions said Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, that tougher security measures are needed after last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol because people who took part in the insurrection that were placed on the no-fly list may turn to railroads for transportation. – Two major railroad workers unions have asked the Department of Homeland Security to beef up security on Amtrak and other passenger lines, including by creating a no-ride list akin to the no-fly list that prevents people identified as risks from boarding planes. The unions also asked the Federal Railroad Administration to intervene and require more security.

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2020, file photo, acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee during his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Shawn Thew/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s acting head of the Department of Homeland Security abruptly resigned Monday, leaving the post ahead of schedule as the nation faces a heightened terrorism threat from extremists seeking to reverse the election. The announcement by acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf was perplexing. Peter Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will serve as acting head of the Department of Homeland Security until the Biden administration takes over. Trump appointed Wolf acting secretary in November 2019, following the resignation of Kevin McAleenan, the acting secretary who took over following the resignation of Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

SAN DIEGO – A U.S. judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s most sweeping set of asylum restrictions less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office. The court order has limited immediate impact because the government has largely suspended asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border during the coronavirus pandemic, citing public health concerns. He said it was the fifth time a court has ruled against Homeland Security on the same grounds. Any foreigner who steps on U.S. soil has a legal right to apply for asylum, according to U.S. asylum law and international treaty obligations. Donato took issue with how people came to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

The U.S. government on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, said a devastating hack of federal agencies is likely Russian in origin and said the operation appeared to be an intelligence gathering effort. The Justice Department said that on Dec. 24 it detected "previously unknown malicious activity" linked to the broader intrusions of federal agencies revealed earlier that month, according to a statement from spokesman Marc Raimondi. Separately, the court office said on its website that “an apparent compromise” of the U.S. judiciary's case management and electronic case file system was under investigation. The actual reach is probably significant,” said a federal court official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the information. Rid wondered how sure the Justice Department could be about the extent of its compromise.

WASHINGTON – U.S. government agencies and private companies rushed Monday to secure their computer networks following the disclosure of a sophisticated and long-running cyber-espionage intrusion suspected of being carried out by Russian hackers. The intrusion was stark evidence of the vulnerability of even supposedly secure government networks, even after well-known previous attacks. U.S. authorities acknowledged that federal agencies were affected by the breach on Sunday, providing few details. The national cybersecurity agencies of Britain and Ireland issued similar alerts. SolarWinds is used by hundreds of thousands of organizations around the world, including most Fortune 500 companies and multiple U.S. federal agencies.

The threat apparently came from the same cyberespionage campaign that has afflicted FireEye, foreign governments and major corporations, and the FBI was investigating. FireEye’s customers include federal, state and local governments and top global corporations. Cybersecurity experts said last week that they considered Russian state hackers to be the main suspect in the FireEye hack. Federal government agencies have long been attractive targets for foreign hackers. “I suspect that there’s a number of other (federal) agencies we’re going to hear from this week that have also been hit,” Williams added.

SAN DIEGO – The Trump administration said Monday that it fully restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that shields hundreds of thousands of young people from deportation, complying with a federal judge’s order. The announcement is still a major victory for young people who have been unable to apply since Trump ended DACA in September 2017. DACA shields about 650,000 people from deportation and makes them eligible for work permits. It allows certain immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children to work and be exempt from deportation, though it does not confer legal status on recipients. "I don't want people caught in the crossfire.”___Associated Press writer Anita Snow in Phoenix contributed to this report.

As of March, about 106,000 DACA recipients lived in Texas, and another 86,000 were potentially eligible to apply, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Friday's order follows last month's ruling that acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf wasn’t appointed to the position according to DHS guidelines, rendering a July memo issued on the DACA program invalid. In that memo, DACA protections, which also include a renewable two-year work permit, were slashed to one year. But in his November ruling Garaufis said Wolf’s succession didn't follow proper procedure after former secretary Kevin McAleenan left the post in October. “DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated," Garaufis wrote.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said the government had to post a public notice within three days — including on its website and the websites of all other relevant government agencies — that new DACA applications were being accepted. Garaufis also ordered the government to put together a status report on the DACA program by Jan. 4. “Every time the outgoing administration tried to use young immigrants as political scapegoats, they defiled the values of our nation. The Trump administration had announced the end of the program in 2017, leading to the legal challenges that wound up in front of the Supreme Court. For the second time, a court has ordered the administration to resume processing DACA applications.

