Category: Latin America

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Drugs courier from Columbia sentenced01 May 2025 ​A 45-year-old Columbian woman was sentenced today by the Royal Court to five and a half years in prison for the part she played in the importation of a commercial quantity of controlled drugs from South… Read more

    Source: Channel Islands – Jersey

    01 May 2025

    A 45-year-old Columbian woman was sentenced today by the Royal Court to five and a half years in prison for the part she played in the importation of a commercial quantity of controlled drugs from South America to Jersey, and the attempted exportation of the proceeds of drug trafficking.

    This conviction follows a lengthy and in-depth operation by the Jersey Customs & Immigration Service (JCIS) and marks the first time that JCIS has encountered drugs couriers travelling directly from South America to Jersey.

    Senior Manager, Luke Goddard said: “This is a very significant investigation for JCIS, as it is the first time we have encountered drugs couriers travelling directly from South America to Jersey. 

    “We have severely disrupted an international drug trafficking syndicate from operating in the Island and I commend all the officers who were involved in this lengthy operation. JCIS will continue to target syndicates who move controlled drugs and illicit cash across our borders.”

    On 30 June 2024, JCIS officers arrested Marizel PERLAZA PENAGOS at hotel in St Saviour, where they found approximately £17,000 in different currencies concealed in number of places within her hotel room, this included Pounds, US Dollars and Euros. 

    PERLAZA PENAGOS had travelled from Bogota, in Colombia, into central Brazil where she caught a flight from Manus to Sao Paulo and then connected to Heathrow, arriving in Jersey on 25 June 2024. This was a journey of approximately 14,000 km.

    It was only after her arrest and a lengthy investigation that JCIS officers we able to prove that, whilst travelling through South America, PERLAZA PENAGOS had been provided with a suitcase and handbag, both of which had built in concealments of cocaine and heroin respectively, which she then brought into Jersey.

    The money that she was found with was the payment for the drugs and would have been exported by PERLAZA PENAGOS to Spain before she returned to Colombia. 

    PERLAZA PENAGOS had documented her travel and activity through photographs on her phone.

    The investigation is continuing in relation to other individuals who were involved with this importation.​

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: A new international day to protect against earthquakes

    Source: UNISDR Disaster Risk Reduction

    The UN General Assembly has designated the 29th of April of every year as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of Earthquakes, highlighting both the need to support earthquake survivors and to build resilience against earthquakes.

    Earthquakes are among the deadliest natural hazards and are responsible for some of the largest disasters in human history. Currently, Myanmar is in the midst of responding to the earthquake that struck it on 28 March, which killed over 3,700 people, as of 24 April. In Türkiye and Syria, millions are still struggling to rebuild their lives two years after the devastating earthquakes of 2023, which killed over 55,000 people. 

    Recognizing the tremendous toll of earthquakes on lives, economies and sustainable development, Chile, Phillippines, and Uzbekistan introduced a resolution that was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 29 April designating the day as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of Earthquakes. The resolution also invites the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) to facilitate the observance of the new international day.

    “We express our heartfelt appreciation to all Member States who participated in the informal consultations and contributed to the drafting process. We also extend sincere thanks to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction for its invaluable support and cooperation,” said Ulugbek Lapasov, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN in New York, noting that, “it should be emphasized that the adoption of this resolution is not only an act of commemoration but a call to action on earthquake risks.”

    The resolution specifies two distinct needs that this day aims to highlight. The first is the need to support the victims of earthquakes, including the provision of international assistance for recovery and long-term psychosocial support. The second is the need to raise awareness around earthquake risks and how they can be reduced. 

    “By honoring those affected worldwide, this day seeks to strengthen solidarity with impacted communities, raise awareness, and promote resilience and preparedness. It also encourages the implementation of measures to improve response, recovery, and disaster risk reduction, ensuring better support for future earthquake events,” said Paula Narváez Ojeda, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Chile to the UN in New York.

    While earthquakes cannot be prevented, their destructive impacts can be greatly reduced through proactive disaster risk reduction measures. This includes supporting countries to better understand their earthquake risks, strengthening disaster risk reduction plans and governance, increasing investments in resilience building, and enhancing preparedness to “build back better” in the aftermath of earthquakes. All of these are key priorities for action within the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030.

    Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction and Head of UNDRR, has called on countries to do more to reverse the trend of growing earthquake-related disaster costs:

    “Our understanding of the physics of earthquakes has improved. We also understand how buildings and infrastructure respond to earthquakes, and we know how to make them safer. From designing a simple structure to a complex physical infrastructure, engineering knowledge is at an all-time high. Yet the risk of losses from earthquakes is rising in most seismic countries. But trend is not destiny. It can be arrested. It can be reversed.”

    Ambassador Lapasov encouraged countries to actively support commemorations of the new international day:

    “We encourage all Member States to consider making voluntary contributions and urge earthquake-prone countries to organize meaningful national activities in observance of this day. A robust commemoration will serve not only as a tribute to victims but also as a catalyst for advancing disaster prevention and preparedness.”

    MIL OSI United Nations News

  • MIL-OSI USA: 100 Days of Fighting Fake News

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: 100 Days of Fighting Fake News

    lass=”text-align-center”> From Stories on Criminals to Statistics, DHS has been Holding the Media Accountable for Spreading Disinformation to the American people 
    WASHINGTON— During President Trump’s 100 days in office, the Department of Homeland Security published a non exhaustive list of facts, to help set the record straight on numerous false and misleading stories that have spread around news coverage and social media

    The list can be found below:
    The Facts on Noteworthy Individuals Deported or Prevented from Entering the U

    S

    The Deportation Of American Citizens

    The media has FALSELY claimed that ICE is deporting US citizen children of illegal aliens

    This is false

    In both cases the mother made the determination to take her children with her back to Honduras

    DHS takes our responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected

    The Trump Administration is giving parents in this country illegally the opportunity to self-deport and take control of their departure process with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream

    The CBP Home app is a free and easy way to self deport

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia – The “Maryland Man”

    Garcia is NOT an American citizen

    He is a citizen of El Salvador who had been living in the country illegally

    In 2019, two courts – an immigration court and an appellate immigration court – ruled that he was not only a member of MS-13, but that he was in our country illegally

    There was a deportation order for him dating back to 2019

    Further details about Garcia’s history prove that he is far from innocent

    In 2020, his wife filed a petition for protection citing three separate instances of violence
    In 2021, his wife filed for a restraining order against him due to domestic violence

    In 2022, Garcia was pulled over by Tennessee Highway Patrol with 8 people crammed into one car

    Despite telling the officers that they were going on a trip from Houston, Texas to Temple Hills, Maryland, there was no sign of luggage in the car

    It was later revealed that the vehicle Garcia was driving during this stop was registered to another illegal alien who had been convicted of human trafficking, Jose Roman Hernandez Reyes

    The media further claimed that the Supreme Court ordered the Trump Administration to return Garcia to the United States

    This is another falsehood

    The Supreme Court unanimously overturned that judge’s ruling but instead said that the United States should “facilitate” Garcia’s return

    This would only be possible if the government of El Salvador decided to return him, in which case the United States would have to provide transportation

    It’s up to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and the government of El Salvador if they want to return him

    But as President Bukele said during his Oval Office visit with President Trump, he has no intention of releasing a terrorist and sending him back to the United States

    When President Trump declared MS-13 a foreign terrorist organization, Abrego Garcia became no longer eligible for any form of immigration relief in the United States

    He had a valid deportation order

    Furthermore, the Supreme Court also held that EVEN IF El Salvador returned this MS-13 member to the United States, we could deport him a second time

    NO version of this legally ends with him ever living in the U

    S

    , because he is a citizen of El Salvador

    The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the President – not by a court – and no court in the United States has the power to conduct the foreign policy of the United States

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh – “The Brown University Assistant Professor”

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh was an assistant professor at Brown University

    She was in the United States with an H-1B visa

    She was deported back to her home country of Lebanon after she admitted to attending the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah and was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans

    The media tried to portray Alawieh’s case as an example of a “lawful immigrant” being deported

    But they completely ignored her direct and alarming ties to radical Islamic terrorism, including her veneration of a dead terrorist leader

    Alfredo “Alex” Orellana – “The Caregiver”

    Alfredo “Alex” Orellana has multiple charges on his record from 2012 to 2019, including: distributing drugs, drug possession, assault and battery, failure to appear to court (twice), theft at the second degree, and larceny

    He has since been arrested and faces deportation

    The New York Times wrote a lengthy article on Orellana’s case

    Their article painted a picture of a loving 31-year-old caregiver who was the “best friend” of a 28-year-old autistic man

    They also pointed to the fact that Orellana had a green card

    The press tried to paint him as a victim who was a caretaker, despite violent charges on his record

    Jerce Reyes Barrios – “The Venezuelan Soccer Player”

    Jerce Reyes Barrios was in the United States illegally

    He was a member of the vicious Tren de Aragua gang, and he was deported to El Salvador

    He has tattoos that are consistent with those indicating membership in the vicious Tren de Aragua gang

    His own social media indicates that he is a Tren de Aragua member

    That hasn’t stopped the media, however

    They tried to whip up a frenzy over this deported criminal gang member, publishing wild claims that he was deported because of a tattoo of a soccer team on his arm

    The facts are the facts

    Our intelligence assessments go beyond just social media and tattoos

    We are confident in our findings

    Nascimento Blair – “The Ex-Con”

    Blair was an illegal alien living in the United States who was tried and convicted for kidnapping and sentenced to 15 years in prison

    The New York Times published a fawning profile about this criminal illegal alien

    In 2008, he was ordered removed out of the country

    However, because of the Biden administration’s open border policies, this criminal illegal alien was released onto the streets of New York

    The Trump administration is putting the American people first by getting this criminal illegal alien off the streets and out of our country

    “The French Scientist Denied Entry Over His Political Views”

    In March, a French scientist was denied entry into the United States

    The researcher in question was in possession of confidential information on his electronic device from Los Alamos National Laboratory

    This was in clear violation of a non-disclosure agreement – something he admitted to taking without permission and attempted to conceal to authorities

    The mainstream media ran with the baseless narrative that this individual was blocked from entering the U

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    because of social media posts that were critical of President Trump

    This lie was even echoed by France’s Minister for Higher Education, Philippe Baptiste

    His political beliefs were not considered at all in his removal

    Marie Lepère and Charlotte Pohl – “German Tourists Turned Away on Vacation”

    Two German tourists were denied entry after attempting to enter the U

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    under false pretenses

    Both claimed they were touring California but later admitted that they intended to work

    One used a Visitor visa, while the other used the Visa Waiver Program

    Under U

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    immigration laws, work is prohibited for these visas

    The media version of events depicted two young women who tried to go on a five-week backpacking trip through the United States

    The media claimed that the two – aged 18 and 19 – were “deported” because they simply wanted to go on a fun, loosely-planned trip

    These travelers weren’t deported—they were denied entry

    And the reason for their removal was visa fraud, not because of the planning nature of their so-called “vacation

    Jose Hermosillo – “The American Citizen Detained by Border Patrol”

    Hermosillo turned himself in to immigration authorities on April 8

    He approached Border Patrol in Tucson, Arizona and declared that he had entered the U

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    illegally

    He completed a sworn statement identifying as a Mexican citizen who had entered unlawfully

    He was processed and appeared in court on April 11

    Afterwards, he was held by the U

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    Marshals in Florence, Arizona

    A few days later, his family presented documents showing U

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    citizenship

    The charges were dismissed, and he was released to his family

    The media, instead of reporting the facts, created a false and baseless story that an American citizen was illegally detained

    Hermosillio’s arrest was the direct action of his own actions and statements

    When his citizenship was confirmed, he was promptly released back to his family

    Kseniia Petrova – “The Russian Scientist Trying to Cure Cancer”

    Kseniia Petrova, a Russian researcher working for Harvard University, was lawfully detained after lying to federal officers about carrying substances into the country

    A subsequent K9 inspection uncovered undeclared petri dishes, containers of unknown substances, and loose vials of embryonic frog cells, all without proper permits

    Messages found on her phone revealed she planned to smuggle the materials through customs without declaring them

    She knowingly broke the law and took deliberate steps to evade it

    But upon her detainment, the media rushed to defend her by claiming that her research could help to cure cancer

    The facts of the matter are simple: Petrova broke the law and actively planned to do so

    Her research does not make her exempt from the laws of our country

    Renato Subotic – “The MMA Coach”

    Subotic is an MMA coach who entered the United States under a visa waiver program that prohibits compensation – only travel reimbursements are allowed

    When Subotic was detained under American law, the media claimed that he was thrown in prison and deported for no real reason

    Here are the facts: Subotic couldn’t meet the requirement to prove he wasn’t being compensated for participating at a high-dollar, multi-day event

    The law is clear: the burden of proof is on the traveler

    Since he couldn’t provide detailed answers or the necessary documentation for compensation related to the work event, he was held until the next available flight out the following day

    Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez – The “Disappearing” Delivery Driver

    Yet again, the media has manufactured a fake controversy on behalf of a terrorist gang member and criminal illegal alien

    Ricardo Jesus Prada Vasquez is a Venezuelan national and confirmed member of Tren De Aragua

    He entered the United States illegally on November 29, 2024 at the Brownsville, Texas Port of Entry via the CBP One App

    The Biden administration, like it did with so many other dangerous criminals, released Prada Vasquez back into the United States

    On January 15th, Prada was encountered trying to enter the U

    S

    from Canada

    He was detained, investigated, and confirmed as a member of TDA and a public safety threat

    On February 27, a judge ordered him removed from the U

    S

    He was then removed to El Salvador

    The media, however, has falsely claimed that Prada Vasquez was an innocent delivery driver who was “disappeared” by the government

    Prada Vasquez was living and working in the U

    S

    illegally, he was a member of a criminal gang designated as a terrorist organization, and was deported with full compliance with American law

    Jeanette Vizguerra – “The Activist Who Needed Sanctuary”

    Jeanette Vizguerra is a convicted criminal alien from Mexico who has a final order of deportation issued by a federal immigration judge

    She illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas, on Dec

    24, 1997, and has received legal due process in U

    S

    immigration court

    The media, however, has tried to turn her into a martyr

    They claim she was an “activist” who needed “sanctuary

    ” In reality, she getting famous and making money for breaking the law

    Under President Trump, this is a nation of laws

    We will find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens, no matter how famous the media thinks they are

    Vizguerra was in the United States illegally

    She was convicted of breaking the law

    She was deported

    If you come to our country illegally, we will deport you, and you will never return

    The safest option for illegal aliens is to self-deport, so they still have the opportunity to return and live the American dream

    The Facts on Those Who Have Abused The Privilege of a Student Visa 

    Yunseo Chung – “The Columbia Student”

    Yunseo Chung, who was born in South Korea, is a Columbia University student who engaged in concerning conduct on-campus

    This includes her being arrested by NYPD during a pro-Hamas protest at Barnard College

    Mahmoud Khalil – “The Activist Leader at Columbia”

    Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student from Syria, is one of the ringleaders of the vicious, anti-American, anti-Semitic protests at Columbia University

    His activities are aligned with Hamas, a designated terrorist organization

    On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U

    S

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Khalil

    But upon his arrest, radical student protesters at Columbia and across the country have attempted to turn him into a martyr, waving signs and banners bearing his likeness

    Taking over private buildings, inciting violence, harassing Jewish students, defacing buildings, and passing out terrorist propaganda do not constitute free speech

    A judge ruled that Khalil’s deportation can move forward

    He will be removed from our country

    Mohsen Mahdawi – “The Palestinian at Columbia University”

    Mahdawi is a Palestinian who has been living in the United States on a visa while he was studying at Columbia University

    Like many other anti-Israel student protesters, supporters in the media tried to claim that Mahdawi was a victim of political persecution

    But his rhetoric on the war in Israel proves his terrorist sympathies

    In the wake of October 7, Mahdawi said he could empathize with Hamas’s attack on Israel

    He appeared on “60 Minutes” justifying the massacre

    He organized and led pro-Hamas protests on Columbia University’s campus, harassed Jewish students, and openly displayed his support for a terrorist organization

    Leqaa Kordia – “The Palestinian at Columbia University”

    Leqaa Kordia was another Columbia Student who actively participated in anti-American, pro-terrorist activities on campus

    However, her arrest had nothing to do with her radical activities

    Kordia was arrested for immigration violations due to having overstayed her F-1 student visa, which had been terminated on January 26, 2022 for lack of attendance

    Dogukan Gunaydin – “The University of Minnesota Student”

    Dogukan Gunaydin, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota,was arrested after a visa revocation by the State Dept

    related to a prior criminal history for a DUI

    Contrary to the mainstream media’s quick speculation that he was arrested due to his involvement in student protests, his protest activity had nothing to do with his detainment

    Badar Khan Suri – “The Georgetown Foreign Exchange Student”

    Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media

    The media calls him a “scholar” who was innocent of any wrongdoing, even though he was married to the daughter of a senior advisor for to Hamas terrorist group

    Momodou Taal – “The Cornell University Student”

    Taal was unapologetic in his pro-terrorist views

    Taal, a foreign student studying at Cornell University, participated in pro-Hamas protests on campus

    He has a pinned post on his X profile that talks about a so-called “Zionist genocide,” and also states “Long live the student intifada!”

