TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (July 17, 2025) — Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a suspected member of a foreign terrorist organization in northern Michigan on Independence Day.

 

Pic Courtesy of ICE.gov. Suspect in middle of picture.

ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) apprehended Kleiber Siso Balza, a 25-year-old Venezuelan national in the United States illegally, in Traverse City on July 4. Authorities say Siso is a suspected member of Tren De Aragua, a transnational criminal group recently designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

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Siso has an active warrant out of Virginia for possession of burglary tools and faces a pending larceny charge in Florida. He was arrested alongside three other men who are also in the country illegally, according to ICE.

“Our teams are working daily to remove criminal aliens and immigration violators from our communities across Michigan and Ohio,” said Kevin Raycraft, acting field office director for ICE ERO Detroit. “I’m extraordinarily grateful to our officers for their service, especially when they sacrifice time with their own families to keep our communities safe.”

Tren De Aragua is known for its involvement in sex trafficking, debt bondage, drug trafficking, and murder, according to ICE officials.

“We’re thankful to have the assistance of our TSA, Federal Air Marshals and IRS partners in executing this important mission,” said Jared Murphey, acting special agent in charge of HSI Detroit.

The public is encouraged to report suspicious activity by calling the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE or submitting a tip online.

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Michigan Could Owe $890M Over Exploding Food Stamp Costs and 400% Fraud Surge

President Donald Trump signed a spending bill into law on July 4 that will shift responsibility for about $890 million of food stamps to Michigan. The state can’t pay the bill, according to Michigan’s top executive.

A change Congress could make to the program that feeds about 1.5 million Michiganders would be “unacceptable,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a June 4 post.

"In Michigan, we will fight to make sure our kids and families are fed, but we need Republicans in our congressional delegation to step up for their own constituents who need SNAP and Medicaid to survive," Whitmer said in a statement made public June 4. “If these cuts are signed into law, more Michiganders will go to bed with a pit in their stomach. That’s unacceptable.”

The federal government funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which the state administers. Click here to read more.

 

Two New U.S. Mining Projects Could Cut Our Dependence on China

On July 3rd, Brook Mine in Wyoming became the first new rare earth element (REE) mine to open in the U.S. in 70 years.

“This is a monumental step towards unleashing the full potential of American energy by utilizing the abundant resources we have right here at home,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an X post last Friday.

Brook Mine, owned by Kentucky-based Ramaco Resources, which specializes in metallurgical coal, is a $2 million coal mine that holds $37 billion in REE treasures, reported the Wall Street Journal. Ramaco made the rare earth element deposit discovery in May 2023. Per the Brook Mine Rare Earth Project Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) report, the mine spans over 15,800 acres—with 4,500 acres deemed suitable for mining as of 2020. The company also reports that there are 1.7 million tons of oxide ore of proved mineral (CM) reserves, or an extractable deposit with 90% geological and economic certainty, on the 4,500-acre site.

By 2029, the new mine is expected to produce 1,242 tons of rare earth oxides (REO)—including 565 metric tons (or roughly 40% of future production) of REOs and critical minerals such as neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), gallium (Ga), germanium (Ge), terbium (Tb), and scandium (Sc). Click here to read more.

 

3 Perverse Ways Your Tax Dollars Fund the Left’s Dark Money Network

Did you know that millions of your tax dollars go to fund leftist activist groups, who then lobby the government for policies you may disagree with?

The funding comes in at least three ways: directly through contracts and grants, indirectly through unions taking federal employees’ dues and sending a portion to activist groups, and then obliquely, through taxpayer-funded union time.

Examples of direct funding are legion.

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USAID awarded more than $800,000 to New Venture Fund, a dark money pass-through nonprofit that cloaks which donors give to which projects, and $27 million to the Tides Center, another dark money nonprofit that supports anti-Israel rioters, among other causes.

An arm of the Open Society Foundations, the funding organ set up by Hungarian American billionaire George Soros and now run by his son Alex, received so much money from USAID that it found it worthwhile to sue the agency to bypass guardrails on funding. The resulting legal battle reached the Supreme Court not once but twice. Click here to read more.

 

Mother and daughter saved by stranger in kayaking trip gone wrong

GILES COUNTY, V - A peaceful day kayaking in Virginia turned into a disaster for a mother and daughter, but they credit their survival to the kindness of one stranger.

Kayaking isn’t anything new for Tammy Rakes and her adult daughter, Brittney Doffin, but after a Saturday trip on the New River Water Trail, they’re not sure if they’ll ever pick up their paddles again, WDBJ reports.

“We’ve done it for years, living in Giles, and just another regular day for us until catastrophe happened,” Doffin said.

