Tag: dhs

DHS Says Twice-Deported Illegal Alien Tried to Storm United Cockpit

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Tuesday that the man accused of storming the cockpit of a Newark-to-New Orleans United Airlines flight while claiming to have a bomb is a twice-deported illegal alien from Honduras, according to a statement provided to Fox News.

Rony Alexander Gomez-Alberto, 34, was arrested by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office after United Airlines Flight 2174 landed at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport late Monday, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin posted on X.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer for the twice-deported Honduran on Tuesday, the department said. Under President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, “criminal illegal aliens who try to HIJACK AIRPLANES are NOT welcome” in the United States, DHS continued:

Crew members persuaded the 34-year-old to move to the rear of the cabin, where he was detained, while the pilots stayed locked in the cockpit and officers coordinated getting passengers off the aircraft. Air traffic control audio captured a first responder describing the cabin as “empty except for the pilot and [co-]pilot who are locked in the cockpit,” the New York Post reported.

Forty-six passengers and six crew members were aboard the Boeing 737 MAX 9.

DHS said Gomez-Alberto first entered the country illegally through Texas in 2011 before being removed. A second illegal crossing, through New Mexico in 2014, ended in another removal. A third illegal entry in 2019, through the San Ysidro border crossing in California, ended with a Border Patrol arrest, and a judge ordered him released from ICE custody in January 2020 pending removal proceedings.

He had been living in New York, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies took him into custody without incident and booked him at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on counts of communicating false information of planned arson and terrorizing, FOX8 reported. DHS listed his charges as felony bomb threat, felony terroristic threat, and disorderly conduct. He is being held without bond.

The sheriff’s office confirmed he is wanted by ICE. The FBI said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will determine whether he faces federal charges, WDSU reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration is opening its own investigation, the agency said.

United said the flight landed safely “following a disruptive incident involving a passenger onboard” and that law enforcement met the aircraft on arrival, according to the Associated Press. The jet had departed Newark around 9:30 p.m.

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Activist Judge Boasberg Orders Trump DOJ and DHS to Hand Over Full List of States Targeted for Noncitizen Voter Removal and Ballot Segregation — Deadline is Noon Today

In a last-minute move to protect against illegal voting ahead of the midterms, Obama-appointed U.S. District Chief Judge James E. Boasberg has ordered the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to identify every state that has received federal demands to remove alleged non-citizens from the voter rolls, withhold mail ballots, or segregate those ballots rather than count them.

The order, issued after a Thursday hearing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, requires the Trump administration to deliver the complete list to the plaintiffs by noon on Friday, October 30, MS NOW reported.

According to Roll Call, Boasberg ordered federal officials to disclose which states, beyond California and Washington, have received demands involving suspected noncitizen voters.

Boasberg, long criticized by President Trump and allies as a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge,” declined to immediately block further letters but signaled he will rule by Monday, November 2, one day before Election Day, on the Democrat request for a broader injunction.

The lawsuit was filed October 20 by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Nevada Democratic Party, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Governors Association.

Defendants include President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and the respective departments.

Plaintiffs argue the letters violate the Constitution’s Elections Clause and the anti-commandeering doctrine by coercing states. The administration maintains the letters simply notify states of potential violations of federal law barring non-citizens from voting in federal elections and do not force action absent a court order. Boasberg noted the government could end the case by stating it will send no further such letters before the election.

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Hackers Dump Records on Over 41,000 DHS Employees, Including Undercover ICE Agents

A group calling itself the “Department of Peace” has released a massive trove of records on more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees and contractors, including names, cellphone numbers, email addresses, office locations, membership in internal groups tied to undercover operations, wiretap programs, and surveillance tools.

The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published the archive under the name “Icepick” on Wednesday after receiving the material from the “Department of Peace,” which claims it obtained the data from DHS’s Okta single sign-on login system.

