The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is probing "a major pediatric teaching hospital" over the alleged firing of a nurse who sought a religious exemption to avoid administering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.
"The Department will robustly enforce federal laws protecting these courageous whistleblowers, including laws that protect healthcare professionals from being forced to violate their religious beliefs or moral convictions," Acting HHS OCR Director Anthony Archeval said in a statement.
While HHS has not confirmed the hospital’s identity, it is believed to be Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) — the largest children’s hospital in the U.S. — as the investigation follows whistleblower nurse Vanessa Sivadge’s testimony on Capitol Hill. Sivadge first came forward publicly in June 2024 and was later fired in August 2024.
Sivadge told lawmakers that she had witnessed "disturbing trends and concerning practices" relating to the treatment of children diagnosed with gender dysphoria. She also said that she "observed the powerful and irreversible effects" of treatments that patients were told were "lifesaving."
"I witnessed firsthand how doctors emotionally blackmailed parents by telling them that if they did not affirm their child’s false identity, their child would harm themselves. In particular, I was saddened to see young girls suffering from profound mental health struggles like depression and anxiety, many of whom had also suffered sexual abuse or trauma, persuaded by doctors at Texas Children’s that a hormone would resolve their gender confusion," Sivadge told lawmakers.
Dr. Eithan Haim, who was accused of violating HIPAA while in surgical training at Baylor College of Medicine, which is affiliated with TCH, also blew the whistle on the hospital for "lying about the existence of its transgender program." The Biden DOJ brought charges against Haim for the alleged HIPAA violations, but the case was ultimately dropped under the Trump administration.
Haim claimed the hospital was engaging in fraudulent billing practices to hide the fact that it was carrying out transgender procedures on minors even though it was against Texas law. This included recording mastectomies as "breast reduction" surgeries and billing testosterone prescribed to a teen girl under a male diagnosis.
In her testimony, Sivadge said that federal agents came to her home when investigating the whistleblower, now known to be Haim, because of her objections to transgender medicine. She described the interaction as intimidating and said that one of the special agents "effectively asked me to compromise my Christian beliefs and made veiled threats regarding my career and safety if I didn’t comply with their demands."
Sivadge's attorney filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on April 11, alleging that she "observed TCH doctors, after very little deliberation or critical analysis, embarking children on dangerous and often irreversible courses of ‘gender-affirming’ treatment."
According to the complaint, TCH "temporarily" paused "gender-affirming services" for minors after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in February 2022 that such treatments could constitute child abuse. The treatments were banned in the state following the passage of a bill in May 2023, which went into effect in September 2023. According to Sivadge's attorney, she asked to be transferred back to cardiology in May 2024, citing her religious beliefs.
Sivadge publicly blew the whistle on TCH on June 18, 2024, and was asked not to report to work the next day, according to the complaint. Just days later, on June 21, she was placed on administrative leave and was officially terminated in August 2024. TCH alleged that the termination of her employment was due to improper access to medical records.
On Jan. 28, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation" order, which prevents minors from undergoing transgender treatments. In accordance with this order, HHS has issued guidelines for prospective whistleblowers.
Fox News has reached out to TCH and HHS for comment.
FIRST ON FOX: A spokesperson for the family of the 17-year-old boy accused of stabbing Frisco, Texas, track star Austin Metcalf to death has a long history of supporting defunding the police as well as close ties to former Squad Rep. Cori Bush.
Minister Dominique Alexander, a Dallas-based defund the police activist and social justice leader, has been in the headlines in recent days as he and his organization, Next Generation Action Network (NGAN), have been rallying in defense of the family of 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony, the teenager who is accused of fatally stabbing Metcalf, and Anthony himself.
"The Next Generation Action Network is currently working with the Anthony family to get the bond processed and will keep the community updated regarding his release," NGAN posted on X earlier this week after the bond was reduced from $1 million to $250,000. "We want to sincerely thank everyone for the overwhelming support you have shown. This is just the beginning of a long legal journey, and we will continue to stand strong in defense of Karmelo’s rights."
Alexander hosted a press conference on Thursday and slammed the father of the victim for being a "disrespect to the dignity of his son" after he showed up to the press conference that he was "not invited" to, according to Alexander.
"That was disrespectful and just shows you all the character," he continued. "He was not invited. He knows that it's inappropriate to be near this family, but he did it. So, I say to people, actions speak louder than words."
Alexander's comments immediately went viral Thursday across social media, which led to online sleuths resurfacing his long criminal record, which has been documented in multiple local reports dating back over a decade. A Fox News Digital review also exposes his longtime support for defunding the police and his ties to the former "Squad" House Democrat and defund-the-police activist Cori Bush, who was defeated last year during her Democratic primary.
Alexander's X and Facebook accounts reveal that he and NGAN played a pivotal role in helping mobilize on behalf of Bush's winning campaigns in 2020 and 2022. In 2020, Bush praised Alexander and his group for their "perseverance & dedication" and said their "[commitment] to the work" is "unmatched."
"Thanks to Minister [Dominique Alexander] & @NextGenAction for your tireless work & bravery," Bush said in 2019.
In a 2021 post, Alexander said it was "truly an honor" to join Bush as she was sworn into Congress. The post included a photo of Alexander accompanied by Bush, who was holding NGAN's Shirley Chisholm Award that she received from the organization in 2020.
In another 2021 post, Alexander posted a photo of him and Bush from 2020 while they were campaigning together, saying, "Last year, I had the honor of seeing history in the making by seeing this beautiful black queen [Cori Bush] elected to Congress."
"I am so proud of her as an actual frontline protester. We saw her yesterday sacrifice for millions facing eviction in America, our Movement Congresswoman," he continued. "Happy Election Anniversary, Congresswoman Cori Bush."
Alexander and his organization would go on to post dozens of pro-Bush posts during her tenure in Congress, including saying that the group was "excited to stand with [Rep. Cori Bush] and over 300 organizations nationwide to demand reparations in America" in a 2023 post.
"Thank you for your service to our community and our country. The attacks that you are currently experiencing is baseless. In the people support, making sure you are okay and safe to serve," NGAN said in a 2024 post. "We live in a country that does not want to address white supremacy."
