Connect with us

Politics

Trump warns US may launch land operations inside Venezuela ‘very soon,’ says regime sent ‘killers’ to America

Published

on

Trump warns US may launch land operations inside Venezuela ‘very soon,’ says regime sent ‘killers’ to America

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. is preparing to take its campaign against narcoterrorism directly “on land” inside Venezuela, warning that the Nicolás Maduro regime has already sent “killers, murderers… gang members” and other violent offenders into the U.S. during past years of mass migration.

Speaking in the Oval Office during a Q&A session with reporters, Trump said U.S. forces are escalating operations against the trafficking networks behind the synthetic opioids and narcotics he blames for hundreds of thousands of American deaths.

“We’re knocking out drug boats right now at a level that we haven’t seen,” Trump said. “Very soon we’re going to start doing it on land too.”

The president said American intelligence agencies have mapped the routes, safehouses and production sites used by narcotics manufacturers operating inside Venezuela.

Advertisement

TRUMP SAYS US WILL BEGIN STOPPING VENEZUELAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS BY LAND: ‘GOING TO START VERY SOON’

President Trump suggested land operations in Venezuela may begin “very soon” in the Oval Office on Wednesday. (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“We know every route. We know every house. We know where they manufacture this crap,” he said. “The poison… they’ve been feeding us.”

Trump has repeatedly accused the Maduro government of weaponizing migration. On Wednesday, he repeated his claim that Venezuela “sent us killers, murderers… drug dealers at the highest level… gang members, and people from their mental institutions,” alleging the country had “emptied their prisons into our country.”

He argued that this occurred because the U.S. had previously been run by “stupid people… really stupid people.”

Advertisement

TRUMP ENDS VENEZUELA TALKS, MILITARY OPTIONS LOOM, NEW REPORT

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro waves to crowds outside the country’s National Assembly. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump tied the potential escalation to the fentanyl and synthetic opioid crisis, saying traffickers have “been killing our people by the millions,” and adding, “I think last year we lost close to 300,000 people.” He said American families devastated by overdoses were demanding a more aggressive response after years of “poison” entering the country through transnational networks.

Trump also confirmed he had spoken only “briefly” with President Maduro and told him “a couple of things,” adding, “We’ll see what happens with that.” But he emphasized that the pressure campaign currently underway extends beyond diplomacy.

US military drone strike an alleged drug-carrying submersible in the Caribbean on Thursday. (Credit: President Donald Trump via Truth Social)

Advertisement

Trump also defended the decision to strike drug-smuggling vessels and suggested the same standard applied to operators of land-based narcotics hubs.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“I support the decision to knock out the boats,” he said. “Whoever is piloting those boats, they’re guilty of trying to kill people in our country.”

The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Advertisement

Politics

Trump greenlights Russian sanctions bill, paving way for 500% tariff on countries supporting Moscow: Graham

Published

on

Trump greenlights Russian sanctions bill, paving way for 500% tariff on countries supporting Moscow: Graham

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Sen. Lindsey Graham announced Wednesday that President Donald Trump has approved a Russian sanctions bill designed to pressure Moscow to end its war with Ukraine.

Graham revealed the development in a post on X, describing it as a pivotal shift in the U.S. approach to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

“After a very productive meeting today with President Trump on a variety of issues, he greenlit the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill that I have been working on for months with Senator Blumenthal and many others,” Graham said. 

“This will be well-timed, as Ukraine is making concessions for peace and Putin is all talk, continuing to kill the innocent.”

Advertisement

TRUMP TOUTS ‘TREMENDOUS PROGRESS’ BUT SAYS HE’LL MEET PUTIN AND ZELENSKYY ‘ONLY WHEN’ PEACE DEAL IS FINAL

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol July 31, 2024, in Washington, D.C. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

According to the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, the bipartisan legislation is designed to grant Trump sweeping, almost unprecedented, authority to economically isolate Russia and penalize major global economies that continue to trade with Moscow and finance its war against Ukraine.

Most notably, the bill would require the United States to impose a 500% tariff on all goods imported from any country that continues to purchase Russian oil, petroleum products or uranium. The measure would effectively squeeze Russia financially while deterring foreign governments from undermining U.S. sanctions.

TRUMP CASTS MADURO’S OUSTER AS ‘SMART’ MOVE AS RUSSIA, CHINA ENTER THE FRAY

Advertisement

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting at the White House Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“This bill will allow President Trump to punish those countries who buy cheap Russian oil fueling Putin’s war machine,” Graham said.

