ICE Official Reveals Disturbing Blacklist Behind Roundup of Students

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official revealed Wednesday that the agency’s efforts to deport foreign students for their purportedly “radical,” pro-Palestinian beliefs relies on Canary Mission—an anonymously run website that seeks to dox and render unemployable students and academics accused (often falsely) of promoting “hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews.”

During a federal trial in which numerous academic groups are challenging Trump’s ideological deportations, ICE official Peter Hatch, who compiles background reports on agency targets, testified that the Department of Homeland Security’s so-called “Tiger Team,” in early 2025, “rapidly compiled over 100 reports based on a list of 5,000 people identified on the Canary Mission website,” the Knight First Amendment Institute reports.

Though there were other sources, Hatch said “most” of the names he was given to investigate came from Canary Mission, CNN reports.

Canary Mission is notorious for frequently conflating pro-Palestinian advocacy or criticisms of Israel with antisemitism. Take, for instance, the case of Tufts University Ph.D. student Rümeysa Öztürk, who in March 2024 wrote a pro-Palestinian op-ed in the school’s newspaper—which was enough to earn her a listing on the website. Then, this March, she was plucked off the street by masked, plainclothes ICE agents, and the agency baselessly accused her of supporting Hamas.

Öztürk’s case and others led many to suspect that Trump’s ICE was taking deportation orders from Canary Mission. Hatch’s testimony confirms as much, and the administration’s reliance on the blacklist, in its modern-day rehash of the first and second Red Scares, only deepens the impression that it is fundamentally hostile to the freedom of speech.

A provision buried deep within Donald Trump’s behemoth budget bill essentially earmarks funds for Anduril, the defense technology company heavily backed by apocalyptic prophet Peter Thiel.

The Intercept reported Wednesday that a provision allocating some of the $6 billion set aside for border tech stipulates that any border surveillance towers must be “tested and accepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to deliver autonomous capabilities.”

CBP confirmed to the Intercept that Anduril’s Sentry Tower line, which use “autonomous” capabilities to scan the horizon for objects of interest, were the only towers that currently fit the bill’s requirements.

This provision is a massive blow to competitors with similar products, such as Israeli company Elbit or General Dynamics. It also undermines exactly the kind of competition that the Trump administration has said it hopes to foster in the search for the best AI technology to power the American machine for deportation and death.

Thiel’s Founders Fund contributed $1 billion to Anduril during its most recent fundraising round. Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, former Representative Matt Gaetz’s brother-in-law. In April, Anduril took over Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar contract to develop an augmented reality headset program with the U.S. Army, and partnered with Meta to make a range of products for the military.

Trump’s budget, which was signed into law last week, provided a whopping $165 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $46.5 billion for new border wall construction, $3.2 billion for new technology, and $2.7 billion for new border surveillance.

The Trump administration is conducting a spiteful investigation against former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan as retaliation for their roles in the 2016 Russian election interference scandal.

The FBI reportedly launched its criminal investigation into the two men shortly after it released a review that criticized the 2017 intelligence assessment that found Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to influence the outcome of the 2016 election in Trump’s favor. Trump has despised them since that initial report, calling Brennan a “total lowlife” and threatening to revoke his security clearance in 2018, and outright firing Comey the year before.

Trump took the time to personally lambaste the men again on Wednesday when asked about why his FBI is investigating them.

“Well, I know nothing about it, other than what I read today, but I will tell you, I think they’re very dishonest people. I think they’re crooked as hell, and maybe they have to pay a price for that,” he said. “I believe they are truly bad people and dishonest people. So whatever happens, happens.”

At the beginning of Trump’s Wednesday “multilateral lunch” event to discuss commercial opportunities with five West African leaders, Trump asked his guests to say “a few words to the press.” But as the first spoke, Trump changed his mind, interrupting him to ask the heads of state to just state their name and country.

“Perhaps we can start with you, please,” Trump said at the beginning of the meeting, motioning to Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani. “Great gentleman, by the way.”

Ghazouani introduced himself, thanking Trump for hosting the leaders and applauding his supposed peace efforts. As he described Mauritania’s strategic location and investment opportunities, such as rare earth minerals, Trump—himself not known for brevity—began to grow impatient as Ghazouani’s remarks had gone on for about seven minutes.

An irked Trump gave the Mauritanian leader the wrap-it-up gesture, shook his head, and threw up his hands. Catching this, Ghazouani said, “I don’t want to spend too much time on this,” before Trump cut him off.

“But I appreciate it very much, I appreciate it,” Trump went on. “Maybe we’re going to have to go a little bit quicker than this, because we have a whole schedule.”

Trump then proposed that the African heads of state just state “your name and your country.”

It was not the only awkward exchange of the event, as Trump would go on to compliment the president of Liberia, a country whose official language is English, on his English speaking, and welcome an offer from the president of Senegal to build a golf course where Trump could “show off [his] skills.”

The president is not concerned that his underlings are independently intervening in American foreign policy without any authorization to do so.

Speaking with reporters in the State Dining Room Wednesday, Donald Trump said that he hadn’t given much attention to a CNN report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had independently halted a weapons shipment to Ukraine last week.

“Sir, yesterday you said you were not sure who ordered the munitions halted to Ukraine—have you since been able to figure that out?” asked a reporter.

“Well I haven’t thought about it,” Trump said. “Because we’re looking at Ukraine right now and munitions. But no, I have not gone into it.”

“What does it say that such a big decision could be made inside your government without you knowing?” the reporter pressed.

“I would know. If a decision is made, I will know. I would be the first to know,” Trump responded. The president, per his own confession on Tuesday, did not know who had made the decision.

Practically everyone was blindsided by news of the halted shipment, including officials in the White House, the State Department, Congress, Kyiv, and America’s European allies, setting off a mad dash within the administration to explain the unexpected directive.

Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday that he was “not responsible” for the canceled shipment, telling the war-battered leader that he had directed a review of U.S. stockpiles but did not order the freeze, according to sources that spoke with The Guardian. The president reiterated that point during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, telling reporters that he didn’t know who authorized the move.

The White House has refused to confirm that Hegseth was behind the stalled delivery. But even if Hegseth has become the convenient fall guy for the serious foreign policy flub, Trump still doesn’t look good. The White House is stuck in a P.R. nightmare: Either paint its Pentagon chief as a rogue agent, or expose the president’s obliviousness to the inner machinations of his own team and its foreign policy agenda.

Regardless, it’s not the first time that Hegseth has intervened in U.S. foreign policy without Trump’s express approval: In February, the Pentagon chief executed the same flub, pausing a weapons shipment to Ukraine despite the fact that Trump had announced the flow would continue.