Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should aggressively remove criminal illegal immigrants, urging agents to take decisive action against those with criminal records.
Speaking on Fox News Channel’s The Will Cain Show, Fetterman addressed a recent Minneapolis incident in which Renee Good was killed by an ICE agent. According to the Department of Homeland Security, Good had “weaponized her vehicle” while agents were attempting to free their own vehicle.
“Round up all the criminals,” Fetterman said. “Deport them. They shouldn’t have ever been here, and they definitely have to go.”
While acknowledging that the shooting was “a tragedy,” Fetterman said it has been “very clear” to him since he entered the Senate in 2023 that the Biden administration was “failing at our border.”
He cited what he described as the “latest statistics” reported by the Washington Post about the criminal backgrounds of immigrants taken into custody by ICE.
“Sixty-seven percent have criminal charges — pending ones … that’s more than two-thirds,” Fetterman said, adding that “two things can be true” and that it is possible to back deportations while opposing “the extreme.”
Fetterman also pointed to data published by the New York Times on the number of monthly encounters at the southern border in recent years.
“When you reach almost 300,000 people, that’s unsustainable,” he said. “As a Democrat, it shouldn’t be unreasonable to want to secure our border and do it in that way.”
The Pennsylvania senator has previously voiced support for ICE, saying the agency “performs an important job,” and has faulted fellow Democrats for not “handle the border appropriately.”
According to Breitbart News, Fetterman said in a 2024 CNN interview that although he wants to “provide the American Dream for any migrant,” doing so becomes untenable when “you have 300,000 people showing up encountered at our border.”
{Matzav.com}
The United States has carried out an initial sale of Venezuelan crude valued at approximately $500 million, according to multiple reports on Thursday that cited unidentified government officials.
According to Semafor, the proceeds from the sale are currently being held in bank accounts under U.S. government control, with the primary account based in Qatar, an industry source familiar with the arrangement said. That source explained that Qatar was selected as a “neutral venue” that allows funds to be transferred with U.S. authorization while avoiding the risk of seizure.
The move was described as consistent with an Executive Order signed last week by President Donald Trump that protects Venezuelan oil revenues held in U.S. Treasury-controlled accounts from attachment or court action, with the goal of “ensuring these funds are preserved to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.”
The same source told Semafor that the Venezuelan socialist government, currently headed by “acting President” Delcy Rodríguez, has “fully cooperated” with Washington, noting that the United States retains “leverage” through its sanctions regime and control over oil transactions.
“The United States Treasury is fully committed to supporting President Trump’s efforts on behalf of the people of Venezuela,” a U.S. Department of the Treasury spokesperson told Semafor.
Another unnamed official also confirmed to Semafor that the principal account holding the oil sale revenue is located in Qatar, describing it as a “neutral” setting where “money can flow freely with U.S. approval and without risk of seizure.”
“President Trump brokered a historic energy deal with Venezuela, immediately following the arrest of narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro, that will benefit the American and Venezuelan people,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement to Semafor, adding that the administration is continuing “positive, ongoing discussions” with oil companies regarding Venezuela.
CBS News reported that Rogers provided a similar statement to its newsroom. Fox News likewise published Rogers’ remarks, which stated:
President Trump’s team is facilitating positive, ongoing discussions with oil companies that are ready and willing to make unprecedented investments to restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
President Trump is protecting our Western Hemisphere from being taken advantage of by narcoterrorists, drug traffickers, and foreign adversaries.
Reuters, citing an unnamed U.S. official, reported that further oil sales are anticipated “in the coming days and weeks.”
Separately, the Venezuelan socialist government recently announced plans to sell as much as $2 billion in crude oil to the United States, a deal that Reuters noted last week would “divert supplies from China while helping Venezuela avoid deeper oil production cuts.”
{Matzav.com}
