Latest news with #CustomsandBorderProtection
Business Wire
4 hours ago
- Business
- Business Wire
$10B Public-Private Project from Green Corridors, LLC, Will Secure and Modernize Trade Between the U.S. and Mexico
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Green Corridors, LLC ( a newly unveiled public-private logistics initiative, received approval from the White House on June 9 th to construct, maintain and operate the cross-border IFTS which links Laredo, Texas with Monterrey, Mexico. The system is designed to alleviate traffic congestion at the port of entry and in both cities while significantly improving security versus the status quo. With the U.S. Department of State, Customs and Border Protection, and international stakeholders fully engaged, the Green Corridors megaproject is poised to become the most advanced overland freight infrastructure deployment in North America. Share The WSJ has highlighted the bold infrastructure project and vision in an exclusive article on June 18, 2025. 'This project represents a paradigm shift in transportation with our largest trading partner,' said Green Corridors CEO Mitch Carlson. 'By separating freight from public traffic, we can significantly reduce transportation costs and solve serious congestion and safety issues.' The project introduces a complex system of software, elevated guideways, freight terminals and an autonomous shuttle fleet, which streamlines heavy trade corridors. With the U.S. Department of State, Customs and Border Protection, and international stakeholders fully engaged, the Green Corridors megaproject is poised to become the most advanced overland freight infrastructure deployment in North America. As reported in WSJ, a White House official noted the proposed Laredo to Monterrey project could reduce wait times for cross-border travel, improve supply-chain resilience and create additional capacity to support growing trade with Mexico. The Green Corridors project is not supported by government funding. The company generates revenue from multiple sources in its business model, including fees charged to customers moving freight through the system. The company is backed by a consortium of private-sector leaders, infrastructure partners, and logistics innovators including the Swinbank family office in Houston, Druker Capital in New York and the Chang Robotics Fund in Jacksonville, Fla. The company anticipates breaking ground within the next 36 months. The first operations are estimated to commence in 2031. About Green Corridors Green Corridors is a private infrastructure technology company creating secure, autonomous freight corridors to solve congestion issues. By integrating state-of-the-art technology with proprietary infrastructure, Green Corridors delivers a scalable, replicable model for the future of global logistics. For more information about project details, partnerships, investment opportunities, and executive vision and insights, readers can visit
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dodgers turn away federal agents from stadium grounds
The Los Angeles Dodgers say they turned away federal agents who asked to access parking lots at Dodger Stadium. The Department of Homeland Security says Customs and Border Protection was at the stadium 'very briefly' and that it was 'unrelated to any operation'. NBC News' Jacob Soboroff reports.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
How Trump could sabotage L.A.'s World Cup and Olympics
Organizers of major sporting events always have a lot to worry about — logistics, transportation, security and weather, to start. The organizers of two major events scheduled to take place in Los Angeles next year and in 2028 would be well advised to worry about one additional factor: Donald Trump. Trump has made public statements endorsing the Olympics and identifying himself with their successful outcome. L.A. won the 2028 games in 2017, during his first term. In a 2020 meeting with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, he claimed to have played a role in securing the games: 'From the day I took office,' he said, 'I've done everything in my power to make sure that L.A. achieved the winning bid.' As recently as January, just before his inauguration, he delivered another expression of support. 'These are America's Olympics,' he told Casey Wasserman, the chair of the local organizing committee, during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago reported by Axios. 'These are more important than ever to L.A. and I'm going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest games.' But Trump has a habit of withdrawing his favors as abruptly as he bestows them — as onetime associates such as Elon Musk have discovered — and upending his own policies on a whim. Over just the last week, for example, he ordered immigration authorities to cease their raids on agricultural and hospitality sites, evidently on appeals from his own supporters who cited their need for immigrant laborers. But he reversed himself days later, ordering the raids to resume. Two administration initiatives in particular could directly affect the World Cup and Olympics. The first is Trump's crackdown on immigration. Up to now, the policy has been haphazardly applied, through scattershot raids on locations such as Home Depot parking lots. Immigration agents have been acting as though they have carte blanche to detain people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, conducting raids that have sometimes swept up American citizens. Customs and Border Protection and other federal immigration authorities have been accused of detaining foreign visitors and refusing them admission to the U.S., without explanation. Immigration roundups across the U.S. have instilled fear in immigrant