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Rubio Visits NATO Amid European Alarm Over Trump’s Agenda

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Rubio Visits NATO Amid European Alarm Over Trump’s Agenda

Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Brussels on Thursday for a gathering of NATO foreign ministers amid high anxiety over the Trump administration’s approach to Europe, including the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and President Trump’s growing trade war with the continent.

Mr. Rubio’s visit to the alliance’s headquarters, the first by a senior Trump administration official this year, comes as relations between the United States and Europe have abruptly shifted from the close cooperation of the Biden era to mistrust and acrimony under Mr. Trump.

At the same time, NATO officials may welcome a chance to confer with Mr. Rubio, whom many consider the most pro-alliance member of Mr. Trump’s national security team.

As a senator in 2023, representing Florida, Mr. Rubio cosponsored legislation requiring any president to seek the Senate’s advice and consent before withdrawing from the organization. Former aides say Mr. Trump has privately mused about taking that step, which would shatter the 32-nation military alliance formed to counter Russia.

Foreign officials who have dealt with Mr. Rubio since he became Mr. Trump’s top diplomat have described him as downplaying some of Mr. Trump’s wilder ideas and translating them into more realistic policy approaches, although they also question whether he truly speaks for a president with whom he does not have a close personal relationship.

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And there is only so much Mr. Rubio can do to sugarcoat Mr. Trump’s agenda, which is driven by a view that Europe economically exploits the United States, is culturally out of sync with the values of Mr. Trump’s political movement and must do business with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.

Mr. Rubio also arrives just a day after Mr. Trump announced 20 percent tariffs on imports from the European Union. At the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said of the E.U.: “They rip us off. It’s so sad to see. It’s so pathetic.”

In meetings with NATO ministers, Mr. Rubio is expected to press Mr. Trump’s call for a swift end to the war in Ukraine, an approach that alarms many European leaders who overwhelmingly support Kyiv and fear that Mr. Trump will wind up appeasing Mr. Putin.

Mr. Rubio’s fellow ministers will do their best to shape the Trump administration’s efforts to broker a deal between Kyiv and Moscow, which have stalled over wide gaps between the warring parties, and to urge the United States not to abandon Ukraine.

Mr. Rubio is also likely to reiterate Mr. Trump’s demand that NATO countries increase their military spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product, even as many of them struggle to meet spending goals of 2 percent that the alliance set years ago. Mr. Trump and other top American officials believe that the alliance relies too heavily on the United States for protection.

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That was made painfully clear to European officials by a discussion among top Trump administration officials last month on the Signal app that unwittingly included a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine. During the text chain, about a U.S. plan to bomb Houthi militants in Yemen, Vice President JD Vance complained that America would “again” be “bailing out” Europe by taking unilateral action to protect international shipping lanes that the Houthis have attacked.

“I fully share your loathing of European freeloading,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded. “It’s PATHETIC.”

Mr. Trump himself has warned that he may not come to the defense of NATO countries that he feels are not spending enough on their militaries, despite the alliance’s commitment to mutual self-defense. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” the president told reporters last month.

An additional point of tension is Mr. Trump’s determination to acquire the island of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member. Mr. Trump has shocked officials from Denmark and other NATO countries by declining to rule out taking Greenland by force, although Mr. Vance said on a recent visit to the island that military action was not under consideration.

Denmark’s foreign minister will attend the gathering in Brussels, although it is unclear whether he and Mr. Rubio will discuss Greenland. Danish officials say they cannot negotiate Greenland’s fate on their own because the island has the right of self-determination.

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Mr. Rubio will be joined in Brussels by the new U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew G. Whitaker, whom the Senate narrowly confirmed on Tuesday.

NATO officials are unsure what to make of Mr. Whitaker, who briefly served as acting attorney general during Mr. Trump’s first term but has no foreign policy experience. During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Whitaker assured senators that the United States’ commitment to NATO was “ironclad.”

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New York City ICE raid nets 9 arrests of illegal aliens from West Africa, 4 protesters also arrested

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New York City ICE raid nets 9 arrests of illegal aliens from West Africa, 4 protesters also arrested

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A federal raid in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood on Tuesday resulted in the arrests of nine migrants from West Africa who were in the United States illegally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told Fox News.

Four protesters were also taken into custody for allegedly blocking ICE officers and throwing objects at them.

Officials said the migrants are from Senegal, Mali and Guinea and were busted for allegedly selling counterfeit items in the area. 

ICE said the protesters who were detained have criminal backgrounds.

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PROTESTS ERUPT AS ICE AGENTS RAID NYC CHINATOWN STREET VENDORS ALLEGEDLY SELLING COUNTERFEIT GOODS

Federal agents conduct an immigration sweep on Canal Street in Chinatown as protesters gather on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York.  (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that ICE and federal partners conducted a “targeted, intelligence-driven enforcement operation” on Canal Street focused on criminal activity related to the sale of alleged counterfeit goods. 

