Tag: dhs

CT SOTS Thomas Flubs Her Way Through A Presser On An Alleged Probe She Won’t Even Call DHS About

Secretary of the State Stephanie Thomas called a noon briefing today on the voter-fraud “surge” CNN reported Monday.

CNN said Connecticut is one of nine states where HSI is supposed to work leads, do interviews, and send cases to prosecutors from now through mid-October — with the focus on noncitizens who registered or voted. Thomas then spent the rest of the time insisting she has no idea if any of that is real.

“Here’s what we don’t know,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. She doesn’t know if the report is true. She doesn’t know why Connecticut would be picked. She doesn’t know who or what might be investigated. She doesn’t know “what specific activity is planned,” or when.

Her office has not heard from DHS. No registrar has reported agents at the door. Asked why she didn’t call DHS herself, she waved it off as “just one report” — not worth her morning. Yet she still had time to book a presser about that one report.

She said Connecticut “believes so strongly” in election integrity that it has the State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC) to look at this stuff. Illegal votes “should be investigated.” Accountability, if the facts are there. Then came the punchline: DHS has given her no evidence of an ineligible voter in Connecticut — in an investigation she also says may not even exist.

She called it “unusual” so close to an election and quoted the old DOJ line that “overt” steps can “chill” legitimate voting. That, she said, is why she was at the podium. Not to describe the probe. To tell people not to panic. Voters “are already afraid,” she said — especially after the late-August USPS fight — and they stop her everywhere. The Chris Murphys of the world fueled that fear with warnings that there might not be an election. Thomas’s answer: there will be a secure election “on many fronts.” Not all fronts. Many.

She said the office was flooded last week with people “so confused” about mail-in ballots that she spent the week talking them down. The question she hears most: will there even be an election on November 3? She laughed, nervously, that “confusion has no party affiliation.” The Centinal has filed a records request for that flood of communications.

Call her office, she said. In our experience, that office does not call back.

Q&A made it worse. No time to phone DHS. Time to stage a briefing. She’ll wait and see.

She promised registrars keep the voter rolls clean. Unite4Freedom’s analysis of the 2022 midterms alleged more than a hundred thousand apparent voting violations. SEEC “timed out” that complaint. If the goal is the cleanest list in America, those claims deserved more than just a shrug.

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Homeland Security warns of Chinese parts in election machines, will require paper ballot audits

The Homeland Security Department will require random audits of paper ballots in the midterm elections, citing long-simmering concern that the nation’s largest voting technology companies use Chinese parts in their voting machines, according to a letter from Secretary Markwayne Mullin released Thursday.   

Mullin sent the letter to the White House Transparency Task Force earlier this week outlining the dangers posed by Chinese components in American voting machines and the way that these components could be exploited by hackers or other malicious actors.

The letter highlighted longstanding concerns first raised in a bipartisan manner before the 2020 election, but which officials appear to have taken little action on in the intervening years.

“Voting machines with components manufactured by foreign adversaries introduce significant security risks,” Mullin wrote. “These vulnerabilities mean that malicious actors could potentially compromise election infrastructure at any stage of the supply chain, even before the machines are assembled or deployed.” 

The secretary explained, “If a component is tampered with during manufacturing, it could serve as a point-of-entry for hackers, allowing for the possibility of synchronized attacks across multiple machines and jurisdictions.”

Two Biden administration Intelligence Community memos in 2024 identified China as “the most active and persistent cyber threat” and assessed that China, along with Iran and Russia, has “the technical capability to access some U.S. election-related networks and systems.”  

You can read Mullin’s letter below: 

08.20.2026 – WHTF Letter Commerce – S1 SIGNED.pdf

Earlier this year, the Trump administration took drastic action to ban the import of all internet routers manufactured in foreign countries because of the unacceptable security risks posed by Chinese hacking capabilities.

Internet routers connect computers, cellphones, and other electronic devices to the internet, the backbone of the modern economy.

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Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology: The Largest US Biometric Database You’ve Never Heard Of

After being troubled by delays and budget concerns for nearly a decade, the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART) program will become the US government’s largest biometric database when it launches in September. The program has also been plagued by privacy concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which has warned that HART has “gaps” in its privacy policies.

