Latest news with #FBI-led
Straits Times
08-08-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
FBI looks to add drug cartel suspects to terror watch list, government files show
WASHINGTON - The FBI has asked local police to submit the names of people tied to drug cartels and gangs to the U.S. government's terrorist watch list created after 9/11, which could land more Americans on the list, according to law enforcement documents seen by Reuters. The bureau told law enforcement agencies in a May 9 email to share the names of people they believe are linked to eight criminal groups President Donald Trump has labeled foreign terrorist organizations. It also asked agencies to share information about family members and associates of the groups' members. The existence of the email, which was obtained by the national security-focused transparency nonprofit Property of the People through a public records request and shared with Reuters, has not been previously reported. The email was sent to law enforcement agencies and groups including the National Sheriff's Association, which confirmed receiving it from the FBI. The FBI declined to answer detailed questions about the email, instead referring to an earlier statement that said "watchlisting is an effective tripwire keeping those who would engage in violent criminal acts, illicit drug trade, and human smuggling/trafficking out of the country." The watch list contained some 1.1 million names, including about 6,000 U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents, as of August 2024, according to a January report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is the most recent federal data available. The change means that local police officers are likely to see more terrorism alerts when they conduct traffic stops or run background checks using the National Crime Information Center database, the FBI said in the email. The Trump administration in February declared gangs including MS-13, Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa drug cartel foreign terrorist organizations, saying they pose a risk to national security and economic interests. The document, sent by a former FBI assistant director, said that "agencies that possess information about members of these organizations, including their family members and associates, are required to share" it with the National Counterterrorism Center. The FBI-led Threat Screening Center would then lead an effort to determine which names should be added. The bureau also told local police that it had recently added 300,000 immigration records to the National Crime Information Center database, including people who are facing administrative warrants for removal from the United States. A state law enforcement office that helps facilitate intelligence sharing between federal, state and local officials issued a bulletin in late July providing instructions about how to submit names for potential inclusion on the watch list, according to a copy seen by Reuters. GESTURES, TATTOOS Civil liberties advocates say the U.S. government sometimes relies on questionable evidence to decide who to include. "The U.S. watch-listing system is already a notoriously error-prone, bloated, due process nightmare and this instruction raises major red flags," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the government will use every legal avenue available "to prevent terrorists from killing Americans." Designating cartel and gang members as terrorists has the potential to drastically expand the number of people on the watch list. "In the cartel context, when you are talking about people inside the U.S., the watch list's reach becomes even broader because of the way drug trafficking networks play out," said Spencer Reynolds, a former Department of Homeland Security attorney who is now with the Brennan Center for Justice. He said it remains unclear whether low-level gang affiliates who sell or transport drugs would be labeled terrorists, even if they have no idea their work is connected to one of the designated cartels. Civil rights groups have voiced concerns about the secretive nature of the list, which can subject people to surveillance on airplanes, travel restrictions and secondary screenings at airports and other ports of entry into the United States. They have also complained that the government has sometimes flagged people as members of gangs based on evidence such as their tattoos and clothing. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that the list infringed on the constitutional rights to due process of certain U.S. citizens. "If your name pops up in a law enforcement hit, that has all kinds of cascading consequences," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. Authorities must spell out reasonable suspicion that a person is associated with one of the designated terrorist groups before being added to the watch list, according to public government standards. Their friends and associates would not be added automatically unless the government also suspects them of involvement, though there are exceptions to that standard, a former official familiar with the process said. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Board released a report in January with recommendations on how to improve the list's accuracy and reliability. Several days later, the Trump administration fired three of its four board members. "As Trump dismantles the rule of law and targets even mild dissent as security threats, ballooning terrorist watch lists are another glaring indicator of our descent toward authoritarian rule," Property of the People's Executive Director Ryan Shapiro said. REUTERS
