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(The Center Square) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has purchased more California properties for the purpose of using them as detention centers.

The latest transaction involves the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and Desert View Annex. The facilities are in Adelanto, a city in Southern California's San Bernardino County. They were purchased from the private prison corporation GEO Group for $950 million.

Adelanto ICE Processing Center is one name for two properties: the Adelanto West ICE Processing Center (1,280 beds) and the Adelanto East ICE Processing Center (660 beds). Desert View Annex has 704 beds.

GEO Group will continue to manage the daily operations under long-term contracts. That is the same deal that private prison operator CoreCivic got in July when it sold two Southern California immigration detention centers to the federal government for $1.5 billion.

“We are pleased with the completion of these important asset sales to the U.S. federal government, and we look forward to continuing to provide high-quality secure support services under our existing long-term contracts with ICE,” George C. Zoley, Chairman, CEO, and founder of GEO Group, said this week in a press release.

In total, DHS has purchased five properties in California this year.

The purpose of these deals is to free the sites from state oversight laws, said Lauren Bis, acting assistant secretary for public affairs and deputy assistant secretary for media relations. The properties now belong to the federal government and not the state.

In July, Bis told The Center Square that this purchasing was made possible by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allowed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to expand detention space to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations of illegal immigrants.

Unlike in states such as Florida and Oklahoma, Bis said ICE cannot rely on local state and county partners for detention space in California.

Meanwhile, special interest groups such as the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights vow to continue speaking out against detention centers.

“The U.S. wants to further cash in on the suffering and plight of hundreds of thousands of immigrants it plans to imprison as part of their inhumane crackdown,” Jorge-Mario Cabrera, CHIRLA’s director of communications, told The Center Square in an email. “These purchases are intended to keep these camps away from the public's scrutiny and oversight. We will not sit idly by while they codify brutality.”

(The Center Square) – With the arrest of a seventh suspect in the alleged plot to attack a U.K. base hosting U.S. bombers to riots in France, the Trump administration appears weary of Western Europe as it considers shifting American troops.

President Donald Trump confirmed that American bombers were relocated to another base following an alleged foiled attack on Fairford Royal Air Force Base over a week ago. The president has questioned the decision by British authorities to release the suspects on bail.

Trump took to social media Tuesday afternoon to comment on the ongoing riots in France, attributing the uprising to mass migration.

“What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration. This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great country,” the president posted on Truth Social.

The president’s comments come as the U.S. looks to reevaluate its relationship with many NATO countries, putting more pressure on allied nations to step up defense spending and scale back reliance on U.S. support.

Trump and the Department of War have already said they are reviewing possible troop reductions in parts of Europe, specifically Germany, with the possibility of Italy and Spain.

Over the weekend, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told The Center Square that he expects more American troops to be moved back to the Western Hemisphere from Europe, possibly relocating them to parts of Central and South America.

The secretary added that as relationships with Central and South American countries progress, the U.S. wants “more burden sharing in Europe,” while focusing more on the U.S. and its own backyard.

“As we do that, a lot of those capabilities are going to move elsewhere, either back home to the big, beautiful base that we’re going to build…or to a different posture in the Western Hemisphere as we can get after these designated terrorist organizations. We are at war with the drug cartels, with DTOs,” Hegseth told The Center Square. "The president’s been clear about that, so we’re going to posture and base as necessary to ensure that we have our foot on the pedal and are taking the fight to those ISIS and Al Qaeda in our hemisphere.”

The potential shift comes as the Trump administration has sought to dominate power in the Western Hemisphere, being called the Donroe Doctrine, a play on the Monroe Doctrine.

The Trump administration has pointed to its dissatisfaction with key NATO allies, either reluctant or refusing any support for the U.S. on its strikes against Iran.

The Pentagon is expected to finalize a six-month review of the U.S. military presence in Europe by the end of the year, seeking to shift more defense responsibility to NATO countries.

While Western Europe could continue to see troop drawdowns, Trump recently announced a more permanent base is in the works in Poland, and the U.S. has committed to building two bases in Greenland.