When Bush lost her Democratic primary last year, NGAN railed against AIPAC and called for the Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, to be "overturned" after the group's super PAC spent millions to defeat Bush.
While Alexander's ties to Bush have not been widely reported, his criminal history went viral on social media as conservatives ripped him as a "career criminal" and resurfaced local reports about his criminal past, including being indicted on a felony family violence charge in Dallas, according to NBC 5 DFW.
The outlet reported in 2019 that an arrest warrant affidavit stated that Alexander's longtime partner, Keyaira Saunders, had reported to police that Alexander had shoved her and tried to strangle her.
Saunders later declined to pursue charges and slammed the Dallas police for their handling of the case, according to the outlet.
Alexander also served two days in jail after pleading guilty to a felony theft case in 2021, Dallas Express reported.
"After four years of this hanging over my head, I decided to avoid a jury trial in a Trump County that wouldn’t have given me a fair shot at all," Alexander posted on Facebook around the time of his guilty plea.
In 2016, Alexander was sentenced to two years in prison for violating his probation, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.
Another local report from 2009 details how Alexander was arrested for allegedly causing serious head injuries to his then-girlfriend's two-year-old son while he was babysitting him. Alexander initially told police and his then-girlfriend that the young boy had fallen off the couch while he was in the other room, but the doctor dismissed his claim amid an examination of the young boy in the intensive care unit, according to the Dallas Observer.
"The severity of his injuries is not consistent with rolling off the couch," the investigating officer reported the doctor saying. "The injuries are acute and likely occurred around the time that [his girlfriend’s son] started to have symptoms (like being unresponsive.) Without more adequate history of trauma, complainant’s injuries are more consistent with abusive head trauma and child physical abuse."
The Dallas Observer continued by reporting that Alexander had admitted shaking the child and that the judge had charged him with a first-degree felony.
"Not long after he was arrested for injury to a child causing severe bodily harm, he got into trouble for forging a check, leading police on a high-speed chase, stealing a car and falsely claiming that a car was stolen," the Dallas Observer added. "Alexander brought a couple of character witnesses, but one had only recently met him and the other didn’t know Alexander was on probation."
In addition to his criminal record, Alexander's social media profiles are littered with pro-defunding the police and supportive posts of notorious antisemite Louis Farrakhan.
"We can defund Education; We can defund social services; we can defund Recreation centers & libraries. 'WE CAN DEFUND THE POLICE.' End of story - Fund Our Communities," Alexander posted on X in 2022.
In the summer of 2020, at the height of the George Floyd movement, Alexander specifically called for the Dallas Police Department to be defunded, via a post on X.
"After 75 days of protest, the @DallasCityMgr is increasing the [Dallas Police Department] budget. We will Defund Dallas Police Department we want a 100,000,000 from Dallas Police," Alexander's NGAN organization posted in August 2020.
Alexander has publicly supported Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan despite dozens of antisemitic comments, including comparing Jews to "termites" and saying they are "wicked."
"Please get it correct the Honorable Minister @LouisFarrakhan is the name please put some respect on his name," Alexander said in a X post responding to CNN'S Jake Tapper, who is Jewish.
"Happy 83rd Birthday [Louis Farrakhan] may GOD continue to bless you," he wrote in another X post.
Fox News Digital reached out to Alexander for comment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated that it needs to be determined within days whether achieving a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is "doable in the short term," warning that he thinks the U.S. will "move on" if it is not achievable.
Rubio said that if it is "not possible," he thinks President Donald Trump is "probably at a point where he's gonna say, ‘Well, we’re done.'"
But Rubio noted that the U.S. will help if either or both sides are "serious about peace."
"If it's not gonna happen, then we're just gonna move on," Rubio declared.
"@POTUS has been clear: The time to end the war between Russia and Ukraine is now. Today in Paris, @SE_MiddleEast, @SPE_Kellogg and I met with leaders from France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ukraine to talk about how we can stop the killing and reach a just and sustainable peace," Rubio noted in a post on X.
The war continues to rage, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declaring in a post, "This is how Russia began this Good Friday – with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, Shaheds – maiming our people and cities."
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., staunchly supports Ukraine and wants the U.S. to provide the Eastern European nation with arms to bolster its war effort.
"European Allies and U.S. should arm Ukraine to the max and help them defend their country against the Russians, and now the North Koreans and Chinese," Bacon said in a recent tweet.
A federal judge in Baltimore issued a preliminary injunction Thursday restricting the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to Social Security data.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander, an Obama appointee, said DOGE-affiliated staffers must purge any of the non-anonymized Social Security data that they have received since Jan. 20. They are also barred from making any changes to the computer code or software used by the Social Security Administration, must remove any software or code they might have already installed, and are forbidden from disclosing any of that code to others.
The injunction does allow DOGE staffers to access data that's been redacted or stripped of anything personally identifiable, if they undergo training and background checks.
"The objective to address fraud, waste, mismanagement, and bloat is laudable, and one that the American public presumably applauds and supports," Hollander wrote in the ruling issued late Thursday night. "Indeed, the taxpayers have every right to expect their government to make sure that their hard earned money is not squandered."
But that's not the issue, Hollander said — the issue is with how DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, wants to do the work.
"For some 90 years, SSA has been guided by the foundational principle of an expectation of privacy with respect to its records. This case exposes a wide fissure in the foundation," the judge wrote.
The case was brought by a group of labor unions and retirees who allege DOGE's recent actions violate privacy laws and present massive information security risks.
During a federal court hearing Tuesday in Baltimore, Hollander repeatedly asked the government's attorneys why DOGE needs "seemingly unfettered access" to the agency's troves of sensitive personal information to uncover Social Security fraud.
"What is it we're doing that needs all of that information?" Hollander said, questioning whether most of the data could be anonymized.
Attorneys for the Trump administration said changing the process would slow down their efforts.
"While anonymization is possible, it is extremely burdensome," Justice Department attorney Bradley Humphreys told the court. He argued the DOGE access doesn't deviate significantly from normal practices inside the agency, where employees and auditors are routinely allowed to search its databases.