Biden on Monday announced the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, who served under President Barack Obama as deputy secretary of homeland security and director of the Citizenship and Immigration Services. And he helped negotiate the first homeland security memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Cuba, where he was born. If confirmed by the Senate, Mayorkas, who turns 61 on Tuesday, would be the first Hispanic and the first immigrant to lead DHS. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and received his law degree from Loyola Law School. Bersin said Mayorkas is a “centrist” who will seek to balance humanitarian concerns with the need for border security.

Rob Portman of Ohio on Monday called for Murphy to release money and staffing needed for the transition. Portman, a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also said Biden should receive high-level briefings on national security and the coronavirus vaccine distribution plan. Alexander and Portman, who have both aligned themselves with Trump, joined a growing number of Republican officials who in recent days have urged Trump to begin the transition immediately. Murphy's ascertainment will free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden’s team to begin placing transition personnel at federal agencies. Trump administration officials had said they would not give Biden the classified presidential daily briefing on intelligence matters until the GSA makes the ascertainment official.

While abrupt, the dismissal Tuesday of Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was not a surprise. Hours before being dismissed, Krebs tweeted out a report citing 59 election security experts saying there is no credible evidence of computer fraud in the 2020 election outcome. Biden campaign spokesman Michael Gwin noted that bipartisan election officials have dismissed Trump’s claims of widespread fraud. Some state election officials and Republicans, suspicious of federal intrusion on their turf, were opposed to the designation. But the Trump administration supported the designation, and, eventually, skeptical state officials welcomed the assistance.

While abrupt, the dismissal of Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was not a surprise. Hours before being dismissed, Krebs tweeted out a report citing 59 election security experts saying there is no credible evidence of computer fraud in the 2020 election outcome. Biden campaign spokesman Michael Gwin noted that bipartisan election officials have dismissed Trump’s claims of widespread fraud. Some state election officials and Republicans, suspicious of federal intrusion on their turf, were opposed to the designation. But the Trump administration supported the designation, and, eventually, skeptical state officials welcomed the assistance.

“DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated,” U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote. In August, the Government Accountability Office, a bipartisan congressional watchdog, said Wolf and his acting deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, were improperly serving and ineligible to run the agency under the Vacancies Reform Act. The two have been at the forefront of administration initiatives on immigration and law enforcement. In Garaufis' ruling Saturday, the judge wrote that DHS didn’t follow an order of succession established when then-Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

FILE - In this Sept. 23, 2020, file photo, Department of Homeland Security acting Secretary Chad Wolf makes an opening statement at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. On Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, a federal judge in New York ruled that Wolf assumed his position unlawfully, a determination that invalidated Wolf's suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields young people from deportation. “DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated,” U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote. In Garaufis' ruling Saturday, the judge wrote that DHS didn't follow an order of succession established when then-Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen resigned in April 2019. DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

NEW YORK – A group of Democratic lawmakers called on the Trump administration Monday to stop the expulsion of unaccompanied children and other asylum seekers at the U.S. border using emergency powers granted during the coronavirus pandemic. “Clearly, expulsions lack a public health rationale, and the U.S. government is fully capable of receiving and placing unaccompanied children and asylum seekers while also protecting public health,” said the letter, signed by 58 lawmakers. The CDC’s order covers the U.S. borders with both Mexico and Canada, but has mostly affected the thousands of asylum seekers and immigrants arriving at the southern border. Public health experts had urged the administration to focus on a national mask mandate, enforce social distancing and increase the number of contact tracers to track down people exposed to the virus. In their letter, the lawmakers say the order endangers children, including by exposing them to risks such as human trafficking.

Documents in the report suggest Health and Human Services officials weren't told by the Department of Homeland Security why shelters were receiving more children taken from their parents in late 2017. Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released the report Thursday with emails obtained from government agencies. The report outlines discussions since the start of the Trump administration of family separation as a law enforcement tactic. Documents in the new report suggest CBP did not communicate with HHS about why shelters were receiving more separated children. The email notes “the increase in referrals” of children unaccompanied by a parent “resulting from separation of children from parents.” White sent McAleenan a chart of all the children HHS had received.