(The Center Square) – Paramount Skydance has officially closed its takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, bringing two of America’s oldest movie studios together under one company now known as Skydance.

The deal, finalized on Tuesday, marks one of the largest media and entertainment transactions ever. While the equity value of the deal stands at $81 billion, the total acquisition cost reaches $111 billion when factoring in billions of dollars in debt. The deal puts Paramount Pictures in Hollywood in the same company with one of its longtime rivals - Warner Bros. in nearby Burbank, Calif.

Paramount Skydance won a federal judge’s approval Sept. 30 to proceed with the deal. U.S. District Judge Martínez-Olguín in Oakland approved Paramount Skydance’s settlement with Democratic attorneys general from 12 states, who sued in July to stop the merger.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta led the coalition and argued the deal was illegal, likely to lessen competition, and threatened viewers with higher prices and reduced content variety. At a July press conference in Southern California with the famous Hollywood sign behind him, Bonta said movies and television programs are not run-of-the-mill commodities.

“The film and entertainment industry doesn't exist just to buy and to sell them,” Bonta continued. “It exists to tell stories, to spark ideas and spark curiosity, to inspire and sometimes to inform, to open our eyes to new perspectives we may have never considered before, to expose us to the things we don’t know we need to be exposed to.”

The resulting settlement, which resolved the antitrust lawsuit originally scheduled to go to court in 2027, includes strict court-enforceable guardrails. For example, Paramount Skydance agreed to an annual film release commitment spanning a five-year term, releasing 30 films a year (including 20 wide releases) in the first two years and 32 films a year (with 21 wide releases) in years three, four,and five.

This 30-films promise was made before the legal dispute and settlement, but was written off as an “old, stale promise” by the coalition of state attorneys general.

The company also commits to releasing at least four independent films annually, with any failure to meet these output requirements triggering a $30 million penalty per missed film — directed toward union health and retirement trust funds — and a mandatory divestiture of Miramax Studios.

Additionally, Paramount will boost domestic production by spending at least an additional $1.5 billion over five years above 2025 U.S. spending levels, with production requirements scaling higher if federal and state film tax credits are passed in California or New York.

Further supporting the industry, a total $25 million independent film fund ($5 million annually for five years) will be operated for purchasing independent films. For labor, a $47.5 million Workforce Fund will support training and career development for displaced workers, alongside commitments to honor collective bargaining agreements.

Finally, the agreement introduces key cable and editorial guardrails requiring Paramount to negotiate basic cable channels independently for five years to keep consumer prices competitive, maintain a free streaming service like Pluto TV, and establish a News Editorial Independence Board to safeguard CNN and CBS, which are now both owned by Skydance.

“We believe this settlement, which resolves our antitrust concerns in every market alleged in our case, protects competition and consumer choice, and puts workers' needs, concerns, and futures first, is the best course of action,” said Bonta in a Sept. 21 press release.

Labor leaders widely praised the agreement's focus on domestic stability and employment.

IATSE International President Matthew D. Loeb, Directors Guild of America National Executive Director Russell Hollander, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien, and SAG-AFTRA leadership all voiced appreciation in Bonta’s press release for the enforceable framework protecting jobs.

Still, free-market critics raised concerns over regulatory overreach.

Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow in business and economics at Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute, said state attorneys general could have saved time and money by not filing the lawsuit.

"The state AGs could have not only saved time and money by not challenging this, but they also could have avoided a troubling precedent," Winegarden told The Center Square Tuesday. "State AGs should not duplicate the anti-trust efforts of the federal government. Hopefully, their actions will not encourage more regulations through litigation."

Alongside California, the state attorneys general involved in the antitrust lawsuit were from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

President Donald Trump praised the merger when asked about it outside the White House. "I"m happy. That's great. They're terrific people, and it's going to be a great company."

In addition to Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros, the merger means Skydance owns CBS, CNN, TNT, TBS, Nickelodeon, Food Network, Comedy Central, HGTV, New Line Cinema, DC Studios, DC Comics and streaming services such as HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV and Discovery+. 

(The Center Square) – With early voting having already started for the upcoming midterm elections, congressional Republicans are touting the tax policies in their so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that became law last year.

