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FBI Deputy Director Bongino: Illegal alien criminals and child predators are next in ongoing crackdown

FBI Deputy Director Bongino: Illegal alien criminals and child predators are next in ongoing crackdown

Fox News11-05-2025

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino shared a detailed update Saturday about the bureau's operations, making clear the agency is focused on removing dangerous criminals and protecting children.
In a post on X, Bongino outlined several priorities and took aim at what he called misleading media coverage of the FBI's work.
"The workforce has been working overtime on task force operations to remove dangerous illegal aliens from the country. The work continues," Bongino wrote. "If you came here illegally to prey on our citizens, your days here are numbered."
He said these operations are only getting started and will ramp up in the coming weeks.
"These removal and incarceration operations will dramatically change the crime landscape in the country when combined with the administration's laser-focus on sealing the border shut," he added.
Bongino also pointed to a new initiative focused on protecting children from predators.
"Crimes against children are a priority for the workforce. Operation 'Restoring Justice,' where we locked up child predators and 764 subjects, in every part of the country, is just the beginning," he said. "We are going to take your freedom if you take away a child's innocence."
He promised more enforcement efforts to come and warned those targeting children to "think twice."
Bongino addressed the FBI's efforts to respond to Congress and the public about several high-profile cases. These include the attack on Rep. Steve Scalise, the Nashville school shooting, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation and the origins of COVID-19. He also mentioned the ongoing work with the Department of Justice in the Jeffrey Epstein case.
"There are voluminous amounts of downloaded child sexual abuse material that we are dealing with," he wrote. "There are also victims' statements that are entitled to specific protections. We need to do this correctly, but I do understand the public's desire to get the information out there."
He also responded to what he described as false stories being spread by some in the media and came to the defense of FBI Director Patel.
"He spends anywhere between 10 to 12 hours in the office attending meetings with everyone from foreign heads of law enforcement to our counter-terror teams," Bongino wrote. "Any assertion otherwise is a verifiable lie designed to stop our reforms and fracture your trust. I will die on this hill. You are being clearly lied to by people with an agenda, and it's not your agenda."
He closed by thanking the public for its attention and encouraged Americans to keep watching the FBI's progress.
"God bless America, and all those who defend Her," he wrote.
Dan Bongino began his law enforcement career with the New York Police Department in 1995. He joined the United States Secret Service in 1999 and later served on the elite Presidential Protective Division for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
After leaving government service, Bongino ran for office as a Republican in Maryland and Florida. Bongino also hosted a Saturday night show on Fox News Channel from 2021 to 2023.
He is the author of several books, including "Life Inside the Bubble," a memoir about his time in the Secret Service.
The FBI did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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Rubio says U.S. is ready to meet with Iran after strikes, warns closing Strait of Hormuz would be "suicidal"
Rubio says U.S. is ready to meet with Iran after strikes, warns closing Strait of Hormuz would be "suicidal"

CBS News

time15 minutes ago

  • CBS News

Rubio says U.S. is ready to meet with Iran after strikes, warns closing Strait of Hormuz would be "suicidal"