HART will be managed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and will store and process biometric data such as digital fingerprints, iris scans, and faceprints that have been gathered by DHS and its various sub-agencies. According to DHS, government agencies may seek to access this data for national security reasons, law enforcement, immigration and border management, intelligence gathering, background investigations for national security positions, and certain positions of public trust.

While HART is set to complete “initial operating capability” in September 2026, the system is not scheduled to be fully completed until 2027. The system was originally announced in 2015 as a replacement for the legacy Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), which was originally developed in 1994 as a law enforcement system for collecting and processing biometric data from individuals apprehended by border security or immigration officials. In 2013, the DHS’ Office of Biometric Identity Management (OBIM) began plans to replace IDENT with HART. HART was set to become operational in December 2018 but was delayed numerous times due to budget concerns.

Since the initial announcement regarding the transition from IDENT to HART, the GAO and digital rights groups have raised concerns about the government upgrading and centralizing its repository of sensitive personal information of millions of Americas.

In February 2020, DHS published its original HART Privacy Impact Assessment to “assess and mitigate any potential privacy risks.” While the system wasn’t yet active, DHS said they “anticipated potential privacy risks associated with the privacy sensitive system” and “sought to proactively develop appropriate privacy safeguards to be implemented” throughout HART’s development.

In September 2023, the GAO released their own report detailing what it saw as “gaps” in privacy policies required by the Office of Management and Budget. The GAO said DHS implemented only five of twelve privacy requirements. GAO noted that the 2020 privacy impact assessment was “missing key information,” including on whose data will be stored in the system and the partners with whom the system will share the data.

The GAO report also said the HART program did not have “assurances that partners that provide information to the system will appropriately retain and dispose of personally identifiable information.” GAO concluded by stating that until DHS addressed these “privacy weaknesses,” there is no assurance that the personal data gathered on hundreds of millions of individuals will be “appropriately protected.”

In August 2024, DHS released an updated Privacy Impact Assessment for HART in an attempt to “clarify and address points raised by external oversight bodies.” The assessment provided answers to some of the questions posed by the 2023 GAO report, namely whose information will be stored and with whom it will be shared.

“HART will contain personally identifiable information, including biometric data and associated biographic information, on U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and foreign nationals,” the assessment stated.

The report says biometric data held in HART may be shared with every agency of the DHS, including Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Secret Service (USSS), and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), as well as other federal agencies such as the State Department, the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Defense (DOD). It also states that biometric data may be shared with “elements of the Intelligence Community (IC).”

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DHS Investigates Anti-Israel Nonprofit Over Suspect Fund Transfers

The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly digging into a nonprofit tied to Zohran Mamdani after questions surfaced about donor money and its possible path to a sanctioned Palestinian group. The case centers on a U.K.-based organization with a massive funding pool and a loud anti-Israel mission, which has put its finances and political network under a bright federal spotlight.

The group at the center of the report is known as PFF, a foundation described as having roughly a $100 million war chest. According to the reporting, federal authorities are looking at whether donor funds may have been steered toward Al-Haq, a Palestinian organization sanctioned by the United States.

That alone is enough to raise eyebrows, but the story gets messier fast. Sources quoted in the report described the outfit as a “new fund” created by Arabs across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia to push back against Israel, giving the group a clear ideological edge.

Another name keeps popping up in the background: Bassema Yousef. She is described as the key figure in the fundraising effort, a New York-born Democrat donor who now lives in London and has long been connected to Mamdani’s orbit.

Her public posts reportedly leave little room for doubt about where she stands. The report says her social media has included repeated anti-Israel attacks, including claims that Israel is committing “war crimes with U.S. tax dollars,” language that shows just how heated this fight has become.

The financing side is what makes the whole thing even more intense. Sources told the Post that Yousef helped build PFF with backing from two wealthy donors, Austin-based investing executive Basil Qunibi and Palestinian-Australian motorsports figure Yasser Shahin.

Shahin’s role is not just rumor, at least according to the report. Corporate filings in the U.K. reportedly confirm his support for PFF, and the IRS has also acknowledged that the organization has a nonprofit arm based in Delaware.