In a field hearing Tuesday, Republican lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee pushed back against mounting criticism from Democrats who accuse them of failing to address the high cost of living.

Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., highlighted the OBBBA’s $3.3 trillion worth of tax cuts impacting families and small businesses. Unlike Democrats’ claims to the contrary, he argued, Republicans have addressed affordability concerns on multiple fronts.

“The One, Big, Beautiful Bill gave families and job creators greater certainty and much needed relief at a time when folks are still facing some tough financial decisions,” Smith told the group.

He added that a Republican majority would “continue working to deliver tax relief for working families and small businesses” via additional tax policies.

Among dozens of other measures, the OBBBA made permanent the expiring 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s across-the-board reduced tax rates, the $15,000 standard deduction, and the $2,000 Child Tax Credit.

Key business tax credits were also made permanent – full reimbursement for new capital investments like machinery and equipment, an expanded deduction for corporations’ interest on debt, immediate deductions for companies’ research costs, and the 20% QBI deduction for small businesses.

Additionally, the bill made income from tips, overtime work and Social Security tax deductible for eligible Americans over the next four years.

Taken together, the Tax Foundation estimates that the OBBBA’s tax provisions will lower individuals’ taxes in every state and add up to 828,000 full-time equivalent jobs nationwide by 2025.

American voters, however, appear more frustrated with the Trump administration’s foreign policies that have increased costs than appreciative of the Trump-endorsed tax cuts.

Since the initial U.S.-Israeli joint strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, costs of jet fuel, crude oil, and fertilizer have skyrocketed, resulting in more expensive plane tickets, higher distribution costs for consumer goods, U.S. gas prices hitting a four-year high.

“Remember – this was a war of choice. Every extra dollar at the pump, on groceries, and on everything else you buy was a policy choice that didn’t have to happen,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., posted on social media Tuesday.

The Center Square’s Voters’ Voice Poll revealed that as of late August, 47% of the 2,533 registered voters surveyed would vote for a Democratic candidate in the midterm elections, while 42% would vote for a Republican.

(The Center Square) – Congress gave the Pentagon six months to pick and buy laser and microwave weapons to shoot down drones over American military bases. The Department of War announced its selections Monday, more than three months past that deadline, and has not said what the systems cost.

No award for the pilot itself appears on the department's daily contracts list for the day of the announcement, the week before it, or the day after.

The department named four systems for a counter-drone pilot program run by Joint Interagency Task Force 401: AeroVironment's palletized high-energy laser, the Epirus Leonidas high-powered microwave system, the Kord Firefly laser and Boeing's compact laser weapon. The announcement says the pilot will evaluate the systems' "requirements, costs, and best practices."

Congress ordered the program in Section 1089 of the fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which became law Dec. 18, 2025. The law gave the department 180 days, until June 16, to select and procure systems for at least four military installations, and one year, until Dec. 18, to have them deployed. The department has not said whether the deadline was extended.

Lawmakers specified the technology, defining a covered system as one that destroys or disables a small drone by high-powered microwave, laser "or other similar technology."

The deployment deadline is 73 days away. The department said it will hold a directed-energy demonstration at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in December to evaluate additional laser and microwave systems, and that it will keep assessing other directed-energy technologies.

Section 1089 also required the department to report to the congressional defense committees by Aug. 15 on delays caused by interagency coordination, "particularly delays related to site surveys by other agencies." The law requires a briefing to those committees every 60 days until each requirement is complete.

The Congressional Budget Office priced a comprehensive defense in July and left directed energy out of it. The agency estimated about $74 million to equip a representative installation, a five-mile-by-five-mile area covering a base's critical areas, with a layered defense, plus $5 million a year to operate it.

That layered defense is built from radar, radio frequency detection and defeat systems, kinetic interceptors and handheld devices, the systems CBO said the department "is currently buying." It does not include lasers or high-powered microwave weapons. Those, the agency wrote, "are still in development in the United States" and "are expected to be expensive to acquire and to need a lot of electrical power."

Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, who directs the task force, made a similar point about the industry pitch for directed energy.

