US Border Patrol plans $5,000 arrest fee for illegal crossers

The Trump administration will start charging a $5,000 fee to people apprehended who entered the U.S. illegally.

The “apprehension fee” will apply to anyone 14 or older who is arrested and determined to have crossed the border without authorization and is deemed inadmissible, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said in a statement on X on Thursday. The fee was approved by Congress under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included billions of dollars for immigration enforcement.

“This message applies to all illegal aliens — regardless of where they entered, how long they’ve been in the U.S., their current location, or any ongoing immigration proceedings,” Banks said in his tweet.

Arrests at the southwest border have plummeted in the past year, reaching monthly lows not seen since the 1960s. In November, the Border Patrol reported making about 7,300 arrests along the Mexican border, according to the Department of Homeland Security. That’s a slight decline from October.

At the same time, Border Patrol agents have been deployed to interior cities far from the border where they have routinely made arrests at Home Depot parking lots, car washes and other locations unauthorized migrants are believed to gather. Those agents, often masked, heavily armed and helmeted, have routinely clashed with protesters in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago. Multiple lawsuits have challenged the agency’s use of force against protesters and arrests without warrants.

—Bloomberg News

Former Sen. Bob Menendez is ‘forever disqualified’ from ever holding public office again in NJ

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez is permanently banned from holding public office in New Jersey. If he tries to anyway, he could face criminal charges.

Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy wrote in an order that Menendez is “forever disqualified from holding any office or position of honor, trust, or profit” of New Jersey state or local government.

If the once-powerful New Jersey Democrat applies for public office or employment, or shows any efforts to campaign or be appointed to political office, he will be subject to a fourth-degree contempt of court charge.

Menendez, 71, was convicted in July 2024 for selling the powers of his office to wealthy benefactors and acting as a foreign agent for the Egyptian government.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Suburban Chicago church’s Nativity depicts baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Mother Mary wearing a respirator mask to protect herself from tear gas. Baby Jesus with zip-tied hands, wrapped in a thin blanket that looks like aluminum foil. Masked centurions with sunglasses and green vests labeled “ICE.”

This is how the Lake Street Church of Evanston chose to assemble its Nativity scene for the Christmas season. The church and its leaders have been vocal critics of the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz and expressed a message with their holiday decorations.

“Enforcement terror does not discriminate by documentation status,” the church wrote on its Facebook page on Nov. 25.

The organizer of the nativity scene, Associate Minister Jillian Westerfield, told Pioneer Press that in the months prior to organizing it, she has been reflecting on the impact of Operation Midway Blitz, in which hundreds of immigrants have been detained, the overwhelming majority of which do not have criminal histories that have a “high public safety risk,” The Chicago Tribune found.

—Chicago Tribune

Why many Mexicans welcome US strikes on drug cartels despite sovereignty concerns

MEXICO CITY — Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has repeatedly insisted that she will not allow the U.S. military to fight drug cartels inside her nation’s borders.

“It’s not going to happen,” Sheinbaum said last month after President Trump yet again threatened such an operation. “We don’t want intervention by any foreign government.”

But while Sheinbaum passionately defends her nation’s sovereignty, recent polls and interviews from across Mexico show that a significant number of people here in fact welcome more American involvement in their country’s battle against organized crime — including having U.S. boots on the ground.

Slightly more than half of Mexicans surveyed by polling firm Mitofsky said they believe “U.S. authorities should enter Mexican territory to fight organized crime and arrest its leaders.” A third of respondents to a poll by El Financerio newspaper said they support the deployment of the U.S. military to Mexico to combat cartels.

“It’s very embarrassing to say that Mexico can’t do it alone,” said José Santillán, a 38-year-old graphic designer in Mexico City. “But the situation with the drug cartels has clearly spiraled out of control. A powerful army is needed to confront them. And the United States has one.”

—The Los Angeles Times

Swim with Florida’s sea cows in Crystal River, the ‘Manatee Capital of the World’

ORLANDO, Fla. — It’s one thing to visit an aquarium and gaze in awe at a 1,000-pound manatee swimming just behind the glass. It’s another thing to share the same water with Florida’s sea cows, encountering them in an up-close and personal way.

Such an opportunity is only possible while visiting the aptly-named “Manatee Capital of the World,” Crystal River, a charming Gulf Coast city that benefits from a large concentration of freshwater springs.

These are primarily found in Kings Bay and the protected Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, the only refuge created specifically for the protection of the threatened Florida manatee. The shimmering, azure-blue water coming up from the aquifer helps give sea cows a warm-water refuge during cool winter months.

Crystal River is the only place in the United States where people are legally allowed to swim with these gentle giants, who reveal to human swimmers their docile nature on guided snorkeling tours. There are several dozen area outfitters to help in achieving this bucket-list endeavor.

One of them is Crystal River Watersports, a family-owned business that started more than 20 years ago.

—Orlando Sentinel