California avocado growers are sounding the alarm over a potential infiltration of crop pests from across the border after the Biden administration caved to Mexican cartel threats and ended a Clinton-era food inspection process that now threatens U.S. farmers.

“We understand the importance of free trade,” Ken Melban, the vice president of industry affairs and operations at the California Avocado Commission, told Fox Digital in a Tuesday Zoom interview. “Eight-five to 90% of the total U.S. demand for avocados is supplied by Mexico. However, that free trade should not increase risk on our California growers.” 

“Our growers are working hard to maintain a business, to drive their economic engine, to provide for their families, to support the economies around them,” he said. “And they shouldn’t have to face a pest, no fault of their own, just because our government in the past was afraid to stand up to the cartel.”

Melban was reacting to a Biden administration decision in September 2024 to end a U.S. Department of Agriculture program called the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) specifically in the context of inspecting farms in Mexico to ensure that avocados exported to the U.S. did not also include pests that could disrupt U.S. agriculture. The policy change came after criminals in Mexico reportedly assaulted and threatened the inspectors in recent years. 

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Instead, Mexico was charged with ensuring avocados sent across the border were free of harmful pests, such as seed and stem weevils and seed moths. Weevils are small insects that typically have long snouts, and are notorious for damaging or destroying crops. 

The avocado industry is a multibillion business in Mexico, but it is often rocked by crime and exploitation of farmers, as cartels work to control the supply chain to help finance their operations and often exploit farmers through rackets that level fees on avocado growers in exchange for protection from violence, various studies and reports on crime affecting the Mexican lime and avocado industry show. 

Mexico’s Agriculture Department confirmed the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service program ended in a statement in September 2024, claiming “with this agreement, the U.S. health safety agency is recognizing the commitment of Mexican growers, who in more than 27 years have not had any sanitary problems in exports,” the Associated Press reported at the time. 

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Former President Bill Clinton established the inspection program to better bolster U.S. farming communities, with the California Avocado Commission and Department of Agriculture reaching an agreement with Mexico in 1997 to allow for Mexican avocados to be exported to the U.S. under the condition that the fruit be inspected. All expenses related to the program’s inspections of orchards and packing houses were footed by Mexico, not U.S. taxpayers, according to the commission. 

The Biden administration also paused the program in 2022 after an inspector in Mexico’s western state of Michoacan received a threat “against him and his family,” the USDA said at the time. Two other USDA employees were also reportedly assaulted and temporarily held by suspects in the same Mexican state in June 2024, leading to another pause before Mexico ultimately was charged with conducting inspections in September 2024. 

“We know that without the U.S. government present, the likelihood for corruption exists,” Melban said of the lack of USDA inspector currently in Mexico. “You can’t just show up one day and pretend that your grove has been certified and that you’re taking all the measures necessary to keep pests out and free. We also know that there has been fruit brought in from other non-certified groves in the past, and that’s part of the problem. That’s where we need the USDA to have boots on the ground and make sure that the inspections and the integrity of the inspections are maintained.”

“This entire inspection program is funded by Mexico,” he added. “It’s part of their privilege to come into our U.S. market.” 

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Michoacan has long been a hotbed for cartel activity, with the State Department in September issuing a “Do Not Travel” advisory for the Mexican state due to its high threats of kidnapping and crime, according to the travel advisory. Michoacan and Jalisco are the only two Mexican states authorized to export avocados to the U.S. 

Some residents and farmers of the Michoacan state have also formed various self-defense groups in the past decade to help protect against cartel violence. 

“We’ve all heard the stories and see the reporting that the cartel is very prevalent in Michoacan, which is a big growing area and the first state that was ever allowed access to the U.S. And so it only stands to reason that they’re going to be involved at some level. And in many instances, they are actually exploiting our pure growers in Mexico too. We’re just looking for the safety of the entire program, so the integrity can be maintained to protect our growers’ interests here in the U.S.,” Melban explained. 

The USDA told Fox Digital on Wednesday that the APHIS program continues to inspect fruit entering the U.S. at the border and is comitted to “mitigating plant health risk in a way that does not compromise the safety and security of our employees or the phytosanitary security of the United States.”

“USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) understands the vital importance of the avocado industry to the State of California and recognizes the concerns raised by residents. APHIS staff continue to fulfill their inspection responsibilities regarding fruit entering the United States from Mexico. Nearly 30 years of experience administering this program has proved the effectiveness of the avocado program’s system of overlapping safeguards to prevent the entry of invasive pests,” a spokesperson said. 

“Staffing levels and budget levels for the inspection program remain the same, and our officials continue to conduct inspections in the packing houses, and provide audit oversight of orchard inspections conducted by Mexican Plant Health Authorities. APHIS remains committed to mitigating plant health risk in a way that does not compromise the safety and security of our employees or the phytosanitary security of the United States,” the spox continued. 

APHIS is slated to continue working with and speaking to U.S. avocado growers, according to the spokesperson, and will keep them “apprised of any future changes to the Mexico program.”

“APHIS recognizes that, given the dynamic nature of the avocado industry—including fluctuating high and low seasons in Mexico and California—time is of the essence with many of these decisions.  We will work to ensure that U.S. producers continue to safely grow avocados, packinghouses continue to ship healthy fruit from Mexico, and American consumers continue to enjoy this important commodity,” the spokesperson said. 

California is the top U.S. producer of avocados, with roughly 3,000 growers statewide that generate $1.5 billion annually, Melban said. The industry, however, could be rocked if weevils or other pests are brought into the U.S. due to lack of inspection or corrupt inspections of the fruit. 

“We farm on about 50,000 acres, representing about 3,000 farmers,” Melban said. “That’s just an average of 17 acres per farmer. So we are a small-scale industry by and large. And, I think that’s important because you’re looking at family farms that have been in business, this is the second, third, fourth generation for many of them. I’ve heard from them. I’ve been with the industry for 15 years and I heard all about the fight 30 years to go to keep Mexico out. And it was strictly from a phytosanitary risk perspective, which is we don’t want to see pests introduced into our growing production areas that would decimate our industry.” 

In addition, avocado trees take years to mature, meaning a potential pest infestation could result in a three-to-four-year waiting period as the plants prepare to actually produce fruit. While the cost for recovery would fall on the roughly 3,000 farmers, who would also have to wade through state law on whether they could even use pesticides to kill the insects. 

“We’re basically pesticide-free,” Melban said. “But if you bring a pest in that we have no other means to control, that’s what’s going have to happen, just so these growers can fight to save their businesses. And now you get into the domino effect and the collateral damage of using additional pesticides in an industry that we don’t wanna use them in. And I think the environmentalists should be very concerned. There are collateral costs to this, to our government in the past administration retreating in the face of threats from cartels.”

