Man Accused of Killing Former Trump Adviser's Mother Arraigned on Hate Crime Charges for Targeting Kosher Bagel Shop

Dawood Faisal, 22, [peas be up in him] was arraigned Monday on hate crime charges for twice vandalizing a kosher bagel shop in Queens that displayed Israeli flags. The incidents came days before he allegedly caused the fatal crash that killed Cara Trager, the mother of a former Trump Middle East adviser.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz charged Faisal with two counts of criminal mischief in the third degree as a hate crime for the May 15 and May 23 incidents at Bagels & Co. in the heavily Jewish Fresh Meadows neighborhood. 

Prosecutors say he targeted the Jewish-owned shop on Union Turnpike because of the Israeli flags and banners. On May 15 he knocked over nine metal plant stands, spilled dirt and plants onto the sidewalk, and threw dirt at the storefront twice. He returned around 1 a.m. on May 23, pushed and kicked 11 metal plant stands, emptied their contents, and uprooted plants from a large clay pot after failing to knock it over.

“As alleged, Dawood Faisal, repeatedly targeted a Fresh Meadows business specifically because it is Jewish-owned and featured Israeli flags, and destroyed property as an expression of antisemitism,” Katz said in a statement. “Bias crimes are an affront to our entire community and will not be tolerated.”

Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Hartofilis ordered Faisal to return to court on November 12. Conviction on the hate crime charges carries up to seven years in prison.

Faisal already faces manslaughter and assault charges from the May 25 crash. Prosecutors allege he drove a Toyota Prius more than 75 mph in a 35 mph zone, ran at least two red lights, and collided with two vehicles on Francis Lewis Boulevard. One vehicle was sent into a crosswalk, striking Cara Trager, 71, and her husband Michael as they walked home from dinner. Cara suffered severe head trauma and died four days later. Michael sustained a shoulder injury, cuts to his hands, and facial bruising. Faisal pleaded not guilty to those charges after his June indictment.

The second bagel shop incident occurred just two days before the crash. Cara’s daughter, Rachel Sales, later wrote that her mother had discussed the vandalism with her shortly beforehand. The family has questioned whether authorities could have intervened after the alleged attacks and prevented the death. Officials are not treating the crash as a hate crime.

Michael Trager told The Daily Wire in August that the circumstances warrant scrutiny given the neighborhood and the timing. “My contention is that the area itself is very, very Jewish,” he said. “It’s Bukharian, it’s a Russian Jewish area, and most of the people who were eyewitnesses, the people who detained him, were Bukharian Jews.”

He described the moment of the crash. “The first thing I did was I started punching myself to say, ‘Oh, gee, I’m still alive here,’” Michael recalled. “Then I saw that my wife was dead. I couldn’t believe it happened because I didn’t do anything wrong. We were crossing the street, and next thing I know, I’m on the ground with my wife.”

Michael attended Faisal’s initial arraignment days after the crash while Cara was hospitalized and dying. “I was afraid that my wife was going to officially die when I’m at the arraignment, but I went,” he said. Faisal’s family was present. His mother repeatedly cried in the courtroom. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘What are you crying for? Are you crying for your son, or are you crying because your son killed my wife? Why are you crying?’” Michael said.

Authorities told Michael that Faisal was neither working nor attending school and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Michael noted that an act of that nature in that area at that time made it more likely the victim would be Jewish, though he acknowledged it did not prove specific targeting. “If you’re going to do that kind of act in that area, at that time, you’re more than likely, if you’re going to kill somebody, to kill a Jew,” he said.

Cara Trager was a longtime Queens journalist active in the Jewish community. She wrote for Newsday, the New York Post, and Crain’s New York Business and produced materials for organizations including UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Theological Seminary.

NYPD data for July showed Jews were the targets of nearly 70% of confirmed hate crimes reported in New York City that month, despite making up roughly 10% of the city’s population.

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Is Dr. Oz a wizard or what, in his crackdown on NYC daycare center directors?

FLUSHING, N.Y. — Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz showed up in a surprise visit at two New York City senior care centers suspected of treating Medicaid like an open bar tab, and the staff responses landed somewhere between "the computer did it" and "please come back after lunch when the room looks fuller." 

Fox News Digital tagged along as federal officials delivered the kind of warning letters that tend to make billing departments check the exits.

Oz and senior federal health officials handed the notices to Kent Senior Care and Evergreen Adult Day Care in Flushing, Queens, causing several severe cases of loose stools, and not the kind you sit in unless you're very weird.

The visits formed part of a wider sweep that put the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the NYPD and other agencies on the same Tuesday itinerary. More than 80 stops and warning letters went out across the city that day. 

Taxpayers who fund the programs received no such courtesy tour.

"The whole experience was suspicious," Oz told Fox News Digital afterward.

Authorities described a broader effort that included arrests, search warrants and moves to halt certain operators from billing Medicaid, although these steps at the two Queens, NY sites were not observed directly by Fox News Digital.

Oz questions senior center director: 'We don't believe you'

The first stop, around 8:30 a.m. at Kent Senior Care, when residents were likely in the throes of being cleaned up, began with Oz walking in and personally delivering the federal letter. The posted maximum occupancy was 70. The room did not appear to be testing that number.

"The bills are much higher than they should be," Oz told the director. "The billing is for more people. It doesn't look very crowded here."

The director claimed that more seniors would arrive later. Oz noted the paperwork suggested something closer to this being the perpetual capacity.

