Why does the MAGA base now seem to approve of an approach to war they supposedly sought to reject?

The Department of Homeland Security set the record straight on Immigration and Customs Enforcement training, debunking claims from the media that agents are receiving less training.

A DHS press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News counters falsehoods about ICE’s training programs amid a significant increase in new hires.

'Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut.'

Leftist outlets have claimed that the Trump administration reduced the length of its training course from roughly five months to just 42 days, as reported by the Atlantic in January.

The DHS released further details on Monday about ICE’s training program, discrediting those claims.

The agency explained that ICE recruits receive 56 days of training and an average of 28 days of on-the-job training. Under the prior administration, agents trained eight hours a day, five days a week. Under President Donald Trump, new hires are being trained 12 hours a day, six days a week.

“No training requirements have been removed,” DHS stated, adding that it is the “same hours of training officers have always received.”

RELATED: 'Quite literally insane': DHS responds to new scheme from LA activists to warn illegal aliens about ICE

Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers are prepared to accommodate 12,000 new hires in 2026, with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act providing these centers with $750 million to boost the training and readiness of ICE agents, as well as Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers.

“DHS has streamlined training to cut redundancy and incorporate technology advancements, without sacrificing basic subject matter content. Under these new improvements, candidates still learn the same elements and meet the same high standards ICE has always required. No subject matter has been cut,” the press release read.

Further, the DHS noted that most new ICE hires are experienced law enforcement officers who have previously completed a law enforcement academy.

Leftist outlets have accused the Trump administration of eliminating Spanish-language courses for ICE personnel.

The DHS responded to this claim as well, explaining that the agency terminated the language classes, which covered only one dialect of Spanish, to instead provide officers with robust translation and interpretation services for multiple languages.

The agency stated that ICE training courses focus on enhancing several skills, including arrest techniques, defensive tactics, conflict management and de-escalation, firearms and marksmanship, and proper use of force.

According to the DHS, new hires who join ICE’s Special Response Teams undergo more intensive training, including 30 hours of tryouts, an SRT Basic Operator Course, ongoing marksmanship training for all issued firearms, and continuous training for specialized skills, such as breaching techniques, perimeter control, hostage rescue, and more.

Further, the DHS described education on the Fourth and Fifth Amendments as an “integral component” of ICE officers’ basic training at FLETC.

“The overarching objective is to ensure that, prior to assuming field duties, every ICE officer has been repeatedly trained, tested, and held to clear standards that require consistent respect for constitutional rights in all enforcement activities,” the DHS said.

RELATED: 'Large human smuggling operation' uncovered in Texas? ICE makes alarming claim about 'alien from India.'

Photo by Jim Watson - Pool/Getty Images

DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated, “We have ensured our law enforcement officers get the best of the best training to arrest and remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from our communities.”

“Despite false claims from the media and sanctuary politicians, no training hours have been cut,” Bis continued. “Our officers receive extensive firearm training, are taught de-escalation tactics, and receive Fourth and Fifth Amendment comprehensive instruction. The training does not stop after graduation from the academy — recruits are put on a rigorous on-the-job training program that is tracked and monitored.”

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A married employee of an Indiana high school was arrested after allegedly sexually abusing a student, according to police. Authorities were tipped off to the damning child sex crime accusations after her husband found his wife with a second student, police said.

The Union City Police Department — located in Western Ohio near the border of neighboring Indiana — announced in a statement the arrest of Alicia Hughes "following an investigation into allegations involving inappropriate conduct with a minor."

'It will be interesting to see the school’s policies, how this individual was screened and trained, and what "red flags" were overlooked or ignored.'

Hughes — a 31-year-old employee of the Randolph Eastern School Corporation in Indiana — was caught with a student by her husband on Feb. 14, police said.

"During the course of the investigation, officers learned that Hughes’ husband had discovered her with an 18-year-old student of Randolph Eastern School Corporation and confronted the individuals," police stated.

The press release revealed, "It is alleged that Hughes was battered during that altercation. The alleged battery is being investigated by the Randolph County Sheriff's Department."

Police did not reveal the husband's name.

Investigators said they "uncovered evidence that Alicia Hughes had also engaged in a sexual relationship with a separate high school student who was 17 years old at the time."

The Union City Police Department noted that Hughes and the student "engaged in sexual intercourse on at least five occasions."

Hughes was arrested and charged with five counts of child seduction related to the sexual relationship with the minor student, according to police.

Police said Hughes was being detained at the Randolph County Jail on a $25,000 cash-only bond.

According to Indiana law, child seduction is when a "person used or exerted the person's professional relationship with the child to engage in sexual intercourse, other sexual conduct, or any fondling or touching with the intent to arouse or satisfy the sexual desires of the child or the person under this section."

Those in a position of power include employees of a school corporation.

RELATED: Teacher of the year arrested for alleged child sex crimes — then she's arrested on similar charges just days later

Cleveland.com reported that Randolph Eastern School Corporation Superintendent Neal Adams said that Hughes "has been removed from all duties with students pending the outcome of the legal process." The outlet added that Hughes is a high school secretary.

