President Donald Trump touted the “historic” rescue of the downed F-15E airmen behind enemy lines and issued a warning to Iran to make a deal before Tuesday night’s 8 p.m. ET deadline or face being “taken out.”
“This is a rescue that’s very historic,” Trump told the White House press corps in a Monday news conference. “It’ll go down to the books.”
“Late Thursday night, an American F-15 fighter jet went down deep inside enemy territory in Iran while participating in Operation Epic Fury, where we’re doing unbelievably well. Well, at a level that nobody’s ever seen before.”
Trump quickly paused his hailing of the rescue to add a warning for Iran to come to peace.
TRUMP REVEALS IRAN MADE ‘SIGNIFICANT PROPOSAL’ AFTER ULTIMATUM, BUT ‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’
“The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night,” Trump said.
Trump continued to press Iran to come to a peace deal, hours after saying the offers thus far are “not enough,” and War Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed the heaviest bombing of Iran to date.
TRUMP SAYS IRAN ‘NO LONGER A THREAT’ AFTER 32 DAYS — OUTLINES NEXT PHASE OF US WAR
“By the way, per the president’s direction, [Monday] will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation,” Hegseth vowed, taking the mic just before Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan “Raizin’” Caine.
“Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice,” Hegseth added. “Choose wisely, because this president does not play around. You can ask Soleimani, you can ask Maduro. You can ask Khamenei.”
Trump, responding to a question from Fox News, noted there were military leaders warning against the dangerous exfiltration of the two airmen, citing the risks to a multitude of troops.
“There were military people, very professional, that preferred not doing it: These two were totally on board, which was very important,” Trump said, noting Hegseth and Gen. Caine.
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“But, no, there were military people that said, ‘You just don’t do this; you don’t go into the heart of a very powerful military.”
Trump noted that “half the people are wearing uniforms” in Iran, exacerbating the challenges of extracting the American airmen.
“I was surprised somebody said it’s the only time it’s ever been done,” Trump continued. “I said, that’s not possible, but it is possible because you’re going into hundreds of thousands of soldiers along the path. I mean, look at some of the helicopters, how they got hit.”
Trump, in a moment that went from serious to lighter, asked Caine “how many” people conducted the rescue.
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“I’d love to keep that a secret,” Caine shot back.
“I’ll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds and hundreds of these people,” Trump said.
“Hundreds of people went into this journey. Hundreds of people could have been killed. Forget about the equipment. A lot of equipment. Nobody cares of it. Hundreds of people could have been killed,” Trump added.
“So we had people that were within the military that said, ‘This is not a wise move,’” Trump said.
Fourth-generation Iowa farmer Mark Mueller is no stranger to the ups and downs of the agriculture industry. But right now, he thinks America is on the cusp of a farm crisis.
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“I am more concerned now than I have been in my 30 years of farming,” Mueller told NBC News.
Even before the Iran war, Mueller said, many farmers felt they were being squeezed. Consolidation in the fertilizer industry and increased competition from abroad have resulted in higher prices for fertilizer and feed — and smaller returns on Mueller’s corn and soybean crops.
Many farmers who couldn’t pay their bills in recent years went under. In 2025, the number of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies reached 315, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation. That was up 46% from the previous year.
Now, the Iran war is putting even more pressure on farmers.
Before the war, roughly a third of the world’s fertilizer ingredients and a fifth of its oil supplies passed every day through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway off Iran’s southern coast. But since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, the strait has been effectively closed by Tehran, leaving scores of tankers stranded.
The strait’s closure has driven up global prices for fertilizer and for the diesel fuel that powers most of America’s heavy agricultural equipment.
The double whammy is hitting farmers just as they head into the spring planting season.
“This is that perfect storm where everything comes together and hammers the farmer,” said Mueller, who also serves as the president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association.
Mueller said his fertilizer supplier was selling a nitrogen fertilizer he needs for $795 per ton on Feb. 22, a few days before the war started. At the end of March, it was $990, Mueller said, a nearly $200 jump in just a few weeks.
Meanwhile, the price he’s paying for diesel has jumped, too. Diesel is now averaging $5.51 nationwide, up from $3.76 right before the war, according to AAA.
Mueller said he got most of the fertilizer he needs for spring before the war — but had to buy some at the higher prices. He’s holding off on purchasing the additional fertilizer he needs for summer, hoping prices will come down.