But attorneys for the plaintiffs called it "a sea change" in terms of how the agency handles sensitive information.
Skye Perryman, President and CEO of the legal services group Democracy Forward, which is behind the lawsuit, said the ruling has brought "significant relief for the millions of people who depend on the Social Security Administration to safeguard their most personal and sensitive information."
Hollander made clear that her order didn't apply to SSA workers who aren't affiliated with DOGE, so they can still access any data they use in the course of ordinary work. But DOGE staffers who want access to the anonymized data must first undergo the typical training and background checks required of other Social Security Administration staffers, she said.
Hollander, 75, is the latest judge to consider a DOGE-related case. Many of her inquiries Tuesday focused on whether the Social Security case differs significantly from another Maryland case challenging DOGE's access to data at three other agencies: the Education Department, the Treasury Department and the Office of Personnel Management. In that case, an appeals court recently blocked a preliminary injunction and cleared the way for DOGE to once again access people's private data.
Hollander's injunction could also be appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sided with the Trump administration in other cases, including allowing DOGE access to the U.S. Agency for International Development and letting executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion move forward.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that China has been reaching out "a lot" ever since he nearly tripled U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, and he suggested to reporters that the two nations could reach a deal in as soon as three to four weeks.
During a gaggle with reporters after signing executive orders related to deregulating the seafood industry, Trump was asked about his ongoing negotiations with Chinese officials and, in particular, whether he has yet spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the ongoing trade battle.
"They have reached out a number of times," Trump said, referring to high-level Chinese officials. When asked how frequently they've been in touch since last week – after Trump tripled his Chinese tariff increase from 54% to 145% – the president responded, "A lot."
His comments come amid media reports that Trump has indicated he is unwilling to reach out to China first amid the ongoing trade war. According to sources close to Trump, U.S. officials have been urging the Chinese to initiate a call between Xi and Trump, but so far they have not.
When asked if he had spoken to Xi yet, Trump would not confirm one way or the other.
"I've never said whether or not [it's] happened, but I have a very good relationship with President Xi, and I think it's going to continue. They have reached out a number of times," Trump told reporters.
The press then quickly pounced on Trump's response, requesting the president to clarify if he was referring to Xi or other Chinese officials when he said, "They have reached out a number of times."
"I view it very similar," Trump responded. "It would be top levels of China, and if you knew [Xi], you would know that if they reached out, he knew exactly – he knew everything about it. He runs it very tight, very strong, very smart. And, yeah, we're talking to China."
The president said that while some have urged him to fast-track his negotiations, he believes there is "plenty" of time left to make a deal with China and expects it will eventually come to fruition.
"I would think over the next three or four weeks, I think maybe the whole thing could be concluded," Trump told reporters Thursday.
The president added that if a deal cannot be reached, things will "be fine."
"At a certain point, if we don't make a deal, we'll just set a limit. We'll set a tariff. We'll set some parameters, and we'll say, 'Come in and shop,'" Trump said. "They always have a right not to do it, so they can say, 'Well, we don't want it, so we're not going to shop there, we're not going to shop in the store of America.' We have something that nobody else has, and that's the American consumer."
Prosecutors and defense attorneys delivered closing arguments today in the bribery trial of Nadine Menendez, wife of former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-M.J., who is accused of helping broker deals that sold the senator’s influence in exchange for gold bars, envelopes of cash, and a Mercedes-Benz convertible.
The former senator—who was not present and was sentenced in a separate trial to 11 years in prison on bribery, acting as a foreign agent, and obstruction charges—was repeatedly referenced during the government’s summation. Nadine Menendez, who faces similar charges, sat quietly in the courtroom between her two attorneys, wearing a pink face mask.
Prosecutor Paul Monteleoni delivered the government’s closing argument over several hours, calling Bob Menendez his wife’s "partner in crime." He walked the jury through all 18 charges against Nadine Menendez, alleging that she acted as a broker, selling her husband’s political power in a series of schemes.
Prosecutors said the misconduct included helping a New Jersey-based Halal certifier pursue a monopoly, interfering in a state-level criminal case, and ghostwriting a letter for the Egyptian government to help maintain U.S. aid.
In return, Monteleoni told jurors, Nadine Menendez received envelopes of cash, 1-kilogram gold bars, a high-paying job, and a luxury convertible.
"She did it so she could get a convertible," Monteleoni said. In closing, he added, "The defendant is guilty on every count."
Barry Coburn, representing the defense, argued that the government had applied overly broad definitions of "official acts" and "quid pro quo." He claimed most of what was alleged involved routine political behavior. "Menendez must and should not be found guilty of any of them," Coburn told the jury.
He specifically pushed back on the claim that a meeting between former Sen. Menendez and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal amounted to an official act.
"These things are unproven in this case," Coburn said, adding: "The rule of law mandates acquittal on those counts."
The defense also questioned the credibility of Jose Uribe, a cooperating government witness, saying much of his testimony lacked corroboration. Coburn pointed to a dinner where Uribe claimed the former senator told him, "I saved your ass, not once but twice." Coburn argued that such statements were unverified and unreliable.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who flew to El Salvador this week to meet with deported illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia before being denied multiple times, was granted his request on Thursday night.
"I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar," Van Hollen said in a post on X. "Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return."
Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant living in Maryland, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) last month, and officials acknowledged in court his deportation was an administrative error, although now some top Trump officials say he was correctly removed and contend he's a member of the notorious MS-13 gang. Both a federal court and the Supreme Court have ordered the Trump administration to "facilitate" his release and return to the U.S. for proper deportation proceedings.
Van Hollen announced on Tuesday he was going to El Salvador to visit Garcia on Wednesday, and other Democratic lawmakers announced they planned to visit him as well.
But when Van Hollen arrived, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele was out of the country, and the senator from Maryland met with Vice President Félix Augusto Antonio Ulloa Garay instead.
"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.
The senator was also told he could not be promised a visit if he came back next week, nor could he arrange for Abrego Garcia to speak with his family over the phone.
On Thursday, Van Hollen continued to push for entry into CECOT, but he was denied.