"The bills we're getting are as though it's completely full all the time," Oz said. So something stank, much like these places at 8:30 in the morning.

The director insisted the center billed only for actual attendance and required sign-in sheets. Oz was unmoved.

"You're getting this letter from the U.S. Government because we don't believe you," he told the director.

Billing records indicated five-day-a-week participation. The director said many seniors came only two or three days. When the conversation turned to specialized wheelchair transportation charges, Oz looked around the room.

"I don't see any wheelchairs here," Oz told the director.

Fox News Digital saw seniors using walking aids but no wheelchairs during the visit. Another official noted the billing for specialized transport. The director said some participants had mobility issues after strokes, that wheelchairs were available, and that staff might have reused old codes.

"Probably he just copy and pasted," the director said, lying like an abandoned sofa by Coney Islamd Creek.

Oz then walked over to the mahjong tables set up for the Medicaid-funded program.

"Should the American taxpayers be paying so folks can play mahjong?" Oz asked the director.

The director said the game helped with finger exercise, socialization and memory. Oz answered that the benefit was not free.

"It's free for them, not free for the taxpayers," Oz responded. "Is that what our federal tax dollars for Medicaid is supposed to go to? Or is it life-saving heart surgery? Or, you know, new therapies for cancer?"

Oz also watched seniors walk in without signing anything, despite the stated requirement. He later described the timing.

"People were just walking in there without signing anything," Oz said. "And then after I showed up and he saw what we were doing with my team, he started collecting these documents to be signed." You know, closing the barn door after the chickens made a run for it.

Social adult day care programs can supply activities, supervision, meals and support. Medicaid payment hinges on eligibility and documentation of what was actually provided. The gap between that rule and the observed room proved difficult to close on the spot.

At Evergreen Adult Day Care the pattern repeated. 

A floor manager said roughly 200 seniors attended on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and about 150 on the other days. Oz walked the space and offered a different count.

"So I look at maybe 25 people in the whole space now," Oz said, perhaps forgetting to multiply by 10. 

The manager claimed that some were in classes and others had left for shopping, the pharmacy or appointments.

"The numbers don't seem to add up," Oz responded.

On wheelchairs the manager first said none were in use, then acknowledged a small number.

"But you said there weren't any, didn't you?" Oz pressed. He compared notes with the other federal officials present.

"I'm struck by how few people are here as well," Oz said. "This makes me wonder how they sustain these billing levels."

The attendance books supplied the next discrepancy. Fox News Digital saw sign-in sheets with names already entered for Oct. 22 and Oct. 23, dates that had not yet arrived. Whether the pages were finished records or advance schedules remained unclear. Let's hope he took photos of the fraudulent-sounding evidence,

Oz alleges organized crime ties to NYC Medicaid fraud. He said federal authorities believed organized criminal networks were paying seniors to appear at facilities so operators could bill for services never delivered. He described individuals he linked to the "Chinese mafia" offering some seniors between $1,000 and $1,200 to participate. 

He did not name a specific group or present supporting evidence in the interview. He said billing spikes across the sector had pushed annual spending toward $1 billion. 

Sounds a lot like a Minnesota Learing Center, doesn't it?

"We know from the billing here that there's no way this business is running in the way that they claim to be running without something being wrong," Oz told the media outlet.

"Is it an innocent mistake? A hundred times in a row, I don't think so."

He added that proceeds from the schemes were financing other crimes, including money laundering and human trafficking. 

"It's really a clubhouse for crime," Oz said.

He said the fraud grew during the COVID-19 period and faulted the previous administration for letting the spending and the suspicious patterns continue. 

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Democratic New York Gov. comrade Kathy Hochul called the Tuesday actions part of a "massive effort to combat fraud and abuse" and noted that state health officials joined the federal and local effort. While Oz delivered the letters in Queens, searches continued at other sites across the city. Details on the remaining targets, the people involved and any evidence recovered were not available while the investigations continued.

Imagine if the Democrats were in power in the federal government. They would look the other way while holding out their hands for a little greasing. 

Change my mind.

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Comrade Mamdani's Tax Hike Just Got Rule On By A Judge

So it looks like a New York judge has intervened in comrade Mamdani's bid to tax folks on their second home, mostly because it's illegal.

In a devastating blow to the glorious Marxist dream of government-mandated equality, Staten Island Judge Wayne Ozzi has ordered New York City’s race-communist mayor Zohran Mamdani to halt his latest attempt to seize wealth from anyone who dares own property, not including himself or his family.

The judicial ruling forced the Mamdani administration to walk back its plan to slap a massive tax hike on homes worth more than $5 million. Judge Ozzi sided with local homeowners who challenged the policy, politely informing the mayor that he cannot simply invent massive financial penalties out of thin air and must actually follow basic legal procedure before punishing success.

According to court filings, city officials failed to perform even the bare minimum due diligence before mailing out roughly 17,000 tax notices to citizens standardly targeted for possessing excess bourgeois comfort.

Judge Ozzi also issued a firm reprimand after the administration released a public registry listing 900,000 additional homes and their owners, effectively publishing a city-sponsored target list of citizens who might be subjected to future state-sanctioned extortion. 

Doxxing much?

The judge ordered the list scrubbed immediately, frustrating city planners who had hoped to crowdsource the struggle against private ownership.