"People will say, if you go with this really exquisite system, maybe it's a directed energy system, the cost is 8 cents per shot," he said at an Aug. 21 media roundtable, according to an Army transcript. "I say, OK, then let me understand the fully burdened cost of that. Because if I procure that system and it costs me $6 million and I take one shot a year, you can't tell me that that shot only costs 8 cents."

"I also want to understand the fully burdened cost of operating those systems," Ross said.

The pilot will run a year with service members operating and maintaining the weapons, he said: "I want to know what their power requirements are over a 365-day period. How many days are they operationally capable versus how many days do they require repair?"

The Pentagon announcement says the pilot program will evaluate the systems' costs. Whether adding them raises or lowers CBO's $74 million figure is not addressed; the agency noted in its report that comparing the cost of a drone with the cost of the weapon used to destroy it was beyond the scope of its analysis.

CBO counted 824 military installations in a Defense Department dataset published by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and said more than 90% are small enough to be covered by its benchmark. Costs scale linearly, the agency said, estimating that protecting 100 sites would cost about $7.4 billion. It did not price protection for all 824.

The Trump administration has asked Congress for $14.4 billion in fiscal 2027 for counter-drone defenses at more than 250 sites, according to Pentagon budget documents.

The Pentagon created JIATF-401 in August 2025 to consolidate a counter-drone effort spread across the services, after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth found that the growing number of counter-drone organizations "often are unconnected to each other" and that the department "needs a single focal point." The task force replaced an earlier counter-drone office set up in 2020.

Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., who chairs the House subcommittee that requested the CBO report, pointed to drone incursions at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia in December 2023.

"For 17 days, drones flew unencumbered over our sensitive military installations and the Pentagon was unable to respond at the speed and scale necessary to mitigate the threat," he said at a May 1, 2025, hearing on counter-drone capability gaps.

The Joint Force, he said, "does not have sufficient ability to find, fix, track, and ultimately engage these enemy drones at home and abroad."

Monday's release named no contract and no dollar figure, a departure from how the task force has announced other counter-drone buys.

On Sept. 29, the Army said JIATF-401 had awarded 10 indefinite-delivery contracts with $4.15 billion in combined base ceilings for sensors, optical sights and gun-based systems, listing each company and amount.

In May, the department announced a $500 million ceiling contract to Perennial Autonomy for drone interceptors.

At least one of the four systems is already in production under a separate contract. The Army announced Sept. 2 that it had awarded AeroVironment an other-transaction agreement for the Enduring-High Energy Laser program, the Army's first production contract for a high-energy laser weapon.

AeroVironment said the award is worth $464.8 million and covers its LOCUST X3, with options for palletized configurations. The Pentagon's release does not say whether the pilot's AeroVironment palletized laser comes from that buy. 

The task force is running the pilot with the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Northern Command and the services. The department said the FAA took part in a safety risk assessment during a live-fire laser demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico earlier this year and determined the laser tested posed minimal risk to the national airspace, establishing a framework for continued coordination.

The Department of War did not respond Tuesday to questions about what the pilot will cost, which appropriation funds it, why the selections came more than three months after the statutory deadline, or whether the report to Congress has been filed.

The House and Senate Armed Services committees and the House Appropriations defense subcommittee did not respond. The Senate Appropriations Committee referred questions about the provision to the Armed Services Committee and said it has not released fiscal 2027 funding text. Wittman's office did not respond.

AeroVironment, Epirus, Kord and Boeing did not immediately respond to questions Tuesday afternoon.

(The Center Square) - Vice President JD Vance called on Alaskans to vote for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan in one of the closest races in the country, which could determine control of the upper chamber in Congress.

Sen. Sullivan is running against Democrat Mary Peltola in a hotly contested race that includes two other candidates. Dan J. Sullivan, a school teacher, and Gerald Hiekes are also in the race under Alaska’s four-candidate election rules.

Vance touted his relationship with Sen. Sullivan and said the Alaska senator is one of the most hardworking in the congressional chamber.

“He’s delivered for every Alaskan who wants the freedom to build a good life right here in the place that you call home,” Vance said. “That’s all you really want from a United States senator.”