"We were there for one simple reason: to check on his well-being, which his family and lawyers have not been allowed to do," Van Hollen said on X. "We won’t stop fighting."
His goal of meeting with Abrego Garcia was later granted, and images of the two men show them sitting at a table in the tropics with water and coffee. Other photos shared by Bukele showed water glasses with seasoned rims and cherry garnishes, and Sen. Van Hollen shaking hands with Abrego Garcia.
"Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the ‘death camps’ & ‘torture,’ now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!" Bukele exclaimed in a post on X.
In another post, Bukele wrote, "Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody."
A federal appeals court earlier in the day denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to block a judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to lift a judge's order to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return from CECOT, but the court on Thursday rejected the request.
The three-judge panel included Judge Harvie Wilkinson, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, along with Judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, respectively.
In the court’s opinion, Wilkinson repeatedly referred to Abrego Garcia as a "resident," even though Abrego Garcia is not a lawful U.S. resident.
The court said the DOJ’s request was "extraordinary and premature" and that it would not interfere with the district judge’s efforts to carry out the Supreme Court’s decision.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said that Abrego Garcia would not be allowed back into the U.S. unless El Salvador were to decide otherwise. "He is not coming back to our country."
The Trump administration released information on Wednesday indicating that Abrego Garcia's wife has accused him of repeated abuse of her.
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."
The Department of Homeland Security also released documents that it says prove Abrego Garcia is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration has declared a foreign terrorist organization.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and Bill Mears contributed to this report.
Embattled New York Attorney General Letitia James is hitting up supporters for big bucks just days after the Trump administration accused her of alleged fraud involving several homes she owns.
The money bid is in the form of an invitation to an event on Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. calling for contributions starting at $500 and climbing to an eye-popping $18,000, the maximum allowed by New York law, in support of her 2026 re-election bid.
The invite features a photo of James framed by a circular gay pride flag.
The high-dollar fundraiser will be hosted at the home of left-wing activists Rod Grozier and Rob Smith, the latter of whom is the CEO and founder of The Phluid Project, a gender-neutral clothing company.
"Letitia James is fighting for our rights every single day. This is our opportunity to show Letitia that we have her back," the event page on lefty fundraising website ActBlue reads.
The New York AG this week became the subject of a federal criminal referral over allegations she falsely claimed in official public documents in August 2023 that her "principal residence" was a home in Norfolk, Va.
James, who also has a home in Brooklyn, bought the Virginia property with her niece that year, when she was already in office as attorney general of New York.
New York requires its AGs to live in the state for at least five years before being elected and also while in office.
A document involving power of attorney for the Virginia purchase and viewed by The Post was signed by James in August of that year complete with the declaration, "I intend to occupy this property as my principal residence."
The Post spoke to several of James’ alleged Virginia neighbors Wednesday, none of whom reported ever seeing her at the property.
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte detailed these and other allegations of James playing fast and loose with residency requirements in a letter to US Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
The criminal referral also accused James, whose salary is $220,000, of misrepresenting the number of apartments for a building she owns in Brooklyn — saying it has four units, when city Department of Buildings records say it has five. That’s a key distinction because buildings with four or fewer units qualify for mortgages with better terms.
Pulte said these issues could amount to criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and false statements to a financial institution.
In a previous statement, James’ office has lashed out at the Trump administration for "weaponization of the federal government" and provided some details about her ownership of the properties.
But her spokesman did not specifically deny the allegations against her.
Her camp did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment on the fundraiser.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pointed out that only half of its D.C. headquarters is being used after the agency's building was added to a list of federal properties marked for sale by the Trump administration Thursday.
HUD's headquarters became the first major federal agency building to be added to the General Services Administration's list of "assets identified for accelerated disposition" amid GOP efforts to slim down the government's real estate portfolio and potentially relocate agency headquarters outside the nation's capital.
Simultaneously, Democrats have taken steps to block these efforts, including through the introduction of legislation in Congress.
Last month, the GSA retracted a list of 440 "non-core" assets, including the HUD headquarters and more than a dozen other federal buildings it had initially listed for sale or disposal, according to the Federal News Network. The GSA subsequently posted a new list, but HUD is the first major executive agency headquarters to be included.
President Donald Trump campaigned on relocating federal agencies outside the nation's capital in 2024 as part of his wider efforts to clean up waste, slim down the federal government and "dismantle the deep state."
Earlier this week, Trump signed an executive order rescinding two prior executive actions put into effect under the Carter and Clinton administrations, which the president said in his directive "prevented agencies from relocating to lower-cost facilities." Trump's directive also points out that by moving federal agencies closer to the people they are serving, rather than being centrally located in the nation's capital, it will help the departments more successfully carry out their missions.
"HUD’s focus is on creating a workplace that reflects the values of efficiency, accountability and purpose," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said Thursday. "We’re committed to rightsizing government operations and ensuring our facilities support a culture of optimal performance and exceptional service as we collaborate with our partners at GSA to deliver results for the American people."
HUD indicated Thursday the timeline and final location for the headquarters relocation were still being considered. But the agency did note that the Washington, D.C., metro area remains one of the top options under consideration.
The HUD headquarters is located inside the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building, which is in the Southwest part of D.C. According to HUD, the building is facing $500 million in "deferred maintenance and modernization needs," which the agency said costs taxpayers more than $56 million annually in rent and operations expenditures.
Media reports earlier this month indicated the Department of Agriculture has been putting together plans to relocate its federal headquarters outside D.C., according to several officials briefed on the plans.
The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the Trump administration’s challenge to judges issuing nationwide injunctions, setting a date for a case that could have a major impact on the president’s ability to carry out his agenda as well as on the entire country.
This comes after three federal judges issued separate nationwide injunctions blocking an executive order by President Donald Trump ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants.
On Thursday, the court consolidated the three cases into one and set oral arguments to examine the fundamental question of whether district judges can issue rulings that affect the entire country.
The court will hear oral arguments for the case at 10 a.m. on May 15, which is about two weeks after the court normally stops hearing oral arguments ahead of its recess, which begins in July.
