Homeland Security’s Bloated ‘Intelligence’ Office Is Costing Taxpayers $348 Million Every Year
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis functions more as a cost center, complicating DHS's role in intelligence rather than enhancing it.The Office of Intelligence and Analysis functions more as a cost center, complicating DHS's role in intelligence rather than enhancing it.'Exemplary' TSA agents receive big bonus just in time for Christmas after powering through Dem shutdown without a paycheck
The Department of Homeland Security handed out bonuses to Transportation Security Administration agents who went above and beyond during the Democrat shutdown.
The 43-day shutdown forced essential government workers to continue working despite not receiving a paycheck.
'We will be continuing to not only recognize employees across the country, but we will be looking at every single TSA official who helped serve during this government shutdown, and do what we can to recognize that.'
On Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced during a press conference at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport that the federal government would provide a $10,000 bonus to TSA agents who showed "exemplary service."
"Today we are announcing that we are going to be handing out bonus checks of $10,000 to TSOs, to agents who work for TSA who served with exemplary service," Noem stated. "What that means is that we are going to not only continue their paychecks like they should have received all along, but also they're going to get a bonus check for stepping up, taking on extra shifts, for showing up each and every day, for serving the American people."
During the press conference, Noem handed out envelopes containing bonus checks to roughly two dozen TSA agents.
RELATED: Trump officially ends 'pathetic' Democrats' record-breaking shutdown
"Every single one of these individuals served with exemplary service, which means they were an example of, not only taking seriously the security concerns and measures that TSA has to every single day and the Department of Homeland Security, but also they went above and beyond," Noem said.
The DHS secretary stated that the department will continue to recognize government employees nationwide who stepped up during the shutdown.
RELATED: FAA cancels hundreds of flights, sparking holiday travel concerns amid ongoing Democrat shutdown
"We will be continuing to not only recognize employees across the country, but we will be looking at every single TSA official who helped serve during this government shutdown, and do what we can to recognize that and help them financially with a bonus check to get them and their family back on their feet," Noem stated.
She also noted that the TSA will implement new security screening lanes for families with small children, as well as for veterans and active-duty military.
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Importing Foreign Workers To Take Americans’ Jobs Is The Opposite Of America First
You cannot put America first by putting Americans last.'Operation Dirtbag' nabs over 230 criminal illegal aliens — but Noem wants more
As the Department of Homeland Security's deportation operations continue to clean up our cities and remove illegal aliens across the country, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem took a moment to celebrate a big win in Florida.
On Tuesday, the secretary shared details in a Fox News interview about Operation Criminal Return, or as she liked to call it, "Operation Dirtbag." The DHS posted a clip of the interview on X.
'It's remarkable, and we need to do more of it.'
Operation Dirtbag was so called because of the more than 230 criminal illegal aliens arrested, over 150 of whom were sexual predators, many against children, Noem explained.
"These individuals were sex offenders, but not just sex offenders — they targeted children," Noem stated.
RELATED: Illegal alien pedophile allegedly 'physically assaulted' ICE agent during immigration operation: DHS
"These individuals should've never been in our country to begin with, and the fact that they were sexual deviants and perverts and now we've gotten them off of our streets — it's remarkable, and we need to do more of it," Noem added.
Among the crimes committed by these illegal aliens were attempted premeditated murder with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery, sexual assault, sexual battery, lewd and lascivious molestation of children, possession of narcotics, possession of marijuana, possession of a controlled substance, and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, according to the DHS' X post.
Secretary Noem expressed her department's appreciation for Florida's cooperation in the operations.
"Our kids will be safer. And this partnership with Governor DeSantis in Florida is a model that we want to replicate across the country."
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Accountability or bust: Trump’s second term test
Republicans weren’t supposed to have a big night Tuesday — but they had a worse one than expected.
As usual, Democrats, who have had little to celebrate beyond street protests and government shutdowns, framed the results as a referendum on Donald Trump. That claim is exaggerated, but Republicans would be foolish to think the administration’s performance played no role. Weak candidates in blue states don’t explain everything. The message should be taken as a call for maintenance, not panic.
If the Trump administration restores trust through accountability and delivers tangible improvements to ordinary Americans, it will earn a political legacy that lasts generations.
