Ukrainian officials plotted to direct massive sums of US taxpayer aid to Biden's campaign: Intel report



Ukrainian government communications discussed a scheme to direct American taxpayer dollars to then-President Joe Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee to boost Biden’s 2024 re-election bid against President Donald Trump, according to an intelligence report obtained by Just the News.

The newly unclassified documents summarize raw intercepts from U.S. spy agencies in late 2022. Officials who reviewed the files stated that there was a lack of curiosity to investigate the allegations under the Biden administration, the news outlet reported.

'In this manner, most of the US funding would be diverted to Joe Biden’s election campaign without the ability to track where exactly the funds came from.'

The American tax dollars were intended to fund a clean energy project in Ukraine amid the ongoing war with Russia.

“The Ukrainian Government and unspecified U.S. Government personnel, through USAID in Kyiv, reportedly developed a plan that would provide hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund an infrastructure project for Ukraine that would be used as a cover to send approximately 90% of funds allocated to the DNC to fund Joe Biden’s re-election campaign,” the report read, according to Just the News.

“They were confident the project would be funded initially, even though at some time in the future the project would be disapproved as unnecessary. At this time, the money would already be allocated and impossible to return or use for a different purpose,” it added.

The report named two American subcontractors that could potentially receive the funds, officials told Just the News. However, those names were redacted in the report obtained by the news outlet.

RELATED: 'USADF is garbage': Senior US foreign aid official will plead guilty to taking kickbacks, lying to feds

Donald Trump, Joe Biden. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

“The plan included details of how subcontractors would be funded through U.S. companies so that how the funds were spent and allocated would be difficult to track,” the report continued. “Additionally, contracts would be executed that would be difficult to verify. In this manner, most of the U.S. funding would be diverted to Joe Biden’s election campaign without the ability to track where exactly the funds came from.”

Just the News reported that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently learned about the intelligence intercepts. She reportedly asked USAID officials to review their records to ascertain whether the alleged scheme was executed and whether a criminal referral should be made to the FBI.

RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard warns: Powerful foreign allies eager to pull US into war with Russia

Tulsi Gabbard. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

An official told the news outlet that Gabbard’s team has not found substantive evidence indicating that the allegations were thoroughly investigated under Biden’s leadership. The official noted that the communications are not believed to be linked to Russian disinformation efforts.

Trump shared the Just the News article in a post on social media.

In a statement to Blaze News, a spokesperson for Gabbard confirmed the existence of related intelligence, adding that the director’s team is “working to review USAID holdings.”

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Chicago Democrat torches his own party, Gov. Pritzker — reveals why Democrats block Trump's immigration enforcement



A Chicago Democratic leader is slamming his own party, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, for ignoring the Biden-Harris administration’s role in the nation’s immigration crisis.

During a Fox News interview shared on Wednesday, Alderman Raymond Lopez reacted to the recent murder of 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman, who was fatally shot while out on a walk with friends in Chicago.

'We will not allow the Trump administration to remove them simply because we don't want to look as though we're capitulating to him.'

The suspect in the attack, Jose Medina-Medina, is an illegal alien from Venezuela who was captured by U.S. Border Patrol agents in May 2023 and released into the country under the leadership of former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. One month after his release, he was arrested in Chicago for allegedly shoplifting, but he was released from custody once again.

"Her death was 100% avoidable. And the culmination of the choices made here, in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, to protect noncitizens even when they choose to engage in dangerous criminal behavior — that mindset has to change," Lopez told Fox News.

Lopez accused Pritzker of wrongly blaming President Donald Trump for Gorman's death. The alderman made this comment in response to a clip of Pritzker from earlier in the week, where the governor attributed Gorman's killing to "national failures."

Pritzker claimed that Trump failed to "follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst" criminals unlawfully present in the U.S.

RELATED: Will Pritzker honor ICE detainer against illegal alien accused of murdering 18-year-old college student?

JB Pritzker. Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg/Getty Images

"If you're going to blame the federal government, then blame it where this problem began, which was under the Biden-Harris administration that allowed 15 million people from South America, Central America, and across the oceans to come through our southern borders, manipulate asylum, be poorly vetted, and then scattered to the seven winds of the United States," Lopez told Fox News.

"I have yet to hear a single Democrat hold Biden and Harris accountable for what has happened," he added.