Nationwide injunctions are court orders that prevent the federal government from implementing a policy or law that has a cascading effect impacting the entire country, not just the parties involved in the court case.
Since Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January, his administration has faced hundreds of lawsuits targeting his executive orders and actions, some of which have resulted in nationwide injunctions, stalling key portions of his agenda, including immigration enforcement.
In March the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to narrow three injunctions that were issued to halt Trump’s nullification of birthright citizenship. The emergency appeal requested the injunction only cover individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts.
The administration’s acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris argued in the emergency appeal that nationwide injunctions have hit "epidemic proportions" under the second Trump administration, noting that the federal government faced 14 universal injunctions in the first three years of the Biden administration compared to 15 leveled against the Trump admin in one month alone.
Beyond impacting the question of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, the court's ultimate decision will likely have the even larger impact of finally answering the limits of federal judges' power to decide questions of national and international policy.
Fox News Digital's Emma Colton and Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Wednesday denied an emergency appeal by four Mexican nationals facing deportation. The request asked the court to temporarily block their removal so they could file a formal petition for review.
Kagan denied the application without comment and did not refer the matter to her colleagues on the court.
The petitioners, Fabian Lagunas Espinoza, Maria Angelica Flores Ulloa and their two sons, were ordered to report to immigration officials on April 17. Their legal team argued they face cartel violence if returned to Mexico.
According to their court filing, the family fled Guerrero, Mexico, in 2021 after being threatened by the Los Rojos cartel. The petition stated that cartel members demanded the family vacate their home within 24 hours or be killed.
It also included details of past violence against extended family members, including beatings and threats following refusals to cooperate with the cartel.
The family entered the U.S. unlawfully and sought asylum and an immigration judge denied their claims.
That ruling was upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals in November 2023, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision in February 2025. A temporary stay of removal was lifted on April 7.
The emergency appeal to Justice Kagan argued that the lower courts and immigration authorities failed to consider credible evidence and due process claims.
Under Supreme Court procedures, each justice handles emergency appeals from a specific circuit. As the justice assigned to the Ninth Circuit, Kagan had the authority to act alone or refer the case to the full court.
She denied the application without referring it further.
In their filing, the petitioners’ attorney, LeRoy George Siddell, wrote: "Petitioners face imminent removal and have been directed to report to immigration office on 4/17/2025, despite credible and detailed testimony and documentary evidence showing they are targets of cartel violence due to their family ties and refusal to comply with extortion demands."
There was no response from the Department of Justice to the application before Kagan issued her decision.
As of Thursday morning, the petitioners were required to report to U.S. immigration authorities. Their disposition remains to be determined.
The Trump administration announced sanctions against the International Bank of Yemen Y.S.C. (IBY) on Thursday for its financial support of Houthi terrorists.
Along with the bank, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning key leaders of IBY, like its Chairman of the Board of Directors Kamal Hussain Al Jebry; Executive General Manager Ahmed Thabit Noman Al-Absi and Deputy General Manager Abdulkader Ali Bazara. By sanctioning IBY, the U.S. hopes to stop Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
"Financial institutions like IBY are critical to the Houthis’ efforts to access the international financial system and threaten both the region and international commerce," Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender said. "Treasury remains committed to working with the internationally recognized government of Yemen to disrupt the Houthis’ ability to secure funds and procure key components for their destabilizing attacks."
Based in Sana’a, Yemen, the IBY is controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis and provides the group with access to the bank’s Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) network to make international financial transactions, the Treasury said.
The IBY, for instance, has allegedly aided Houthi businesses and officials to pursue oil on the SWIFT network, while also facilitating attempts by the terrorist group to evade sanctions oversight.
Under Thursday’s sanctions, all property and interests in property of the leaders named, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Additionally, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.
OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within, or transiting, the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce spoke about the sanctions during a press briefing Thursday, sending a message to anyone who supports foreign terrorist organizations like the Houthis.
"The United States is committed to disrupting the Houthi financial networks and banking access as part of our whole-of-government approach to eliminating Iran's threat network," she said. "Moreover, we can confirm the reporting that Chang Guang Satellite Technology Company Limited (CGSTL) is directly supporting Iran-backed Houthi terrorist attacks on U.S. Interests. Their actions and Beijing's support of the company, even after our private engagements with them, is yet another example of China's empty claims to support peace.
She continued, urging partners of the U.S. to judge the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese companies on their actions, and not just their words.
"Restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is a priority to President Trump," Bruce said. "Beijing should take this priority seriously when considering any future support of CGSTL. The United States will not tolerate anyone providing support to foreign terrorist organizations such as the Houthis."
The Trump administration's criminal referral targeting New York Attorney General Letitia James for reported mortgage fraud likely never would have unfolded if not for the Democrat's years of targeting the president in court, a New York City real estate attorney and expert told Fox News Digital.
"To be perfectly frank, this is a retaliatory case brought by the president for what the attorney general did to him over the last several years," New York City attorney Pierre Debbas, partner and founding member of real estate law firm Romer Debbas, told Fox News Digital in a Zoom interview Thursday morning. "Both cases, quite honestly, are very weak cases.
"The attorney general's case that was brought against Donald Trump was honestly a pure manipulation of the legal system, and it was laughable," he continued, referring to the civil fraud case she brought against Trump. "Something that's never taken place in the history of New York that was isolated at one particular person for a politically driven purpose.
"Now, on the flip side, this serves the same purpose, right? This is the president's way of seeking retaliation against the attorney general for something that, in reality, is, while it's considered mortgage fraud, it's not criminal," he continued. "And it's not something that would have been brought upon had the attorney general not pursued a similar case with low merit against the president a few years back."
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), an independent federal agency that oversees Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice Monday arguing the attorney general appeared to have falsified mortgage records to obtain more favorable loans.
At the heart of the case is a Norfolk, Virginia, home James purchased in 2023, which she identified on mortgage documents and a Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac form as a property that would serve as her primary residence, according to the FHFA letter dated Monday. James is legally required to live in New York as a statewide elected official in the Empire State, the letter adds.