PFF has also tried to present itself as something bigger and cleaner than the controversy around it. Its own description calls it a “strategic foundation” that partners with organizations able to deliver results that fit its objectives.

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30 Dead, 17 Fatal Crashes, and a Judge Tells DHS to Wait

Thirty people were killed in 17 crashes in 2025 involving what the left’s dictionary calls “non-domiciled commercial drivers” who, under the Trump administration’s current rule, would no longer qualify for those licenses.

The issue isn’t foreign CDL drivers; plenty of lawful immigrants and foreign-born drivers safely operate commercial trucks daily. The issue is whether somebody who can’t adequately read road signs, understand warnings, communicate with police, or follow instructions in English should be behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound commercial vehicle on an American highway.

That’s a safety standard, not a nationality test.

When crashes expose drivers who apparently couldn’t meet that basic standard, the question becomes unavoidable: Who licensed them, who failed to catch it, and why were they still on the road?

Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga put DHS’s access to roughly 17 million commercial driver records on hold Friday. His administrative stay is temporary, and he hasn’t ruled the subpoena unlawful. 

DHS must file its opposition Monday, the states reply Wednesday, and Trenga has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.

DHS wants five years of records from the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, including names, birth dates, license numbers, states of record, and Social Security numbers. The subpoena says the information would be used to investigate illegal practices at CDL schools, criminal fraud involving CDLs issued to illegal aliens, and civil immigration enforcement.

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Judge Blocks DHS From Obtaining 17 Million Commercial Driver’s License Records

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Homeland Security from obtaining 17 million Commercial Driver’s License records.

US District Judge Anthony Trenga, a George W. Bush appointee, entered an administrative stay and prevented the Trump Administration from obtaining the records it subpoenaed.

Judge Trenga also ordered the DHS to immediately return any subpoenaed documents and not inspect the records.

The judge said he needs more time to consider the motion to quash the subpoenas.

On Friday, 21 Democrat state attorneys general and DC filed lawsuits challenging the records request.

The blue state attorneys general sued the Department of Transportation (DOT), the DHS and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Last month, President Trump unveiled his “Freedom Haulers” initiative to license veteran truck drivers and crack down on illegal alien truck drivers.

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Murders In The US Set To Hit 126-Year-Low Following Illegal Immigrant Deportations: DHS

Crime rates have fallen to “historic lows” across the United States, with homicides this year on track to register the lowest level in at least 126 years, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

In the first half of 2026, homicides were down 18 percent compared to the first half of last year, DHS said in a July 31 statement. Carjacking crimes tumbled 47 percent during this period, motor vehicle thefts fell 20 percent, robberies dropped 17 percent, and residential burglaries declined 13 percent.

The numbers come from a July 2026 report from the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) that assessed crime stats across various U.S. cities.

Compared to the first half of 2022, the second year of the Biden administration, homicides in the first half of 2026, the second year of the current Trump administration, were down by 51 percent, according to the CCJ report.

For violent crimes, 2 percent fewer aggravated assaults and 6 percent fewer gun assaults were reported in the first half of 2026 compared to the same period last year. However, domestic violence incidents were up 8 percent, and sexual assaults by 3 percent for this period.

When compared to the first half of 2019, the year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic onset, homicides, aggravated assault, gun assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, robbery, and carjacking crimes were all lower in the first six months of 2026, the report said.

In its statement, DHS gave examples of some of the illegal immigrants with criminal histories who have been deported from the United States: A Salvadoran national with convictions for homicide and assault, a Costa Rican with convictions for property crimes and burglary, a Honduran Tren de Aragua gang member convicted for robbery, and a Vietnamese national convicted for armed carjacking.

“President [Donald] Trump promised to make America safe again, and he has done just that,” Lauren Bis, assistant secretary at the DHS’s Office of Public Affairs, said in the statement.

“Crime has fallen to record lows under the Trump Administration.”

“It’s no surprise that this drop in crime coincides with deportations of dangerous criminal illegal aliens. It is common sense. When you remove criminals from the country, crime rates fall,” Bis said.

In the first year of the current Trump administration, almost three million illegal immigrants had left the United States, then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a Jan. 20 DHS statement.

