Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge in Tennessee plans to order the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation to El Salvador has become a flashpoint in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, while he awaits a federal trial on human smuggling charges. But Abrego Garcia is not expected to go free because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will likely take him into custody and possibly try to deport him. In a ruling on Sunday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barbara Holmes denied the U.S. government’s motion to keep Abrego Garcia in detention before his trial. She scheduled a hearing for...

Prior to President Donald Trump authorizing targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, federal agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have been arresting Iranian nationals, nearly all men, in the U.S. illegally. In the last few months, federal prosecutors have also brought terrorism charges against Iranians, including those in the U.S. working for the Iranian government. Iran is a designated state sponsor of terrorism. Iranian nationals illegally in the country are considered “special interest aliens” under federal law. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sunday issued a warning to all Americans to be on a heightened...

U.S. Border Patrol agents have uncovered and disabled a large-scale narcotics smuggling tunnel linking Tijuana to the San Diego area. The uncompleted tunnel extended more than 1,000 feet inside the U.S. and was highly sophisticated. In early April, Border Patrol agents assigned to the San Diego Sector Tunnel Team discovered the tunnel as it was actively under construction. The Tunnel Team made entry into the tunnel, which ran under a portion of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Based on preliminary indications, the tunnel had a projected exit point near or within a nearby commercial warehouse space.

The nearly 3,000-foot passage was equipped with lighting, ventilation systems and tracks to move narcotics ... U.S. Border Patrol agents recently discovered and disabled a nearly 3,000-foot-long narcotics smuggling tunnel sitting beneath the US-Mexico border. Agents found the tunnel — which linked Tijuana and San Diego — in early April while it was actively under construction. The underground passageway ran under part of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and had a projected exit point near or inside a commercial warehouse space in San Diego ... Upon entering the "highly sophisticated" tunnel, authorities were met with barricades seemingly placed to...

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Catholic Charities USA are among more than 200 non-governmental organizations named in a congressional probe for aiding immigrants its leaders call “inadmissible aliens” during former President Joe Biden’s administration. U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark E. Green, R-Tenn., and Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Accountability Chairman Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., announced their investigation June 11. According to a June 11 press release, “The chairmen are examining whether these NGOs used taxpayer dollars to facilitate illegal activity, as the previous administration incentivized millions of inadmissible aliens to cross our borders — many of...

Suspected MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia was paid up to $1,500 per smuggling trip and may have raked in more than $100,000 annually trafficking humans, including minors, according to witnesses. The new details about Abrego Garcia’s alleged “full-time job” come from co-conspirators and witnesses cooperating with the federal government’s human smuggling case against the Salvadoran national who was wrongly deported in March. The allegations were shared by a federal agent during a Friday detention hearing in a Nashville court, where Abrego Garcia entered a plea of not guilty. As part of the illegal operation, smugglers charged migrants from Central and...

Two Chinese scientists accused of smuggling or shipping biological material into the United States for use at the University of Michigan will remain in custody after waiving their right to a hearing Friday in federal court. Yunqing Jian and Chengxuan Han said in separate court appearances in Detroit that they would not challenge the government’s request to keep them locked up while their cases move forward. “This is a constantly evolving situation involving a large number of factors,” Han’s attorney, Sara Garber, told a judge. She didn’t elaborate and later declined to comment. Han was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan...

According to his plea agreement, [Shenghua] Wen is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China who entered the United States in 2012 on a student visa and remained in the U.S. illegally after his student visa expired in December 2013. Prior to entering the United States, Wen met with officials from North Korea’s government at a North Korean embassy in China. These government officials directed Wen to procure goods on behalf of North Korea. In 2022, two North Korean government officials contacted Wen through an online messaging platform and instructed him to buy and smuggle firearms and other goods...

One is an event, two is a coincidence—but three is a pattern. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that a third Chinese national has been nabbed for allegedly trying to smuggle biological materials into the United States. Making things more disturbing is a fact that a Hollywood screenwriter couldn’t have come up with: the smuggler was studying in, where else, Wuhan, China. You’ve heard of Wuhan, haven’t you? The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan released a statement alleging that Chengxuan Han, “a citizen of the PRC” (People's Republic of China), sent packages containing biological material...

Three British nationals could face death by a firing squad after they allegedly smuggled about a kilogram – over two pounds – of cocaine onto the island of Bali in Indonesia. The Associated Press reported that prosecutor I Made Dipa Umbara said 28-year-old Jonathan Christopher Collyer and 29-year-old Lisa Ellen Stocker were arrested Feb. 1, after customs officers stopped them at the X-ray machine when they found suspicious items disguised as food packages inside their luggage. Umbara told the District Court in Denpasar during a court hearing on Tuesday that a lab test result confirmed 10 pouches of "Angel Delight"...