The staff directory for the Union City Jr/Sr High School does not show the name of the suspect; however, an archived version of the school's website shows an attendance secretary named "Alicia Hughes."

Adams did not specify if Hughes had been terminated.

"We recognize that situations of this nature are deeply concerning for our families, staff, and the broader community,” Adams added. "Please know that we share those concerns and are taking this matter with the utmost seriousness, care, and urgency."

Tom Blessing, an attorney for survivors of sexual abuse, said of the accusations, "Usually, we see abuse claims involving teachers and coaches, but any school staff with access to children could use their position of authority and trust to take advantage of them: custodial and maintenance staff, counselors, office staff, even administrators."

Blessing continued, "It will be interesting to see the school’s policies, how this individual was screened and trained, and what ‘red flags’ were overlooked or ignored."

Blessing noted that many times "institutional failures enabled the abuse" in sexual misconduct cases by school employees.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to Blaze News' request for comment. The Union City Police Department did not have any updates on the case.

Those with information about the case are urged to contact the Union City Police Department at 937-968-7744.

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US de facto proxy war against Mexican drug cartels nabs drug kingpin -- but it's just getting started!

President Trump declared February 22 "Angel Family Day" as he honored families on Monday who lost loved ones to illegal alien crime.

The post WATCH: President Trump Declares ‘National Angel Family Day’ Honoring Victims of Illegal Alien Crime appeared first on Breitbart.

Even left-of-center analysts have thrown cold water on the far left’s self-flattering narratives.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has called on broadcasters to air "patriotic" content as part of his Pledge America Campaign.

The post FCC Chairman Brendan Carr Urges Broadcasters to Air ‘Patriotic’ Content Ahead of America’s 250th Birthday appeared first on Breitbart.

Chatbot-user selfies are reportedly being analyzed and not only checked for suspiciousness, but to see if they match the faces of any public figures.

Video gamers staged a collective rebellion when they discovered that Discord, the dominant gamer chat platform, had slipped a pilot program into the U.K. user experience that could route personal information to the government via a company called Persona, linked to OpenAI. Discord quickly backtracked, frustrated that new age verification laws in the Anglosphere have made it difficult to find partners that pass user muster. But the controversy rages on.

A group of researchers say they stumbled upon publicly available code in OpenAI that shows an in-depth system meant for analyzing user facial data while also checking to see if the user has hijacked a dead person's identity.

'269 checks. for wanting to use a chatbot in 2026.'

Researchers from website Vmfunc recently revealed they came across 53 megabytes of "unprotected source maps" that are set up for government use. The researchers also stated that any suspicious user activity would be filed with federal authorities, while user selfies are analyzed and screened using facial recognition.

The data being collected is reportedly through Persona's Know Your Customer service. Simply put, it is an identity verification program.

Not only does OpenAI publicly state that it uses Persona as a "trusted third-party company" to "help verify age," but Persona itself announced it is authorized to "serve federal agencies where the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of processed data could result in limited adverse effects."

It was Persona that the researchers poked fun at, revealing a complex verification system that checks user selfie data.

RELATED: Sam Altman slams ICE in message to OpenAI employees: 'What's happening ... is going too far'

"So you uploaded a selfie to use a chatbot. Congratulations!!!" the report joked. "It's now being compared against a database of every politician, head of state, and their extended family tree on Earth. Similarity scored. Low, medium, high. The machine looked at your face and asked itself: 'Does this person resemble the deputy finance minister of Moldova?' And it answered. And it wrote the answer down."

The report then described 269 verification checks that perform acts like comparing a user's selfie to their ID or other existing accounts.

Other checks like "public figure detection" allegedly seek to check if the user looks like someone famous, while "suspicious entity detection" reportedly is checking to see if the user looks "suspicious."

In total, there are an alleged 43 government ID checks and 27 database checks that cross-reference social security numbers, phone carriers, and death databases.

"269 checks. For wanting to use a chatbot in 2026," researchers wrote.

RELATED: ChatGPT says it is not sharing your conversations with advertisers, but there's a catch

Photo by David Burnett/Newsmakers via Getty Images

Neither OpenAI nor Persona responded to Return's request for comment. However, Persona founder Rick Song has publicly stated he would cooperate with the researchers and answer their questions.

After stating he had an "online crashout" in response to misinformation, Song said his dialogue with Vmfunc is ongoing and shared several emails he has exchanged with the company. One of the emails stated that OpenAI does not use Persona's "biometrics for Watchlists" or products related to identifying politically exposed persons.

He also noted that Persona's max retention for data is three years, while OpenAI's policy is just one year.

For additional information on how OpenAI treats user data, please visit its website.

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A fresh round of protests broke out in Iran on Saturday as student demonstrators clashed with the regime’s thuggish Basij militia.

The post More Student Protests Break Out in Iran as Reports Suggest U.S. Military Strikes appeared first on Breitbart.

A North Carolina woman who was missing for 24 years was found alive after vanishing during Christmas shopping in 2001, ending decades-long mystery for her family.

Dennis Quaid is afraid that the entertainment industry has gone too far left and he also thinks Trump gets a bad rap in La La Land

The post Dennis Quaid Rips Hollywood for Going Too Far Left, Says Trump Is ‘Really Genuine’ & Cares About His Supporters appeared first on Breitbart.

