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U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-WV, filed a bill on Friday to ban Chinese nationals from receiving student visas.
“Every year we allow nearly 300,000 Chinese nationals to come to the U.S. on student visas. We’ve literally invited the CCP to spy on our military, steal our intellectual property, and threaten national security. Just last year, the FBI charged five Chinese nationals here on student visas after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises. This cannot continue,” he said.
Moore’s Stop Chinese Communist Prying by Vindicating Intellectual Safeguards in Academia Act (Stop CCP VISAs Act) has several cosponsors. The bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to prohibit the admission of Chinese nationals as nonimmigrant students, according to the bill language.
He points to the FBI last year charging five Chinese nationals who were in the U.S. on student visas at the University of Michigan after they were caught photographing joint US-Taiwan live fire military exercises at Camp Grayling in August 2023 claiming they were members of the media.
He also points to a Chinese student attending the University of Minnesota who was sentenced to six months in prison last October for taking drone photographs of naval shipbuilding operations at Newport News Shipbuilding in Norfolk, Virginia. Moore also points to a former Illinois Institute of Technology graduate who was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2023 for spying for the Chinese government, acting as an agent of China’s Ministry of State Security and making a material false statement to the U.S. Army when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve.
“Congress needs to end China’s exploitation of our student visa program. It’s time we turn off the spigot and immediately ban all student visas going to Chinese nationals,” he said.
These are but a handful of examples. More than 60 Chinese Communist Party-related cases of espionage and acts of transnational repression were reported in 20 states under the Biden administration, according to a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security report, The Center Square reported. That’s in addition to 224 reported incidents of Chinese espionage directed at the U.S. between 2000 and 2023, according to the report. Examples include transmission of sensitive military information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), theft of U.S. trade secrets to benefit the PRC, transnational repression schemes to target PRC dissidents and obstruction of justice.
Other examples include a Department of Justice case from last December involving a Chinese national and lawful permanent resident of California who was arrested for flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base and taking photographs. He was arrested for violating national defense airspace prior to boarding a flight to China.
Another DOJ case related to a Chinese national illegally living in the U.S. who was arrested for allegedly shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea, The Center Square reported.
Another involved a PRC spy arrested in California who worked for a state lawmaker and Chinese operatives arrested in Guam near a U.S. military installation on the same day as a live ballistic missile interception test, The Center Square reported.
Outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray’s parting warning to Americans was that China remains one of the greatest threats to U.S. national security, a warning he consistently issued.
“The greatest long-term threat facing our country, in my view, is represented by the People’s Republic of China, the Chinese government, which I consider to be the defining threat of our generation,” he said, The Center Square reported.
The DOJ says it opens new cases to counter PRC intelligence operations roughly every 12 hours. Of the espionage cases it's prosecuted since 2018, it says 80% allege the PRC would benefit; 60% of trade secret theft cases are linked to China.
It also lists examples of indictments of Chinese nationals conspiring to and committing economic espionage and theft of trade secrets going back to 2018 under the Trump administration.
PRC threats increased as the greatest number of Chinese nationals illegally entered the U.S. in recorded history under the Biden administration – more than 176,000 nationwide, The Center Square first reported.
Illegal border crossings dropped to their lowest level for the month of February in recorded history, according to the latest U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
In February, 28,654 encounters and apprehensions of illegal border crossers were reported nationwide – a roughly 90% drop from the number reported in previous Februarys under the Biden administration.
In February 2024, 256,071 were reported compared to 213,911 in February 2023 and 250,404 in February 2022.
At the southwest border, 11,709 illegal border crossers were encountered or apprehended last month, significantly down from 189,913 in February 2024; 156,630 inl 2023; and 166,010 in 2022.
At the northern border, 4,098 illegal border crossers were encountered or apprehended last month, down from 14,653 in February 2024; from 13,052 in February 2023; and 7,822 in 2022.
The majority apprehended were single adults, followed by individuals claiming to be in a family unit, and unaccompanied minors.
Nationwide, Border Patrol apprehensions between ports of entry averaged roughly 330 a day in February, the lowest nationwide average apprehensions in CBP history.
At the southwest border, apprehensions plunged to fewer than 300 a day. Border Patrol agents apprehended 8,347 illegal border crossers between ports of entry, CBP said, representing a 94% decrease from February 2024.
CBP Office of Field Operations agents encountered 3,362 inadmissible illegal foreign nationals at ports of entry along the southwest border last month, a 93% drop from February 2024, according to the data.
The reason for the drop, CBP says, is because President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem “have sent a clear message: if you cross the border illegally, you will be deported without an opportunity to try another day, or in a few hours. As a result, CBP encounters with illegal aliens have decreased dramatically.”
