Category: blaze media

It’s bad enough that when Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” ends in May, democracy will die. But we’ll also lose one of our nation’s finest joke-smiths.

Case in point? Colbert’s latest riff on ICE agents enforcing the law in Minnesota.

Whenever a woke movie or TV show gets blitzed by fans, the legacy media rushes to blame ‘review bombing’ as the culprit. It’s never the show’s fault, mind you.

The far-left comic noted the chilly temperatures facing Minneapolis residents this weekend, impacting both protesters and law enforcement agents. That’s a modicum of good news regarding the latter, Colbert crowed.

“This weekend, temperatures in Minneapolis are expected to plunge to around zero degrees, which could hinder the Trump administration’s continuing immigration crackdown. … I mean this with respect: I hope their dongs freeze and snap off. Like a graham cracker.”

Steve Allen. Jack Paar. Johnny Carson. None delivered wit and wisdom quite like Colbert. He will be missed (assuming he stays away for good!).

Hudson’s Diamond status

Hollywood has forgiven Kate Hudson for crushing the rom-com apparently.

The star of the awful, terrible, no-good “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” (and other forgettable low points of the genre) kept on working after that cinematic train wreck. Meanwhile Oscar voters looked the other way.

Hard. Can you blame them?

That ended this week when Hudson’s performance in “Song Sung Blue” snagged her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. It’s a wonderful, bittersweet story about a Neil Diamond tribute duo falling on hard times. And to be fair to Goldie Hawn’s daughter, she knocks it out of the park in the film.

Few expected Hudson to crack the top-five list of the year’s best performances by an actress, but she defied the odds. Let’s hope she continues to stay far away from Matthew McConaughey.

Potty-mouth Pratt

You kiss your mother with that mouth, Star-Lord?

Chris Pratt isn’t just an A-lister who can do comedy and action. He’s a Christian husband and father who speaks kindly about his faith. And he doesn’t bully those who don’t share his worldview.

Rare. Refreshing. Cool.

Yet the “Mercy” star lost it on the red carpet when actress Tilly Norwood’s name came up. Tilly isn’t real. She’s an AI construct whose very existence threatens flesh-and-blood actors who fear losing their livelihoods in the AI revolution.

That includes Pratt apparently.

“I don’t feel like someone’s going to replace me that’s AI … I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bull***t. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this b***h is.”

Guessing he’ll be putting a few dollars in the swear jar.

RELATED: Brave Hollywood stars hit Sundance red carpet in defiance of ICE ‘gestapo’ terror

Photos by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

No ‘bomb’ shelter for ‘Melania’

Let the review bombing commence!

Whenever a woke movie or TV show gets blitzed by fans, the legacy media rushes to blame “review bombing” as the culprit. It’s never the show’s fault, mind you, just angry bigots who hate seeing diversity on screens large and small.

Yeah, that’s why the uber-diverse “Fast & Furious” series lasted for 10 films … and counting.

The latest alleged review bombing victim? Paramount Plus’ “Starfleet Academy” series.

So will we see the same media framing for “Melania”? The January 30 documentary takes us behind the scenes of what it means to be FLOTUS in the Trump era. Now given that the vast, vast, vast majority of film critics lean to the left (and hard), will the movie get a fair critical shake?

And if not, will we see cries of “review bombing” from the usual suspects? To paraphrase Bret Easton Ellis’ literary classic, the chances are “less than zero.”

Closet-maxxing on ‘SNL’

To be fair, today’s “Saturday Night Live” fan isn’t familiar with actual jokes.

“Stranger Things” alum Finn Wolfhard hosted the most recent “SNL” episode, one featuring a sketch tweaking the Netflix’s show’s “coming out” sequence. The episode in question got drubbed by many as woke on steroids.

So “SNL” created a bit mocking Netflix for trying to extend the show’s brand at all costs. It’s a commentary on how Hollywood can’t stop milking popular IPs for all they’re worth. Did anyone ask for “Welcome to Derry,” the HBO Max prequel series to Stephen King’s “It”?

Except one of the show’s characters, Will, couldn’t be a part of the various spin-offs because his “coming out” monologue is still going on. And on. And on.

Well select fans recoiled at the bit. Here’s a sample:

“SNL making fun of will byers being gay and sexualising max mayfield all in one night,” a fan commented. “Me if i ordered a homophobicburger with a side of misogynyfries.”

Good news for all involved. The show will no doubt resume its regularly scheduled Orange Man Bad theater this weekend.

​Hollywood, Entertainment, Culture, Stephen colbert, Late night, Woke, Melania trump, Movies, Chris pratt, Toto recall 

While the Trump administration continues trying to put out real and proverbial fires started by Democrats, more are igniting across the country.

Now a Democratic candidate appears to be promising to kill the president as part of his campaign platform.

‘That kind of vile comment makes it clear that Elliot Forhan is not qualified to be attorney general.’

On Tuesday, a video went viral of Ohio attorney general candidate Elliot Forhan (D) promising to “kill Donald Trump” if elected.

“I want to tell you what I mean when I say that I am going to kill Donald Trump,” Forhan, a former Ohio state representative, said in a video posted to Facebook.

RELATED: ‘Convicted and f**king dangles’: NeverTrumper Rick Wilson calls for execution of top White House adviser

Current Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R); Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

“I mean I’m going to obtain a conviction rendered by a jury of his peers at a standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, based on evidence, presented at a trial, conducted in accordance with the requirements of due process, resulting in a sentence, duly executed, of capital punishment,” Forhan said in the video.

In the clip, he did not indicate which crimes worthy of the death penalty he thought President Donald Trump has committed.

The Republican attorney general candidate for Ohio, Keith Faber, promptly posted a response to Forhan’s unhinged rant.

“That kind of vile comment makes it clear that Elliot Forhan is not qualified to be attorney general,” Faber said. “Look, it is important that [gubernatorial candidate] Amy Acton and the other Democrats on the ticket call him out for such conduct.”

This isn’t the first time Forhan has faced public scrutiny for his rhetoric. Just days after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, Forhan made a Facebook post that said, “Violence is wrong. F**k Charlie Kirk.”

Faber didn’t miss his chance to remind people of that vile comment from Forhan: “Add to that his recent celebration of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and you see just what kind of individuals the Democrats are running for attorney general.”

Forhan has also faced backlash and professional consequences for what some have alleged to be “erratic and abusive” behavior involving a female constituent and others, according to a 2023 article by Fox News.

Forhan was never charged with a crime, though he was stripped of his legislative privileges and committee assignments as an Ohio legislator in the last General Assembly amid allegations and an investigation into his conduct, according to Statehouse News Bureau last February.

