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.

‘HEALTHY SNACK TIME’ WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS LAUNCHED BY SECRETARIES ROLLINS, RFK JR.

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.”

RFK JR. PLANS TO DIRECT CDC TO STOP RECOMMENDING FLUORIDE IN WATER

“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.

NRA LEGISLATIVE EXPERT SAYS GUN RIGHTS COULD SEE ‘MOST MONUMENTAL’ WIN IN CONGRESS SINCE 2005

“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.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS BIDEN ADMIN ‘GHOST GUN’ REGULATION

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.

CASH DASH: HOUSE GOP CAMPAIGN ARM TOUTS ‘UNSTOPPABLE MOMENTUM’

“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.

POLL POSITION: WHERE TRUMP STANDS WITH AMERICANS 11 WEEKS INTO SECOND TOUR OF DUTY IN WHITE HOUSE

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.”

WERE THIS MONTH’S ELECTIONS IN WISCONSIN AND FLORIDA A CRYSTAL BALL FOR THINGS TO COME IN NEXT YEAR’S MIDTERMS?

“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.

STATE DEPARTMENT’S ‘GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT CENTER’ ACCUSED OF CENSORING AMERICANS SHUTS ITS DOORS

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.

TWITTER BOSS ELON MUSK ACCUSES GOVERNMENT AGENCY OF BEING ‘WORST OFFENDER IN US GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP’

“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

WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL AXES UN, NATO FUNDS AND HALVES STATE DEPARTMENT BUDGET

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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.”

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

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.

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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.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, was denied a visit with a Salvadoran migrant and accused MS-13 member who was deported to El Salvador, after flying to the country on Wednesday morning.

Van Hollen intended to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, though his attorneys maintain he does not have any gang ties.

Van Hollen spoke to reporters from El Salvador on Wednesday afternoon, when he vowed to continue pressing for access to Abrego Garcia.

He met with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay because President Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez was out of the country, though Van Hollen said he was grateful to speak about the case of Abrego Garcia.

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

“I asked the vice president if I could meet with Mr. Abrego Garcia, and he said, ‘well, you need to make earlier provisions to go visit CECOT,’” Van Hollen said.

He told Ulloa that he was not interested in taking a tour of CECOT and that he just wanted to meet with Abrego Garcia.

“He said he was not able to make that happen,” Van Hollen said of Ulloa.

When Van Hollen asked if he could come back next week to see Abrego Garcia, Ulloa told him he could not promise that, either. Ulloa also told the U.S. senator that he could not even arrange for him, or Abrego Garcia’s family to speak with the inmate over the phone.

EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ 

The senator said the situation in El Salvador is “unjust,” and he accused the Trump administration of lying about Abrego Garcia.

“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.”

The Supreme Court last week upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia from CECOT where federal officials have sent hundreds of suspected criminals and gang members. 

The Trump administration agreed to clear any administrative obstacles keeping Abrego Garcia from coming back 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.” 

TRUMP SPARS WITH ‘LOW-RATED’ CNN ANCHOR OVER DEPORTATION OF EL SALVADOR MIGRANT 

This has caused no small outrage from Democrats, with Van Hollen being the first to announce plans to travel to El Salvador to help secure Abrego Garcia’s release. 

“Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador,” Van Hollen on Tuesday.

“He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family,” he went on. “I’m flying to El Salvador tomorrow morning to check on his condition and discuss his return.”

EL SALVADOR’S BUKELE SAYS US CANNOT ‘FREE CRIMINALS AND THINK CRIME IS GOING TO GO DOWN MAGICALLY’ 

Van Hollen is not the only Democrat discussing visiting Abrego Garcia and other imprisoned migrants. Far left Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, and Robert Garcia, D-California, issued a joint letter on Tuesday in which they said they are “prepared to travel as soon as possible.” 