Mark Mueller, a farmer and president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, thinks America is on the cusp of a farm crisis.Courtesy of Iowa Corn
President Donald Trump’s tariffs have also added to the cost of goods that farmers import from overseas — and frustrated many of the foreign buyers of America’s agricultural products.
“Our government made our life more difficult by walking away from trade deals or instituting tariffs or just basically making our customers angry — our customers being other nations and companies in other nations,” said Mueller.
Lance Lillibridge, a corn and cattle farmer from Vinton, Iowa, told NBC News he plans to use less fertilizer this year.
“I’m probably going to see a reduction in yield,” said Lillibridge. “If there’s not the supply out there, then the price is going to go up.”
If the war continues, the higher prices could ripple through the supply chain and ultimately result in higher prices at the supermarket.
“We’re talking about all the crops and all the food products that we consume on a daily basis,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon.
“Anything that is grown and that requires fertilizers, which is most of everything that we consume, is potentially affected by this rise in fertilizer prices,” said Daco. “And as a result, we may see these prices rise rapidly across grocery stores in the U.S.”
Take corn, for example. If corn prices spike, then feeding cattle becomes more expensive for many farmers. Plus cattle farmers are also dealing with the higher fuel prices. The cost of beef has already hit record highs — in part from shrinking cattle herds and drought — and it could surge even more.
“I worry about how much more consumers will continue to pay for beef,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattle farmer in Bluffton, Georgia. “I think that I can produce it as cheap as anybody else, but I don’t know where consumers draw their lines.”
It may take a while for price increases on the farm to show up at the grocery store. Farmers are just planting their spring crops now, and it could take months for them to be harvested and sent off to distribution centers and eventually grocery stores.
But consumers may see higher prices sooner rather than later, because of higher transport costs with pricier diesel.
“If you’re feeling these costs now, it’s only going to continue to increase as the supply chain fills with higher-cost goods,” said Lillibridge.
“Corn is used in over 4,000 products,” he added. “It’s not just food — it’s industrial products, like your paper that you would put in your printer has cornstarch in it, plastics, just tons of things have industrial uses from corn.”
Economists say the longer the war stretches on, the larger the effects could be.
Newly harvested corn in Inwood, Iowa. Consumers may see higher prices sooner rather than later because of higher transport costs with pricier diesel. Jim West / UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty images file
“Right now, our farmers can get the product — it’s just really expensive,” said Faith Parum, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, an advocacy group for farmers and ranchers. “We’re slowly starting to hear the longer this goes on, we’re also going to have issues with even the availability of the fertilizer.”
That could further strain farmers.
“We’re going on to year four of losses across the farm economy,” said Parum. “It’s going to become harder and harder for them to put a crop in the ground.”
Before the war, the Agriculture Department estimated that farm sector debt could reach a record $624.7 billion in 2026.
Farmers have received some financial assistance from the federal government over the years. In December, the Trump administration announced a new tranche of $12 billion in aid to farmers.
At a White House event for farmers in March, Trump said that he would push for more aid and urged Congress to pass a new farm bill.
Trump also pledged to ask Congress to permit year-round sales of E15, an unleaded fuel blended with 15% ethanol that the American Farm Bureau Federation says could save consumers money at the gas pump and create markets for American-grown crops.
Farmers listen as President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Friday. During the event, Trump urged Congress to pass a new farm bill. Alex Wong / Getty Images
Mueller was among the farmers last month at the White House, where he listened to Trump.
“I guess I would liken it to empty calories,” he said of the president’s remarks. “It was like a pep rally with very little being said.”
Mueller fears that the mounting pressures on farmers, exacerbated by the war, could lead some to hang up their hats for good.
“I really do see fewer farmers when it’s all done,” he said. “In the end, the consumer will still have fewer choices, probably have a little higher prices, and farmers will have less margin than they did before.”
Oil prices surged Thursday, threatening to further drive up the price of gas as hopes for a near-term resolution to the Iran war faded following President Donald Trump’s address to the nation.
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Stocks were volatile, with major indexes plunging early in the day before moving higher at the close on shifting headlines about the war in the Middle East.
U.S. indexes recovered their early losses on news that Iran’s deputy foreign minister said his country would outline a “new navigation regime” in the Strait of Hormuz after the war ended, injecting fresh optimism into markets over the future of the key waterway.
At the closing bell at 4 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 closed up 0.11%, the Nasdaq Composite ended higher by 0.18%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61 points. The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller companies, rose 0.7%.