“During this law enforcement operation, rioters who were shouting obscenities, became violent and obstructed law enforcement duties, including blocking vehicles and assaulting law enforcement,” McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “Already, one rioter has been arrested for assault on a federal officer.”

During a news conference Tuesday night, Murad Awawdeh, vice president of advocacy at the New York Immigration Coalition, said between 15 and 40 vendors were arrested, and at least two locals were taken into custody for protesting and blocking their arrest efforts.

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City officials quickly moved to distance themselves from the raid.

US MARSHAL, ILLEGAL MIGRANT SHOT DURING LOS ANGELES IMMIGRATION OPERATION

Federal officers in Chinatown, New York during a sweep on Canal Street

Federal agents conduct an immigration sweep on Canal Street in Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Jake Offenhartz)

Mayor Eric Adams’ press secretary, Kayla Mamelak Altus, told Fox News that New York City “never cooperates with federal law enforcement on civil deportation matters, in accordance with local laws,” and had “no involvement in this matter.”

“Mayor Adams has been clear that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue the American Dream should not be the target of law enforcement, and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals,” she said.

Protester shouts at federal agent in NYC

Protestors confront federal agents as they walk down Lafayette Street after an immigration sweep on Canal Street through Chinatown, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in New York City.  (Jake Offenhartz/AP)

Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani weighed in on X, calling the Manhattan raid “aggressive and reckless.”

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“Federal agents from ICE and HSI—some in military fatigues and masks—descended on Chinatown today in an aggressive and reckless raid on immigrant street vendors,” Mamdani wrote in a post. “Once again, the Trump administration chooses authoritarian theatrics that create fear, not safety. It must stop.”

Fox News’ Greg Wehner and CB Cotton contributed to this report.

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Video: Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid

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Video: Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid

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Federal Agents Detain Man During New York City Raid

Masked federal agents detained a man in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, handcuffing him while he faced the wall of a building.

“Just back up, please.” “I’m not doing nothing.” “Just back up.” “You’re asking me questions. What’s up? I’m from Brooklyn.” “You can film, you can film.” “Brooklyn, Brooklyn. I’m from Brooklyn. I’m not doing nothing.” “What’s your name? What’s your name?” “He asked me for my ID.” “What is your name?” “Edwin — Edwin Jean.” “Edwin Jean.?” “Yes, J-E-A-N.” “You guys can record all you want. Just back up. Let us do our job, OK, back up.” “Why is this guy being arrested?” “Why is he being arrested.” “I didn’t do anything. He asked me for my ID.” I can’t go on this shit. Brooklyn what up. Yeah he asked me for my ID. I said, I’m not giving him no ID. That’s it. That’s it.

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Masked federal agents detained a man in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, handcuffing him while he faced the wall of a building.

By Olivia Bensimon

October 21, 2025

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Books about race and gender to be returned to school libraries on some military bases

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Books about race and gender to be returned to school libraries on some military bases

A federal judge has ordered books about gender and race be returned to the shelves at school libraries on military bases in Kentucky, Virginia, Italy and Japan.

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A federal judge ordered the Department of Defense Monday to return books about gender and race back to five school libraries on military bases.

In April, 12 students at schools on military bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy and Japan claimed their First Amendment rights had been violated when nearly 600 books were removed from the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools they attend. The students are the children of active duty service members ranging from pre-K to 11th grade.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, and the ACLU of Virginia filed a motion on behalf of the families requesting the return of “all books and curriculum already quarantined or removed based on potential violation of the Executive Orders.”

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Earlier this year, President Trump issued executive orders demanding federal agencies remove and prohibit any materials that promote “gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology.”

In January, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued the memoranda “Restoring America’s Fighting Force,” which prohibited “instruction on Critical Race Theory (CRT), DEI, or gender ideology,” and “Identity Months Dead at DoD,” which barred using official resources for celebrations such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

According to the plaintiffs, DoDEA officials sent emails directing teachers to remove books and cancel lesson plans and events that would be in violation of Trump’s executive orders and Hegseth’s guidance.

Books removed from school libraries at military bases covered such topics as sexual identity, racism and LGBTQ pride. You can see a list of the books here.

Two elementary schools cancelled Black History Month events, teachers at a middle school were told to remove posters of education activist Malala Yousafzai and painter Frida Kahlo and another school cancelled Holocaust Remembrance Day.

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According to the motion filed by the ACLU, the students claimed that when they protested the school’s actions, they were punished and became “increasingly afraid to discuss race and gender in their classrooms, because they fear being silenced by teachers fearful of violating the EOs and DoDEA guidance.”

In her decision, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles sided with the students and their families, writing that “the removals were not rooted in pedagogical concerns” but rather there was “improper partisan motivation underlying [defendants’] actions.” Giles wrote that DOD officials must “immediately restore the books and curricular materials that have been removed.”

The Department of Defense and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have not yet responded to NPR’s request for comment.

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