EXCLUSIVE: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin is firing back at a progressive House Democrat who is pushing one of the most radical Trump administration crackdowns yet.

Mullin and his DHS spokesperson both criticized legislation by Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., a member of the progressive “Squad,” that would dismantle most of the department and abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

“Radical leftists are calling to defund the police and abolish DHS. It’s NEVER going to happen. Our 270,000 DHS patriots are keeping Americans SAFE— unlike this open-borders politician who refuses to prioritize Americans over illegal aliens,” Mullin told Fox News Digital.

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His spokesperson went even further, telling Fox News Digital that Ramirez “should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from her district—NOT vilifying law enforcement.”

“This type of rhetoric is contributing to a more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them as they put their lives on the line,” the DHS spokesperson said. “While sanctuary politicians smear ICE, law enforcement is arresting criminals and saving countless American lives.”

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DHS also pointed Fox News Digital to a list of illegal immigrants arrested in Ramirez’s home state of Illinois. It included Bulgarian national Rumen Georgriev, who was convicted of “rape with a weapon,” Abdukadir Haji of Somalia, who DHS said was convicted of “sex assault and rape,” and Cuban national Samuel Reyes-Silva, who was convicted of “robbery and homicide.”

Ramirez’s legislation, the Reimagining Safety Act, would create a “Department of Community Safety” while dismantling DHS as it is currently known.

Certain agencies like the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Coast Guard, and customs functions would be preserved.

The bill would abolish ICE and “begin the process of establishing a separate civil immigration system,” according to a release. It would also abolish Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency charged with keeping the southern border free of illegal crossings.

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Democrat calls to abolish ICE have swelled in recent months amid bipartisan criticism of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration, reigniting most recently when agents shot a Venezuelan national in Austin, Texas. Backlash has also been targeted at federal immigration officials’ killing of two U.S. citizens earlier this year.

But Ramirez’s bill would go further in dismantling the current anti-illegal immigration enforcement system with its call to end CBP as well as ICE.

She fired back at the Trump administration’s criticism in a statement to Fox News Digital, “Every day, Americans wake up with a new reason to dismantle DHS, reimagine safety, and build something that honors our shared humanity. The people have the power to reshape the government: instead of the weapon DHS has proven to be, we need a department built on the best parts of who we are and can be, and the best examples of how we can take care of each other in hard times.”

“Markwayne and DHS will keep spreading cheap lies and fearmongering in a desperate attempt to save face because dismantling DHS and building something new is part of how we hold them accountable, stop corruption, and end their lawlessness,” Ramirez said.

An order issued Friday by the Supreme Court temporarily allows the Trump administration to move forward with a mass voter verification system.

The emergency order allows states, for now, to use the Department of Homeland Security program, called Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, in their efforts to verify the eligibility of voters on their rolls. 

Because existing law blocks most states from systematically purging voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election, the immediate impact of Friday’s order on the upcoming midterms is likely limited, the Associated Press reported. States’ use of the SAVE program is voluntary.

Norm Eisen, a senior fellow with Brookings, agreed that the Supreme Court’s ruling was restrained. 

“Don’t overreact to the SCOTUS SAVE database decision,” Eisen wrote on X. “Page 6 of the decision makes clear that we are in the 90-day statutory window when mass changes can’t be made to voter lists!”

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The court’s order puts on hold a federal judge’s June ruling that had deemed the Republican administration’s recently revamped version of SAVE illegal. U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan had blocked the use of the tool, saying it violated Americans’ privacy rights and could result in voters being wrongly removed from the rolls.

A federal appeals court declined to pause Sooknanan’s ruling, prompting the administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court. 

The Trump administration moved to expand SAVE after the president signed an executive order directing the creation of a federal voter registration list and imposed new restrictions on eligibility for voting by mail as part of a broader effort to combat voter fraud.

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The SAVE program was created in 1986 under an immigration law mandating that DHS help federal, state and local agencies prevent government benefits from going to noncitizens. The Trump administration last year moved to significantly expand its search abilities. Since then, at least 67 million registrations have been scanned through the program, but critics, the AP says, worry it could end up purging valid voters from the rolls.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in dissenting.

“In my view… the harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson wrote in a dissenting opinion. “This imbalance, along with the Government’s improbable merits arguments, should have compelled the Court to deny the stay.”

But the majority pushed back on concerns that lawful voters could simply be removed from state voter rolls, noting that federal officials are required to contact individuals flagged by SAVE to seek additional information if their citizenship cannot be confirmed.

The majority also noted that SAVE has long allowed federal, state and local agencies to verify citizenship and immigration status using records maintained by the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and Department of State.