The United States added 178,000 jobs in March, blowing past expectations and showing a resilient labor market just as the war with Iran began escalating, sending up oil prices.
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The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% last month, down from 4.4%. The gains were concentrated in health care, construction, transportation and warehousing.
Despite the outsized headline figure, there were further indications that the job market remains wobbly. Wage growth declined to 3.5% in March from 3.8% in February, falling short of forecasts.
Jobs report estimates from January and February were also revised, upward and downward respectively. Combined, they show that U.S. payrolls fell by a net 7,000 over those two months.
The labor force participation rate, or the share of the overall population either employed or looking for work, fell to its lowest level since November of 2021.
“While this month’s jobs report delivered an upside surprise, we continue to believe that risks to the labor market remain elevated and higher oil prices from the Iran conflict could prove an additional impediment in the months ahead,” Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X financial group, said in a note to clients.
Surveys conducted by the BLS for this report were completed by March 12. At the time, the full brunt of the war had yet to hit the job market.
Three weeks later, gasoline prices have surged to more than $4 a gallon, a level that, if it is sustained, would sap U.S. consumers of hundreds of dollars in annual discretionary income.
On Wednesday, the Atlanta Federal Reserve lowered its real-time gross domestic product estimate to 1.9%, down from more than 3% just before the start of the war.
On Tuesday, the BLS reported the hiring rate in February fell to just 3.1% of the U.S. workforce, a level last recorded in April 2020, as the Covid pandemic bore down.
Job openings also fell in February, though they appear to be stabilizing overall. The rate of layoffs also remains at an all-time low.
Meanwhile, many Americans’ views of the economy and Trump’s handling of it continue to sink to new depths.
A CNN poll out this week found that just 31% of respondents approved of how Trump is managing U.S. economic performance, with just 27% saying they approved of his handling of inflation, down from 44% a year ago. His overall approval rating appears to have stabilized at about 35%.
A construction worker at a new building in Pasadena, Calif.Mario Tama / Getty Images file
A debate is now underway about how many jobs the U.S. would need to add each month to keep the unemployment rate — 4.3% as of Friday — stable.
Over the past year, a massive drop in overall immigration to the U.S., coupled with a growing number of baby boomers leaving the workforce, mean fewer overall jobs need to be created for the economy to absorb newcomers to the labor force and keep the overall unemployment rate steady, according to economists with the Dallas Federal Reserve.
That overall number of new jobs needed is known as the “breakeven” employment rate. The economists wrote in a note published this week that the breakeven employment rate now may be close to zero.
If the overall workforce continues to shrink, even fewer new jobs will be needed to incorporate workers entering the labor force, such as recent college graduates or parents who put their careers on hold for a few years.
That won’t necessarily make looking for a job any easier. The median spell of unemployment is now about 2½ months, with the average much longer — about six months. About 25% of all unemployed workers are out of work for at least 27 weeks.
Savannah Guthrie returned to the “TODAY” anchor desk Monday, more than two months after her mother disappeared.
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“We are so glad you started your week with us, and it is good to be home,” Guthrie said at the start of the show. She wore a bright yellow dress, echoing the yellow ribbons and flowers left at her mother’s home.
“TODAY” co-anchor Craig Melvin, wearing a yellow tie, patted Guthrie’s hand and replied: “Yes, it is good to have you at home.”
The two anchors then turned to the morning’s top headlines, including an opening segment about the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. “Well, here we go, ready or not,” Guthrie said. “Let’s do the news.”
Savannah Guthrie on Monday’s “TODAY.”TODAY
Guthrie, who has co-anchored “TODAY” since 2012, stepped away from her role in early February after Nancy Guthrie, 84, went missing from her home near Tucson, Arizona. Authorities have described the case as a possible kidnapping or abduction.
Guthrie told Hoda Kotb last month that she believed returning to the “TODAY” anchor desk is “part of my purpose right now,” even though it was difficult to imagine going back to a workplace she associates with “joy and lightness.”
“I can’t come back and try to be something that I’m not. But I can’t not come back because it’s my family,” Guthrie said in the interview, her first since the start of the ordeal. “I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I’ll belong anymore, but I would like to try.”