In their letter, which was sent to House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, R-Kentucky, on Tuesday, Frost and Garcia requested authorization to send a congressional delegation to visit CECOT to “conduct a welfare check” on Garcia and other deported migrants at the prison.

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.

While autism experts claim that the rise in cases stems from greater awareness and improved diagnostic testing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shut down that idea Wednesday and, instead, attributed the rise in cases to environmental factors.

Those who discount that environmental exposure is a factor in rising autism cases are engaging in “epidemic denial,” Kennedy told reporters Wednesday. 

Kennedy appeared at HHS’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest findings on autism included in a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey released Tuesday. 

“This is coming from an environmental toxin, and somebody made a profit by putting that environmental toxin into our air, our water, our medicines, our food,” Kennedy said. “And it’s to their benefit to say ‘Oh, to normalize it, to say all this is all normal, it’s always been here.’ That’s not good for our country.”

RFK JR. CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF FLUORIDE FROM DRINKING WATER, SPARKING DEBATE

Even so, the CDC’s own new survey Kennedy addressed found that autism prevalence is on the rise and said the increase “might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.”

Specifically, the survey found that one in 31 8-year-old children were diagnosed with autism in 2022 – up from one in 36 in 2000.

Additionally, the survey determined that autism rates were far more common for boys than girls. While one in 20 boys is diagnosed with autism, those numbers go down to one in 70 for girls. 

While Kennedy acknowledged Wednesday there may be some genetic vulnerabilities that could contribute to increased odds of an autism diagnosis, he said the autism rates spiked starting in 1989 and that some new environmental toxin must have been introduced around that time. 

“Why are we not seeing it in older people? Why is this only happening in young people?” Kennedy said. “Have you ever seen anybody our age – I’m 71 years old – with full blown autism? Head-banging, non-verbal, non-toilet-trained.” 

As a result, Kennedy said HHS’ studies would examine toxins including mold, pesticides, air, water, different medications, as well as the age and obesity rates of parents, among other things. 

“We’re going to look at all the potential culprits,” Kennedy said. 

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital regarding the apparent discrepancy between Kennedy’s remarks and the CDC survey. 

UTAH BANS FLUORIDE FROM PUBLIC DRINKING WATER, ALIGNING WITH MAHA MOVEMENT

Kennedy signaled Thursday in a Cabinet meeting at the White House that the administration would kick off a massive research initiative to understand the cause of autism by September. 

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy and legal advocacy on behalf of those with autism, pushed back against Kennedy’s statements in the Cabinet meeting and claimed Kennedy refused to acknowledge studies that point to genes as the underlying cause of autism. 

“There is no evidence that autism is actually becoming more common (rather, we as a society are getting better at identifying it, and diagnostic standards have appropriately been widened),” the network said in a Thursday statement. “Even if it were, however, autistic and other disabled people belong in our society. To claim otherwise, and to speak as though our existence is some kind of calamity that must be eliminated, is a form of eugenics.” 

FIRST ON FOX: Roughly 2,300 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) employees have opted to take deferred resignation offers since January, Fox News Digital learned. 

“To continue serving the American people at the highest standard, we are taking inventory of all programs and personnel while maintaining a strong workforce that is dedicated to supporting our most vulnerable and promoting pathways to self-sufficiency,” Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital Wednesday. 

“The Deferred Resignation Program carries out President Trump’s commitment to efficiency in the federal government by providing a pathway for employees to wish to seek new opportunities while also affording the agency an opportunity to streamline our operations.”

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) offered deferred resignations to federal employees earlier in 2025, which closed in February. The deferred resignation initiative offered staffers eight months of pay and benefits if they parted ways with their federal government jobs. 

HUD announced the launch of a second resignation offer March 31 to employees “who wish they had taken” OPM’s offer. 

Roughly 2,300 HUD employees have taken the deferred resignation offers, with slight fluctuations possible as they iron out final agreements with staffers, Fox Digital learned. Ahead of the Trump administration, HUD employed nearly 10,000 individuals.