Rubio says U.S. is ready to meet with Iran after strikes, calls closing Strait of Hormuz "suicidal" Washington — The U.S. is ready to meet with Iran following the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday, while warning Iran that closing the crucial Strait of Hormuz would be a "suicidal" move for the regime. Rubio, appearing on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," urged Iran to pursue diplomacy after the U.S. carried out what the Pentagon called the largest B-2 operation in U.S. history in an effort to cripple Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon. Rubio said the U.S. has no current plans for further attacks on Iran unless "they mess around." Rubio said the U.S. mission "was not an attack on Iran, it was not an attack on the Iranian people. This wasn't a regime change move. This was designed to degrade and or destroy three nuclear sites." "What happens next will now depend on what Iran chooses to do next," Rubio said. "If they choose the path of diplomacy, we're ready. We can do a deal that's good for them, the Iranian people, and good for the world. If they choose another route, then there will be consequences for that." President Trump continues to prefer the path of diplomacy, Rubio said, noting that the U.S. pushed Iran to make a deal to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions before the strikes. "We're prepared, right now, if they call right now and say, 'We want to meet, let's talk about this,' we're prepared to do that," Rubio said. The question of how Iran will respond has raised fears that the regime could seek to block ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical choke point between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman that is used to transport about 20% of oil used around the world. Rubio declined to say whether the U.S. would take military action if Iran closes the strait, or whether the U.S. would consider attacks on oil facilities by Iran's proxy militias as direct acts by the regime: "I'm not going to take options away from the president, that's not something we're talking about right now in terms of being immediate." Rubio said closing the strait would affect the U.S., but it would have "a lot more impact on the rest of the world," particularly on China. "That would be a suicidal move on [Iran's] part, because I think the whole world would come against them if they did that," Rubio said. Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former head of U.S. Central Command and a CBS News contributor, said the U.S. would be able to clear the strait if Iran lined it with underwater mines. "The Iranians do have the capability to mine the Strait of Hormuz. We have very good plans to clear that if we had to do it. We work on those plans all the time," McKenzie told Brennan later in the show. "It would be a blow to world commerce, for a period of time, but at the end, the strait would be cleared, and I'm pretty confident the Iranian navy would all be sunk at the end of that operation." The U.S. operation on Saturday, which the Trump administration named "Operation Midnight Hammer," bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, causing what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said was "extremely severe damage and destruction." The Pentagon acknowledged that capturing a complete assessment of the operation's effectiveness will take time. Brennan pressed Rubio on what specific intelligence pushed the president to make the decision to strike Iran. In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard testified before Congress that Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon, testimony Mr. Trump declared "wrong." Rubio said Iran, ahead of the strikes, had "everything they need to build nuclear weapons," and pointed to assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA. "Here's what the whole world knows. Forget about intelligence," Rubio told Brennan. "What the IAEA knows, they are enriching uranium well beyond anything you need for a civil nuclear program. So why would you enrich uranium at 60% if you don't intend to use it to one day take it to 90 and build a weapon? Why are you developing ICBMs?" Brennan asked Rubio whether the U.S. will defend other nations in the Middle East if Iran launches attacks on their soil in response. Rubio said that's why U.S. bases — and about 40,000 U.S. troops — are positioned across the Middle East. "Well, that's exactly why they're there," he said, adding, "All those bases are there because they're afraid that Iran will attack them." Rubio insisted that the U.S. will defend Americans, including U.S. soldiers on military bases, from Iran and its proxies. "They'll attack us, is what they're threatening to do," he said. "So we'll defend our people, obviously. We'll defend our people. Well, they'll attack our bases. And those are our bases, and we're going to defend our personnel, and we're prepared to do that." Rubio said he didn't want to forecast what the U.S. might do if Iran retaliates. "There are no planned military operations right now against Iran unless they mess around and they attack Americans or American interests, then they're going to have a problem," he said. "Then they're going to have a problem, and I'm not going to broadcast what those problems are."

Prison group stuck between local opposition and limited space
Prison group stuck between local opposition and limited space

Yahoo

time15 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Prison group stuck between local opposition and limited space