Five Republican California lawmakers wrote a letter to Trump administration Agriculture Secretary Booke Rollins in March sounding the alarm on how the Biden administration ended the program due to the ongoing threats from cartels.

“In late 2024, APHIS, without advance notice, unilaterally removed all USDA inspectors from Mexican avocado orchards because of ongoing physical threats to their safety by Mexican cartels. As a direct result of threats, USDA-inspections were canceled and replaced by Mexican independent review,” the letter, spearheaded by Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa, stated.

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“America retreated in the face of cartel threats, and as a result, almost immediately following this change, greater numbers of destructive weevils were detected at packing facilities which evidenced a breakdown in the inspection process and an increase in the likelihood of pest infested avocados slipping through the system and cross into the United States,” the letter continued. 

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“Congressman Issa has been a real champion for us on this,” Melban told Fox Digital of Issa’s leadership since the Biden decision in September. “About 30-35% of our total production falls within his district and his district borders Mexico. He understands the threat that’s posed here to his constituents and he’s working very hard to get this decision overturned.”

A community of LGBTQ+ Christians began Holy Week with a proclamation of “righteous rage and holy hope” at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Monday. 

Fox News Digital asked attendees at the Collective of Queer Christian Leaders event how “woman” should be defined in 2025. While some spoke about gender fluidity, spirituality and inclusivity, activists called for politicians to focus less on pronouns and more on delivering for Americans. 

“While the right is interested in litigating biology, I’m interested in litigating humanity,” the Rev. Don Abram, the founder of Pride in the Pews, told Nicholas Ballasy of Fox News Digital. Abram pivoted from the question to saying God is in everyone, and all people are “deserving of rights, protections, resources and safety,” regardless of identity. 

The pastor and member of Pride in the Pews, which is a Black LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said conservatives focusing on gender ideology is a distraction from the issues Americans care most about, like whether Medicaid will be cut or how tariffs will affect the economy. 

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“I think the conversation on gender and who identifies, how they identify, it’s just a scapegoat for them to not focus on the real issues and the real problems that are affecting all of us,” Abram said. 

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Guthrie Graves, an ordained Baptist deacon, said Americans might disagree on the fluidity of sex and gender, but “what we can all agree on is nobody should fear for their safety, or fear losing their job or face violence on the street.” He said a foundation of human rights should predicate debates about “human sexuality and gender.”

Other attendees, who answered the question more literally, said definitions of sexuality and gender are not so rigid. 

“From a faith perspective, we are all children of God, and if someone identifies as transgender and claims that as their identity, then who is anyone else to argue with that?” Jan Lawrence, executive director of Reconciling Ministries Network, an LGBTQ+ justice organization within the United Methodist Church, told Fox News Digital. 

Rep. Sarah McBride, D-Del., became the first openly transgender person elected to Congress in November. Debates over which bathroom McBride was permitted to use dominated her first few weeks on the job after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., advocated for a ban on transgender women using the women’s restrooms at the U.S. Capitol. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson later announced the U.S. House would institute a bathroom ban, stating all single-sex bathrooms were reserved for individuals of that biological sex. Johnson noted that every member of Congress has an office with a private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol. 

“I’m not here to fight about bathrooms. I’m here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families,” McBride said in a statement in November. 

President Donald Trump, on his first day back in the Oval Office, issued an executive order establishing only two sexes, male and female. 

Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a lawsuit against Maine Wednesday for allowing transgender women to continue playing women’s sports. Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills has refused to comply with Trump’s executive order restricting biological men from playing in girls and women’s sports. 

Nearly two months ago, Trump and Mills sparred during a bipartisan meeting of governors at the White House during which Trump promised Mills he’d “see you in court.”

Last year, President Joe Biden proclaimed March 31, which fell on Easter Sunday, Transgender Day of Visibility to show “transgender and nonbinary Americans that we see them, they belong and they should be treated with dignity and respect.” 

This year, Trump’s new White House Faith Office has announced a robust Holy Week schedule to celebrate Easter. 

FIRST ON FOX: One of the top defense contractors in the United States, which has a history of pushing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), is facing heat over a massive government contract that critics say should be a prime target for Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts. 

The Air Force’s Sentinel program, a massive intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project serving as the successor to the Minuteman III program ensuring the future viability of the land-based leg of America’s nuclear triad, has been mired in controversy and slowdowns as Northrop Grumman was awarded the development contract and the endeavor has gone from a $96 billion program to at least $141 billion in recent years. 

The Pentagon ordered Northrop Grumman to pause development earlier this year due to “evolving launch facility requirements”, Defense One reported. Air & Space Forces Magazine reported last year that the intercontinental ballistic missile program survived a Pentagon review, but it was found that the cost overrun jumped from 37% to 81%.

Northrop Grumman, which had not previously designed an ICBM, was awarded a $13 billion contract in September 2020 for full-scale development of the program to replace the Minuteman III, and the Pentagon has estimated that the total cost of developing its new ICBM program could cost up to $264 billion over the next few decades, Bloomberg reported.

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The awarding of the contract was controversial in its own right, after Boeing dropped out of the bidding, claiming that the process was rigged against it, Responsible Statecraft reported. 

“The massive expansion of costs for Northrop Grumman’s Minuteman III program is the case example for why poorly-scoped, blank check programs are a bad idea,” a senior Republican Congressional official who works on defense policy told Fox News Digital. 

“This is bad for national security, bad for taxpayers, and Republicans will fix this mess that Biden’s team created,” the official added.

Questions have also been raised by some in recent years about whether the Sentinel program is even necessary, including at a Congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group press conference last year, when former Democratic Congressman John Tierney said that Sentinel “does not add to our security” and could “actually make us less safe.”

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“When will the blank checks to cover spiraling costs end?” Tierney said. “The Sentinel ICBM program is just the latest in a long list of Pentagon programs that are over budget, behind schedule and of questionable utility.”

Tierney added that he believes the “only value” of recent ICBM development is “to the defense contractors who line their fat pockets with large cost overruns at the expense of our taxpayers.”

“It has got to stop,” he said. 

An Air Force spokesperson told Fox News Digital that it is taking “deliberate” steps to ensure that the Sentinel program is running as cost-efficiently as possible while enhancing oversight at the same time. “We continue to advance the engineering design and maturity of the program with Northrop Grumman, working closely with the company to drive down costs and improve schedule performance,” the spokesperson added.

The Air Force also pointed to a previous comment from Gen. David Allvin, Air Force chief of staff, during a symposium in March that stressed the importance of the Sentinel program.

“We own two-thirds of the triad and three-fourths of the nuclear command and control of communications,” Allvin said. “We own the nuclear deterrence. So more Air Force means more nuclear deterrence…We have to have the most reliable, the most safe, the most effective nuclear deterrent. That means sentinel, yes…I believe we need more nuclear deterrence for our nation. It’s a solemn responsibility. It’s not an option.”

