DHS says migrant fatally struck by vehicle while fleeing ICE agents
Stephen M. Katz/South Florida Sun-Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security said an undocumented immigrant was killed after being struck by a vehicle on a highway while attempting to flee immigration officials.
A DHS spokesperson said Jose Castro-Rivera and other occupants traveling in a vehicle were stopped by ICE officers on Thursday as part of a “targeted, intelligence-based immigration enforcement operation.” DHS did not provide further details about the operation.
While DHS did not say where the incident took place, the Virginia State Police reported it happened on Interstate 264 in Norfolk around 11 a.m. and said Castro-Rivera was struck by a 2002 Ford pickup truck and was pronounced dead at the scene. Its report said he was 24 years old.
DHS said Castro-Rivera “resisted heavily” and fled onto the highway where he was fatally struck. The agency did not offer specifics about Castro-Rivera allegedly resisting arrest.
“One of our ICE officers administered CPR to Castro-Rivera in an attempt to keep him alive. Unfortunately, Castro-Rivera perished. The officer then informed the three detained aliens that their friend had deceased. He then grieved and prayed with them,” the spokesperson said.
It’s unclear what happened to the other occupants of the vehicle or the driver of pickup truck.
The Virginia State Police said its preliminary investigation indicated the Castro-Rivera was fleeing from an ICE pursuit when he exited a vehicle and tried to cross the interstate. It said it was not involved in the pursuit and was investigating only the resulting accident.
DHS blamed Castro-Rivera’s death in part on those who spread “misinformation” and ways to avoid detention that it says has emboldened people to resist its agents.
“Sadly, this is the tragic result of such resistance,” the spokesperson said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has committed to partially funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with a $4.65 billion payment — but using emergency funds to pay for reduced SNAP benefits could take “a few weeks to up to several months,” a top USDA official told a federal judge in a sworn court filing Monday.
The disclosure comes after a federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to pay for SNAP amid an ongoing government shutdown by Wednesday. Following the court order on Friday, Trump said it would be his “honor” to fund the food assistance program.
In addition to the delay, the Trump administration also said it was $4 billion short of the expected $8 billion cost to fund SNAP for the month of November, in part because they are declining to tap an additional bucket of emergency funds held by the USDA.
Trump says he has asked court to ‘clarify’ SNAP ruling with funding set to lapse “Defendants have worked diligently to comply with the Court’s order on the short timeline provided by the Court and during a government shutdown,” DOJ lawyers wrote in a filing on Monday.
“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible,” Trump posted on social media late Friday. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.”
The $4.65 billion in funding will cover half of the households relying on the food assistance program, according to a declaration from Patrick Penn, Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services.
That payment will completely expend SNAP’s contingency funding, according to Penn.
“This means that no funds will remain for new SNAP applicants certified in November, disaster assistance, or as a cushion against the potential catastrophic consequences of shutting down SNAP entirely,” he said.
While the Trump administration could use additional funds from tariff revenue, known as Section 32, Penn said the government declined to do so to save the money for child nutrition programs.
“Amid this no-win quandary and upon further consideration following the Courts’ orders, USDA has determined that creating a shortfall in Child Nutrition Program funds to fund one month of SNAP benefits is an unacceptable risk, even considering the procedural difficulties with delivering a partial November SNAP payment, because shifting $4 billion dollars to America’s SNAP population merely shifts the problem to millions of America’s low income children that receive their meals at school,” Penn said.
Beyond the budget shortfall, Penn warned that distributing the reduced benefits could take weeks or months because of “procedural difficulties.”
“There are procedural difficulties that States will likely experience which would affect November SNAP benefits reaching households in a timely manner and in the correctly reduced amounts,” he wrote. “There are procedural difficulties that States will likely experience which would affect November SNAP benefits reaching households in a timely manner and in the correctly reduced amounts.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump shared on social media the “peace letter” from first lady Melania Trump that was hand delivered to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska on Friday.
The first lady writes “it is time” to protect children and future generations worldwide.
“Every child shares the same quiet dreams in their heart, whether born randomly into a nation’s rustic countryside or a magnificent city-center. They dream of love, possibility, and safety from danger,” Melania Trump’s letter begins.
The first lady states that all children are born innocent, regardless of their nationality, political views or beliefs.
“A simple yet profound concept, Mr. Putin, as I am sure you agree, is that each generation’s descendants begin their lives with a purity — an innocence which stands above geography, government, and ideology,” she said.
“In today’s world, some children are forced to carry a quiet laughter, untouched by the darkness around them — a silent defiance against the forces that can potentially claim their future,” she continued.
The first lady tells the Russian president that protecting children “will do more than serve Russia alone” and “will serve humanity itself.”
“Such a bold idea transcends all human division, and you, Mr. Putin, are fit to implement this vision with a stroke of the pen today,” she concludes.
“It is time,” she signs off.
The physical letter was first obtained by Fox News Digital.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from deporting 76 unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States to Guatemala.