After battling two sets of rapids halfway through their trip, Doffin’s kayak quickly started filling with water.

“I turned to look back to see where Brittany was at, and at that point, I noticed her kayak upside down, which as a mom, terrified me,” Rakes said.

Luckily, a nearby stranger quickly turned into a savior.

“I saw her [Doffin’s] little head bob up beside of him on his tube, and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God, somebody’s helping her,” Rakes said.

“Everything was floating down the river. He was there, grabbing my stuff, grabbing me, grabbing my kayak. I was holding on to his tube,” Doffin said. Click here to read more.

 

House Democrats introduce bill to make Michigan Constitution gender-neutral

Michigan House Democrats are proposing a series of bills to change how the law talks about property, taxes, and finance, replacing gendered language with gender-neutral terms. These changes would alter how the Michigan Constitution is written and would require a constitutional amendment in House Joint Resolution F 2025.

HJR F, if passed, would be on the ballot for 2026 and would remove the definition of a marriage being between a man and woman from the 1963 Michigan constitution. Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor, who introduced the resolution.

“This legislation makes sure Michigan law protects LGBTQ families rather than discriminating against them,” Morgan said in an email to The Midwesterner. “A decade-long U.S. Supreme Court decision currently protects marriage equality for same-sex couples across America, but if that case were overturned, then outdated Michigan constitutional language that is still on the books would harm our families. This legislation would stop the government from telling Michiganders who they can love and who has the right to build a family.” Click here to read more.

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18,300 Michigan households could pay more under proposed education tax hike

Michigan would assess some of the highest income tax rates in the country under a proposal that would cause about 18,300 households to send more money to public schools, according to IRS data.

The tax increase would mean that only California, New York and Oregon would have a higher tax rate for the highest earners, James Hohman, fiscal policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

“Michigan currently charges a 4.25% income tax on all income,” he told CapCon in an email. “The proposal would create a new tax bracket and charge its taxpayers another 5%. In addition, Michigan allows local governments to assess income taxes. This means that high-earning taxpayers in Detroit would be subject to 48.65% tax rates when including federal, state and local income taxes. Taxpayers in Grand Rapids would be subject to 47.75% in income taxes.” Click here to read more.

 

Special education teacher accused of sexually abusing student, police say

TUCSON, Ariz. - A special education teacher is accused of sexually abusing a student.

Fabien Hector Benjamin III, who taught at Buena High School in Arizona, was arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a minor through recordings, luring a minor for sex, sexual abuse and public sexual indecency.

The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office started its investigation into Benjamin on Tuesday, and he resigned on Thursday after being with the school district for six years.

“When they do happen, especially in an educational world where the teacher is the role model, we take that very seriously,” Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said. Click here to read more.

 

Biden Tells New York Times He Did Not Individually Approve Names of Many Pardoned Via Autopen

Former President Joe Biden admitted to the New York Times that he did not individually sign off on each of the pardons issued via his autopen signature to batches of criminals at the end of his term, though he reportedly delineated criteria to staff.

In the final months of his term, Biden issued four large sets of pardons, three of which were categorical clemency actions covering large swaths of people, the Times noted Sunday.

Per the outlet, Biden approved standards to give out categorical pardons to criminals in his final months in office, but staff ultimately ran a final list of names that supposedly met the criteria through the autopen, though it had been revised after Biden delineated the requirements: Click here to read more.

 

10 Unaccompanied Migrant Children Found at Marijuana Grow Sites

Ten of the 14 children found at the marijuana grow sites in California did not have a parent present at the facility, according to Tricia McLaughlin, Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection conducted an operation at two marijuana grow sites in Carpinteria and Camarillo, California, last week and found 14 migrant children working among over 360 illegal aliens at the facilities.

“Our ICE enforcement officers found 14 children, 10 who were unaccompanied. They were likely being exploited—potential slave or forced labor, potential child and human trafficking, so this is something that is incredible disturbing and goes far beyond politics,” McLaughlin told Fox News over the weekend. Click here to read more.

 

American Parents Coalition Calls for Federal Investigation of YMCA

American Parents Coalition Executive Director Alleigh Marré is requesting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, chairwoman of the House Delivering on Government Efficiency subcommittee, investigate the YMCA’s use of over $600 million in annual federal funds to support policies jeopardizing children’s safety. She also accuses the YMCA of infringing on parental rights and violating federal law.

In Marré’s letter to Greene, she explains that the coalition filed a Title IX complaint earlier in July with the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development concerning how “YMCA affiliates across the country are allowing biological males in girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms, and overnight cabins.”

Marré also notes that parents are often not told about these arrangements. Click here to read more.

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