“We’re gratified that the court has recognized we were right all along. The fact is that this administration failed to follow state law when it burdened New York City homeowners with proving they live in their own homes or be on the hook for paying a new surcharge,” Randy Mastro, the attorney representing the homeowners said, according to the  Communist News Network (CNN).

Refusing to let minor details like statutory law interfere with redistribution, a spokesman for Mamdani, with the legal understanding of a goldfish, called the ruling “wrong” and insisted the administration “will not back down” in its heroic quest to raise taxes until everyone in the city is equally poor. 

At press time, city hall aides were reportedly researching whether state judges could themselves be classified as second homes and taxed out of existence.

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Illegal alien woman demands citizenship, goes ballistic in Espanol: calls for end of ICE doing their job

In a bold stand for the sacred right to ignore the law for decades while expecting freebies, furious Americans took to social media to blast an illegal alien who has been present in the United States for 37 years after she demanded amnesty in a Spanish rant alongside top Democratic Party leaders.

"I ask that you be champions of a change in the immigration laws," said Margarita Cielo Balbuena, in Spanish, flanked by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Rob Menendez (D-NJ), through an interpreter earlier this week. 

"We need a path to citizenship for those of us that have been present for at least seven years in this country," she continued. "We need a stop to these raids that immigration is using to terrorize Dover [New Jersey]." 

Basically, Balbuena wants ICE to stop doing their damn job.

"It is not just that someone like me, who has been in this country since 1989, [and still doesn't speak English] who pays taxes, who is a homeowner, who is a business owner who gives work to others, someone who has children and grandchildren who are born in this country — that I have to suffer the psychological and physical abuse and that I also have to suffer the humiliation that is the violent arrest and detention in a detention center," said Cielo Balbuena.

By violent arrest, Balbuena is referring to being arrested without incident. No wounds, no blood, but somehow it's violent.

The foreign-born woman was detained in ICE's Elizabeth Detention Center for two months, and claimed that she was treated inhumanely, according to the New Jersey Globe. Apparently, being held for repeatedly violating U.S. immigration law after nearly four decades of freeloading off the system counts as "abuse" in the progressive dictionary.

Jeffries faces growing pressure as democratic socialist-backed candidates gain influence in New York, raising new questions about the party's ideological direction. But online opponents of illegal immigration were not sympathetic to Cielo Balbuena's call. 

Shockingly, some people still believe that entering and remaining in a country illegally for 37 years does not entitle you to a participation trophy and a passport. 

Among her most prominent and harshest critics was former U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) commander-at-large Gregory Bovino."You have lived in the United States since 1989. That is 37 years. You still need a translator," he said. "At a Democratic event you stood up and demanded a path to citizenship for anyone who has been here just 7 years," Bovino continued. "Notice the arrogance. Notice the entitlement." 

He went on to claim that Democrats' open borders policies allowed so many foreigners into the country so quickly that "assimilation is no longer required." 

"There can be no amnesty and there can be no exceptions. All illegals must go," the John Birch Society said on X in response to the video. 

"No English. No citizenship," said popular online personality Brigitte Gabriel. "No. Someone who wanted to be a citizen would care enough to learn the language. In any country," said another post that garnered over 1,000 likes.

"Immediate deportation," said actor Matthew Marsden. "A just country that cares about its citizens should defend it. That includes getting rid of people like this."

Rep. Jeffries spoke at the event, and demanded the closure of Delaney Hall, another ICE detention facility in New Jersey that was subject to intense protests and sometimes violent riots for months earlier this year. 

"Delaney Hall needs to be shut down," Jeffries said. "That will remain a high priority for us until it takes place. The behavior that ICE is engaging in is inconsistent with our values and what America should represent." [The values Jeffries refers to is the end to law and order, open borders, and defunding the police.]

The White House fired back in a statement to Fox News Digital, saying: "These types of smears by sanctuary politicians are contributing to our ICE law enforcement officers facing a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats. Our ICE officers are heroes who put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from American communities. Democrats must stop demonizing our officers for simply enforcing our nation’s laws," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said. 

At press time, Democrats were still searching for a way to explain how demanding citizenship after 37 years of lawbreaking while needing a translator somehow advances the cause of justice, fairness, and not turning America into a free-for-all.

Ya es hora de deportar a todos los extranjeros ilegales.

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Patriots Heroically Liberate American City Square From Somali Flag After Woke Officials Cancel July 4 Fireworks To Make Room For Foreign Pride

BUFFALO, NY — In a shocking act of domestic terrorism that Mayor Sean Ryan is already calling "the greatest threat to democracy since mean tweets," unknown patriots cut down the Somali flag flying in Niagara Square late Wednesday night. The daring flag retrieval occurred just one day after city officials axed Buffalo’s Fourth of July fireworks because, apparently, celebrating America’s 250th birthday is problematic but honoring Somalia’s independence is essential civic duty.

The Somali flag had been proudly flapping in the square for the past four years on July 1, because nothing says "Welcome to America" like turning public spaces into mini embassies for countries whose citizens fled them.

“Buffalo is a proud, diverse city,” Mayor Ryan lectured reporters, “and our administration remains committed to honoring and celebrating the many cultures that make our community stronger—especially the ones that aren’t, you know, this one.”

Local residents pointed out the minor optics issue of hoisting a foreign flag right before Independence Day while simultaneously canceling the actual Independence Day celebration. Erie County GOP Chairman Michael Kracker summed it up perfectly: “City Hall canceled downtown fireworks, leaving Buffalo as one of the only cities in Western New York without a public Fourth of July event, and instead raised the flag of Somalia outside City Hall. But sure, no one is questioning immigrant contributions. This week just belongs to all of us Americans... except when it doesn’t.”