HUD OFFICES BECAME AS VACANT AS A ‘SPIRIT HALLOWEEN’ STORE UNDER BIDEN: ADMIN SOURCES

“On week 1, President Trump went straight to work on reforming the federal workforce. One option offered to federal employees was a ‘fork in the road’ to separate from the federal workforce,” HUD posted to its official X account March 31.  

HUD CHIEF PUTS ILLEGAL ALIENS LIVING IN GOVERNMENT-FUNDED HOUSING ON NOTICE: AMERICANS ARE ‘OUR ONLY PRIORITY’

“The option to take the fork in the road closed on February 12, 2025. Since then, we have heard from staff who wish they had taken it. Today, we’re launching a second Deferred Resignation Program or ‘fork in the road’ in coordination with OPM that opens today and closes on Friday, April 11, 2025.

Under the Biden administration, HUD reportedly had become desolate as staffers worked from home and rarely visited its massive Washington headquarters. Fox News Digital reported in February that HUD’s headquarters became as empty as an off-season “Spirit Halloween” store under the Biden administration, which had left offices relatively untouched since the first Trump administration.

LIBERAL NORTH CAROLINA CITY’S DEI PLAN FOR HURRICANE RELIEF SHUT DOWN BY HUD SECRETARY

“For four years, the American people witnessed their government buildings transform overnight into massive, taxpayer-funded ‘Spirit Halloween’ stores,” a senior Trump administration official told Fox News Digital at the time. 

President Donald Trump signed a memo on his first day back in the Oval Office ordering agency heads to terminate remote work arrangements that had been ongoing since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.  

Turner told Fox Digital in February that upon his confirmation, “the four year vacation” for staffers was “over.” 

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“This is a huge disservice to the American people and a massive waste of hard-earned taxpayer dollars,” Turner told Fox Digital in February. “Let me be clear – the four-year vacation is over.” 

“I’ve been on many teams in my career, and I know from experience that in-person teamwork ensures accountability and fosters an environment of collaboration, creativity and communication,” he said. “At HUD, we’re getting back to work for the American people.”

In a video message about the Federal Aviation Administration doing “drone-detection testing” in New Jersey, Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy indicated that the Trump administration is committed to “radical transparency,” juxtaposing that approach with what he referred to as the Biden administration’s “drone fiasco.”

The FAA noted in a post on its website last week that the testing is slated to occur “in Cape May, New Jersey, between April 14-25.”

“The FAA will operate several large drones and more than 100 commercial off-the-shelf drones during the two-week period. Testing will take place over the water and near the Cape May Ferry Terminal during the daytime on weekdays only. The public should not fly recreational drones near this area during the test period,” the post stated.

KEY TRUMP AGENCY FACING ‘UNPRECEDENTED BACKLOG’ INHERITED FROM BIDEN ADMIN

In a video message shared on social media this week, Duffy explained that the testing is being performed “to ensure we can properly detect drones in our airspace and make sure they don’t interfere with aircraft navigation systems.”

Many Americans were concerned by a spate of sightings in the skies last year.

A joint Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA, and Department of Defense statement in December addressed the issue, declaring that “we assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones. We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast.”

CUTTING-EDGE DRONE TECH MAPS LAND AND WATER WITH LASER ACCURACY

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered what she described as a statement from Trump, explaining that the drones over the Garden State were cleared by the FAA to fly “for research and various other reasons,” and that many drones had been flown by hobbyists. 

“This was not the enemy,” she concluded, describing the remarks as “a statement from the president … “

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SHARES UPDATE ON DRONES SEEN FLYING OVER NEW JERSEY

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The FAA’s post last week noted, “The agency has been testing drone detection technologies at airports over the last few years and is expanding testing to off-airport locations. These tests will help determine the effectiveness of these technologies and whether they might interfere with FAA or aircraft navigation systems.”