communities, prompting many to stay home from work or school. The second initiative is Trump's travel ban, which bars individuals from 12 countries from entering the U.S. Those from seven other countries face restrictions, though not complete bans. According to a widely-reported memo, Trump is contemplating the addition of 36 more countries to the travel ban. Of those countries, 25 are in Africa, but countries in Asia, the Caribbean and the Pacific are also named. The memo, according to reports, asserts that the countries on the expanded list lack a credible 'government authority to produce reliable identity documents,' keep unreliable criminal records or are beset by 'widespread government fraud.' Countries could 'mitigate' the U.S. concerns, the memo says, if they're willing to accept deportees from the U.S. Although the international lineup for the 2028 Olympics has not been established, every country on both lists sent athletes to the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. At a news conference last week, Wasserman said the White House understood the need to be 'accommodating' on visa issues with those in the Olympic bubble — 'It has been the case to date and it will certainly be the case going forward through the games.' He spoke confidently, but that he felt the need to speak about it at all tells the real story. In 2018, when FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, was judging bids to host the 2026 World Cup, Trump assured FIFA that 'all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.' But concerns remain that family members of participating athletes might face restrictions on entering the U.S. Those concerns could hardly be assuaged by a comment from Vice President JD Vance, chair of a government task force overseeing preparations for the World Cup, at a task force meeting attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino. Vance said the U.S. wants foreign visitors 'to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the games. But when the time is up, we want them to go home, otherwise they will have to talk to Secretary Noem.' He was referring to Kristi Noem, secretary of Homeland Security, whose agency has been conducting the immigration raids and border detentions. Just last week, Customs and Border Protection, a subagency of Homeland Security, stated in a social media post that it would be 'suited and booted, ready to provide security for the first round of games' of FIFA's Club World Cup preliminary tournament. The authority of immigration agents to provide security or conduct civil law enforcement activities is legally uncertain. Homeland Security later deleted the post. 'U.S. Customs and Border Protection is committed to working with our local and federal partners to ensure the FIFA Club World Cup is safe for everyone involved, as we do with every major sporting event,' a Homeland Security spokesperson told me by email. The White House didn't respond to my request for comment. There already are signs that Trump's immigration crackdown is suppressing ticket sales for international soccer games in the U.S. That appears to be the case with an opening game of Club World Cup, scheduled for Saturday between Inter Miami, the Major League Soccer club featuring Lionel Messi as player-captain, and the Egyptian team Al Ahly at Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami. The cheapest seats for the contest, which are priced according to demand, have fallen from $349 in December to less than $80 last week, the Associated Press reported. Notwithstanding his statements of support for the Los Angeles Olympics, since taking office in January, Trump's feelings for L.A. have turned distinctly negative. On June 7, he called in the California National Guard and subsequently mobilized the Marines to quell street protests in downtown L.A. against immigration raids. Trump stepped up his battle with local authorities on Sunday, when he posted a statement on his Truth Social platform pledging to 'expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.' What Amnesty International labels 'escalating attacks on human rights and civil freedoms' prompted the organization to urge FIFA to 'exert its leverage and demand concrete, legally binding guarantees that human rights won't be further sacrificed for the sake of the game.' The organization said 'the current U.S. administration's abusive immigration policies, including enforced disappearances under the Alien Enemies Act, travel bans, increased detention, and visa restrictions, threaten the inclusivity and global nature of the World Cup.' Los Angeles has a lot hanging on successful World Cup events and the Olympics, though it's hard to pinpoint how much, financially speaking. Projections of economic gains from major sporting events are typically optimistic, euphoric, chimerical or conjectural. The standing estimate for the economic impact for L.A. County from next year's Cup events is $594 million. That's based on expectations of 180,000 out-of-town visitors arriving for the eight matches, which include the opening match for the U.S. men's team. That estimate, however, comes from the L.A. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which is responsible for attracting major sporting events to the county and might not be inclined to minimize the potential take. The Olympic gains are even tougher to estimate. My colleagues Thuc Nhi Nguyen and Dakota Smith reported recently that local Olympics organizers have expressed confidence that they'll reach their goal of $2.5 billion in sponsorship revenue and about as much coming from ticket sales and other commercial income. All told, the organizers say they'll be able to cover the estimated $7.1 billion in Olympic costs. The organizers also waved away concerns that foreign fans might be discouraged from coming to the U.S. for the games, since they expect most ticket sales to be domestic. As my colleague Steve Henson reported in March, Wasserman has assured the International Olympic Committee that 'irrespective of politics today, America will be open and accepting to all 209 countries for the Olympics. L.A. is the most diverse city in the history of humanity and we will welcome the people from around the world and give them all a great time.' He said he had made 'significant strides' in getting assurances from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio that obtaining visas shouldn't be a problem. Are those assurances reliable? Trump's policymaking record is inauspicious. Whether the product of deliberate policymaking or whim, Trump's capacity for sabotaging the World Cup and Olympics is vast. Promoters of major international sporting events always maintain that the games are 'nonpartisan' and nonpolitical. That's true up until the point that they're not, as was demonstrated when former President Jimmy Carter ordered a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics to protest Russia's invasion of Afghanistan. Russia retaliated by boycotting the 1984 games (in Los Angeles). Will Trump's politics poison the upcoming soccer and Olympic events? It's not clear at this moment, but the organizers are undoubtedly crossing their fingers.
The Hill
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Border Patrol drones have shown up at the LA protests. Should we be worried?
Customs and Border Protection recently confirmed the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones, over the unrest in Los Angeles. According to a statement to 404 Media, 'Air and Marine Operations' MQ-9 Predators are supporting our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations.' Officially, these drones, which CBP has used since 2005, are supposed to be for border security. CBP states that they are 'a critical element of CBP missions to predict, detect, identify, classify, track, deter and interdict border traffic that threatens the continuity of U.S. border security.' That may be true, but the drones are used for quite a bit more than that. CBP frequently lends them to other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies across the country, in some cases for uses that raise questions about civil liberties. Los Angeles is far from the first place where drones have been used to surveil protests and civil unrest. In the three weeks after George Floyd was killed by police in 2020, CBP lent drones to law enforcement agencies in 15 cities. In 2016, indigenous and environmentalist activists protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which they argued violated the rights and sovereignty of the Standing Rock Sioux. The local sheriff requested CBP drones to help surveil these protesters, which CBP subsequently provided. Surveillance of anti-pipeline activists with CBP drones didn't stop there. In 2020, Enbridge, Inc. was planning to build a pipeline and faced similar controversy and protests. CBP flew drones over its planned pipeline route and over the homes of anti-pipeline activists, including the executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network. Surveilling protesters is a concerning use of drones, as it may chill or repress speech, association and assembly protected by the First Amendment. In 2015, CBP claimed it had not used drones to surveil protests or other First Amendment activities. Yet with multiple high-profile reports to the contrary in the years that followed, that appears to have changed. CBP drones are also often lent to different law enforcement agencies for other activities. In 2012, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates digital freedom and civil liberties, sued the Department of Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act to learn how often CBP lent drones to other agencies and why. Initially, Homeland Security sent the Electronic Frontier Foundation incomplete records that failed to mention around 200 drone flights carried out on behalf of other agencies. But by 2014, the foundation learned that CBP had lent drones to other agencies 687 times in the period from 2010 to 2012. This included flights on behalf of many law enforcement agencies, 'ranging from the FBI, ICE, the U.S. Marshals, and the Coast Guard to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the North Dakota Army National Guard, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.' In 2018, David Bier and Matthew Feeney of the Cato Institute published an analysis of CBP's drone program. They noted that 'From 2013 to 2016, only about half of CBP drone flight hours were actually in support of Border Patrol.' They also cite CBP statements 'that 20 percent of all Predator B flights were not in coastal or border areas.' When legislators approved this drone program, their goal was to secure the border. But these days, CBP drones are being used in ways that have significant potential to undermine the privacy of Americans, and not just in areas along the border. Multiple federal court rulings have allowed the government to conduct aerial surveillance without a warrant. No court order or even suspicion of a crime is required. Law-abiding citizens far from the border are therefore vulnerable. When governments acquire new tools, they don't just use them for their original purpose. Government officials, like all people, are creative. This results in 'mission creep' as powers quickly expand and are put to new uses. That means the rest of us should ask a simple question: How would you feel if this power were used against you? Nathan Goodman is a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University's F.A. Hayek Program.