RELATED: Chicago residents won’t get to vote on city’s sanctuary status after lawmakers block referendum

Raymond Lopez. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Lopez explained that there are currently 2,000 high-priority targets in Chicago who are known dangers to the community, but noted that Democratic leaders "refuse to work" with Trump to remove them.

"We will not allow the Trump administration to remove them simply because we don't want to look as though we're capitulating to him," Lopez stated.

Lopez has previously fought to roll back the city's sanctuary laws to allow the Chicago Police Department to cooperate with federal immigration agents when illegal alien suspects have been arrested or convicted of certain crimes. He stated that his amendment to Chicago's Welcoming City Ordinance "would NOT have protected" Medina-Medina from federal immigration enforcement.

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Biden’s COVID censorship machine takes a hit: Missouri wins landmark ban on federal threats to Big Tech



A landmark settlement delivered a blow to the censorship industrial complex that silenced Americans during the COVID era.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) announced Tuesday that Missouri had reached a settlement agreement with the U.S. government in its Missouri v. Biden lawsuit, which accused the Biden administration of violating Americans' First Amendment rights by directing social media companies to censor speech challenging the government's COVID messaging.

'For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours.'

Schmitt filed the lawsuit against the Biden administration while serving as Missouri attorney general, before securing his Senate seat.

The agreement included a 10-year Consent Decree that enforces a narrow permanent injunction on the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The injunction prevents them from threatening social media companies with any form of punishment if those companies fail to remove or suppress content that contains protected speech.

However, this ban applies only to posts made on Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, and YouTube by the specific plaintiffs in the case, including Missouri and Louisiana government officials and agencies acting in their official capacity. It does not extend to other social media networks or content posted by the general public.

"The Parties also agree that government, politicians, media, academics, or anyone else applying labels such as 'misinformation,' 'disinformation,' or 'malinformation' to speech does not render it constitutionally unprotected," the agreement reads.

The court must first approve this settlement agreement.

RELATED: BlazeTV's 'The Coverup' exposes how the censorship industrial complex silenced Americans during COVID

Eric Schmitt. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

"We just won Missouri v. Biden," Schmitt wrote in a post on X. "As Missouri's Attorney General, I sued the Biden regime for brazenly colluding with Big Tech to silence Missouri families — censoring the truth about COVID, the Hunter Biden laptop, the open border, and the 2020 election. They tried to turn Facebook, X, YouTube, and the rest into their private speech police, labeling dissent 'misinformation' while they pushed their narrative on the American people."

Schmitt called the Consent Decree the "first real, operational restraint on the federal censorship machine."

He explained that it "directly binds the Surgeon General, the CDC, and CISA: no more threats of legal, regulatory, or economic punishment. No more coercion. No more unilateral direction or veto of platform decisions to remove, suppress, deplatform, or algorithmically bury protected speech."

"For every working Missouri family tired of being silenced by their own government: this victory is yours. The heartland fought back, and the heartland delivered," Schmitt concluded.

RELATED: 'Karma is a b***h': Trump taps epidemiologist targeted by Biden admin and censored online to run NIH

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Benjamin Weingarten, a senior contributor at the Federalist, addressed the victory's narrow application.

"This decree is limited to the plaintiffs, but as precedent, and practically, its impact may prove orders of magnitude more powerful in protecting disfavored speech," Weingarten wrote, calling it "a momentous blow for the First Amendment."

National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya, who had to withdraw as a plaintiff in the case after being appointed by the Trump administration, called the settlement "a huge win for all Americans."

"Huzzah! The consent decree in Missouri v. Biden is a historic victory for free speech in the US. Though I had to switch to the government side in the case after I became NIH director, I've never been more pleased by 'losing' in my life," he wrote.

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Ohio GOP Supreme Court candidate claims she was ‘never’ appointed by any Democrat — but official record says otherwise



An Ohio Republican Supreme Court candidate is facing scrutiny after claiming on the campaign trail that she was never nominated by a Democrat, despite evidence to the contrary.

Former Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Colleen O'Donnell's comments have raised questions about her transparency and credibility in a crowded May primary. The upcoming race offers Republicans the chance to unseat the state's last Democratic justice, Jennifer Brunner, and secure a 7-0 conservative majority on the court.

'Ohio voters deserve clear, factual information about the record of anyone seeking a seat on the Supreme Court of Ohio.'

