The White House’s social media team had to back down this week on including Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Juno” in a post touting ICE’s migrant arrests — but they’re hardly going away quietly. Shortly after deleting the initial X post, the administration snapped back by posting a new clip of Carpenter doing a commercial for her recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance, with the audio overdubbed so that she appears to be calling cast member Marcello Hernández “illegal” instead of “hot.”

In the original, unaltered “SNL” commercial, Carpenter stood alongside Hernández and said, “I think I might need to arrest someone for being too hot.” “Oh well, I turn myself in,” responded Hernández, extending his hands, as if to be cuffed. “You’re under arrest!” she cooed. But with the White House’s alteration of the clip, the overdubbed audio now has a voice like Carpenter’s saying “…too illegal,” as the highly popular Latino cast member puts his wrists out.

The caption for the TikTok and X video reads: “PSA: If you’re a criminal illegal, you WILL be arrested & deported.” Following the altered footage of Carpenter and Hernández’s repartee, the remainder of the White House’s post — as with the previous, now-deleted video that appropriated Carpenter’s music — consists of footage of immigrants being chased down and arrested.

European Christmas markets are opening this year under tightened security and rising operational costs, as officials across Germany, France and other parts of Europe respond to what authorities describe as elevated threats to public safety.

In Germany, spending on security for public events — including Christmas markets — has increased by about 44% over the past three years, according to a new survey by the Federal Association of City and Town Marketing. Berlin’s main market launched this season behind concrete barriers, enhanced video surveillance, and an expanded private security presence. Several smaller municipalities warn that the added requirements may force them to scale back or cancel markets next year.

“The requirements have become increasingly stringent,” David Russ, head of production at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt, told Reuters. The heightened measures, he said, allow visitors to feel secure: “I can just let go of everything here — I feel safe.”

While many towns receive some public funding to operate holiday markets, smaller municipalities and private organizers often shoulder most of the expense. Local officials have begun calling on Germany’s 16 federal states to take on a larger share of the financial burden, arguing that counter-terrorism measures extend beyond the responsibility of local event planners.

The upgrades follow last December’s SUV attack at the Magdeburg Christmas market, which killed six people and injured more than 300. Since then, many German cities have reinforced infrastructure, revised crowd-control plans, and increased surveillance at large seasonal gatherings.

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France has moved in a similar direction. Authorities canceled the annual New Year’s Eve concert on the Champs-Élysées after police raised concerns about crowd management and what the Interior Ministry described as a “very high” terror threat level. The ministry has classified Christmas markets and other winter festivities as “high-risk” events, prompting cities to deploy additional officers, introduce new screening points and impose access restrictions where needed.

“The real question is why European governments are tolerating a situation where they must deploy extraordinary security just so people can safely celebrate a tradition that has been central to European life for centuries,” Alan Mendoza, executive director of the Henry Jackson Society told Fox News Digital. “They’re responding to the threat, but they’re not pushing back against the radical extremists causing it. Why are Europeans forced to navigate layers of security instead of authorities making life difficult for the people who are spreading hatred and posing the threat?”

“Europe needs an aggressive strategy that targets the radicals — imprisoning them, deporting them if they’re not citizens — because you can’t secure your way out of this forever,” Mendoza continued. “Every year the security will increase unless the root causes are addressed. Europeans are increasingly fed up with what’s happening to their societies, and if current leaders won’t deliver transformative change, voters will eventually choose leaders who will.”

Other European countries are also reinforcing their holiday operations. According to The Sun, the iconic Christmas market in Salzburg, Austria — which draws roughly 1.5 million visitors each year — is now monitored by round-the-clock private security and a network of 33 dedicated cameras. Elsewhere in Austria, including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s home region of Styria, some markets have been canceled entirely because organizers say they cannot afford the mandated security measures.

STATE DEPARTMENT MAKES FIRST-EVER ANTIFA FOREIGN TERRORIST DESIGNATIONS ACROSS EUROPE

In Prague, large concrete blocks have been placed along popular embankments and around key foot-traffic areas, while police have increased patrols to monitor potential targets. In Budapest, additional plain-clothes officers are circulating through crowds to identify suspicious behavior and improve response speed.

Ben Cohen, a senior analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that authorities are treating the holiday season with heightened seriousness. “The threat level is certainly the same as last year. Arguably, it’s more acute now, which is why the authorities in Germany and France are increasing security measures at Christmas markets and fairs this year. Over the last year, both countries have cracked down on Islamist activity, so they will be especially on their guard at this time of year.”