Savannah Guthrie greets fans Monday in Rockefeller Plaza.TODAY
In the second hour of Monday’s show, Guthrie greeted “TODAY” fans gathered outside on Rockefeller Plaza, some wearing yellow pins and holding signs with her mother’s photo. Guthrie fought back tears as she held co-host Jenna Bush Hager’s hand and thanked her supporters for their prayers and letters.
“You guys have been so beautiful,” she said. “I’ve received so many letters, so much kindness to me and my whole family. We feel it. We feel your prayers.”
Savannah Guthrie walks with Jenna Bush Hager outside the “TODAY” studios.TODAY
Nancy Guthrie’s family reported her missing around noon Feb. 1 after she did not show up at a friend’s house for virtual church services, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Office. She was last seen the previous night around 9:45 p.m. after having dinner at her daughter Annie Guthrie’s home, according to authorities.
The investigation into her disappearance gripped the nation and put an intense spotlight on the quiet Catalina Foothills area of Tucson. Authorities have not identified a suspect or motive, though the FBI released chilling doorbell camera video of an armed and masked man outside Nancy Guthrie’s home on the morning she was reported missing.
The bureau described him as a man of average build, 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a black Ozark Trail Hiker Pack 25-liter backpack.
Guthrie and her siblings, Camron Guthrie and Annie Guthrie, have provided updates on the case via social media. In emotionally wrenching videos on Instagram, they have thanked members of the public for their prayers and made direct appeals to Nancy Guthrie’s possible abductor.
“Someone knows how to find our mom and bring her home,” Guthrie wrote in the caption to a Feb. 24 video post.
The family is offering up to $1 million for information that leads to the 84-year-old’s recovery. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for “information leading to the recovery of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.”
Kotb, a “TODAY” contributor, substituted for Guthrie. In that period, Guthrie withdrew from NBC’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics; Mary Carillo stepped in to co-host the opening ceremony alongside NBC Sports’ Terry Gannon.
Guthrie visited the “TODAY” set March 5. In photos taken from outside the studio by a photographer for The Associated Press, Guthrie could be seen wiping tears and embracing her colleagues. The visit was not televised.
Savannah Guthrie hugs Al Roker during a visit to “TODAY” on March 5.Charles Sykes / Invision / AP
“I really wanted to come and see everybody. I just love this beautiful place that we call home, where we get to come and be every day,” Guthrie told Kotb, adding: “When times are hard, you want to be with your family.”
Two relatives of slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani living in Los Angeles were taken into custody by federal agents after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revoked their green cards, officials said.
Hamideh Soleimani Afshar, identified as Soleimani’s niece, and her daughter were arrested and are now being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to an announcement Saturday from the State Department.
The Trump administration says Afshar has been a supporter of Iran’s “totalitarian, terrorist” regime.
“Afshar is the niece of deceased Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani,” Rubio wrote on X. “She is also an outspoken supporter of the Iranian regime who celebrated attacks on Americans and referred to our country as the ‘Great Satan.’
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“This week, I terminated both Afshar and her daughter’s legal status and they are now in ICE custody, pending removal from the United States.”
In January 2020, a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad killed Soleimani during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
While living in the U.S., Afshar “promoted Iranian regime propaganda, celebrated attacks against American soldiers and military facilities in the Middle East, praised the new Iranian Supreme Leader, denounced America as the ‘Great Satan,’ and voiced her unflinching support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated terrorist organization,” the State Department said.
“[Afshar] pushed this propaganda for Iran’s terrorist regime while enjoying a lavish lifestyle in Los Angeles, as attested to by her frequent posting on her recently deleted Instagram account,” the department said.
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According to the Department of Homeland Security, ICE officers arrested Afshar and her daughter Friday in Los Angeles.
DHS said Afshar entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in June 2015, was granted asylum in 2019 and became a green card holder in 2021 under the Biden administration.
“In July 2025, she filed a naturalization application, where she disclosed she traveled to Iran at least four times since being issued a green card. Her trips to Iran illustrate her asylum claims were fraudulent,” a DHS spokesperson told Fox News.
Her daughter entered the U.S. on a student visa in July 2015, was granted asylum in 2019 and became a green card holder in 2023, according to DHS.
“It is a privilege to be granted a green card to live in the United States of America,” the spokesperson added. “If we have reason to believe a green card holder poses a threat to the U.S., the green card will be revoked.”
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In addition to revoking Afshar and her daughter’s lawful permanent resident status, officials said Afshar’s husband has been barred from entering the U.S.