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), who refused to vote for either presidential candidate in the 2016 election and announced his endorsement of Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, appointed O'Donnell in May 2013 to fill a vacancy on the Franklin County Common Pleas Court. She lost her re-election bid to a Democrat in 2022. In August 2023, the Biden administration appointed O’Donnell as a U.S. immigration judge in Laredo, Texas.

"In Laredo, I faced the worst of the worst — drug traffickers, human smugglers, and violent gang members," O'Donnell stated when announcing her Ohio Supreme Court run in October. "I was proud to protect our communities from dangerous individuals, but I was also frustrated by how broken the system was. Too often, laws weren't enforced. That lawlessness still echoes across our courts today."

During a January interview, O'Donnell stated that she was "assigned to serve" in Laredo, which she noted was "about 1,500 miles from my home and my family here in Columbus."

"I was presiding over asylum cases day after day after day. And I honored my oath and obligation to interpret the immigration law with impartiality and with integrity and resolve those asylum cases as efficiently as I could," she said.

O'Donnell explained that she left the Laredo position "after six or eight months," adding that the travel and time away from family were "pretty difficult."

Her campaign website describes her as "a constitutional conservative with extensive judicial experience at every level of government." It notes that as a U.S. immigration judge, she "handled illegal entry and asylum cases during the height of the border crisis."

O'Donnell's website claims that she "enforced the law as written," "never once granted asylum," and "consistently ordered the removal of illegal aliens from our country."

RELATED: Chris Christie absolutely trashes John Kasich after former Ohio GOP governor speaks at DNC

Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images

In early March, the Ohio Conservatives PAC accused O'Donnell of lying to voters about her immigration judge appointment.

The PAC shared an audio clip of O'Donnell's speech from a March 2 lunch with legislators event for the Greene County Republican Party, during which she accused her opponents of "mischaracterizing" her background and qualifications.

"Because I value transparency and the truth, I want to be crystal clear: I was never appointed by Joe Biden, or any other Democrat, to serve as an immigration judge, or in any other role I've ever had in my career," O'Donnell stated in the clip.

Two event attendees confirmed the authenticity of the audio to Blaze News.

One of those individuals, Setys Kelly, who is running for State Central Committee, told Blaze News, "I’m thankful that the Republican Club of Greene County has these meetings that give you a chance to ask these questions of the candidates. And more people should take advantage of that because that’s how you find out the things that you want to know, instead of somebody repeating it on Facebook or social media — you never really know if it’s true. But you can ask the question here and hope to get a final answer.”

A Department of Justice notice from August 2023 confirmed that the Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden appointed O'Donnell.

"Today, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland officially appointed the following individuals as immigration judges," the DOJ notice reads, listing 38 names, including "Colleen O'Donnell."

The PAC further highlighted O'Donnell's claim that she never granted asylum.

"O'Donnell claims she never granted asylum one time. Well, that could be because she only served for a handful of months and quit before she completed her entire training program and probationary period," the PAC stated, contending that it was unlikely she oversaw any case from start to finish.

"For the last eight months Colleen O'Donnell has lied to Republicans about her appointment to the Biden Department of Justice," Cameron Brady, a spokesman for Ohio Conservatives PAC, told Blaze News. "The record shows that during her very brief stint for the Biden administration, she wasn't a tough on the border judge, but rather just another Biden flunky taking marching orders to catch and release dozens of illegal immigrants into the interior of our country. O'Donnell's forced to lean on her four-month stint as an immigration judge because unlike her three opponents who are actually judges, O'Donnell has been unemployed for going on three years."

Immigration judge record

A Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review dataset of O'Donnell's decisions as an immigration judge shows that in roughly 25% of the hearings in which the person appeared, O'Donnell ruled in their favor, allowing them to remain in the country rather than be deported.

In two of the 14 credible fear review cases she ruled on, O'Donnell overturned immigration officers' decisions that the individuals lacked credible fear. Doing so allows individuals to pursue asylum or other forms of deportation protections.

In nine cases, she granted relief from removal, enabling those individuals to remain in the U.S. through some form of approved protection or status change. The available judicial datasets do not specify the exact type of relief granted; however, they may include options such as asylum, cancellation of removal, adjustment of status, or other forms of relief.