The Star
08-08-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Exclusive-FBI looks to add drug cartel suspects to terror watch list, government files show
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has asked local police to submit the names of people tied to drug cartels and gangs to the U.S. government's terrorist watch list created after 9/11, which could land more Americans on the list, according to law enforcement documents seen by Reuters. The bureau told law enforcement agencies in a May 9 email to share the names of people they believe are linked to eight criminal groups President Donald Trump has labeled foreign terrorist organizations. It also asked agencies to share information about family members and associates of the groups' members. The existence of the email, which was obtained by the national security-focused transparency nonprofit Property of the People through a public records request and shared with Reuters, has not been previously reported. The email was sent to law enforcement agencies and groups including the National Sheriff's Association, which confirmed receiving it from the FBI. The FBI declined to answer detailed questions about the email, instead referring to an earlier statement that said "watchlisting is an effective tripwire keeping those who would engage in violent criminal acts, illicit drug trade, and human smuggling/trafficking out of the country." The watch list contained some 1.1 million names, including about 6,000 U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents, as of August 2024, according to a January report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is the most recent federal data available. The change means that local police officers are likely to see more terrorism alerts when they conduct traffic stops or run background checks using the National Crime Information Center database, the FBI said in the email. The Trump administration in February declared gangs including MS-13, Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa drug cartel foreign terrorist organizations, saying they pose a risk to national security and economic interests. The document, sent by a former FBI assistant director, said that "agencies that possess information about members of these organizations, including their family members and associates, are required to share" it with the National Counterterrorism FBI-led Threat Screening Center would then lead an effort to determine which names should be added. The bureau also told local police that it had recently added 300,000 immigration records to the National Crime Information Center database, including people who are facing administrative warrants for removal from the United States. A state law enforcement office that helps facilitate intelligence sharing between federal, state and local officials issued a bulletin in late July providing instructions about how to submit names for potential inclusion on the watch list, according to a copy seen by Reuters. GESTURES, TATTOOS Civil liberties advocates say the U.S. government sometimes relies on questionable evidence to decide who to include. "The U.S. watch-listing system is already a notoriously error-prone, bloated, due process nightmare and this instruction raises major red flags," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the government will use every legal avenue available "to prevent terrorists from killing Americans." Designating cartel and gang members as terrorists has the potential to drastically expand the number of people on the watch list. "In the cartel context, when you are talking about people inside the U.S., the watch list's reach becomes even broader because of the way drug trafficking networks play out," said Spencer Reynolds, a former Department of Homeland Security attorney who is now with the Brennan Center for Justice. He said it remains unclear whether low-level gang affiliates who sell or transport drugs would be labeled terrorists, even if they have no idea their work is connected to one of the designated cartels. Civil rights groups have voiced concerns about the secretive nature of the list, which can subject people to surveillance on airplanes, travel restrictions and secondary screenings at airports and other ports of entry into the United States. They have also complained that the government has sometimes flagged people as members of gangs based on evidence such as their tattoos and clothing. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that the list infringed on the constitutional rights to due process of certain U.S. citizens. "If your name pops up in a law enforcement hit, that has all kinds of cascading consequences," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. Authorities must spell out reasonable suspicion that a person is associated with one of the designated terrorist groups before being added to the watch list, according to public government standards. Their friends and associates would not be added automatically unless the government also suspects them of involvement, though there are exceptions to that standard, a former official familiar with the process said. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Board released a report in January with recommendations on how to improve the list's accuracy and reliability. Several days later, the Trump administration fired three of its four board members. "As Trump dismantles the rule of law and targets even mild dissent as security threats, ballooning terrorist watch lists are another glaring indicator of our descent toward authoritarian rule," Property of the People's Executive Director Ryan Shapiro said. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Brad Heath and Jana Winter; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Porter)