Gizmodo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Gizmodo
As Trump Comes for Your Social Media, It's Time You Consider What's Worth Sharing
Agents of the Trump administration are increasingly using social media posts to crack down on immigrants, tourists, and even some U.S. citizens. Last month, a leaked document showed the State Department had crafted a new standard for reviewing the social media accounts of any foreign students planning to attend or even visit Harvard University. Legal immigrants may have benefits denied based on social media activity, and people expressing opinions or acting contrary to Trump are being detained at airports. Whether you're a U.S. citizen or not, it's time you reexamine how much of yourself you're willing to show publicly online. Amid the ongoing travel turmoil that's made several countries institute warnings to foreign citizens planning trips to the U.S., I was looking for ways to make it more difficult for governments to use my social posts against me. That's when I was invited to use Block Party. It's not, by its nature, a politically charged app. With a $25 annual subscription, Block Party uses a browser plugin to help rein in your privacy settings on your various social media accounts with a simple checklist and easy-to-follow, step-by-step guides. Privatizing your social media accounts helps keep big tech from building data profiles based on your activity, which it then uses for targeted advertising, but it may not be enough to completely deter a visit from Customs and Border Protection as you muscle through airport security after coming to the States. [Editor's note: Getting thrown into another bin for targeted advertising isn't great either, but it's better than getting thrown into Guantanamo.] At the very least, it may make the jobs of federal agencies—or anybody looking for dirt on you based on your online activity—a little harder. For the time being, that might be enough to help you avoid being held up by U.S. officials for hours in an airport. Trump Widens the Targets of Social Media Scrutiny You can simply delete your profiles, but as somebody who still needs to remain active on social media, Block Party is one of the better options I've personally used to get into the weeds of my accounts' esoteric privacy settings. It even helps you find settings in some apps to keep AI from scraping your posts. Still, changing all your settings may not be enough to avoid all scrutiny. According to a Politico report on the leaked State Department document, the U.S. government imagines foreign students' lack of a social presence or privatized social media 'may be reflective of evasiveness and call into question the applicant's credibility.' The Trump administration may ascribe this same standard to U.S. citizens. Already, there are concerning examples of agents targeting supposed Trump opponents. Left-wing influencer Hasan Piker said in May that he was detained and questioned for hours by Homeland Security after he came back to Chicago from France. In April, immigration agents detained Michigan-based attorney Amir Makled at an airport for more than an hour as he returned home from the Dominican Republic. The attorney was representing Columbia University students who had protested against the war in Palestine. Makled said feds requested he hand over his phone, and after 90 minutes of questioning, he eventually complied. The situation is growing more constrained for non-citizens traveling to the U.S. Every individual has to decide for themselves what precautions they need to take when traveling as a citizen or non-citizen alike. Sophia Cope, the senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Gizmodo it's not an easy decision, and some people planning to visit the U.S. may be better off choosing a different destination. However, despite U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's proclamation that privatizing social media was somehow an indication of 'evasiveness,' it's still a good idea to privatize your socials before crossing the border to the U.S. And it's not just protesters who need to think long and hard about what thoughts of theirs are shared online. Nonprofit and government staff now have to consider whether their public presence necessitates drastic culling of their online profiles. 'We've definitely been seeing an uptick in interest given the activities of the government recently,' Tracy Chou, the founder and CEO of Block Party, told Gizmodo in a video interview. After Trump's inauguration, she said she's received interest from both current and former government workers from multiple federal agencies, afraid their previously innocuous social media posts could be used as ammunition for right-wing groups. Government workers weren't just trying to avoid the eyes of Trump and DOGE. Chou gave an example of people who worked in the Department of Justice's civil rights division who were trying to avoid attacks from right-wing groups online. Some Apps Make It Easier to Avoid Social Media Scrutiny You can find a loose gaggle of tutorials online for turning on social media privacy settings, but