The Washington Post has said that a massive drop in fentanyl seizures at the southern border is "mysterious" and that it is a "more complex" story than one would think after President Donald Trump has made it a point to crack down on border security as well as fentanyl trafficking into the US. The outlet suggested that the Trump administration's policies, such as threatening tariffs on China as well as Mexico to curb fentanyl, could have little to do with the drop in fentanyl, and claimed, "New data suggest a more complex story." This year, there has been a marked...

The truth must come out. People need to be prosecuted and sent away for a very long time.

A UFO that struck and damaged a US fighter jet is just one of a swarm of mystery objects buzzing around Air Force training ranges in Arizona, according to multiple reports. One of the unidentified flying objects hit the clear bubble “canopy” over the head of a pilot in a $63 million F-16 Viper jet in January 2023, damaging it and temporarily grounding the plane, according to Federal Aviation Administration documents first reported by the War Zone. The military jet was struck midair by “an orange-white UAS,” or “uncrewed aerial system,” the FAA documents said. The term refers to drones....

Patel’s warning echoes The Bureau’s exclusive reporting on a criminal convergence linking CCP-backed chemical suppliers, Iranian proxies, and Mexican cartels operating through Vancouver superlabs. WASHINGTON — In an explosive Sunday interview that will place tremendous pressure on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Liberal government, FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Mexican cartels, Chinese Communist Party operatives, and Iranian threat actors have forged a new axis of criminal cooperation, using Canada’s porous northern border and the Port of Vancouver—not the southern Mexican border—as their preferred entry point to flood fentanyl and terror suspects into the United States. “In the first two,...

The marijuana was inside 155 vacuum-sealed packages listed on the manifesto as “brace overalls for men / heavy duty workwear bib.” According to a press release from CBP, “The marijuana collectively weighed 91.3 kilograms, or 201 pounds and five ounces, and has a street value of about $875,000 in the United States. Depending on potency, this shipment could have fetched two to three times more in Europe.”

In two separate incidents at Otay Mesa and San Ysidro, agents discovered a total of 28 parrots and three chickens during suspected smuggling attempts. The first incident unfolded on April 30 at the Otay Mesa port of entry. After the 51-year-old driver exited his vehicle, officers noticed peculiar bulges around his ankles. A safety pat-down revealed a shocking discovery: six live, undeclared parrots crammed inside the man’s boots, according to a CBP release. A further search of the vehicle uncovered six additional parrots, sadly, two of which had died. Just days later, on May 4, at the San Ysidro port...

Abdala Rada Ramel has close ties to Salman Raouf Salman, who has been also accused of an important role in the AMIA bombing attack The "clans" consist of groups of Lebanese origin who exert control over given territories in South America - and enable Hezbollah All three clans are strategically positioned close to the most important ports of Venezuela, from which they doubtless oversee the trade and handling of goods that in turn allows Hezbollah to profit Assad Ahmad Barakat is accused of having been involved in the AMIA bomb attack and operating call centers and shell companies on behalf...

Estonian authorities detained and boarded a ship in the Baltic Sea that belongs to Russia’s shadow fleet, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said Friday. The vessel, which Michal said did not sail under any nation’s flag but was previously registered to Djibouti according to publicly available records, was detained near Tallinn Bay in an operation involving helicopters. “Early this morning, the Estonian Navy detained a sanctioned vessel with no flag state,” Michal said in a post on social media. “Our authorities are currently on board, inspecting its legal status and safety.” The ship was heading to the port of Ust-Luga, a...

Federal agents have arrested Utah oil magnate James Lael Jensen, his wife Kelly Anne Jensen, and two of their sons, Maxwell Sterling Jensen (aka “Max”) and Zachary Golden Jensen, in connection with a sprawling $300 MILLION smuggling and money laundering conspiracy tied to Mexican criminal organizations. Court records reveal that all four members of the Jensen family were arrested on Wednesday, April 23 — with sons Max and Zachary taken into custody in the Rio Grande Valley, while James and Kelly Jensen were apprehended at their 26,893-square-foot mansion in Sandy, Utah, reportedly worth over $9.1 million. The arrest was carried...

Three men have been arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle hermit crabs out of the country. The suspects, aged 24, 26 and 27, and widely identified in Japanese media as being Chinese nationals, were detained on Amami, a southerly island where the spiral-shelled crustaceans are a protected species. Authorities were alerted to the men's live cargo when hotel staff, who had been asked to look after their luggage, noticed the suitcases making a "rustling noise", police told local media. Officers subsequently discovered "thousands" of hermit crabs, weighing around 95kg. The third man was found to have a further 65kg...