In one case, where the individual may not have been eligible for full asylum, O'Donnell ruled that deportation to his or her home country would pose a danger, thereby permitting the individual to stay in the U.S.

Two other cases were terminated without a deportation order, which can occur when the government withdraws charges, the charges are defective, or the individual qualifies for legal status through an alternative pathway.

O'Donnell's campaign declined requests to clarify these rulings, only insisting that she never granted asylum.

"Colleen O'Donnell had a distinguished career as a Common Pleas Court judge and federal immigration judge, where she never once granted asylum. Our campaign team will not dignify these kinds of allegations. We have no further comment on this matter," Amy Natoce, O'Donnell's campaign adviser, told Blaze News.

RELATED: JD Vance's half-brother becomes another casualty of Tuesday's electoral bloodbath, losing Ohio race in a landslide

Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images

Ohio Republicans react

In the Republican primary for Ohio Supreme Court, O'Donnell is running against three other candidates: Andrew King, Jill Flagg Lanzinger, and Ronald Lewis. The election is scheduled for May 5. The winner will face off on November 3 against Brunner, who currently holds the seat.

Lewis, a judge on Ohio's Second District Court of Appeals, told Blaze News, "Although I am not in a position to make a judgment on the truthfulness of this particular statement from Ms. O'Donnell, I do believe it would be valuable for Republican primary voters to receive a thorough explanation from O'Donnell on how she was appointed to the position, how her tenure as an immigration judge went, and how she arrived at the decisions she made while serving in that role."

"The enforcement and application of immigration law was certainly different in 2023 than it has been since the inauguration of President Trump, and voters deserve to know O'Donnell's role in immigration enforcement during her time as an appointee in the Department of Justice during Merrick Garland's tenure as director," Lewis added.

King, a judge for the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals, said in a statement to Blaze News, "The next justice needs to be rock solid in their judicial background and philosophy. I am the type of constitutional conservative judge Trump would appoint. We need a judge who the Trump administration would appoint, not a judge that the Biden administration did appoint."

State Rep. Meredith Craig (R), who has endorsed King, told Blaze News, "Ohio voters deserve clear, factual information about the record of anyone seeking a seat on the Supreme Court of Ohio. It's a matter of public record that Merrick Garland, serving as Attorney General under Joe Biden, appointed Colleen O'Donnell."

"And the facts don't stop there. According to available case data, Colleen O'Donnell presided over 110 immigration cases, transferring 35 into the interior of the United States. Of those, 28 involved individuals who were never detained or were released. This aligns with what has commonly been described as 'catch-and-release' policies during the Biden administration," Craig continued. "These are facts voters can and should consider as they evaluate candidates for one of the highest courts in our state."

Flagg Lanzinger and the Ohio Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment.

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Government-paid traffickers? Noem testifies Biden administration funded abuse of migrant kids



Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Biden administration paid child traffickers to sponsor unaccompanied minors.

Moments after Noem was sworn in to testify, a masked protester against immigration enforcement interrupted the hearing by shouting for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The hearing was interrupted a second time by another protester, who yelled out claims that ICE had killed Americans, shouting, “Black lives matter!”

'We’re not going to stop until we find every single one.'

During Noem’s opening statement, she accused Democrats of holding the DHS hostage by leading a government shutdown of the agency, which she called “reckless” and “unnecessary.”

“As a result, critical national security missions, including border security, immigration enforcement, aviation security, disaster response, cybersecurity, and the protection of critical infrastructure, are all being strained. Our ability to provide for a safe and successful World Cup is being hindered as well,” Noem explained.

She noted that over 100,000 DHS employees are “again being asked to work without pay for the third time in just five months.”

RELATED: Tom Homan says Trump administration has located 23,000 of the 300,000 migrant children lost under Biden administration

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Noem explained that during the Biden administration’s open-border crisis, unaccompanied minors were "lost" and "not tracked."

She said that it has been “challenging” because the Department of Health and Human Services, under the Biden administration’s leadership, paid sponsors to host the unaccompanied minors.

“And those sponsors, many times, we found instances where they trafficked these children themselves,” Noem continued. “So under that administration, we not only had children that were in this country as a part of a program, the government was paying individuals that were knowingly trafficking them and abusing them.”

She declared that under the Trump administration, these practices have ended, and federal law enforcement agents have found many of these children and attempted to reunite them with their families.