Vance slammed Peltola, who previously served as a two-term congresswoman from Alaska. She lost a bid for reelection in 2024.

Vance said Peltola had “one of the worst attendance records in Congress.” Petola missed 235 of 1,370 roll-call votes from 2022 to 2024, according to GovTrack data.

“Her sole job was to support Alaskans in the House of Representatives,” Vance said. “Yet she couldn't be bothered to show up for one in five votes.”

The vice president also criticized Peltola’s voting record. He pointed to Peltola’s decision to not vote for or against the Alaska Right to Produce Act, a bill to roll back the Biden administration’s restrictions on oil and gas leases in Alaska.

Peltola, who co-sponsored the legislation with Republicans in Congress, said she took issue with a portion of the bill that would eliminate a special designation for the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, a section of ocean where Alaskan tribes are given greater management authority.

“By nullifying this area, we are breaking our promise to tribes and directly harming fishing communities. Alaskans face many challenges and threats to our unique ways of life,” she said on the House floor. “We’re on the brink of being forced to import natural gas from a foreign country and our fishermen are in the midst of an economic free fall coupled with depleted fish stocks. Unfortunately, the way this bill was written pits energy development against fisheries, and for that reason I will be voting present today.”

Vance and Sullivan attacked Peltola’s decision not to vote for the legislation and framed it as a choice against Alaskan energy production interests, an issue the incumbent senator has focused greater attention on recently.

The Trump administration coordinated a deal with South Korea on the development of a $50 million liquefied natural gas pipeline in Alaska, a project Sullivan has touted. 

“You’ve got a ton of countries all over the world that are desperate for Alaska’s natural gas,” Vance said. “You can have easy access to that fuel, you can have easy access to that energy, but you’ve got to help us build it.”

“If you’re not going to help us build it, then you’re going to have to pay a big fat tax for the energy that you’re bringing in from Alaska,” Vance said.

While she has not endorsed the Trump administration's plan, Peltola said she supports development of a liquiefied natural gas pipeline in Alaska. 

"Alaskans know that we have the resources to lead the nation in oil and natural gas production, and it’s time we cut red tape to make it a reality," Peltola's website reads. "Mary will fight every day at the federal level for projects like the Alaska LNG Pipeline, to ensure that Alaska’s energy resources are used to lower costs for Alaskans." 

Alongside campaigning with Sullivan, the vice president visited Alaska to announce an investment of a nearly $400 million power grid development project in the state.

“With this project, ladies and gentlemen, the Trump administration will help develop more than 200 miles of new transmission lines, lowering costs and strengthening grid reliability for 75% of the population of this state,” Vance said.

Sen. Sullivan touted his involvement in the energy investment projects. He said the investments will help lower everyday gas prices for Alaskans and contrasted the project to the policies of the Biden administration.

“The Iran conflict is temporary,” Sullivan said. “The true forever war is the national Democrats' war against Alaska energy and Alaska jobs.”

Sullivan said Republican policies in Congress will reinvigorate the Alaska energy industry and bring renewal to the state.

Vance also slammed Peltola for campaign finance spending. The National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a complaint in March alleging that Peltola use campaign funds on personal expenses.

From January 2025 through February 2026, a committee associated with Peltola ran more than $230,000 in charges, including on airline tickets and lodging outside of Alaska, according to the compalint. The complaint included $4,000 in charges for DoorDash and GrubHub services, including reoccurring subscription charges.

“She was using campaign money and taxpayer money to support a very lavish lifestyle,” Vance said. “She now stands before the people of Alaska and she demands that you continue to fund the next generation of Mary's gravy train.”

The Center Square reached out to Peltola’s campaign for comment on the accusations but a statement was not provided in time for publication.

(The Center Square) – Advocates who sued the Trump administration are lauding what they say is an historic ruling by a federal judge to halt Big Bend border wall construction and waivers of laws.

“The word ‘historic’ is thrown around a lot,” but the ruling “truly made history,” Laiken Jordahl, with the Center for Biodiversity, said. The center, Texas Civil Rights Project and others sued, alleging border wall construction in the area is unconstitutional and violates federal law. 

