This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The gang of violent Venezuelans known as Tren de Aragua actually is worse than that sounds, according to a new report.
Because the gang has now been linked to the Venezuelan government.
It is the Washington Stand that reported according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation study, "Venezuela's socialist president Nicolás Maduro and his deputies are using criminals from the Tren de Aragua (TdA) transnational gang as 'proxies' to 'destabilize' foreign nations, including Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and the U.S."
The report said, "The FBI anticipates that TdA members the Venezuelan government has sent to the U.S. will, within the next six to 18 months, begin targeting and killing other Venezuelan nationals who have been opponents or critics of Maduro's administration."
President Donald Trump has several times charged that the Venezuelan government is weaponizing criminals in dangerous gangs and sending foreign terrorists into the U.S.
"These findings should shock Americans but not the law enforcement community," a Trump administration official who was not identified, told Fox News.
"They reflect the sentiments of numerous other intelligence assessments across multiple agencies."
That official explained Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro "is a Marxist dictator who hijacked a once-prosperous Venezuela and brought in nothing but total economic collapse and gang takeover. He crumbled Caracas, now overrun with drugs and violence, and wants to do the same across the United States by sending his most violent and dangerous criminals into our communities."
The Trump administration has worked to utilize several laws to crack down on the illegal access to the United States by gang members and to deport those who have arrived.
The fact that the Venezuelan government is "aiding and abetting" the terror gang was confirmed, in the report, by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
An official in the ODNI assessed that the links between the terrorists and the government there mirror "the behavior of the Taliban in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern failed states like Syria and Libya that have welcomed terrorists with open arms."
While a National Intelligence Council report accessed by the AP claimed there's no link, one expert suggested that was incorrect, based on "leakers."
The "propaganda media conveniently did not include [more accurate intelligence] because it gets in the way of their biased narrative and attempt to deceive the American people," the expert said.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard explained, "The Office of the Director of National Intelligence fully supports the assessment that the foreign terrorist organization, Tren De Aragua, is acting with the support of the Maduro Regime, and thus subject to arrest, detention, and removal as alien enemies of the United States."
The State Department earlier this year designated TdA as a foreign terror organization.
Trump has said, "TdA is closely aligned with, and indeed has infiltrated, the Maduro regime, including its military and law enforcement apparatus. Venezuelan national and local authorities have ceded ever-greater control over their territories to transnational criminal organizations, including TdA. The result is a hybrid criminal state that is perpetrating an invasion of and predatory incursion into the United States, and which poses a substantial danger to the United States."
In just the past few days, several dozen TdA members and leaders have been charged under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Most of those defendants are in custody.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Dick Durbin, will not seek reelection in 2026, as he announced his retirement Wednesday after 44 years in Congress.
"The decision of whether to run for reelection has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States senator," Durbin said in a video he posted on X.
"But in my heart, I know it's time to pass the torch. So, I am announcing today that I will not be seeking reelection at the end of my term."
"I have given more than half of my life to House and Senate congressional service, and I've always tried to stand up to power on behalf of the people of Illinois and our country," he continued.
"I am proud of what I have achieved and hope my record will speak for itself.
"But none of it would have been possible without my wife, Loretta; our children, Christine, Paul, and Jennifer; my energetic grandchildren; and my extended family, who stood with me and accepted the demands of my public career.
"I have been blessed to have them, as well as the best Senate staff anyone could ask for.
"Right now, the challenges facing our country are historic and unprecedented.
"The threats to our democracy and way of life are real, and I can assure you that I will do everything in my power to fight for Illinois and the future of our country every day of my remaining time in the Senate."
Durbin, 80, is the fourth Senate Democrat to announce their retirement this year.
"I have to be honest about this. There are good people in the wings, good people on the bench ready to serve, and they can fight this fight just as effectively as I can," Durbin told the New York Times.
"There comes a point where you have to face reality that this is the time to leave for me."
In 2018, Durbin claimed on NBC's "Meet the Press" that former President Barack Obama went eight years in office "without a major scandal."
"Under President Obama, eight years without an indictment, eight years without a major scandal," he said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A federal judge has canceled a Joe Biden-era rule that required businesses to promote abortion.
The rule, perpetrated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Biden, demanded that employers provide abortion-related leave and other practices that violated the beliefs of a multitude of business operators and owners.
A report in the Washington Stand explained the impact of the ruling from Daniel Traynor, a Trump appointee to the District Court of North Dakota, is that 9,000 Catholic businesses now do not have to grant abortion leave and other practices contrary to their beliefs.
The EEOC under Biden, who promoted abortion in a multitude of ways throughout his presidency, had issued rules creating a new meaning to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act so that abortion was promoted.
