Latest news with #CustomsandBorderPatrol
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump news at a glance: Hegseth warns of ‘imminent' China threat, urging Asia to upgrade militaries
Pete Hegseth has called on Asian countries to increase their military spending to increase regional deterrence against China which was 'rehearsing for the real deal' of taking over Taiwan. The US defense secretary, addressing the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday, reiterated pledges to increase the US presence in the Indo-Pacific and outlined a range of new joint projects. 'It has to be clear to all that Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific,' Hegseth said. 'There's no reason to sugar coat it. The threat China poses is real, and it could be imminent.' Hesgeth said Donald Trump's administration had pushed European countries to boost their defensive spending, taking on a greater 'burden' of responding to conflicts in their region, and it was time for Asian nations to do the same. The defense secretary, who in March was revealed to have told a Signal group chat that Europe was 'pathetic' and 'freeloading' on US security support in the region, told the Singapore conference it was 'hard to believe' he was now saying this but Asian countries should 'look to allies in Europe as a newfound example'. 'Deterrence doesn't come on the cheap … time is of the essence.' Read the full story If you want a bellwether to measure the broad impact of Donald Trump's tariffs on the economy, look to the state of Georgia. So far, it's a mixed bag. The hospitality industry is facing an existential crisis and wine merchants wonder if they will survive the year. But others, like those in industrial manufacturing, carefully argue that well-positioned businesses will profit. Read the full story Australia's trade minister, Don Farrell, has described Donald Trump's trade tariffs as 'unjustified and not the act of a friend' after the US president announced he would double import duties on steel and aluminium to 50%. 'They are an act of economic self-harm that will only hurt consumers and businesses who rely on free and fair trade,' Farrell said. Read the full story US immigration authorities are collecting and uploading the DNA information of migrants, including children, to a national criminal database, according to government documents released earlier this month. The database includes the DNA of people who were either arrested or convicted of a crime, which law enforcement uses when seeking a match for DNA collected at a crime scene. But most of the people whose DNA has been collected by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the agency that published the documents, were not listed as having been accused of any felonies. Read the full story Workers at the US Department of Energy say cuts and deregulations are undermining the ability for the department to function and will result in significant energy cost hikes for consumers. Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' will raise energy costs for American households by as much as 7% in 2035 due to the repeal of energy tax credits and could put significant investment and energy innovation at risk, according to a report by the Rhodium Group. Read the full story As the first Pride month under Donald Trump's second presidency approaches, LGBTQ+ businesses are stepping up, evolving quickly to meet the community's growing concerns. The Guardian spoke with four queer business owners, and one message was clear: queer businesses are here to support the community now more than ever and spread joy as resistance. Read the full story Tensions among Bruce Springsteen's fanbase have spread to his home state of New Jersey because of what the rock icon has said about Donald Trump. Springsteen has long been a balladeer of the state's blue-collar workers. But last year many of those same workers voted for the president. Now their split loyalties are being put to the test. Read the full story An undocumented man who was accused by the Department of Homeland Security secretary last week of threatening to assassinate Donald Trump may have been framed by someone accused of previously attacking the man, according to news reports. As the Trump administration continues to exploit antisemitism to arrest protesters and curb academic freedoms, more American Jews are saying 'not in my name'. Catching up? Here's what happened on 30 May 2025.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tom Homan applauds ‘big beautiful bill', says legislation would ‘solidify the success' at the border
In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump border czar Tom Homan outlined the progress that has been made at the border, and detailed how the president's "big beautiful bill" could solidify items that have improved border security. "All those accessories on the border, we can lock it in to make it permanent," Homan explained. "So we're going to put more border walls up. We'll put more water buoys in. That's going to save lives, right, because people see the water buoys, you can't get over them, which many people won't attempt to go into that river, which means we save lives." According to data from the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), apprehensions at the border are down 93% from April 2024 to April 2025 under the Trump administration. Fulfilling the president's campaign promise