“More broadly,” he added, “both Christian and Jewish festivals are seen as soft targets by jihadists, as evidenced by the attack on a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur in October. Christmas and Easter carry the same risks and so extra vigilance and a strong but discreet armed police presence is definitely warranted.”

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Despite the adjustments, many markets in Europe remain open and continue to draw significant attendance, though under noticeably stricter security conditions. Officials in several countries say the measures are likely to remain in place as long as threat levels stay elevated.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Relocations of asylum seekers across the EU from countries under the most pressure from migration are set to be fewer than previously expected in 2026.

At a meeting in Brussels on Monday, the 27 EU Home Affairs Ministers are set to discuss the size of the “solidarity pool”, a mechanism to determine the total number of asylum seekers to be relocated the following year and the amount each country should allocate, or to compensate for by paying.

The European Commission proposed to relocate a certain number of asylum seekers from four countries considered “under migratory pressure”: Spain, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus.

The details of the proposal are classified, but according to sources, the pool amounts to 30,000 individuals. However, EU member states are expected to try and reduce this number, as national governments are not keen either to take more migrants in or to pay out compensation to other states for doing so.

“It will be less than 30,000”

According to EU rules, countries labelled as “under migratory pressure” should benefit the following year from the mandatory solidarity of other EU member states, who will either relocate asylum seekers to their own territory or provide financial contribution to those under the most pressure.

It falls to the European Commission to propose the size of this solidarity mechanism, with a legal minimum of 30,000 relocations and €600 million in financial contributions. Member states can then decide which way they want to contribute.

According to a EU source who saw the classified document, the Commission chose the highest possible minimum level of relocations.

In practice, this would mean 30,000 asylum seekers would be relocated from the four southern EU member states to the other 23, distributed in different numbers. They will be relocated according to quotas based on the states’ populations and GDP.

According to the person who saw the document, in the Commission proposal, the shares are expressed as percentages, not real numbers, with Germany taking the largest share. Some 42 per cent of the relocations proposed are to cover people rescued at sea and disembarked in one of the four countries under pressure.

However, member states are keen to reduce this overall number, arguing that the first solidarity cycle should be shortened, as the new migration rules will enter into force only in June 2026.

“States want to adapt the size,” one diplomat said. “It will be lower than what the Commission proposed.”

Despite this reduction not being explicitly provided for in the law, the Commission seems open to the possibility for next year.

“The Commission’s proposal for the annual solidarity pool covers a full year, but the reduced period of implementation is an element that the Council may consider in the process leading up to adoption of the solidarity pool,” a Commission spokesperson said during a press briefing on Friday.

Member states say no

Besides the possible reduction in the pool’s size, the number of member states contributing could also shrink.

According to the Commission’s proposal, another group of countries classified as “facing a significant migratory situation” could ask for a total or partial exemption from their quotas, which must be approved by other member states.

Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria, and Poland have this option, and most of them have requested the exemption, several EU sources told Euronews.

In the case of Poland, the request was announced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk a few hours after the proposal.

“Poland will not be accepting migrants under the Migration Pact. Nor will we pay for it,” he wrote on X.

Any exemption will need to be approved by EU ministers through a qualified majority. This means that 15 out of 27 member states, representing at least 65% of the total EU population, have to support it.

Any exempted country’s share of relocations and financial contribution is not reassigned to other states, meaning that countries “under migratory pressure” will receive less help in the overall package.

“Exemptions and reductions should be as low as possible and truly motivated,” one diplomat said, suggesting this would be a particularly contentious point at the meeting.

No exemption or reduction can be granted to Hungary, for instance, despite Prime Minister Viktor Orbán insisting he will not apply the rules.

According to sources familiar with the matter, most of the EU countries would rather pay a financial contribution, which amounts to €20,000 per person not relocated, than host migrants. Some, like Germany or Sweden, would probably profit from the “responsibility offset”, a mechanism foreseen by the law which could reduce even more the effective relocations.

Several member states in Central and Northern Europe are currently hosting people who should have asked for asylum in their first country of arrival, and have instead irregularly moved through the EU (the so-called “secondary movements”).

According to the offset mechanism, any country could deduct these people from its solidarity quota, instead of sending them back to frontline countries, which has proved very complicated up to now.

“Italy and Greece have not been accepting transfers under the previous system. So this mechanism will be a concrete opportunity”, a diplomat said.