Mayor Ryan had briefly teased reviving the patriotic fireworks display for America’s big 250th, but after “exploring potential locations,” somehow no safe, accessible spot could be found in an entire American city. Tragic. Meanwhile, locating and installing a Somali flag pole? Piece of cake.Buffalo isn’t alone in this bold new trend of American mayors treating July 1 like it’s more important than July 4. Columbus, Ohio—home to the second-largest Somali population in the U.S.—also planned to hoist the flag before quietly memory-holing the announcement the second anyone noticed.

At press time, Buffalo police were conducting a full investigation into the flag theft, while sources confirm the Somali flag has been safely returned to its natural habitat: a storage closet where it can’t offend anyone who actually likes this country.

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Deranged New York Woman Who Wished 'Every Day Were Oct. 7' Arrested For Funding Palestinian Terror Group

Catherine Beth Washburn, 2 grenades, and Hamasshole flag

NEW YORK — A proudly anti-Semitic New Yorker who dreamed of turning every calendar page into another glorious Oct. 7 has finally been hauled off in cuffs for allegedly sending piles of cash to actual terrorists, proving the theory of FAFO.

Catherine Beth Washburn, 37, of Irondequoit, a peaceful Rochester suburb, stands accused of leading a radical outfit and posing for photos with hand grenades in front of a Hamas flag.
Federal authorities say she funneled tens of thousands of dollars to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a U.S.-designated terrorist organization whose idea of diplomacy involves rockets and suicide vests.

If convicted, Washburn faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, which is probably less than she spent on crypto transfers and keffiyehs.

Blaming the victim for Hamas' terrorism

According to the Justice Department, Washburn headed the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation (DAMPL), a group that sprang up right after Hamas's heroic slaughter of 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023. Unlike those boring moderates who prefer signs and chants, DAMPL favors "direct action" — things like smashing windows and sabotaging anything remotely connected to the Jewish state.

Communications recovered by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force show Washburn chatting with someone claiming to be an active PIJ fighter in Gaza. In those chats she reportedly confessed that she hated Jewish people "very much" and wished Israel "would disappear."

"I wish every day were October 7th," Washburn is accused of writing. "If I lived in Gaza, I would fight alongside the resistance."

She later added that she felt "excited every time I see news of the killing of an occupation soldier."

U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo noted that Washburn went to "great lengths" to finance violence, driven by "her self-described hate of Israel and Jewish people."

Financial records reveal roughly 80 cryptocurrency transfers totaling more than $30,000 sent to the PIJ fighter's account. In November 2025 she allegedly joked about her future prison wardrobe, writing, "Based on my passed [sic] fundraising and posting Im [sic] gonna get put away for a few life times," followed by a laughing emoji.

FBI Counterterrorism Division Acting Assistant Director Coult Markovsky made it clear that bankrolling murder carries consequences.

"This individual, as alleged in the criminal complaint, provided money to a foreign terrorist organization engaged in acts of violence," Markovsky said. "The FBI is committed to cutting off funding to terrorist groups and will continue to work side-by-side with our Justice Department partners to make sure anyone who engages in terrorism or provides assistance to such organizations is held fully accountable in our justice system."

In other news, progressive activists are already calling Washburn a "political prisoner" and planning a "Free Cathy" rally, because nothing says "social justice" like wiring Bitcoin to people who celebrate baby-killing.

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Iraqi accused of coordinating 20 terror attacks in Europe, faces trial in New York

Mohammad al-Saadi allegedly coordinated jihadi attacks against Jewish targets for pro-Iranian group Ashab al-Yamin since March.

An Iraqi terrorist dirtbag accused of orchestrating nearly 20 attacks across Europe and plotting more on Jewish institutions here in the United States has finally been hauled into New York to face federal terrorism charges. This came after what the FBI called a major international operation to drag his sorry carcass in.

Since early March, Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi and his merry band of jihadist associates allegedly planned and coordinated 18 attacks in the name of Ashab al-Yamin. That is a pro-Iranian Islamist outfit that loves taking credit for hitting Jewish schools, synagogues, and charities across Europe, along with American, Israeli, and Iranian opposition targets.

"The FBI’s successful FTOC (foreign transfer of custody) of Mohammad Al-Saadi, another high-value target responsible for mass global terrorism, is just the latest success in this administration’s historic work to bring terrorists to justice," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. "This was a righteous mission executed brilliantly by our agents, investigators, CIRG tactical units, and interagency partners who delivered yet again."

"We are greatly appreciative of the work of our allies around the world — especially Ambassador Tom Barrack, who led this joint sequenced operation and has been instrumental in bringing this successful mission home to the United States," he added.

On March 9, Al-Saadi allegedly posted a message on his Telegram account with the logo of Ashab al-Yamin, calling on warriors of Islam to engage in jihad, the FBI said.

Al-Saadi has posted Ashab al-Yamin-branded propaganda videos claiming responsibility for the attacks, including video recordings from attacks against Jewish places or persons in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, according to federal prosecutors.

The feds moved once they learned this clown was planning to bring Ashab al-Yamin’s brand of fun to the United States. He allegedly directed others to coordinate terrorist attacks here against synagogues and other Jewish institutions across the country.