The consensus takeaway is the right one: President Trump should return home and focus on his domestic agenda.
That shift already seems to be under way. Immediately after the election, the president summoned Republican senators to the White House to urge them to revoke the filibuster and pass a bold domestic program. Whether or not ending the filibuster is strategically sound, the impulse behind it shows Trump recognizes that his domestic agenda needs care and attention.
On Thursday, the president followed through by announcing a new affordability initiative, including a deal with Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to slash the prices of popular weight-loss drugs.
The missing element
Any serious domestic agenda must center on accountability. Trump’s original campaign gained enormous traction on that theme for a reason. Like affordability, accountability resonates because both expose a corrupt system that favors elites and leaves ordinary Americans powerless. The Epstein saga, still festering years later, stands as Exhibit A — another example of “the big guys getting away with it again.”
That resentment fueled Trump’s rise in 2016 and explains his staying power today. It also helps explain Mamdani’s massive win on Tuesday. Americans are sick of a rigged system, and they are rejecting that system.
Trump represents a chance to correct that system. His second administration has produced real accomplishments. But the obstacles remain daunting: a world in turmoil, an economy tilted against working people, a hostile bureaucracy protected by a conflicted judiciary, and a divided Republican Party that lacks a filibuster-proof Senate majority.
Many within that party seem more interested in positioning themselves for the post-Trump era than advancing his reforms. It’s a weak hand outside the executive branch — but it’s also why voters sent him back to Washington.
A coalition that needs proof
For Trump’s coalition to endure, voters must see results that affect their daily lives. They need proof that their votes produced meaningful change — not better conditions for elites or new foreign entanglements. They want to see powerful wrongdoers held to account and to believe the system can be fair again.
Foreign policy deals won’t secure that trust. Trump’s skepticism of interventionism can survive only so many “necessary” international arrangements. However worthwhile some of those efforts may be, domestic priorities must come first. Accountability and reform should lead.
That means confronting the deep state, disciplining the bureaucracy, and rewarding the citizens who put this administration in power. The ferocity of DOGE’s early efforts — once celebrated as a hallmark of domestic resolve — has largely evaporated. In its place, we’ve seen premature victory laps and deflections. The FBI supposedly reformed. The Butler assassination attempt, which nearly removed a political figure representing half the country, brushed aside as a bad day. The promise to deport illegal immigrants narrowed to the “worst of the worst.”
When government fails to deliver transparency and fairness, the people begin to question the entire system — and rightly so. Americans don’t separate political corruption from economic corruption. It’s all part of the same tilted playing field. Trump still embodies their hope of leveling it.
RELATED: Democrats are running as Bush-era Republicans — and winning
Too much sizzle, too little steak
That mission is undermined, however, by the self-promotional drift of several administration principals. Americans see endless television hits, turf wars, and personal branding. They hear more about Attorney General Pam Bondi than about the Department of Justice, more about Secretary Kristi Noem than Homeland Security, more about Secretary Howard Lutnick than the Department of Commerce.
Most of these officials are countering a hostile media landscape — a necessary lesson from the first Trump term. But the result has been an overcorrection: too much personality, not enough policy. Americans didn’t vote for celebrity cameos. They voted for results.
Trump’s cabinet would do well to follow his lead and return focus to the work at hand. Fewer cameras, more control. Roll up sleeves, reassert authority over agencies, and push through systemic reforms that prove Washington can change — permanently.
The road to renewal
If the Trump administration restores trust through accountability and delivers tangible improvements to ordinary Americans, it will earn a political legacy that lasts generations.
America could use that kind of durability — and that kind of hope.
Deportations top 2 million under Trump — and most aren't by force
Deportations and border security have been a crucial part of the second Trump administration, and nine months in, the government has started to release some results. Despite seemingly constant obstruction from Democrats, the administration has begun to deliver on its promises of mass deportations.
"The president is all about results, ... and what President Trump, Secretary Noem, and our law enforcement have been able to do in the past 270 days, despite the injunctions, despite the obstruction from sanctuary city politicians and these activist judges, is really nothing short of extraordinary," Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a Fox News interview on Monday.
'While ICE actions targeting criminal illegal aliens have captured most of the attention, the phenomenon of large-scale self-deportation is probably even more significant.'