    Other Fake News Narratives Corrected 

    The Biden Administration’s inflated deportation numbers

    DHS uncovered what should be a massive scandal: the Biden administration was cooking the books on ICE arrest data

    They were purposefully misleading the American public by categorizing individuals processed and released into the interior of the United States as ICE arrests

    Of course, the media ignored this fact

    Instead, they falsely claimed that the Biden administration had carried out more arrests than the Trump administration

    Tens of thousands of cases recorded as “arrests” were, in fact, instances where illegal aliens were simply processed and released into American communities

    Many of these were violent criminals and gang members

    The previous administration counted these as arrests even though no immigration enforcement action was taken

    During fiscal year 2024, ICE made 113,431 arrests but the vast majority of those were what we call “pass-through” arrests

    They are called pass-through arrests because ICE didn’t take enforcement actions against these aliens

    They just passed through ICE before they were released in the U

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    interior and told to report to an ICE office

    None of the arrests made by ICE since January 20th are pass-through arrests

    The difference between recent arrests and those from Biden’s last year is that, now we’re taking enforcement actions against each and every illegal alien arrested

    ICE Boston Militia rumors:

    The media eagerly fed and spread a false social media rumor that an ICE agent who conducted arrests of criminal illegal aliens in New England was a “militia leader” from Arizona

    The reality? He is a federal law enforcement office who has worked with ICE to help keep New England communities safe for years

    This claim was not only false, but also inflammatory and places the safety of federal officers in jeopardy

    Our ICE officers are facing 300% increase in assaults while carrying out enforcement operations

    Due process and treatment rumors in CECOT:

    These aliens HAVE had due process – we have a stringent law enforcement assessment in place that abides by due process under the U

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    Constitution

    The reality is that prison isn’t supposed to be fun

    It’s a necessary measure to protect society and punish bad guys

    It is not meant to be comfortable

    What’s more: prison can be avoided by self-deportation

    CBP Home makes it simple and easy

    If you are a criminal alien and we have to deport you, you could end up in Guantanamo Bay or CECOT

    Leave now

    DOGE and ICE allegedly collecting sensitive data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

    The Biden administration flooded the U

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    with tens of millions of illegal immigrants, many of which are exploiting the American taxpayer by illegally getting Medicare and other benefits meant for law-abiding Americans

    President Trump consistently promised to protect Medicare for eligible beneficiaries

    To keep that promise, DOGE, CMS, and DHS are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving these benefits not meant for them

    The media claimed that ICE is working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access sensitive personal information in order to identify illegal aliens

    These claims are meant to frighten the American people, when in reality this process is working to keep them and their benefits safe from exploitation by illegal aliens

    ICE HSI presence at schools

    ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) works relentlessly to protect Americans, especially children, who are put in danger by illegal alien activity

    This includes investigations into potential child sex trafficking

    But the media has tried to spin their investigative work into the idea that they are going to elementary schools to arrest children

    HD Cooke Elementary School, Washington D

    C

    At the HD Cooke Elementary School in Washington D

    C

    , ICE did not conduct any enforcement action at the school

    HSI agents were present at the school unrelated to any kind of enforcement action

    Russel Elementary and Lillian Elementary in Los Angeles:

    At two different elementary schools in Los Angeles, California, HSI officers were conducting wellness checks on children who arrived unaccompanied at the border

    It had nothing to do with immigration enforcement

    DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited, abused, and sex trafficked

    Unlike the previous administration, President Trump and Secretary Noem take the responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to reunite children with their families

    In less than 70 days, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have already reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a relative or safe guardian

    Immigrant children detained at Old McDonald Farm in New York

    In early April, a raid was carried out on a dairy farm in New York after the execution of a federal criminal warrant for an illegal alien in possession of + distributing child sexual abuse materials

    Upon the execution of the search warrant at Old McDonalds Farm in Sackets Harbor, New York, authorities encountered seven additional illegal aliens on the premises, including a mother and her three children

    We immediately began conducting an investigation to ensure these children are not being sexually exploited

    But rather than address the very real evidence of child sexual abuse, the media chose to focus on the fact that a woman and her three children were taken into custody

    DHS takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and our ICE officers are working every day to remove pedophiles from American communities

    TDA members being identified via tattoos

    Some have claimed that DHS’ assessments of TDA and other gang memberships are based solely on the tattoos that certain illegal aliens have

    DHS intelligence assessments go well beyond just gang affiliate tattoos and social media

    Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth

    They rape, maim, and murder for sport

    President Trump and Secretary Noem will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens

    We are confident in our law enforcement’s intelligence, and we aren’t going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one

    That would be insane

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: U.S. and Uzbekistan Forge Strong Security Partnership with Historic Deportation Operation

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: U

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    and Uzbekistan Forge Strong Security Partnership with Historic Deportation Operation

    lass=”text-align-center”>U

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    and Uzbekistan Forge Strong Security Partnership with Historic Deportation Operation
    WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), under Secretary Noem’s leadership, partnered with the Government of Uzbekistan to successfully deport over 100 illegal aliens from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan

    This operation, in which Uzbekistan fully funded the deportation of their own nationals, underscores the deep security cooperation between our nations and sets a standard for U

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    alliances

    “We commend Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his leadership in sending a flight to return 131 illegal aliens back to their home country,” said Secretary Noem

    “We look forward to continuing to work together with Uzbekistan on efforts to enhance our mutual security and uphold the rule of law


    This landmark partnership is the latest in a long line of successful deals with foreign partners negotiated by President Trump and his administration

    He put the American people first and successfully convinced Colombia to begin accepting migrants removed from the United States, developed a strong working partnership with El Salvador to lock up criminal illegal aliens and gang members, and turned Mexico into a willing ally in the fight against drug cartels, leading to the arrest of over 6,000 drug traffickers – the highest number of arrests in Mexico’s history

    These are just some of the successful efforts that reflect President Trump’s vision for strong diplomatic cooperation and a restored immigration system, ensuring that illegal aliens are returned to their countries of origin

    We are just getting started

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Fact Check- DHS is NOT Deporting American Children

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: Fact Check- DHS is NOT Deporting American Children

    This is false and irresponsible

     In both of these cases the mothers had a final order of deportation

    Rather than separate their families, ICE asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or if they wanted ICE to place the children with someone safe the parent designates

    Both mothers choose to deport with their children

    Jenny Carolina Lopez-Villela illegally entered this country three times in September 2019, March of 2021, and August 2021

    She and her older daughter were deemed inadmissible to the United States the first time she entered the country and both her and her daughter were given final orders of removal in March 2020

    When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring her younger daughter, who is an American Citizen, with her to Honduras and presented a valid United States passport

    Reachel Alexas Morales-Valle entered this country illegally and was released into the interior in 2013

    She was given a final order of deportation in 2015

    In February of 2025, she was arrested by Kenner Police Department in Louisiana for speeding, driving without insurance, and driving without a license

    When she was taken into ICE custody in April 2025, she chose to bring both children, who are American citizens, with her to Honduras and presented a valid United States passport for each child

    DHS takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected

    Parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure

    Through the CBP Home App— the Trump Administration is giving parents illegally in the country a chance to take full control of their departure and self-deport, with the potential ability to return the legal, right way and come back to live the American dream

    It is free and available for all mobile devices

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: How to Contribute to Citizen Science with NASA

    Source: NASA

    A cell phone, a computer—and your curiosity—is all you need to become a NASA citizen scientist and contribute to projects about Earth, the solar system, and beyond.
    Science is built from small grains of sand, and you can contribute yours from any corner of the world.
    All you need is a cell phone or a computer with an internet connection to begin a scientific adventure. Can you imagine making a pioneering discovery in the cosmos? Want to help solve problems that could improve life on our planet? Or maybe you dream of helping solve an ancient mystery of the universe? All of this is possible through NASA’s Citizen Science program.
    NASA defines citizen science, or participatory science, as “science projects that rely on volunteers,” said Dr. Marc Kuchner, an astrophysicist and the Citizen Science Officer in the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
    For decades, volunteers have been supporting NASA researchers in different fields and in a variety of ways, depending on the project. They help by taking measurements, sorting data from NASA missions, and deepening our understanding of the universe and our home planet. It all counts.
    “That’s science for you: It’s collaborative,” said Kuchner, who oversees the more than 30 citizen science projects NASA offers. “I connect the public and scientists to get more NASA science done.”

    Citizen scientists can come from anywhere in the world—they do not have to be U.S. citizens or residents. Volunteers help NASA look for planets in other solar systems, called exoplanets; sort clouds in Earth’s sky; observe solar eclipses; or detect comets and asteroids. Some of those space rocks are even named after the volunteers who helped find them.
    Mass participation is key in initiatives that require as many human eyes as possible. “There are science projects that you can’t do without the help of a big team,” Kuchner said. For example, projects that need large datasets from space telescopes—or “things that are physically big and you need people in different places looking from different angles,” he said.
    One example is Aurorasaurus, which invites people to observe and classify northern and southern auroras. “We try to study them with satellites, but it really helps to have people on the ground taking photos from different places at different times,” he explained.
    “Part of the way we serve our country and humankind is by sharing not just the pretty pictures from our satellites, but the entire experience of doing science,” Kuchner said.
    More than 3 million people have participated in the program. Kuchner believes that shows how much people want to be part of what he calls the “roller coaster” of science. “They want to go on that adventure with us, and we are thrilled to have them.”

    “You can help scientists who are now at NASA and other organizations around the world to discover interesting things,” said Faber Burgos, a citizen scientist and science communicator from Colombia. “Truth be told, I’ve always dreamed of making history.”

    Burgos has been involved in two projects for the past four years: the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC), which searches the sky for potentially dangerous asteroids, and Backyard Worlds: Planet 9. This project uses data from NASA’s now-completed Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and its follow-up mission, NEOWISE, to search for brown dwarfs and a hypothetical ninth planet.
    “There are really amazing participants in this project,” said Kuchner, who helped launch it in 2015. NASA’s WISE and NEOWISE missions detected about 2 billion sources in the sky. “So, the question is: Among those many sources, are any of them new unknowns?” he said.
    The project has already found more than 4,000 brown dwarfs. These are Jupiter-sized objects—balls of gas that are too big to be planets, but too small to be stars. Volunteers have even helped discover a new type of brown dwarf.
    Participants in the project are also hopeful they’ll find a hypothetical ninth planet, possibly Neptune-sized, in an orbit far beyond Pluto.

    Burgos explained that analyzing the images is easy. “If it’s a moving object, it’s obviously going to be something of interest,” he said. “Usually, when you see these images, everything is still. But if there’s an object moving, you have to keep an eye on it.”
    Once a citizen scientist marks the object across the full image sequence, they send the information to NASA scientists to evaluate.
    “As a citizen scientist, I’m happy to do my bit and, hopefully, one day discover something very interesting,” he said. “That’s the beauty of NASA—it invites everyone to be a scientist. Here, it doesn’t matter what you are, but your desire to learn.”

    To become a NASA citizen scientist, start by visiting the program’s website. There you’ll find a complete list of available projects with links to their respective sites. Some are available in Spanish and other languages. Many projects are also hosted on the Zooniverse platform, which has been available since 2006.
    “Another cool way to get involved is to come to one of our live events,” said Kuchner. These are virtual events open to the public, where NASA scientists present their projects and invite people to participate. “Pick a project you like—and if it’s not fun, pick a different one,” he advised. “There are wonderful relationships to be had if you reach out to scientists and other participants.”

    People of all ages can be citizen scientists. Some projects are kid-friendly, such as Nemo-Net, an iPad game that invites participants to color coral reefs to help sort them. “I’d like to encourage young people to start there—or try a project with one of the older people in their life,” Kuchner said.
    Citizen science can also take place in classrooms. In the Growing Beyond Earth project, teachers and students run experiments on how to grow plants in space for future missions. The IASC project also works with high schools to help students detect asteroids.

    GLOBE Observer is another initiative with an international network of teachers and students. The platform offers a range of projects—many in Spanish—that invite people to collect data using their cell phones.
    One of the most popular is the GLOBE Mosquito Habitat Mapper, which tracks the migration and spread of mosquitoes that carry diseases. “It’s a way to help save lives—tracking the vectors that transmit malaria and Zika, among others,” Kuchner said.
    Other GLOBE projects explore everything from ground cover to cloud types. Some use astronomical phenomena visible to everyone. For example, during the 2024 total solar eclipse, participants measured air temperature using their phones and shared that data with NASA scientists.

    No prior studies are needed, but many volunteers go on to collaborate on—or even lead—scientific research. More than 500 NASA citizen scientists have co-authored scientific publications.
    One of them is Hugo Durantini Luca, from Córdoba, Argentina, who has participated in 17 published articles, with more on the way. For years, he explored various science projects, looking for one where he could contribute more actively.

    He participated in NASA’s first citizen science project, Stardust@home, which invites users to search for interstellar dust particles in collectors from the Stardust mission, using a virtual microscope.
    In 2014, he discovered Disk Detective, a project that searches for disks around stars, where planets may form. By looking at images from the WISE and NEOWISE missions, participants can help understand how worlds are born and how solar systems evolve.
    “And, incidentally, if we find planets or some sign of life, all the better,” said Durantini Luca.
    Although that remains a dream, they have made other discoveries—like a new kind of stellar disk called the “Peter Pan Disk,” which appears young even though the star it surrounds is not.

    In 2016, Durantini Luca got the chance to support Disk Detective with his own observations from the southern hemisphere. He traveled to El Leoncito Astronomical Complex (CASLEO), an observatory in San Juan, Argentina. There, he learned to use a spectrograph—an instrument that breaks down starlight to analyze its composition.
    He treasures that experience. “Curiously, it was the first time in my life I used a telescope,” he said.

    While in-person opportunities are rare, both virtual and physical events help build community. Citizen scientists stay in touch weekly through various channels.
    “Several of us are friends already—after so many years of bad jokes on calls,” said Durantini Luca.
    “People send me pictures of how they met,” said Kuchner. He said the program has even changed how he does science. “It’s changed my life,” he said. “Science is already cool—and this makes it even cooler.”

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Dusty Days Are Here Again for El Paso

    Source: NASA

    Spring and early summer are generally dusty in the Borderplex region of the Chihuahuan Desert—a transnational area that spans parts of southern New Mexico, West Texas, and the Mexican state of Chihuahua. With the region gripped by exceptional drought, this has been especially true in 2025.
    The latest in a string of storms lofted particles from dried lakes and other parched sources in northern Chihuahua and New Mexico and sent them streaming toward El Paso, Juárez, and Las Cruces. The MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on April 27, 2025. The event followed a large dust storm that hit the region a week earlier, as well as other major dust storms in early and mid-March.
    Research indicates that March, April, and May are typically the most active months for airborne dust in El Paso. But the dust season so far this year has been “truly exceptional—one for the record books,” said Thomas Gill, an environmental scientist at the University of Texas at El Paso. For decades, Gill has used satellite observations and models to track dust activity around the planet and in the Borderplex region.
    He said this latest event is the tenth “full-fledged dust storm” of the year in El Paso, meaning it was dusty enough to restrict visibility to less than half a mile. For comparison, the average is 1.8 storms per year. “You would have to go back to 1936—during the Dust Bowl—to find a year with more,” Gill said. During the Dust Bowl years of 1935 and 1936, El Paso had 13 and 11 dust storms, respectively.
    Unusual drought and windy conditions are fueling the surge in dust. “We’re in the worst drought we’ve seen in at least a decade, and this March was the windiest we’ve seen in more than 50 years,” Gill added.
    Research shows dust storms can pose considerable hazards. In a 2023 analysis, Gill and several colleagues pointed out that the dangers of dust are often underappreciated. They contribute to deadly traffic accidents and elevate the risk of cardiorespiratory problems that lead to emergency room visits.
    Dust may also help spread a fungal infection called Valley Fever, though the precise role of dust storms remains a topic of ongoing research and debate. In another analysis, Gill and colleagues estimated that dust storms cause more than $150 billion in economic damage each year, with farmers, the health care sector, the renewable energy industry, and households bearing large costs.
    Several tools powered by NASA data and satellites are available to meteorologists, scientists, and others tracking dust storms. The Worldview browser hosts timely data and imagery from several satellites, and NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office has tools for real-time weather analysis and reanalysis.
    Gill collaborates frequently with a NASA-sponsored health and air quality team led by George Mason University’s Daniel Tong. That team is working to develop better ways of forecasting and analyzing how dust storms can affect air quality. Researchers with NASA’s SPoRT (Short-term Prediction Research and Transition) project have also developed a new technique that uses machine learning to improve the tracking of dust plumes at night.
    “It should be interesting to see how far the dust from this event travels,” noted Santiago Gasso, a University of Maryland atmospheric scientist based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “Some of it could be headed to the Great Lakes, New England, and maybe even to Greenland, as happened after one of the storms in March.”
    Up to this point in the 2025 season, the Borderplex region has seen 28 days with dust. Over the past quarter century, the average for an entire year is 22 days. “We still have several more weeks of the dust season to go,” added Gill, noting that forecasters are warning of more dust as early as this weekend.
       
    NASA Earth Observatory image by Wanmei Liang, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Adam Voiland.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: 100 Days of Making America Safe Again

    Source: US Federal Emergency Management Agency

    Headline: 100 Days of Making America Safe Again

    WASHINGTON – In just 100 days, President Trump and Secretary Noem have delivered major victories addressing the crisis at the southern border, removing violent criminal illegal aliens from American communities, and stopping the flow of illicit drugs into our homeland

    He’s accomplished more in 100 days than most presidents achieve in an entire term

    PROMISES MADE, PROMISES KEPT:   

    Thanks to President Trump, we have the most secure border in American history

    On day one, President Trump declared a national emergency at the southern border

    President Trump immediately reinstated “Remain in Mexico” and ended catch and release

    Daily border encounters have plunged 95% since President Trump took office

    Under President Trump’s leadership, Secretary Noem and Secretary Kennedy have reunited nearly 5,000 unaccompanied children with a safe relative or guardian

    Migrants are turning BACK before they even reach our border— migration through Panama’s Darien Gap is down 99

    99%

    President Trump is finishing the border wall

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) already has 85 miles of new construction either planned or under construction

    United States (U

    S

    ) Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U

    S

    Coast Guard (USCG) have seized nearly 232,000 pounds of fentanyl and other illicit drugs—stopping them from ever reaching American communities

    President Trump is fulfilling his promise to carry out mass deportations—starting with the worst of the worst

    The Trump Administration empowered our brave men and women in law enforcement to use common sense to do their jobs effectively

    DHS repealed Biden-era rules that allowed criminal aliens to hide from law enforcement in places like schools and churches to avoid arrest

      
    DHS returned to using the term “illegal alien” which is the statutory language

    President Trump will not allow political correctness to hinder law enforcement

    President Trump mobilized the federal government to help with immigration enforcement

    DHS deputized the Texas National Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Bureau of Prisons, U

    S

    Marshals, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, members of the State Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to assist with immigration operations

    Operation Tidal Wave, the first 287(g) enforcement operation coordinated with state and federal law enforcement partners, resulted in over 800 arrests

    DHS has secured 579 signed agreements with state and local partnerships under 287(g)

    President Trump and Secretary Noem are empowering state and local law enforcement to get these criminal illegal aliens off our streets

    The Trump Administration has arrested over 158,000 illegal aliens in 2025 alone, including more than 600 members of Tren de Aragua

    Under President Trump, U

    S

    Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) is targeting the worst of the worst, 75% of their arrests are criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges

     
    To fulfill President Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations, the administration is now detaining some of the most dangerous illegal aliens, including violent criminals and members of terrorist gangs, at Guantanamo Bay

    At President Trump’s direction, DHS deported nearly 300 Tren de Aragua and MS-13 terrorists to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) Prison in El Salvador, where they no longer pose a threat to the American people

    At President Trump’s direction, Secretary Noem launched a multimillion-dollar nationwide and international ad campaign, urging illegal aliens to leave the U

    S

    voluntarily or face deportation with no chance of return

    President Trump ended the CBP One app that allowed more than one million aliens to illegally enter the U

    S

    The Trump Administration replaced this disastrous program with the CBP Home app, which has a new self-deportation reporting feature for aliens illegally in the country

    So far, thousands of illegal aliens have used the app to self-deport

    The Trump Administration is enforcing the Alien Registration Act which requires aliens to register with the federal government

    If illegal aliens fail to comply, they face fines and imprisonment

    Deportations have already exceeded 142,000—this is just the beginning

    President Trump is putting the safety of Americans first and delivering justice for victims of illegal aliens and drug cartels

    President Trump signed the Laken Riley Act, which mandates the federal detention of illegal aliens accused of theft, burglary, assaulting a law enforcement officer, or any crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury

    President Trump designated international drug cartels and other criminal gangs, such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations

    This enables a whole-of-government approach to dismantle their drug and human trafficking operations