The primary election in Ohio will be held on May 5.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​Donald trump, Politics, Charlie kirk, Elliot forhan, Ohio, Ohio attorney general, Ohio general assembly, Facebook, Keith faber, 2026 midterms, Democrats, Dave yost 

The Minnesota-based federal judge who declined to issue arrest warrants for Don Lemon and several of the radicals accused of storming into Cities Church on Jan. 18 demanded on Tuesday that acting ICE Director Todd Lyons “appear personally before the Court and show cause why he should not be held in contempt of Court.”

Despite U.S. District Court Judge Patrick Schiltz’s portrayal in the liberal media as a conservative-minded and “mild-mannered George W. Bush appointee,” it appears that Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin’s characterization of Schiltz as “just another activist judge” is more apt.

‘Another activist judge who is clearly more concerned about politics than the safety of the Minnesotans.’

Bill Melugin of Fox News revealed this week that Schiltz is linked to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, a liberal activist outfit that provides free legal representation to illegal aliens, low-income migrants, and so-called refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota.

The ILCM routinely criticizes the men and women of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, accusing them of occupation, racism, “Islamophobi[a],” and engaging in “execution-style murders.”

After Schiltz’s name was found among the donors and volunteers listed in the ILCM’s 2019 annual report, the judge — dubbed the “latest hero to the anti-Trump resistance” by Politico — admitted to Fox News Digital that he has “donated for many years to the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.”

“I have also donated for many years to Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. I believe that poor people should be able to get legal representation,” added Schiltz, who has served as a delegate at Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party conventions.

The donor to the illegal alien support group noted in a Monday court filing that his “patience is at an end” and ordered Lyons to explain on Friday why he should not be held in contempt for supposedly violating an earlier order.

RELATED: DOJ tries to put the squeeze on Don Lemon over church invasion — but judge says no, enraging Bondi: Report

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Photographer: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Schiltz indicated that Juan Hugo Tobay Robles, an Ecuadorian national who illegally entered the U.S. in 1999 and was detained by immigration agents on Jan. 6, should have been provided with a bond hearing or released earlier this month.

The Bush judge indicated in his Tuesday order that if Robles was released before the hearing, Lyons would not be required to appear. A lawyer for the Ecuadorian told the Associated Press that his client was released Tuesday afternoon.

“Judge Patrick J. Schiltz is just another activist judge who is clearly more concerned about politics than the safety of the Minnesotans,” stated DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “Does this judge really think Director Lyons should take time out of his day leading ICE to target the worst of the worst criminal illegals including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists into our country to testify at a hearing for one illegal alien’s removal proceedings?”

While Schiltz evidently figured that swift and decisive action was required in the case of Robles, he took an entirely different approach in the case of the radicals who assembled on Jan. 18 for a so-called “ICE Out Action,” then stormed a Christian church in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

After the church invasion, the Trump Justice Department promptly filed a criminal complaint in the District of Minnesota charging eight of the suspected invaders with violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act.

The DOJ’s pursuit of accountability was frustrated at the outset when Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko — whose wife reportedly works for Minnesota’s anti-ICE attorney general, Keith Ellison — declined to support all but three of the requested arrest affidavits.

After Micko threw up additional roadblocks, the DOJ turned to Schiltz for a review of the magistrate’s no-probable-cause finding in hopes that he might issue the warrants.

In an angry and sarcastic Jan. 23 letter to the Eighth Circuit’s chief judge, Steven Colloton, Schiltz downplayed the church invasion, glossed over the invaders’ intimidation tactics, cast doubt on whether arresting them would deter copycats, emphasized that “there is no emergency,” and noted that if the petition filed by the government seeks an immediate decision, “the petition is frivolous.”

In a separate letter, he suggested there was “no evidence that [Don Lemon and his producer] engaged in any criminal behavior or conspired to do so.”

Sure enough, Schiltz indicated that he would not issue arrest warrants until conferring with his colleagues — a meeting that was supposed to happen last week but was delayed.

Over the weekend, a three-judge Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals panel denied the government’s petition to review the magistrate’s refusal to sign the warrants.

While U.S. Circuit Court Judge Steven Grasz, an appointee of President Donald Trump, recognized that the complaint and affidavit “clearly establish probably cause for all five arrest warrants” and that “there is no discretion to refuse to issue an arrest warrant once probable cause for its issuance has been shown,” the government had “failed to establish that it has no other adequate means of obtaining the requested relief.”

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​Judicial activism, Judge, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Cities church, Don lemon, Invasion, Immigration, Ice, Illegal immigration, Us immigration and customs enforcement, Todd lyons, Immigrant law center of minnesotaa, Politics, Patrick schiltz, Schiltz 

Money talks. Everything else is just BS. That is true in all areas of life, but it’s especially true in politics.

Trump is now repeating the modus operandi of his first term, in which he proclaims bold cuts, reforms, and changes to federal policies, programs, and agency spending levels in the form of executive orders. He summarily ignores his own policies by lobbying Republicans in Congress to pass annual appropriations bills that fund pretty much every spending level and most policies of his predecessor — so much so that most of these bills garner support from all but the most radical Democrats in Congress.

This bill is the crown jewel budget bill of the GOP trifecta at the peak of Trump’s power, and yet Democrats have no concerns voting for it.

Unfortunately, it is the government funding that matters when attempting to secure permanent change to federal agencies, not ephemeral executive orders or press releases.

On Friday, House Republicans passed a minibus bill with all but the 64 most progressive of the 213 Democrats voting yes. The fact that the 24 most conservative Republicans opposed it despite pressure from the administration should tell you that it does not reflect Trump’s campaign promises.

This minibus included Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development. Trump has proposed hundreds of policies throughout those departments that are extremely offensive to Democrats, yet they had no problem supporting the budget bill. Why?

They feel they dodged a bullet in this funding bill, especially while being out of power. The statement from Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, says it all:

These bills invest in working people across the country and utterly reject President Trump’s plan to defund our kids’ education, evict millions of families, and slash lifesaving medical research nearly in half. The message to President Trump is: America will continue to fund cancer research, we are going to keep investing in affordable housing and tackling homelessness, Congress will not abolish the Department of Education, and the people’s representatives will have the final say on how taxpayer dollars get spent.

…

While there’s a whole lot more I wish these bills would have addressed, these compromise bills protect critical investments in the American people, reject truly heartless cuts that would have undone decades of progress — and they are a significantly better outcome than another yearlong CR. I look forward to ensuring they get signed into law.

This bill is the crown jewel budget bill of the GOP trifecta at the peak of Trump’s power, and yet Democrats not only have no concerns voting for it but enthusiastically support it. What gives?

The DOGE appears to be a fossil from a hundred years ago. The $1.25 trillion “minibus” bill reversed all the DOGE cuts to agencies like the NIH and CDC. Overall, spending will increase slightly over Biden’s final year — a year that was notorious for biblical levels of spending.

Here are some of the top concerns with the FY 2026 budget bill.