Amid the cost overruns and headaches from the ICBM program, Northrop Grumman adopted and promoted an agenda focused on DEI in recent years and was one of several defense contractors that have attempted to scrub their websites of DEI in the wake of the Trump administration’s pledge to rid the government of the ideology. 

Northrop Grumman’s 2023 annual report mentions DEI as “vital to our culture and our company’s success. Our ability to leverage the power of our diverse workforce enhances employee engagement and enables us to innovate, perform and deliver on quality, which results in value for our shareholders, customers, and employees.”

The report also touted its minority hiring practices and stated that 25% of its employees are female, 37% people of color, 18% veterans and 8% people with disabilities. 

“Diversity Has a Home at Northrop Grumman,” a YouTube video from ClearanceJobs says in a post that features Northrop Grumman employees discussing the diversity of the company. 

“Northrop’s Sentinel Program is a DOGE poster child,” a person close to the Trump administration told Fox News Digital. “Not only did they practice DEI, the program is ineffective, delayed, and wasting billions of taxpayer money. Musk would have a field day.”

DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts have affected essentially every area of government, including the Defense Department, which recently announced that over $580 million worth of contracts have been canceled as Democrats continue to blast the efforts and make the case that DOGE cuts are detrimental to the country.  

“I’ve seen it with my own eyes, billions of dollars spent on pricey consulting firms, grants and NGO‘s—the self-serving bureaucrats in Washington DC have found a million different ways to rip-off the American taxpayer,” special advisor to the United States Agency for Global Media Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. 

“I’m working very closely with DOGE at the agency President Trump asked me to oversee. Our DOGE team is not political, they are practical. They know that it’s not practical for the U.S. government to continue spending the way it has been. Our country won’t survive unless we cut back right now, and the hard-working men and women across this country support that.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for Northrop Grumman touted recent progress in the program.

“We continue to make substantial progress on the Sentinel Weapon System,” the spokesperson said. “On March 6, we completed the missile’s stage one static fire test, the latest of many test events that validate the rocket motor’s performance and digital design. We continue to mature the design and reduce risk as we prepare for production and deployment of this essential national security capability.”

Regarding DEI, the spokesperson said, “We have reviewed our policies and processes and continue to take the steps necessary to ensure compliance with the orders for the work entrusted to us. Northrop Grumman is committed to our customers’ missions, delivering technologies they need to deter threats, prevail in conflicts, and strengthen national security. Underpinned by our values, we hire, promote, and pay based on merit and performance resulting in the best team to deliver for our customers.”

Former Trump national security aide and Pentagon press secretary John Ullyot reportedly will resign at the end of the week. 

His sudden departure comes after Sean Parnell took over the role of the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson in February. 

“I made clear to Secretary [Pete] Hegseth before the inauguration that I was not interested in being number two to anyone in public affairs,” Ullyot told Politico, reportedly adding that he had offered to help on an acting basis for two months. 

“Last month, as that time approached, the secretary and I talked and could not come to an agreement on another good fit for me at DOD. So I informed him today that I will be leaving at the end of this week,” Ullyot said. 

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The Department of Defense did not immediately respond Thursday to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

During the first Trump administration, Ullyot served as the spokesperson for the National Security Council and was an assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

The Marine Corps veteran also served as a senior adviser in President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. 

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Ullyot’s resignation will come as three Pentagon officials have been placed on administrative leave this week as part of a leak investigation. 

Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, was put on leave on Wednesday, according to Politico. 

The day before, Darin Selnick, the deputy chief of staff for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Hegseth aide Dan Caldwell were removed. 

Reuters reported that Caldwell was placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure,” as part of an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents. 

The probe was announced last month and concerned itself over “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.” 

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report. 

A top official at the National Institutes of Health announced his abrupt retirement from the agency after 21 years, complaining about censorship under the leadership of HHS Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

NIH senior investigator Kevin Hall complained that he “experienced censorship” during his investigation of ultra-processed food addiction.

“After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology,” Hall wrote in a lengthy post on social media.

“Lately, I’ve focused on unraveling the reasons why diets high in ultra-processed food are linked to epidemic proportions of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Our research leads the world on this topic,” he continued.

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Hall said that he was initially encouraged by Kennedy’s public statements about chronic illness and problems with America’s food systems. However, he says he “experienced censorship in the reporting of our research because of agency concerns that it did not appear to fully support preconceived narratives of my agency’s leadership about ultra-processed food addiction.”

“I wrote to my agency’s leadership expressing my concerns and requested time to discuss these issues, but I never received a response,” Hall added.

The NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

Hall’s claims come days after Kennedy visited FDA employees last week and reportedly told them that “the Deep State is real.”

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“President Trump always talks about the Deep State, and the media, you know, disparages him and says that he’s paranoid,” Kennedy said according to Politico, which reported it obtained an audio recording and transcript of the secretary’s remarks. “But the Deep State is real. And it’s not, you know, just George Soros and Bill Gates and a bunch of nefarious individuals sitting together in a room and plotting the, you know, the destruction of humanity.”

According to multiple reports, Kennedy pointed the finger at “institutional pressures.”

Kennedy also reportedly said the FDA had become a “sock puppet” of the industries it was meant to regulate. NBC News reported that Kennedy said that this was the case with “every agency,” not just the FDA.

FIRST ON FOX: A top House Republican is leading a formal rebuke of the Biden administration’s gun control policies on Thursday.

House Small Business Committee Chair Roger Williams, R-Texas, is introducing a resolution slamming the Democrat former president while lauding the current White House “as they work to protect Second Amendment freedoms by reviewing and eliminating any of the Biden administration’s infringements on [Americans’] constitutional freedoms.”

The resolution is backed by at least 14 of Williams’ fellow House Republicans.

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“For too long, the Biden administration and radical leftists went to extreme lengths to criminalize law-abiding gun owners, jeopardizing the Second Amendment,” he told Fox News Digital of the legislation.

“My resolution reaffirms congressional support for the Second Amendment and commends President Trump’s actions to protect American gun owners by dismantling Biden’s infringements on our constitutional freedoms.”

Shortly after Attorney General Pam Bondi was sworn in, President Donald Trump ordered her to begin a 30-day review to find any “ongoing infringements” of the Second Amendment by the federal government.

Just over a month later, Bondi commissioned a new Second Amendment task force to “combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” she said last week.

The DOJ this month also repealed a Biden-era “zero tolerance” policy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives, revoking licenses from firearm dealers who “willfully” violate existing rules. Gun rights groups, however, argued the rule places an undue burden on firearm dealers for making unintended clerical errors.

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The GOP resolution “disapproves of the Biden administration’s gun-control agenda and hostility toward the lawful gun industry,” according to legislative text obtained by Fox News Digital.