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Obama Judge Blocks Trump Admin From Ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalis – DHS Responds

A federal judge on Friday once again blocked the Trump Administration from terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Somalis.

The termination was supposed to take effect on March 17, however, a federal judge previously halted the termination.

On Friday, US District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, issued a new administrative stay after the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint and an emergency motion.

There are more than 100,000 Somalis living in the US. An estimated 5,000 Somalis are eligible for Temporary Protected Status.

The Justice Department responded to the judge’s order.

“Judge Allison Burroughs just entered yet another order preventing the termination of Somalia TPS. There is no serious debate about what is going on in these cases—defiance, obstruction, and delay,” Homeland Security general counsel James Percival said.

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DHS: Govt. has issued $84B in civil fines to illegal aliens who remain in U.S. after receiving final orders of removal

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it has already issued more than $84 billion in civil fines to illegal aliens who remain in the United States after receiving final orders of removal.

According to the agency, federal authorities have levied over 103,000 total fine notices against non-citizens and illegal aliens since the start of the Trump administration’s crackdown. The dynamic relies on “revived statutory penalty authorizing fines of up to $998 per day” for individuals who refuse to voluntarily depart the country after a deportation order becomes final.

The statutory framework permitting civil monetary penalties for failure to depart was originally established under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

However, according to analysts, the provision was rarely utilized by prior administrations due to the reality that most of these individuals subject to removal lacked the assets to pay. To overcome these challenges, the DHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have reportedly “overhauled the enforcement framework.”

Under rules enacted in mid-2025, federal authorities eliminated a mandatory 30-day notice of intent, authorized immigration officers to mail direct fine notices via standard mail and shortened the window for individuals to contest or appeal penalties to just 15 business days.

Individual penalties issued under the policy are now much more steep, accumulating daily up to the five-year statutory limit, which can yield total personal fines exceeding $1.8 million per individual. To collect on these debts, the federal government has employed an approach involving civil lawsuits filed by the DOJ in federal district courts, wage garnishment, seizure of tax refunds and partnerships with private debt collection agencies.

Officials emphasize that these measures are intended to incentivize compliance with federal court orders, describing the financial penalties as an alternative to voluntary departure.

Alongside the financial measures, the Trump administration has structured an exit mechanism tied to its “CBP Home” app. Under current regulations, undocumented individuals who agree to self-deport using the app are granted complete forgiveness of all accrued civil fines, provided with a free return flight to their country of origin and issued a $2,600 exit bonus.

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DHS used anti-China funds on World Cup security

Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act included $170 million for efforts to counter the national security threats posed by China’s illegal fishing operations worldwide.

But the Trump administration didn’t spend the money on that.

Instead, the Department of Homeland Security diverted the vast majority of that funding to security measures for FIFA World Cup matches, America250 celebrations and other major sporting events, according to a senior congressional official and an administration official who were briefed on how the money was allocated.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) secured the $170 million as part of the OBBB for “maritime domain awareness” technology that helps track the Chinese vessels.

Cruz told us he has “sought to provide resources for those programs, but unfortunately the bulk of the funding has not gone where it needed to go.” But Cruz didn’t say where the money went.

The funding diversion occurred under then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The department, now led by Secretary Markwayne Mullin, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Approximately $155 million of the $170 million funding pot was spent on counter-drone technology for events like World Cup matches and America250 tributes, including sensors that monitor and track drones in their vicinity, the officials said. The rest was used for Coast Guard communications technology and a Merchant Marine credentialing system.

In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators led by Cruz called on the Trump administration to impose sanctions on 29 supply vessels that facilitate Beijing’s illicit fishing activities.

The letter reads in part:

“Anyone linked to the vessels, including through beneficial ownership, will be exposed to reputational and financial crime risks. The vessels would switch from being assets to liabilities, greatly complicating the ability of the CCP to continue their IUU fishing activities.”

Cruz’s committee handles the annual Coast Guard authorization bill. Cruz said he intends to continue pushing the issue so that the Coast Guard has enough resources to counter China’s illegal fishing.

The nine senators who signed the letter to Bessent said China is carrying out these activities “at a scale that constitutes ecocide conducted via gross human rights abuses.”

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