Illegal border crossings also dropped after U.S. military troops were deployed to the southwest border and active patrols increased.
Contrary to former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who created a CBP One mobile app to fast-track inadmissible illegal foreign nationals into the U.S., the Trump administration launched a new mobile app to help facilitate departures.
The new CBP Home mobile app allows unlawfully present foreign nationals or those with revoked parole to voluntarily notify the federal government of their plan to leave the U.S. The app was designed to help them comply with an executive order Trump issued, “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” CBP says, to ensure “an orderly process for aliens to communicate their departure plans.”
Additionally, in the first week of March, CBP began taking down soft-sided facilities used to process illegal border crossers into the U.S. under the Biden administration. Doing so is saving taxpayers between $5 million and $30 million a month per facility.
“CBP no longer has a need for them as illegal aliens are being quickly removed,” CBP acting director Pete Flores said. CBP has “full capability to manage the detention of apprehended aliens in its permanent facilities.”
CBP plans to close three SSFs in Texas – Donna, North Eagle Pass and Laredo; and two in Arizona: Yuma and Tucson. SSFs in San Diego, Calif., and El Paso, Texas, currently remain open.
Manpower and other resources that had been diverted to SSFs are being redirected to other priorities “to speed CBP’s progress in gaining operational control over the southwest border,” Flores said.
Additionally, agents who were pulled from their regular duties or stations in other areas of the country who were assigned to the SSFs are returning to their primary enforcement duties, CBP said.
The University of Virginia has shuttered its diversity, equity, and inclusion office as it along with other schools across the nation respond to the Trump administration’s termination of what he says are illegal DEI practices.
“The University's Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Community Partnerships is hereby dissolved,” the University of Virginia Board of Visitors’ resolution obtained by The Center Square reads.
The resolution said that UVA’s move is following the Department of Education’s Dear Colleague letter. The letter stated that race-based decisions in education are illegal, and if schools don’t comply they may face loss of federal funding.
Schools across the nation have been responding both to the Dear Colleague letter and Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” along with other orders.
Trump’s order calls for the “termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.”
A University of Virginia spokesman told The Center Square that, “in accordance with the [board’s] resolution, the administration will review the functions of the [DEI] office, and all personnel and programs that are permissible under state and federal law will be transferred within the University, within 30 days.”
“We will provide additional information as those efforts proceed,” the spokesman said.
Ohio State University also announced the closing of its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, The Center Square previously reported.
When reached again, assistant vice president for media and public relations Benjamin Johnson told The Center Square that OSU’s “review is ongoing” and that there are no new updates.
The University of Cincinnati told of its plan to evaluate its DEI programs and remove DEI-related material from its websites in a message from President Neville Pinto to the UC Community.
UC did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
East Carolina University no longer requires DEI-related graduation requirements, according to WITN. When asked multiple times for comment, ECU did not respond.
The University of Michigan, the University of Washington, the University of California, and Cornell previously told The Center Square they were evaluating, reviewing, or monitoring the executive order.
Of the four schools, only U-M and UW responded when asked for any updates on their responses.
U-M referred The Center Square to the school’s federal order response update page. According to the webpage, U-M is still monitoring federal activity.
UW spokesman Victor Balta told The Center Square the school received notification of an investigation into dozens of universities from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, with UW being one of the schools.
The investigation concerns schools that are still making race-based decisions or are in partnership with organizations that make them, according to an Education Department news release.
“We are reviewing [the department’s notification] carefully,” Balta said.
“We will, of course, cooperate with any investigation and provide factual information and responses,” Balta said. “We have no further comment at this time.”
The University of Arizona is also assessing federal updates and previously removed the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its land acknowledgment as well as took down some DEI-related webpages, The Center Square reported.
Similarly, Columbia removed DEI language from parts of its website and took down some DEI-related web pages, The Center Square reported.
Columbia previously referred The Center Square to a “University statements page for latest updates and public statements on ongoing issues,” when reached for comment. The page does not mention Trump’s January 20 DEI executive order.
Columbia did not respond when reached again in regards to any updates concerning its response to the executive order.
Brown University referred The Center Square to a message saying the school is evaluating “all federal activity related to higher education.”
Both Slippery Rock University and Pennsylvania Western University, California referred The Center Square to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), of which they are both members.
“We are working with our legal counsel to monitor executive orders and additional guidance that may – or may not – impact our universities,” PASSHE director of media relations Kevin Hensil told The Center Square.
“That process is still in the early stages, and we will follow the law,” Hensil said.