It also “supports President Trump’s actions to repeal harmful policies imposed by the Biden administration on law-abiding gunowners (sic); and commends President Trump’s commitment to upholding the Constitution and defending the constitutional right to bear arms.”

The resolution, which is also backed by the National Rifle Association, is being introduced to coincide with Second Amendment Day on Thursday.

FIRST ON FOX: The Republican National Committee (RNC) is quickly coming out of the gate when it comes to fundraising.

The RNC reports hauling in $56.1 million during the January-March first quarter of 2025 fundraising as the national party committee builds resources for next year’s midterm elections, when it will defend its majorities in the House and the Senate.

The RNC, which shared its figures first with Fox News on Thursday, said the haul was a record for the first quarter of a non-election year.

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“The RNC is working hand-in-glove with President Trump and the White House to replicate his historic success in 2024,” RNC Chair Michael Whatley said in a statement.

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And looking ahead to next year’s midterms, Whatley said that “we’re building up our war chest to expand Republican majorities in 2026 and ensure the President has all the tools he needs to Make America Great Again. I couldn’t be more excited to keep up what we’ve been doing with Vice President Vance as our finance chair.”

As Fox News reported last month, Vance was named the RNC’s finance chair. Vance, who is seen as the front-runner for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination in the race to succeed the term-limited Trump, is the first sitting vice president to serve as the finance chair of a national party committee.

Vance, in a statement, highlighted that “the RNC has already accomplished great work in its mission to build upon President Trump’s historic victory this past November.”

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“Republicans have an incredible opportunity looking to 2026, where we can continue on our strong momentum, further grow our majorities and advance President Trump’s America First agenda,” the vice president added. “I’m honored to help spearhead this effort and look forward to the work that lies ahead.”

The rival Democratic National Committee had yet to announce its first-quarter fundraising figures at the time this story was posted.

The DNC had raised $24.3 million through the end of February, compared to $35.2 hauled in by the RNC.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced the closure of a State Department effort that he accused of spending millions on censorship.

“I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),” Rubio said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,” Rubio asserted.

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The GEC closed in December, according to an archived State Department website content that is still viewable online.

Rubio asserted in a piece published on The Federalist that the GEC had not actually ended, but was simply re-branded.

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“When Republicans in Congress sunset GEC’s funding at the end of last year, the Biden State Department simply slapped on a new name. The GEC became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R-FIMI) office, with the same roster of employees. With this new name, they hoped to survive the transition to the new administration,” Rubio wrote. “Today, we are putting that to an end. Whatever name it goes by, GEC is dead. It will not return.”

Former House lawmaker Dan Bishop, who is now serving as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, thanked Rubio. “This is the way,” the former congressman wrote in a post on X

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Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., responded to Rubio’s announcement, tweeting, “Excellent.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Wednesday during his trip to El Salvador that he “won’t rest” until Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a suspected MS-13 member who was deported to a mega prison in his home country, is brought back to the United States.

Van Hollen has described the man as “wrongfully abducted” and traveled to El Salvador in an attempt to discuss efforts to bring the man back to Maryland, where he was living illegally. 

The senator was able to speak with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay, but was not able to make contact with Abrego Garcia in person or via phone.

“I’ve been in El Salvador all day fighting for the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said in a caption to a video posted on X on Wednesday night. “The Trump Admin can lie all they want, but the Court said they failed to show he was part of MS-13. This is about bringing home a man they ADMIT should’ve never been abducted. I won’t rest until then.”

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Van Hollen’s visit to El Salvador comes two days after an El Salvadoran illegal alien was convicted of raping and murdering Rachel Morin, a Maryland mom of five, on a trail in Bel Air.

Morin’s mother, Patty, said Van Hollen has never reached out to her about her daughter’s violent murder in Maryland, yet he is prioritizing bringing a deported man back to the state.

Van Hollen did release the following statement on his official Senate website shortly after Morin’s killer was convicted, writing that the “verdict brings a measure of justice that [Rachel’s family] so deserve[s].”

“While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve. I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice. 

“As I have said in the past, the American people deserve meaningful action to reform our broken immigration system, improve public safety, and strengthen our border security. We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue.”

TOM HOMAN ‘DISGUSTED’ BY DEM SENATOR’S TRIP TO BRING HOME ALLEGED MS-13 GANG MEMBER

During an appearance at a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Patty Morin called out Van Hollen for his visit to El Salvador.

“And to have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge or barely acknowledge my daughter, and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grand baby without a grandmother, so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen,” she said. “Why does that person have more rights than I do for my daughter? For my grandchildren?”

While he did not address Patty Morin directly, Van Hollen said in a video posted to X later Wednesday evening that he cares “about every victim of crime.”

He also said that America has a court system to make sure criminals are held accountable and “that people who have not committed crimes, or not been convicted of crimes, are not disappeared out of the United States and sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, like Abrego Garcia.”

“This is simply about letting him have his day in court. We use the courts to make sure that we don’t convict people who are not guilty, and that we convict those who are,” he said, in part.

‘MARYLAND MAN’ KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA EXPOSED IN POLICE RECORDS AS ‘VIOLENT’ REPEAT WIFE BEATER

Abrego Garcia is at the center of a controversial debate after he was deported to El Salvador’s “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for his alleged gang affiliation, which his attorneys have denied. 

The Department of Homeland Security shared an interview sheet with Fox News from Prince George’s County police’s Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad that identified Abrego Garcia as an active member of MS-13’s “Westerns” clique in 2019, according to a “past proven and reliable source.” The source said he held the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

He was marked eligible for deportation in 2019 after he claimed that he illegally entered the U.S. near McAllen, Texas, on or about March 25, 2012, after he “walked across the desert for many days,” according to a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News.

Van Hollen is not the only Democrat lawmaker seeking to visit Abrego Garcia in El Salvador with the goal of bringing him back to the U.S. after the Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision ordering his return. 

The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.”

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo, Greg Wehner and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem canceled $2.7 million in DHS grants to Harvard University on Wednesday.

In a statement, Noem announced the cancelation of two grants for the university, and declared the elite Massachusetts Ivy League institution “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.” 

The university has been ordered to submit records by April 30, or risk losing its certification to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,” Noem said in the statement. “America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”

TRUMP ADMIN ASKS IRS TO REVOKE HARVARD’S TAX-EXEMPT STATUS

The canceled grants include an $800,303 “Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention” award, which DHS says classified conservatives as far-right extremists, and a $1,934,902 “Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement” grant, which funded public health messaging that Noem’s office described as ideologically skewed.

The move follows President Donald Trump‘s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard and ask for the IRS to revoke its tax-exempt status. 

The IRS is currently reviewing the university’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, according to sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ). A final decision has not yet been made.

In a social media post, Trump criticized Harvard’s leadership and faculty, writing, “Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders.’” He continued, “Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT

The DHS action comes amid a broader federal crackdown on campus antisemitism following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. 