Al-Saadi has also allegedly publicly threatened President Donald Trump and his family, authorities said.

He was expected to appear in a New York federal courtroom on Friday on six terrorism charges, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorist groups.

FBI Director Kash Patel called the arrest a "righteous mission" and said the operation marked another major victory in the administration’s effort to bring global terrorists to justice.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi was arrested and will face terrorism charges in the United States. Al-Saadi allegedly planned attacks across Europe aimed at U.S. and Israeli interests.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi was taken to New York where he will face terrorism charges.

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ICE Drops ‘Uncontrolled’ Fraud Bombshell Involving Thousands of Foreign Students, ‘Phantom Employees’

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons just dropped a massive reality check on yet another immigration program that's been running wild. Homeland Security Investigations officers have uncovered potentially thousands of fraudulent foreign workers [aka illegal aliens]. Acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Todd Lyons announced that federal investigators have uncovered more than 10,000 foreign students connected to "suspect employers" as part of another potentially massive fraud scheme, this time involving the federal STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension program.  

At a news conference Tuesday, Lyons said the cases uncovered thus far are "just the tip of the iceberg."

OPT is a U.S. immigration program that lets international students on F-1 visas work temporarily in the country in jobs related to their field of study. Lyons said that when the program was first created under the Bush administration and expanded under the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security expected "only a few thousand foreign students would receive training approval before returning home."

"Instead," Lyons said, that OPT "ballooned into an uncontrolled guest worker pipeline with hundreds of thousands of foreign students working in the United States." He added that "as the program size exploded, so has the fraud."

"Today, we are announcing we have identified over 10,000 foreign students who claim to be working for highly suspect employers, and that’s just among the top 25 OPT employers. This is only the tip of the iceberg," Lyons said. "We’ve dramatically expanded our oversight of OPT and can report that we found fraud nationwide."

According to Lyons, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officers have visited "problematic OPT worksite employers" in Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Florida. He said that many of the suspicious employers include nongovernmental organizations [NGOs].

According to Lyons, investigators have "discovered empty buildings and locked doors at addresses where hundreds of foreign students are allegedly employed." Investigators have also found hundreds of foreign students listed as working out of residential addresses. But no Learing Centers were discovered in the operation.

"In many places," he continued, "multiple OPT employers claim to operate from the same address, but none actually lease the facility."

"When someone does open the door, their statements are inconsistent, or they claim no knowledge of the business," said Lyons. It's akin to the guy stopped by cops who, when searched say, "These are not my pants."

The ICE director also said investigators uncovered what he referred to as "phantom employees," who he said are foreign students who obtained work authorization through OPT but never actually showed up for work at the sites they claimed to work out of.

"This is not accidental," Lyons concluded. "This is deliberate, coordinated and criminal."

He added that "this fraud is not victimless," calling it a "blatant attack on the goodwill of the American people."

Vice President JD Vance, who President Donald Trump appointed "fraud czar," celebrated the discovery in an X post as "another great win for our fraud task force."

Vance wrote that the administration "will not tolerate foreign nationals abusing our visa system at the expense of the American people."

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Venezuelan national busted after allegedly killing 18-year-old Chicago student

A 25-year-old Venezuelan national, Jose Medina-Medina ,who entered the United States illegally has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Loyola University Chicago student Sheridan Gorman. Gorman was reportedly walking with friends along the Tobey Prinz Beach pier, near campus, when a masked man opened fire, violently, and senselessly shooting her in the head. 

The young lady was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a statement to ABC7, Gorman’s family said that she had gone to the pier to look at the Northern Lights, emphasizing that “there was nothing reckless about her actions” at the time, suggesting further that this was a completely random attack.

“Sheridan was our daughter, our sister, and the heart of our family. She was full of life, full of kindness, and full of a love that she gave freely to everyone around her,” the family said in a statement.

Medina-Medina was arrested-arrested on Friday night and was scheduled to appear in court on Monday. This was delayed, however, as he has since been hospitalized for tuberculosis, according to prosecutors who spoke to the Chicago Tribune. At this point, no official motive has been identified for the crime.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer against Medina. The department noted that Medina had been released twice in 2023 under the Biden administration's policies, including a release following an arrest for shoplifting in Chicago.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” said Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, in the statement.

“We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” she added.Responding to news of the arrest, the Gorman family issued a statement through ABC7, ultimately describing the tragedy as a “violent and preventable act.”

“We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime. When systems fail, whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act, the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”

“This cannot be just another case that fades from public attention. Sheridan’s life mattered. What happened to her matters. And we will make sure she is not forgotten,” they continued.

Miss Gorman was an 18-year-old freshman at Loyola University Chicago, though originally from Yorktown, New York. A business major and active member of the Christian campus organization Cru, she was described by friends and family as a compassionate, joyful, and kind person who was deeply involved in her campus community despite only being in her first year. 

The fatal incident occurred around 1:15 a.m. at the Tobey Prinz Beach pier in Rogers Park while Gorman was walking with a group of friends, having gone to the lakefront specifically to try to view the Northern Lights. According to investigators, the masked man approached the group from behind a lighthouse and opened fire as they attempted to flee. Gorman was struck in the head and pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported among her friends.

A memorial and scholarship fund are being established in Gorman’s honor in her hometown of Yorktown.