The records were last updated on August 19, 2026, and cover DHS headquarters along with agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

WIRED, which reviewed the data dump, reported that the leak maps out organizational structure, reporting lines, facility locations, and permission groups for sensitive programs.

The report noted, “The Trump administration has prosecuted protesters for posting information about individual ICE officers and warned others for doing so. In June, 15 Minnesota residents were charged under laws related to stalking and threats of violence, which prosecutors linked to their participation in ICE-opposition activities. More than 100 HSI agents, including undercover operatives, took part in an operation that included widespread surveillance and infiltration of group chats.”

The BBC reports:

Most of the agents included, more than 21,000 of them, work for CBP, according to the data. Nearly 6,600 work for ICE.

Other records show agents with Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and even people working for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The leaked information also included dozens of previously unknown operation names, the agents that led and worked on those operations, and some of the technology they used in their work, including tech provided by Cellbrite and Palantir.

The hackers left a note with the files stating, “They have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs.”

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DHS Blasts Minnesota Officials After Serial Sex Assault Suspect is Released Despite ICE Detainer, Then Tries to Drag Woman Out of Her Apartment Window

Department of Homeland Security officials are blasting Minnesota authorities after a Mexican illegal alien with a long record of sexual assaults and violence was released after ICE lodged a detainer against him in May.

Eduart Gomez Ochoa, 28, who first entered the United States illegally in November 2000, was arrested on October 24 after a two-day manhunt.

Ochoa is now charged with first-degree burglary and attempted kidnapping for allegedly reaching through a ground-level apartment window in St. Paul last Thursday, grabbing a 21-year-old woman who was cooking near the window, and trying to pull her outside before she kicked and screamed until he fled.

Police recovered a hat and headband at the scene that the victim said belonged to him.

The victim later identified him from a photo lineup.

In a post on X about the case, DHS wrote, “This criminal alien should have NEVER been released. Eduart Gomez Ochoa, a Mexican national with a rap sheet a mile long, was recently RELEASED by local officials in Minnesota. Shortly after his release, he reoffended and has been apprehended again.”

“ICE first lodged a detainer for Gomez Ochoa in May. Minnesota officials should honor this detainer so that this serial sexual assaulter can be finally be deported,” the post continued.

In May, Ochoa was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree burglary, and third-degree assault after allegedly entering another apartment in St. Paul through a window and sexually assaulting a girl by sucking on her foot while holding her down.

Ochoa was arrested about ten days later and admitted to assaulting the girl but claimed he had met her at a gas station.

Within days of that arrest, he was also accused of two additional sexual assaults in Maplewood in which he allegedly approached women, groped them, and in one case bit a victim’s face.

Court records and local reporting show he has prior arrests for domestic abuse in violation of a protection order, multiple domestic assaults, felony threats of violence, felony fleeing a police officer, felony burglary, providing a false name, leaving the scene of a collision, dangerous weapons, theft, obstruction, and third-degree assault.

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Pentagon ready to use HEAT RAY weapon at the border to prevent migrants from crossing into US

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gotten approval from the Pentagon to test out a military heat-ray weapon along the US-Mexico border, according to a memo that was obtained by CNN.

The weapon, formally called the Active Denial System, is nonlethal and fires an unseen beam of electromagnetic energy with a range of just over half a mile.

When the beam hits a person’s skin, it produces an intense burning sensation, similar to when a person opens an oven. The military says this “tingling effect” fades after 10 to 15 minutes, but the weapon also triggers “an instinctive and irresistible urge to run from the effect.”

DHS has not said how the weapon will be used yet. However, current and former Customs and Border Protection officials say the agency has talked internally for years about using it to break up crowds at the southern border, per the report.

Under the memo, DHS gets a “temporary loan” of the single ADS unit for seven months starting in September. The memo says the system “shall not be operated by DoW (Department of War) personnel.”

The memo also places DHS fully in charge of “system employment, use and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.” A defense official told reporters that when the seven months are up, DHS may ask to keep using the system for border work if it can show that it is useful.