Earlier this month, the State Department also terminated the legal status of Fatemeh Ardeshir-Larijani, the daughter of a former senior Iranian official, and her husband.
Both are no longer in the U.S. and are barred from reentry.
“The Trump Administration will not allow our country to become a home for foreign nationals who support anti-American terrorist regimes,” the announcement said.
The State Department and ICE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The White House on Friday proposed a sweeping fiscal year 2027 budget that would dramatically increase military spending to roughly $1.5 trillion while cutting billions from domestic programs, marking a sharp shift in federal priorities toward national security and border enforcement.
The proposal outlines roughly $1.5 trillion in total defense resources, a figure the administration says is needed to address growing threats from China, Russia and other adversaries.
The request includes about $1.1 trillion in base discretionary funding for the Department of War, along with an additional $350 billion in mandatory funding to support priorities such as munitions production and expansion of the defense industrial base.
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If enacted, the plan would represent one of the largest increases in U.S. defense spending in decades, though the total includes a mix of discretionary funding and mandatory resources that are not typically combined in standard Pentagon budget comparisons.
Weapons production, ships and emerging technologies
The budget places heavy emphasis on rebuilding weapons stockpiles and strengthening domestic manufacturing capacity, areas that defense officials have identified as key vulnerabilities in recent years.
It calls for accelerated procurement of critical munitions and expanded investments in the defense industrial base, alongside increased funding for nuclear modernization.
Shipbuilding is another major focus, with $65.8 billion requested to procure 18 Navy battle force ships and 16 non-battle force vessels as part of a broader effort to expand maritime capacity.
The proposal also continues funding for the “Golden Dome” missile defense system, which aims to develop a layered homeland defense using space-based sensors and interceptors.
Emerging technologies play a central role in the plan.
The budget highlights investments in artificial intelligence, drones and counter-drone systems, and next-generation aircraft, including continued development of the F-47 — a sixth-generation fighter designed to operate alongside autonomous systems — with the program targeting a first flight as early as 2028.
Defense increases paired with domestic cuts
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The increase in defense spending is paired with a proposed 10% reduction in nondefense discretionary spending.
Budget tables show nondefense funding dropping to about $660 billion, while defense-related funding rises significantly, with base defense funding reaching roughly $1.15 trillion.
The fiscal year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorized approximately $890 billion to $901 billion in defense spending.
The administration also is proposing continued reductions in nondefense spending in future years, signaling a longer-term effort to rebalance federal spending toward national security priorities.
Several major agencies would see significant reductions under the plan, including: NASA, cut by about $5.6 billion, or 23%, State Department and international programs, down roughly $15.5 billion, or 30%, Environmental Protection Agency, cut by more than half, Department of Labor, reduced by about $3.5 billion and Department of Housing and Urban Development, down $10.7 billion.
The reductions are likely to face pushback from lawmakers, particularly over cuts to scientific research, housing programs and foreign aid.
“Donald Trump’s budget is rotten to the core, and Democrats will make sure it never passes,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “Trump is already spending massive sums on never-ending wars abroad, and now he’s pushing for a record-breaking $1.5 trillion in defense spending while slashing programs that Americans and seniors care about and rely on.”
Border security and law enforcement funding expands
The budget also increases funding tied to immigration enforcement and domestic security.
The Department of Homeland Security would continue to rely on more than $190 billion in multiyear funding provided through prior legislation to support border wall construction, detention capacity and enforcement operations, including tens of thousands of detention beds.
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At the same time, the Department of Justice would receive $40.8 billion in discretionary funding, a 13% increase, with additional resources aimed at addressing violent crime, drug trafficking and cartel activity.
The proposal also includes continued support for military involvement in border operations, as well as expanded funding for the Coast Guard.
Foreign aid reduced as priorities shift
The budget proposes a roughly 30% reduction in funding for the State Department and international programs, including cuts to humanitarian aid, global health initiatives and contributions to international organizations.
At the same time, it creates a new $5 billion fund intended to support strategic partnerships and national security priorities, along with expanded financing for allied nations purchasing U.S. defense equipment.
The changes reflect a broader shift toward prioritizing security-focused spending over traditional foreign assistance programs.
Industrial policy tied to national security
Beyond military spending, the budget links national security more directly to economic and industrial policy.
It includes funding to expand domestic production of critical minerals and support supply chains, alongside investments in advanced computing, including artificial intelligence supercomputers at national laboratories.