Identifying a home as a primary residence versus a secondary home or vacation home comes with financial incentives, Debbas explained, because banks will offer lower interest rates to primary residences, with homeowners less likely to default on such loans compared to a second home.
"As a real estate attorney, we represent every major lending institution in the country," he said. "And a common underwriting requirement for banks is to solidify what the use of the property is going to be, meaning, is it a primary residence, second home or investment property.
"And the reason banks do that is that clearly there's a higher rate of default when it comes to investment properties and second homes as opposed to primary residences."
"The reason being is people, you know, don't want to leave their homes," he said. "Now, a second home investment property, you may be a little more inclined to throw the keys to the bank."
The bank then requires the borrower to sign an affidavit confirming that the home being acquired will be used as a primary residence, he explained.
"Now, if that is not the intent or that is in fact inaccurate, and you sign that agreement, you are in fact committing mortgage fraud," he said. "And the bank relies on that agreement in giving you the loan. Now, would they have given you a loan if it were a second home? Potentially, but the difference is the interest rate would be significantly higher."
The bank's recourse when discovering such mortgage fraud related to misidentifying a property as a primary residence to obtain more favorable loan terms is "simply to call the loan," he said.
"They would call the loan, force you to pay it off by a certain date," he said. "If you're unable to sell the property or take other liquidity that you have to pay off the loan, they have the right to pursue a foreclosure action. They'd be legally granted this right. It would be very difficult to contest under those circumstances because, technically speaking, this is a default and this is fraud."
"What extent is it fraud? To be quite honest with you, this is a very common thing that does take place in the real estate market," he said. "I'm not saying it's right. I'm not saying Letitia James … the full extent of the law shouldn't be applied to her. But it is something that takes place. Because if the loan is current, the bank hasn't really suffered any detriment, but it's still mortgage fraud. So that doesn't take away the fraud component to this."
Debbas argued this type of fraud does not rise to the level of criminal activity because the bank can call the loan,take back the property or force it to be liquidated.
James' office told The New York Times that a separate loan application for the 2023 Norfolk, Virginia, home purchase reportedly indicated she would not live at the property full time, and that her mortgage agreement did not require her to occupy the property as her primary residence.
James is a longtime political foe of Trump's who campaigned for the attorney general job in 2018 by vowing to aggressively pursue legal charges against Trump if elected, adding she'd expose the "con man" after her win that year.
Her office leveled nearly 100 legal challenges against the first Trump administration and added after his second presidential win in 2024 that she would continue challenging him in the courts to "defend the rights of New Yorkers and the rule of law."
Most notably, James pursued a civil fraud case against Trump and the Trump Organization for inflating the values of properties to obtain more favorable loans, insurance coverage and tax deductions, which resulted in a $454 million judgment in 2024.
A spokesperson for James' office told Fox Digital Thursday that "multiple times during the attorney general’s trial against President Trump and the Trump Organization for years of financial fraud, President Trump’s attorneys repeatedly made the argument that the attorney general’s lawsuit was politically motivated.
"Every single time, the judge rejected that argument and even sanctioned the attorneys for making it," the spokesperson added. "Attorney General James won her lawsuit, and the judgment against President Trump now exceeds half a billion dollars."
Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley noted the irony of Trump's criminal referral over allegations of James fudging numbers to obtain more favorable loans after pursing Trump for something similar.
"This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in not just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions," the legal scholar said on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle" Tuesday. "As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there'd be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward."
The administration is looking into the allegations put forth by the FHFA while underscoring that "no one is above the law," White House spokesman Harrison Fields said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"With the Democratic Party, they love to throw stones in glass homes when they realize that they're committing the crimes that they're actually trying to go against," Fields said.
"So, this is now a criminal referral that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi will have to look at," he added. "The allegations from the FHFA are very serious. We're going to look at them, and no one is above the law. And Tish James, she'd like to say that about the president, but she should look in the mirror and realize that if you have skeletons in your closets about abusing the law and doing illegal things, maybe you shouldn't be purveying around like some justice queen, because you're not."
The criminal referral also cited past reported issues with James' properties, including a 2001 purchase of a Brooklyn property. The certificate of occupancy lists the property as a five-unit residence, while James' mortgages list the property as four units.
Debbas explained that five-unit properties are identified as commercial properties, which would require a commercial loan that has higher interest rates than a residential loan. However, the banks carry the burden of confirming whether a building is commercial or residential.
"If the borrower has the ability to tell the bank or convince the bank that it's actually four units, it's to their financial benefit," he said. "Now, when you look at a certificate of occupancy, certificate of the occupancy is issued by the Department of Buildings, which tells you the legal use of the building.
"This is a five-family dwelling," he said. "Now, this is unequivocally a commercial property. The burden was on the bank to confirm this, but if the borrower did, in fact, have concrete knowledge … an argument can be made that mortgage fraud did take place in the application of this law."
James’ office told The New York Times a rider attached to the Brooklyn mortgage stated the building was four units, not five.
Debbas added that before the 2008 market crash, there was a lot of "shadiness" in the world of mortgages.
"As an elected official … there should be a heightened standard for honesty and obliging by your legal requirements not falsifying documents or committing fraud," Debbas said.
While reflecting specifically on the Virginia home alleged mortgage fraud, he added, "Now, how would this impact her seating as attorney general of the state of New York? At the end of the day, that's going to be determined largely based on how many enemies she's created. But from a purely mortgage standpoint, it is certainly mortgage fraud, but, in my opinion, it does not warrant any criminal activity."
A spokesperson for James' office said Wednesday morning she has been "focused every single day on protecting New Yorkers, especially as this administration weaponizes the federal government against the rule of law and the Constitution. She will not be intimidated by bullies — no matter who they are," Fox Digital previously reported.
A move by a top Democratic Party official to spend millions of dollars through his outside political group to primary-challenge some older Democrats in blue districts is further igniting intra-party tensions that have rocked the party since President Donald Trump's convincing election last November.
The reverberations started instantly after Leaders We Deserve, a political organization led by recently elected Democratic National Committee (DNC) vice chair David Hogg, announced on Wednesday that it will spend $20 million to help elect younger Democrats. The effort includes supporting primary challengers to House Democrats in safe seats that Hogg argues "are asleep at the wheel."