A judge had temporarily blocked the administration from removing the minors and set an emergency hearing for 3 p.m. Sunday, but U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan moved the hearing to 12:30 p.m. after the court was notified the Guatemalan children were “in the process of being removed from the U.S.”
“The Court ORDERS that the Defendants cease any ongoing efforts to transfer, repatriate, remove, or otherwise facilitate the transport of any Plaintiff or member of the putative class from the United States,” Sookananan wrote. “The putative class includes all Guatemalan unaccompanied minors in Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody as of 1:02 AM on August 31, 2025, the time of the filing of the Complaint, who are not subject to an executable final order of removal,” the order said.
All of the children had been deplaned and were in the process of returning to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement Sunday evening, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign said.
The government will notify the court when the transfer of all of the children is confirmed, he said.
Attorney Efrén Olivares had asked the judge to keep the hearing going until all of the children were deplaned, saying there have been several instances where “allegations of confusion and misunderstanding have resulted in irreparable harm.”
The hearing on Sunday is reminiscent of an incident in March when several Venezuelan migrants were deported to the CECOT prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, despite a judge issuing a temporary restraining order barring the removals.
This time, however, Ensign said that the flight he believed might have departed had returned and that he expects the children to deplane because of the judge’s order.
Sooknanan expressed skepticism during the hearing over the legality of the administration’s attempt to repatriate the children. She said she received notice of the complaint at 2 a.m. Sunday and that she personally tried to reach the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving a voice message at 3:43 a.m. saying that she wanted to hear from the government before she issued her temporary restraining order
“We are here on a holiday weekend where I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” she said.
Ensign argued that the Trump administration was removing the children in accordance with the law and at the request of the Guatemalan government and the legal guardians of the children.
“The government of Guatemala has requested the return of these children and all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return, and United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.
Olivares strongly disagreed with that argument.
“Some of the children do not have either parent, some of the children have fear of returning to Guatemala so have not requested to return, do not want to return,” he said.
The National Immigration Law Center believes more than 600 Guatemalan children could be at risk of being returned to their home country.
Sooknanan appeared to question the validity of the government’s argument.
“I have conflicting narratives from both sides here on whether what is happening here is an attempt to reunite these children with their parents or just return these children to Guatemala where they face harm,” she said.
Sooknanan read declarations from some of the children submitted in court filings, including one from one child who said their parents had received a “strange phone call” notifying them that the U.S. government was trying to deport them to Guatemala along with other minors.
“Every one of these 10 declarants who are named plaintiffs speak about being afraid of going back to Guatemala,” she said, adding that some of the children had faced abuse and neglect from some of their family members.
In earlier court filings, attorneys accuse the Trump administration of attempting to repatriate more than 600 unaccompanied Guatemalan minors in coordination with the Guatemalan government in violation of laws that prevent such moves without giving them the opportunity to challenge the removals.
Unaccompanied minors are migrants under the age of 18 who have come to the country without a legal guardian and do not have legal status. The children in question in the lawsuit are all reportedly in the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
In a statement, the National Immigration Law Center, which filed the lawsuit, said the Trump administration is denying the Guatemalan children from being able to present their case before an immigration judge.
“It is a dark and dangerous moment for this country when our government chooses to target orphaned 10-year-olds and denies them their most basic legal right to present their case before an immigration judge,” said Olivares, vice president of litigation at the NILC. “The Constitution and federal laws provide robust protections to unaccompanied minors specifically because of the unique risks they face. We are determined to use every legal tool at our disposal to force the administration to respect the law and not send any child to danger.”
In another court filing, NILC said that after it attempted to inform the government that it had filed a motion for a temporary restraining order, it learned shelters in South Texas had been “notified to prepare Guatemalan children in their custody for discharge.”
“Upon information and belief, ICE agents and their contractors have started attempting to pick up Guatemalan unaccompanied children from shelters in South Texas to transport them to the airport for potential removal from the United States as soon as the early morning of Sunday, August 31, 2025,” NILC said in the filing.
The lawsuit was filed on Sunday after legal service providers received notices from the Office of Refugee Resettlement that children in their program have been identified for reunification. In the notice, the agency said that court proceedings for children identified by the agency “may be dismissed.”
“ORR Care Providers must take proactive measures to ensure UAC are prepared for discharge within 2 hours of receiving this notification,” the notice said.
In one of the notices submitted in court filings, ORR has informed certain attorneys for unaccompanied minors that the “Government of Guatemala has requested the return of certain unaccompanied alien children in general custody” to be reunited “with suitable family members.”
In the statement, NILC said that because most Guatemalan children in U.S. custody are indigenous and many speak languages other than English or Spanish, they are more vulnerable to “being misled by officials looking to deport them.”
One of the children represented in the case is a 10-year-old indigenous girl who speaks a rare language.
“Her mother is deceased and she suffered abuse and neglect from other caregivers,” the complaint says.