This is the sort of story that should shame a nation. A young woman, full of promise and untouched by any recklessness or provocation, steps out on a clear night simply to witness a rare natural wonder, the Northern Lights dancing above Lake Michigan. In that innocent moment she is executed at point-blank range by a man who had no right to be in the country at all, a man released not once but twice by the very authorities charged with protecting American citizens.

The family’s grief is raw and dignified. They insist there was “nothing reckless about her actions,” as if even the faintest suggestion of fault must be extinguished before it can be whispered. They are right to do so. For this was not a tragic encounter between rival gang members or the unhappy result of some personal dispute. It was, by every available account, a random slaughter, the sort that occurs when the state has decided that its own laws on entry and removal are optional, when sanctuary policies matter more than the safety of its own people, and when the consequences of those decisions are borne not by politicians in their guarded offices but by freshmen walking along a pier.

Consider the sequence. The killer, a Venezuelan an illegal alien, had already been arrested for shoplifting in Chicago. Under the policies of the Biden administration he was released. Later he was encountered again and released once more. 

Now an American teenager lies dead, her skull shattered by his bullet, while he sits in hospital with tuberculosis, the court appearance postponed. The Department of Homeland Security has at last lodged a detainer, as though such paperwork could resurrect the dead or undo the years of deliberate negligence that placed the murderer on that pier in the first place.

The family sees it clearly. “We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime,” they say. “When systems fail, whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act, the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”

There is a terrible eloquence in those words. Permanent. That is what open-border ideology and sanctuary-city dogma have delivered to Sheridan Gorman and her family: a permanent absence, a life cut short at eighteen, a future of studies and friendships and quiet Christian witness erased in a single act of casual savagery.

Politicians will speak of  “comprehensive reform” and “root causes” in the days ahead, as they always do. They will treat this as one more data point in an argument rather than as the human catastrophe it is. But the family will not let it fade. “This cannot be just another case that fades from public attention,” they declare. “Sheridan’s life mattered. What happened to her matters. And we will make sure she is not forgotten.”

They should not have to fight alone for that remembrance. The rest of us, those still fortunate enough to live under laws that are actually enforced, have a duty to ensure that Sheridan Gorman is not remembered merely as another statistic in the long ledger of migrant crime, but as the precise and foreseeable cost of a governing philosophy that values ideological purity over the elementary obligation to keep citizens safe in their own streets and on their own shores. 

A scholarship and a memorial in Yorktown will be established, small consolations for an irreparable loss. Yet the true memorial must be larger: a national reckoning with the reality that when a country stops controlling its borders, it stops controlling its fate, and the first to pay are the young, the innocent, and the hopeful, walking out one autumn night to see the lights in the sky.

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NY Gov. Hochul pleads with New Yorkers to return from Florida, admits taxes chased them off

New York Governor Kathy Hochul did her best impression of a broke ex who suddenly wants the old flame back this week, basically pleading with the wealthy “captives” she’s already scared off to please, pretty please, come home and bankroll her endless parade of socialist wish-list items.

In a fireside chat with Nick Reisman at the Politico New York Agenda summit, Hochul finally uttered the words conservatives have been screaming into the void for years: high taxes make rich people leave. It’s human nature, guys.

Shocking development, I know.

After treating the state’s high-net-worth crowd like a bottomless slot machine for far too long, the governor had her come-to-Jesus moment: “I need people who are high-net-worth to support the generous social programs that we want to have in our state … cut me the checks, if you want to be supportive, but maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded.”

Translation: The well has run dry, the golden geese have flown south to a place with zero state income tax and a governor who doesn’t treat them like escaped prisoners.

“Remote work changed everything,” Hochul whined, sounding exactly like a warden who just noticed the jailbreak in progress. “There were people who could only work in an office in Manhattan . . .  and they were captives to our state. They were going to stay. We saw that that’s not the case.” 

She even copped to Wall Street eyeballing Texas, not because the Lone Star governor is more charming, but “they’re going there because of the tax rate.”

Despite this rare flash of self-awareness, Hochul’s big-brain fix isn’t slashing the bloated spending or dialing back the “generous” programs that created the exodus. Nope. She’s reduced to begging “patriotic millionaires” to “cut me the checks” and floating the idea of a recruitment safari in Florida. “Maybe the first step should be to go down to Palm Beach and see who we can bring back home because our tax base has been eroded,” she said, showing us again how much she knows about human nature.

Yeah, good luck selling that timeshare pitch. Why swap a beachfront cabana and year-round sunshine for a guilt-trip voicemail from Albany demanding tribute?

The governor also burned plenty of oxygen griping about the Trump administration, pinning everything from gas prices to her own flailing green-energy fantasies on the former president. She admitted her eco-mandates are “scaring the crap out of everybody” with utility bills going through the roof, yet she’s still peddling an “all-of-the-above approach” while begging for “breathing room.”

In the end, Hochul remains firmly in denial, clinging to her vision of a socialist paradise paid for by other people’s money. She’s just now discovering, way too late, what Margaret Thatcher tried to tell everyone: eventually, you run out of other people’s money.

Classic liberal arc: spend like there’s no tomorrow, chase away the payers, then act surprised when the math doesn’t math. 

Hey, Kathy, human nature is a bummer.

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Michael Cohen says he was "pressured" and "coerced" by Alvin Bragg and Letitia James to testify against Trump

Here we go again with another chapter in the never-ending Trump legal soap opera, but this time the script flip is coming from the guy who used to be the star witness against him.