to reign in the heightened flow of illegal immigrants has been one of the administration's top priorities, and Homan told Fox the "big beautiful bill" will "solidify the success" the numbers are already Czar Tom Homan Says Democrat Lamonica Mciver 'Broke The Law,' Should Be Charged For Ice Clash "[The bill] is going to save lives," Homan said. "It's going to add technology to the existing new border wall that the Biden administration didn't put into the wall. So, it's a smart wall, but Biden stopped the tech equipment from getting embedded in the wall to let us know when someone approaches that wall, climbs the wall, digs under that wall." Trump's border czar also pointed out an important element of the legislation, which provides funding for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to purchase beds for illegal migrants who are detained. "Right now we've got 50,000 people in custody. We're only funded for $34,000. ICE is already in a hole at $500 million. We need 100,000 beds. This bill does that." Read On The Fox News App Inside Trump's Urgent Meeting With House Gop To Pass The 'Big, Beautiful Bill' The president's "big beautiful bill" contains many components of Trump's agenda, including border security, tax policy, debt limit, and defense spending. It has had issues making it through the legislative process as some House Republicans have advocated for provisions such as state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps and spending cuts. President Trump spoke out strongly against any cuts to Medicaid or SALT deduction caps during his visit to Capitol Hill to rally support for the bill on Tuesday. As for the border, GOP members whose districts line the southern border spoke out in support of the legislation. "It may be a big and beautiful bill, but it has the muscle and backbone of historic border security and the ability to deport the millions of criminal illegals Joe Biden let walk into our country," Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, told Fox News Digital. Acting Ice Director Demands Tim Walz Apologize For Calling Agents 'Modern-day Gestapo' Texas Republican Rep. Tony Gonalzes, who represents the largest border district in Congress, also highlighted border elements of the legislation. "These are exactly the priorities I have fought tooth and nail for during the last four years, and I'm proud to see we're finally getting it done," Gonzales told Fox News Digital. "My communities along the border will be much better off, and I'm proud to have played a key part in making that happen." Despite some GOP enthusiasm, sources on Capitol Hill say there is still a long way to go before the piece of legislation reaches the president's article source: Tom Homan applauds 'big beautiful bill', says legislation would 'solidify the success' at the border
NBC News
21-05-2025
- NBC News
‘I was so scared': U.S. citizen recounts being held up at CBP
Videos circulating online show Americans recounting their experiences being held up by Customs and Border Patrol while returning to the U.S. NBC News' Maya Eaglin reports on what you should do if you are detained at customs. May 21, 2025
NBC News
17-05-2025
- NBC News
Ocean patrols and narcotics playbooks: How a Florida city is tackling human smuggling
A human smuggler tells a potential customer in an audio message in Mandarin that there are now two potential sea routes for illegally entering the U.S. One is to depart by boat near the U.S.-Mexico border and then come ashore near Los Angeles. The second departs Nassau in the Bahamas by boat for the Miami area. The smuggler says in the audio, obtained by NBC News from a potential smuggling customer, that enforcement off the coast of Florida has increased, but quickly reassures the potential customer, 'You won't get caught.' Not so, authorities say. Out on a labyrinth of canals in Coral Gables, Florida, police are on the lookout for fishermen who might be spotters or boats carrying more weight than normal. Officials have been on heightened alert because the city's mangrove-shrouded waterways have become a landing destination for groups of Chinese migrants seeking illegal entry into the United States. With the southern border a less viable option, these migrants have found Florida via the Bahamas to be a workaround. But authorities have been cracking down and are seeing a decrease in smuggling attempts over the last few months. The number of Chinese nationals apprehended by Florida-based Customs and Border Patrol officers has climbed and dipped in recent years — 406 in 2020, 616 the year after, then 483 in 2024. But there have been no known smuggling attempts in the Coral Gables area since late January of this year. Local law enforcement officials admit they aren't sure if that's due to increased enforcement, Trump's policies that have had a similar impact on border crossings — or if smugglers have simply gotten more sophisticated. 