Officials say those efforts are intended to reduce reliance on foreign suppliers and improve the United States’ ability to sustain long-term competition with adversaries.
Economic assumptions and next steps
The budget is based on projections that assume steady economic growth of about 3% annually and inflation stabilizing near 2%, estimates that could face scrutiny from outside analysts.
The proposal now moves to Congress, where it is expected to face significant debate over both the scale of defense spending and the extent of domestic cuts.
Lawmakers also will likely scrutinize the administration’s use of mandatory funding and reconciliation to support defense increases, an approach that differs from traditional budget negotiations.
While presidential budgets are rarely enacted as written, the proposal provides a clear outline of the administration’s priorities heading into the next fiscal year, with a focus on military strength, border enforcement and a reduced role for many domestic programs.
The Department of Homeland Security revealed that a suspect who fled to China after allegedly planting a deadly explosive device at a military base is the child of two Chinese illegal immigrants.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Chinese nationals Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng, both of whom were living in the U.S. illegally, Homeland Security said.
They were arrested after two of their adult children, Ann Mary Zheng and Alen Zheng, were connected to a failed plot to detonate an improvised explosive device (IED) at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida in mid-March.
The base is home to U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, and Special Operations Command, which oversees all special operations forces across the Department of War.
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The alleged perpetrators of the attempt were born in the U.S. after their parents illegally entered the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The agency asserted the case “illustrates why the improper recognition of ‘birthright citizenship’ for children of illegal aliens is not only inconsistent with the Constitution, but endangers all Americans.”
Birthright citizenship refers to the principle that anyone born on U.S. soil is automatically granted U.S. citizenship.
The FBI said Alen Zheng, who is believed to have planted the improvised explosive device at MacDill Air Force Base March 10, is currently in China. He is facing charges of attempted damage to government property by fire or explosion, unlawful making of a destructive device and possession of an unregistered destructive device, which carry a potential sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
FBI Tampa arrested Ann Mary Zheng March 17 after her return to the U.S. from China, where she had fled with her brother. She was charged as an accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence, facing up to 30 years in prison.
She is accused of hiding or damaging a 2010 Mercedes-Benz to prevent its use in legal proceedings, court documents show.
Prosecutors allege the siblings attempted to cover their tracks by selling the vehicle to car dealer CarMax. Despite the vehicle being vacuumed and cleaned, investigators later discovered trace explosive residue inside the vehicle.
The day after Ann Mary Zheng’s arrest, ICE apprehended both parents, Qiu Qin Zou and Jia Zhang Zheng. They are in ICE custody, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Both parents applied for asylum in the U.S. but were denied and ordered removed by an immigration judge in 1998, according to the agency.
The Department of Homeland Security said the Bureau of Immigration Appeals denied multiple attempts by the parents to have their case reopened. Despite this, both remained living in the U.S. illegally for nearly three decades.
The department said the case highlights the “grave danger” of current U.S. law granting automatic citizenship to anyone born on American soil, including the children of illegal immigrants.
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After the parents’ arrests, acting Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said “automatically granting citizenship to children of illegal aliens born in the U.S. … poses a major national security risk.”
“That reality became apparent last week when two U.S.-born children of Chinese illegal aliens were indicted for planting a potentially deadly explosive device outside MacDill Air Force Base in Florida,” said Bis.
“This incident underscores the severe national security threat that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship pose to the United States.”
Bis also asserted that the policy of granting automatic birthright citizenship “is based on a historically inaccurate interpretation of the Citizenship Clause” of the 14th Amendment.
The Supreme Court is weighing the constitutionality of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. Trump signed the order on his first day back in the Oval Office in 2025.
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The court held oral arguments on the case Wednesday, and justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s order.
Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, described the court’s line of questioning as “disappointing” for proponents of Trump’s stance on birthright citizenship.
“Most people understood coming into this, and I suspect even the government understood coming into this, that this was probably going to be a bit of an uphill battle,” Swearer said.
“I do think there’s a path forward” for a Trump victory, though it would likely be narrow and partial.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Nitzberg and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
After being scorned on social media, “Dirty Jobs” television show veteran Mike Rowe doubled down on his criticism of Jimmy Kimmel’s “tone deaf” monologues mocking new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin for being a former plumber.
Rowe said he had not noticed his post about late-night host Kimmel “belittling plumbers” had gone viral, because he had been too busy working.