It fully funds the Department of Education. Even as Trump “abolished” the entire department, this bill funds the department at Biden’s level of $78.7 billion. Worse, Democrats secured a provision prohibiting the administration from transferring Education Department funds to other agencies, which had been a point of contention in negotiations. Once again, appropriations talk, executive orders walk. According to a Democrat summary of the bill, the total funding for the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill is $224 billion, a slight increase in current levels. This is simply astounding given that Republicans never believed in even having these departments at the federal level. If we can’t cut from these agencies, then where will we cut?Section 8 galore! Well, what’s worse than locking in Biden’s education and health spending? Increasing Biden’s HUD spending by nearly $8 billion! If there was ever a department conservatives wanted to abolish, it was always HUD. This is something that should be determined at the local level. Once again, Trump promised to cut the department in half, yet increased spending for every program he planned to trim or eliminate.

The bill provides $38.4 billion in tenant-based Section 8 vouchers and a $2.4 billion increase from fiscal 2025. It also provides $18.5 billion for project-based rental assistance, a $1.7 billion increase from last year.

The bill also provides $1.25 billion for HUD’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, after the Trump administration budget request and the original Republican House Transportation-HUD appropriations bill promised to eliminate the program. These programs provide grants to state and local governments and local NGOs to essentially seed red states with liberal voters and ruin the character of rural communities.

RELATED: Trump’s primary endorsements are sabotaging his own agenda

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The bill also provides nearly $7 billion for the Community Development Block Grant Program and the Economic Development Initiatives for housing-related activities and $86 million for fair housing programs. Trump promised for years to eliminate the program altogether.

The only point of contention in the bill is the DHS portion, which Democrats are now threatening to oppose. But let’s be clear: Before the fatal shooting in Minneapolis, they were even willing to pass Trump’s DHS bill and did not perceive it as much of a threat.

At the time the bill was released, Senator Murray boasted that Democrats “defeated Republicans’ hard-fought push to give ICE an even bigger annual budget, successfully cut ICE’s detention budget and capacity, cut CBP’s budget by over $1 billion, and secured important, although still insufficient, new constraints on DHS.” She also lauded the rejection of “all Republican poison pill riders,” such as defunding sanctuary cities.

Democrats are, of course, forced to play to their base. However, on the specifics, this bill contains some horrendous provisions.

Cheap foreign labor: It allows the secretary to double H-2B visas, going from 66,000 to 130,000 H-2B visas.Prohibits ICE from deporting illegal aliens who sponsor unaccompanied minors based on any information provided by HHS. So HHS is supposed to vet the sponsors, but if it determines they are here illegally and tells ICE that, ICE is prohibited from deporting them.

Why would we double foreign worker visas and make it harder to remove those literally engaged in trafficking children over the border by hiring cartel smugglers?

Well, despite all the rhetoric, press releases, tweets, and executive orders, good ol’ Joe Biden had it right when he proclaimed, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.” Evidently, we are now valuing almost everything all that he funded in his budget when he made that comment.

​Executive orders, Trump, Gop, Democrats, Minimus bill, Doge, Fy2026, Ice, Dhs, Opinion & analysis 

In 2025, the nomenclature caught up with the reality. For decades, the United States had operated under the fiction of a Department of Defense, a name that suggested protection, reaction, and a reluctance to engage. When Secretary Pete Hegseth signed the memoranda that would redefine the American military for the algorithmic age, the letterhead had changed. It was the Department of War again.

The revival of the old title was not merely cosmetic. It was an unapologetic signal, a shift from a defensive posture to a mission-focused one. Then between late 2025 and early 2026, Hegseth released a flurry of new memos announcing that the United States intended to become an “AI-first” war-fighting force. The language was clipped, urgent, and devoid of the hand-wringing that usually accompanies the introduction of new lethal means. The department now treats AI not as a support tool but as a core element of warfare, intelligence, and organizational power.

There is a simulation engine that alludes without irony to Orson Scott Card’s novel about child soldiers fighting insectoid aliens.

Reading through these documents, one is struck by the anxiety of the “algorithm gap,” which echoes the “missile gap” of the Cold War, with the stakes shifted from megatonnage to processing speed. The prevailing sentiment is that falling behind an adversary’s AI capabilities would be as catastrophic as falling behind in nuclear weapons. The Department of War does not intend to be a laggard. “Speed and adaptation win,” one memo states.

To achieve this speed, the Department has declared war on its own bureaucracy. The memos speak of a “wartime approach” to innovation, dismantling the risk-averse culture that has defined Pentagon procurement for half a century. The endless committees and boards have been dissolved, replaced with a “CTO Action Group” empowered to make quick calls. The ethos is that of Silicon Valley, grafting Mark Zuckerberg’s call to “move fast and break things” onto an institution whose business is to break things in a more literal sense.

The specific initiatives, what the Department calls “Pace-Setting Projects,” read like the chapter titles of a science-fiction novel. There is “Swarm Forge,” a project designed to pair elite war-fighters with technologists to experiment with drone swarms. There is “Ender’s Foundry,” a simulation engine meant to war-game against AI adversaries, a name that alludes without irony to Orson Scott Card’s novel about child soldiers fighting insectoid aliens. There is “Open Arsenal,” which promises to turn intelligence into weapons in hours rather than years.

RELATED: ‘Reckless and seditious’: Hegseth issues brutal demotion of Democrat senator over ‘illegal orders’ video

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

What is being built here is “civil-military fusion,” a concept the Chinese have long championed and which the United States is now adopting with a convert’s zeal. The Department is actively courting the private sector, mentioning commercial AI models such as Google’s Gemini and xAI’s Grok. It is bringing in tech executives to run the show, with a new chief technology officer empowered to clear bureaucratic blockers.

The transformation is not limited to the battlefield but permeates the “enterprise,” a sterile word for the three million personnel who make up the Department’s nervous system. The vision is total: Under a program called GenAI.mil, every analyst, logistician, and staff officer will be issued a secure AI assistant to draft reports and code software. The goal is to embed AI systems across war-fighting, intelligence, and support functions until the distinction between soldier and data processor dissolves. The focus is on “decision superiority,” out-thinking the opponent at every turn.

The drive for decision superiority leads to a profound shift in the role of human judgment. The memos describe “Agent Network,” a project to develop AI agents for battle management “from campaign planning to kill chain execution.” They speak of “interpretable results,” a concession to the idea that humans should know why the machine decided to fire. The momentum is toward “human on the loop,” in which a human may abort an attack, rather than “human in the loop,” in which the human must initiate it. We are entering an era of “hyper-war,” in which AI systems could escalate a conflict in seconds, before a human commander can pour a cup of coffee.

The Department is betting that American ingenuity, harnessed in code, will secure the future, that it can maintain “America’s global AI dominance” through force of will and capital. The memos outline a future in which algorithms join soldiers on the battlefield, data platforms become as crucial as tanks, and decisions are increasingly informed by machines. It is a grand experiment in efficiency. We have decided that if warfare is now a battle of algorithms, we intend to algorithmically outgun the world. The name on the building has changed to reflect the reality: We are no longer defending. We are computing the kill.