'We believe we have kind of a handle on our side,' said Coral Gables Police Chief Edward J. Hudak. '[But] where is it going to go next? [Smuggling] is like water. Water is going to go wherever it can go.' The drop comes after two high-profile human smuggling incidents in the affluent city and another just off shore since the start of the year have resulted in the apprehension of nearly 50 Chinese migrants. Another incident appears to have occured on Dec. 19, 2024, almost a full month before Coral Gables police made their first human smuggling stop. Surveillance footage obtained by NBC News from a neighbor's door camera shows a group of 18 Asian migrants walking into a waiting U-Haul van parked next to a waterway, as dozens of vehicles drive by. No police are seen, and there's no record of the apparent migrants or alleged smuggler ever being apprehended. Overall, encounters at the southwest border are down 93% compared to this time last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and smugglers have pivoted to sea routes off the coasts of California and Florida, experts tell NBC News. More than 35,000 Chinese migrants crossed the southern border in 2023, but crossings have dropped due to stricter enforcement. Last year, apprehensions of Chinese nationals at the border reached a record high. The Bahamas has quickly become a strategic departure point for many of these migrants coming ashore in Florida due to that country's lifting of visa restrictions for Chinese citizens. 'These human smugglers are being more creative,' said Leland Lazarus, the associate director of national security at Florida International University's Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. 'They see one route dropping off in the southwest border, and they're trying maritime routes more frequently.' Drawing on the narcotics playbook of the past Police say it's a challenge to patrol the intricate waterways that snake through Coral Gables as well as the yawning stretch of ocean just outside, but they do have a past playbook. The area has been a smuggling hot spot for decades, first for drugs and now, it appears, for humans. 'We've just dusted off our playbook from the 1980s and 1990s, when the smugglers were bringing in narco narcotics,' said Hudak. 'But this is human cargo now, so that's really changed the game for us.' Hudak says the sea-lanes used by human smugglers now are the same ones used for drugs previously. And the smugglers' knack for evolving and evading authorities also appears unchanged. 'There are ingenious ways to get narcotics into this country, and there are ingenious ways to get human beings into this country,' said Hudak. Further communication between the smuggler and his potential customer offers a glimpse at how some criminals may be managing to stay one step ahead of authorities. Rather than using the traditional panga boats or speedboats to ferry migrants across seas, the smuggler says he's now using yachts. 'Small boats will get in trouble,' he writes to the potential customer in Mandarin. 'The big boat won't draw as much attention.' Included in his message was a four-second clip of a docked yacht. The price for the journey, including use of the luxury vessel, was $35,000. Law enforcement and some residents tell NBC News the human smuggling busts in Coral Gables weren't isolated incidents, and they believe many more migrants have been smuggled into the area without detection. 'This was not a first time on either one of these,' Hudak said, referring to the two smuggling operations. 'People have seen things in the past and didn't say anything.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man stuffed 6 parrots in his boots in bizarre border smuggling attempt, officials say
A man was caught attempting to smuggle parrots into California after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers noticed "unusual clothing bulges" around his ankles and discovered six birds stuffed into his boots, authorities said. The bizarre incident happened April 30, when Customs and Border Patrol Agents pulled aside a 51-year-old man applying for admission to the United States from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. An officer spotted the misshapen lumps around the man's feet after asking him to step outside his vehicle. When they patted him down, they discovered the undeclared birds hidden in his boots. They found six additional parrots in his car, including two that were dead, according to the CBP. Read more: Threatened in their homeland, feral Mexican parrots thrive on L.A.'s exotic landscaping "The smuggling of birds is extremely dangerous," Sidney Aki, director of CBP San Diego field operations, said in a statement. "Birds can also be hosts for a variety of diseases that can threaten native wildlife and U.S. agricultural industries, potentially causing widespread economic consequences." This is not the only recent livestock smuggling attempt thwarted at a U.S.-Mexico border crossing in California. On May 4, a 26-year-old-man applying for admission to the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry was caught attempting to smuggle 16 live parakeets and three live chickens, officials said. CBP officers saw a blanket moving inside the man's car and discovered the animals in two cages underneath it, authorities said. Last March, officers found 21 parrots and a keel-billed toucan while searching a sedan at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in Tecate, according to CBP. Border Patrol agents detained the drivers and passengers in the two recent suspected smuggling attempts and turned them over to Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services for further investigation. The confiscated animals are under quarantine by U.S. Department of Agriculture Veterinary Services to ensure they are not carrying any avian diseases such as bird flu. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