even an experienced user will be surprised by just how many settings there are to limit. You may also want to look into subscriptions such as DeleteMe or Kanary, which work to eliminate information data brokers have on you and remove data from some websites. Block Party is more concerned with restricting the data big tech companies can garner from your social accounts. Privacy settings for most apps are arcane—often deliberately so—and even if you're trying to privatize an account, you can still miss something. Block Party currently works with X, LinkedIn, Facebook, Venmo, Instagram, Reddit, Strava, YouTube, Bluesky, and Google. Additionally, Block Party will only impact the mobile versions of TikTok and Snapchat. Chou said her team is planning to support more apps in the future. The app operates as a browser plugin that offers a checklist for your social accounts. Some settings can be done for you with the tap of a button, but various settings will take some attention on your part. On LinkedIn, Block Party can automatically turn off settings to 'represent company,' a sneaky setting used for sponsored ads about your employer. If I want to change the number of apps connected to my YouTube account, I have to click a link through the app and disable them manually, then mark the task as 'done.' Even using Block Party, the process of tuning all your socials is time-consuming. After you're done, you may realize how many features of these apps depend on your private data. Block Party recommends you change YouTube settings to limit viewing history. Suddenly, I can't see which videos I've watched, making it harder to return to a YouTube essay I paused before going to sleep. This is the trade-off for privacy. You simply won't be able to use your apps in the same ways you used to. There Is No Panacea for Privacy Nina Jankowicz, the cofounder of The American Sunlight Project, which advocates against online disinformation, said she has started to advise people to lock down their social media not just for the sake of avoiding targeted ads, but to keep from being targeted by the government. She said she offers Block Party free to staff, but even that may not be enough in this age, where her activities as an advocate are receiving more and more scrutiny. Jankowicz said she started bringing a burner cell phone when she travels through and to the U.S. Beyond massaging your social accounts, travelers need to start considering device security. Turning off biometric log-in when you travel is a good start, as experts say law enforcement has less legal liability to unlock your device if they flash your Face ID at your mug. You should avoid saving WhatsApp or Messenger chats to the cloud in case government agents manage to bypass phone security. VPNs, which help hide your IP address and keep you anonymous when online, are also good to have on hand. The fact of the matter is, U.S. officials have the legal ability to detain people at the airport, but as Cope stressed, the U.S. is not legally allowed to keep citizens from entering the U.S. without probable cause. Non-violent political opinions posted to social media still don't meet grounds for an arrest just because Trump is in office. At the same time, Trump's administration has continued to ignore court decrees, and his flaunting of the law may turn on American citizens as well. For now, it's best you know your rights. Refusing to hand over a phone to officers could delay you, but you're only legally required to establish your identity, not to share your phone with anybody. Again, knowing your rights can still lead to delays. 'If there's anything remotely controversial, I would delete that post, privatize the account, or even shut down the account,' Cope said. 'I want to emphasize again it's each individual person's choice, but I think for me, I'd rather not have the government have this particular data point or set of data points about me.' The U.S. already knows what kind of chilling effect this abuse of social media has had on protest efforts. When I asked Jankowicz whether privatizing your social media can make it harder to organize, she responded bluntly: 'Yes.' 'Researchers are a lot more reticent to be on things like Signal group chats or on email chains and message boards,' she said. 'The toll it takes on attempting to muster a collaborative response on anything that's happening to the community is really difficult.' Privatizing your social media can't be a panacea for your travel anxieties, especially if you still want to use these apps to communicate with friends or organize for causes you care about. The best it can do is make a government operator's job harder, and since there are so many accounts to monitor, you may slip through the dragnet. As time goes on, Trump will rely more on technology from firms like Palantir to compile a wider database on every citizen based on government data, according to a recent report from The New York Times. Whether you use apps like DeleteMe and Block Party in tandem or you go out and prune your posts and public persona, get ready for a far more constrained online existence.