​Tech, War, Ai, Department of war 

A 17-year-old teenager knocked out a man who was falsely claiming to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent after climbing through the family’s kitchen window, according to police.

The bizarre incident unfolded on Jan. 19 when police responded to a call at a home on Climax Street in the Beltzhoover neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

‘He was heavily intoxicated and high on drugs, as he began to foam at the mouth.’

The landlord of the home called police to report a break-in, and while the police drove to the home, they were informed that the family’s son had knocked out the intruder.

When they arrived, they found 35-year-old William Gregory unconscious and the boy with minor injuries.

Court documents said the man demanded to see the family’s immigration documents after getting through the window and threatened the teenager with a pocketknife.

When the man tried to steal a cell phone as well as a PlayStation game console, the boy punched him out. Police said the man actively resisted arrest when he awoke.

“He was heavily intoxicated and high on drugs, as he began to foam at the mouth,” police said.

Gregory was charged with burglary as well as ethnic intimidation, and he is being held at the Allegheny County Jail.

A neighbor of the family told WTAE-TV that she was very concerned about the incident.

“I believe that is a Hispanic home, you know, and our neighborhood is very diverse,” Crystal Calloway said.

RELATED: Teens’ story claiming they were attacked unravels after cops find their damning video posted to social media, police say

“It’s a great thing that the young man, his adrenaline went through going into action and went to defend his family, you know. Thank goodness for that,” Calloway added.

The man was also wanted for a previous burglary as well as possession of a firearm.

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​Playstation crime, Ice impersonator, Beltzhoover ice arrest, William gregory arrest, Crime 

Just when you think the left can’t sink any farther, you get this gem of a concept. And this, from “Rapid Response 47″ on X.

Governor Tim Walz (D) says, “Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody’s going to write that children’s story about Minnesota.”

Does the governor already know some brave lefties hiding these poor, poor innocent individuals from mean old ferocious ICE?

I addressed this issue last July here with this cartoon.

Isn’t it rather ironic that Gov. Walz would use a young Jewish girl during World War II to paint a picture of so-called Nazi tactics? Many of the Minneapolis rioters themselves seemed to have shifted their focus from violently campaigning in support of Hamas over Israel. Were they conveniently forgetting the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas committed atrocities that would have made even the German Gestapo blush?

RELATED: The sanctuary city playbook is spreading in red states

Photo by Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

So does President Trump back off at this point and let Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota in general fall into a sinkhole of their own creation? Let “what happens in Minnesota stay in Minnesota,” and the governor, senators, and local police agencies have a jolly good time handling their own streets and neighborhoods?

Another of my cartoons from last December already addressed that issue.

One thing is for sure: The left is not backing down. So for the president and all fed-up patriots, are we ready to finally say, “Enough is enough!”

​Ice, Tim walz, Ice protest, Anne frank, Illegal aliens, Minnesota, Opinion & analysis 

Ben Gillenwater is an IT expert with 30 years of experience and the creator behind the “family IT guy” accounts on social media, where he shares tips with parents on how to protect their kids online from harmful content, predators, and addictive algorithms, among other virtual risks.

But most importantly, Ben is a dad. Five years ago, he gave his 5-year-old son an iPad, the results of which were so disturbing, it launched him into his current role as a full-time content creator dedicated to protecting children from the dangers of the digital world.

On this episode of “Relatable” with Allie Beth Stuckey, Ben dives into the online perils facing today’s children — including one so sinister, it’ll forever change the way you think about child predators.

When most people think of online groomers, they picture creepy men in basements posing as minors in an effort to lure children into secretly meeting up with them. But some groomers have no intention of ever making physical contact with their victims. Their sole intention is to get rich off of creating chaos and ruining lives from afar.

Gillenwater gives the example of Jordan DeMay — a 17-year-old high school student from Michigan, who tragically died by suicide in 2022 after falling victim to a sextortion scam.

“Good kid, good family, good school records, had a girlfriend,” he says.

Then one day, an attractive girl messaged him on social media and struck up a flirtatious conversation that culminated in her sending nude photos. Jordan was asked to return the favor, and when he did, it was revealed that the images of the girl were stolen or fake and that she was actually a Nigerian gang. The two brothers behind the operation — Samuel and Samson Ogoshi — threatened to blackmail DeMay by sending his explicit photos to his family, friends, and school contacts if he didn’t wire them money, spurring DeMay to take his own life.

This entire sextortion scam — from initial contact to DeMay’s suicide — occurred in less than six hours.

DeMay’s tormentors, says Gillenwater, are part of a broad network of Nigerian cybercriminals called “the Yahoo Boys.” They’re the same people behind the Nigerian prince scams that have conned hundreds of thousands — perhaps even millions — of people into wiring money with fake promises of huge inheritances or riches, only to demand endless upfront “fees” that leave victims with nothing.

Whether they’re posing as wealthy princes or attractive women, their strategy is the same: “identify weakness in people,” Gillenwater says.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s when the digital world was just ramping up, these cybercriminals were able to dupe people using only “poorly worded emails,” but today, thanks to advances in technology, their predatory empire is built on “very well-worded and well-informed AI-powered hunting programs,” meaning their schemes have only gotten darker and more effective.

“Teenage boys specifically are targeted for this [sextortion scam] in particular, and they exploit their biology,” says Gillenwater.

“What they do when establishing the initial connection is they study all of your friends on Instagram and gather up your whole network so they know everybody you go to school with … everybody you go to church with … every family member … that’s how they blackmail you is they’re going to send your naked photo to all those people,” he explains.

Sadly this nefarious kind of operation isn’t exclusive to Nigeria.

“There’s South American gangs, there’s Asian gangs, there’s African gangs, there’s European gangs. It’s a very high-profit, very low-effort endeavor, part of which is automated,” says Gillenwater.

But cybercriminals are just one threat in the vast, dark web of online child predation. In the next part of the interview, Gillenwater dives into some shocking statistics regarding the “traditional creep,” who targets vulnerable kids online for sexual exploitation.

To hear more and learn tips that will help you protect your kids online, watch the full episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Relatable, Relatable with allie beth stuckey, Allie beth stuckey, Ben gillenwater, The family it guy, Ai, Sextortion, Sextortion scams, Yahoo boys, Nigerian gangs, Sexual exploitation, Blazetv, Blaze media, Jordan demay 

For years, parents have been warned to monitor their children’s online activity, limit social media, and guard against predatory digital spaces. That guidance is now colliding with a very different message from policymakers and technology leaders: Artificial intelligence must be introduced earlier and more broadly in schools.

When risky platforms enter through schools, they inherit an unearned legitimacy, conditioning parents to trust tools they would never allow at home.