In a statement to CNN, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said, “CBP is continually evaluating new technologies, especially those that enhance operational effectiveness and strengthen mission capabilities.”

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DHS Chief Markwayne Mullin Goes Off on the ‘Prophet’ Muhammad, Issues Warning About Islam

DHS Chief Markwayne Mullin went off on the ‘Prophet’ Muhammad and issued a warning about “extreme Islam” as he launched an attack on Michigan Democrat Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. To say they are non-existent anymore doesn’t even resonate with those of us that are in law enforcement…” Mullin said.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is still an organization that wants to harm the United States. They have made that very clear and when they have someone that is associated with it, you gotta question their conviction…” Mullin said.

Mullin said Islam permits Muslims to lie.

“This is affiliated to the Prophet Muhammad. When it’s permissible to lie, it says there’s three reasons that it’s permissible,” Mullin said.

“One is in a time or war, one is in a time of conflict, to try to reconcile, and one is when you’re trying to persuade your wife essentially to stay with you,” he said.

“And you go okay, where does other religions say it’s permissible to lie? So you can’t compare that. Extreme Islam is dangerous,” Mullin said during an appearance on Fox News.

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Tom Homan Pushes DHS to Pressure Employers Who Hire Illegals

Homeland Security chief Markwayne Mullin will soon review a plan to expand worksite inspections, White House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday.

“I know the worksite enforcement plan just cleared last week out of HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] because I asked for the plan,” Homan told Fox News. He added:

I think the gentlemen I brought in did a tremendous job. A lot of it is focusing on not just worksite enforcement, but those who use fraudulent IDs to steal your Social Security numbers. We’ll prosecute them.

And for employers that knowingly hire illegal aliens, it’s not just about arresting aliens. It’s about holding employers accountable so they don’t try employing illegal aliens.

So I think we’ll move quickly on that. I just saw the draft from HSI last week, so I think the secretary will probably see it this week or next week. And I’m all for it.

Homan’s comments are a rare look inside the differences of opinion within the Trump administration.

Many top officials, as well as President Donald Trump, zig-zag forward between rival interest groups within the Republican party, including business donors and populist voters.

Immigration politics are tough, Trump told a roomful of Latino allies on September 30. “Because they’ll say ‘You’re too tough,’ or ‘You’re too soft.’ ‘Get tougher!’ ‘Get softer!’ No matter what you do, it’s always tough.”

He added, “We have to have the votes.”

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Groups Sue DHS, Alleging Effort To Compile Voter Data Is Illegal

Federal officials obtaining and compiling data on voters as part of an effort to combat voter fraud is illegal, three organizations said in an Oct. 15 lawsuit.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) compilation of the data from nearly every state violates the Privacy Act, which only lets agencies maintain information that is relevant and necessary for authorized purposes, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, and the League of United Latin American Citizens said in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia.

“Congress created DHS to prevent terrorism, secure the border, and address other specified threats – not to conduct a voter-fraud dragnet centered on the private voting information of millions of Americans and records reflecting the exercise of constitutional rights essential to democracy,” the plaintiffs said.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Federal law requires states to keep lists of registered voters. The lists always have the names of all registered voters, and usually include other details such as their addresses, sex, date of birth, and partial or complete Social Security number.

Certain individuals can request the data from states, but there are restrictions on requesters and other restrictions on disclosure.

For instance, most states do not allow people who obtain the data to disclose Social Security numbers.

The Privacy Act states in part that for information concerning activity protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, agencies can “maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.”

The Department of Justice has been sharing voter lists it obtained with DHS, according to letters released by the government. DHS has obtained some version of voter registration lists from at least 47 states, according to the lawsuit.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel said in a May legal opinion that the department “has authority to seek statewide voter lists and share them with the Department of Homeland Security as part of its effort to identify individuals who are ineligible to vote.”