This March 27, 2018, provided by the Department of Homeland Security, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and then-Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor, right, meet with Honduran President Juan Hernandez, not pictured, and security ministers from the Northern Triangle countries in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Taylor, a former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name Anonymous made his identify public Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (Tim Godbee/Department of Homeland Security via AP)

Taylor, a former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name Anonymous made his identify public Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020. (Tim Godbee/Department of Homeland Security via AP)WASHINGTON – A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. He left the Trump administration in June 2019 and endorsed Democrat Joe Biden for president this summer. Trump and White House officials moved quickly to describe Taylor as someone with little standing and clout. He said he considered resigning from the Trump administration a year before he did and wishes now that he had.

As part of the settlement in the lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE will also pay $100,000 to be split among the three activists and Migrant Justice, an advocacy group representing immigrant farmworkers in Vermont. “ICE tried to terrorize us by going after our leaders,” said plaintiff Victor Diaz, a member of Migrant Justice, at a rally outside the federal courthouse on Wednesday. Afterward, Thelma Gomez, of Migrant Justice, said what happened was a clear example of what happens when the people rise up to defend their rights. Before the arrest, she said, ICE tried to enter her email account and used a confidential informant to spy on the group’s members and gather information about them. At the time of the settlement, the agency commissioner said she was pleased her department was able to work with Migrant Justice on an agreement.

The federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. government violated federal environmental law by deploying “an unprecedented amount of dangerous chemical weapons” without assessing their environmental impacts beforehand, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality noted that “the repeated deployment of tear gas in downtown Portland has led to elevated levels of certain contaminants” in stormwater drains. But state officials said air-quality monitors aren’t located nearby and don’t measure tear gas exposure. Medical experts say there are few studies on health effects of tear gas. A European Union agency says it “is very toxic to aquatic life.”Figuring out precisely what tear gas components are in the environment is also a challenge.

And it added to charges from Trump critics that DHS and other agencies have become overtly politicized under this president. “Now, he’s trying to use the department to benefit himself electorally.”Few issues are as important to Trump's political base as immigration. But attention to the issue has ebbed in the 2020 race, as Trump has focused more on unrest in Democratic cities, leftist activists and other matters. Then Wolf followed up with the news conference to announce the enforcement operation — a fairly routine operation that resulted in a fairly low number of arrests. Trump has said Biden wants to abolish ICE and end deportations, but that's not correct.

The issues identified in the public service announcements run the gamut from the spread of online disinformation about the electoral process to cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure. That's precisely what the FBI and CISA are warning may take place to trick Americans during the election. Besides spreading false information, officials say, such spoofed websites and email accounts can gather personally identifiable information and spread malicious software. The U.S. agencies say they have no information that any attack targeting election infrastructure has compromised the integrity of election results or the accuracy of voter registration information, prevented a registered voter from casting a ballot, or prevented an election from occurring. In 2016, Russia searched for vulnerabilities in state elections systems across the U.S. and also breached the Illinois voter registration system.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration announced plans Tuesday to sharply limit visas for skilled workers from overseas, a move officials said was a priority amid job losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump in June issued an order temporarily suspending the H-1B program until the end of the year. The H-1B program was created under President George H.W. There would also be increased workplace inspections and additional oversight of the H-1B program, Cuccinelli said. The U.S. can issue up to 85,000 H-1B visas per year in technology, life sciences, health care and other sectors.

WASHINGTON – House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Tuesday he will subpoena the Department of Homeland Security after a department whistleblower wasn’t allowed access to documents and clearance he needs to testify. Brian Murphy said in a whistleblower complaint earlier this month that he was pressured by more senior officials to suppress facts in intelligence reports about Russian election interference and other matters. Schiff said he will issue two subpoenas to the department for documents and testimony after “unnecessary delay and obstruction” over materials that would allow Murphy to testify to the panel behind closed doors. Schiff, D-Calif., said the committee would compel the document production by Oct. 6. A former FBI agent and Marine Corps veteran, Murphy also alleged that senior DHS officials pressed him to alter reports so they would reflect administration policy goals.