Miami Herald
10-07-2025
- Miami Herald
Man who stole $800,000 from elderly person in Miami area pleads guilty to fraud
Three years ago, a Cuban man living in Panama set his sights on the flush bank account of an elderly person in South Florida, federal authorities say. Michel Duarte Suarez, 50, ended up stealing more than $800,000 from the person's account and laundered the money with the help of associates in the Miami area, according to his plea agreement filed on Wednesday in Miami federal court. Suarez pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank and mail fraud, along with aggravated identity theft. He faces several years in prison, including mandatory-minimum punishment of two years for the ID theft conviction, at his sentencing hearing in September before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. Suarez was indicted in 2023 but was living in Panama City, Panama, at the time. In early 2025, he was arrested in Panama and brought to South Florida to face the charges. According to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement, here's how Suarez carried out the scam during an FBI-led undercover operation: More than 80 fraudulent checks In March 2022, Suarez told a confidential informant that he had access to the bank account of an elderly person, who was 82 years old at the time. Suarez created and mailed dozens of falsified checks from Panama to South Florida to the victim's bank with directions to cash them and return half of the money to his account at Bank of America. The ill-gotten proceeds were wired to his Miami-based company, Online Electronics. To carry out the scheme, Suarez's fraudulent checks contained forged signatures designed to resemble that of the victim's on a signature card at Truist Bank. 'In total, Suarez and his co-conspirators stole $803,146 from [the victim's] bank account at Truist through the issuance of more than 80 fraudulent checks to numerous different payees, including at least five individuals and various companies,' according to the factual statement signed by the defendant, his lawyer and a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. The statement also said the elderly person reviewed the names of the individuals and companies involved in the fraudulent check transactions. The person did not authorize any of them. The case, investigated by the FBI, Secret Service and FDIC's Office of Inspector General, was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thor Pogozelski.
Gulf Today
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Under Patel, FBI heightens focus on violent crime
When the FBI arrested an accused leader of the MS-13 gang, Kash Patel was there to announce the case, trumpeting it as a step toward returning 'our communities to safety.' Weeks later, when the Justice Department announced the seizure of $510 million in illegal narcotics bound for the US, the FBI director joined other law enforcement leaders in front of a Coast Guard ship in Florida and stacks of intercepted drugs to highlight the haul. His presence was meant to signal the premium the FBI is placing on combating violent crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration, concerns that have leapfrogged up the agenda in what current and former law enforcement officials say amounts to a rethinking of priorities and mission at a time when the country is also confronting increasingly sophisticated national security threats from abroad. A revised FBI priority list on its website places "Crush Violent Crime" at the top, bringing the bureau into alignment with the vision of President Donald Trump, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration, cartels and transnational gangs a cornerstone of his administration. Patel has said he wants to 'get back to the basics.' His deputy, Dan Bongino, says the FBI is returning to 'its roots.' Patel says the FBI remains focused on some of the same concerns, including China, that have dominated headlines in recent years, and the bureau said in a statement that its commitment to investigating international and domestic terrorism has not changed. That intensifying threat was laid bare over the past month by a spate of violent acts, most recently a Molotov cocktail attack on a Colorado crowd by an Egyptian man who authorities say overstayed his visa and yelled "Free Palestine." "The FBI continuously analyses the threat landscape and allocates resources and personnel in alignment with that analysis and the investigative needs of the Bureau," the FBI said in a statement. "We make adjustments and changes based on many factors and remain flexible as various needs arise." Signs of restructuring abound. The Justice Department has disbanded an FBI-led task force on foreign influence and the bureau has moved to dissolve a key public corruption squad in its Washington field office, people familiar with the matter have told The Associated Press. The Trump administration, meanwhile, has proposed steep budget cuts for the FBI, and