A crowd listens to a presentation on June 17, 2025, at Mitchell Technical College about the possibility of constructing a state prison near Mitchell. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) On June 3 in Pierre, a gaggle of Mitchell city leaders delivered an unambiguous message to the state's prison construction work group. The city council, mayor, county commission, sheriff and various economic development officials were all in agreement: a patch of land south of Mitchell could easily host a new prison for 1,500 or more inmates, and their community would reap the benefits. That wall of official support has since cracked under the weight of fierce public opposition. A sea of people in red T-shirts – red for 'stop,' like a stoplight – have greeted city council members and county commissioners during the public comment portions of recent meetings in Mitchell. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Davison County sheriff withdrew his support within days. Mitchell's mayor pulled back shortly thereafter. Both men said their backing was provisional and subject to change by the will of the community. About 50 of the people on hand for an informational session Tuesday night at Mitchell Technical College wore red T-shirts. To hear Dwight and Barbara Stadler of Mitchell tell it, support for a prison in their town had never extended beyond leadership offices. Neither of them wore red T-shirts on Tuesday, but both are firmly in the anti-prison camp. 'They didn't tell us about it until after the fact,' Barbara Stadler said of Mitchell's initial pitch to the Project Prison Reset task force. The opposition in Mitchell mirrors what state officials already faced in rural Lincoln County – and are beginning to face in Worthing – as they try to find space for a men's prison. The facility would ease overcrowding in the correctional system and replace the oldest parts of the Sioux Falls penitentiary, a facility that dates to the late 1800s. Locations of the potential prison locations that remain in play, plus the location of the original rural Lincoln County site that's been ruled out. The selection of land for a new men's prison south of Harrisburg in late 2023 spurred the creation of a nonprofit organization whose activism contributed first to that $825 million project's legislative defeat in February, then to the removal earlier this month of the land set aside for it from the list of possible sites for any future prison. Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion (NOPE) also sued the state in hopes of forcing it to abide by local zoning rules. A Lincoln County judge rejected that argument; the state Supreme Court is considering an appeal, though its ruling would now matter for future state-local disputes, not the dispute over that specific prison site. No one in Mitchell has sued – the state hasn't decided to do more than study the land as an option – but community members have launched a Facebook group called 'NO Davison County,' whose page is populated with skeptical dialogue about the prison idea. The group had 1,200 members as of Wednesday afternoon. That Mitchell became a focal point at all is an outgrowth of a choice made at the June 3 meeting in Pierre. The Project Prison Reset group, convened by Gov. Larry Rhoden to find solutions for overcrowding after the initial prison plan's legislative loss, left four locations on the table at the end of its meeting that day, culled from a list of more than a dozen: Mitchell, a separate Lincoln County site in Worthing, Springfield and Sioux Falls. Open process and publicity draw wide range of offers for state prison site The latter two options would involve building on land the state Department of Corrections already owns, even though no tract of that land would be large enough for a prison the size of the one shot down by lawmakers in February. The request for proposals sent in April sought potential sites with more than 100 acres. In Springfield, the state would need to build within the footprint of Mike Durfee State Prison, which is less than 70 acres altogether. In Sioux Falls, it could mean building another floor onto the penitentiary complex's Jameson Annex, on land adjacent to the penitentiary (less than 30 acres), or on land west of town currently used to house juvenile offenders (68 acres). In addition to its vote to narrow down possible prison sites, the group opted to cap the price of any new prison at $600 million – far less than the $2 billion a consulting group called Arrington Watkins had suggested the state would need to spend on new facilities to address overcrowding over the next decade. Members of the NOPE group were celebratory on social media over the removal of the initial Lincoln County site from consideration. Since then, the group has shifted the focus of its activism to Worthing, where task force members are considering a site off Interstate 29 that's not far from the original Lincoln County site. The NOPE group discussed the Worthing site at a meeting in Canton on Tuesday. Today, the group will participate in an informational session at Worthing Elementary School. Seven days ago, Worthing Mayor Crystal Jacobson came out against a prison near her city. Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken said in 2023 that he'd prefer a new prison be built outside the city. He was more measured at the first Project Prison Reset meeting in early April. At that point, TenHaken testified that he wasn't going to advocate 'for a specific location,' but predicted that the task force would face the kind of pushback that's since appeared from the neighbors to any site large enough to hold a new prison. 'No matter where you decide, you're going to have a fight on your hands,' TenHaken said. The second project prison reset meeting was in Springfield, and included testimony from residents who told the task force that the prison was a positive force for the town. Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen and Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko both took time at the end of the meeting to assure residents that the state's commitment to the Mike Durfee facility is solid. South Dakota corrections work group formally backs need for new prison The mayor of Springfield, Scott Kostal, was on hand for Tuesday's meeting in Mitchell and told residents not to fear a prison. The medium security facility in his town, once a university, has been a good neighbor, Kostal said, hasn't forced the city to pay more for public safety or infrastructure, and hasn't affected property values. Kostal said he's been surprised at how much his town's property is worth. 'If there's a problem with property values going down because of the prison, will somebody please call the Bon Homme County Assessor's Office and let them know?' Kostal said Tuesday. Springfield can't address the state's full slate of needs though, Kostal told South Dakota Searchlight in a Wednesday interview. There isn't enough space on the Durfee campus to build a 1,500 or 1,700-bed facility, which is what the most recent consultant's report suggests is needed to address overcrowding. There is some green space inside the fence and a parking lot that could hold a few hundred more inmates, according to a previous consultant's report, but Kostal says anything more substantial would put vocational and educational programming at risk. 'The only way you could remotely do that would be to remove those buildings or eliminate those programs,' Kostal said EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated with a correction to accurately reflect the role of Neighbors Opposing Prison Expansion in a meeting at Worthing.