“This bill would give President Trump tremendous leverage against countries like China, India and Brazil to incentivize them to stop buying the cheap Russian oil that provides the financing for Putin’s bloodbath against Ukraine.”

Graham said voting could take place as early as next week and that he is looking forward to a strong bipartisan vote.

US MILITARY SEIZES TWO SANCTIONED TANKERS IN ATLANTIC OCEAN

Advertisement

The vessel tanker Bella 1 was spotted in Singapore Strait after U.S. officials say the U.S. Coast Guard pursued an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela. (Hakon Rimmereid/via Reuters)

The move on the Russian sanctions bill follows another sharp escalation in America’s clampdown on Moscow. Earlier Wednesday, U.S. forces reportedly seized an oil tanker attempting to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil to Russia.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Graham publicly celebrated the seizure in another post on X, describing it as part of a broader winning streak of U.S. intervention aimed at Venezuela and Cuba. 

In the post, he also took aim at critics such as Sen. Rand Paul, who has opposed the bill, arguing that it would damage America’s trade relations with much of the world.

Advertisement

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

Continue Reading

Politics

ICE officer kills a Minneapolis driver in a deadly start to Trump’s latest immigration operation

Published

on

ICE officer kills a Minneapolis driver in a deadly start to Trump’s latest immigration operation

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minneapolis driver on Wednesday during the Trump administration’s latest crackdown on a major American city — a shooting that federal officials said was an act of self-defense but that the mayor described as reckless and unnecessary.

The 37-year-old woman was shot in front of a family member during a traffic stop in a snowy residential neighborhood south of downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from some of the oldest immigrant markets and about a mile from where George Floyd was killed by police in 2020. Her killing quickly drew a crowd of hundreds of angry protesters.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, while visiting Texas, described the incident as an “act of domestic terrorism” carried out against ICE officers by a woman who “attempted to run them over and rammed them with her vehicle. An officer of ours acted quickly and defensively, shot, to protect himself and the people around him.”

Emergency medical technicians carry a person on a stretcher at the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

(Ellen Schmidt / Associated Press)

Advertisement

But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blasted that characterization as “garbage” and criticized the federal deployment of more than 2,000 officers to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as part of the immigration crackdown.

“What they are doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust,” Frey said, calling on the immigration agents to leave. “They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.

“They are already trying to spin this as an action of self-defense. Having seen the video myself, I wanna tell everybody directly, that is bullshit,” the mayor said.

Frey said he had a message for ICE: “Get the f— out of Minneapolis.”

Advertisement
Police tape surrounds a vehicle

Police tape surrounds a vehicle believed to be involved in a shooting by an ICE agent on Wednesday.

(Stephen Maturen / Getty Images)

A shooting caught on video

Videos taken by bystanders with different vantage points and posted to social media show an officer approaching an SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The Honda Pilot begins to pull forward, and a different ICE officer standing in front of the vehicle pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots into the vehicle at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him.

It was not clear from the videos whether the vehicle made contact with the officer. The SUV then sped into two cars parked on a curb nearby before crashing to a stop. Witnesses screamed obscenities, expressing shock at what they’d seen.

Advertisement

After the shooting, emergency medical technicians tried to administer aid to the woman.

  • Share via

    Advertisement

“She was driving away and they killed her,” said resident Lynette Reini-Grandell, who was outdoors recording video on her phone.

Advertisement

The shooting marked a dramatic escalation of the latest in a series of immigration enforcement operations in major cities under the Trump administration. The death of the Minneapolis driver, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was at least the fifth linked to immigration crackdowns.

The Twin Cities have been on edge since DHS announced Tuesday that it had launched the operation, which is at least partly tied to allegations of fraud involving Somali residents. Noem confirmed Wednesday that DHS had deployed more than 2,000 officers to the area and said they had already made “hundreds and hundreds” of arrests.

Protestors react after being hit with chemical spray

Protesters react after being hit with chemical spray at the scene of a shooting in Minneapolis.

(Alex Kormann / Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)

A large throng of protesters gathered at the scene after the shooting, where they vented their anger at the local and federal officers who were there, including Gregory Bovino, a senior U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official who has been the face of crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago and elsewhere.