She went on to report that over 2 million illegal aliens have left the country since the beginning of Trump's term, citing an October 27 press release.
McLaughlin claimed in the press release that the majority of the deportations have been voluntary: "More than 2 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. including 1.6 million who have voluntarily self-deported and over 527,000 deportations."
According to a March 2025 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, there are an estimated 18.6 million illegal aliens in the United States.
"While ICE actions targeting criminal illegal aliens have captured most of the attention, the phenomenon of large-scale self-deportation is probably even more significant," Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Blaze News.
Mehlman emphasized that illegal aliens are "rational" actors. If the perceived benefits of coming to the United States are unavailable to them because of their illegal status, they will likely leave voluntarily or not immigrate at all.
"If we ... make it difficult to enter, difficult to find employment or access benefits and services, and that there is a reasonable chance that you might be apprehended and removed, illegal aliens will make similarly rational decisions: Many fewer come here illegally, and many of those who are here decide that they should leave on their own," Melhman told Blaze News.
The government is also offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport, according to the press release.
Deterrence and shifting incentive structures for illegal immigrants have been key to turning the tide on the Biden border crisis, but more work needs to be done, as DHS admits.
"This is just the beginning. ... DHS, ICE, and CBP have not just closed the border, but made historic strides to carry out President Trump's promise of arresting and deporting illegal aliens who have invaded our country," the DHS press release continued. "Illegal aliens are hearing our message to leave now or face the consequence: Migrants are now turning back before they even reach our borders."
"Migration through Panama's Darien Gap is down 99.99%," McLaughlin added, referring to the dangerous route connecting South and Central America that many immigrants use on their way to America.
In the interview, McLaughlin also added that 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will soon be hired to assist with immigration operations.
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After Abusing Foreign Visa Program, Universities Claim Rules Shouldn’t Apply To Them
While the H-1B program needs to be cleaned up and significantly curtailed -- or even abolished -- there is no room in America to give institutions of higher education special treatment.Islamic group throws fit after Trump admin detains, revokes visa of alleged terrorist sympathizer
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is up in arms over the imminent deportation of Sami Hamdi, a radical Islamic agitator from the United Kingdom who allegedly suggested the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel were worth celebrating.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed in a statement to Blaze News that as the result of work undertaken by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "this individual's visa was revoked and he is in ICE custody pending removal."
As of Monday morning, the online Immigration and Customs Enforcement database does not presently have a Sami Hamdi from the U.K. listed as being in custody.
'How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar?'
"Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country," continued McLaughlin. "It's commonsense."
The State Department said in a statement, "We've said it before, we'll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans."
Hamdi's detention came just days after the RAIR Foundation USA published a damning report concerning the British national's history of radical remarks and associations, stating, "Every appearance Hamdi makes in America is not merely a speech — it operates effectively as a deployment node in an organized influence and mobilization program serving a foreign militant Islamic cause on U.S. soil. His talks are not educational but tactical."
During an October 2023 panel discussion at a British mosque, Hamdi suggested that rather than pitying the Palestinians, Muslims should "celebrate the victory," apparently referencing the Hamas terror attacks that claimed the lives of over 1,200 people in Israel including 46 Americans.
"Allah has shown the world that no normalization can erase the Palestinian cause," said Hamdi. "When everybody thought it was finished, it's roaring. How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria, Allahu akbar? How many of you felt it? Why did you feel it? Because the despair vanished."
RELATED: Nigerian Christians are being murdered by Islamic radicals. This congressman has had enough.
Hamdi also suggested that the reports of rapes by Hamas terrorists were lies.
Although Hamdi has suggested that his remarks were misrepresented and has denied that he celebrated the events of Oct. 7, he has since characterized the Hamas terror attacks as a "natural consequence of the oppression that was being put on the Palestinians."
Blaze News has reached out to Hamdi for comment.
Hamdi, the managing director of a group that purportedly "advises on political environments across the globe," spoke on Saturday at the Sacramento Valley chapter of CAIR's annual banquet and was scheduled to speak to CAIR Florida on Sunday.
Federal immigration officials detained Hamdi Sunday morning at San Francisco International Airport, cutting short his speaking tour.
CAIR, whose co-founder said in a speech that the Hamas terror attacks on unarmed women and children made him "happy," condemned Hamdi's detention and called for his release.