    The days of unchecked cartel and gang violence are over

    The Trump Administration secured the extradition of 29 Mexican drug cartel members who are facing charges including racketeering, drug-trafficking, murder, illegal use of firearms, money laundering, and other crimes

    Some of these individuals include:

    Rafael Caro Quintero, alleged to have been among those responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena and others

    This cartel kingpin unleashed violence, destruction, and death across the U

    S

    and Mexico and spent four decades atop DEA’s most wanted fugitives list

    Martin Sotelo, alleged to have participated in the 2022 murder of Deputy Sheriff Ned Byrd

    Antonio Oseguera Cervantes, alleged to have helped lead the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación

    Ramiro Perez Moreno and Lucio Hernandez Lechuga, alleged to be high-ranking members of Los Zetas

    The Trump Administration extradited Eswin Mejia, an illegal alien arrested for killing 21-year-old Sarah Root in a drunk driving crash, from Honduras

    President Trump reopened the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement (VOICE) office, which was shuttered by the Biden Administration

    President Trump and Secretary Noem are standing up for the victims of illegal alien crime and ensuring they have access to much needed resources and support they deserve

    President Trump is restoring integrity and common sense to our legal immigration system

    President Trump ended the broad abuse of humanitarian parole and returned the program to a case-by-case basis

    As part of this effort, Secretary Noem terminated the Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela parole programs

    President Trump restored integrity to our immigration system by returning the Temporary Protect Status (TPS) immigration program to its original status: temporary

    No longer will this program be abused and exploited by illegal aliens

    Secretary Noem rescinded the previous administration’s extension of Venezuelan, Haitian, and Afghan TPS

    President Trump is returning common sense to our legal immigration system and national security by revoking visas of terrorist sympathizers

    Those who glorify and support terrorists who kill Americans are not welcome in the U

    S

    Some examples include:

    ICE arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student who led activities aligned with Hamas and passed out pro-Hamas propaganda flyers

    Dr

    Rasha Alawieh was deported after she admitted to attending the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah and was responsible for killing hundreds of Americans

    ICE arrested Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown foreign exchange student whose father-in-law is a senior advisor to Hamas

    To keep America safe, DHS is now conducting enhanced vetting of visa applicants, including monitoring foreign aliens’ social media accounts to identify any support for terrorist organizations

    President Trump is using tariffs as a negotiating tool to force other countries to take decisive action that puts American safety, prosperity, and national security first

    President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on countries that have been ripping off America for years

    Unfair trade practices made our supply chain dependent on foreign adversaries, eroded our industrial base, and hurt American workers

    This has gravely impacted our national security

    Now, President Trump is fighting back and putting America first

    President Trump’s tariffs forced Mexico to deploy 10,000 troops on our southern border to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal aliens into our country and Canada to add thousands of personnel to the northern border

    Under President Trump, Secretary Noem refocused DHS to its core mission of protecting the American homeland and eliminating government waste

    The USCG eliminated an ineffective information technology (IT) program, saving nearly $33 million, and is now focusing resources where they’re most needed to protect our homeland

    The Trump Administration stopped aliens on the Terror Watchlist from receiving Medicaid benefits

    Secretary Noem ended the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) FEMA grant program that was wasteful and ineffective

    This resulted in nearly a billion dollars being directed to the Disaster Relief Fund

    To stop policies that were magnets for illegal immigration, DHS froze all funding to non-governmental organizations that facilitate illegal immigration and announced a partnership with the U

    S

    Department of Housing and Urban Development to ensure taxpayer dollars do not go to housing illegal aliens

    Secretary Noem ended collective bargaining for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers, which constrained TSA’s chief mission to safeguard our transportation systems and keep Americans safe

    Bottom Line: President Trump campaigned on border security and immigration enforcement, the American people voted for it, and Secretary Noem and DHS are delivering beyond anyone’s expectations

    President Trump and Secretary Noem will continue fighting every day to secure our border and keep American communities safe

    This is just the beginning of a new Golden Age of America

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Help Classify Galaxies Seen by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope!

    Source: NASA

    NASA needs your help identifying the shapes of thousands of galaxies in images taken by our James Webb Space Telescope with the Galaxy Zoo project. These classifications will help scientists answer questions about how the shapes of galaxies have changed over time, what caused these changes, and why. Thanks to the light collecting power of Webb, there are now over 500,000 images of galaxies on website of the Galaxy Zoo citizen science project—more images than scientists can classify by themselves. 
    “This is a great opportunity to see images from the newest space telescope,” said volunteer Christine Macmillan from Aberdeen, Scotland. “Galaxies at the edge of our universe are being seen for the first time, just as they are starting to form. Just sign up and answer simple questions about the shape of the galaxy that you are seeing. Anyone can do it, ages 10 and up!”  
    As we look at more distant objects in the universe, we see them as they were billions of years ago because light takes time to travel to us. With Webb, we can spot galaxies at greater distances than ever before. We’re seeing what some of the earliest galaxies ever detected look like, for the first time. The shapes of these galaxies tell us about how they were born, how and when they formed stars, and how they interacted with their neighbors. By looking at how more distant galaxies have different shapes than close galaxies, we can work out which processes were more common at different times in the universe’s history.   
    At Galaxy Zoo, you’ll first examine an image from the Webb telescope. Then you will be asked several questions, such as ‘Is the galaxy round?’, or ‘Are there signs of spiral arms?’. If you’re quick, you may even be the first person to see the galaxies you’re asked to classify.  
    “I’m amazed and honored to be one of the first people to actually see these images! What a privilege!” said volunteer Elisabeth Baeten from Leuven, Belgium.
    Galaxy Zoo is a citizen science project with a long history of scientific impact. Galaxy Zoo volunteers have been exploring deep space since July 2007, starting with a million galaxies from a telescope in New Mexico called the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and then, moving on to images from space telescopes like NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and ESA (European Space Agency)’s Euclid telescope. The project has revealed spectacular mergers, taught us about how the black holes at the center of galaxies affect their hosts, and provided insight into how features like spiral arms form and grow.  
    Now, in addition to adding new data from Webb, the science team has incorporated an AI algorithm called ZooBot, which will sift through the images first and label the ‘easier ones’ where there are many examples that already exist in previous images from the Hubble Space Telescope. When ZooBot is not confident on the classification of a galaxy, perhaps due to complex or faint structures, it will show it to users on Galaxy Zoo to get their human classifications, which will then help ZooBot learn more. Working together, humans and AI can accurately classify limitless numbers of galaxies. The Galaxy Zoo science team acknowledges support from the International Space Sciences Institute (ISSI), who provided funding for the team to get together and work on Galaxy Zoo. Join the project now.  

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI: Bitfarms Provides April 2025 Production and Operations Update

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    – New private debt facility with a division of Macquarie Group for up to $300 million to fund initial HPC project development at Panther Creek, validating the attractiveness of Bitfarms’ potential HPC data center development pipeline-

    –Operational hashrate of 19.5 EHuM and fleet efficiency of 19 w/TH–

    This news release constitutes a “designated news release” for the purposes of the Company’s second amended and restated prospectus supplement dated December 17, 2024, to its short form base shelf prospectus dated November 10, 2023.

    TORONTO, Ontario, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ/TSX: BITF), a global energy and compute infrastructure company, today issued its latest monthly production report. All financial references are in U.S. dollars.

    CEO Ben Gagnon stated, “In April, we secured an attractive financing facility for up to $300 million with a division of Macquarie Group, one of the world’s largest and most reputable infrastructure investors. These funds will be used solely to fund HPC data center development at our Panther Creek location. Panther Creek has the scale, location, power availability, and fiber connectivity that we expect will attract notable HPC counterparties. This site also has the quickest energization timeline of our three PA sites, and we are already working on the Site Map Plans, development timelines and renderings needed in order to begin to build out the powered land.

    “We are confident this partnership will not only accelerate our buildout at Panther Creek, but also open doors to future opportunities with Macquarie as we look to scale our project and potentially expand to other sites within our portfolio. Amidst the surging AI revolution and the growing demand for power and infrastructure, this financing arrives at a pivotal time. We believe the analyses provided by our strategic partners, ASG and WWT, along with Macquarie’s due diligence and industry expertise, validate our HPC opportunity thesis at Panther Creek, strengthen our HPC pipeline and strategy, and position Bitfarms as a market leader in sourcing and developing large-scale, high-quality HPC data center projects.

    “Our Bitcoin business is strong, and we remain bullish on mining economics with our newly upgraded mining fleet.  We have no need nor plans for a large miner purchase in 2025 or 2026, enabling us to focus our efforts on developing U.S. energy and HPC infrastructure, which we believe will create lasting shareholder value.”

    April 2025 Select Operating Highlights

    Key Performance Indicators April 2025 March 2025
    (proforma)
    Total BTC earned 268 280
    Month End Operating EHuM 19.5 19.5
    BTC/Avg. EH/s 16 17
    Average Operating EHuM 17.2 16.4
    Energized Capacity (MW) 461 461
    Watts/Terahash Efficiency (w/TH) 19 19
    • 19.5 EHuM operational at April 30, 2025.
    • 17.2 EHuM average operational, up 5% M/M.
    • 16 BTC/average EHuM, 6% lower M/M.
    • 268 BTC earned, 4% lower M/M.
    • 8.9 BTC earned daily on average, equal to ~$837,000 per day based on a BTC price of $94,000 at April 30, 2025.

    April 2025 Financial Update

    • Treasury of 1,005 BTC, down from 1,140 BTC last month and representing $94 million based on the Bitcoin price of $94,000 at April 30, 2025.

    About Bitfarms Ltd.
    Founded in 2017, Bitfarms is a global energy and compute infrastructure company that develops, owns, and operates vertically integrated HPC and Bitcoin mining data centers. Bitfarms currently has 15 operating Bitcoin data centers situated in four countries: the United States, Canada, Argentina and Paraguay.

    Powered primarily by environmentally friendly hydro-electric and long-term power contracts, Bitfarms is committed to using sustainable and often underutilized energy infrastructure.

    To learn more about Bitfarms’ events, developments, and online communities:

    www.bitfarms.com
    https://www.facebook.com/bitfarms/
    https://x.com/Bitfarms_io
    https://www.instagram.com/bitfarms/
    https://www.linkedin.com/company/bitfarms/

    Glossary of Terms

    • Y/Y or M/M= year over year or month over month
    • BTC or BTC/day = Bitcoin or Bitcoin per day
    • EH or EH/s = Exahash or exahash per second
    • EHuM = Exahash Under Management, which includes Bitfarms’ proprietary hashrate and hashrate being hosted by Bitfarms for third-party hosting clients
    • MW or MWh = Megawatts or megawatt hour
    • GW or GWh= Gigawatts or gigawatt hour
    • w/TH = Watts/Terahash efficiency (includes cost of powering supplementary equipment)
    • HPC/AI = High Performance Computing / Artificial Intelligence
    • Energized capacity= Power available

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” and “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “forward-looking information”) that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release and are covered by safe harbors under Canadian and United States securities laws. The statements and information in this release regarding the North American energy and compute infrastructure strategy, opportunities relating to the potential of the Company’s data centers for HPC/AI opportunities, the potential to deploy the proceeds of the Macquarie Group financing facility at the Panther Creek location, the merits and ability to secure long-term contracts associated with HPC/AI customers, the success of the Company’s HPC/AI strategy in general and its ability to capitalize on growing demand for AI computing while securing predictable cash flows and revenue diversification, the Company’s energy pipeline and its anticipated megawatt growth, the Company’s ability to drive greater shareholder value, projected growth, target hashrate, and other statements regarding future growth, plans and objectives of the Company are forward-looking information.

    Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “prospects”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information.

    This forward-looking information is based on assumptions and estimates of management of Bitfarms at the time they were made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Bitfarms to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors, risks and uncertainties include, among others: an inability to apply the Company’s data centers to HPC/AI opportunities on a profitable basis; a failure to secure long-term contracts associated with HPC/AI customers on terms which are economic or at all; the construction and operation of new facilities may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion of existing facilities may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; an inability to satisfy the Panther Creek location related milestones which are conditions to loan drawdowns under the Macquarie Group financing facility; an inability to deploy the proceeds of the Macquarie Group financing facility to generate positive returns at the Panther Creek location; new miners may not perform up to expectations; revenue may not increase as currently anticipated, or at all; the ongoing ability to successfully mine digital currency is not assured; failure of the equipment upgrades to be installed and operated as planned; the availability of additional power may not occur as currently planned, or at all; expansion may not materialize as currently anticipated, or at all; the power purchase agreements and economics thereof may not be as advantageous as expected; potential environmental cost and regulatory penalties due to the operation of the former Stronghold plants which entail environmental risk and certain additional risk factors particular to the former business and operations of Stronghold including, land reclamation requirements may be burdensome and expensive, changes in tax credits related to coal refuse power generation could have a material adverse effect on the business, financial condition, results of operations and future development efforts, competition in power markets may have a material adverse effect on the results of operations, cash flows and the market value of the assets, the business is subject to substantial energy regulation and may be adversely affected by legislative or regulatory changes, as well as liability under, or any future inability to comply with, existing or future energy regulations or requirements, the operations are subject to a number of risks arising out of the threat of climate change, and environmental laws, energy transitions policies and initiatives and regulations relating to emissions and coal residue management, which could result in increased operating and capital costs and reduce the extent of business activities, operation of power generation facilities involves significant risks and hazards customary to the power industry that could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations, and there may not have adequate insurance to cover these risks and hazards, employees, contractors, customers and the general public may be exposed to a risk of injury due to the nature of the operations, limited experience with carbon capture programs and initiatives and dependence on third-parties, including consultants, contractors and suppliers to develop and advance carbon capture programs and initiatives, and failure to properly manage these relationships, or the failure of these consultants, contractors and suppliers to perform as expected, could have a material adverse effect on the business, prospects or operations; the digital currency market; the ability to successfully mine digital currency; it may not be possible to profitably liquidate the current digital currency inventory, or at all; a decline in digital currency prices may have a significant negative impact on operations; an increase in network difficulty may have a significant negative impact on operations; the volatility of digital currency prices; the anticipated growth and sustainability of hydroelectricity for the purposes of cryptocurrency mining in the applicable jurisdictions; the inability to maintain reliable and economical sources of power to operate cryptocurrency mining assets; the risks of an increase in electricity costs, cost of natural gas, changes in currency exchange rates, energy curtailment or regulatory changes in the energy regimes in the jurisdictions in which Bitfarms operates and the potential adverse impact on profitability; future capital needs and the ability to complete current and future financings, including Bitfarms’ ability to utilize an at-the-market offering program ( “ATM Program”) and the prices at which securities may be sold in such ATM Program, as well as capital market conditions in general; share dilution resulting from an ATM Program and from other equity issuances; the risks of debt leverage and the ability to service and eventually repay the Macquarie Group financing facility; volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance; the risk that a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting could result in a misstatement of financial position that may lead to a material misstatement of the annual or interim consolidated financial statements if not prevented or detected on a timely basis; risks related to the Company ceasing to qualify as an “emerging growth company”; risks related to unsolicited investor interest, takeover proposals, shareholder activism or proxy contests relating to the election of directors; historical prices of digital currencies and the ability to mine digital currencies that will be consistent with historical prices; and the adoption or expansion of any regulation or law that will prevent Bitfarms from operating its business, or make it more costly to do so. For further information concerning these and other risks and uncertainties, refer to Bitfarms’ filings on www.sedarplus.ca (which are also available on the website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) at www.sec.gov), including the management’s discussion & analysis for the year-ended December 31, 2024 Although Bitfarms has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including factors that are currently unknown to or deemed immaterial by Bitfarms. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results, and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking information. Bitfarms does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or any other securities exchange or regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

    Investor Relations Contact:

    Bitfarms
    Tracy Krumme
    SVP, Head of IR & Corp. Comms.
    +1 786-671-5638
    tkrumme@bitfarms.com

    Media Contact: 

    Bitfarms
    Caroline Brady Baker 
    Director, Communications   
    cbaker@bitfarms.com 

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: TC Energy reports solid first quarter 2025 results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Expect to place approximately $8.5 billion of projects into service in 2025, tracking to roughly 15 per cent under budget

    Announced $2.4 billion of new natural gas and nuclear power generation growth projects

    CALGARY, Alberta, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TC Energy Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TC Energy or the Company) released its first quarter results today. François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer commented, “As natural gas and electricity are forecasted to drive the majority of growth in final energy consumption through 2035, we are pleased to announce two new growth projects that represent strategic investments in North America’s energy future. We have approved the Northwoods project on our ANR system, designed to serve electric generation demand in the U.S. Midwest, including data centres and overall economic growth.” Poirier continued, “Demonstrating our commitment to delivering long-lived value through investment in high-quality, emission-less nuclear power generation, we have also sanctioned Unit 5 at Bruce Power for its Major Component Replacement. Backed by long-term contracts with credible counterparties and attractive build multiples1, these projects collectively highlight our disciplined strategy and our ability to capture high-value, low-risk opportunities across our portfolio.”

    Financial Highlights
    (All financial figures are unaudited and in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted)

    • First quarter 2025 financial results from continuing operations2:
      • Comparable earnings3 of $1.0 billion or $0.95 per common share compared to $1.1 billion or $1.02 per common share in first quarter 2024
      • Net income attributable to common shares of $1.0 billion or $0.94 per common share compared to $1.0 billion or $0.95 per common share in first quarter 2024
      • Comparable EBITDA2 of $2.7 billion, similar to first quarter 2024
      • Segmented earnings of $2.0 billion compared to $1.9 billion in first quarter 2024
    • Reaffirming 2025 outlook:
      • Comparable EBITDA is expected to be $10.7 to $10.9 billion4
      • Comparable earnings per common share (EPS) outlook remains consistent with our 2024 Annual Report, and is expected to be lower than 2024
      • Capital expenditures are anticipated to be $6.1 to $6.6 billion on a gross basis, or $5.5 to $6.0 billion of net capital expenditures5
    • Declared a quarterly dividend of $0.85 per common share for the quarter ending June 30, 2025.

    Operational Highlights

    • Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines deliveries averaged 27.6 Bcf/d, up eight per cent compared to first quarter 2024
      • Total NGTL System deliveries set a new record of 17.8 Bcf on February 18, 2025
      • Canadian Mainline receipts averaged 5.0 Bcf/d, an increase of 14 per cent compared to first quarter 2024
    • U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines daily average flows were 31.0 Bcf/d, up five per cent compared to first quarter 2024
      • GTN set a new all-time record of 3.2 Bcf on February 19, 2025
      • Deliveries to LNG facilities averaged 3.5 Bcf/d, up five per cent compared to first quarter 2024
    • Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines flows averaged 3.1 Bcf/d, six per cent higher than first quarter 2024
      • Set a daily flow record of 4.1 Bcf on March 31, 2025
    • Bruce Power achieved 87 per cent availability in first quarter 2025, reflecting a planned outage on Unit 5
    • Cogeneration power plant fleet achieved 98.6 per cent availability in first quarter 2025, attributed to fewer forced outages and spring outages completed successfully ahead of plan.