On its face, this goal sounds reasonable. But what began as a policy push has quickly turned into something far more concerning — a rush by major tech companies to brand themselves as “AI Education Partners,” gaining access to public education under the banner of innovation, often without parents being fully informed or given the ability to opt out. When risky platforms enter through schools, they inherit an unearned legitimacy, conditioning parents to trust tools they would never allow at home.

AI in education is being sold as inevitable and benevolent. Behind the buzzwords lies a harder truth: AI is becoming a back door for Big Tech to access children and sidestep parental authority.

Platforms already under fire for child safety

At the center of this debate are three companies — Meta, Snap, and Roblox — all now positioning themselves as AI education partners while facing active litigation and investigations tied to child exploitation, predatory behavior, and failures to protect minors.

Meta is facing lawsuits and regulatory actions related to child exploitation, unsafe platform design, and illegal data practices. Internal company documents revealed that Meta’s AI chatbots were permitted to engage minors in flirtatious, intimate, and even health-related conversations — policies the company only revised after media exposure.

European consumer watchdogs have also accused Meta of sweeping data collection practices that go far beyond what users reasonably expect, using behavioral data to profile emotional state, sexual identity, and vulnerability to addiction. Regulators argue that meaningful consent is impossible at such a scale. Meta has also claimed in U.S. courts that publicly available content can be used to train AI under “fair use,” raising serious questions about how student classroom work could be treated once ingested by AI systems.

Snapchat is facing lawsuits from multiple states, including Kansas, New Mexico, Utah, and others, alleging that its platform exposes minors to drug and weapons dealing, sexual exploitation, and severe mental health harm. In January 2025, federal regulators escalated concerns by referring a complaint involving Snapchat’s AI chatbot to the Department of Justice.

Despite this record, Snap signed on as an AI education partner, promising “in-app educational programming directed toward teens to raise awareness on safe and responsible use of AI technologies.”

Roblox, long flagged by parents for safety concerns, is being sued by multiple states, including Iowa, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, and Kentucky, over allegations that it enabled predators to groom and exploit children. Yet Roblox now seeks classroom access as an “AI learning” platform.

If these platforms are too dangerous for children at home, they are too dangerous to normalize at school. Allowing companies with a history of child-safety failures to integrate themselves into classrooms is negligent and dangerous.

The contradiction no one wants to address

The danger becomes clearer when you step outside the classroom.

Across the country, states including Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Connecticut are restricting minors’ access to social media through age verification, parental consent, and limits on addictive features. At the federal level, the bipartisan Kids Off Social Media Act seeks to bar social media access for children under 13 and restrict algorithmic targeting of teens.

For more than a century, the Supreme Court has recognized that parents — not the state and not corporations — hold the fundamental right to direct their children’s education.

When Big Tech gains access to classrooms without transparency or consent, that authority is eroded. Parents are told to restrict social media at home while schools integrate the same platforms through AI. The result is families being sidelined while Big Tech reduces their children to data sources.

RELATED: Why every conservative parent should be watching California right now

Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty Images

This dangerous escalation must meet a clear boundary. Some platforms endanger children, others monetize them, and some expose their data. None of them belong in classrooms without strict, enforceable guardrails.

Parents do not need more promises. They need enforceable limits, transparency, and the unquestioned right to say no. The Constitution has long recognized that the right to direct a child’s education belongs to parents, not Silicon Valley. That authority does not stop at the classroom door.

If artificial intelligence is going to enter our classrooms, it must do so on the terms of families,not tech companies.

​Ai, Ai in education, Children’s education, Parental rights, Roblox, Meta, Facebook, Snapchat, Snap, Opinion & analysis 

More than 100 community members, including parents, attended a meeting of the West Chicago City Council to demand they take action against an elementary school teacher who posted about immigration.

West Chicago Mayor Daniel Bovey also joined the mob in calling on Gary Elementary School to get rid of the teacher for showing support for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

‘We want to ensure our schools are safe spaces, and we look forward to seeing all students back in school.’

“We have kids in our school districts, in this school specifically, who have lost a mom or dad or family member within the last three months. They’re going home wondering if they will ever see Mom or Dad again,” Bovey said.

The teacher’s outrageous statement was composed of only two words: “Go ICE.”

He posted it in the comments section of a story about immigration operations on social media.

The superintendent of the school said the teacher has been placed on paid leave.

“On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the District learned of concerns regarding a disruptive social media comment made by a District employee on his personal account,” Superintendent Kristina Davis said in a statement.

“The teacher initially submitted his resignation,” she added. “Later that day, he withdrew his resignation before the Board had an opportunity to take action.”

Others believed the post made the teacher unqualified to continue teaching.

“Where is the due process for all the kids being kidnapped on the streets?” one activist asked.

“At home, we teach our children to be respectful to the teachers, and we expect the same for the teachers to be respectful,” said Emma Villa, a grandparent.

Some parents kept their children out of school to protest the teacher’s words.

“You have many students across District 33 who did not go to school today because of fear incited by a teacher,” Illinois state Sen. Karina Villa claimed.

RELATED: CAIR leads anti-ICE protest outside office of Tim Walz at Minnesota state capitol

Some called for Bovey to resign from the mayor’s office for trying to shut down the teacher’s political speech.

“We understand that this situation has raised concerns and caused disruption for students, families, and staff,” Davis continued in her statement. “We want to ensure our schools are safe spaces, and we look forward to seeing all students back in school tomorrow. Thank you for your patience, trust, and partnership during the ongoing investigation.”

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The anti-ICE demonstrators are targeting Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for protest after another shooting involving federal agents.

Videos on social media showed dozens of protesters outside of his office at the Minnesota state capitol chanting for the arrest of officers involved in two prominent and lethal shootings.

‘ICE came to Minnesota to target our communities, and what they found in Minnesota is their coffin, the end of ICE!’

A post on social media indicated that the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota had organized the rally. CAIR described the protest as a “peaceful rally calling for charges and arrest of killer ICE agents.”

The post included the image of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a federal agent after she struck him with her vehicle. It also had an image of Alex Pretti, who died in a shooting from federal agents when he intervened in an operation while carrying a gun.

In one video posted to social media by an editor of the Times, protesters chant, “What do we want? ICE out! When do we want it? Now!” He indicated that Walz was not in the office at the time of the protest.

RELATED: Unhinged anti-ICE extremist footage: ‘I am a liberal, leftist, pagan, lesbian, transgender woman, and witch!’

Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images

One protest signs reads, “F**k ICE,” while another says, “JUSTICE NOT GESTURES.”

Another video of the protest from IRT Media shows protesters chanting, “Justice delayed is justice denied!”

One protest sign in that video reads, “JOINING ICE DON’T CURE TDS. TINY D**K SYNDROME.”

A livestream video of the event indicated that the protest outside of Walz’s office lasted about 15 minutes.

“ICE came to Minnesota to target our communities, and what they have found in Minnesota is their coffin, the end of ICE!” said Jaylani Hussein, the executive director for CAIR-Minnesota.