there's been significant turnover in leadership ranks as some veteran agents with years of experience have been pushed from their positions. Some former officials are concerned the stepped-up focus on violent crime and immigration - areas already core to the mission of agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement — risks deflecting attention from some of the complicated criminal and national security threats for which the bureau has long borne primary if not exclusive responsibility for investigating. "If you're looking down five feet in front of you, looking for gang members and I would say lower-level criminals, you're going to miss some of the more sophisticated strategic issues that may be already present or emerging," said Chris Piehota, who retired from the FBI in 2020 as an executive assistant director. Enforcement of immigration laws has long been the principal jurisdiction of immigration agents tasked with arresting people in the US illegally along with border agents who police points of entry. Since Trump's inauguration, the FBI has assumed greater responsibility for that work, saying it's made over 10,000 immigration-related arrests. Patel has highlighted the arrests on social media, doubling down on the administration's promise to prioritise immigration enforcement. Agents have been dispatched to visit migrant children who crossed the U.S-Mexico border without parents in what officials say is an effort to ensure their safety. Field offices have been directed to commit manpower to immigration enforcement. The Justice Department has instructed the FBI to review files for information about those illegally in the US and provide it to the Department of Homeland Security unless doing so would compromise an investigation. And photos on the FBI's Instagram account depict agents with covered faces and tactical gear alongside detained subjects, with a caption saying the FBI is "ramping up" efforts with immigration agents to locate "dangerous criminals." "We're giving you about five minutes to cooperate," Bongino said on Fox News about illegal immigrants. "If you're here illegally, five minutes, you're out." That's a rhetorical shift from prior leadership. Though Patel's direct predecessor, Christopher Wray, warned about the flow of fentanyl through the southern border and the possibility migrants determined to commit terrorism could illegally cross through, he did not characterise immigration enforcement as core to the FBI's mission. There's precedent for the FBI to rearrange priorities to meet evolving threats, though for the past two decades countering terrorism has remained a constant atop the agenda. Then-Director Robert Mueller transformed the FBI after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks into a national security, intelligence-gathering agency. Agents were reassigned from investigations into drugs, violent crime and white-collar fraud to fight terrorism. In a top 10 priority list from 2002, protecting the US from terrorism was first. Fighting violent crime was near the bottom, above only supporting law enforcement partners and technology upgrades. The FBI's new list of priorities places "Crush Violent Crime" as a top pillar alongside "Defend the Homeland," though FBI leaders have also sought to stress that counterterrorism remains the bureau's principal mandate. Wray often said he was hard-pressed to think of a time when the FBI was facing so many elevated threats at once. At the time of his departure last January, the FBI was grappling with elevated terrorism concerns; Iranian assassination plots on US soil; Chinese spying and hacking of Americans' cell phones; ransomware attacks against hospitals; and Russian influence operations aimed at sowing disinformation. Associated Press
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Under Patel, FBI heightens focus on violent crime, illegal immigration. Other threats abound, too
WASHINGTON (AP) — When the FBI arrested an accused leader of the MS-13 gang, Kash Patel was there to announce the case, trumpeting it as a step toward returning "our communities to safety.' Weeks later, when the Justice Department announced the seizure of $510 million in illegal narcotics bound for the U.S, the FBI director joined other law enforcement leaders in front of a Coast Guard ship in Florida and stacks of intercepted drugs to highlight the haul. His presence was meant to signal the premium the FBI is placing on combating violent crime, drug trafficking and illegal immigration, concerns that have leapfrogged up the agenda in what amounts to a rethinking of priorities and mission at a time when the country is also confronting increasingly sophisticated national security threats. A revised FBI priority list on its website places 'Crush Violent Crime' at the top, bringing the bureau into alignment with the vision of President Donald Trump, who has made a crackdown on illegal immigration, cartels and transnational gangs a cornerstone of his administration. The FBI said in a statement that its commitment to investigating international and domestic terrorism has not changed. That threat was laid bare over the past month by a spate of violent acts, most recently a Molotov cocktail attack on a Colorado crowd by an Egyptian man who authorities say overstayed his visa and yelled 'Free Palestine.' The bureau said it continuously assesses threats and 'allocates resources and personnel in alignment with that analysis.' Signs of restructuring abound. The Justice Department has disbanded an FBI-led task force on foreign influence and the bureau has moved to dissolve a key public corruption squad in its Washington field office. Some former officials are concerned the stepped-up focus on violent crime and immigration, areas already core to the mission of other agencies, risks deflecting attention from some of the complicated criminal and national security threats for which the bureau has long borne primary if not exclusive responsibility for investigating. 