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted a preliminary injunction arguing the “plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of at least one of the claims in suit, that there is a likelihood that they will suffer serious, irreparable harm without an injunction, and that the balance of the equities and the public interest weigh in their favor.” 

The ruling orders the Department of Homeland Security to halt building “border barrier or related infrastructure, or engage in any construction or ground disturbing activities, in the Big Bend Sector until and unless Defendants comply with all applicable laws.” 

It impacts roughly 500 miles of the southwest border where illegal crossings have been historically low. Under the Biden administration, this changed, with record high illegal entries and crime in Texas and the Big Bend region, The Center Square reported.

“In the 21 years since the REAL ID Act was passed, more than a dozen legal challenges have been filed by almost as many different groups. And we've lost every single time. Not once has a federal judge ever issued an injunction like this,” Jordahl said. “To put it into perspective, this decision slams the breaks on $7 billion in federal contracts given to politically connected construction tycoons and campaign donors. It restores dozens of our nation's most important environmental, public health and cultural protection laws to more than 500 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. It stops the bulldozers from again tearing into Big Bend National Park, which DHS's own attorneys told our judge they were planning on doing next week.”

He’s referring to dozens of laws former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed waivers to ignore. They protect national historic sites, Native American grave protections, clean air, water and energy independence, migratory birds and other animals unique to the region, including the long protected American Bald Eagle, The Center Square reported. 

Jordahl also is referring to Noem’s administration granting contracts to construction companies whose owners donated to Republicans and have a record of decades of scandals, including criminal convictions of former owners and top staff, The Center Square reported. 

Noem’s actions caused outrage among conservative Republicans in rural Texas especially after her administration sent eminent domain notices to take their land. Thousands of Texans across party lines called on Congress, the state legislature and governor to act.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin also signed a waiver to ignore all federal, state and local laws and regulations related to environmental and cultural preservation. Former National Park superintendents said doing so was “devastating” and wouldn’t create border security, The Center Square reported. 

The DHS secretaries signed the waivers citing statutory authority under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) and additional authorities through the REAL ID Act of 2005, the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008. 

The IIRIRA states that the secretary can “waive all legal requirements” using his/her “sole discretion,” deemed “necessary to ensure expeditious construction” of physical barriers and roads at the U.S.-Mexico border “to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry.” 

Texas Civil Rights project said the ruling set “a national precedent” halting federal waivers and was a “huge victory.” It argues the waivers and construction can’t be justified under the law because of low illegal crossings in the region, among other factors.

A No Big Bend Wall coalition also lauded the ruling, saying it came “after months of extraordinary advocacy from landowners, local businesses, river outfitters, conservation organizations, community members, and people across Texas and the country who have stood up for Big Bend.” 

The group, which filed a separate lawsuit last month, said the injunction “is a major moment for Big Bend — but the case is not over.” 

The ruling halts construction that began inside Big Bend National Park before CBP Chief Rodney Scott announced a temporary pause in August. He issued the pause and traveled to Texas after Sen. John Cornyn and other elected officials called on him and others to listen to Texans, The Center Square reported. 

After the ruling, a CBP spokesperson said, “We stand by our assessment and remain confident in our legal authorities to secure the border while preserving the unique landscape of the Big Bend region. We are working with the Department of Justice on next steps.”

DHS also posted a series of social media posts after the ruling, including of videos of the border wall, saying, “Americans can breathe easy knowing President Trump has secured our southern border.”

(The Center Square) – Fraud could cost federal taxpayers as much as $521 billion annually, according to a Foundation for Government Accountability report citing a federal estimate.

The report estimates that improper payments by the federal government have totaled about $3 trillion since 2003.

Liesel Crocker, the report’s author and senior research fellow at FGA, spoke with The Center Square in an exclusive interview regarding the findings.

“Fraud against federal programs now runs about $521 billion a year, or seven percent of everything Washington spends. Only five federal agencies have bigger budgets than that,” Crocker said. “And that's just the fraud we know about. Of more than 2,200 federal payment programs, only 64 are reviewed for improper payments each year.”