RELATED: Minnesota nurses’ union calls on members to join ‘economic blackout’ to protest ICE raids

Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT / AFP via Getty Images

“Minnesota will end it. We will end it. We know how to deal with ICE. We’ve been dealing with it since our lifetime. … Whether we sit on it, melt it, whatever we do, we’re going to continue to stand up for each other,” he added.

He also applauded the decision for Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino to leave the operation in Minneapolis.

“Little man Bovino is out!” he said to cheers.

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California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) flaunted his disdain for the Trump administration at Davos this past week — but thanks to Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, he didn’t get away with it.

“We used to have a general rule. You do not go out of the country and badmouth your country or your politicians. You just don’t do it. And we never used to do that. That changed under the Obama administration,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck explains.

And that’s exactly what Newsom did.

“Trump is a T. rex. You mate with him or he devours you, one or the other,” Newsom said at Davos on Tuesday.

And consequentially, even Scott Bessent felt the need to take Newsom down.

“I think it’s very, very ironic that, you know, Governor Newsom, who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken, may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris,” Bessent said.

“He’s here this week with his billionaire sugar daddy, Alex Soros, and Davos is a perfect place for a man who, when everyone else is on lockdown, when he was having people arrested for going to church, he was having thousand-dollar-a-night meals at the French Laundry. And I’m sure the California people won’t forget that.”

Bessent went on to say that he had a “message to Governor Newsom,” and that message is that the Trump administration is “going to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse” in his state.

“I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies, but he’s not speaking, because what have his economic policies brought? Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit, the largest homeless population in America, and the poor folks in the Palisades who had their homes burned down,” he continued.

“He is here hobnobbing with the global elite while his California citizens are still homeless. Shame on him. He is too smug, too self-absorbed, and too economically illiterate to know anything,” he added.

Glenn is thrilled by Bessent’s speech.

“I just don’t know who my biggest hero is right now, but Bessent is one of them,” Glenn says.

“He’s one of the best, well-put-together, deep-thinking, calm secretaries that we’ve ever had in that position,” he continues. “I mean, I just have complete confidence that if he says it, I’m like, ‘Okay, I may not understand or I may not agree with it, but I’m going to roll the dice with you.’”

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What one report called “arguably the shortest of protests in recent memory” rocked the Sundance Film Festival for about 10 minutes on Sunday evening, as around 100 people gathered in Park City to voice their opposition to the ICE raids in Minnesota.

The diminutive demonstration echoed statements made by big-name festival attendees like Edward Norton and Olivia Wilde

‘Turn on your phone light for a minute or two.’

‘Melt’ down

Actress Natasha Lyonne posted a promotional flyer for the event, called “Sundancers Melt Ice,” which read, “Join us tonight to remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good” and “quietly register our collective protest.”

Pretti was recently shot and killed by federal agents during a violent scrum, while Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent as she hit him with her car.

“Turn on your phone light for a minute or two,” the flyer added. “Silent, respectful, together.”

RELATED: ICE unleashed: Agents can once again fend off agitators after court torpedoes Biden judge’s injunction

Chants encounter

The 10-minute event included protesters chanting “Love melts Ice! Love melts Ice!” according to Deadline, which noted that actor Elijah Wood (“Lord of the Rings”) turned out to offer his support.

“The folks who have been unlawfully gunned down in Minnesota — it’s awful,” Wood said.

“Here we are at this film festival that is about bringing people together; it’s about telling stories from all over the world. We’re not divided here; we’re coming together,” he continued.

RELATED: ‘You should f**king kill yourself’: DHS releases terrifying audio of anti-ICE agitator threatening Minnesota agent

Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Sign decline

The film festival is no stranger to progressive protests; in 2024, demonstrators flooded the streets of the small town to protest on behalf of Palestine, holding signs like “stop the genocide” and “end the occupation.”

“Ceasefire, now!” was chanted by the group, followed by “Free Palestine!”

In 2017, Sundance saw what is recognized as likely the largest protest to take place in Park City, when between 5,000 and 7,000 showed up on Main Street for a “Women’s March on Main,” the day after President Trump was inaugurated for his first term.

​Politics, Sundance film festival, Progressive, Ice, Dhs, Protest, Film festival, Entertainment 

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, reportedly sent a message to employees saying that it was patriotic to call out government overreach, specifically centering on Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Altman’s internal message on Slack was met with approval by many of the employees, according to a report at the New York Times.

‘We are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.’

“I love the U.S. and its values of democracy and freedom and will be supportive of the country however I can; OpenAI will too,” Altman said, according to reports. “But part of loving the country is the American duty to push back against overreach. What’s happening with ICE is going too far.”

Altman went on to praise President Donald Trump.

“President Trump is a very strong leader, and I hope he will rise to this moment and unite the country,” the CEO continued. “I am encouraged by the last few hours of response and hope to see trust rebuilt with transparent investigations.”

The message did not mention the lethal shooting of anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti on Saturday, but it was sent to employees after the controversial incident.

“As a company, we aim to stick to our convictions and not get blown around by changing fashions too much,” Altman added.

“We didn’t become super woke when that was popular, we didn’t start talking about masculine corporate energy when that was popular, and we are not going to make a lot of performative statements now about safety or politics or anything else,” he concluded. “But we are going to continue to try to figure out how to actually do the right thing as best as we can, engage with leaders and push for our values, and speak up clearly about it as needed.”

Blaze News reached out to Altman for comment.

RELATED: VIDEO: Leotarded liberals protest ICE facility with ’80s-themed aerobics class

The White House appeared to distance itself from some of the rhetoric being used by officials at the Department of Homeland Security about the Pretti shooting. Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino agreed to leave Minneapolis after the president said border czar Thomas Homan would be overseeing the operation in Minnesota.

Altman’s leadership at OpenAI has been a tumultuous ride that includes mass resignations, numerous lawsuits, and other allegations against the CEO.

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Saudi Arabia’s world-renowned megaproject called the Line is seemingly making a U-turn.

In 2021, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a futuristic city that was every globalist’s dream.

‘As a development that’s meant to span generations, Neom is advancing projects in line with strategic priorities.’

The city was to be “free of cars and streets,” with residents able to hop on high-speed trains to traverse the city in around 20 minutes. A press release boasted “hyper-connected AI-enabled communities powered by 100% clean energy” as well.

The gigantic, mirrored linear city was supposed to be up and running in significant capacity by 2030, but now it seems the project is being completely retrofitted for different needs.

The Financial Times reported that those briefed on Saudi Arabia’s new plans have stated that Prince Mohammed now envisions a “far smaller” project that has been scaled back in a considerable manner, with the Line likely become a high-tech data center.

A more “modest” project would still use existing infrastructure that is already built, but will be “a totally different concept” used in a “totally different manner,” the source said.

“Data centres need water cooling, and this is right on the coast, so it will have seawater cooling. So it will be a major centre for data centres.”