    Project Highlights

    • The Southeast Gateway pipeline is ready for service. CFE has agreed to our contracted rate and accepted all requirements for in-service. Approval of our regulated rates from the Comisión Nacional de Energía (CNE) is expected by the end of May, at which time we anticipate the in-service of the Southeast Gateway pipeline. While 100 per cent of our capacity is contracted with the CFE and we have no requests for interruptible service, approval of the regulated rate by the CNE is normal course prior to commencing service. The 1.3 Bcf/d, 715-kilometre natural gas pipeline was constructed approximately 13 per cent under the original cost estimate in less than three years from the project’s final investment decision
    • Approved the Northwoods project, an expansion project on our ANR system designed to provide 0.4 Bcf/d of capacity to serve natural gas-fired electric generation demand in the U.S. Midwest, including data centres and overall economic growth. The project has an anticipated in-service date of late 2029 with an estimated cost of approximately US$0.9 billion, and expects to deliver a compelling build multiple in the range of five to seven times
    • Received approval of the Unit 5 Major Component Replacement (MCR) final cost and schedule estimate from the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) on April 2, 2025. The $1.1 billion Unit 5 MCR is expected to commence in fourth quarter 2026 with a return to service in early 2030
    • ANR and GLGT each filed Section 4 Rate Cases with FERC requesting an increase to their respective maximum transportation rates expected to become effective November 1, 2025, subject to refund. We will pursue a collaborative process to find a mutually beneficial outcome with our customers through settlement.
        three months ended
    March 31
    (millions of $, except per share amounts)     2025       20241  
             
    Income        
    Net income (loss) attributable to common shares from continuing operations     978       988  
    per common share – basic   $ 0.94     $ 0.95  
             
    Segmented earnings (losses)        
    Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines     516       501  
    U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines     1,109       1,043  
    Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines     211       212  
    Power and Energy Solutions     135       252  
    Corporate     (5 )     (61 )
    Total segmented earnings (losses)     1,966       1,947  
             
    Comparable EBITDA from continuing operations        
    Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines     890       846  
    U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines     1,367       1,306  
    Mexico Natural Gas Pipelines     233       214  
    Power and Energy Solutions     224       320  
    Corporate     (5 )     (16 )
    Comparable EBITDA from continuing operations     2,709       2,670  
    Depreciation and amortization     (678 )     (635 )
    Interest expense included in comparable earnings     (840 )     (780 )
    Allowance for funds used during construction     248       157  
    Foreign exchange gains (losses), net included in comparable earnings     (10 )     43  
    Interest income and other     51       75  
    Income tax (expense) recovery included in comparable earnings     (292 )     (281 )
    Net (income) loss attributable to non-controlling interests included in comparable earnings     (177 )     (171 )
    Preferred share dividends     (28 )     (23 )
    Comparable earnings from continuing operations     983       1,055  
    Comparable earnings per common share from continuing operations   $ 0.95     $ 1.02  
             
        three months ended
    March 31
    (millions of $, except per share amounts)     2025       2024  
             
    Cash flows2        
    Net cash provided by operations3     1,359       2,042  
    Comparable funds generated from operations3,4     1,949       2,436  
    Capital spending5     1,809       1,897  
    Disposition of equity interest, net of transaction costs6           (38 )
             
    Dividends declared        
    per common share   $ 0.85   7 $ 0.96  
             
    Basic common shares outstanding(millions)        
    – weighted average for the period     1,039       1,037  
    – issued and outstanding at end of period     1,040       1,037  
    1. Results reflect continuing operations.
    2. Includes continuing and discontinued operations.
    3. Represents three months of Liquids Pipelines earnings in first quarter 2024 compared to Liquids Pipelines earnings of nil for the three months ended March 31, 2025. Refer to the Discontinued operations section and the 2024 Annual Report for additional information.
    4. Comparable funds generated from operations is a non-GAAP measure used throughout this news release. This measure does not have any standardized meaning under GAAP and therefore is unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The most directly comparable GAAP measure is net cash provided by operations. For more information on non-GAAP measures, refer to the Non-GAAP Measures section of this news release.
    5. Capital spending reflects cash flows associated with our Capital expenditures, Capital projects in development and Contributions to equity investments. Refer to Note 4, Segmented information of our Condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information.
    6. Included in the Financing activities section of the Condensed consolidated statement of cash flows.
    7. Reflects TC Energy’s proportionate allocation following the spinoff Transaction.

    CEO Message
    Throughout the first three months of 2025, TC Energy showcased the strength of our business and our position as an industry leading natural gas and power and energy solutions company. While evolving macroeconomic conditions continue to contribute to market uncertainty, we have reaffirmed our 2025 outlook based on our highly contracted, low-risk business with 97 per cent of our comparable EBITDA underpinned by rate-regulation and/or long-term take-or-pay contracts. We delivered strong operational and financial results, achieving approximately one per cent growth in both comparable EBITDA and segmented earnings compared to first quarter 2024, despite removing a second unit from service at Bruce Power for its MCR. These results continue to demonstrate the overall resiliency of our business. We remain focused on maximizing the value of our assets through safety and operational excellence, executing our selective portfolio of growth projects and ensuring financial strength and agility as we deliver solid growth, low risk and repeatable performance for our shareholders.

    The Southeast Gateway pipeline is now ready for service, representing a significant milestone in project execution. The 1.3 Bcf/d, 715-kilometre natural gas pipeline was constructed approximately 13 per cent under the original cost estimate in less than three years from the project’s final investment decision. Our partner and customer, CFE, has agreed to our contracted rate and accepted all requirements for in-service. We are jointly working with the CNE and the Secretary of Energy to obtain the approval of the regulatory rates, required for interruptible service. While 100 per cent of our capacity is contracted with the CFE and we have no requests for interruptible service, approval of the regulated rate by the CNE is normal course and required by Mexican regulation prior to commencing service. We expect to receive CNE approval by the end of May, at which time we anticipate the in-service of the Southeast Gateway pipeline. Southeast Gateway in-service will represent an important inflection point for TC Energy, contributing significant long-term contracted cash flow to our overall growth profile. The Government of Mexico has announced plans to bring approximately 29 gigawatts of new installed capacity online by 2030, including approximately 8.5 gigawatts of capacity from new natural gas plants6. The Southeast Gateway project is a critical component of this plan, strategically positioned to support operations of 10 of 14 planned natural gas power plants that support the country’s transition to lower-emitting, more reliable sources of energy while driving economic growth and energy security.

    As natural gas and electricity are forecasted to drive the majority of growth in final energy consumption through 2035, TC Energy’s portfolio of natural gas and power assets are presented with attractive in-corridor opportunities with visibility through the end of the decade. Reflecting this opportunity, we have sanctioned the Northwoods project on our ANR system in the range of a five to seven times build multiple. Under a 20 year, take-or-pay contract, the estimated US$0.9 billion project is designed to serve natural gas-fired electric generation demand in the U.S. Midwest, including data centres and overall economic growth. The estimated in-service date of the 0.4 Bcf/d capacity project is late 2029. The Northwoods project exemplifies our strategic focus on executing high value, in-corridor, low-risk projects at attractive build multiples, underpinned by long-term take-or-pay contracts with creditworthy counterparties, allowing us to continue to deliver solid growth, low risk and repeatable performance.

    Looking forward, led by a three-fold increase in LNG exports, strong growth in power generation driven by coal-to-gas conversions and data centre demand, we expect our assets will play a pivotal role in the delivery of reliable, affordable and sustainable energy. Our origination pipeline remains one of the most robust we have seen in decades, with several projects in advanced stages of development, largely related to coal-to-gas conversions and data centre demand growth. Over the past six months, we have sanctioned approximately $4 billion of new capital projects and believe we have line of sight to an increased cadence of project announcements in the second half of 2025 and into 2026. While we anticipate the majority of incremental capital would be weighted toward the end of the decade, we have added capital expenditures in 2025 and 2026 that further enhances our comparable EBITDA growth profile in 2027 and beyond, while ensuring the safety and reliability of our systems. These investments directly support service provided to our customers and their requests for capacity additions. Consistent with our disciplined approach to capital allocation, we expect projects to align with our target of five to seven times build multiples and underpinned by long-term contracts with strong counterparties.

    As electricity demand in Ontario is anticipated to grow 75 per cent by 20507, Bruce Power continues play a critical role. On April 2, 2025, we received approval of the Unit 5 MCR final cost and schedule estimate from the Ontario IESO. The $1.1 billion Unit 5 MCR is expected to commence in fourth quarter 2026 with a return to service in early 2030. As we progress the refurbishment program at Bruce Power, the team remains focused on achieving the highest level of reliability, availability and safety performance at the site. On January 31, 2025, Unit 4 was removed from service to commence its MCR program, with a return to service expected in 2028. Unit 3 MCR and Unit 4 MCR continue to advance on plan for both cost and schedule. The average 2025 plant availability percentage, excluding the Unit 3 and Unit 4 MCR programs, is expected to be in the low-90 per cent range, and reflects planned maintenance on Unit 2 anticipated in the third quarter of 2025. The MCR program provides TC Energy with line of sight to meaningful growth capital at attractive returns through the end of the decade, backed by a long-term contract to 2064 with the Ontario IESO.

    We continue to expect approximately $8.5 billion of projects to be placed into service in 2025, which includes the Southeast Gateway pipeline project. Our focus on project execution is a cornerstone of our strategic priorities. For the remaining projects anticipated to be placed in service in 2025, we are tracking to schedule and below initial cost estimates. High-grading projects remains a priority to optimize returns to maximize value. We will continue to sanction projects with a compelling risk/return profile to fill our $6.0 billion annual net capital expenditure limit and extend the duration of our project backlog, ensuring visibility to growth opportunities through 2030. Through this, we can continue to organically grow comparable EBITDA to support our three to five per cent dividend growth target and further reduce leverage over time.

    TC Energy’s Board of Directors approved a quarterly common share dividend of $0.85 per common share for the quarter ending June 30, 2025, equivalent to $3.40 per common share on an annualized basis.

    Teleconference and Webcast
    We will hold a teleconference and webcast on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 6:30 a.m. (MDT) / 8:30 a.m. (EDT) to discuss our first quarter 2025 financial results and Company developments. Presenters will include François Poirier, President and Chief Executive Officer; Sean O’Donnell, Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer; and other members of the executive leadership team.

    Members of the investment community and other interested parties are invited to participate by calling 1-833-752-3826 (Canada/U.S.) or 1-647-846-8864 (International toll). No passcode is required. Please dial in 15 minutes prior to the start of the call. Alternatively, participants may pre-register for the call here. Upon registering, you will receive a calendar booking by email with dial in details and a unique PIN. This process will bypass the operator and avoid the queue. Registration will remain open until the end of the conference call.

    A live webcast of the teleconference will be available on TC Energy’s website at TC Energy — Events and presentations or via the following URL: https://www.gowebcasting.com/13942. The webcast will be available for replay following the meeting.

    A replay of the teleconference will be available two hours after the conclusion of the call until midnight EDT on May 8, 2025. Please call 1-855-669-9658 (Canada/U.S.) or 1-412-317-0088 (International toll) and enter passcode 6585702.

    The unaudited interim Condensed consolidated financial statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) are available on our website at www.TCEnergy.com and will be filed today under TC Energy’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

    About TC Energy
    We’re a team of 6,500+ energy problem solvers connecting the world to the energy it needs. Out extensive network of natural gas infrastructure assets is one-of-a-kind. We seamlessly move, generate and store energy and deliver it to where it is needed most, to home and businesses in North America and across the globe through LNG exports. Our natural gas assets are complemented by our strategic ownership and low-risk investments in power generation.

    TC Energy’s common shares trade on the Toronto (TSX) and New York (NYSE) stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. To learn more, visit us at www.TCEnergy.com.

    Forward-Looking Information
    This release contains certain information that is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties and is based on certain key assumptions. Forward-looking statements are usually accompanied by words such as “anticipate”, “expect”, “believe”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “estimate” or other similar words. Forward-looking statements in this document may include, but are not limited to, statements related to expectations with respect to Southeast Gateway, including receipt of CNE approval, in-service date, cash flows and other impacts, expectations related to Northwoods project, including expected in-service dates and related expected capital expenditures, expected comparable EBITDA and comparable earnings in total and per common share and the sources thereof, expectations with respect to Bruce Power, including the MCR program and associated cost and schedule estimates, expectations with respect to the approximate value of projects to be placed in-service in 2025, expectations with respect to identified FERC rate cases, including timelines, processes and outcomes, expectations with respect to our strategic priorities, and the execution thereof, expectations with respect to our ability to maximize the value of our assets through safety and operational excellence, expected cost and schedules for planned projects, including projects under construction and in development and the associated capital expenditures, expectations about energy demand levels and drivers thereof, expectations about our ability to execute our identified portfolio of growth projects and ensure financial strength and agility, our ability to deliver solid growth, low risk and repeatable performance, our expected net capital expenditures, including timing, and expected industry, market and economic conditions, and ongoing trade negotiations, including their expected impact on our business, customers and suppliers. Our forward-looking information is subject to important risks and uncertainties and is based on certain key assumptions. Forward-looking statements and future-oriented financial information in this document are intended to provide TC Energy security holders and potential investors with information regarding TC Energy and its subsidiaries, including management’s assessment of TC Energy’s and its subsidiaries’ future plans and financial outlook. All forward-looking statements reflect TC Energy’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements were made and as such are not guarantees of future performance. As actual results could vary significantly from the forward-looking information, you should not put undue reliance on forward-looking information and should not use future-oriented information or financial outlooks for anything other than their intended purpose. We do not update our forward-looking information due to new information or future events, unless we are required to by law. For additional information on the assumptions made, and the risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ from the anticipated results, refer to the most recent Quarterly Report to Shareholders and the 2024 Annual Report filed under TC Energy’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and the “Forward-looking information” section of our Report on Sustainability and our GHG Emissions Reduction Plan which are available on our website at www.TCEnergy.com.

    Non-GAAP and Supplementary Financial Measure
    This release contains references to the following non-GAAP measures: comparable EBITDA, comparable earnings, comparable earnings per common share and comparable funds generated from operations. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by GAAP and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. These non-GAAP measures are calculated by adjusting certain GAAP measures for specific items we believe are significant but not reflective of our underlying operations in the period. These comparable measures are calculated on a consistent basis from period to period and are adjusted for specific items in each period, as applicable except as otherwise described in the Condensed consolidated financial statements and MD&A. Refer to: (i) each business segment and the discontinued operations section for a reconciliation of comparable EBITDA to segmented earnings (losses); (ii) Consolidated results section and the discontinued operations section for reconciliations of comparable earnings and comparable earnings per common share to Net income attributable to common shares and Net income per common share, respectively; and (iii) Financial condition section for a reconciliation of comparable funds generated from operations to Net cash provided by operations. Refer to the Non-GAAP Measures section of the MD&A in our most recent quarterly report for more information about the non-GAAP measures we use. The MD&A is included with, and forms part of, this release. The MD&A can be found on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca under TC Energy’s profile.

    This release contains references to build multiple, which is non-GAAP ratio which is calculated using capital expenditures and comparable EBITDA, of which comparable EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure. We believe build multiple provides investors with a useful measure to evaluate capital projects.

    This release also contains references to net capital expenditures, which is a supplementary financial measure. Net capital expenditures represent capital costs incurred for growth projects, maintenance capital expenditures, contributions to equity investments and projects under development, adjusted for the portion attributed to non-controlling interests in the entities we control. Net capital expenditures reflect capital costs incurred during the period, excluding the impact of timing of cash payments. We use net capital expenditures as a key measure in evaluating our performance in managing our capital spending activities in comparison to our capital plan.

    Download full report here: https://www.tcenergy.com/siteassets/pdfs/investors/reports-and-filings/annual-and-quarterly-reports/2025/tce-2025-q1-quarterly-report.pdf

    Media Inquiries:
    Media Relations
    media@tcenergy.com
    403.920.7859 or 800.608.7859

    Investor & Analyst Inquiries:
    Gavin Wylie / Hunter Mau
    investor_relations@tcenergy.com
    403.920.7911 or 800.361.6522


    1 Build multiple is a non-GAAP ratio calculated by dividing capital expenditures by comparable EBITDA. Please note our method for calculating build multiple may differ from methods used by other entities. Therefore, it may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other entities. For more information on non-GAAP measures and the supplementary financial measure, refer to the Non-GAAP and Supplementary financial measure section of this news release.
    2 Prior year results have been recast to reflect the Liquids Pipelines business as a discontinued operation as a result of the Spinoff Transaction.
    3 Comparable EBITDA, comparable earnings and comparable earnings per common share are non-GAAP measures used throughout this news release. These measures do not have any standardized meaning under GAAP and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The most directly comparable GAAP measures are Segmented earnings, Net income attributable to common shares and Net income per common share, respectively. We do not forecast Segmented earnings. For more information on non-GAAP measures, refer to the Non-GAAP Measures section of this news release.
    4 Based on USD/CAD foreign exchange rate of 1.35.
    5 Net capital expenditures are adjusted for the portion attributed to non-controlling interests and is a supplementary financial measure used throughout this news release. For more information on non-GAAP measures and the supplementary financial measure, refer to the Non-GAAP and Supplementary financial measure section of this news release.
    6 Source: Government of Mexico, CFE fourth quarter 2024 investor presentation
    7 Source: Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO)

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI Economics: WTO, IFC launch joint publication on trade finance in Central America and Mexico

    Source: World Trade Organization

    The report finds that trade and supply chain finance (TSCF) supports 8 per cent of Mexico’s goods trade, 12 per cent of Guatemala’s, and 10 per cent of Honduras’s. In the case of Mexico, only about a quarter of merchandise importers and exporters have any access to financing. These are among the lowest access rates across surveyed economies, despite supply chain finance having made some inroads in Mexico’s economy and, to a lesser extent, in Guatemala and Honduras.

    The report underscores that there is significant potential to grow and diversify the currently concentrated market for TSCF. Model-based projections show that doubling TSCF coverage and aligning costs with advanced economy standards could raise exports and imports by up to 8.9 per cent in Honduras, 7.8 per cent in Guatemala and 7.4 per cent in Mexico – adding more than USD 90 billion in combined trade volume.

    In her opening remarks at the launch, DDG Hill underlined the importance of the WTO-IFC collaboration on trade finance given its key role in enabling trade. Citing the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimation of a USD 2.5 trillion global trade finance gap in 2023, mainly in developing economies, she noted that “inadequate access to trade finance functions in effect as a prohibitive trade cost, holding back trade and closing off economic opportunities for firms and people.”

    This is particularly relevant in the case of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and women-owned businesses that “find it particularly hard to access trade finance,” she added.

    This is the third and last edition of a short series of reports on trade finance in developing economies aimed at improving understanding of the trade finance ecosystem, the constraints to trade finance and gaps in provisions. The first report focused on West Africa (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal) in 2022 and the second on the Mekong region (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Viet Nam) in 2023-24.

    The joint WTO-IFC work on trade finance springs from a 2021 joint statement by the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop, pledging to enhance cooperation to improve the analytics, identification, and detection of trade finance gaps in order to better direct capacity building and other resources to where unmet demand is greatest.

    DDG Hill stressed that in the countries and regions studied so far, only a limited share of trade is supported by trade and supply chain finance, whereas in advanced economies this share is at least 60 per cent. “In each of the regions we examined, trade finance was heavily concentrated. Too few banks directing too little finance towards a small group of well-established and large traders,” she said.

    Doubling the trade finance coverage of trade would increase trade flows by a significant amount and help diversify trade geographically. “More trade finance means not only more trade integration, but also more socioeconomic inclusion through trade,” she added.

    Looking ahead, DDG Hill emphasized that the WTO will continue its work – whether in the trade finance field, through its investment facilitation efforts or through the implementation of its Trade Facilitation Agreement – to reduce international trade costs. In many emerging economies, reducing the cost of shipping, financing and border clearance is key to being competitive internationally. “The adoption of digital technologies is paramount in this regard,” she noted.

    “We remain at our members’ disposal for promoting trade finance solutions and engaging in expert discussions, such as today’s, with support from multilateral development banks and development financial institutions,” DDG Hill said. She noted that “these efforts help address persistent gaps in trade finance access, especially for small and medium enterprises, and support broader goals of trade inclusion, economic diversification, and digital transformation.” Her full remarks (in Spanish) are here.

    Policy recommendations included in the report point at strengthening supply chain markets through regulatory harmonization, digital innovation, improved risk assessments and better access for small and women-owned firms. International organizations and development banks can also play a key role through capacity building, liquidity support and risk-sharing facilities.

    The launch was followed by a presentation of the report and a panel discussion bringing together representatives of the WTO, IFC, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Mexican government and the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM).

    The publication can be found here.

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    MIL OSI Economics

  • MIL-OSI: Targa Resources Corp. Reports Record First Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    HOUSTON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE: TRGP) (“TRGP,” the “Company” or “Targa”) today reported first quarter 2025 results.

    First quarter 2025 net income attributable to Targa Resources Corp. was $270.5 million compared to $275.2 million for the first quarter of 2024. The Company reported adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and other non-cash items (“adjusted EBITDA”)(1) of $1,178.5 million for the first quarter of 2025 compared to $966.2 million for the first quarter of 2024.

    Highlights

    • Record first quarter 2025 adjusted EBITDA of $1.2 billion, a 22% increase year over year
    • Repurchased $214 million of common shares through April 2025
    • Declared an annual common dividend of $4.00 per share for 2025, a 33% increase year over year
    • Continue to estimate full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA between $4.65 billion and $4.85 billion
    • Continue to estimate 2025 net growth capital expenditures of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion

    On April 10, 2025, the Company declared an increase to its quarterly cash dividend to $1.00 per common share, or $4.00 per common share on an annualized basis, for the first quarter of 2025. This dividend represents a 33 percent increase over the common dividend declared with respect to the first quarter of 2024. Total cash dividends of approximately $217 million will be paid on May 15, 2025 on all outstanding shares of common stock to holders of record as of the close of business on April 30, 2025.

    During the first quarter of 2025, Targa repurchased 651,163 shares of its common stock at a weighted average per share price of $191.86 for a total net cost of $124.9 million. As of March 31, 2025, there was $890.5 million remaining under the Company’s share repurchase program. Subsequent to quarter end, Targa repurchased 532,210 shares of its common stock at a weighted average per share price of $167.28 for a total net cost of $89.0 million.

    First Quarter 2025 – Sequential Quarter over Quarter Commentary

    Targa reported first quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1,178.5 million, representing a 5 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. The sequential increase in adjusted EBITDA was attributable to contribution from the Badlands transaction and higher marketing margin. Volumes across Targa’s Gathering and Processing (“G&P”) and Logistics and Transportation (“L&T”) systems were negatively impacted by winter weather events which reduced system volumes during the first quarter. In the G&P segment, sequential adjusted operating margin was approximately flat as modestly lower Permian natural gas inlet volumes due to winter weather events were partially offset by higher fees. In the L&T segment, adjusted operating margin was also sequentially flat as higher marketing margin offset lower NGL pipeline transportation volumes, which were negatively impacted by winter weather events. Fractionation volumes were lower in the first quarter due to a major planned turnaround at Targa’s Cedar Bayou Fractionation facilities in Mont Belvieu, TX. Higher sequential marketing margin was attributable to increased optimization opportunities. Subsequent to quarter end, Targa’s Permian volumes and associated L&T system volumes have meaningfully increased from first quarter levels.

    Capitalization, Financing and Liquidity

    The Company’s total consolidated debt as of March 31, 2025 was $16,208.7 million, net of $106.7 million of debt issuance costs and $35.2 million of unamortized discount, with $14,534.4 million of outstanding senior unsecured notes, $920.0 million outstanding under the Commercial Paper Program, $600.0 million outstanding under the Securitization Facility, and $296.2 million of finance lease liabilities.

    In February 2025, Targa completed an underwritten public offering of 5.550% Notes due 2035 and 6.125% Notes due 2055, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $2.0 billion. Targa used the net proceeds from the issuance to fund the repurchase of all of the outstanding preferred equity in Targa Badlands LLC (the “Badlands Transaction”) and for general corporate purposes, including to repay borrowings under the Commercial Paper Program.

    Total consolidated liquidity as of March 31, 2025 was approximately $2.7 billion, including $2.6 billion available under the TRGP Revolver, and $151.4 million of cash.

    Growth Projects Update

    In Targa’s G&P segment, construction continues on its 275 MMcf/d Pembrook II, East Pembrook, and East Driver plants in Permian Midland and its 275 MMcf/d Bull Moose II and Falcon II plants in Permian Delaware. In Targa’s L&T segment, construction continues on its Delaware Express pipeline expansion, its 150 MBbl/d Train 11 and Train 12 fractionators in Mont Belvieu, and its GPMT LPG Export Expansion. The Company now expects its Pembrook II plant to begin operations in the third quarter of 2025 and remains on-track to complete its other announced expansions as previously disclosed.

    2025 Outlook

    Targa continues to estimate full year 2025 adjusted EBITDA to be between $4.65 billion and $4.85 billion supported by forecasted growth across its Permian G&P footprint, which is expected to drive record Permian, NGL pipeline transportation, fractionation, and LPG export volumes in 2025 relative to records set in 2024. While the growth is weighted to the second half of 2025, current and expected producer activity levels continue to support an outlook of meaningfully increasing volumes across the rest of 2025 and 2026.

    Targa’s estimate for 2025 net growth capital expenditures remains unchanged in a range of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion, and its estimate for 2025 net maintenance capital expenditures also remains unchanged at approximately $250 million.

    Conference Call

    The Company will host a conference call for the investment community at 11:00 a.m. Eastern time (10:00 a.m. Central time) on May 1, 2025 to discuss its first quarter results. The conference call can be accessed via webcast under Events and Presentations in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com/investors/events, or by going directly to https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/waa5bt3q. A webcast replay will be available at the link above approximately two hours after the conclusion of the event.

    An earnings supplement presentation and updated investor presentation are available under Events and Presentations in the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com/investors/events.

    (1)    Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted operating margin (segment) are non-GAAP financial measures and are discussed under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”


    Targa Resources Corp. – Consolidated Financial Results of Operations

      Three Months Ended March 31,            
      2025     2024   2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions)
    Revenues:                      
    Sales of commodities $ 3,884.4     $ 3,942.4     $ (58.0 )     (1 %)
    Fees from midstream services   677.1       620.0       57.1       9 %
    Total revenues   4,561.5       4,562.4       (0.9 )      
    Product purchases and fuel   3,257.8       3,218.0       39.8       1 %
    Operating expenses   303.6       278.0       25.6       9 %
    Depreciation and amortization expense   367.6       340.5       27.1       8 %
    General and administrative expense   94.5       86.5       8.0       9 %
    Other operating (income) expense   (5.3 )           (5.3 )     (100 %)
    Income (loss) from operations   543.3       639.4       (96.1 )     (15 %)
    Interest expense, net   (197.1 )     (228.6 )     31.5       14 %
    Equity earnings (loss)   5.5       2.8       2.7       96 %
    Other, net   0.3       1.7       (1.4 )   NM  
    Income tax (expense) benefit   (72.2 )     (82.7 )     10.5       13 %
    Net income (loss)   279.8       332.6       (52.8 )     (16 %)
    Less: Net income (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests   9.3       57.4       (48.1 )     (84 %)
    Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp.   270.5       275.2       (4.7 )     (2 %)
    Premium on repurchase of noncontrolling interests, net of tax   70.5             70.5       100 %
    Net income (loss) attributable to common shareholders $ 200.0     $ 275.2     $ (75.2 )     (27 %)
    Financial data:                      
    Adjusted EBITDA (1) $ 1,178.5     $ 966.2     $ 212.3       22 %
    Adjusted cash flow from operations (1)   970.0       738.4       231.6       31 %
    Adjusted free cash flow (1)   328.2       2.8       325.4     NM  

    (1)    Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations and adjusted free cash flow are non-GAAP financial measures and are discussed under “Non-GAAP Financial Measures.”
    NM    Due to a low denominator, the noted percentage change is disproportionately high and as a result, considered not meaningful.


    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    Commodity sales are relatively flat reflecting lower NGL, natural gas and condensate volumes ($217.9 million), the unfavorable impact of hedges ($256.1 million) and lower condensate prices ($15.2 million), offset by higher natural gas and NGL prices ($431.2 million).

    The increase in fees from midstream services is primarily due to higher gas gathering and processing fees, and higher export volumes, partially offset by lower transportation and fractionation fees.

    Product purchases and fuel are relatively flat reflecting higher natural gas and NGL prices, offset by lower NGL and natural gas volumes.

    The increase in operating expenses is primarily due to higher labor, taxes and maintenance costs, partially offset by lower rental costs.

    See “—Review of Segment Performance” for additional information on a segment basis.

    The increase in depreciation and amortization expense is primarily due to the impact of system expansions on the Company’s asset base.

    The decrease in interest expense, net is due to recognition of cumulative interest on a legal ruling associated with the Splitter Agreement in 2024, partially offset by higher borrowings in 2025.

    The decrease in income tax expense is primarily due to a decrease in pre-tax book income.

    The decrease in net income attributable to noncontrolling interests is primarily due to the Badlands Transaction in 2025 and the acquisition of the remaining membership interest in Cedar Bayou Fractionators, L.P. in 2024.

    The premium on repurchase of noncontrolling interests, net of tax is due to the Badlands Transaction in 2025.

    Review of Segment Performance

    The following discussion of segment performance includes inter-segment activities. The Company views segment operating margin and adjusted operating margin as important performance measures of the core profitability of its operations. These measures are key components of internal financial reporting and are reviewed for consistency and trend analysis. For a discussion of adjusted operating margin, see “Non-GAAP Financial Measures ― Adjusted Operating Margin.” Segment operating financial results and operating statistics include the effects of intersegment transactions. These intersegment transactions have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation.

    The Company operates in two primary segments: (i) Gathering and Processing; and (ii) Logistics and Transportation.

    Gathering and Processing Segment

    The Gathering and Processing segment includes assets used in the gathering and/or purchase and sale of natural gas produced from oil and gas wells, removing impurities and processing this raw natural gas into merchantable natural gas by extracting NGLs; and assets used for the gathering and terminaling and/or purchase and sale of crude oil. The Gathering and Processing segment’s assets are located in the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico (including the Midland, Central and Delaware Basins); the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas; the Barnett Shale in North Texas; the Anadarko, Ardmore, and Arkoma Basins in Oklahoma (including the SCOOP and STACK) and South Central Kansas; the Williston Basin in North Dakota (including the Bakken and Three Forks plays); and the onshore and near offshore regions of the Louisiana Gulf Coast.

    The following table provides summary data regarding results of operations of this segment for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,                
      2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions, except operating statistics and price amounts)
    Operating margin $   602.2     $   556.4     $   45.8       8 %
    Operating expenses     208.2         188.1         20.1       11 %
    Adjusted operating margin $   810.4     $   744.5     $   65.9       9 %
    Operating statistics (1):                            
    Plant natural gas inlet, MMcf/d (2) (3)                            
    Permian Midland (4)     2,985.6         2,746.1         239.5       9 %
    Permian Delaware     3,020.3         2,648.9         371.4       14 %
    Total Permian     6,005.9         5,395.0         610.9       11 %
                                 
    SouthTX     295.1         304.9         (9.8 )     (3 %)
    North Texas     171.5         184.5         (13.0 )     (7 %)
    SouthOK (5)     318.0         357.2         (39.2 )     (11 %)
    WestOK     200.1         210.1         (10.0 )     (5 %)
    Total Central     984.7         1,056.7         (72.0 )     (7 %)
                                 
    Badlands (5) (6)     136.9         127.1         9.8       8 %
    Total Field     7,127.5         6,578.8         548.7       8 %
                                 
    Coastal     398.8         524.7         (125.9 )     (24 %)
                                 
    Total     7,526.3         7,103.5         422.8       6 %
    NGL production, MBbl/d (3)                            
    Permian Midland (4)     429.5         392.8         36.7       9 %
    Permian Delaware     366.4         307.0         59.4       19 %
    Total Permian     795.9         699.8         96.1       14 %
                                 
    SouthTX     28.8         28.9         (0.1 )      
    North Texas     21.0         21.9         (0.9 )     (4 %)
    SouthOK (5)     33.1         28.1         5.0       18 %
    WestOK     15.2         11.7         3.5       30 %
    Total Central     98.1         90.6         7.5       8 %
                                 
    Badlands (5)     16.4         14.6         1.8       12 %
    Total Field     910.4         805.0         105.4       13 %
                                  
    Coastal     32.7         39.1         (6.4 )     (16 %)
                                 
    Total     943.1         844.1         99.0       12 %
    Crude oil, Badlands, MBbl/d     107.1         94.4         12.7       13 %
    Crude oil, Permian, MBbl/d     29.0         27.6         1.4       5 %
    Natural gas sales, BBtu/d (3)     2,592.8         2,650.5         (57.7 )     (2 %)
    NGL sales, MBbl/d (3)     570.2         498.8         71.4       14 %
    Condensate sales, MBbl/d     18.1         19.1         (1.0 )     (5 %)
    Average realized prices (7):                            
    Natural gas, $/MMBtu     2.24         1.50         0.74       49 %
    NGL, $/gal     0.50         0.48         0.02       4 %
    Condensate, $/Bbl     72.32         77.22         (4.90 )     (6 %)

    (1)    Segment operating statistics include the effect of intersegment amounts, which have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation. For all volume statistics presented, the numerator is the total volume sold during the period and the denominator is the number of calendar days during the period.
    (2)    Plant natural gas inlet represents the Company’s undivided interest in the volume of natural gas passing through the meter located at the inlet of a natural gas processing plant, other than Badlands during 2024.
    (3)    Plant natural gas inlet volumes and gross NGL production volumes include producer take-in-kind volumes, while natural gas sales and NGL sales exclude producer take-in-kind volumes.
    (4)    Permian Midland includes operations in WestTX, of which the Company owns a 72.8% undivided interest, and other plants that are owned 100% by the Company. Operating results for the WestTX undivided interest assets are presented on a pro-rata net basis in the Company’s reported financials.
    (5)    Operations include facilities that are not wholly owned by the Company.
    (6)    Badlands natural gas inlet represents the total wellhead volume and includes the Targa volumes processed at the Little Missouri 4 plant.
    (7)    Average realized prices, net of fees, include the effect of realized commodity hedge gain/loss attributable to the Company’s equity volumes. The price is calculated using total commodity sales plus the hedge gain/loss as the numerator and total sales volume as the denominator, net of fees.

    The following table presents the realized commodity hedge gain (loss) attributable to the Company’s equity volumes that are included in the adjusted operating margin of the Gathering and Processing segment:

        Three Months Ended March 31, 2025     Three Months Ended March 31, 2024  
        (In millions, except volumetric data and price amounts)  
        Volume
    Settled
        Price
    Spread (1)
        Gain
    (Loss)
        Volume
    Settled
        Price
    Spread (1)
        Gain
    (Loss)
     
    Natural gas (BBtu)     7.7     $ 0.96     $ 7.4       14.4     $ 1.27     $ 18.3  
    NGL (MMgal)     97.5       (0.07 )     (6.6 )     134.1       0.01       1.7  
    Crude oil (MBbl)     0.7       1.00       0.7       0.4       (7.25 )     (2.9 )
                    $ 1.5                 $ 17.1  

    (1)    The price spread is the differential between the contracted derivative instrument pricing and the price of the corresponding settled commodity transaction.

    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    The increase in adjusted operating margin was predominantly due to higher natural gas inlet volumes in the Permian. The increase in natural gas inlet volumes in the Permian was attributable to the addition of the Roadrunner II plant during the second quarter of 2024, the Greenwood II plant during the fourth quarter of 2024, the Bull Moose plant during the first quarter of 2025, and continued strong producer activity despite severe winter weather events which impacted volumes during the first quarter of 2025.

    The increase in operating expenses was primarily due to higher volumes and multiple plant additions in the Permian.

    Logistics and Transportation Segment

    The Logistics and Transportation segment includes the activities and assets necessary to convert mixed NGLs into NGL products and also includes other assets and value-added services such as transporting, storing, fractionating, terminaling, and marketing of NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters and certain natural gas supply and marketing activities in support of the Company’s other businesses. The Logistics and Transportation segment also includes Grand Prix NGL Pipeline, which connects the Company’s gathering and processing positions in the Permian Basin, Southern Oklahoma and North Texas with the Company’s Downstream facilities in Mont Belvieu, Texas. The Company’s Downstream facilities are located predominantly in Mont Belvieu and Galena Park, Texas, and in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

    The following table provides summary data regarding results of operations of this segment for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,              
      2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024
      (In millions, except operating statistics)
    Operating margin $   646.7     $   532.1     $   114.6     22 %
    Operating expenses     95.5         90.0         5.5     6 %
    Adjusted operating margin $   742.2     $   622.1     $   120.1     19 %
    Operating statistics MBbl/d (1):                          
    NGL pipeline transportation volumes     843.5         717.8         125.7     18 %
    Fractionation volumes     979.9         797.2         182.7     23 %
    Export volumes     447.7         439.0         8.7     2 %
    NGL sales     1,186.4         1,227.6         (41.2 )   (3 %)

    (1)    Segment operating statistics include intersegment amounts, which have been eliminated from the consolidated presentation. For all volume statistics presented, the numerator is the total volume sold during the period and the denominator is the number of calendar days during the period.

    Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Compared to Three Months Ended March 31, 2024

    The increase in adjusted operating margin was due to higher pipeline transportation and fractionation margin and higher marketing margin. Pipeline transportation and fractionation volumes benefited from higher supply volumes primarily from the Company’s Permian Gathering and Processing systems, the addition of Train 9 during the second quarter of 2024, the in-service of the Daytona NGL Pipeline during the third quarter of 2024, and the addition of Train 10 during the fourth quarter of 2024. Marketing margin increased due to greater optimization opportunities.

    The increase in operating expenses was predominantly due to system expansions.

    Other

        Three Months Ended March 31,        
        2025     2024     2025 vs. 2024  
        (In millions)  
    Operating margin   $ (248.8 )   $ (22.1 )   $ (226.7 )
    Adjusted operating margin   $ (248.8 )   $ (22.1 )   $ (226.7 )

    Other contains the results of commodity derivative activity mark-to-market gains/losses related to derivative contracts that were not designated as cash flow hedges. The Company has entered into derivative instruments to hedge the commodity price associated with a portion of the Company’s future commodity purchases and sales and natural gas transportation basis risk within the Company’s Logistics and Transportation segment.

    About Targa Resources Corp.

    Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent infrastructure companies in North America. The Company owns, operates, acquires and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary domestic infrastructure assets and its operations are critical to the efficient, safe and reliable delivery of energy across the United States and increasingly to the world. The Company’s assets connect natural gas and NGLs to domestic and international markets with growing demand for cleaner fuels and feedstocks. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, transporting, and purchasing and selling natural gas; transporting, storing, fractionating, treating, and purchasing and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; and gathering, storing, terminaling, and purchasing and selling crude oil.

    Targa is a FORTUNE 500 company and is included in the S&P 500.

    For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.targaresources.com.

    Non-GAAP Financial Measures

    This press release includes the Company’s non-GAAP financial measures: adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating margin (segment). The following tables provide reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures.

    The Company utilizes non-GAAP measures to analyze the Company’s performance. Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted cash flow from operations, adjusted free cash flow and adjusted operating margin (segment) are non-GAAP measures. The GAAP measures most directly comparable to these non-GAAP measures are income (loss) from operations, Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. and segment operating margin. These non-GAAP measures should not be considered as an alternative to GAAP measures and have important limitations as analytical tools. Investors should not consider these measures in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of the Company’s results as reported under GAAP. Additionally, because the Company’s non-GAAP measures exclude some, but not all, items that affect income and segment operating margin, and are defined differently by different companies within the Company’s industry, the Company’s definitions may not be comparable with similarly titled measures of other companies, thereby diminishing their utility. Management compensates for the limitations of the Company’s non-GAAP measures as analytical tools by reviewing the comparable GAAP measures, understanding the differences between the measures and incorporating these insights into the Company’s decision-making processes.

    Adjusted Operating Margin

    The Company defines adjusted operating margin for the Company’s segments as revenues less product purchases and fuel. It is impacted by volumes and commodity prices as well as by the Company’s contract mix and commodity hedging program.

    Gathering and Processing adjusted operating margin consists primarily of:

    • service fees related to natural gas and crude oil gathering, treating and processing; and
    • revenues from the sale of natural gas, condensate, crude oil and NGLs less producer settlements, fuel and transport and the Company’s equity volume hedge settlements.

    Logistics and Transportation adjusted operating margin consists primarily of:

    • service fees (including the pass-through of energy costs included in certain fee rates);
    • system product gains and losses; and
    • NGL and natural gas sales, less NGL and natural gas purchases, fuel, third-party transportation costs and the net inventory change.

    The adjusted operating margin impacts of mark-to-market hedge unrealized changes in fair value are reported in Other.

    Adjusted operating margin for the Company’s segments provides useful information to investors because it is used as a supplemental financial measure by management and by external users of the Company’s financial statements, including investors and commercial banks, to assess:

    • the financial performance of the Company’s assets without regard to financing methods, capital structure or historical cost basis;
    • the Company’s operating performance and return on capital as compared to other companies in the midstream energy sector, without regard to financing or capital structure; and
    • the viability of capital expenditure projects and acquisitions and the overall rates of return on alternative investment opportunities.

    Management reviews adjusted operating margin and operating margin for the Company’s segments monthly as a core internal management process. The Company believes that investors benefit from having access to the same financial measures that management uses in evaluating the Company’s operating results. The reconciliation of the Company’s adjusted operating margin to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is presented under “Review of Segment Performance.”

    Adjusted EBITDA

    The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and other items that the Company believes should be adjusted consistent with the Company’s core operating performance. The adjusting items are detailed in the adjusted EBITDA reconciliation table and its footnotes. Adjusted EBITDA is used as a supplemental financial measure by the Company and by external users of the Company’s financial statements such as investors, commercial banks and others to measure the ability of the Company’s assets to generate cash sufficient to pay interest costs, support the Company’s indebtedness and pay dividends to the Company’s investors.

    Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations and Adjusted Free Cash Flow

    The Company defines adjusted cash flow from operations as adjusted EBITDA less cash interest expense on debt obligations and cash tax (expense) benefit. The Company defines adjusted free cash flow as adjusted cash flow from operations less maintenance capital expenditures (net of any reimbursements of project costs) and growth capital expenditures, net of contributions from noncontrolling interests and including contributions to investments in unconsolidated affiliates. Adjusted cash flow from operations and adjusted free cash flow are performance measures used by the Company and by external users of the Company’s financial statements, such as investors, commercial banks and research analysts, to assess the Company’s ability to generate cash earnings (after servicing the Company’s debt and funding capital expenditures) to be used for corporate purposes, such as payment of dividends, retirement of debt or redemption of other financing arrangements.

    The following table reconciles the non-GAAP financial measures used by management to the most directly comparable GAAP measures for the periods indicated:

      Three Months Ended March 31,  
      2025     2024  
      (In millions)  
    Reconciliation of Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. to Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations and Adjusted Free Cash Flow          
    Net income (loss) attributable to Targa Resources Corp. $ 270.5     $ 275.2  
    Interest (income) expense, net   197.1       228.6  
    Income tax expense (benefit)   72.2       82.7  
    Depreciation and amortization expense   367.6       340.5  
    (Gain) loss on sale or disposition of assets   (0.5 )     (1.1 )
    Write-down of assets   2.0       1.0  
    (Gain) loss from financing activities   0.6        
    Equity (earnings) loss   (5.5 )     (2.8 )
    Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates   4.9       6.3  
    Compensation on equity grants   17.6       14.6  
    Risk management activities   248.8       22.0  
    Noncontrolling interests adjustments (1)   3.2       (0.8 )
    Adjusted EBITDA $ 1,178.5     $ 966.2  
    Interest expense on debt obligations (2)   (193.2 )     (224.9 )
    Cash taxes   (15.3 )     (2.9 )
    Adjusted Cash Flow from Operations $ 970.0     $ 738.4  
    Maintenance capital expenditures, net (3)   (47.3 )     (49.8 )
    Growth capital expenditures, net (3)   (594.5 )     (685.8 )
    Adjusted Free Cash Flow $ 328.2     $ 2.8  

    (1)    Represents adjustments related to the Company’s subsidiaries with noncontrolling interests, including depreciation and amortization expense as well as earnings for certain plants within Targa’s WestTX joint venture not subject to noncontrolling interest accounting.
    (2)    Excludes amortization of interest expense. The three months ended March 31, 2024 includes $54.9 million of interest expense on a 2024 legal ruling associated with an agreement, dated December 27, 2015, for crude oil and condensate between Targa Channelview LLC, then a subsidiary of the Company, and Noble Americas Corp.
    (3)    Represents capital expenditures, net of contributions from noncontrolling interests and includes contributions to investments in unconsolidated affiliates.

    The following table presents a reconciliation of estimated net income of the Company to estimated adjusted EBITDA for 2025:

      2025E  
      (In millions)  
    Reconciliation of Estimated Net Income Attributable to Targa Resources Corp. to    
    Estimated Adjusted EBITDA    
    Net income attributable to Targa Resources Corp. $ 1,555.0  
    Interest expense, net   860.0  
    Income tax expense   485.0  
    Depreciation and amortization expense   1,525.0  
    Equity earnings   (20.0 )
    Distributions from unconsolidated affiliates   25.0  
    Compensation on equity grants   70.0  
    Risk management and other   250.0  
    Estimated Adjusted EBITDA $ 4,750.0  

    Regulation FD Disclosures

    The Company uses any of the following to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD: press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, or our website. The Company routinely posts important information on its website at www.targaresources.com, including information that may be deemed to be material. The Company encourages investors and others interested in the company to monitor these distribution channels for material disclosures.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Certain statements in this release are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this release that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future, are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our projected financial performance, capital spending and payment of future dividends. These forward-looking statements rely on a number of assumptions concerning future events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, factors and risks, many of which are outside the Company’s control, which could cause results to differ materially from those expected by management of the Company. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, actions taken by other countries with significant hydrocarbon production, weather, political, economic and market conditions, including a decline in the price and market demand for natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil, the timing and success of our completion of capital projects and business development efforts, the expected growth of volumes on our systems, the impact of significant public health crises, commodity price volatility due to ongoing or new global conflicts, the impact of disruptions in the bank and capital markets, including those resulting from lack of access to liquidity for banking and financial services firms, changes in laws and regulations, particularly with regard to taxes, tariffs and international trade, and other uncertainties. These and other applicable uncertainties, factors and risks are described more fully in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and any subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. The Company does not undertake an obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Targa Investor Relations
    InvestorRelations@targaresources.com
    (713) 584-1133

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI: Political risk tops companies’ ERM risk registers, according to latest Willis Political Risk Survey

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    LONDON, May 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Political risks rank among the top five risks on the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) risk register for 75% of global companies, with 11% identifying it as the number one risk. Highly exposed industries, such as contracting, transport and mining are disproportionately affected, according to the eighth annual Political Risk Survey and Report by Willis, a WTW business, (NASDAQ:WTW).

    The survey revealed that 58% of respondents anticipated a negative financial impact on their organization due to the imposition of tariffs by the US. This figure is nearly as high as the 60% who reported financial setbacks from the Russia – Ukraine conflict in 2023 and significantly exceeds the 28% who cited negative effects from Western tensions with China and the Middle East conflict.

    Other key findings were:

    • Over the past eight years since the survey began, 2023 saw the highest political risk losses, driven by expropriation, political violence and currency convertibility issues. Notably, 18% of respondents faced losses significant enough to require corporate earnings restatements.
    • Companies were most likely to rely on direct negotiations with host governments and political risk insurance to recover such prior losses. In 2025, the most common risk mitigation strategies against potential future losses were diversification and a “three lines of defense” approach
    • Top political risk concerns for 2025 included U.S. policy uncertainty (especially tariffs) and tensions between the U.S. and its allies.
    • Other major risks included restricted access to key markets due to geopolitical tensions and the threat of state-backed cyber and disinformation attacks.

    The research includes a survey of 66 companies and in-depth, anonymized interviews with 15 companies. 

    “In the eight years since we began this research, companies’ political risk concerns have changed almost unrecognizably,” said Sam Wilkin, Director of Political Risk Analytics at Willis. “In 2018, political risk was mostly a worry for highly exposed sectors investing in risky countries like Venezuela. Today, political risk concerns apply across sectors, involve a much higher level of potential loss, and are focused on United States policy.”

    The complete report can be downloaded here.

    About WTW

    At WTW (NASDAQ: WTW), we provide data-driven, insight-led solutions in the areas of people, risk and capital. Leveraging the global view and local expertise of our colleagues serving 140 countries and markets, we help organizations sharpen their strategy, enhance organizational resilience, motivate their workforce and maximize performance.

    Working shoulder to shoulder with our clients, we uncover opportunities for sustainable success—and provide perspective that moves you. Learn more at wtwco.com.

    Media Contacts

    Sarah Booker
    Sarah.booker@wtwco.com / +44 (0)7917 722040

    The MIL Network

  • MIL-OSI United Kingdom: Distillery among next opening day traders announced for Derby Market Hall

    Source: City of Derby

    Derby City Council is excited to reveal another wave of traders who are set to move into the revitalised Derby Market Hall when it reopens, including a new bar and Derby’s first distillery in the heart of the city centre, marking another milestone in the transformation of the historic Grade-II listed building.

    Following a £35.1m restoration, the Market Hall will reopen its doors to the public on Saturday, 24 May, marking a new era for Derby’s independent shopping, dining, and entertainment scene. 

    A curated mix of traditional and contemporary traders will be in place when the Market Hall reopens its doors, creating a vibrant hub in the heart of the city and blending its rich history with a modern experience. The newest announcement of traders offers something for everyone, with the continuation of international flavours and diverse menus for all visitors.

    Supporting Derbyshire’s community:

    • Preloved, a non-profit, volunteer-run boutique will be operating from the Market Hall when it reopens to the public. The non-profit boutique, which will sell high-quality preloved clothing, is the newest initiative from YMCA Derbyshire Group, which also includes Padley@YMCA Derbyshire. The charities have a longstanding history of supporting young people and communities across Derby and Derbyshire, with the YMCA since 1847 and Padley since 1985. All proceeds from Preloved will go towards funding vital services and will help the YMCA contribute to their vision and mission of supporting young people and communities who are most in need. By shopping or donating to Preloved, visitors will be helping young people and the YMCA’s mission. 

    An iconic distillery and bar:

    • Award-winning local winery, distillers, and bar operators, Darley Abbey Wines will be operating two units at Derby Market Hall. Known for their first gin, The Uncommon Thread, and a recent win as Best Bar at the 2023 Marketing Derby Food & Drink Awards, Darley Abbey Wines continues to blend local heritage with a modern flair.
    • The Spirit Run will be the first distillery bar in the heart of Derby city centre, producing small-batch spirits for customers to sample and enjoy on-site at Derby Market Hall. After releasing their first gin in November 2022, The Uncommon Thread, the distillery arm of the business has continued to grow. With a focus on collaboration with local makers, and quality ingredients, The Spirit Run will offer visitors a brand-new cultural experience within the Market Hall.
    • Situated in the heart of the bustling Derby Market Hall, Market Porter is set to become a new welcoming space where visitors can enjoy a diverse selection of beers, hand-picked wines, premium spirits, and more. Whether you’re a wine enthusiast or simply looking for a great drink in a lively setting, Market Porter provides the perfect blend of quality and convenience.

    The international flavours continue:

    • With vibrant international flavours at the forefront of the revitalised Market Hall, Arepita is gearing up to offer authentic Venezuelan and Caribbean-inspired cuisine. Diners can enjoy freshly made arepas, empanadas and more, crafted with a wide range of bold spices and unique Venezuelan seasoning. Arepita will also offer a range of gluten-free dishes, staying true to their motto: “Gluten free… toasty and tasty”. Arepita is also set to offer takeaway and catering services.
    • Potful of Crumble, a dessert trader, is set to bring warm, nostalgic comfort to Derby Market Hall with a range of handcrafted crumble pots and fresh fruit smoothies, made fresh and on-site daily. Potful of Crumble offers a mix of traditional and more modern flavours, from its classic apple crumble, crafted from a cherished family recipe, to indulgent chocolate toppings. Each crumble pot is available in gluten-free and vegan options and is completely customisable with a range of hot or cold custard, ice cream, and a variety of toppings to choose from. A range of refreshing and tasty fresh fruit smoothies will also be available. 
    • Tikka Tales is set to bring the rich, smoky flavours of authentic Indian Tandoori cuisine to the Market Hall with a variety of flavourful dishes on offer. Celebrating bold spices and traditional cooking techniques, Tikka Tales will offer tandoori tikkas, freshly baked naan, a variety of traditional curry dishes, chaats, and much more. Diners will be able to experience the essence of India with marinated grilled meats and slow-cooked curry. Each dish will be authentically and freshly cooked in the Market Hall. Tikka Tales originates from the Artcore Café which has been operating for two years.
    • Bethel Kitchen will offer vibrant and diverse flavours with African and French dishes. Led by Sandra Sonna, a Lyon-born chef who grew up in Africa, Bethel Kitchen brings a diverse menu of fresh culinary experiences to Derby Market Hall. Visitors can look forward to an array of dishes, from classic French favourites such as quiche Lorraine, steak tartare, and beef bourguignon, to African staples such as jollof rice, fufu with okra, chicken suya, and fried plantain. The menu also features classic street food dishes including puff-puff, garba, and degue, offering something for each visitor to the Market Hall.

    Councillor Nadine Peatfield, Leader of Derby City Council and Cabinet Member for City Centre, Regeneration, Strategy and Policy, said:

    I’m delighted to announce our final wave of traders who will be operating in the Market Hall when it reopens to the public on Saturday, 24 May. The new traders each bring something unique and special to Derby and the historic Market Hall.

    We are bringing together the best of the region’s independent shopping, eating, drinking, and entertainment, and with only a few weeks to go, I’m excited for the reopening and for visitors from across the region and beyond to experience everything that our traders have to offer.

    The Market Hall will once again be Derby’s beating heart where people choose to come together to shop, eat, and enjoy the buzz of the city. I am certain that it will be a huge success.

    A range of pop-up traders will also be in place when the Market Hall reopens its doors to the public.

    Located at the heart of the city centre, linking Derbion and St Peter’s Quarter with the Cathedral Quarter and Becketwell, the redeveloped Market Hall will play a key role in widening the diversity of the city centre and is expected to generate £3.64m for the local economy every year.

    Follow Derby Market Hall on Facebook and Instagram, or visit the website to find out more. 

    Osnabruck Square, the space outside Derby Market Hall, will be open in July 2025.

    MIL OSI United Kingdom

  • MIL-OSI USA: Cortez Masto Joins Bipartisan Effort to Stop President Trump’s Harmful Tariffs, Protect Nevada Businesses

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement after voting to repeal Donald Trump’s reckless, blanket global tariffs that are hurting Nevada small businesses and families. Despite bipartisan support, Senate Republicans blocked the measure.

    “President Trump’s reckless policies are raising costs on hardworking families and threatening Nevada small businesses. While I believe targeted tariffs on our adversaries can be a useful tool to protect American jobs and support our national security, these blanket tariffs do the opposite,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “The president is abusing his power to bypass both Congress and common sense. Today, I joined my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in a vote to rein in Donald Trump, and I’ll continue to fight for our businesses and workers.”

    This resolution received bipartisan support, and if enacted, it would have terminated the emergency that Trump declared, reversed Trump’s new taxes of 10 percent on all imported goods, and ended his threat of additional tariffs of up to 49 percent on products Americans buy from other countries.

    Senator Cortez Masto has continued to push the Trump Administration to address the impacts of Trump’s tariffs on working families and Nevada small businesses. Earlier this month, the Senator wrote a letter to the Administration demanding they provide their plan to mitigate the economic stress caused by the implementation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and other executive actions. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing, Cortez Masto pressed U.S. Trade Representative Greer about the impacts of President Trump’s blanket tariffs on Nevadans, particularly those employed in the tourism and hospitality industry. The Senator introduced the Tariff Transparency Act to require the U.S. International Trade Commission to publicly investigate how Donald Trump’s recent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada will impact the American people.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Working Arrangement signed with Republic of Korea

    Source: Eurojust

    Eurojust President Mr Michael Schmid said: Organised crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated and international, operating seamlessly across both physical and digital borders. To meet this challenge, prosecutors from different countries and continents need to unite and devise strategies for closer cooperation. It is not enough to temporarily disrupt criminal networks. We need to hold these criminals accountable in court. That is why I am proud to sign this Working Arrangement with our South Korean counterparts today, laying the foundation for deeper cooperation and more impactful joint casework.

    Close inter-state cooperation is essential to root out transnational crimes such as money laundering, drug trafficking and cybercrimes, including online sexual abuse and hacking, said Minister of Justice of the Republic of Korea Mr. Park Sung-jae in his remark. Through the Working Arrangement signed today, we are making a step forward to reinforce criminal justice cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the European Union.

    As organised crime is expanding on a global scale, judicial cooperation across borders on a worldwide level is of paramount importance for the European Union. The signing of Working Arrangements with partner countries is in line with the EU Strategy to Tackle Organised Crime, supporting judicial authorities in the EU to have effective and reliable cooperation with national authorities outside the Union.

    Working Arrangements facilitate the exchange of best practice and provide for more direct and straightforward contact with judicial authorities outside the EU. They can also assist with the access of partner countries’ authorities to Eurojust’s operational cooperation tools in investigations involving at least one EU Member State.

    A Working Arrangement is no basis for the exchange of operational personal data, but formalises the role of the Eurojust Contact Point, with the aim of ensuring the more rapid execution of requests for judicial cooperation on both sides. As of November 2023, Eurojust has signed cooperation agreements with Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, Ecuador, Nigeria, Panama and Peru, as well as the Ibero-American Association of Public Prosecutors Offices (AIAMP).

    More information on Eurojust’s international cooperation can be found in the FAQ on the Working Arrangement with South Korea.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Video: UN Chief in memory of His Holiness Pope Francis – General Assembly, 79th session | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    On behalf of the UN family, Secretary-General António Guterres today (29 Apr) extended “deepest condolences to the Catholic community and to so many others around the world grieving this tremendous loss.”

    At a tribute ceremony at the General Assembly Hall, GA President Philémon Yang said, “to the faithful around the world, Pope Francis was more than the leader of the Catholic Church. He was a moral voice and a global conscience. With humility and courage, he championed the dignity of the marginalised, the poor and the voiceless.”

    Yang said, Pope Francis “reminded us that the pursuit of common good must guide all our actions, whether in politics, economics or diplomacy” and had “urged all nations to rise above self-interest, and to act in solidarity with future generations.”

    He said, “His Holiness never ceased to remind us that human dignity is a collective responsibility.”

    Guterres recalled that as a young man, “Pope Francis found his calling in the slums of Buenos Aires, where his dedication to serving the poor earned him the title Bishop of the Slums.”

    These early experiences, he said, “sharpened his conviction that faith must be an engine of action and change,” and “put that engine into overdrive as an unstoppable voice for social justice and equality.

    The Secretary-General said Pope Francis “stood with conviction for innocents caught in war zones such as Ukraine and Gaza.”

    He recalled that “every day without fail, precisely at 7:00 p.m., he would quietly call the Church of the Holy Family in Gaza City. As someone at the Church said, ‘He would ask us how we were, what did we eat, did we have clean water, was anyone injured?’ It was never diplomatic or a matter of obligation. It was the questions a father asks to their son.”

    The representative of the Holy See, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia told the General Assembly that “the best way we can commemorate Pope Francis today is to take that torch of hope and rediscover the spirit which 80 years ago created this organisation, so that together we can all work to end on a better world to the generations that will come after us.”

    For his part, Argentine Ambassador Fabián Oddone said, “Pope Francis was a spiritual leader whose passing humanity is mourning. He was also a beacon who illuminated the human dignity of which he was such a staunch defender, particularly that human dignity that shone through the eyes of those most forgotten, marginalised unborn children who suffered as a result of the scourge of abortion. Older people, who were the victims of carelessness when euthanasia was placed on the table as an option. Women who suffer trafficking and exploitation or children put up for sale as a result of surrogacy and those who suffer the denials of their freedom and thought and religion rights so threatened for so many victims of bombs dropped or attacks conducted on religious grounds throughout the world.”

    Pope Francis away on 21 April in Vatican City at the age of 88. The pontiff – born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina – was elected in March 2013. He was the first priest from the Americas region to lead the Catholic Church worldwide and a strong voice for social justice globally.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ky7n94rsNE

    MIL OSI Video

  • MIL-OSI Video: India/Pakistan, Palestine & other topics – Daily Press Briefing (29 April 2025) | United Nations

    Source: United Nations (Video News)

    Noon Briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

    Highlights:
    India/Pakistan
    Security Council
    Occupied Palestinian Territory
    Secretary-General/Syria
    Lebanon
    General Assembly/Pope
    Security Council/Ukraine
    Afghanistan
    Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Haiti
    Locusts
    Noon Briefing Guest
    Financial Contribution

    INDIA/PAKISTAN
    This morning, the Secretary-General spoke separately by telephone with Muhammad Shebaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and he also spoke earlier in the day with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the Minister for External Affairs of the Republic of India. In his phone calls, the Secretary-General reiterated his strong condemnation of the 22 April terrorist attack that took place in Jammu and Kashmir. The Secretary-General noted the importance of pursuing justice and accountability for these attacks through lawful means.
    The Secretary-General also expressed his deep concern at the rising tensions between India and Pakistan and he also underscored the need to avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences.
    The Secretary-General offered his Good Offices to support any de-escalation efforts.

    SECURITY COUNCIL
    The Secretary-General, in a briefing to the Security Council this morning on Israel and Palestine, said that the promise of a two-State solution is at risk of dwindling to the point of disappearance. The political commitment to this long-standing goal is farther than it has ever been, he said.
    The world cannot afford to watch the two-State solution disappear, heasserted. Political leaders face clear choices — the choice to be silent, the choice to acquiesce, or the choice is to act.
    Regarding Gaza, Mr. Guterres said that the recent ceasefire had brought a glimmer of hope – the long-sought release of hostages and the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian relief. But those embers of opportunity were cruelly extinguished with the shattering of the ceasefire on 18 March.
    The Secretary-General said that he was alarmed by statements by Israeli government officials about the use of humanitarian aid as a tool for military pressure. Aid is non-negotiable, he said. Israel must protect civilians and must agree to relief schemes and facilitate them, he said.
    The Secretary-General told the Council that there must be no hindrance to humanitarian aid – including through the vital work of UNRWA. We need the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and we need a permanent ceasefire.
    Mr. Guterres added that it’s time to stop the repeated displacement of the Gaza population – along with any question of forced displacement outside of Gaza, and the trampling of international law must end.

    Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=29%20April%202025

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyIzbPRrjkk

    MIL OSI Video

  • MIL-OSI USA: Ramirez Slams GOP $69B DHS Budget Proposal: “There is no way in hell that I am giving this administration one more dollar to violate our rights and criminalize our communities.”

    Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Delia Ramirez – Illinois (3rd District)

    Washington, DC —  Today, Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) slammed Republicans for seeking to infuse $69B – without conditions – into the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Secretary Kristi Noem, and Donald Trump to fund their unconstitutional, anti-immigrant, authoritarian agenda. During a House Homeland Security Committee hearing to vote and amend a budget for DHS, Ramirez called for Noem to resign for the long list of unconstitutional, illegal, and inhumane activities the Department has committed under her leadership. 

    The budget, which is part of a Republican framework to cut over $1.5 trillion in federal programs to provide multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks for mega-corporations and billionaires, includes $46.5 billion for new border barriers and $5 billion for new Customs and Border Protection detention facilities.

    Video of Ramirez’s remarks here:

     

    Remarks as prepared for delivery:

    “A few weeks ago, right from this dais, I talked about the hypocrisy of the Republican policies: gutting services working people rely on, while writing blank checks for their ultrawealthy bosses. Well, here we are again: Republicans are looking to cut $1.5 trillion in funding for our communities, but today we will consider a $69 billion infusion into an agency that is violating our rights, undermining due process, and blaming “administrative errors” for their criminal behavior. And this gift to Trump and Noem comes without oversight, which Republicans on this Committee have proven either unwilling or incapable of. Case in point, my request to conduct an oversight visit in El Salvador was publicly denied in the press, despite evidence that Noem spent $6 million in taxpayer dollars to disappear immigrants to a foreign prison without due process.  

    The Committee is considering this massive infusion of capital into the department without having held a single hearing with Secretary Noem – a request I have made several times to this body and make again today. Secretary Noem must come before this body and answer our questions about her Department’s unconstitutional, illegal, and inhumane activities. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter requesting Noem to come before the committee to testify.

    In case there is any question about what those unconstitutional, illegal, and inhumane activities are, let’s revisit some of them for the record! 

    Republicans are seeking to fund the wasteful spending of this Administration after Trump and Noem already wasted $300 million in 6 weeks to militarize the border.

    The Administration says they are committed to “legal immigration” while they cruelly canceled the appointments of thousands of immigrants who legally sought asylum in our country.

    Trump and Noem have denied children as young as 2-year-old their basic right to face immigration proceedings with a lawyer, including children going through cancer treatment.

    Since January, Trump and Noem have used ICE to terrorize our communities, profiling Latinos and arresting U.S. citizens, like the man who was detained in Chicago after buying a slice of pizza despite carrying his ID and Social Security card, and the Puerto Rican veteran in New Jersey. 

    These are the same people who launched a $200M anti-immigrant ad campaign. 

    And then last month, in violation of court orders, Secretary Noem acted on the fascist dreams of her leader and sent immigrants to off-shore detention camps.

    Noem wasted millions to fly immigrants *without* criminal records to Guantanamo.

    And then she decided to enter into a $6 million deal with the El Salvador government to disappear and “mistakenly” deport a legal resident – Kilmar Abrego Garcia–, a hairdresser, soccer players, 8 women– to a men’s prison–, and a long list of immigrants without criminal records.

    The list includes a young man from Chicago, whose family has no idea how to reach after recognizing him in an authoritarian propaganda video of Noem touring the prison. 

    All while Trump, Noem, and Rubio weaponize immigration enforcement against activist and dissenting voices, like legal permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, international student Rumeysa Ozturk, and labor rights organizer Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez.

    In three months, Trump and Noem have abused the power of the Department of Homeland Security to pursue a campaign of persecution, mass incarceration, and deportation. Day after day, Noem disregards the authority of Congress, the laws of the land, the constitutional rights of residents, the courts, due process, and every check and balance that protects us from fascist authoritarians. 

    There is NO WAY IN HELL that I am giving this administration one more dollar to violate our rights and criminalize our communities. 

    And further, Noem must resign from her position as Secretary of Homeland Security. Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record a letter demanding Noem’s resignation as the Secretary of Homeland Security.

    I yield back.”

    For the full text of the letter demanding that Noem come to the committee, CLICK HERE.

    For the full text of the letter demanding Noem’s resignationCLICK HERE.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: Tuberville Speaks to Trump’s U.S. Department of Agriculture Nominees

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Alabama Tommy Tuberville
    WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) joined a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, to consider the nominations of Luke Lindberg to be Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, and of Devon Westhill to be Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Civil Rights. During the hearing, Senator Tuberville and Mr. Lindberg discussed the significant impact foreign trade has on American farmers and producers. Additionally, Senator Tuberville and Mr. Westhill discussed protecting American agriculture and rural communities from woke, DEI policies.
    Read excerpts below or watch the full clip on YouTube or Rumble.

    ON PRESERVING AMERICAN FARMLAND
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thanks for being here. Five-alarm-fire. We’re in trouble.
    The Ag Department and us, we have a big chore in front of us. We’re losing farmers every day. We lost 150,000 farms in the last four years […] It’s not acceptable. The Biden administration sat on their hands for four years, didn’t do one trade deal, and it looked like they tried to put our farmers out of business on purpose. […] I couldn’t believe it. Sat there watching it. We have got to do something. I get calls every week.
    I get a call every week: ‘we’re going out of business.’ Worst the farmers have ever been. We can’t do business as usual. Something has got to be done. And if we don’t do that, we’re gonna lose them. It’s gonna be over and we’re gonna be buying every bit of the food that we eat out of this country. And we saw what happened during COVID. It was a disaster when we couldn’t get drugs because China’s only one making drugs. So, I’ll get off my soapbox here and thank both of you for what you’re gonna try to do.”
    ON U.S.-FOREIGN TRADE DISADVANTAGES
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Lindberg, cotton has weakened due to the surge of low value textile imports of synthetic fibers – all from Southeast Asia. And they come through an $800 de minimis loophole, and it’s killing us. So, President Trump’s been working to close this loophole. Can you talk a little bit about that?”
    MR. LINDBERG: “Senator, thank you. I can, and I appreciate you spending some time with me in your office to discuss these issues prior to this. Enjoyed our conversation. Absolutely, President Trump has taken seriously—based on the news reports I’ve seen— the de minimis exemption which has been a tragedy for not only our cotton farmers, but also for manufacturers and a lot of other industries across America.
    I will absolutely work alongside, and look forward to working alongside, our interagency colleagues to make sure that those de minimis exemptions and things are held accountable and are following the law of the land. Our former governor is now at the Department of Homeland Security and looking to work with her team at Customers and Border Protection as well […] Thank you.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Well, you know, it sounds like a little thing, but all those little things add up for our farmers. And, you know, we have got to get better commodity prices. If we don’t, I mean, it’s gonna be over with for United States farmers.”
    ON CIVIL RIGHTS
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Westhill, how do you plan to approach and manage the USDA career staffers in the civil rights departments that do not support President Trump’s agenda?”
    MR. WESTHILL: “Senator, I really appreciate the question. And I’ll say, look, I think the career staffers that I worked with in the first term were, many of them, consummate professionals. In fact, one of them is here today supporting my nomination as one of my guests. He served as the chief of staff the entire time that I served in the first term. I think the important thing to do is to you know, to put out a clear vision for what your plan is.
    I think the vast majority of the individuals who are in that office want to actually enforce civil rights. That’s why they went into that office. And at the end of the day, it is a civil rights office. Not a DEI office. And I think that the vast majority of those individuals will get behind President Trump’s agenda, which is to advance civil rights.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Team USA. I mean, the only way we can make [and] we can’t do it by pulling each other apart.”      
    ON CATTLE PRODUCTION
    TUBERVILLE: “Mr. Lindberg, the Biden administration put U.S. cattle producers at a competitive disadvantage and endangered the American public by allowing imports of beef from Paraguay. That’s ridiculous. Paraguay cattle producers do not have the same food safety standards as [the] U.S. Can you speak to USDA’s plans to ensure sufficient due diligence is done in these inspections?”
    MR. LINDBERG: “Sir, thank you for the question. For me, in my role at USDA, as the Under Secretary of Foreign Agricultural Affairs, and Trade, that will be an effort by my colleagues. But I look forward to working with my colleagues in making sure that they have timely market analysis and market intelligence on those exact issues.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you.”
    ON PEANUT FARMERS
    TUBERVILLE: “Also, our peanut growers in my state, which is huge, and across the country, have been at a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace due to non-tariff trade barriers on peanuts from aflatoxin in the European Union. I asked Mr. Vaden this when he came through a few weeks ago and I’ll ask you too. Would you commit to ensuring USDA and USTR work together on Trump’s agenda to reduce trade barriers and prioritize market access for all of our farmers?”
    Mr. Lindberg: “I look forward to doing exactly that.”
    TUBERVILLE: “Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.”
    Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Energy Sector – Equinor first quarter 2025 results

    Source: Equinor

    30 APRIL 2025 – Equinor delivered adjusted operating income* of USD 8.65 billion and USD 2.25 billion after tax in the first quarter of 2025. Equinor reported net operating income of USD 8.87 billion and net income at USD 2.63 billion. Adjusted net income* was USD 1.79 billion, leading to adjusted earnings per share* of USD 0.66.

    • Strong financial and operational performance
    • Strong financial results and cash flow
    • Solid oil and gas production 
    • Strategic progress 
    • Successful start-up of the Johan Castberg and Halten East fields
    • Final investment decision on Northern Lights phase 2.

    Capital distribution

    First quarter cash dividend of USD 0.37 per share
    Proposed second tranche of share buy-back of up to USD 1.265 billion
    Expected total capital distribution for 2025 of up to USD 9 billion.

    Anders Opedal, President and CEO of Equinor ASA:
    “Equinor delivers strong financial results in the first quarter. I am pleased to see the good operational performance and solid production capturing higher gas prices. With the current market uncertainties, Equinor’s core objective is safe, stable and cost efficient operations and resilience through a strong balance sheet.”

    “We maintain a competitive capital distribution and expect to deliver a total of USD 9 billion in 2025.”

    “The production start-up of the Johan Castberg field strengthens Norway’s role as a reliable energy exporter to Europe. The field opens a new region in the Barents Sea and is expected to contribute to energy supply, value creation and ripple effects for at least 30 years to come.”

    “We have invested in Empire Wind after obtaining all necessary approvals, and the order to halt work now is unprecedented and in our view unlawful. This is a question of the rights and obligations granted under legally issued permits, and security of investments based on valid approvals. We seek to engage directly with the US Administration to clarify the matter and are considering our legal options.”

    Solid production

    Equinor delivered a total equity production of 2,123 mboe per day in the first quarter, down from 2,164 mboe in the same quarter last year.

    The operational performance for most of the fields on Norwegian continental shelf is strong, including the Johan Sverdrup and Troll fields. This almost offsets the negative production impact from the shut-in at Sleipner B after the fire in fourth quarter 2024 and planned and unplanned maintenance at Hammerfest LNG.

    In the US, production increased from the same period last year. This was due to increased production from the fields and transactions increasing Equinor’s ownership interest in onshore gas assets in 2024.

    The production from the international upstream segment, excluding US, is down compared to the same quarter last year, due to exits from Nigeria and Azerbaijan in 2024.

    The total power generation from the renewable portfolio was 0.76 TWh, on par with the same period last year.

    In the quarter, Equinor completed five offshore exploration wells on the NCS with two commercial discoveries.

    Strong financial results

    Equinor delivered adjusted operating income* of USD 8.65 billion. and USD 2.25 billion after tax* in the first quarter of 2025. The results are driven by solid gas production and higher gas prices.

    Equinor realised a European gas price of USD 14.8 per mmbtu and realised liquids prices were USD 70.6 per bbl in the first quarter.

    Adjusted operating and administrative expenses* increased from the same quarter last year driven by overlift, higher maintenance activity and some one-off costs. This was partially offset by active measures to reduce costs for business development and early phase projects in renewables and low carbon solutions.

    A strong operational performance generated a cash flow from operating activities, before taxes paid and working capital items, of USD 10.6 billion for the first quarter. Equinor paid one NCS tax instalment of USD 3.09 billion in the quarter.

    Cash flow from operations after taxes paid* ended at USD 7.39 billion.

    Organic capital expenditure* was USD 3.02 billion for the quarter, and total capital expenditures were USD 4.50 billion.

    Equinor continues to demonstrate capital discipline and strengthen financial robustness with a net debt to capital employed adjusted ratio* of 6.9% at the end of the first quarter, compared to 11.9% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024.

    Empire Wind 1

    After quarter close, Equinor received a halt work order from the US government on the offshore construction on the outer continental shelf for the Empire Wind project. The lease was obtained in 2017 and the project was fully permitted in 2024. It has a potential for delivering power to half a million New York homes, and is approximately 30% to completion.

    Equinor is complying with the order and is seeking dialogue with the proper authorities and assessing legal options. The Empire Wind project has per
    31 March 2025 a gross book value of around USD 2.5 billion, including South Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

    Strategic progress

    A major milestone was reached when production was started from the Johan Castberg field in the Barents Sea on 31 March. Production also started at the Halten East development in the Norwegian Sea, with estimated recoverable reserves of 100 million boe and one year pay-back time.

    Equinor continues to optimise and strengthen long-term value creation on the NCS, and was awarded 27 new production licenses in the Awards in Predefined Areas round (APA) in January. The ambition is to drill around 250 exploration wells on the NCS by 2035.

    In the quarter, the Bacalhau floating production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) arrived at its destination in the Santos Basin in Brazil’s pre-salt region. First oil is expected in 2025.

    Within low carbon solutions, Equinor together with partners Shell and TotalEnergies made a final investment decision to progress phase two of the groundbreaking Northern Lights carbon transport and storage development in Øygarden. The NOK 7.5 billion investment is expected to increase the total injection capacity from 1.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year (Mtpa) to at least 5 Mtpa and further develop the commercial market for transport and storage of CO2.

    The appraisal wells for carbon storage at Smeaheia were completed in the quarter on time and on cost.

    Competitive capital distribution

    The board of directors has decided a cash dividend of USD 0.37 per share for the first quarter 2025, in line with communication at the Capital Markets Update in February.

    Expected total capital distribution for 2025 is USD 9 billion, including a share buy-back programme of up to USD 5 billion. The board has decided to initiate a second tranche of the share buy-back programme of up to USD 1.265 billion. The second tranche is subject to an authorisation from the company’s annual general meeting 14 May 2025 and will commence after this. The tranche will end no later than 21 July 2025.

    The first tranche of the share buy-back programme for 2025 was completed on 24 March 2025 with a total value of USD 1.2 billion.

    All share buy-back amounts include shares to be redeemed by the Norwegian State.

    *For items marked with an asterisk throughout this report, see Use and reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures in the Supplementary disclosures.

    MIL OSI – Submitted News

  • MIL-OSI USA: April 30th, 2025 Heinrich Announces Legislation to Address PFAS, Water Contamination in Private Wells

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich
    WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced that he has cosponsored new legislation to protect New Mexico communities from dangerous contaminants like per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Exposure to PFAS has been linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and children. 
    “Access to clean water is essential to the health and economic well-being of New Mexico families,” said Heinrich. “I’m proud to co-sponsor legislation that will help rural communities in New Mexico access clean water by giving them the tools they need to get rid of toxins in their drinking water. I will continue fighting in the Senate to keep New Mexicans safe and help them build a strong foundation for the future.”
    The Technical Fix for the State Response to Contaminants Program Act will ensure that states have flexibility to use funding from the $5 billion provided in the Infrastructure Law — which Heinrich helped pass into law — for PFAS and other emerging contaminants in small or disadvantaged communities to help assist private well owners get rid of toxins in their drinking water. Congress intended for that funding to be available to states to help address private well contamination among other eligible uses of the funding. Currently, the EPA interprets statute as only allowing for assistance to private wells if it is being used to connect to public water systems. Because connecting to public water systems may not be feasible or desirable in all cases, this bill clarifies that assistance may be provided for the benefit of well owners that are not public water systems and are not connected to a public water system. 
    The Technical Fix for the State Response to Contaminants Program Act is led by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). Alongside Heinrich, the legislation is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Angus King (I-Maine).
    The bill text is here. 

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI USA: April 30th, 2025 Heinrich Announces Legislation to Combat Gun Trafficking, Protect Communities from Gun Violence

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for New Mexico Martin Heinrich

    Legislation builds on Heinrich’s work to increase criminal penalties for straw purchases and stop illegal gun trafficking out of our country
    WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the core bipartisan group of senators who negotiated and passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), co-sponsored the Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act, legislation to protect communities from gun violence by requiring federal law enforcement to coordinate efforts to prevent the importation and trafficking of machinegun conversion devices including ‘auto-sears’ — illegal gun modification devices that can convert semi-automatic weapons into fully-automatic weapons — and seize all profits that come from the illegal trafficking of these devices.
    “I’m proud that the provisions I wrote in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act have already led to hundreds of arrests and kept firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals. But with at least 91 mass shooting in the United States already this year, it’s clear we have more work to do,” said Heinrich. I’m proud to co-sponsor the Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act, which will help law enforcement keep New Mexicans safe from gun violence by providing new tools to combat illegal gun trafficking.”
    Specifically, the Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act will: 

    Direct the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Department of the Treasury to develop a coordinated national strategy to prevent or intercept the importation and trafficking of automatic gun conversion devices;

    The Preventing Illegal Weapons Trafficking Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.),  Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). 
    The legislation is endorsed by GIFFORDS and Brady: United Against Gun Violence.
    The text of the bill is here. 
    Heinrich-Led Gun Trafficking and Straw Purchase Provisions: 
    Heinrich-led provisions in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act increased criminal penalties for straw purchasers and made it a crime, for the first time ever, to traffic firearms out of the United States. Straw purchasers are people who buy guns for those who cannot buy them directly themselves due to their age, felony criminal convictions, or other limitations. By increasing penalties for straw purchasing, Heinrich’s provision is helping to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those who would use them against our communities. By making it illegal to traffic firearms out of the country, Heinrich’s provision gave law enforcement the tools needed to prosecute and disrupt the flow of firearms to Mexico and the Northern Triangle, fueling the violence that has driven so many to flee their home countries.  
    To date, the Department of Justice has charged more than 600 defendants using BSCA’s gun trafficking and straw purchasing laws, removing hundreds of firearms off the streets in the process. These cases are significant, often preventing and prosecuting highly dangerous activity, such as crimes linked to organized trafficking rings and transnational criminal organizations.  
    For example, in March 2024, the Justice Department charged several defendants with trafficking and straw purchasing over 100 firearms, including many military-grade weapons, that were allegedly intended to be smuggled to a Mexican drug cartel. In April 2024, a defendant was sentenced to 276 months in prison for firearms trafficking and straw purchasing, as well as distribution of fentanyl, where the evidence showed that two of the trafficked firearms had been used in gang-related shootings. In 2o23, a defendant was sentenced to two years in prison for running an illegal gun trafficking enterprise, repeatedly taking money to lie on firearm purchase forms and obtain weapons for convicted felons. 
    In New Mexico, the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico has charged 11 defendants with BSCA violations. 
    Heinrich’s Longtime Leadership to Tackle Gun Violence:
    A gun owner and father, Heinrich has long worked to advance and pass bipartisan policies that save lives, protect public safety, and reduce gun violence.
    This month, Heinrich introduced his Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act and bipartisan Banning Unlawful Machinegun Parts (BUMP) Act, commonsense legislation designed to protect communities from gun violence, while safeguarding Americans’ constitutional right to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting, and sporting purposes.
    Heinrich recently convened a press conference in Albuquerque with New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, Everytown, community leaders, and students to announce the introduction of his GOSAFE Act. For photos and videos of that event, click here.

    In October 2024, Heinrich secured critical funding for New Mexico law enforcement to purchase four new NIBIN machines for Las Cruces, Farmington, Gallup, and Roswell. This allows law enforcement to trace firearms used in crimes and hold criminals accountable, all while saving officers valuable time and resources.
    In 2017, Heinrich cosponsored the bipartisan Fix NICS Act, which now requires federal and state authorities to produce background check implementation plans and holds federal agencies accountable for reporting relevant criminal records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). He also led the successful call to repeal the Dickey Amendment, which had previously prevented the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from funding research on gun violence and its effects on public health.

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Man Charged with Smuggling Protected Parakeets Inside the Boots he was Wearing

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Naim Lajud Libien was arrested and charged with smuggling 12 protected Orange Fronted Parakeets into the U.S. stuffed inside the boots he was wearing and inside a seat compartment in his car. At least two of the birds died, and a third appeared to have a broken neck.

    Lajud Libien, a citizen of Mexico, attempted to cross the border in his vehicle after presenting a Border Crossing Card at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on April 29 at 3:10 p.m. He was diverted to secondary inspection. Once he stepped outside of his 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Customs and Border Protection officer noticed bulges around his ankles. For safety reasons, the officer conducted a pat down and discovered what appeared to be birds wrapped in nylon stockings concealed inside the boots.

    A CBP Agricultural Specialist responded to the security office and removed six birds from the defendant’s boots – three in the right, three in the left, all tied at the feet and wrapped in panty hose. The birds were later identified by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspector as Orange Fronted Parakeets (Eupsittula canicularis). The birds were placed in a bird cage with food and water until they could be cared for by Veterinary Services. Some of the birds appeared to have injuries on their feet where they were tied.

    “Smuggling at the border takes many forms, but the tragic impact on animals forced into such perilous conditions is deeply troubling,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “We are committed to holding accountable those who endanger wildlife and public health through these reckless and inhumane smuggling practices.”

    Lajud Libien was taken into custody on April 29, 2025.  On April 30, 2025, CBP personnel could hear birds crying from his impounded vehicle. CBP officers and a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Inspector began a dismantling the car in search of the birds. Six more orange parakeets were found inside the seat cushion of the passenger seat of the vehicle. The birds were wrapped in panty hose and bound. Two of the birds were dead when they were discovered. One of the birds appears to have a broken neck. Three of the birds were still alive; however, in poor health.

    Orange Fronted Parakeets (Eupsittula canicularis) are native to Western Mexico and Costa Rica. The Orange Fronted Parakeet is protected and has been listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 2005. Libien’s concealment of the parakeets would have resulted in their entering the United States without any quarantine period or process.

    To import many types of wildlife, the wildlife must be subject to quarantine before it can be introduced into the United States. Many animals have diseases that can be transferred to humans (zoonotic diseases) or other animals that can have disastrous health effects to human or animal populations. For example, birds can carry and spread Avian influenza (bird flu), psittacosis, and histoplasmos. Bird flu is highly contagious and can cause flu like symptoms, respiratory illness, pneumonia and death in humans and other birds including the United States poultry farms. There are many other diseases that can be transmitted from different animals and have disastrous effects, that is why it is necessary to quarantine animals entering the United States to limit and safeguard against this potential disease transmission.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Allen and and Elizabet Brown.

    DEFENDANT                                               Case Number 25-mj-02213                                     

    Naim Lajud Libien                                         Age: 54                       Mexico

    SUMMARY OF CHARGES

    Importation Contrary to Law – 18 U.S.C. § 545

    Maximum penalty: Twenty years in custody, $250,000 fine

    INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service – Office of Law Enforcement

    Homeland Security Investigations

    * The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Reuters “Reporting” Fails to Mention that the Biden Administration Released Two Tren de Aragua Gang Members into American Communities

    Source: US Department of Homeland Security

    WASHINGTON – The mainstream media’s latest attempt at a criminal gang sob story includes a self-admitted member of Tren de Aragua. The real story here is that the previous administration was releasing gang members into American communities. 

    Jeferson Daniel Escalona Hernandez, a 19-year-old self-admitted Tren de Aragua gang member from Venezuela, illegally entered the United States on March 27, 2024. The previous administration released this gang member into our country. He was arrested for felony evading arrest with a vehicle and put in a Denton County jail. An immigration judge ordered Escalona removed from the U.S. on April 11, 2025, and he remains in ICE custody at the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, pending his removal from the U.S.   

    Diover Millan Leon, a 24-year-old Venezuelan and documented member of Tren de Aragua, illegally entered the U.S. on an unknown date and at an unknown location. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested Millan on May 3, 2023, near Brownsville, Texas, and he was processed as a notice to appear and released on his own recognizance. ICE officers arrested Millan in Lawrenceville, Georgia on March 12, 2025. ICE transferred Millan from the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, April 15, where he remains pending disposition of his immigration proceedings. 

    Statement Attributable to Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin:   

    “This is more irresponsible, lazy reporting by Reuters. Why do they continue to peddle the sob stories of these gang members but ignore their American victims?  

    Tren De Aragua is one of the most violent and ruthless terrorist gangs on planet earth. They rape, maim, and murder for sport. The previous administration released these gang members into our communities. President Trump and Secretary Noem have ended catch and release and will not allow criminal gangs to terrorize American citizens.” 

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Honduran Man Indicted For Re-Entry of Removed Alien

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – JOSE MELVIN LOPEZ-LORENZO (“LOPEZ-LORENZO”), age 29, a native of Honduras, was indicted on April 24, 2025,for re-entry of a removed alien, in violation of Title 8, United States Code, Section 1326(a), announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael M. Simpson.

    According to the indictment, LOPEZ-LORENZO was found in the United States on April 10, 2025, having reentered the United States without authorization from the Attorney General of the United States, after being previously deported on July 26, 2018.

    LOPEZ-LORENZO faces up to two years imprisonment, a fine of up to $250,000, up to one year of supervised release, and a mandatory special assessment fee of $100.00.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson reiterated that an indictment is merely a charge, and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

    Acting U.S. Attorney Simpson praised the work of the United States Border Patrol in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Carter K.D. Guice, Jr. of the General Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.

    This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETFs) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN).

    *   *   *

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI USA: Luján Statement on Senate Vote Rejecting President Trump’s Tariffs

    US Senate News:

    Source: US Senator for New Mexico Ben Ray Luján

    Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, issued the following statement after voting for a bipartisan resolution that would terminate the national emergency that President Trump declared as the basis for his reckless tariffs:

    “President Trump’s reckless tariffs have caused the economy to shrink for the first time in three years. Tonight, Democrats and Republicans made it clear that this is not the right course for the American economy.

    “In recent weeks, President Trump’s tariffs have wreaked havoc on our business community, farmers, manufacturers, and families. New Mexicans in every corner of the state are facing higher costs, shrinking life savings, and job insecurity. The President – who promised to lower costs on day one – is damaging the American economy and making life more expensive for American families and businesses.

    “These tariffs are new and drastic tax increases on hardworking New Mexicans. Democrats and Republicans alike know that President Trump’s tariffs are hurting their states. That’s why I voted with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to send a clear message to President Trump that these reckless tariffs are taking a toll on the American economy and it must stop now.”

    MIL OSI USA News

  • MIL-OSI Security: Man Sentenced for Trafficking Over 94,000 Fentanyl Pills Following Conviction in Fatal Albuquerque Shooting

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ALBUQUERQUENathen Richard Garley, recently convicted of a deadly gang-related shooting that claimed the life of an 11-year-old boy, has now been sentenced to 20 years in prison for trafficking over 94,000 fentanyl pills in a case that underscores the deadly impact of drug and violent crime in New Mexico.

    There is no parole in the federal system.

    According to court documents, on September 13, 2023, Garley, 22, was stopped by law enforcement as a passenger in a vehicle near mile marker 85 in Cibola County, New Mexico, during a return trip from Phoenix, Arizona. A search of the vehicle, prompted by the odor of marijuana and Garley’s admission to recent use, led officers to discover a glass jar of marijuana on Garley and a duffel bag in the trunk containing approximately 10.97 kilograms of fentanyl pills-estimated to be over 94,000 pills in total.

    Gray duffel bag and fentanyl

    Fentanyl on scale

    Garley admitted to possessing the duffel bag and acknowledged his addiction to prescription pills. Further investigation revealed evidence on Garley’s cell phone indicating his involvement in drug distribution. Testing confirmed the pills contained fentanyl, a synthetic opioid responsible for a significant rise in overdose deaths nationwide.

    This federal drug arrest came just one week after Garley was involved in a tragic shooting in Albuquerque. On September 6, 2023, Garley, along with accomplices, opened fire on a vehicle they mistakenly believed was driven by a rival gang member. The attack killed 11-year-old Froylan Villegas and left his cousin paralyzed as the family was leaving an Isotopes baseball game. Authorities later linked Garley to the shooting, and he was convicted of first-degree murder and multiple other felonies related to the incident.

    Following the shooting, Garley fled to Arizona, abandoning the vehicle used in the crime and evading authorities by staying at various Airbnbs and hotels. During this period, he searched for news articles about the murder, demonstrating awareness of the tragedy, yet continued his criminal activities by arranging to transport the massive fentanyl load back to New Mexico.

    Garley selfie taken in Arizona

    Garley selfie taken in Arizona

    Garley is scheduled for sentencing in New Mexico District Court on May 21, 2025, for the murder and related charges.

    Upon his release from prison, Garley will be subject to five years of supervised release.

    U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison and Jason T. Stevens, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, made the announcement today.

    Homeland Security Investigations investigated this case with assistance from the Albuquerque Police Department and New Mexico State Police. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy Trembley. 

    MIL Security OSI

  • MIL-OSI Security: Woman Sentenced to 41 Months for Alien Smuggling Event that Left a 71-Year-Old Cyclist Critically Injured

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    SAN DIEGO – Elizabeth Ugarte Rios of Vista was sentenced in federal court today to 41 months in prison for striking and critically injuring a 71-year-old cyclist while transporting undocumented immigrants in her vehicle.

    According to court documents, on August 4, 2024, Rios drove to Otay Lakes County Park with her minor daughter as a passenger and picked up a group of undocumented aliens who had earlier scaled a fence at the U.S.-Mexico border.

    The crash occurred minutes later on Wueste Road, a two-lane highway in Chula Vista. According to the government’s sentencing memo, the defendant was travelling at 67 mph – almost twice the posted speed limit – when she swerved across the double-yellow line to pass another vehicle. A uniformed Border Patrol agent was following in an unmarked vehicle.

    Rios hit the brakes four seconds before the collision, striking the cyclist at a speed of approximately 30 miles per hour. One witness said the cyclist flew approximately 10 feet in the air and landed on the side of the road.

    The cyclist, Robert Hilborn, attended today’s sentencing hearing with his wife, Sharon, and two adult sons. Sharon Hilborn read statements on behalf of the family. She said her husband was hospitalized for 68 days and suffered several strokes. He was on a ventilator for many days and suffered lacerations to his head, neck, and stomach plus orthopedic injuries and deep lacerations to his legs.

    Sharon Hilborn told the court her husband used to ride his bike 80-100 miles per week, and being fit and active was a major source of his joy. Their lives are now dominated by going to medical appointments and therapy sessions. Members in the court gallery were audibly crying as Sharon Hilborn spoke about how her family has been impacted by this event.

    This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Chiang.

    DEFENDANT                                               Case Number 24cr01772-RBM                               

    Elizabeth Ugarte Rios                                     Age: 38                                   Vista, CA

    SUMMARY OF CHARGES

    Transportation of Certain Aliens During and in Relation to Which the Person Causes Serious Bodily Injury to, or Places in Jeopardy the Life of, Any Person – Title 8, U.S.C., Section 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii) and (a)(1)(B)(iii)

    Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $250,000 fine

    INVESTIGATING AGENCY

    United States Border Patrol

    MIL Security OSI