The Trump admin unveils a new crackdown
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| Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor |
| | Simon Veazey Senior Editor |
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| Ivan Pentchoukov
National Editor |
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| Simon Veazey
Senior Editor |
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(Scott Olson/Getty Images) |
Since the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s order on birth tourism, his administration has shifted to other tools of the federal government.
More than 600 visas have been quietly revoked over the past month, as part of the latest measures, which were unveiled on Wednesday. Our reporter Troy Myers explains how the new task force is targeting what Secretary of State Marco Rubio calls “elaborate birth tourism rings” that coach foreigners, arrange housing, and even forge documents. Meanwhile, China’s birth tourism industry is hoping to capitalize on the Supreme Court ruling. Darlene Sanchez reports on how Chinese companies are touting their wares, and the possible security risks for America. |
Good morning. It’s Friday. Here are today’s top stories: |
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The Chinese Communist Party reaches deep into the private life of China’s 1.4 billion people through a vast network of entities and 10 to 15 million of ordinary citizens serve as the eyes and ears of the apparatus.
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The Department of Health and Human Services issued a report alleging that practitioners of pediatric so-called gender-affirming care may have committed tens of millions of dollars in insurance fraud over the past decade.
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The State Department said that it has ended the diversity, equity, and inclusion policies implemented at the Foreign Service under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
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Canada is one of the “biggest enablers” of China bypassing U.S. tariffs via transshipping, according to a new report from the White House.
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🍵 Health: Two of the body’s quietest organs are often the ones most worth listening to. Your kidneys and bladder may be failing faster, and this is why it's happening.
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On the eve of Independence Day, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri landed in Los Angeles, free after roughly nine months in Chinese prison. During his detainment, Jin had wondered if he would ever see freedom again. His release came only after President Donald Trump raised the case directly with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in May. At least eight members of Jin’s church remain behind bars.
Although Jin is a Christian pastor, he wasn’t accused of a crime of a religious nature. Instead, the Chinese regime charged him with illegally using information networks and running an illegal business—internet and commercial offenses.
What he had actually done was refuse to install a camera. In 2018, authorities told him to place surveillance equipment in the sanctuary of Beijing’s Zion Church, which he had built into a congregation with a membership of more than 1,500. He said no. Officials shut the church and took its property.
The congregation moved online and continued holding services for another seven years. Then, on Oct. 10, 2025, police took Jin from his home in the southern city of Beihai and detained him, along with nearly 30 other church leaders around the country. It was the largest coordinated takedown of an urban house church in China in more than four decades, according to human rights groups.
None of that required a spy hunt or a dramatic raid. A church was treated as a security problem, prosecuted under business and internet law, and handled by ordinary police in a provincial city far from the capital. Jin’s case shows how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) reaches deep into the private life of China’s 1.4 billion people. An upcoming exclusive report by The Epoch Times, “The Structure of the CCP’s Security Organs: From Central Rosters to Front-Line Operational Units,” maps the CCP’s security apparatus from its central ministries down to its front-line units.
The central finding of the report, which draws on Western and Chinese scholarship, leaked budget figures, court records, and the Party’s own documents, is that the Party does not rely on one feared agency to do its watching. It assigns the job to everyone else—local police, neighborhood monitors, employers, universities, landlords, and 10 million to 15 million ordinary citizens recruited to report what they notice.
That vast surveillance network, sitting below a police force of nearly 2 million, allows the Party to reach places where no police force can go. (More) |
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U.S. Sailors taxi an F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 41, on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 17, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo) |
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth pushed back on reports of mounting stresses and worsening conditions for the sailors and Marines deployed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
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President Donald Trump ordered the Navy to return to using steam catapults to launch fighter jets from aircraft carriers instead of using the newer electromagnetic catapult system.
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The United States will add a 100 percent tariff on heavier imported drones, docking stations, and equipment that can be used as weapons or for surveillance by foreign enemies, President Donald Trump announced.
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The John F. Kennedy Center’s board voted to close the venue for renovations and place President Donald Trump’s name on the building. The final decision, however, will be up to U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper.
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California prison officials failed to protect female inmates from sexual abuse and harassment by staff at two state prisons, with misconduct dating back to 2000 and continuing to the present, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
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A California couple’s surrogate baby was born in Dallas on Aug. 12, just a day after a judge ordered life-saving care for the newborn’s heart defect that the couple allegedly refused to commit to as they sought to remove the baby from Texas.
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Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji poses during a working session at the Europe-Asia summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Sept. 22, 2002. (Gerard Cerles/ AFP via Getty Images) |
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The Chinese Communist Party is closely monitoring public reactions to the death of former Premier Zhu Rongji, amid concerns that mourning for the outspoken reform-era leader could become an outlet for broader dissatisfaction with the regime, according to an insider familiar with the matter.
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The White House released a report detailing what it called a “transshipment scam” involving communist China and more than 40 countries. The report describes how goods are illegally routed through third countries to conceal their Chinese origin before being shipped to the United States.
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Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that she practices qigong, a type of ancient Chinese discipline, to improve her physical and mental health. She also raised the possibility of her government promoting the creation of a Mexican federation for the discipline.
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U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned Israeli settlers for besieging three homes in the West Bank, including one owned by a Palestinian American.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 13 made his first visit to Iturup, one of the southern Kuril Islands in the Pacific, drawing strong condemnation from Tokyo. His visit to the islands, an archipelago stretching northeast from Hokkaido, Japan, to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, came one day after North Korea carried out major naval drills and fired a missile. Iturup is one of the disputed island territories controlled by Russia since the Soviet Union occupied them in 1945, and it is still claimed by Tokyo.
- U.S.-led coalition forces are on track to complete their withdrawal from Iraq by the end of September, with Iraqi Prime Minister Ali Falih al-Zaidi and U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper reaffirming what Baghdad described as a “full and final” agreement to end the coalition’s military mission.
- British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that wealthier areas should house more illegal immigrants as a leafy Oxfordshire village continued its campaign against plans to house 1,250 asylum seekers at a site owned by the Ministry of Defense.
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- If It’s a Public Meeting, the Public Should Be Able to Get There—by Mollie Engelhart (Read)
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The Quiet Manufacturing Boom—by Steve Cortes (Read)
- When Privilege Turns Against America—by Armstrong Williams (Read)
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Homebuyers Deserve the Facts About Crime and Schools—by Daniel McCarthy (Read)
- Americans Get Rare Break From Quietly Expensive Law—by Veronique de Rugy (Read)
- What Bank ATMs Teach Us About AI—by Stephen Moore (Read)
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Patty Catalano brings us a weeknight-friendly, one-p0t vegetable and pasta dish.
The key to pasta primavera is using the freshest vegetables available, she says. With her recipe, you can just toss in any variety that catches your eye during your weekly market shop. |
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“It is not the oath that makes us believe the man, but the man the oath.” |
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— Simon Veazey, Ivan Pentchoukov, Madalina Hubert, and Kenzi Li |
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