"The actual language of the PWFA requires protections for 'pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,'" the report explained. Biden expanded that to say, "current pregnancy, past pregnancy, potential pregnancy, lactation (including breastfeeding and pumping), use of birth control, menstruation, infertility and fertility treatments, endometriosis, miscarriage, stillbirth, or having or choosing not to have an abortion, among other conditions."
The report said that move "effectively reversed the pro-life effect of the law, and the explicit inclusion of fertility treatments also ran afoul of the religious convictions of some Catholics."
The challenge was brought by the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association representing 9,000 Catholic businesses. They charged it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Traynor granted a preliminary injunction last year and now has made that permanent.
In his ruling, he concluded, "The CBA is likely to succeed on the merits of the RFRA violation claim because the law forces members to choose between expressing sincerely held beliefs and compliance. This harm is irreparable and upholding constitutional rights always weighs in favor of the public interest and an injunction. The agency should have known it would not be allowed to force individuals to violate sincerely held religious beliefs."
Other cases also had challenged Biden's agenda.
The Washington Stand commented, "The entire scenario serves as a reminder of the Biden administration's troubling record of anti-Catholic bias. As ironic as it may seem, political appointees of the nation's second Catholic president distorted the meaning of a pro-life law to require employers to subsidize abortion and other practices objectionable to Catholics. These actions were not only lawless but fruitless, as they provoked Catholics to challenge the rule in court, where they easily won. But what else could we expect from an administration whose suspicion of Catholics ran so deep that they installed undercover agents in Catholic parishes to spy on their worship services?"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
At the height of the COVID-19 China virus assault on Americans, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, ordered nursing homes to take in patients who had been diagnosed with infections, putting ill seniors in the midst of a population that was susceptible to COVID.
Not surprisingly, the death toll exploded, and during the resulting investigation, Cuomo testified to Congress.
And allegedly lied, for which a House committee referred him to the Department of Justice for investigation and prosecution.
The Joe Biden administration ignored it.
So now House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is asking the DOJ to revisit those charges.
Comer wrote that the original referral was in 2024 from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Cuomo was referred for "making criminally false statements…"
"The Biden administration ignored this referral despite clear facts and evidence," he said. "Accordingly, we request you review the referral and take appropriate action."
Even a devout leftist, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who orchestrated multiple cases against President Donald Trump, confirmed that Cuomo had misstated the COVID-related deaths in state nursing homes, by some 83%.
That scandal erupted in 2021 when the New York Post said Melissa DeRosa, an aide to Cuomo, privately apologized to lawmakers for state officials "withholding the nursing-home death toll in fear then-President Donald Trump would 'turn this into a giant political football,'" one report documented.
After Cuomo ordered the open doors policy for nursing homes, it is estimated that some 4,500 infected patients were moved into those facilities, with their COVID-susceptible populations.
A public policy center found that Cuomo's order was "associated with a statistically significant increase in resident deaths."
Comer has charged Cuomo "knowingly and willfully made false statements to Congress" about his own state's claim that underreported COVID deaths in New York nursing homes.
House members charged Cuomo was trying to avoid accountability for a surge in nursing home deaths, and for that reason lied to Congress about the situation.
"Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee's investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York," Comer said. "This wasn't a slip-up — it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York's nursing homes."
Investigations revealed more than 15,000 nursing home residents died due to COVID-19 during that time period.
Cuomo eventually resigned his office following a series of accusations that he sexually harassed many women.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Rules its schemes violate the Sherman Act and have harmed consumers
In a blow to tech giant Google, a move that could be a prelude to a breakup of the giant money-making machine, a federal judge has concluded that it operates an illegal monopoly over two markets related to digital advertising tech.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia found that Google is in violation of the Sherman Act because it dominates the online publisher ad server market and the ad-exchange market that connects ad buyers to sellers.
A report from New York Post said the judge found that the corporation's antics "substantially harmed" customers.
The judge wrote, "Google further entrenched its monopoly power by imposing anticompetitive practices on its customers and eliminating desirable product features."
The ruling continued, "In addition to depriving rivals of the ability to compete, this exclusionary conduct substantially harmed Google's publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web."
The report explained the Department of Justice has expressed the desire for the court to force Google to sell of its digital advertising operations, including Google Ad Manager.
"Remedies" will be taken up in a second phase of the trial.
Explained the Post, "The ruling is another major legal blow for Google. Last year, a federal judge ruled in a separate case that Google has an illegal monopoly over the online search market."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
PALM BEACH, Florida – President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a harshly toned Easter greeting to his political enemies, including former President Joe Biden, whom he called a "Moron."
"Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well-known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country," Trump posted on Truth Social.
"Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten!
"Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America.
"He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing — But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!"
With more uplifting messages, Trump issued separate holiday greetings for Christians commemorating the resurrection of Jesus.
"Melania and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!" he exclaimed.