Michael Cohen, the former fixer who spent years singing like a canary with a grudge, is now admitting he was "pressured" and "coerced" by Alvin Bragg and Letitia James to deliver the anti-Trump testimony they so desperately wanted.

In his latest Substack missive (because, of course, it's on Substack), Cohen drops this gem:"I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony . . .  against President Trump."

And just in case that wasn't clear enough, he doubles down: "I felt pressured and coerced to only provide information and testimony that would satisfy the government's desire to build the cases against and secure a judgment and convictions against President Trump."

He says the pressure started right from the opening bell in his first meetings with the prosecutors working for Bragg and James.

Regarding James specifically, Cohen writes: "Letitia James made it publicly known during her 2018 campaign for attorney general that, if elected, she would go after President Trump. Her office made clear that the testimony they wanted from me was testimony that would help them do just that. Again, I felt compelled and coerced to deliver what they were seeking."

Trump, never one to miss a chance to say "I told you so," called the whole thing proof of a "very corrupt investigation" in a Friday night chat with conservative media site The Daily Wire. He's been calling Cohen a liar since the beginning, and now the liar is basically agreeing that the fix was in to get him to talk. Cohen walks through the two big cases: the civil fraud suit from James' office about Trump supposedly puffing up asset values for loans, and the Manhattan DA's criminal hush-money extravaganza involving Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

Juries bought it both times, of course.

Cohen unconsciously covers his groin area

But now Cohen is out here saying: "Letitia James and Alvin Bragg may not share the same office or political calendar, but they share the same playbook. Both used their platforms to elevate their profiles, to claim the mantle of the officials who 'took down Trump.' In doing so, they blurred the line between justice and politics; and in that blur, the credibility of both suffered."

And the reason he's finally speaking up? A federal appeals court just breathed new life into Trump's push to toss the hush-money conviction, and Cohen figures staying quiet would make him complicit.

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"I am not writing this to defend Donald Trump, nor to re-litigate his conduct," he insists. "That ground has been plowed endlessly, often loudly, and rarely thoughtfully. I am writing because I have seen this system from the inside. . . . When politics and prosecution become indistinguishable, public trust erodes; not just in individual cases, like mine and/or Trump's, but in the system itself. That erosion serves no one, regardless of party, personality, or power."

Translation: The guy who helped build the cases is now telling us the scaffolding was rigged from the start.

Color me shocked. Just kidding. This is New York justice we're talking about, after all.

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BREAKING: Shocker--Multiple shootings in a gun-free zone in Brooklyn, for some reason

Possibly two or more shooters shot numerous people in Brooklyn, NY in a gun-free zone [aka shooting gallery]. For some reason, bad people with guns refuse to follow the law. The shooting occurred around 3 a.m. on Franklin Avenue, in the Crown Heights section.

Law enforcement discovered about 36 gun casings were found and will be inspected for fingerprints as nobody has yet been taken into custody.

We know that there are at least three people who have died and dozens injured. The shootings took place at or near a hookah bar, which is historically populated by Muslims, but still we have no information as to the shooters and their victims, for some reason.

The CCTV footage has shown the suspects but the city refuses to release any information about them. For some reason, this is sensitive information.

Social Democrat [aka socialist] Zohran Mamdani has yet to address the shooting for some reason. He is running for mayor and had promised to keep citizens informed, but perhaps he forgot his vow.

It's obvious the left will call for stricter gun laws, in spite of the strictest gun laws on the books in New York City. They will blame the guns, not the shooters. The goal for the left is to ban all guns except for police and security details for politicians.

This is a breaking story so stay tuned.

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Columbia U. protester linked directly to Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades: DOJ says

"This is the finger I use for my nose," Bazrouk bragged

In a shocking revelation, The New York Post has exposed the Naziesque ties of Tarek Bazrouk, a vile "Jew-hater" who wreaked havoc on Columbia University’s campus with anti-Israel protests and allegedly plotted to set a Jewish student ablaze. 

This scumcrumpet, now facing federal hate crime charges, was reportedly linked directly to Hamas’ murderous al-Qassam Brigades, receiving regular updates from their mouthpiece, Abu Obeida, according to federal documents. 

This is the smoking gun proving Hamas’ tentacles slither onto American soil, manipulating agitators like Bazrouk to sow chaos and hatred against Jews.

Bazrouk, a 20-year-old New Yorker with no ties to Columbia as a student, strutted around campus sporting the green headband of Hamas terrorists, bragging to his pinhead pals about his overseas relatives in the terror group, prosecutors allege. His phone was a cesspool of pro-Hamasshole and pro-Hezbollah propaganda, glorifying the scum who’ve slaughtered thousands of Jews and Israelis, attacked Americans, and openly vow to annihilate both Israel and the U.S. 

Among the filth was a photo of the now dead Yahya Sinwar, the al-Qassam mastermind behind the barbaric Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and a meme drooling over the brigades: “By God I would not trade the Al Qassam Brigades for the world and everything in it. May God be pleased with them and allow them to break the wicked enemy through him.”

This Nazi’s hatred ran deep. 

Court documents reveal texts where he proudly called himself a “Jew hater,” branded Jews “worthless,” begged “Allah” to “get us rid of [Jews],” and hurled slurs like “F**king Jew” at an acquaintance. He even told a friend to “slap that bitch” over a woman with an Israeli sticker on her laptop. 