RELATED: Did American comedians SELL OUT for Saudi cash? The Riyadh hypocrisy exposed

Saudi Arabia reportedly hopes to establish itself as a “global hub for data and AI” under its Neom moniker, which is the Saudi group responsible for the project.

Neom told the Financial Times that it was “always looking at how to phase and prioritise our initiatives so that they align with national objectives and create long-term value.”

The statement continued, “As a development that’s meant to span generations, Neom is advancing projects in line with strategic priorities, market readiness, and sustainable economic impact.”

The Line will still attempt to meet hard deadlines such as the Expo international trade fair in 2030 and the FIFA World Cup in 2034.

RELATED: Akon’s African ‘Wakanda’ city gets crushed: ‘I take full responsibility’

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

According to YouTube channel MegaBuilds, the scope of the project was already being scaled down since its announcement; originally set for 170 kilometers long, it was downgraded to 2.4 kilometers, the channel said. At the same time, 9 million residents soon allegedly became 300,000.

However, original press stated a plan for 1 million residents, which was to create 380,000 “jobs of the future.”

“The Line currently consumes about 20% of global steel production,” MegaBuilds claimed, as the Saudis were attempting to build a marina that is twice the size of any in existence.

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​Return, The line, Saudi arabia, Renewable energy, Data center, Tech, Ai 

As the BLM-fueled chaos of 2020 appears to be repeating itself in 2026, the same demographic appears to be falling hardest for it: liberal white women.

And it only makes sense, as according to a Gallup poll graph, the partisan gap between men and women has almost doubled in the past 25 years — with women moving radically leftward, while men have stayed relatively the same.

BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey explains that the answer as to why this is happening is “not entirely simple.”

However, one reason is that women seek social cohesion, while men are more likely to form an identity outside of a group.

“We’ve all had those moments where we just want to be agreeable. Like, we feel compassion for this person. We want to feel polite. We don’t want to be at odds with them, especially when we’re in conversation,” she explains, using an example from her own life.

Stuckey recalls recently getting her hair done by a hairstylist who was very sweet. When the hairstylist began trying to discuss horoscopes with Stuckey — who doesn’t believe in horoscopes — Stuckey just nodded her head and didn’t say anything.

“You take that, like, one awkward scenario and you extrapolate that, or you make that bigger in how you live your life and make even big political decisions — you can see how that leads someone in the direction of following the cultural zeitgeist, which is progressivism,” Stuckey explains.

Though according to researchers in a study Stuckey reads, these traits “were naturally selected to yield better results in raising children.”

“So there is good reason why we like cooperation. These are not all bad things. These can help in being good moms,” Stuckey says.

“That is part of the psychology, I think, of what is going on here. And that is so like Satan, by the way, to manipulate women and to use really good things about ourselves and to use them as a hook for propaganda and to ask the age-old question, ‘Did God really say?’” she continues.

“It’s just that all of these good things about us make us more susceptible to lies,” she adds.

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To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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The Department of Homeland Security highlighted several of Monday’s “worst of the worst” arrests in Minnesota.

As part of the DHS’ Operation Metro Surge, federal authorities have captured kidnappers, pedophiles, and other violent assailants, according to a press release obtained by Blaze News.

‘Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country.’

DHS reported last week that it had made 3,000 arrests over the last six weeks as part of the ongoing operation.

“The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) highlights more worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens arrested in Minnesota yesterday during Operation Metro Surge, including those convicted of kidnapping, child rape, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, assault, and possession of fraudulent documents,” Tuesday’s release reads.

Among those arrested on Monday was Bee Yang, an illegal alien from Thailand. Yang was issued a final order of removal in 2015 after he was convicted of numerous crimes, including first-degree kidnapping, assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, robbery with a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering, felony larceny, and larceny of a motor vehicle.

RELATED: ‘You should f**king kill yourself’: DHS releases terrifying audio of anti-ICE agitator threatening Minnesota agent

Bee Yang, Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Federal agents arrested Wilson Johny Encalada Molina, an illegal alien from Ecuador. He was issued a final order of removal in 2023 after he was charged with third-degree rape of a child under 17 years old, malicious punishment of a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.

Wilson Johny Encalada Molina. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Ian Mwangi Irungu, from Kenya, was also nabbed by immigration agents. He was previously convicted of selling heroin and dangerous drugs.

Ian Mwangi Irungu. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana, from Honduras, was previously convicted of assault.

Melvin Yobany Hernandez Espana. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Immigration agents captured Sergio Quintero Romero, an illegal alien from Mexico with a final order of removal from 2012. He was previously apprehended by law enforcement three times for illegally entering the U.S. Romero was also accused of attempting to defraud the immigration system by presenting a fraudulent lawful permanent resident card to an immigration official.

Sergio Quintero Romero. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

Federal law enforcement officials also nabbed Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban, an illegal alien from Mexico. He was issued a final order of removal in 2015. DHS reported that Francisco-Esteban has been removed from the U.S. five times, and he was previously convicted of three counts of driving under the influence of liquor, possessing fraudulent immigration documents, illegal entry, and re-entry. Francisco-Esteban currently has an outstanding warrant in Ohio for failure to appear.

RELATED: ICE unleashed: Agents can once again fend off agitators after court torpedoes Biden judge’s injunction

Oliverio Otoniel Francisco-Esteban. Image source: Department of Homeland Security

“Just yesterday, DHS law enforcement arrested several repeat offenders including a criminal illegal alien convicted of kidnapping, robbery, felony larceny, and assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated in the Tuesday press release.

“Our law enforcement officers are risking their lives to arrest these thugs — some RELEASED from Minnesota jails — and are saving countless American lives by getting these criminals out of our country. 70% of all ICE arrests nationwide are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Check out more of the worst of the worst we arrested in Minnesota at wow.dhs.gov/Minnesota,” McLaughlin added.

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​News, Immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Department of homeland security, Dhs, Minnesota, Immigration enforcement, Illegal immigration crisis, Illegal immigration, Immigration crisis, Immigration, Politics 

An altercation involving U.S. Border Patrol led to one person in critical condition after getting shot in Southern Arizona, according to a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The shooting comes only three days after anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitator Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when he interfered with an operation while armed with a gun.

‘Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter.’

The unidentified person was shot near milepost 15 on West Arivaca Road in southern Pima County at about 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the Santa Rita Fire District.

The circumstances of the shooting have not yet been released.

“Patient care was transferred to a local medical helicopter for rapid transport to a regional trauma center,” said a statement from the fire department. “The incident remains under active investigation by law enforcement agencies.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the investigation.

PCSD said they were conducing a routine investigation into the use of force.

“Such requests are standard practice when a federal agency is involved in a shooting incident within Pima County and consistent with long-standing relationships built through time to promote transparency,” said the agency in a statement.

RELATED: More anti-ICE footage: ‘I am a liberal, leftist, pagan, lesbian, transgender woman, and witch!’