“The Supreme Court’s order allows the federal government to share information in its possession concerning people’s apparent citizenship status to help election officials register eligible voters while preventing the improper addition of non-citizens to the registration rolls,” Michael Morley, director of the Election Law Center at Florida State University, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “The Court recognized Congress expressly endorsed such information sharing in 1996 amendments to federal immigration law.”

The Supreme Court’s stay is temporary, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit could still rule against the SAVE program, potentially sending the case back to the Supreme Court.

Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, said the Supreme Court already “got it right.”

“The Trump Administration’s SAVE expansion just makes it easier for states to get federal citizenship data to help them clean up voter rolls. Once again, left-wing interests are doing everything they can to block states from verifying citizenship on the eve of a federal election, and for the second time in a week they have lost in court. This a major win for election integrity.”

 Fox News’ Shannon Bream, Bill Mears, Ashley J. DiMella and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s invitation for 100,000 young Americans to visit China over the next five years is raising concerns among critics who warn Beijing could use the exchange program to spread propaganda and influence a new generation of Americans.

Xi made the announcement Thursday during a White House arrival ceremony, as he visited Washington this week for talks with President Donald Trump on artificial intelligence, intellectual property, trade practices and rare-earth minerals.

Xi said China will invite 100,000 young Americans over the next five years for exchanges and study, building on existing programs that have included university visits, summer programs, youth forums and other educational and cultural exchanges.

CHINA EXPERT WARNS BEIJING WANTS AMERICANS — NOT THE CCP — TO SPREAD ITS MESSAGE

China created its Young Envoys Scholarship program, administered by the China Education Association for International Exchange, to carry out Xi’s earlier 2023 pledge to invite 50,000 young Americans for exchanges and study. Some trips are fully funded, while others require participants to cover expenses, with the stated goal of strengthening ties between Chinese and American youth.

While some supported the program, many critics slammed the idea over propaganda and safety concerns.

“This is clearly intended to indoctrinate young Americans in China,” Manhattan Institute fellow Daniel Di Martino posted to X. “But if some people should go, let the DSA members and let them see the Uyghur concentration camps and poor rural villages. Let them speak to the political prisoners. And let them visit and meet Hong Kongers.”

“100,000 more Timmy Walz’s. What could go wrong,” said one user, referencing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who taught English and U.S. history in Foshan in 1989 after graduating from Chadron State College.

“They’ll come back as Governor of Minnesota,” another user added.

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“No! They will brainwash them while over there,” said one person.

“I welcome Xi Jinping’s invitation for 100,000 American students to visit and study in China. As Co-Chair of the Congressional International Exchanges Caucus, I believe educational and cultural exchanges are an important way to build mutual understanding and expertise,” said Democratic California Rep. Ami Bera.

“But those exchanges depend on trust and the ability to study, speak, and engage without fear of harassment or arbitrary detention,” Bera continued. “Right now, American scholar Min Zin remains wrongfully detained in China, and Beijing continues to target scholars, human rights advocates, and diaspora communities whose work or speech it finds unwelcome.”

“I’m one of the Americans who spent years living and studying in China. I majored in Chinese literature in college. Sadly, I cannot recommend young Americans do the same thing today,” said Atlantic Council visiting fellow Isaac Stone Fish.

US WARNS AMERICANS ABOUT EXIT BANS AND ‘UNJUST’ DETENTION IN POPULAR DESTINATION

Fish said that China has grown more repressive and less welcoming to foreigners.

“If tensions worsen between the United States and China, those students could effectively function as hostages,” Fish added.

“Are they coming back as Communists,” asked one user.

“To be honest, I’m not sure I WANT 100,000 impressionable American students sent off to some CCP-controlled propaganda tour,” said conservative commentator Nick Sortor.

TRUMP TO ASK XI TO FREE WRONGFULLY DETAINED US CITIZEN AS WIFE SPEAKS OUT

The Department of Education referred Fox News Digital to the White House when asked for comment.

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

U.S. authorities have separately warned that American students abroad can become targets for foreign intelligence recruitment, citing past cases involving China.

Glenn Duffie Shriver, a Michigan student who studied abroad in Shanghai in 2002–2003, returned to China after graduating in 2004 and was recruited there by Chinese intelligence officers.

Shriver was paid to apply for positions with the State Department and CIA to access classified information for the Chinese.

He was caught before obtaining a government position and pleaded guilty in 2010 to conspiring to provide national-defense information to Chinese intelligence officers. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2011.

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration is officially entering the artificial intelligence (AI) space with a new tool is says will provide much-needed relief for Americans interacting with the federal government, Fox News Digital has learned.

At an all-day event beginning Tuesday morning and featuring President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, officials will launch and showcase on stage America.gov, a new website designed to enhance “the citizen experience.”

Also attending are Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz and Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder who now heads the National Design Studio (NDS) and who is the first-ever U.S. Chief Design Officer.