“I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired,” he wrote. “I’ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin have gone viral.”
Rowe said that Kimmel’s digs at Mullin for being a former plumber are evidence of “longstanding stigmas and stereotypes” against blue-collar skilled trade workers as “uneducated, one-dimensional workers who never made it to college.”
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“I did not suggest – even remotely – that a plumber was inherently qualified to hold a cabinet position,” he wrote on X. “What I said was that being a plumber should not disqualify a person from holding such a position.”
Kimmel, a regular critic of the Trump administration, was recently criticized as elitist for using Mullin’s prior experience as a plumbing business owner as evidence that he is unqualified to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
“Trump’s got a whole new generation of thinkers lined up, including his newly confirmed secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne ‘Chuck Mike Bruce Dave’ Melon — Mullin. Maybe Melon’s better,” Kimmel said on air March 24. “He’s the now former senator of Oklahoma. Before he was elected to the Senate, Markwayne Mullin was a low-level MMA fighter and a plumber. That’s right. We have a plumber protecting us from terrorism now. It worked for Super Mario. Why not Markwayne?”
He continued, “But honestly — I mean, if Trump is going to keep picking these unqualified people to run the department, why not have more fun with it? I mean, next time, instead of Markwayne, how about Lil Wayne for Homeland Security? At least we can get a concert out of it, right?”
Kimmel later doubled down, saying, “I’m not upset that the head of Homeland Security used to be a plumber. I’m upset that he isn’t still a plumber.”
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Rowe had ripped late-night host Kimmel for the dig, saying he took offense at the “suggestion that skilled workers should never evolve into something new.”
He asked if Mullin’s career progression from plumbing business owner to Congress and then to a top Cabinet official is “not the embodiment of the American Dream?”
On Friday, he wrote that stereotypes reinforced by jokes like Kimmel’s are contributing to a critical shortage of American skilled laborers.
“Reasonable people can disagree as to what is funny and what isn’t. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. What I do care about,” he wrote, “is the extraordinary shortage of plumbers and electricians our country is facing, and the longstanding stigmas and stereotypes that continue to discourage people from considering a lucrative career in the skilled trades.”
“Jimmy’s joke – and his audience’s reaction to it,” wrote Rowe, “is proof positive that those stigmas and stereotypes are alive and well.”
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Digging even deeper, Rowe asked, “What do their credentials and diplomas have to do with their actual competency? Are we not already surrounded by a legion of perfectly qualified experts who don’t know what the hell they’re doing?”
“Jimmy is entitled to his opinion, along with anyone else who believes that Mullin is unqualified to lead the DHS,” he wrote on X. “The Constitution, however, says otherwise, and so does the Senate.”
Rowe, who runs a nonprofit promoting skilled labor careers called the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, concluded by encouraging people to launch a career in the skilled trades, saying, “Who knows? Could be the first step on your road to President.”
Fox News Digital reached out to spokespeople for Kimmel for comment.
The White House on Friday requested $152 million to begin reopening Alcatraz as an operational prison.
The funding proposal, included in the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2027 budget request, would cover the initial phase of rebuilding the long-closed facility into what officials describe as a “state-of-the-art secure prison facility.”
Congress will ultimately decide whether to approve the funding.
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President Donald Trump first pushed the idea last year, directing the Bureau of Prisons, the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to reopen and expand Alcatraz to detain what he called America’s “most ruthless and violent offenders.”
“REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” the president said in a Truth Social post last May. “For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering.
Located in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz has been closed since 1963 and currently operates as a popular tourist destination under the National Park Service.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., slammed the proposal in a post on X on Friday.
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“Rebuilding Alcatraz into a modern prison is a stupid notion that would be nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars and an insult to the intelligence of the American people,” Pelosi wrote. “Alcatraz is a historic museum that belongs to the public, and San Franciscans will not stand for Washington turning one of our most iconic landmarks into a political prop.”
Originally opened as a federal prison in 1934, Alcatraz was widely considered one of the most secure facilities in the country.
The prison once housed notorious criminals including mob boss Al Capone.
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Alcatraz first served as a military prison in the 1850s. At its peak, the facility held more than 300 inmates, along with staff and their families.
Despite its reputation, Alcatraz was ultimately shut down because of high operating costs.
According to the Bureau of Prisons, it was nearly three times more expensive to run than other federal prisons at the time.
The White House and the Bureau of Prisons did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