Democrats are threatening to force a partial government shutdown unless Republicans agree to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security in a new bill that has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

Arivaca is a rural community of fewer than 1,000 people about 10 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border.

This is a developing story.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed all state agencies on Tuesday to “immediately freeze” new H-1B visa petitions, citing “recent reports of abuse in the federal H-1B visa program” and the “federal government’s ongoing review of that program to ensure American jobs are going to American workers.”

BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales, who exposed a rash of possible H-1B visa fraud in the Lone Star State earlier this month, welcomed the governor’s directive.

‘Bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified US workers before seeking to use foreign labor.’

Gonzales told Blaze News, “I am thrilled to hear our work exposing the abuse of the H-1B system is being taken seriously, and I commend Governor Abbott for taking necessary steps to protect American workers in the state of Texas from having their jobs stolen from them.”

“I hope this is the first of many statewide actions that course correct on this issue,” Gonzales added.

RELATED: ‘A direct path to Citizenship’: Trump announces official launch of Trump Gold Card visa program

At the outset of her investigation, Gonzales scrutinized a pair of companies that on paper appear to have relied in recent years on scores of foreign workers: 3Bees Technologies Inc. and Qubitz Tech Systems.

3Bees Technologies Inc. — whose agent, director, and president is Vamsi Krishna Vajinapally — had 27 H-1B beneficiaries approved in 2022 and 19 visa petitions apparently denied the following year. Qubitz Tech Systems had 12 H-1B beneficiaries approved last year.

RELATED: America should eliminate the H-1B and replace it with THIS

BlazeTV

Gonzales’ visits to the supposed offices of both companies — a vacant construction site in one case and a vacant, prison cell-size room with a single chair in the other — proved eye-opening, prompting her and others to question whether the companies and their visa sponsorships were above-board.

“Once you start scraping data from H-1B databases, you start seeing immediately all of these patterns,” Gonzales said in her damning report. “The biggest question I have right now is: If we were able to find this with just a little bit of Google-searching and follow-up, why hasn’t [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] done anything to combat this?”

When pressed for comment, Abbott’s office referred Blaze News to his directive, which states:

Evidence suggests that bad actors have exploited this program by failing to make good-faith efforts to recruit qualified U.S. workers before seeking to use foreign labor. In the most egregious schemes, employers have even fired American workers and replaced them with H-1B employees, often at lower wages. Rather than serving its intended purpose of attracting the best and brightest individuals from around the world to our nation to fill truly specialized and unmet labor needs, the program has too often been used to fill jobs that otherwise could — and should — have been filled by Texans.

Per the governor’s directive, state agencies are prohibited from initiating or filing any new petition to sponsor a non-immigrant worker under the federal H-1B visa program unless given express permission by the Texas Workforce Commission.

The governor has also given public universities and various state agencies until March 27 to provide an account of how many H-1B visa holders they are currently sponsoring; the countries of origin of their sponsored H-1B visa holders; the expected expiration date for each sponsored visa; and the efforts taken to ensure that Texan candidates were afforded a reasonable opportunity to apply for each position filled by an H-1B visa holder.

“State government must lead by example and ensure that employment opportunities — particularly those funded with taxpayer dollars — are filled by Texans first,” Abbott wrote in his directive.

The H-1B visa program enables U.S.-based employers to temporarily hire foreign workers into specialized positions that American citizens supposedly can’t do. H-1B specialty occupation workers are generally admitted for a period of up to three years, which can in most cases be extended for another three years.

While Republicans are taking action, lawmakers from both parties have in recent years expressed concerns about H-1B visa fraud and abuse, proposing amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act that would reform or even abolish the program.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ H-1B Employer Data Hub indicates that over 41,500 H-1B visa beneficiaries were approved for fiscal year 2025 in Texas. Oracle America Inc., Tesla Inc., AT&T Services Inc., Hewlett Packard, American Airlines, Texas A&M’s flagship campus, and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center were among the top sponsors.

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Two weeks ago, Tori Nelson reportedly got a message from the babysitter of her 3-month-old boy, Braxton, that no parent ever wants to receive.

Chris Musselman — Braxton’s father — told YourCentralValley.com that the babysitter said she fell on Braxton and then woke up only to find the infant “unresponsive.”

‘He cries, but his cry is different. You know your baby’s cry, and like, what they want and need. And I just don’t know anymore.’

With that, Braxton was rushed to emergency surgery for severe head trauma, the station said.

“We barged into the emergency room where the ambulance goes,” Musselman told the station regarding his and Nelson’s response. “We get yelled at by security guards.”

After a six-hour surgery, a doctor shared more bad news, the station said.

“He explained to us that his injuries weren’t consistent with a fall … [they] were consistent with a baby that had been shaken,” Musselman told the station. “And at that point, [the doctor] had no other choice as a mandatory reporter to involve [Child Protective Services] and involve the authorities.”

With that, 50-year-old Tonya Hamilton — a nonrelative caregiver of Braxton — was arrested and booked into the Madera County Jail in California on felony child abuse-related charges, the station said. The city of Madera is about 30 minutes northwest of Fresno.

As you might imagine, Braxton’s parents said the days since they first got word about their son have been a nightmare.

“He cries, but his cry is different,” Nelson revealed to the station. “You know your baby’s cry, and like, what they want and need. And I just don’t know anymore.”

Musselman added to the station that “it’s been absolutely tragic. No parent should ever have to go through this. No child should ever have to be treated this way.”

Naturally Braxton’s mom and dad are constantly at Valley Children’s Hospital by Braxton’s side, the station said.

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“I was heartbroken to see my son that way with all the tubes. And just, like, in the state that he was in, like, he never asked for this,” Nelson added to the station.

Musselman added to the station that “we haven’t held him for almost two weeks. It’ll be two weeks on Tuesday. And to not be able to console your child is heart-wrenching.”

One bit of good news is that Braxton is no longer in the Intensive Care Unit and no longer on a breathing tube, the station said, adding that his mom and dad finally got to hold him.

But the battle is far from over.

“He’s having heavy withdrawal symptoms just from the amounts of fentanyl and sedation that he was on,” Musselman told the station. “So we’re just trying to navigate that.”

Nelson added to the station that Braxton “is missing the whole right side of his skull right now. So the day that he comes home, we don’t know if he will come home with a skull or without a skull.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family pay for present and future medical costs and other expenses.

The sheriff’s office offered a public safety reminder: “Shaking a baby, even for a few seconds, can cause permanent brain injury or death. If you are feeling overwhelmed, place the baby in a safe location and step away. Ask for help. There is never an excuse for shaking a child. If you suspect child abuse, report it. Your call could save a life.”

The sheriff’s office also said the photo of Hamilton on its news release is from a California driver’s license photo and is not a booking photo.

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​California, Infant, Tragic, Madera county sheriff’s office, Caregiver, Arrest, Felony child abuse, Severe head trauma, Emergency surgery, Crime