EXCLUSIVE: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that it will be investigating a recent weightlifting competition that saw a biological male compete against women. 

Trans athlete Jammie Booker initially won the 2025 World’s Strongest Woman in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend. Female competitor Andrea Thompson, who finished second, appeared to be unhappy with the result. The Official Strongman organization later announced that Booker would be “disqualified,” giving Thompson first place. 

Still, Paxton is now cracking down. 

“Attorney General Paxton will not allow the radical left to sacrifice the integrity of girls’ sports on the altar of their delusional transgender agenda. The OAG is investigating this incident and will take any and all actions to protect women’s sports both in Texas and across the nation,” Paxton’s office said in a statement.

Paxton has previously filed a lawsuit against U.S. Masters Swimming for allowing trans athletes to compete in a competition in San Antonio earlier this year. 

A YouTube video from what appears to be Booker’s own channel, dating back to 2017, shows Booker claiming to be “trans.” 

According to Strongman Archives, Booker had not competed in women’s events prior to this past June. It is unclear whether Booker had previously competed as a man.

A video showing Thompson stepping off the podium appearing to say, “This is bulls—,” went viral in recent days, prompting major criticisms by women’s sports rights activists. 

“This is fraud — against the athletes, against the organizers,” Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS) co-founder Kim Jones told Fox News Digital. 

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“Female athletes deserve transparency, honesty, and the basic guarantee that the competitors standing next to them are, in fact, women. This is why sex-based eligibility and sex-screening are essential. Without them, situations like this will continue to blindside women and undermine every competition… Women have fought too hard, for too long, to have their sports taken from them in plain sight. This cannot continue.”

Thompson has become a sudden prominent figure in the movement to protect women’s sports from male competitors, with the recognition of her as the champion now being celebrated as a flashpoint in the movement. 

Thompson shared a post from her coach, Laurence Shahlaei, congratulating her on “winning” the event. Shahlaei made the post on Monday, one day after the event. Shahlaei told Fox News Digital just prior to Strongman’s announcement that he had been told Thompson would be crowned the champion and that an official announcement would be made.

“This win hasn’t come without controversy, but I want to make it very clear that while I support and applaud people for being who they want to be, sport is sport and the women’s classes exist for a reason,” Shahlaei wrote.

Official Strongman has said it wasn’t aware of Booker’s biological sex when the competition occurred. 

“Had we been aware, or had this been declared at any point before or during the competition, this athlete would not have been permitted to compete in the Woman’s Open category. We are clear – competitors can only compete in the category for the biological sex recorded at birth,” Official Strongman said in an announcement Tuesday.

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“Official Strongman is inclusive and proud to run events which do not discriminate against athletes based on personal characteristics. Any athlete is welcome. But it is our responsibility to ensure fairness and ensure athletes are assigned to men or women’s categories based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Strongman Official for a response to Paxton’s statement. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
 

A massive operation targeting underage drinking in Tempe, Arizona, has led to 249 arrests at a single bar last week.

The raid, which took place last Thursday at Tempe Tavern, was the second major police sweep at the bar in just one year. The incident involved underage drinkers who used fake IDs and gave false information, according to Fox 10 Phoenix.

Reports of the repeated violations have raised questions about the bar’s responsibility in serving alcohol to its customers. While sanctions are pending due to the ongoing investigations, the incident could result in license suspension.

“The Arizona Department of Liquor and Tempe PD partnered in a joint operation, resulting in a major liquor law compliance check that led to 249 arrests,” the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (ADLLC) said Friday.

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“This crackdown specifically targeted underage drinking and sent a strong message,” the department added. “Remember to always carry a valid ID and think twice before attempting to purchase alcohol if you are underage. Underage drinking is not a minor issue!!”

Of the 249 arrests, 246 people were cited and released, Fox 10 reported. The remaining individuals were reportedly booked into the Tempe City Jail. 

Tempe Tavern told Fox News Digital Tuesday that the establishment is “fully committed to cooperating with all authorities involved,” but declined to comment further “due to the ongoing investigation.”

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The ADLLC investigations lieutenant told Fox 10 that the department will only place sanctions, such as a liquor license suspension or fines, after the Tempe Police Department finishes its investigation. 