The organization — which the Justice Department named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing case — stated that "abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticize the Israeli government's genocide is a blatant affront to free speech."
"Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice. We call on ICE to immediately account for and release Mr. Hamdi, whose only 'crime' is criticizing a foreign government that committed genocide," continued the Washington, D.C.-based group. "Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots. This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end."
The Muslim Council of Britain has signaled common cause with CAIR and called for the U.K. government to "take urgent diplomatic action" to ensure "Hamdi's rights are protected."
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Liberal local TV producer claims she didn't attack ICE. DHS, video footage suggest otherwise.
Debbie Brockman, a producer at WGN-TV, was detained by federal agents amid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in Chicago on Friday.
Brockman's lawyers and the liberal media appear keen to characterize her as an unsuspecting victim of brutality on the part of Border Patrol agents. In the apparent attempt to insinuate a clampdown on the free press, some outlets have even falsely referred to Brockman as a "journalist."
The Department of Homeland Security has suggested, however, that Brockman was not, as her lawyers have indicated, innocently "walking to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents."
'Officers used their service vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening.'
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to Blaze News that "as agents were driving, Deborah Brockman, a U.S. citizen, threw objects at Border Patrol’s car, and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer."
Footage appears to show federal agents traveling west on Foster Avenue in a silver minivan after reportedly arresting an older male — an arrest that had prompted protest and condemnation from locals. Suddenly, an object can be seen hitting the vehicle, making a smashing sound. The agents immediately hit the brakes beside the alleged source of the projectile: Brockman.
RELATED: The city that chose crime and chaos over courage
Two agents leap out of the vehicle and attempt to handcuff Brockman, who can be seen doing her best to resist while a bystander lobs Nazi and fascist accusations at the arresting agents.
Josh Thomas, a witness who lives in the condo overlooking where the incident took place, told WGN that Brockman was "taking video" prior to her arrest.
After the agents squeeze the producer into the van, they realize that a woman in a black SUV has driven the wrong way down the road and blocked the lane ahead.
As a mob begins to congregate around the van, the agents order the driver of the obstructing vehicle to get out of the way. Closing her driver-side window, the woman in the SUV remains parked in the way, prompting the federal agents to ram ahead, clipping the SUV's rear bumper.
"CBP agents were conducting immigration enforcement operations when several violent agitators used vehicles to block in agents to impede and assault federal officers," said McLaughlin. "In fear of public and law enforcement safety, officers used their service vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening."
Brockman was released several hours later without charges.
RELATED: DHS torpedoes narrative of pro-Antifa priest who 'exploited' holy sacrament to score points on ICE
The producer's lawyers deny that Brockman assaulted anyone and suggested in a statement that "Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted."
"If armed, masked, federal agents are snatching U.S. citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these agents must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who dare to speak out against them," said Brad Thompson, one of Brockman's lawyers. "No one should be treated like that in this city, in this country, or anywhere else in the world."
Brockman's lawyers have indicated that she will not be making a statement at this time.
'We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist, and illegal alien will face American justice.'
"This is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers," said McLaughlin. "These attacks highlight the dangers our law enforcement officers face daily — all while receiving no pay thanks to the Democrats' government shutdown."
The DHS revealed on Tuesday that extra to projectiles allegedly lobbed by liberal media producers, ICE and CBP officers in Chicago have allegedly been targeted by bounties.
"In neighborhoods like Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village, gang members affiliated with groups such as the Latin Kings have deployed 'spotters' on rooftops equipped with firearms and radio communications," said the DHS. "These individuals track ICE and CBP movements in real time, relaying coordinates. This surveillance has enabled ambushes and disruptions during routine enforcement actions, including recent raids under Operation Midway Blitz."
According to the intelligence obtained by the agency, cartels have indicated they are willing to pay $2,000 for the doxxing of agents; $5,000 to $10,000 for kidnapping or non-lethal assaults on ICE and CBP agents; and up to $50,000 for the assassination of high-ranking officials.
"Our agents are facing ambushes, drone surveillance, and death threats, all because they dare to enforce the laws passed by Congress," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. "We will not back down from these threats, and every criminal, terrorist, and illegal alien will face American justice."
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