In the months since, Harvard has faced criticism over antisemitic rhetoric and protests involving students and faculty. Noem’s letter references “foreign visa-holding rioters” and calls for Harvard to provide documentation of their conduct.

With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard is one of the wealthiest institutions in the world. DHS emphasized that the university can afford to fund its own programs and should not rely on taxpayer money if it is not meeting federal standards for student conduct and institutional accountability.

Harvard has not yet publicly responded to the termination of the grants or the DHS demand for records.

The Department of Education is also scrutinizing the university. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently launched a review of more than $255.6 million in federal contracts and nearly $9 billion in grants involving Harvard and its affiliates.

“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” McMahon said.

This move comes shortly after similar action was taken against Columbia University, as the federal government steps up enforcement on institutions it says are failing to meet civil rights and national security obligations.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Noem’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Fox News’ Andrea Margolis and Alexis McAdams contributed to this report.

A now-deported illegal alien accused of being an MS-13 gang member that was living illegally in Maryland has a record of being a “violent” repeat wife beater, according to court records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife.

Fox News obtained the written domestic violence allegations filed in court against 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia by his wife, Jennifer Vasquez, in 2021.

In the filing, written in Vasquez’s own handwriting, she alleges Abrego Garcia repeatedly beat her, writing: “At this point, I am afraid to be close to him. I have multiple photos/videos of how violent he can be and all the bruises he [has] left me.”

Vasquez alleged that Abrego Garcia punched and scratched her on her eye, leaving her bleeding. He also allegedly threw her laptop on the floor.

WE DON’T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI 

She wrote that on another day, Abrego Garcia got angry again, started yelling, and ripped her shirt and shorts off before grabbing her arm and leaving marks.

Vasquez recalled two times in 2020 that Abrego Garcia hit her.

“In November 2020, he hit me with his work boot,” she wrote. “In August 2020, he hit me in the eye leaving a purple eye.”

Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released court documents regarding Abrego Garcia, which cast further doubt on the Democrats’ narrative about his innocence.

DHS released new documents this week, which it says definitively proves Abrego Garcia, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) last month, is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang.

According to a Prince George’s County Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, local police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

The police department’s Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad conducted an interview with Abrego Garcia and contacted a “past proven and reliable source” who identified him as an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns” clique, with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

The news comes as Democrats clamor for the return of Abrego Garcia, who they say was “wrongly deported” to a maximum-security prison in his home country as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal migrant crime. 

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” 

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

This has caused outrage among Democrats, many of whom have begun referring to him as a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported. Some have even suggested he was kidnapped by the Trump administration.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of the Trump Administration’s government-funded kidnapping rampage,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on X. “He is rotting away in a foreign prison where his life is in danger. We need to go there now to make sure he’s okay.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia in prison and work to secure his release. His trip has been criticized by many, including the mother of Rachel Morrin, a 39-year-old Maryland mother who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in 2023. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” she said. 

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR ‘END OF THE STORY’

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down, saying Abrego Garcia has a “history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as.”

DHS shared court filings in which Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he “punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt.”

And a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News shows Abrego Garcia admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and claimed to have “walked across the desert for many days entering illegally into the United States near McAllen, Texas on or about March 25, 2012.” 

As a result, Abrego Garcia was marked as eligible for deportation in 2019. 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

Through it all, the Trump administration continues to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT.

A federal immigration court in Baltimore further determined Abrego Garcia was not eligible for release because he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13.”

The court held that “the fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of infonnation [sic]’ verified the Respondent’s gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member” and that Abrego had “failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a ‘Maryland Man’—he is an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who entered the United States illegally,” DHS posted on X. “His deportation to El Salvador was always going to be the end result.”

DHS bashed Van Hollen for advocating Abrego Garcia’s release, saying the senator “has done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13.”

“While Sen. Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime,” said DHS. “We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted some more details about his arrest, saying, in addition to being apprehended with other MS-13 members, he was found with “rolls of cash and drugs” and “wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform.”

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is “exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador.”

“The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists,” she added. “He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”

The Department of Homeland Security has released court records it says definitively prove Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a member of the infamous MS-13 gang. This comes as Democrats clamor for the return of Abrego Garcia, who they say was “wrongly deported” to a maximum-security prison in his home country as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal migrant crime. 

According to a Prince George’s County, Maryland, Police Department interview sheet shared with Fox News by DHS, local police discovered Abrego Garcia during a murder investigation. Police found him loitering in a Home Depot parking lot with other known MS-13 gang members in possession of illicit drugs in 2019. 

Prince George’s County Gang Unit MS-13 Intelligence Squad conducted an interview with Abrego Garcia and contacted a “past proven and reliable source” who identified him as an active member of MS-13 with the “Westerns” clique, with the rank of “Chequeo” and the moniker of “Chele.”

Additionally, publicly available court records filed against Abrego Garcia cast further doubt on the Democrats’ narrative about his innocence.

WE DON’T WANT KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA BACK, SAYS AG PAM BONDI 

Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to a controversial mega prison, the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador, in March along with several hundred other alleged gang members living in the U.S. Though he was deported for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, his attorneys maintain he was living in the U.S. legally and does not have any gang ties.

Last week, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision ordering the Trump administration to arrange Abrego Garcia’s return. The court required the “government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from returning to the U.S., but Attorney General Pam Bondi has said that returning him is “up to El Salvador. If they want to return him. That’s not up to us.” 

This has caused outrage among Democrats, many of whom have begun referring to him as a “Maryland man” who was wrongly deported. Some have even suggested he was kidnapped by the Trump administration.

LIBERAL SENATOR SAYS HE IS FLYING TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, OTHER DEMS PLANNING TRIPS

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported to El Salvador as part of the Trump Administration’s government-funded kidnapping rampage,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., posted on X. “He is rotting away in a foreign prison where his life is in danger. We need to go there now to make sure he’s okay.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., flew to El Salvador to visit Abrego Garcia in prison and work to secure his release. His trip has been criticized by many, including the mother of Rachel Morrin, a 39-year-old Maryland mother who was raped and murdered by a Salvadoran illegal immigrant in 2023. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother and now a grandbaby without a grandmother so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen. Why does that person have more rights than I do, or my daughter, or my grandchildren? I don’t understand this,” she said. 

Through it all, the Trump administration continues to maintain it was right to deport Abrego Garcia to CECOT.

KRISTI NOEM CRITICIZES ‘LIBERAL LEFT’ FOR TURNING ACCUSED GANG MEMBER INTO ‘MEDIA DARLING’

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security doubled down, saying Abrego Garcia has a “history of violence and was not the upstanding ‘Maryland Man’ the media has portrayed him as.”