The 'untouchable' not so untouchable anymore.

During a sermon at the First Congregational Church in South Portland, Maine, retired Presbyterian minister Marvin Ellison attempted to claim that abortion can be an act of love — and that the women seeking them are often religious themselves.

“This morning, I speak from my experience as a volunteer chaplain for Planned Parenthood. Without naming names or breaking confidences, I want to just speak about a few things I’ve learned from women who’ve received abortions and candidly shared their story with me,” the pastor explained.

The pastor went on to claim that “most women electing to terminate a pregnancy are religiously affiliated.”

“So I’ve listened to and prayed with Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish women. With Muslim and Buddhist women. And with conservative evangelical women. And some confided in me that they had never expected to find a Christian minister inside Planned Parenthood. Maybe outside the clinic protesting, but they hadn’t imagined that they would meet a Christian minister inside the clinic,” he said.

BlazeTV host Pat Gray is in disbelief.

“How do you make that case, that yeah, Jesus is fine with you ending the life of your child?” Gray asks.

“He wants to send you a child and then have you terminate that child. Wait, what? ... It doesn’t even make sense,” he adds.

Want more from Pat Gray?

To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Last week, Apple issued an important software update for iPhones on iOS 26. While the latest version included the usual vague “bug fixes and updates,” it also contained a critical patch for a zero-day vulnerability that has already been exploited by hackers on targeted devices. To put it mildly, you need to update your iPhone now, or your device and private data are all at risk.

What is a zero-day vulnerability?

In case you’ve never heard the phrase before, zero-day vulnerabilities are unknown security threats within a device’s software that exist outside of the developer’s purview. These can pop for a variety of reasons, including flaws in the source code, improper input validation that processes malicious data, and simple developer oversight.

An extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals.

What’s worse, these exploits are often found first by hackers and used to inject malicious code into targeted devices to bypass security protocols and gain access to either steal private data or install malware to spy on users.

The thing that makes zero-day vulnerabilities so dangerous is that hackers can use them to access devices for weeks or even months before developers isolate the problem and issue a fix.

iOS 26.3 patches iPhone’s latest major security hole

Apple sent an over-the-air update to iPhones on iOS 26 last week. Bringing the version number to 26.3, the latest release includes a fix for CVE-2026-20700, a zero-day threat that was identified by Google’s Threat Analysis Group.

In case you’re wondering how Google found a security flaw in an Apple product, TAG is a team of researchers who regularly scour first-party and third-party products in search of security flaws and cyber threats. They specialize in thwarting “government-backed attacks,” suggesting that CVE-2026-20700 likely has government ties — either foreign or domestic — though neither Apple nor Google assigned blame to a particular group.

Once discovered, TAG informed Apple of the vulnerability, giving the company valuable time to patch the hole before informing the public and letting hackers know that the loophole was closed.

RELATED: Your car can get hacked — here's how to protect yourself

JIRAROJ PRADITCHAROENKUL

As part of the change log that was released alongside iOS 26.3, Apple admitted, “An attacker with memory write capability may be able to execute arbitrary code. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on versions of iOS before iOS 26.”

In other words, the exploit exists and it has already been leveraged against a small subset of users.

How to upgrade to iOS 26.3

To patch this zero-day vulnerability on your devices, you should update to iOS 26.3 immediately. You can download the update by following these directions:

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
• Tap “General.”
• Select the second option called “Software Update.”
• At the bottom of the next screen, choose “Update Now.”

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

Note that iPhones aren’t the only Apple devices at risk. You should also update your iPad to iPadOS 26.3, if it’s available.

For those who are still on an older version of iOS, Apple has not indicated a fix for the zero-day issue at this time. That either means the zero-day threat isn’t as invasive on older software, or a fix hasn’t been implemented yet. Either way, users on older iOS versions should update to iOS 18.7.5 for the latest security fixes.

More features in iOS 26.3

In addition to a major security patch, iOS 26.3 includes several additional features, such as the ability to prevent carrier networks from seeing the precise location of select iPhones with an Apple C-series modem (right now, that only includes iPhone Air and iPhone 16e), new switch-to-Android tools, and a snazzy live weather wallpaper. This update is free and available now to iPhones 11 and up.

Far-left President of Colombia Gustavo Petro on Sunday acknowledged that the Ocean Mariner, an oil tanker intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard near Cuban waters this month, had loaded fuel in Colombia.

The post Colombian President Gustavo Petro: Oil Tanker Intercepted near Cuba Fueled Up in Colombia appeared first on Breitbart.

Dr. Greer sheds light on an active federal criminal investigation into the rogue transnational organization hiding and using alien tech to terrorize and even kill the public!

The Court’s decision aligns with the Framers’ views of presidential authority.

President Donald Trump warned Monday that countries attempting to exploit the Supreme Court’s tariff ruling to escape trade agreements will face steeper tariffs than those they originally negotiated with his administration. “Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the

The post Trump Warns Trading Partners Not To ‘Play Games’ With Trade Deals After Supreme Court Ruling appeared first on Breitbart.