The move by the 25-year-old Hogg, a survivor of the horrific shooting seven years ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida, to spend money against fellow Democrats is seen as an unprecedented action by a DNC official…Read more
DECLASSIFIED: Gabbard declassifies Biden domestic counterterrorism plan
A federal appeals court on Thursday denied the Trump administration's emergency request to block a judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with a violent criminal history and alleged gang ties, who was deported to the El Salvadoran mega prison "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) last month.
The ruling allows the lower court’s order to move forward for now.
The case involves Garcia, a "Maryland man" who was deported but whose return was ordered by a district judge after a recent Supreme Court decision. The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a judge's order to "facilitate" Garcia's return from CECOT, but the court Thursday rejected the request.
The three-judge panel included Judge Harvie Wilkinson, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, along with Judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Presidents Clinton and Obama, respectively.
In the court’s opinion, Wilkinson repeatedly referred to Garcia as a "resident," even though Garcia is not a lawful U.S. resident.
"The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order," Wilkinson wrote.
"This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
Court documents and police records show Garcia has a history of domestic violence, including repeated physical abuse against his wife. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also identified him as a member of the MS-13 gang, using the street name "Chele."
The court said the DOJ’s request was "extraordinary and premature" and that it would not interfere with the district judge’s efforts to carry out the Supreme Court’s decision.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Garcia would not be allowed back into the U.S. unless El Salvador decided otherwise. "He is not coming back to our country."
The DOJf Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
President Donald Trump said the late President Jimmy Carter could die peacefully knowing he wasn’t the worst U.S. president because that title belongs to former President Joe Biden.
Trump issued the remarks to reporters during a press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who visited the White House on behalf of European nations to assist in brokering a trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union.
"Worst administration in the history of our country," Trump said on Thursday. "Worse than Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why? Because he wasn‘t the worst. President Joe Biden was."
Trump has routinely railed against Biden and the former president’s mental fitness, and the remarks coincide with multiple books detailing Biden’s cognitive function while in office. One White House aide said that staff isolated Biden and allowed his faculties to "atrophy" in the book, "Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History." It was released on April 8.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Trump’s comments come days after Biden slammed the Trump administration for creating so much "damage" during the early days of the administration.
"Fewer than 100 days, this administration has done so much damage and so much destruction. It's kind of breathtaking it could happen that soon," Biden said in his first public speech post-presidency on Tuesday. Biden delivered the speech during a disability advocacy conference in Chicago.
On Thursday, Trump and Meloni said they were confident the U.S. and Europe could hash out a trade deal. Trump unveiled 20% tariffs on European Union goods coming into the U.S. on April 2, but he announced on April 9 the tariffs would remain at 10% for 90 days to allow the U.S. and the EU to strike a deal.
"There will be a trade deal, 100%," Trump told reporters. "Of course there will be a trade deal, they want to make one very much, and we’re going to make a trade deal. I fully expect it, but it’ll be a fair deal."
After visiting the controversial Salvadoran mega-prison known as the Terrorist Confinement Center (CECOT), freshman Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va., says he is "even more determined" to support the president’s efforts to secure the U.S. from criminal illegal aliens.
This comes as the Trump administration’s scheme of sending the "worst of the worst" migrant gang members to CECOT has caused national controversy, with some outraged Democrats accusing President Donald Trump of "kidnapping" people for deportation.
Moore said that while at CECOT he came face to face with some of the country’s "most brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists," and "extremely violent criminals recently deported from the U.S."
After his visit to El Salvador, he said: "I leave now even more determined to support President Trump’s efforts to secure our homeland."
Moore told Fox News Digital he visited the prison with a congressional delegation led by House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith, R-Mo. The delegation toured the prison this week and spoke with several inmates.
"These are dangerous individuals," he said. "We had several of them tell us, and they were not afraid to share it, [that] they are killers and committed homicides."
"It's not something that it seems that they regret one way or the other, from what I could glean from it," he explained.
While touring the prison, Moore said he spoke with two deportees from the U.S., both of whom were originally from El Salvador and had been deported from Virginia and California. He said one had been in the U.S. for 20 years and was a high-ranking member of the brutal gang MS-13. According to Moore, both deportees "were not afraid to admit" that they had killed people.
"They are in austere conditions in that prison, there's no doubt about that," he explained, adding, "to be clear, they don't have the death penalty in El Salvador."
That being said, Moore said the impact of CECOT and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s crackdown on gang crime has been "miraculous" for the people of El Salvador.
He said he spoke with ordinary people on the streets of El Salvador’s capital city, San Salvador, who told him that "they were living in a terror state, being terrorized by these gangs and controlling their lives and taking their lives many times."
Now, he said, "they have their lives back."
That is why Moore’s resolve to support the Trump administration’s crackdown on gang terrorism is stronger than ever.
"It is very tragic that all of these young people have just thrown their lives away because they decided to basically not only destroy themselves, to destroy their own country and community and people's lives… It's hard to really wrap your mind around," he said. "[But] the fundamental building block of any nation state is security. If you don't have security, you can't have economic opportunities, civil society, justice, any of those things. The bedrock of it is security. That has to be provided."
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month in the case challenging President Donald Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship, in what is likely to be one of the most highly anticipated cases to be reviewed by the high court since Trump took office.
The justices said Thursday that they would hear arguments on the consolidated cases on May 15, roughly four weeks from now.
The Trump administration in March asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow a narrow version of the president's executive order ending birthright citizenship to proceed. Trump signed the order on his first day in office and was immediately met with a flurry of lawsuits across the country.
The administration's appeal concerns three nationwide injunctions brought in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state.
All three states had issued nationwide injunctions blocking the birthright citizenship ban from taking force – a move that lawyers for the Trump administration argued in their Supreme Court filing was overly broad.
Acting U.S. Solicitor General Sarah Harris asked the justices to limit the scope of the rulings to cover only individuals directly impacted by the relevant courts.
"These cases – which involve challenges to the President's January 20, 2025 Executive Order concerning birthright citizenship – raise important constitutional questions with major ramifications for securing the border," Harris wrote in their appeal.