The lieutenant added that the department will take everything into consideration when making a decision, including the fact that a similar police sweep happened at the tavern in April and led to another 167 arrests, the outlet said.

Following the incident, management posted to Facebook stating that neither the bar nor its employees received citations from the liquor board or Tempe police from that prior incident.

Tempe Tavern acknowledged on social media that fake IDs have been a concern and stated that the bar scans every single ID presented at the door before entry, but noted that some fraudulent IDs can still successfully pass a scan and appear authentic. 

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“Tempe Tavern complies with the law, which is why neither the bar nor its employees received citations from the liquor board or the Tempe Police Department,” the business said in May.

The Tempe Police Department and the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.

EXCLUSIVE— U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents say misinformation and misleading videos are putting them at risk, fueling public hostility and attacks on officers. Fox News Digital embedded with ICE teams in Dallas and Houston in September to see their work firsthand and separate fact from fiction about their mission.

Acting Assistant Field Office Director in the Houston field office, Tom Persad, told Fox News Digital during the ride-along that it is a “privilege to live in America.”

“I don’t think anyone wants to have criminals living in their community breaking in and robbing them, stealing from them, raping them, child predators, gangbangers. And if these people commit their crimes, they should go back to their home country. It’s a privilege to live here,” Persad said.

A Dallas assistant office field director, who Fox News Digital joined for the ride-along, emphasized that ICE has targeted individuals when conducting arrests.

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“We want to keep our community safe,” he continued. “Stop believing what people are posting as far as like ICE is out there conducting raids, ICE is just arresting anyone they see, or they’re profiling.”

Persad in Houston emphasized that the theory that ICE is conducting raids against one particular demographic is not true.

“It’s just not one specific community. It just depends on their – the criminality,” Persad said.

Fox News Digital rode along with the Houston team on Sept. 12. Persad said many protesters and critics of ICE do not understand how the agency operates and criticized media outlets for misrepresenting ICE’s work.

“I’m not going to say all media, but the majority of them don’t put out the whole story. They just put out part of it. So then the general public or even the communities, they just, they’re not… informed fully, so then they just make a rash decision, or a rash conclusion about what we’re doing,” Persad said.

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He said this misinformation has real-world consequences.

“I feel if the media would actually tell the whole story, it would make everyone’s lives a lot easier doing this job, and also you don’t have these people resisting and running and fleeing and fighting and assaulting officers. Assaults have gone up dramatically in the last six to seven months.”

“Folks need to be better educated on as far as like our agency and what we do,” the Dallas officer emphasized.

During the Houston ride-along, agents arrested a Syrian citizen, a convicted child predator who was found to possess child sexual abuse materials in Harris County, Texas, and was admitted to the U.S. as a non-immigrant visitor but failed to return to his home country by the required date.

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Persad said following the arrest, “It’s not just the Hispanic community that we look at. We look at everybody. And it just depends on, the case today might come up with someone from Mexico. Tomorrow it might be someone from England, or Canada, or South America, or even Africa. We just don’t target one specific community.”

During the Dallas ride-along, agents arrested an illegal immigrant from Mexico with a long rap sheet of alleged crimes from his home country.

The individual ICE targeted that morning from Mexico had committed fraud while applying for status in the U.S., and had also faced allegations ranging from murder to money laundering that he hadn’t disclosed, according to the Dallas agent.

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Agents also stressed the importance of respect and safety during operations.

“Communication is key. And I think for individuals that we encounter on a daily basis, if we stay professional, and we treat them with respect, we expect the same back, right? And for the most part, that’s what we get,” the Dallas agent said.

He continued, “Safety is going to be the number one concern, but also it’s not just our safety, it’s their safety as well. So it’s very important, I think, to have that professional communication and treating everyone the way they should be, right? We’re all human beings.”

The Dallas ride-along took place on Sept. 23. Just one day later, a gunman opened fire at the ICE field office in Dallas, authorities confirmed.

ICE officers are facing a surge in death threats and violent attacks as they carry out the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security last month show that ICE officers are experiencing an 8,000% increase in death threats targeting ICE officers.

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Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the threats come as officers “risk their lives every single day to remove the worst of the worst.”

“From bounties placed on their heads for their murders, threats to their families, stalking, and doxxing online, our officers are experiencing an unprecedented level of violence,” she said.

Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi and Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.