Michigan State University and University of Washington School of Medicine each previously told The Center Square they intend to continue their normal operations – which would evidently include those involving DEI – when asked for their responses.
Case Western Reserve, UC Irvine School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, and NYU each previously told The Center Square they had no comment regarding their respective responses to the order, with UC Irvine SOM saying it may have more information “as we learn more.” None of the schools provided updates to their responses when requested.
The following schools have not yet provided comment after repeated requests concerning their individual responses to the executive order:
HarvardStanfordDukeYalePennNorthwestern UniversityThe University of ChicagoBoston UniversityEmory UniversityMayo Clinic School of MedicineUC San DiegoIndiana UniversityThe University of PittsburghCommunity College of Allegheny CountyUniversity of FloridaFlorida State University
(The Center Square) – Democrat Rebecca Cooke announce Tuesday she intends to run against U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Third Congressional, in 2026.
Van Orden defeated Cooke with 51.4% of the vote in the western Wisconsin district by a nearly 11,200 vote margin. The district includes La Crosse and Eau Claire.
“Last November, we won the trust of voters across the party spectrum and nearly sent a farm kid to Washington,” Cooke said while announcing she would run. “We need more working class voices like ours who will fight like hell to build back the middle class.”
Van Orden was a Navy SEAL and senior chief petty officer during his 26 years of service and recently received the 2025 Congressional award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars for his advocacy for veterans.
“Two-time loser Rebecca Cooke is making a third attempt at running for Congress after losing to Derrick Van Orden. 2026 will be no different — Western Wisconsin voters will reject two-faced Cooke’s radical far-left views,” Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said in a statement.
The National Republican Congressional Committee noted several stories about Cooke showing that she did political work before she ran for Congress, saying she claims to be a political outsider but is not.
“Certified loser Rebecca Cooke was already rejected by Wisconsinites twice and will lose again in 2026,” NRCC Spokesman Zach Bannon. “Voters are well aware that she is nothing more than a sleazy political activist who remains out-of-touch with Western Wisconsin.”
More than $128 million of federal taxpayer money was spent on at least 341 grants to fund gender ideology initiatives under the Biden administration, according to an analysis of federal data by the American Principles Project.
In, “Funding Insanity: Federal Spending on Gender Ideology under Biden-Harris,” APP says it “found how the federal government has been spending hundreds of millions of YOUR MONEY on the Gender Industrial Complex!”
APP says it identified the grants by searching the USA Spending database. The data, which is available for free, is categorized by federal agency; notable grants are highlighted.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department awarded the greatest amount of funding totaling nearly $84 million through 60 grants.
The Department of State awarded the greatest number of grants, 209, totaling more than $14 million, according to the data.
Other agencies awarding taxpayer-funded gender ideology grants include:
U.S. Agency for International Development, nearly $18 million through 8 grants;National Endowment for the Humanities, more than $2.6 million through 20 grants;Department of Justice, $1.9 million through three grants;Institute of Museum and Library Services, $1.87 million through 13 grants;Department of Education, $1.67 million through two grants;Department of Agriculture, $1.6 million through five grants;Department of the Interior, more than 1,000,000 awarded through two grants;U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than $548,000 through 4 grants;Inter-American Foundation, more than $490,000 through two grants;National Endowment for the Arts, $262,000 through 13 grants.
APP also identified 63 federal agency contracts totaling more than $46 million that promote gender ideology. They include total obligated amounts and the number of contracts per agency.
The majority, $31 million, was awarded through USAID. The next greatest amount of $4.4 million was awarded through the Department of Defense.
The Trump administration has taken several approaches to gut USAID, which has been met with litigation. The Department of Defense and other agencies are also under pressure to cut funding and reduce redundancies.
Notable grants include:
$3.9 million to Key Populations Consortium Uganda for promoting “the safety, agency, well-being and the livelihoods of LGBTQI+ in Uganda;”$3.5 million to Outright International for “the Alliance for Global Equality and its mission to promote LGBTQI+ people in priority countries around the world;”$2.4 million to the International Rescue Committee for “inclusive consideration of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual characteristics in humanitarian assistance;”$1.9 million to the American Bar Association to “shield the LGBTQI+ population in the Western Balkans;”$1.4 million for “economic empowerment of and opportunity for LGBTQI+ people in Serbia;”$1.49 million to Equality for All Foundation, Jamaica to “Strengthen community support structures to upscale LGBT rights advocacy;”More than $1 million to Bandhu Social Welfare Society to support gender diverse people in Bangladesh.
One of the grants identified by APP, which has since been cancelled, was $600,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Southern University Agricultural & Mechanical College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to study menstruation and menopause, including in biological men.