Noem reported that the current administration has located 145,000 of the 450,000 children whom the previous White House was not tracking.

“We’re not going to stop until we find every single one,” Noem declared.

RELATED: ICE exposes Biden's biggest border failure: Kids handed to sex abusers and criminals

Photo by HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) addressed the rise in child abuse material online, noting that in 2023, there were an estimated 104 million images and videos of suspected child sexual abuse reported in the United States.

“With all of these images of kids online, I was shocked to learn recently that hundreds of thousands of children in these images are unidentified,” Hawley told Noem. “The Interpol database alone, 90,000 kids are completely unidentified. In the U.K.’s database, it’s over 200,000.”

“Would it be helpful to you if Congress said, ‘You know what, we’re going to create more analysts, more child abuse expert positions, more forensic analysts, and more prosecutors to give to you to look at these images, figure out who these kids are, and go after their abusers?'” Hawley asked.

“Yes, it’d be incredibly helpful," Noem responded, adding that providing more resources to Homeland Security Investigations would allow the agency to "free more kids from that life of victimhood."

Hawley pledged to introduce legislation to provide the DHS with additional funding to rescue children from trafficking.

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'Obvious f**king failure': Even Hunter Biden admits dad’s Afghanistan exit was a total disaster



Hunter Biden criticized his father, former President Joe Biden, and his administration for the botched withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, and he detailed his thoughts on the country's immigration problem.

During an interview on the "Shawn Ryan Show" released Monday, Hunter Biden stated that he believes politicians on both sides of the aisle want to find a solution to immigration.

'I think there was a better way to do it.'

Podcast host Shawn Ryan and Hunter Biden discussed how foreign nationals have been receiving abundant resources on the American taxpayer's dime, including free hotel rooms.

"We need immigration. We need a vibrant immigration, but we don't want immigrants that are coming here illegally, draining us of resources," Biden told Ryan.

Ryan expressed concerns that more resources are being allocated to foreign nationals, while American veterans continue to struggle to obtain the necessary support.

Hunter Biden stated that he does not want immigrants prioritized over U.S. troops or other Americans.

RELATED: 'I'm going to get myself in trouble': Hunter Biden urges Democrats to race to 'the bottom faster' after Kirk's assassination

Hunter Biden. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

During the five-hour conversation, Ryan asked Biden about some of his father's failures as president. Biden responded by mentioning the botched exit from Afghanistan, during which a suicide bomber killed 13 U.S. service members.

Biden stated that he believes it was necessary to leave Afghanistan but criticized the execution of the withdrawal.

"I think one of the failures was the way in which they executed the withdrawal from Afghanistan. I think it was an obvious f**king failure. I think 13 Marines are dead. I think that there was a better way to do it," Hunter Biden said.

"And I can blame it on his generals. I can blame it on the people, the way in which we did it. But my dad always knew this also, is that the buck stops with him," he continued. "I think that that was a failure."

RELATED: DC National Guard shooting suspect is Afghan national who entered US under Biden withdrawal program: Report

Joe Biden, Hunter Biden. Photo by Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Ryan asked Biden how his father feels about the withdrawal now.

"The same way that I do," he replied.

"I don't want to speak for my dad, but I know my dad, you know, is crushed by that," Hunter Biden added, referring to the service members who lost their lives.

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Trump official pins DC National Guard attack on Biden's open border crisis



The Trump administration’s National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent exposed a terrifying reality about the fallout from former President Joe Biden’s open border crisis.

'That number, alarmingly, remains unknown at this time.'

During a Thursday Committee on Homeland Security hearing, Kent testified that, under the Biden administration, thousands of foreign nationals with known or suspected terrorist ties were allowed into the country.

“Despite the progress that we’ve made so far in the Trump administration, the threat posed by terrorists of all brands remains very high right now,” Kent said in his opening statement before lawmakers.

He explained that the country is facing “a persistent threat from the individuals that were allowed into this country by the previous administration.”

Kent noted that the most significant threat “is the fact that we don’t know who came into our country in the last four years of Biden’s open borders.”

“What we have identified is alarming,” he stated, adding that the federal government recently issued a warning about the heightened risk of terrorist attacks, particularly posed by ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

RELATED: White House makes touching gesture to honor assassinated National Guard member, allegedly by CIA-linked Afghan

Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images

“So far, NCTC has identified around 18,000 known and suspected terrorists that the Biden administration let come into our country,” Kent revealed.

He accused the prior administration of having “facilitated” the entry of individuals with ties to jihadi groups, including the Afghan suspected of attacking National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., on November 26. The attack resulted in the death of 20-year-old National Guard member Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, while Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe was wounded.

“That Afghan was brought into the country as a group of over 100,000 Afghans who were brought here during the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. These individuals, despite what has been reported, were not vetted properly to come into the United States,” Kent said.

RELATED: Wajahat Ali says quiet part out loud in attack on Trump's re-migration plan: 'Mistake that you made is you let us in'

Photo by GUILLERMO ARIAS/AFP via Getty Images

He stated that the NCTC is working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to track down individuals with ties to terrorist organizations. However, he noted that the 18,000 figure does not include foreign nationals who came into the U.S. illegally through the open border.

“That number, alarmingly, remains unknown at this time,” Kent remarked. “We’re trying to figure out who those individuals are as well.”

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Trump’s DHS rolls back more of Biden’s immigration handouts for foreign nationals



President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security is continuing to roll back Temporary Protected Status, which was widely granted to numerous countries under the previous administration’s leadership.

On Friday morning, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services issued a press release announcing that the DHS will terminate TPS for Ethiopia.

'Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals.'

The current TPS designation was set to expire on Friday. Ethiopian nationals without another lawful basis to remain in the U.S. have 60 days to leave the country.

Those individuals are encouraged to use the Customs and Border Protection’s CBP Home mobile app to report their departure. They will receive a plane ticket and a $1,000 exit bonus.

The DHS may begin making arrests and deportations after February 13 for those who fail to leave voluntarily. They will not be eligible to return to the U.S.

“Temporary Protected Status designations are time-limited and were never meant to be a ticket to permanent residency,” a USCIS spokesperson stated. “Conditions in Ethiopia no longer pose a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals. Since the situation no longer meets the statutory requirements for a TPS designation, [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem is terminating this designation to restore integrity in our immigration system.”

RELATED: Trump DHS makes 'temporary' finally mean temporary again, revoking Biden's free pass for 4,000 foreign nationals

Kristi Noem, Donald Trump. Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

TPS was first extended to Ethiopia in December 2022 under former President Joe Biden, whose administration claimed the designation was necessary due to “ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

“Ethiopia faces armed conflict in multiple regions of the country resulting in large-scale displacement. In addition, Ethiopia has been experiencing severe climatic shocks exacerbating humanitarian concerns over access to food, water, and health care,” Biden’s DHS stated.

RELATED: 25 years after a Central American hurricane, Noem's DHS to end associated immigration Temporary Protected Status

Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas extended the TPS designation in April 2024.

“While some residual challenges in regions affected by the conflicts remain, there are signs of improvements in the country,” Trump’s DHS wrote in a Federal Register notice that will be published next week.

“The Secretary has determined that, while some sporadic and episodic violence occurs in Ethiopia, the situation no longer meets the criteria for an ongoing armed conflict that poses a serious threat to the personal safety of returning Ethiopian nationals,” the DHS continued.

Trump's DHS previously terminated TPS for Burma, Haiti, South Sudan, Syria, and Venezuela. Countries that continue to hold TPS designations into 2026 include El Salvador, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, Ukraine, and Yemen.

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Biden turned American airports into migrant flophouses — forcing taxpayers to foot the bill



During the peak of the Biden administration’s open-border chaos, reports surfaced that foreign nationals were sleeping on airport floors around the nation, mainly due to over-capacity at local shelters.

In June 2024, more than 100 people reportedly camped out at Boston Logan International Airport. There were also reports that immigrants were sheltering at the San Diego International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

'This report exposes how the Biden Department of Transportation conspired with local leaders in New York, Boston, and Chicago to house migrants in airport facilities at taxpayer expense.'

A new report by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation found that the Biden administration played a role in this situation by directing multiple federal agencies to identify airports to serve as shelter space or processing facilities for foreign nationals, Fox News Digital reported on Monday. This action was directed to the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the Federal Transit Administration.

The DOT and the FAA were reportedly instructed to “inventory available facilities,” including airports owned by the federal government and those owned locally, to “divert federal resources” to support the influx of arriving foreign nationals.