DHS shared court filings in which Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez, sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, claiming he “punched, scratched, and ripped off her shirt.”

And a 2019 DHS interview document shared with Fox News shows Abrego Garcia admitted to being in the U.S. illegally and claimed to have “walked across the desert for many days entering illegally into the United States near McAllen, Texas on or about March 25, 2012.” 

As a result, Abrego Garcia was marked as eligible for deportation in 2019. 

A federal immigration court in Baltimore further determined Abrego Garcia was not eligible for release because he “failed to meet his burden of demonstrating that his release from custody would not pose a danger to others, as the evidence shows that he is a verified member of MS-13.”

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR ‘END OF THE STORY’

The court held that “the fact that a ‘past, proven, and reliable source of infonnation [sic]’ verified the Respondent’s gang membership, rank, and gang name is sufficient to support that the Respondent is a gang member” and that Abrego had “failed to present evidence to rebut that assertion.”

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not a ‘Maryland Man’—he is an MS-13 gang member involved in human trafficking who entered the United States illegally,” DHS posted on X. “His deportation to El Salvador was always going to be the end result.”

DHS bashed Van Hollen for advocating Abrego Garcia’s release, saying the senator “has done more to bring a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland than he has to help keep his American constituents safe or advocate for the victims of these vicious gangs like MS-13.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

“While Sen. Van Hollen and the mainstream media peddle a sob story about a brutal MS-13 gang member, Secretary Noem stands with the victims of illegal alien crime,” said DHS. “We hear far too much about the gang members and criminals’ sob stories and not enough about their victims.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted some more details about his arrest, saying, in addition to being apprehended with other MS-13 members, he was found with “rolls of cash and drugs” and “wearing what is effectively MS-13’s uniform.”

Speaking with Fox News on Monday, McLaughlin said Abrego Garcia is “exactly where he belongs, home in El Salvador.”

“The media would love for you to believe that this is some media darling, that he is just some Maryland father, but Osama bin Laden was also a father, and yet he wasn’t a good guy, and they are actually both terrorists,” she added. “He should be in this El Salvador prison, prison for terrorists, and I hope he will remain there.”

Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.

Here’s what’s happening…

-Third top DOD staffer Collin Carroll on administrative leave

-New bipartisan tax proposal could give your family more money

-Grassley, Johnson press DOJ IG to respond on whether ‘untasked’ undercover agents were present on Jan. 6

A federal judge said Wednesday that he has found probable cause to hold the Trump administration in contempt for failing to return two planes deporting migrants to El Salvador last month, a major update that comes as tensions between the Trump administration and the judiciary have reached a fever pitch.

In a 48-page order, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said that the court had determined that the Trump administration had demonstrated a “willful disregard” for his March 15 emergency order, which temporarily halted all deportation flights to El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime immigration law, to allow the court to better consider the merits of the case. 

Boasberg had also ordered all planes bound for El Salvador to be “immediately” returned to U.S. soil — which did not happen. Hundreds of migrants arrived in El Salvador later that evening, where the individuals were detained in a sprawling, maximum-security Salvadorian prison…Read more

DUFFY ON DRONES: Duffy contrasts Biden-era ‘drone fiasco’ with Trump admin’s ‘radical transparency’ after FAA announces testing

ECONOMIC PRIORITIES: JD Vance gears up to talk economic priorities during trips to Italy, India

SEWAGE CRISIS: EPA chief takes on Mexican ‘sewage crisis’ flowing into US waters where Navy SEALs train

TRUMP VS COURTS: Bondi defiant, says Abrego Garcia will stay in El Salvador ‘end of the story’

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND: Elise Stefanik considering bid for NY gov

HEATING UP: Kentucky senate race heats up as signs point to Andy Barr joining the field

CARTEL CRACKDOWN: Inside House Republicans’ new task force to battle criminal Mexican cartels

TERROR ‘DETERRENCE’: Bipartisan senators push tougher penalties for foreign-backed crimes on US soil

‘KICK CORPORATE A–‘: Senate Republican DOGE leader Joni Ernst faces first Democratic challenger in 2026 race

RESISTING TRUMP: Bernie Sanders, AOC and other anti-Trump progressives haul in big bucks for 2026 midterms

TARGETING VANCE: Dem rising star eyes Vance as key long-term threat: ‘Needs to be defeated’

MUSK-PROOF’: Colorado Dems move to divert $4M in taxpayer dollars to fight Trump admin in court

‘FORK IN THE ROAD’: HUD reveals how many staffers packed their bags and took deferred resignation offer

MIAMI ICE: ICE partnership will build ‘public trust,’ vice mayor of town with large Venezuelan community says

MARKET MANIPULATION?: Longtime Trump foe Letitia James reviewing possible insider trading over president’s tariff pause

‘APPALLING AND DISTURBING’: Illegal immigrant arrested for incest with teenager, released by Va. jail captured by ICE

Get the latest updates on the Trump administration and Congress, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.

Former Democratic Congresswoman from Virginia Abigail Spanberger is being accused by her GOP opponent in the upcoming Virginia governor’s race of failing to include her role as a trustee in financial disclosure reports while she was a member of Congress.

The campaign for Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is aiming to replace incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, is calling the incomplete disclosures “a calculated lie,” not an “accident.” But, according to Spanberger’s campaign, the only asset contained in the trust is Spanberger’s personal residence, which is not required to be disclosed.

In 2017, according to local real estate records, Spanberger and her husband updated their will and, as part of that process, transferred ownership of their home into a trust that listed the pair’s kids as the beneficiaries. They bought it for roughly half-a-million dollars, and it is now worth close to one-million.

DOJ ASKS TO DISMISS VIRGINIA CASE AGAINST SALVADORAN ACCUSED MS-13 LEADER SET TO BE DEPORTED

After opening the trust, Spanberger did not include it in any of her annual financial disclosure reports that are mandated by Congress while serving in the House of Representatives .Nor did she include it in a “Virginia Economic Interest Statement” filed last month.

“Personal residences that do not earn income are not required to be disclosed, so Abigail did not disclose her family’s only home — as doing so would make their home address publicly available,” the Spanberger campaign told Fox News Digital. “Abigail filed her disclosures in accordance with House Ethics rules, which do not require her to disclose her role as a trustee of a living trust holding only her family’s home.”

However, the Earle-Sears campaign says that Spanberger’s explanations of privacy and wanting to keep her family safe fall short.

“Abigail Spanberger got caught hiding a trust — and not just any trust, but one holding nearly a million dollars in assets,” Earle-Sears campaign press secretary Peyton Vogel said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “That’s not an accident — that’s a calculated lie. Disclosure forms don’t require anyone to put their families at risk — only honesty. If she’s willing to lie about something this serious, Virginians just can’t trust her.”  