According to a description of the grant summary, funding would support research, extension, and teaching to address “growing concerns and issues surrounding menstruation, including the potential health risks posed to users of synthetic feminine hygiene products (FHP);” advancing research in the development of FHP that use natural materials and providing menstrual hygiene management; producing sustainable feminine hygiene sanitary products using natural fibers; providing a local fiber processing center for fiber growers in Louisiana, among others.
It states that menstruation begins in girls at roughly age 12 and ends with menopause at roughly age 51. “A woman will have a monthly menstrual cycle for about 40 years of her life averaging to about 450 periods over the course of her lifetime,” but adds: “It is also important to recognize that transgender men and people with masculine gender identities, intersex and non-binary persons may also menstruate.”
All federal funding was allocated to state agencies through the approval of Congress when it voted to pass continuing resolutions to fund the federal government and approved agency budgets.
(The Center Square) – An audit of Wisconsin’s 2024 general election found no errors from its electronic voting system.
The audit included a review of 327,230 ballots statewide, around 10% of the total votes, that were counted by hand to ensure the electronic system had accurately counted the votes.
Previous audits included counting 145,000 ballots from the 2020 election and 222,075 from 2022.
The audit began immediately after the 2024 election.
“The municipal clerks, county clerks, election inspectors, and volunteers who completed these audits should be commended for their work and for their continued dedication to secure and accurate elections,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe.
The audit concluded that there were no issues in the ballot counting.
“They found no election equipment changed votes from one candidate to another, incorrectly tabulated votes, or altered the outcome of any audited contest,” the audit said. “Additionally, there was no evidence of programming errors, unauthorized alterations or hacking of voting equipment software, or malfunctions of voting equipment that altered the outcome of any races on the ballot.”
The audit found that there were five errors on the machines that had to be corrected throughout the state with three creases and a tear near an oval in Franklin being read as overvotes along with one smudge apiece in Antigo and Mukwonago leading to an error for an overvote.
“In total, 593 human errors were recorded in the administration of the 2024 post-election voting equipment audit,” the audit said. “While human factors may not be relevant to the federal definition of an error, they still inform the WEC of opportunities for improvement through additional training, procedural changes, or other actions.”
President Donald Trump Tuesday night told the story of a young woman who was severely injured by a transgender male athlete when he hit a volleyball into her face so hard it caused brain damage.
The young girl, Payton McNabb, was present as Trump’s guest at his address to a joint session of Congress.
“Payton, from now on schools will kick the men off the girls team or they will lose all federal funding,” Trump said, calling his policies a “common sense revolution.”
Watch below:
President Donald Trump touts what he said are the billions of dollars in fraudulent spending Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is uncovering during his Tuesday address to a joint session of Congress. Watch below:
State and local law enforcement are being put in harm's way with Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies, the Illinois Sheriffs Association says.
Association Executive Director Jim Kaitschuk said the National Sheriffs Association put out a note to their state partners that there are 700,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement administrative arrest warrants that are active. But, that doesn’t matter in Illinois.
“Illinois law enforcement is precluded and prohibited from participating in any activity that is solely related to civil enforcement,” Kaitschuk told The Center Square.
Illinois law, through the TRUST Act and The Way Forward Act, prohibits state and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials if a civil detention order is the only thing ICE has against someone.
While Kaitschuk said they can cooperate when there are criminal orders, law enforcement not being able to cooperate with civil warrants can still cause security concerns.
“Unfortunately things do go wrong, right, and then we’re in a situation where you may not know anything about what’s occurring,” Kaitschuk said. “So, we’re kind of blind in those cases.”
Daily immigration arrests nationwide haven’t been comprehensively published, but some estimates are more than 21,000 immigration detentions across the country since Jan. 20, when President Donald Trump took office.
Last week, state Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, told a group of immigration advocates that Illinois will stand strong.
“You are not going to come into our house and just try to take people and separate families in this state,” Aquino said. “People have rights. They are human rights.”
Illinois law also limits ICE from using local county detention facilities. Kaitschuk said the state’s sanctuary policies prohibit police from even knowing whether they have a suspected illegal immigrant in their jail.
“And [ICE] they’re having to go to people’s houses and at the point in time, the problem then is that you may be subjecting people then that weren’t involved in any other criminal activity other than being here … not legally and open them up to being subjected to ICE at that point in time in that residence, as opposed to if they were at the jail, where they wouldn’t have been,” Kaitschuk said.
Illinois and Chicago officials are on the other side of the U.S. Department of Justice in litigation over migrant sanctuary policies. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is due in front of the U.S. House Oversight Committee Wednesday to discuss the city’s migrant sanctuary policies.