"Whether you are heading out to Church or watching Service from home, may this day be full of Peace and Joy for all who celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. HE IS RISEN!!"
He also said: We are, together, going to make America bigger, better, stronger, wealthier, healthier, and more religious than it has ever been before!!! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!"
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Joe Biden, after decades as a politician on some fairly good salaries in Washington, and after his family took in tens of millions of dollars in what appeared to be an influence peddling scheme during his time in office, now is a former president, and is trying to make a bit of income from giving speeches, like so many out-of-office politicos.
He's signed with an agency and outlined his demands: $300,000 per speech, plus a jet if travel is involved, plus expenses for a full staff to accompany him.
But, it seems, no one is buying.
A comment at the Gateway Pundit delivered a devastating assessment of Biden: "Apparently, there isn't much of a market for angry, yelling, incoherent babbling speeches from former presidents who have difficulty forming sentences."
It was the New York Post that revealed, "It's not just Biden family artwork that's struggling to sell these days. Former President Joe Biden's attempt to bill $300,000 per speaking appearance is finding few takers, The Post has learned — as some of his own former aides say it's time for the 82-year-old to leave the spotlight for good after reminiscing about 'colored kids' Tuesday in his first public address since leaving office."
Biden has established a reputation for telling wild and untrue stories during his days campaigning and in office.
His speeches typically feature long periods of mumbling, interspersed with sudden bouts of shouting and screaming.
"I'M NOT KIDDING" is a popular insert on just about any topic.
Biden has been known to call on dead people while speaking, and often insults listeners, once calling someone a "dog-faced pony soldier."
The Post reported that a source familiar with Biden's "faltering speaking career" confirmed the $300,000 price tag.
Biden has been represented since February by the Creative Artists Agency, and delivered his "first public speech since leaving office Tuesday, stumbling when he referred to 'colored kids,'" the report said.
He had spoken earlier, but nobody covered it.
The Post's source said, "CAA is having trouble booking gigs, which isn't surprising."
The report cited Biden's "history of peddling glaring inaccuracies before his political career came to a crashing end when he delivered incoherent debate remarks that prompted a Democratic mutiny."
The CAA declined to comment to the Post on the topic.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The fight rages on over whether an illegal alien deported by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador can be extricated from that prison and returned to America.
El Salvador's president says no.
Further, whether judges in America can force President Trump to go into a foreign nation, retrieve one of its citizens from behind jail bars, and bring him back to America in a scenario that likely would lead to further deportation orders.
Amid all of this, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, traveled to El Salvador and insisted to officials there he had to meet with the inmate, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, pressuring them over and over until they relented and set up a photo opportunity.
Now, Trump is calling Van Hollen a "fool."
The Washington Examiner said Trump's comment on social media was, "Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland looked like a fool yesterday standing in El Salvador begging for attention from the Fake News Media, or anyone. GRANDSTANDER!!!"
President Trump, citing the catastrophic damages to America from Joe Biden's years-long open borders scheme that allowed millions of illegal aliens, including known terrorists, to come into America, has made one of his term's goals to crack down on that activity.
He's literally closed off illegal aliens' paths into the U.S., and also has been working to deport as many as can be identified and captured.
Democrats, smarting from landslide losses in the Electoral College and popular vote in last fall's presidential election, have chosen to object to anything Trump does regarding national security.
As part of that, they have taken up the cause of Garcia, who was eligible for deportation but apparently had a court order that he should not go to El Salvador.
Van Hollen said, "I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. 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."
The Department of Homeland Security targeted Abrego Garcia for deportation due to his alleged MS-13 ties. On Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi released 13 pages of police and immigration records on Garcia dating back to 2019, revealing suspicions against him of human trafficking, gang activity, and more.
A federal judge has claimed the Trump administration must "facilitate and effectuate" Garcia's return to the United States by April 7, a claim that is on appeal.
Eventually, the meeting was staged, and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele mocked the senator.
"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 added, "Now that he's been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador's custody."
The backlash for Van Hollen's advocacy for an illegal alien is expanding, too.
The American Accountability Foundation said it had filed an ethics complaint against him "for assisting a foreign terrorist organization with his trip to El Salvador."
"In our letter to Leader Thune, we demand that he instruct the secretary of the Senate not to foot the bill for Van Hollen's trip and wants the Senate Ethics Committee to open an immediate investigation," the organization said.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
At issue is the meaning of 14th Amendment's 'And subject to the jurisdiction thereof' clause
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the U.S. Constitution actually includes "birthright citizenship," the idea that any baby born on U.S. soil regardless of the legal or illegal status of the parents is a U.S. citizen … or not!
That has been the accepted standard for years now, but Trump, pointing out that there remain open questions about the meaning of one of the clauses in the amendment, moved another direction with his executive order.
He pointed out the 14th Amendment 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."