To date, no court has sided with the Trump administration's executive order seeking to ban birthright citizenship, though multiple district courts have blocked it from taking effect.
Implementation of Trump's executive order was initially set for Feb. 19. The policy would have affected hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. each year.
The order sought to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, which states: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."
Under the Trump administration’s proposed interpretation – later blocked by federal courts – children born to illegal immigrants or to those who were here legally but on temporary non-immigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.
More than 22 U.S. states and immigrants' rights groups quickly sued the Trump administration to block the change to birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and "unprecedented."
The states have also argued that the 14th Amendment does, in fact, guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a Biden-era plan to counter domestic terrorism that called for greater information-sharing with tech companies and a legislative push to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Developed in 2021 after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the plan outlined a government-wide effort to track how foreign actors use disinformation to radicalize Americans and urged coordination with private industry on domestic threats. It also called for measures to curb in-prison radicalization and study extremism within the military.
Among its proposals was a plan to "develop awareness training for active service military members, DOD employees and contractors, and those service members separating or retiring from the military on the threat posed by domestic terrorism, the potential targeting of those with military training by violent extremist actors, and relevant reporting mechanisms."
The strategy had a four-part goal: "Understand and Share Domestic Terrorism-Related Information," "Prevent Domestic Terrorism Recruitment and Mobilization to Violence," "Disrupt and Deter Domestic Terrorism Activity" and "Confront Long-Term Contributors to Domestic Terrorism."
The Biden administration plan encouraged "teaching and learning of civics education that provides students with the skill to fully participate in civic life," and promoted "literacy education for both children and adult learners and existing proven interventions to foster resiliency to disinformation."
It also called for advancing "inclusion" in the Covid-19 response and addressing "hate crime reporting barriers faced by disadvantaged communities by promoting law enforcement training and resources to prevent and address bias-motivated crimes; improve federal hate crimes data and analysis to eliminate hate crimes underreporting; mitigate xenophobia and bias."
Former President Joe Biden's administration launched the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in 2021, identifying domestic terrorism as a major national security threat in the wake of the Capitol riot.
Gabbard declassified the strategy after prompting from conservative groups like America First Legal.
The group wrote to Gabbard earlier this month, asking her to declassify the strategy amid concerns of "weaponization" of power by "censoring disfavored speech on the Internet by labeling such speech ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ ‘hate speech,’ ‘domestic terrorism.'"
Biden’s summer 2021 counterterrorism strategy garnered criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union, which said it "reflects the government’s ever-expanding authority to surveil and monitor American communities; law enforcement guidance that permits profiling on the basis of race, religion, or national origin; and the use of abusive tools such as the watchlisting system against people for constitutionally protected speech and association."
Several more congressional Democrats have made statements or issued requests to leadership to travel to El Salvador in hopes of bringing imprisoned deportee and accused MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to Maryland.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., remained in the Central American country as of Thursday morning, after Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa rejected his entreaties to contact or free the alleged gang member on Wednesday.
A representative for Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday that the freshman lawmaker would be taking a trip to El Salvador to essentially aid Van Hollen's efforts.
"Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be home in Maryland right now," Ansari said in a separate statement. "His illegal abduction and the subsequent complete dismissal of the Supreme Court ruling is deeply disturbing. Our rights shouldn’t be revoked to propagate Trump’s authoritarian agenda. This is a constitutional crisis."
"He’s already said that he’s ready and willing to illegally deport ‘home-growns’ and American citizens. If this can happen to Mr. Garcia, it can happen to any of us. My parents fled an authoritarian regime in Iran where people ‘disappeared’ – I refuse to sit back and watch it happen here, too. That’s why I plan to join my colleagues in traveling to El Salvador to visit Mr. Garcia and make sure Trump’s war on our Constitution and due process stops here."
Reps. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Robert Garcia, D-Calif., also wrote to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., requesting a former CODEL (congressional delegation) authorization to visit Tecoluca, El Salvador, where the infamous El Salvadoran mega prison "Terrorism Confinement Center" (CECOT) is located.
"Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national legally living and working in Maryland, was subject to a 2019 withholding order from an immigration judge prohibiting his removal to El Salvador," Frost and Garcia wrote.
"A Congressional delegation would allow Committee Members to conduct a welfare check on Mr. Abrego Garcia, as well as others held at CECOT."
Additionally, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is reportedly planning to travel to CECOT, according to reports from Politico and Axios. His office did not respond to a Fox News Digital inquiry.
Fox News Digital reached out to Comer’s office for comment, and whether other lawmakers had contacted him seeking CODEL authorization.
"Squad" member Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., also wrote to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., demanding her own CODEL to El Salvador, "given that the Administration's use of CECOT for illegal and unconstitutional deportations is rife with ‘administrative errors.’"
While not party to the letter to Comer, Ansari tweeted Monday that "we need answers now" from either government.
She said she is ready to join Van Hollen – and Frost and Garcia if they go – to "demand" the man’s release.
Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., also suggested to Axios that travel to El Salvador may be necessary.
"We have to do similar kinds of things for the others who are victims of this dystopian attack on our Constitutional rights. This president is dangerous and we can't let this go," she said.
Meanwhile, at least two Republicans have also traveled to CECOT, albeit for different reasons.
Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., tweeted a photo from the prison, saying he just finished a tour and that many inmates were "extremely violent" recent U.S.-deportees.
"I leave now even more determined to support President Trump's efforts to secure our homeland," Moore said.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., appeared to comment on Van Hollen’s trip in his own post from the prison, writing:
"It is unconscionable that Democrats in Congress are urging the release of more foreign criminals back into our country."
Homeland Security released new documents this week that it says definitively prove Abrego Garcia, who is imprisoned at CECOT after his deportation from the U.S., is a member of the notorious MS-13 gang, which his lawyers deny.
Abrego Garcia also allegedly has a record of being a "violent" repeat wife beater, according to records filed in a Prince George’s County, Maryland, district court by his wife.
Fox News Digital reached out to Booker, Frost, Balint, Ramirez and Garcia for further comment.