VIRGINIA SCHOOL PUTS UP CONTROVERSIAL ABCS DISPLAY ON WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, STARTING WITH ‘A IS FOR ABORTION’

Additionally, the Earle-Sears campaign has pointed to Congress’ House Ethics Manual requirement that members of Congress “must disclose any nongovernmental positions, whether or not compensated, that they currently hold,” including the position of “trustee.”

Spanberger joined Congress representing a district in the northern part of Virginia in 2018, and was reelected in two subsequent election cycles — 2020 and 2022. Spanberger did not seek reelection in 2024, but is now running to replace Youngkin after he is term-limited later this year.

Earle-Sears was elected lieutenant governor in 2021, cementing herself in the history books as the first woman of color elected to statewide office in Virginia.

Both candidates have been tapped by their respective parties to be their candidate in the upcoming November general election, according to local media reports. Cook-political report currently labels the race as a toss-up.

The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. 

Patty Morin’s appearance comes as her senator, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident and El Salvador native, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.”

Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

A jury in the Harford County Circuit court found Victor Martinez-Hernandez, originally from El Salvador guilty on all counts of first-degree murder, first-degree rape, third-degree sexual offense and kidnapping.

Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. However, following Martinez-Hernandez’s conviction, Van Hollen issued a statement vowing to bolster border security while also “supporting our immigrant communities.” 

“While the conviction of Rachel Morin’s killer will not return Rachel to her family where she rightfully belongs, this verdict brings a measure of justice that they so deserve,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the law enforcement officers who brought her killer into custody and for our legal process for delivering this justice.” 

Martinez-Hernandez attacked Rachel Morin, 37, in August 2023 on the Ma & Pa Heritage Trail in Bel Air, a trail Patty Morin said the family had walked for 25 years as Maryland residents. 

DEMOCRATS PRIORITIZING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OVER CITIZENS IS ‘MIND-BOGGLING,’ WHITE HOUSE SAYS

“When she went on that trail that day, she was not planning on dying. She wasn’t planning on walking to her death,” Patty Morin told reporters. “She was planning on going to the grocery store with her girls afterwards. Victor Martinez, he waited for her. He waited for her to come closer. He saw her. He saw that there was nobody around, he attacked her. He dragged her 150 feet, blood gushing from her head.”

Patty Morin shared with the press the horrific details of her daughter’s murder, including how Martinez-Hernandez raped and strangled her daughter after crushing her skull like an “eggshell.” 

Patty Morin said photos of the brutal attack show that not “one inch” of her daughter’s body remained free from injury. These photos have since been sealed because they are so graphic, she said. 

“You could see where the blood ran down around her as he was raping her, and then he threw her down, and raped her some more, and then he strangled her because he didn’t want her to be able to live to tell the story,” Patty Morin said. 

Patty Morin also shared that Martinez-Hernandez did not appear to express any remorse in the courtroom for his actions. 

“These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country,” Patty Morin said. “These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country. We are American citizens. Why should we allow people like this, violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?”

Patty Morin also urged the press to not sanitize their news coverage of her daughter’s death. 

“Please tell the truth,” she said. “Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or anything, it’s about national security.”

Meanwhile, Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador Wednesday in an attempt to meet with Garcia. The Trump administration’s Justice Department admitted that it deported Garcia in an “administrative error.” 

BLUE STATE SENATOR FLIES TO EL SALVADOR TO VISIT DEPORTED MIGRANT IN PRISON, ONLY TO BE DENIED

Additionally, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday a lower court’s order that “requires the government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

While Van Hollen met with El Salvador’s Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay during his trip, he was not permitted to visit Garcia at the prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT). However, Van Hollen told reporters he would continue to try to meet with him in the future. 

“I am going to keep pressing,” Van Hollen said. “I will keep pressing in my remaining time here, and I will keep pressing beyond that if necessary.”

Fox News’ Ashley Carnahan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report. 

The Trump administration has asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, sources within the Department of Justice (DOJ) confirmed to Fox News.

The Ivy League school’s failure to address antisemitism on campus is grounds for losing its 501(c)(3) status, Fox News’ sources said.

The IRS is expected to make a final decision soon on Harvard’s tax exemption, according to CNN, which was first to report the story. 

 In a recent social media post, President Donald Trump claimed that Harvard had “lost its way” and didn’t deserve federal funding.

STEFANIK SHREDS HARVARD OVER ‘COMPLETE MORAL FAILURE’ AFTER ALLOWING CLAUDINE GAY TO REMAIN PRESIDENT

“Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and ‘birdbrains’ who are only capable of teaching FAILURE to students and so-called ‘future leaders,'” Trump wrote. “Look just to the recent past at their plagiarizing President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress.”

“Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World’s Great Universities or Colleges,” he continued. 

“Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds.”

TRUMP ANNOUNCES PLAN TO CHOP DOWN MAGNOLIA TREE PURPORTEDLY PLANTED BY ANDREW JACKSON: ‘MUST COME TO AN END’

The developments come less than three weeks after the Justice Department announced a “comprehensive review” of federal contracts and government-funded grants at Harvard University.

Citing an ambition to eliminate antisemitism on campuses, and coming on the heels of a similar move against Columbia University, the Department of Education said that over $255.6 million in contracts between Harvard, its affiliates and the federal government would be reviewed, plus nearly $9 billion worth of grants.

“Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations — the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said at the time. “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic [sic] discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy.”

The mother of a Maryland woman who an illegal immigrant from El Salvador raped and murdered in 2023 appeared at the White House Wednesday, after a jury convicted her daughter’s murderer on Monday. 

Patty Morin’s appearance comes as Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland visited El Salvador on Wednesday to check on a Maryland resident the Trump administration’s Justice Department deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration claims that the Maryland resident, Abrego Garcia, has ties to the MS-13 gang. 

“To have a senator from Maryland who didn’t even acknowledge, or barely acknowledge, my daughter and the brutal death that she endured, leaving her five children without a mother…so that he can use my taxpayer money to fly to El Salvador to bring back someone that’s not even an American citizen?” Morin told reporters Wednesday at the White House. “Why does that person have more right than I do, or my daughter or my grandchildren? I don’t, I don’t understand this.”

Van Hollen’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

An audit of D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) found staffing levels in the district have increased at a rate of seven-and-a-half times more than student enrollment, while simultaneously student achievement levels in the district still remain behind pre-pandemic levels for most students. 

The Office of the District of Columbia Auditor found that over a five-year period, while student enrollment grew by 2.6%, the number of staff increased by 19.5%. This amounts to roughly 1,600 new positions funded by the district since Fiscal Year 2020, and an approximately 43% increase in per-pupil spending.

Meanwhile, both in D.C. and nationally, students are still trying to find their way back to pre-pandemic achievement levels.