During Columbia’s April 2024 protests, Bazrouk allegedly texted a buddy about lighting a flare and wanting to burn someone, only stopping because “too many” people were around, otherwise he “would’ve hurted [sic] them.” His depravity, and his lack of proper English, knew no bounds. He is accused of punching Jewish student Jonathan Lederer in the face while ranting about Hitler and Nazis, stealing his brother’s flag in a deranged outburst near campus on Dec. 9, 2024.

But Bazrouk’s alleged crime spree didn’t stop there. 

He’s charged with three hate crimes for attacks on Jews, including lunging at a group with Israeli flags at a Gaza war protest outside the New York Stock Exchange on April 15, 2024, and kicking a Jewish student in the stomach as cops dragged him away. On Jan. 6, 2025, he allegedly punched another protester draped in an Israeli flag near Union Square, his face masked with a keffiyeh. Despite arrests, this predator “remained undeterred,” returning to “using violence to target Jews in New York City,” said US Attorney Jay Clayton.

When feds searched Bazrouk’s Manhattan home, where he lived with family, they uncovered a replica firearm, spent shell casings, brass knuckles, a switchblade, a hunting knife, and a staggering $750,000 in cash stashed in a safe. His defense claims the money came from his job at a Connecticut smoke shop, but this was no innocent clerk. 

Bazrouk was arrested there in December 2024 for “operating a drug factory” with $25,000 in marijuana products.

Columbia, plagued by masked anti-Israel agitators in 2024, was forced to call in the NYPD to clear out these radical cretins, who even illegally seized a university building. NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban nailed it, pointing to “professional outside agitators” like Bazrouk fueling the chaos. 

The university distanced itself, stating it has “no record of Bazrouk being on campus” and “strongly condemns anti-Semitism,” emphasizing he’s not affiliated with them. Yet, Hamas’ shadow looms large. A lawsuit reveals the terror group taunted Israeli hostage Shlomi Ziv with images of Columbia’s anti-Semitic protests, boasting of operatives on U.S. campuses.

Bazrouk’s alleged trips to the West Bank and Jordan in late 2024 raise seriously chilling questions about his activities there. Prosecutors, building their case, say he’s a “danger to the community” with his “support for terrorist groups,” “avowed hatred of Jews,” and arsenal of weapons. 

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He has been denied bail, he’s been caged since May 7, 2025, facing only up to 30 years if convicted. His lawyer, Andrew Dalack, weakly denies any Hamas connection but offers no real defense, mainly due to the fact that the evidence is overwhelming.

This isn’t an isolated case. Jewish groups and the Anti-Defamation League’s Oren Segal warn that Hamas and Hezbollah’s influence festers in U.S. protests, with their flags waved shamelessly. Bazrouk’s actions expose the ugly truth: anti-Israel campus chaos isn’t just misguided activism, it’s a front for terror-backed hatred targeting Jews and Israel’s right to exist.

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Trump admin refers NY AG James for possible prosecution over mortgage fraud

You know what they say about payback that it's something that sounds like beach. This may be what is happening with New York Attorney General Letitia "Get Trump" James.

AG James has been punched with shocking allegations by the Trump administration, having accused her of mortgage fraud. That's bigger than Watergate!

In documents obtained by Fox News Channel's The Ingraham Angle, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, accusing James of mortgage fraud.

Holy moley!

FHFA Director William Pulte dropped a bombshell in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, accusing Letitia James of cooking the books to game lending requirements and snag sweeter loan deals. Pulte’s pointing fingers at a Virginia property James allegedly claimed as her main crib—despite being a New York elected official—and a New York building she called a four-unit structure when it’s supposedly five. Why? To score a cushier loan, that’s why.

Fox News contributor and GWU law professor Jonathan Turley, who’s never short on sharp takes, told Laura Ingraham the irony here is “perfectly crushing.” 

He didn’t hold back: “This is a person who prosecuted Trump for everything short of ripping a label off a mattress, and among the charges that were brought in New York, in just the civil but the criminal case, was making false or misleading statements to financial institutions.” 

Turley’s basically saying James is hoisted by her own petard. “As for James, if we apply the Letitia James standard that she created, there’d be little question here. This seems pretty straightforward.”

It gets weirder. James allegedly listed her dad as her husband to file as a married couple. Yeah, you read that right. Turley’s like, “The Supreme Court just stated earlier in March, in a case called Thompson, that they want to see knowing false statements under sections like 10-14, not just misleading statements. These are misleading statements: either it’s your principal residence or it’s not. Either you’re married to your father or he’s your father.” 

Mic drop!

The New York Post dug up documents showing James and her dad listed as “husband and wife” on a property buy in 1983 and 2000. Pulte’s not letting that slide, writing, “While this was a long time ago, it raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James’ representations on mortgage applications.” 

James, who’s been Trump’s legal kryptonite, led the 2022 civil fraud suit against him and his crew, gloating through the courtroom drama and cheering when Trump got slapped with a $454 million judgment (now on appeal). In 2025 alone, she’s unleashed at least five legal assaults on the Trump admin, including a push to block DOGE from Treasury systems and another over slashed research grants. Busy lady.

But now? The tables have turned, and the DOJ and James are dodging Fox News’ calls. Turley, back on Ingraham Angle, called the documents “quite damning.” This isn’t the first time someone’s been prosecuted for this kind of thing, and if James’ own standards are applied, she might be in deeper than she’d like. 

Stay tuned—this one’s got legs.

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