The office also said that DHS is “authorized by law to investigate … voter fraud.”

DHS has since been reviewing the data, along with information it purchased from commercial sources, to try to identify people who are not eligible to vote. In litigation filed separately on Thursday, the government said an analysis of the list and federal data showed that more than 20,000 people registered to vote in California are likely noncitizens.

The lawsuit shows that DHS possesses voter files for California and is improperly using them for election administration purposes, the League of Women Voters and the other plaintiffs said in the District of Columbia filing.

They’re asking the court to declare the voter data collection policy violates federal law, enjoin government officials from carrying out the policy, and to order officials to delete information it has collected.

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Report: Feds Seize Ilhan Omar’s Cellphone in Immigration Fraud Investigation

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) cellphone has been seized by federal investigators as part of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) immigration fraud investigation into the Somali-born congresswoman.

This week, agents with the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit raided Omar’s Washington, DC, residence after a federal judge approved a search warrant.

Fox News Digital now reports that HSI agents have seized Omar’s phone, in addition to the DOJ issuing subpoenas to the congresswoman’s relatives.

“Federal authorities seized a cellphone belonging to Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., during a Monday raid on her Washington, D.C., home as part of a criminal fraud investigation into her immigration paperwork,” Fox News Digital reports.

The raid on Omar’s home is related to an immigration fraud investigation, with rumors circulating that the probe centers on whether the congresswoman lied about her age when immigrating to the United States in 1995.

Omar became a naturalized American citizen in the year 2000.

Along with the immigration probe into Omar, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro revealed this week that her office has opened a financial investigation into the congresswoman, perhaps picking up an investigation that the Biden administration had started into her reported multimillion-dollar net worth.

“There are several investigations going on, and I don’t think there’s any question, but if there was a crime that was committed, it will be prosecuted,” Pirro told Fox News in an interview.

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40 Percent Error Rate Found In Afghan Refugee Vetting Samples, Inspector General Finds

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General review has found errors in 40 percent of sampled asylum files for Afghan nationals who entered the United States under a Biden-era refugee program.

The report analyzed data from Operation Allies Welcome, which was initiated in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and aimed to resettle roughly 97,000 Afghan nationals in the United States.

The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) analyzed a sample of 678 applications from 13,682 adjudicated applications filed by Afghan nationals resettled in the United States under the program.

The analysis identified a 40 percent error rate in adjudicating asylum files, including 303 missed aliases, 45 unresolved records, 23 missing security checks, and 115 other documentation issues, the OIG said in a Sept. 23 report.

“Most errors resulted from missed aliases or incomplete documentation, including two cases related to potential inadmissibility on terrorism-related grounds,” the report states.

One of the terrorism-related errors involved an asylum officer failing to include an applicant’s Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds worksheet in the case file. The second error involved officials failing to indicate whether they approved or disapproved an asylum officer’s analysis of an applicant subject to Terrorism-Related Inadmissibility Grounds.

In a Sept. 29 statement, DHS said that Operation Allies Welcome led to many criminal immigrants being released into the United States, including those accused of sexual battery, kidnapping, drug possession, hit-and-runs, and lewd or lascivious acts with a minor.

For instance, in November 2025, DHS assisted the FBI in arresting an Afghan national who was charged with threatening to kill Americans. He was in the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome.

In December 2025, a member of the ISIS terrorist group’s Afghanistan affiliate who entered the United States under the operation was arrested. And in March this year, an Afghan national allowed into the country under the program who previously was convicted of indecent exposure to a minor was arrested.

In a June 2022 statement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), under the Biden administration, had announced that Afghans who have supported and worked with the United States in Afghanistan and have undergone rigorous vetting could qualify for protection and other immigration benefits.

Then-DHS Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said in the statement that this would “allow eligible individuals who pose no national security or public safety risk to receive asylum, refugee status, or other legal immigration status, demonstrating the United States’ continued commitment to our Afghan allies and their family members.”

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