EDUCATORS HOPE ‘ABYSMAL’ NATIONAL LITERACY RATES WILL BE ADDRESSED NOW THAT DEI, GENDER IDEOLOGY OUT THE DOOR

“DC Public Schools works every day to help all our scholars reach their full potential. This recent report highlights a staffing strategy that prioritizes teachers and led to increases in enrollment and academic performance that stands out from other urban school districts. DCPS will work with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer to identify ways to improve data systems to demonstrate the district’s continued fiscal stewardship,” DCPS press secretary Evan Lambert told Fox News Digital in response to the audit’s findings. “Following the sunset of federal pandemic relief, DCPS has increased local funding to schools by decreasing the overall number of Central Services staff.”

The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, known colloquially as the nation’s report card, showed some improvements since the assessment was last released in 2022, but student achievement levels in reading and math nationally remain below 2019 levels for most students. In D.C. specifically, students saw better improvement than most big urban districts, but students in the nation’s capital have still not yet fully returned to pre-pandemic achievement levels, per the nation’s report card.

The United States is the third-biggest spender among the 40 other developed nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on per-pupil spending, according to the Education Data Initiative. The pandemic spurred a massive influx of cash into the public school system as well, but many districts were found to be putting all that extra funding toward staff salaries and bonuses, as opposed to things directly related to student achievement.

A FAILING NATION’S REPORT CARD PROVES NEED FOR SWEEPING CHANGE

In North Carolina, the Wake County Public School System spent 78% of its total pandemic relief funding on salaries and employee benefits. In Chicago’s public schools system 77% of the district’s pandemic money went to staff bonuses, salaries and benefits.

“Thanks to an infusion of $190 billion in federal relief funds, schools have been on a hiring spree over the last few years,” stated an analysis by nonprofit education news group The 74. “For example, before the pandemic, Los Angeles Unified was reducing its teacher count pretty much in line with its declining enrollment. But with the infusion of federal (and state) funds, Los Angeles kept staffing levels constant despite further enrollment declines. Gwinnett County in Georgia shows a similar bifurcated trend. Its staffing and enrollment lines were moving in tandem until the federal funds drove a rapid increase in hiring.”

The 74, which stands for the 74 million American school children enrolled in K-12 schools across America, examined staffing and enrollment levels in over 9,500 school districts across the country, comprising roughly 92% of all K-12 students nationwide. 

The nonprofit education newsgroup found that almost 3,000 districts saw staff levels increase despite enrollment declines. Others, according to the analysis, shrunk their staff counts, but not as quickly as they lost students, while another category included districts that gained students but increased their staffing levels even faster. According to The 74, public schools overall added approximately 121,000 employees last year overall, even though they served about 110,000 fewer students.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: TRUMP’S DECISION TO GUT THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IS NOT ONLY ILLEGAL, IT’S WRONG

President Donald Trump and Republicans have taken steps to put greater control over school funding in the hands of individual states, as opposed to the federal government. Last month, he signed an executive order meant to effectively dismantle the U.S. Department of Education through transferring its educational authority to the states. Last week, GOP senators also introduced a bill to close the department.

“Despite per-pupil spending having increased by more than 245% [since the 1970s,] there has been virtually no measurable improvement in student achievement,” Trump’s March 20 order stated. “President Donald J. Trump and his administration believe we can, and must, be better.”

FIRST ON FOX: Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen drew wide rebuke for his sudden trip to El Salvador, during which he hopes to bring back deported Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Garcia is currently imprisoned in the South American country – and President Nayib Bukele indicated it would be “preposterous” to try to send him back to the U.S.

Van Hollen made waves Wednesday morning when he posted a selfie-video before flying to San Salvador, and calling the goal of his “mission” to let both countries’ governments know he won’t stop fighting until Garcia returns to Maryland.

Rep. Andy Harris, the lone Republican in the Old Line State’s delegation, slammed Van Hollen and contrasted the situation with Rachel Morin – who was murdered by an illegal immigrant found guilty Monday in Bel Air.

BONDI DEFIANT, SAYS ABREGO GARCIA WILL STAY IN EL SALVADOR: ‘END OF THE STORY’

“The most striking… double standard, is that Rachel Morin, who was a constituent of mine, was brutally murdered by an illegal alien from El Salvador,” Harris said.

“And Chris Van Hollen is not spending much time on that issue, but he’s taking time to go to El Salvador to bring back a citizen of El Salvador to the United States who had entered the country illegally and which an immigration court… found evidence that he was an MS-13 gang member.”

Van Hollen did release a print statement after Morin’s killer was convicted, saying he was grateful to law enforcement and calling for “meaningful action” to reform “our broken immigration system.”

“We can do this while also supporting our immigrant communities and respecting the rights of individuals who are here legally – I am committed to doing both, and I will continue pressing my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to move forward on this issue,” Van Hollen said.

DOJ INDICATES TRUMP ADMIN NOT OBLIGATED TO RETURN MAN DEPORTED TO EL SALVADOR, PUSHING BACK ON JUDICIARY

White House communications director Steven Cheung mocked Van Hollen “and his bedwetting friends” for showing “more concern and sympathy for an illegal MS-13 gang member than victims of horrific migrant crimes.”

Van Hollen previously had a mixed voting record on the illegal immigration issue.

He voted against the Laken Riley Act in January and publicly objected to the first Trump administration deporting two Salvadoran men in 2017 who were scholastic soccer stars.

“Shame on President Trump for tearing apart hardworking immigrant families. We should be focused on MS-13, not scholarship winners,” he said.

Harris said efforts to “repatriate” Garcia to Maryland are also factually misguided.

“This gentleman has already been repatriated – back to El Salvador; the country of his citizenship. That is where he belongs.”

“Rachel Morin, in fact, was a Maryland woman; This gentleman is not a Maryland man,” he said, in reference to how Garcia has been described in the press. “We should probably worry about our own citizens before we worry about citizens of other countries.”

Harris also lamented expending taxpayer funds for the trip, “to bring a citizen of a foreign country who entered America illegally back into the United States.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took criticisms a step further, suggesting Van Hollen may be “flirting with treason” and saying Garcia is already “home, in El Salvador.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also cited Morin’s murder in their rebuke of Van Hollen, claiming he has done more to bring “a MS-13 gang member, human trafficker and illegal alien back to Maryland” than he has to advocate for victims of gang violence.

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Van Hollen’s stance did receive one prominent Maryland defender, with Gov. Wes Moore telling Fox News Digital, “We can be pro-public safety and pro-Constitution at the same time.”

“We support Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s efforts to check on his health and safety and bring peace of mind to Kilmar’s family in Maryland – his wife, their 5-year-old child, and his two stepchildren, all who are U.S. citizens.”

“Despite a unanimous Supreme Court decision, Trump is refusing to return Kilmar and is now even threatening to deport U.S. citizens to El Salvador.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Van Hollen for comment but did not hear back.