Much of the fraud is funneled through federal programs like Medicaid, food stamps, Medicare, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and a “pandemic grant for concert venues,” Crocker explained.

“They have a lot in common. Each one frequently fails to double-check applicant information, hands the paperwork to state and county offices, and pushes huge volumes of money out fast,” Crocker said. “Fraud shows up where the checks are easiest to get.”

While the FGA, a nonpartisan think tank, applauded President Donald Trump’s War on Fraud and other antifraud efforts, it said more needs to be done—both by states and the U.S. Congress.

“The bottom line: Congress and states should build on President Trump’s efforts to crack down on fraud and corruption and save taxpayers billions,” the report said.

So far, there are more than 8,000 fraud cases being prosecuted by attorneys general across the country, which the report called just a “small fraction” of the fraud that is being perpetrated.

Crocker added to that claim, pointing to Minnesota as a particular area of concern, while the report also highlighted California, Illinois, Colorado, Maine and New York.

Those states were among 21 states that refused to cooperate with federal efforts to vet their food stamp programs for fraud. In the 29 states that did cooperate, the U.S. Department of Agriculture discovered 186,000 dead enrollees and half a million people collecting benefits in two states at once.

“Food stamp trafficking is estimated to cost as much as $4.7 billion a year,” Crocker said. “Every dollar that goes to someone abusing the system is a dollar taken from the truly needy.”

She is hopeful the federal government's efforts are a step in the right direction though.

“This is not hopeless. We can fix this," Crocker said. "For 20 years, Washington never had a meaningful answer to rampant fraud. President Trump is finally treating stealing from the taxpayer like the crime it is. If this much turned up in the states that cooperated, we can only imagine what's hiding in the states that refuse.”

The report encouraged the uncooperative states to work with the federal government on ending “widespread fraud.” It also recommended:

• The Office of Management and Budget encourage more agencies to vet for fraud.

• OMB collaborate with the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay system.

• All programs better verify eligibility, evaluate high-risk providers, and investigate allegations of fraud.

(The Center Square) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday ordered expanded access to the tax-exempt, dyed diesel fuel typically used to power heavy agricultural and construction equipment operated off public roads.

At a campaign rally Monday night in Grand Island, Nebraska, the president directed U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to "ensure farmers' access to dyed diesel in high-demand areas." Trump also instructed Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to work with states, labor organizations and fuel distributors to increase access to dyed diesel, which is typically colored red.

Trump’s order temporarily waives tax penalties on using dyed diesel on public highways, which normally start at a minimum of $1,000, until Dec. 31. Under the president’s directive, the Internal Revenue Service will also waive through Dec. 31 the 24.4-cent-per-gallon federal excise tax charged on purchases of on-highway diesel fuel, which is undyed.

Signing the executive order on stage at the campaign rally alongside Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, Trump said expanding the supply of diesel fuel will help to control inflation.

The average U.S. price on Monday for a gallon of on-highway diesel fuel was $6.32, down from a record-high $6.53 on Sept. 21. Global oil market disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine and U.S.-Iran conflicts and low domestic inventories have led to a near doubling of diesel fuel prices along U.S. highways.

“The typical trucker will save more than $100 every time they fill up," Trump told the crowd. The president said the waiver will "save farmers millions of dollars and drive down the cost of goods."

Ricketts and the governors of nine other states – Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas – ordered the temporary suspension of state-level penalties for the use of dyed diesel before the president's directive.

The governors of Iowa, South Dakota and Tennessee issued orders Tuesday that suspend penalties for use of the dyed fuel on state highways.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week declared a statewide fuel emergency as he ordered a temporary suspension of penalties on farmers and all commercial motor vehicles using tax-exempt, off-road fuel on public highways.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry was the first state executive to declare a fuel emergency. On Sept. 22, the Louisiana governor suspended restrictions on use of dyed diesel by farmers and loggers in his state. 

“I declared a State of Emergency so our farmers could use the dyed diesel fuel they already had on hand—and now, thanks to YOU, that relief is going nationwide! This is a HUGE WIN for America's farmers, truckers, and hardworking families,” Landry posted on Monday on social media site X.