Existing prison locations might be only politically palatable sites for a new facility
Existing prison locations might be only politically palatable sites for a new facility

Yahoo

time15 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Existing prison locations might be only politically palatable sites for a new facility

Signs stand at the entryway to a Sept. 26, 2024, public forum hosted by Neighbors Opposed to Prison Expansion, which was working to upend South Dakota's plans for a new men's prison in Lincoln County. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakotans are being held prisoner by their indecision about where they want to build their next prison. After all the debates and accusations, it's hard to know what to think about the project. It's difficult not to be cynical watching lawmakers get all hopped up about spending $600 million. We're supposed to think that's a bargain because the original plan called for spending $850 million. So even at more than half a billion dollars, there are concerns about the new place being built on the cheap. Much of this consternation originates in the way the prison project was initially handled during the Kristi Noem administration. Neighbors of the Lincoln County project weren't made aware that state land in their county was under consideration until plans were announced for the new prison. When they found out about it, their concerns didn't matter to Noem, who was known for a my-way-or-the-highway approach to getting what she wanted. That initial secrecy in the governor's office led to so much protest from neighbors, and so much rancor in the Legislature, that the original site is now deemed too politically toxic to host the prison. Prison group stuck between local opposition and limited space As a taxpayer, and as a lifelong believer that government should be conducted in a transparent manner, it has been heartening to watch Gov. Larry Rhoden's Project Prison Reset work group conduct public meetings as they have struggled to figure out the best, most politically palatable solution to South Dakota's prison problem. It certainly hasn't been pretty, but it has been a lesson in transparent government. The work group has conducted a series of hearings about the project site. When they finally make a decision, they should hold some more hearings, this time to figure out how South Dakota managed to invest more than $50 million in the original prison site without having the official OK from the Legislature. Because officials jumped the gun, taxpayers are left with $50 million in plans and infrastructure improvements that may never be used for a prison and possibly never be used at all. The work group has yet to decide what the best location is for the new prison. Many sites have been considered, but the three still standing are locations in Mitchell and Worthing or sites where the Department of Corrections already has prisons or land in Sioux Falls and Springfield. While the Worthing site may be, well, worthy, it's also in Lincoln County. The opposition of Lincoln County residents has already killed one viable prison site. It may be in the best interests of the work group to consider that the toxicity at the original site extends to the entire county. Like the original Lincoln County site, most other sites in the state, no matter how viable, run the risk of upsetting the project's neighbors as well as those folks who just like to be upset about something. There is already a not-in-my-back-yard movement in Mitchell, reminiscent of what happened in Lincoln County. 'They didn't tell us about it until after the fact,' Mitchell resident Barbara Stadler told South Dakota Searchlight at a recent community forum, in reference to Mitchell city leaders' initial pitch to the Project Prison Reset task force. The work group runs the risk of inspiring that kind of response with any new prison site they consider. That leaves the group with the choice to build new prison facilities on sites already run by the Department of Corrections. It's hard for neighbors to make a NIMBY complaint about a new prison project when the prison is literally already in their backyard. As consultants have explained, building on or near current prison facilities is not the best choice. It may, however, be the most palatable choice for South Dakotans and the choice most likely to earn the endorsement of the Legislature.

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