The event will be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., and will also feature appearances from industry titans like Elon Musk, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. NASA administrator Jared Isaacson is also a confirmed attendee.

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A White House official described the new AI tool as “a new front door for the federal government that will provide a one-stop shop for Americans looking for information and resources from the federal government that are currently spread over a maze of various agency websites.”

“Next week is really about the golden age of America, and really getting to showcase how it’s not just a statement, it’s actually being built,” Gebbia told Fox News Digital.

“What we’re really excited about is that one of the things that we’ve been building is the golden age of the citizen experience.”

Gebbia, who added that the day will mark a “new chapter of usability for the country,” said the new AI tool is built to solve a simple problem faced by Americans who have for decades dealt with clunky, often inefficient and overly complex government systems: “How do you make it easy to just access government?”

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“You can imagine all the things that people try to get done or want to get done in the federal government, [and] just having a brand-new way to access and actually get to the things that people are trying to get to in the federal government,” he said.

The day will include panel discussions with other senior administration officials and top industry leaders on artificial intelligence, energy dominance, health, space and agriculture.

“This is really an incredible collection of people that are working in service to the nation and really showcasing what the future of America is, where we’re headed,” said Gebbia.

Gebbia says Americans shouldn’t have to accept that their interactions with the federal government are going to be negative or difficult to navigate.

“What if people didn’t say that? What if people have had a different sentiment? It’s entirely possible they can. It takes a president who cares about this, it takes an administration who wants to invest in it, and it takes the right talent to build it.”

“President Trump has those three things.”

Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed once called for repealing a Michigan law that made it a felony for people who knew they had HIV to have sex without first informing their partner — a position he is standing by eight years later as he campaigns in one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races

As he unsuccessfully ran for Michigan governor in 2018, El-Sayed repeatedly took aim at the law. The law carried a prison sentence of up to four years for people who knew they were HIV-positive and engaged in sexual penetration without first informing their partner of their HIV status.

“You should not be criminalized for a disease. That is absolutely wrong. It’s hateful. It’s discriminatory, and we can, as a state, do better. You can count on me for that,” El-Sayed said as he ran for governor.

MICHIGAN STUDENT CONFRONTS EL-SAYED OVER IRAN STANCE

Fast-forward eight years and El-Sayed, an epidemiologist and a former health director for Detroit-anchored Wayne County, is battling former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in the midterm race to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters. The showdown in Michigan is a must hold for the Democrats as they try to win back control of the Senate from the GOP.

As he ran for the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nomination — a contest he lost to now-two-term Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — El-Sayed’s campaign website stated, “Repeal HIV/AIDS criminalization laws and the exclusion of transgender Michiganders from state Medicaid.”

When asked in 2018 if he supported the decriminalization of HIV through legislation that would create two levels of misdemeanors, El-Sayed said at the time, “One of the big things that we have to recognize about HIV is that no disease can be illegal. The continuing forward of these laws on the books stigmatize people with the disease.”

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Whitmer also supported changing the law, which dated to 1988, saying as she ran for governor, “It’s wrong to criminalize sickness, which is what this law has effectively done. It absolutely should be revisited.”

The law was reformed in early 2019, after passing a GOP-controlled legislature with broad bipartisan support. The revised statute limited the felony provisions to vaginal and anal intercourse involving an intent to transmit HIV or cases in which HIV was actually transmitted, reduced certain non-transmission offenses to misdemeanors and protected medically suppressed people from prosecution under the law’s reckless-disregard provision.

“Abdul supports the bipartisan reform bill that passed in 2019 through a Republican legislature that eliminated the discriminatory laws on the books,” campaign spokesperson Roxie Richner told Fox News Digital. “As a public health professional, Abdul has fought to support programs that stem the spread of diseases, including HIV.”

Richner added that “the Trump administration has completely exacerbated this crisis by defunding the organizations and programs that do frontline care to prevent transmission and exposure in the first place. In the US Senate, Abdul will fight back against Donald Trump and RFK Jr’s attempts to dismantle our public health infrastructure and ensure all Americans have access to the care they need.”

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El-Sayed also stands by his past comments on fighting discrimination aimed at those with HIV.

Last week, as he landed an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group, El-Sayed highlighted that if elected to the Senate, “I’ll fight to ensure every Michigander can live without discrimination and never have to wonder whether their rights will still be there tomorrow.”

El-Sayed, who narrowly edged more moderate Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens in August in a contentious primary that further exposed the rift between the party’s left-wing and establishment factions, would become the nation’s first Muslim senator if elected.

He has made support for “Medicare for all” a major component of his campaign. El-Sayed has also called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and has been a vocal critic of Israel during its war against Hamas, characterizing Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocide” against Palestinians.