The committee found that at least 11 of the nation’s airports were pressured to allow migrants to shelter inside terminals, hangars, and auxiliary buildings, Fox News Digital reported. This pressure campaign included Boston Logan, Chicago O’Hare, and John F. Kennedy in New York.

Massport told Blaze News that it informed federal officials that the airport was “not designed or resourced to manage the intake of migrant populations,” warning that it “would create a host of unintended safety and security consequences.”

RELATED: Massachusetts to ban illegal aliens from sleeping at Boston’s Logan Airport

Jodi Hilton for The Washington Post via Getty Images

The committee highlighted an incident at the JFK Airport in 2024 in which a national from Ecuador “ran past a security post into ‘the secure area' ... toward two runways.” Security apprehended the individual, who was found in possession of a box cutter and scissors.

The report claimed that FAA officials were aware that such actions may require federal approval under grant-assurance rules, but they “ignored them most of the time when airports used their facilities to house aliens.”

RELATED: Chicago's O'Hare airport still packed with illegal immigrants despite some retreating to Venezuela over lack of amenities

Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

“The Biden-Harris administration made airports and aviation less secure,” the committee’s report stated. It argued that the administration allowed and even encouraged “aliens to shelter at U.S. airports, by allowing improperly vetted aliens to fly into and throughout the United States, and by diverting needed federal air marshals to the border.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the chairman of the committee, told Fox News Digital, “This report exposes how the Biden Department of Transportation conspired with local leaders in New York, Boston, and Chicago to house migrants in airport facilities at taxpayer expense.”

“Their decisions — to transport illegal aliens through airports without identity checks, even those with felonies — shows in new detail how Biden’s open-border policy co-opted government agencies to put American citizens at risk,” Cruz said.

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Trump DHS makes 'temporary' finally mean temporary again, revoking Biden's free pass for 4,000 foreign nationals



The Biden administration expanded so-called lawful pathways, allowing millions of foreign nationals to flood into the United States. One of those pathways included the controversial use of Temporary Protected Status.

TPS was created to provide a deportation shield to foreign nationals in the U.S. based on temporarily unstable conditions in their home countries.

'This decision restores TPS to its original status as temporary.'

Since retaking office in January, President Donald Trump has moved to roll back TPS, which was provided to numerous countries under the prior administration.

Trump's Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday the termination of TPS for Burma, effective January 26.

"At least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, the Secretary, after consultation with appropriate U.S. government agencies, is required to review the conditions in a country designated for TPS to determine whether the conditions supporting the designation continue to be met, and, if so, how long to extend the designation," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services stated.

"If the Secretary determines that the conditions in the foreign state continue to meet the specific statutory criteria for Temporary Protected Status designation, Temporary Protected Status will be extended for an additional period of 6 months or, in the Secretary's discretion, 12 or 18 months," USCIS continued. "If the Secretary determines that the foreign state no longer meets the conditions for Temporary Protected Status designation, the Secretary must terminate the designation."

Burma was designated for TPS in May 2021, citing the Burmese military's involvement in "a coup" that "depos[ed] the democratically elected government and declar[ed] a temporary one-year state of emergency," which paused elections.

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"The military is responding with increasing oppression and violence to demonstrations and protests, resulting in large-scale human rights abuses, including arbitrary detentions and deadly force against unarmed individuals," the Biden administration claimed at the time.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem concluded that the situation in Burma has improved and that its citizens are safe to return home.

"This decision restores TPS to its original status as temporary," Noem declared. "Burma has made notable progress in governance and stability, including the end of its state of emergency, plans for free and fair elections, successful ceasefire agreements, and improved local governance contributing to enhanced public service delivery and national reconciliation."

Noem also concluded that allowing Burmese nationals to remain in the country would be "contrary to the national interest of the United States."

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Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) called the move "cruel," claiming that revoking TPS would endanger lives.

"Ending TPS for Burma, in the middle of the conflict there, endangers the lives of many Burmese, including human rights and democracy activists. It's cruel and will undermine the fight for democracy in Burma. The admin must reconsider this terrible decision," Meeks said.

There are nearly 4,000 approved TPS beneficiaries from Burma, according to DHS. Over 200 individuals reportedly have pending applications.

TPS is set to expire for several other nations, including Ethiopia in December, South Sudan in January, and Haiti in February.

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