'If you're looking down five feet in front of you, looking for gang members and I would say lower-level criminals, you're going to miss some of the more sophisticated strategic issues that may be already present or emerging,' said Chris Piehota, a retired senior FBI official. A greater focus on immigration Immigration enforcement in particular is a new focus for the FBI. Since Trump's inauguration, the FBI has assumed greater responsibility for that work, saying it's made over 10,000 immigration-related arrests. Patel has highlighted the arrests on social media, doubling down on the administration's promise to prioritize immigration enforcement. Agents have been dispatched to visit migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without parents in what officials say is an effort to ensure their safety. Field offices have been directed to commit manpower to immigration enforcement and the Justice Department has instructed the FBI to review files for information about those illegally in the U.S. and provide it to the Department of Homeland Security unless doing so would compromise an investigation. There's precedent for the FBI to rearrange priorities to meet evolving threats, though for the past two decades countering terrorism has remained a constant atop the agenda. Then-Director Robert Mueller transformed the FBI after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks into a national security, intelligence-gathering agency. Fighting violent crime was near the bottom, above only supporting law enforcement partners and technology upgrades. A mandate to 'crush violent crime' The FBI's new list of priorities places 'Crush Violent Crime' as a top pillar alongside 'Defend the Homeland," though FBI leaders stress that counterterrorism remains the bureau's principal mandate. Patel's direct predecessor, Christopher Wray, often said he was hard-pressed to think of a time when the FBI was facing so many elevated threats at once. At the time of his departure last January, the FBI was grappling with elevated terrorism concerns; Iranian assassination plots on U.S. soil; Chinese spying and hacking of Americans' cell phones; ransomware attacks against hospitals; and Russian influence operations aimed at sowing disinformation. Testifying before lawmakers last month, Patel noted the surge in terrorism threats following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and a Chinese espionage threat he said had yielded investigations in each of the bureau's offices. But the accomplishments he dwelled on first concerned efforts to 'take dangerous criminals off our streets,' including the arrests of three suspects on the 'Ten Most Wanted' list, and large drug seizures. Rounding out the priority list are two newcomers: 'Rebuild Public Trust' and 'Fierce Organizational Accountability.' Those reflect claims amplified by Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, that the bureau had become politicized through its years of investigations of Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago home was searched by agents for classified documents in 2022. Close allies of Trump, both men have committed to disclose files from past investigations, including into Russian election interference and the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, that have fueled grievances against the bureau. They've also pledged to examine matters that have captivated attention in conservative circles, like the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade. Employees have spent hours poring over documents from the sex trafficking case against financier Jeffrey Epstein, a favorite subject of conspiracy theorists, to prepare them for release. James Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisor, said he was heartened by an enhanced violent crime focus so long as other initiatives weren't abandoned. 'Mission priorities change,' Gagliano said. 'The threat matrix changes. You've got to constantly get out in front of that.' The Trump administration has touted several terrorism successes but it's also employing a broad definition of what it believes constitutes terrorism. FBI and Justice Department officials see the fight against transnational gangs as part of their counterterrorism mandate, taking advantage of the administration's designation of the violent street gangs MS-13 and Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations to bring terrorism-related charges against defendants, including a Venezuelan man suspected of being a high-ranking TdA member. One national security concern Patel has preached continuity on in public is the threat from China, which he said in a recent Fox News interview keeps him up at night. Wray often called China the gravest long-term threat to national security. When he stepped aside in January the FBI was contending with an espionage operation that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. There are signs of a broader national security realignment.
