This week covers U.S. military operations, domestic funding decisions, and changes in National Guard deployments.
Trump’s 50th week brought updates on military action, National Guard deployments and immigration. Following a previous report from The Introspective detailing multiple oil tankers seized off the coast of Venezuela, the U.S. launched a drone strike on a Venezuelan port facility, marking the first confirmed U.S. land strike inside the Latin American country as tensions continue.
Meanwhile, as the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., remains in place, Trump announced the withdrawal of troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. The move followed an earlier Introspective report highlighting the Supreme Court’s rejection of the administration’s effort to deploy Guard troops in Illinois.
With anti-immigrant sentiment ongoing, the Trump administration is considering revoking citizenship for Somali immigrants following fraud allegations in Minnesota. The administration later paused child care funding to all states amid the fallout from the scandal.
Venezuela and National Guard
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) launched a drone strike on a Venezuelan port facility on Dec. 26, targeting the Tren de Aragua group nearly a year after Trump designated the group a foreign terrorist organization.
“We just knocked out—I don’t know if you read or you saw—they have a big plant or big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships come from,” Trump said to WABC.
“Two nights ago, we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard.”
While no one was killed during the strike, Trump later added additional details regarding the operation shortly before a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area; it’s the implementation area. That’s where they implement. And that is no longer around,” he said, adding that there was a “major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs.”
At the same time, following a previous report from The Introspective detailing the Supreme Court blocking the National Guard deployment to Chicago, Trump announced the removal of the Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon.
“Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again—only a question of time!”
In a post on X, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker criticized Trump’s comments, accusing him of lying.
“He lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down,” he wrote.
Immigration
As anti-immigrant sentiment continues under Trump’s second term, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the Trump administration is considering revoking citizenship for Somali immigrants following fraud allegations in Minnesota.
“This is a top priority for the administration,” Leavitt said to Fox News.
“The Department of Justice, as we speak, is continuing to execute search warrants and subpoenas.…The Department of Homeland Security is conducting door-to-door investigations on the ground at potential fraud sites, and they’re also conducting continued deportations of illegal aliens in Minnesota’s communities,” she added.
“We’re also not afraid to use denaturalizing,” she continued.
“That’s a tool at the president and the secretary of state’s disposal, and it’s one this administration has previously used before.”
The announcement follows allegations raised by independent journalist Nick Shirley, who alleged fraud involving child care centers among Minnesota’s Somali population.
“This is a prime example of the BILLIONS of dollars in fraud happening right now in Minnesota. This is one of the hundreds of ‘daycares’ receiving millions of dollars from the government. This daycare (that can’t even spell learning right) received $1,900,000 in tax-exempt funding from CCAP,” he wrote on TikTok, referring to the state’s Child Care Assistance Program.
“This is just one of the 1,000s of fraudulent businesses operating in Minnesota. Tim Walz is governor and knew about the fraud but never reported it. Can you imagine if he was the VP right now??
A viral video later posted to YouTube featured Shirley confronting Ahmed Hasan, director of Minneapolis’ ABC Learning Center, which is involved in the scandal.
In 2022, 98 people were charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a fraud case surrounding the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, with 85 of those charged being of Somali descent. However, the organization’s founder, Aimee Bock, is white.
“These indictments, alleging the largest pandemic relief fraud scheme charged to date, underscore the Department of Justice’s sustained commitment to combating pandemic fraud and holding accountable those who perpetrate it,” said then-Attorney General Merrick Garland in a press release.
“The Justice Department will continue to bring to justice those who have exploited the pandemic for personal gain and stolen from American taxpayers.”
Amidst the current scandal, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) later paused child care funding to all states.
“It’s the onus of the state to make sure that these funds, these federal dollars, taxpayer dollars, are being used for legitimate purposes,” said HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon to ABC News, adding that the those involved in the scandal must provide the agency with “attendance records, licensing, inspection and monitoring reports, complaints and investigations.”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz criticized the move in an X post, saying that “This is Trump’s long game.”
“We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along,” he wrote.
“He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”
The Introspective 
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