At issue is the meaning of "And subject to the jurisdiction thereof."
He simply said that children born to illegal immigrants or those who are in the U.S. on temporary non-immigrant visas are not automatically citizens by birthright.
The court justices will hear arguments on the differing interpretations on May 15.
A report at Fox News explained the Trump administration reached out to the high court after lower courtrs refused to accept that interpretation of the Constitution.
The administration asked the court to allow a narrow version of the order to proceed.
This is another one of the situations where district judges, at the entry level into the federal court system, took on the authority to manage the executive branch decisions by themselves, with nationwide injunctions coming from judges in Maryland, Massachusetts and Washington state.
"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," the report explained.
"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 said.
Ultimately, nearly two dozen leftist states and organizations have sued.
Those political interests claim that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to people born on U.S. soil, no matter the circumstances.
Similar opposing arguments were presented to the high court during Trump's first term, when he barred immigration from countries that supported terrorism, and a long list of groups complained that he was unconstitutionally targeting "Muslim" countries.
In that case, the justices eventually affirmed Trump's policy.
This video shows Trump comment on the case the moment he heard the news it would be heard by the nation's highest court:
WND previously has reported that Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of Trump's position.
"Courts are empowered by the Constitution to resolve cases and controversies, not to issue sweeping policy proclamations or manage the executive branch," Skrmetti said in a statement. "The American people are the ultimate source of authority and legitimacy for every branch of our government, and every court interpreting the Constitution must therefore adhere to the understanding of the voters who adopted the constitutional language.
"Undermining the sovereignty of the American people through judicial overreach threatens to alienate the people from our constitutional system and thereby cause grievous harm to liberty and public order. Our system depends on checks and balances and each branch of government, at both the federal and state levels, is by design intended to push back against overreach by the other branches. That tension between branches is how we prevent the concentration of undue power in any one place and thus keep Americans free. We look forward to the Supreme Court clarifying these fundamental issues and will continue to litigate strategically to advance the interests of Tennessee."
His announcement explained, "According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, over nine million illegal aliens have entered our country in just the past few years. After crossing the border, many illegal aliens have moved into interior states like Tennessee. This voluminous influx has caused significant strain on resources and poses ongoing economic, health, and public safety challenges for Tennessee and many other states. While lax border security in the past caused much of the problem, it was incentivized and compounded by an expansive interpretation of the Citizenship Clause which is not consistent with numerous sources contemporaneous with the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment."
It said, "The Supreme Court of the United States has never squarely addressed the scope of the Citizenship Clause, though government actors have for decades operated under the assumption that the clause guarantees birthright citizenship in almost all circumstances."
A decision that the "jurisdiction" clause limits those who are granted U.S. citizenship would be a huge weapon in the arsenal presidents have to protect the integrity of America's borders, the nation's security, and its citizens.
Tennessee's filing supports Trump's application to stay sweeping preliminary injunctions by multiple district courts in cases addressing birthright citizenship.
It stresses that courts should interpret the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution "in accordance with its original public meaning and should only exercise their judicial power within the confines of specific cases and controversies and consistent with principles of separation of powers."
Trump's Executive Order 14160, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," is his belief that there should be limits. Otherwise, the practice encourages a thriving "birth tourism" industry where illegals break into the U.S., give birth, then obtain public benefits through the status of that child.
The clause was ratified in 1869 and addressed the infamous Supreme Court ruling in Dred Scott that denied citizenship to blacks.
Trump's argument is that the protections of citizenship do not automatically fall on children born of illegal aliens, or those who are in the nation of temporary visas, as there remain questions whether those are "subject to the jurisdiction."
Earlier, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost signed on to a brief supporting Trump's position. He joined 17 other Republican attorneys general to endorse the clarification that children born of illegals inside the United States do not qualify for automatic citizenship.
The states are harmed because such an agenda imposes costs on them.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Cites 'the mass invasion of the country my ancestors built with their bare hands'
Perhaps sourcing some straightforward talk from his years growing up in the Appalachia, Vice President JD Vance Wednesday unloaded on an X user for her characterization of Trump supporters.
Jesse Singal had posted: "Joining the Trump bandwagon means you either need to be dumb or pretend to be dumb. JD Vance might have mortgaged his morality and his legacy, but he's not dumb. He doesn't actually think anyone's proposing 20 million [deportation] trials. Rather, he knows he has very, very dumb supporters."
The post was part of a thread critical of President Trump's effort to deport millions of illegal aliens and the deportation of Salvadoran Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
"I hate this smug, self-assured bullsh**," responded Vance, referring to the notion of: "I know I'm right, and people must be dumb or immoral to disagree with me."
"It's an easy way to go through life, because then you never have to think seriously about why your worldview is a justification for the mass invasion of the country my ancestors built with their bare hands."