Advertisement

In a scene that hearkened back to the Los Angeles and Chicago crackdowns, bystanders heckled the officers, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” and “ICE out of Minnesota,” and blew whistles that have become ubiquitous during the operations.

Shootings involving drivers during immigration actions have been an issue since the raids began in Southern California.

In August, masked U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in San Bernardino opened fire on a truck they had stopped on a street. A video showed an agent demanding the driver roll down his window. When he refused, an agent shattered the window, the truck drove off and gunfire rang out.

When the driver got home, the family reported the incident to police. Federal authorities alleged an agent had been injured when the driver tried to “run them down.” But witnesses and video disputed some aspects of the official account.

In October, a well-known TikTok figure was shot by an agent during a standoff in Los Angeles. The U.S. attorney said the man rammed his vehicle into the law enforcement vehicles in front of and behind him, “spun the tires, spewing smoke and debris into the air, causing the car to fishtail and causing agents to worry for their safety.” But videos showed a much more complicated view of the situation. A federal judge recently dismissed the case against the driver, finding that he had been denied access to counsel while in immigration detention.

Advertisement

Governor calls for calm

In Minnesota on Wednesday, Gov. Tim Walz said he was prepared to deploy the National Guard if necessary. He said a family member of the driver was there to witness the killing, which he described as “predictable” and “avoidable.” He also said that, like many, he was outraged by the shooting but called on people to keep protests peaceful.

“They want a show. We can’t give it to them. We cannot,” the governor said during a news conference. “If you protest and express your 1st Amendment rights, please do so peacefully, as you always do. We can’t give them what they want.”

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara briefly described the shooting to reporters but, unlike federal officials, gave no indication that the driver was trying to harm anyone. He said she had been shot in the head.

“This woman was in her vehicle and was blocking the roadway on Portland Avenue. … At some point a federal law enforcement officer approached her on foot and the vehicle began to drive off,” the chief said. “At least two shots were fired. The vehicle then crashed on the side of the roadway.”

Advertisement

There were calls on social media to prosecute the officer who shot the driver. Commissioner Bob Jacobson of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said state authorities would investigate the shooting with federal authorities.

“Keep in mind that this is an investigation that is also in its infancy. So any speculation about what has happened would be just that,” Jacobson told reporters.

The shooting happened in the district of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who called it “state violence,” not law enforcement.

For nearly a year, migrant rights advocates and neighborhood activists across the Twin Cities have been preparing to mobilize in the event of an immigration enforcement surge. From houses of worship to mobile home parks, they have set up active online networks, scanned license plates for possible federal vehicles and bought whistles and other noise-making devices to alert neighborhoods of any enforcement presence.

Sullivan and Dell’Orto write for the Associated Press. Dell’Orto reported from St. Paul, Minn. AP writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Ed White in Detroit, Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas, and Mark Vancleave in Las Vegas and Times staff contributed to this report.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Politics

San Diego sues to stop border barrier construction

Published

on

San Diego sues to stop border barrier construction

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The city of San Diego sued the federal government to stop the construction of razor wire fencing on city-owned land near the U.S.-Mexico border, accusing federal agencies of trespassing and causing environmental damage.

The city filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for Southern California on Monday. The complaint named Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth among the defendants.

The city accused the federal government of acting without legal authority when they entered city property in Marron Valley and began installing razor wire fencing.

“The City of San Diego will not allow federal agencies to disregard the law and damage City property,” said City Attorney Heather Ferbert in a news release. She said the lawsuit aims to protect sensitive habitats and ensure environmental commitments are upheld.

Advertisement

NEWSOM SUES TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OVER CALIFORNIA NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT ORDER TO OREGON

San Diego is suing the federal government to stop the construction of razor wire fencing on city property in Marron Valley. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images, File)

According to the lawsuit, federal personnel including U.S. Marines accessed the land without the city’s consent, and damaged environmentally sensitive areas protected under long-standing conservation agreements.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth were among the federal officials named in San Diego’s lawsuit. (Reuters/Brian Snyder; AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

San Diego argues the fencing has blocked the city’s ability to manage and assess its own property and could jeopardize compliance with environmental obligations.

Advertisement

An American flag can be seen through the barbed wire surrounding the CoreCivic Otay Mesa Detention Center on October 4, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The lawsuit also accuses the federal government of trespassing and beginning construction without proper authority or environmental review, and unconstitutionally taking the land in violation of the Fifth Amendment.

Fox News Digital reached out to DHS and the Pentagon for comment.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending