By Matthew Rehbein, CNN

(CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security is broadening federal immigration authorities’ ability to detain legal refugees who have not yet obtained green cards, citing national security concerns and the need to ensure refugees undergo additional screening, according to a DHS memo obtained by CNN.

Immigration officers may “arrest and detain” refugees “who have failed to adjust” to lawful permanent resident status one year after being admitted to the US, according to the Wednesday memo, which was submitted by Justice Department attorneys as part of a federal court filing.

“When a refugee is admitted to the United States, the admission is conditional and subject to a mandatory review after one year,” the memo reads, noting refugees who are detained may remain in custody “for the duration of the inspection and examination process.”

The memo, issued by US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow and Acting US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons, rescinds previous government policy regarding refugees who have been in the country for one year.

Failure to obtain a green card after one year was not grounds for detention or removal from the US under previous policy, and refugees who were arrested had to either be released within 48 hours or the DHS was required to initiate removal proceedings.

“Refugees may be considered to have voluntarily returned to custody” by submitting application paperwork and appearing at scheduled appointments with immigration services, according to the new memo.

Previous department policy “created a population of conditional refugees who had not been fully re-screened, with associated public safety and national security risks,” the memo says, and the new “detain-and-inspect requirement ensures that refugees are re-vetted after one year.”

Refugee resettlement groups promptly decried the new policy.

“This memo was done in secret, with zero coordination with the organizations that serve refugees,” said Beth Oppenheim, CEO of refugee agency HIAS. “This policy is a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the US government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting,” she added.

The government court filing that included the DHS memo is part of a federal case in Minnesota in which a judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from targeting an estimated 5,600 lawful refugees in the state who are awaiting green cards. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.

The International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the plaintiffs in the federal Minnesota case, says it is challenging the new refugee policy. CNN reached out to the group for comment.

CNN has reached out to DHS, USCIS and ICE for comment.

President Donald Trump has largely halted refugee admissions during his second term – with the narrow exception of White South Africans – amid his administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration. Last fall, the Trump administration set the number of annual refugee admissions at 7,500 – a fraction of what the US has historically allowed. In 2024, more than 100,000 refugees were admitted.

In November, the administration moved to reinterview some refugees admitted under President Joe Biden, and the killing of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, by an Afghan national that month prompted the administration to Read more

By Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

(CNN) — AI is either your most helpful coworker, a glorified search engine or vastly overrated depending on who you ask.

And no one seems to agree on which is right.

Tech executives championing AI have long spun the narrative that the tech will revolutionize jobs and bring about a new industrial revolution. Skeptics think it’s all marketing hype, while some researchers and executives are sounding the alarm about safety concerns on their way out the door.

The discrepancy in how people view AI has perhaps never been so apparent as this past week, after a viral essay from an AI CEO and investor claimed the tech is coming for any job that involves sitting in front of a computer.

But there may be a simpler explanation as to why people have taken such divergent stands: People use different types of AI in different ways, yet it’s all being referred to in the same way.

“There’s just a wide spectrum of how much people have been exposed to the technology, how much they’ve used the technology,” said Matt Murphy, a partner at Menlo Ventures who has led investments in AI companies including Anthropic. “And that’s also changing pretty rapidly.”

Paid AI versus the free version

People who use free AI for basic tasks like making grocery lists and planning vacations are likely only seeing one side of the technology. A report from Menlo Ventures published last June estimated that only 3% of AI users are paid subscribers, although Murphy told CNN he expects that to change quickly.

But those who pay get access to another feature: Agents that can handle some work for you rather than just chatbots that craft responses, plus fewer limits on usage.

Anthropic’s Claude Cowork agent, for example, is only available in the $20-per-month Pro plan and higher. The case is similar for OpenAI’s Codex coding agent.

It’s that type of AI that’s fueling concerns about AI’s impact on jobs, including the controversial argument Matt Shumer, an investor and CEO of AI writing assistant startup Otherside AI, gets at in his viral essay.

“I’ll tell the AI: ‘I want to build this app. Here’s what it should do, here’s roughly what it should look like. Figure out the user flow, the design, all of it.’ And it does. It writes tens of thousands of lines of code,” Shumer wrote.

He went on to claim that the AI was able to test the app and make decisions concerning taste and judgment. And he surmised that if AI could write code that well, it could begin improving upon itself, as well.

(AI researchers accused Shumer of exaggerating the performance of his company’s AI model in 2024. He apologized at the time and told CNN it was the “biggest mistake” of his “professional life” and that he learned through the process).

Some experts are skeptical the use cases Shumer outlined are possible even with paid plans, especially since he was vague about which model he used and what type of app the AI built for him. Shumer told CNN he primarily uses OpenAI’s GPT-5.3 Codex tool and that he was working on a “medium to high complexity app” for testing purposes.

Still, the free version of AI apps doesn’t paint the full picture of what the technology is capable of, according to Emily DeJeu, a professor who teaches courses about the use of AI in business at Carnegie Mellon University. She said it would be “misguided” to make assumptions about AI’s capabilities based solely on free AI services.

Oren Etzioni, professor emeritus at the

Por Andy Rose, CNN

Hace tan solo unos años, habría sido un callejón sin salida el anuncio este martes de que un guante presuntamente relacionado con la desaparición de Nancy Guthrie en Tucson, Arizona, no arrojó coincidencias en una base de datos de ADN. Ahora, para los investigadores, es solo el principio.

“Los investigadores están actualmente buscando opciones adicionales de genealogía genética investigativa para obtener evidencia de ADN para verificar coincidencias”, declaró el martes el Departamento del Sheriff del Condado de Pima.

Eso aporta una dimensión completamente nueva al develar el secreto de los guantes encontrados a tres km de la casa de Guthrie, que según los investigadores son similares a los que usaba un sospechoso en un video perturbador captado por una cámara en la puerta principal de la mujer desaparecida.

El ADN separado encontrado en la propiedad de Guthrie que no coincide con ella ni con nadie “en contacto cercano con ella” tampoco ha producido una coincidencia en la base de datos de ADN de las fuerzas del orden nacional conocida como CODIS, indicó el sheriff del condado de Pima, Chris Nanos, a Fox News el martes.

La comparación del ADN recogido en investigaciones criminales con bases de datos de acceso público de millones de personas que han contribuido con perfiles genéticos (y de ese modo encontrar parientes a menudo lejanos para reconstruir un árbol genealógico que pueda señalar a un sospechoso) ha sido un componente de varios casos recientes, incluida la condena de Bryan Kohberger, quien finalmente confesó haber asesinado a cuatro estudiantes universitarios en Idaho y fue condenado a cadena perpetua.

“A partir de ahí, obtenemos una lista de personas que comparten ADN con esa persona desconocida. Puede ser tan solo el 1 %, o incluso menos”, explicó la experta en genealogía genética CeCe Moore a Kaitlan Collins de CNN.

Si bien ha habido resultados aparentemente milagrosos al examinar millones de registros de ADN basándose en una sola muestra, el proceso todavía es impreciso y es posible que no brinde a la familia Guthrie las respuestas que busca de inmediato.

“Puede tardar hasta 20 minutos… y tengo algunos casos en los que he estado trabajando durante siete años y medio”, explicó Moore.

El uso exitoso del ADN de familiares lejanos para perfilar y reducir el número de sospechosos tuvo un debut extraordinariamente destacado en 2018, cuando se utilizó para resolver el caso sin resolver del Asesino de Golden State.

Después de que las autoridades pasaron cinco décadas buscando infructuosamente a un sospechoso de docenas de asesinatos y violaciones en California, un investigador decidió colocar el ADN de la escena del crimen (que se cree que es del perpetrador) en GEDmatch, una base de datos pública donde las personas cargan voluntariamente sus datos de AD

By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN

(CNN) — As the Trump administration continues its immigration crackdown across the US, health care providers warn the impact of federal agents in health care settings – and the looming threat of immigration enforcement they’ve instilled nationwide – is presenting a barrier to care that could have a lasting impact on the health of communities.

With many people unable or afraid to access care, some providers say they are seeing a decline in patient numbers they haven’t seen since the Covid-19 pandemic – this time providing care while potentially dealing with federal agents in tactical gear.

Doctors are already seeing the impact on appointments, vaccination numbers and even basic nutrition, and they’re worried the long-term health consequences could be serious.

Armed ICE agents lining hospital hallways

In the Twin Cities, which saw a huge influx of federal immigration agents this year that sent the region into a state of chaos and resistance, armed ICE agents have been seen lining the hallways, accompanying patients in their custody, a senior physician at a large hospital in the Twin Cities told CNN. The doctor asked to remain anonymous out of concern that he or his hospital would be targeted.

“As doctors, I think our job is to take care of the patient in front of us, and we’re not involved in immigration enforcement,” the doctor said. “Until last month, that had never been a part of my job description.”

But then, patients began entering his hospital under the custody of federal immigration agents.

In January, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era policy that banned immigration enforcement actions in “sensitive areas,” like schools, places of worship and hospitals.

“The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

Generally, federal immigration agents are allowed in health care settings where other members of the public are permitted, like waiting rooms, but need a warrant to access private patient areas.

“ICE does not conduct enforcement at hospitals—period. We would only go into a hospital if there were an active danger to public safety,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CNN in a statement. “Of course, if we have a detainee we need to take to the hospital for medical care, we have officers accompany them for their monitoring, safety of the staff, and the public. This is standard procedure for all law enforcement agencies.”

But doctors say that the presence of these agents in health care settings can be disruptive and intimidating.

The Twin Cities hospital has provided care to patients who come in under ICE custody, including those recently who have had head injuries, injuries from being assaulted and those who have fainted, the doctor said. In general, the hospital has always instructed its providers not to make comments or notes about a patient’s immigration status on notes or other materials that can be accessed, the doctor explained.

All individually identifiable health information, including demographic data is protected in all forms under

By Adam Cancryn, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump is preparing to make health care a central focus of his midterm sales pitch, despite weak polling and misgivings among some of his own advisers about elevating an issue that’s long proved disastrous for the Republican Party.

The approach developed by Trump and his senior aides aims to spotlight key priorities that they believe carry broad voter appeal, like lower drug prices, while seeking to preempt an expected barrage of Democratic attacks over rising health costs, according to more than a half-dozen administration officials and others familiar with the matter.

“We’ve done a bad job over the years in that we don’t talk about health care, and when we do, it’s only when we’re forced to,” said a Trump adviser involved in the discussions. “There’s good stuff that Trump’s trying to do, and we need to get more aggressive on it.”

The strategy has already created some headaches.

Trump officials in recent weeks have pitched GOP lawmakers on mounting a longshot bid to pass major health legislation ahead of November’s midterm elections, despite little congressional appetite to do so. And inside the administration, White House aides are orchestrating an extraordinary shakeup of Trump’s health department in an attempt to remedy concerns about its messaging operation and move its focus away from more divisive topics like vaccines.

The intensifying emphasis on health care marks the White House’s latest bid to solve the cost-of-living woes dragging down Trump’s approval ratings and deepening fears within the GOP of a midterm rout. On Thursday, the president will travel to Georgia to deliver the latest in a set of affordability-focused speeches touting his economic accomplishments.

That message hasn’t resonated widely with voters so far, polling shows. While there’s hope that shifting toward health care will help the administration gain traction, several Republican allies working on the issue privately characterized the approach as a sign of the sheer depth of the challenge facing the administration nine months out from Election Day.

“There truly are not many things they will be able to do that will alter the fate of the Republican majority,” said one Republican close to the White House. “That’s obviously a tough place for them to be.”

History of failure

Republicans have struggled for more than a decade to formulate a winning health care platform, most notably failing repeatedly during Trump’s first term to repeal and replace Obamacare. That 2017 episode alienated voters and shifted the politics of the issue decisively toward Democrats, presaging a 40-seat swing that cost Republicans control of the House the following year.

Since then, Democratic candidates have enjoyed a sustained polling advantage on health care. And despite Trump’s efforts to revamp the GOP’s agenda by embracing the Make America Healthy Again movement and staking out a more populist position on drug prices, there’s little evidence he’s managed to significantly narrow the gap.

A White House official argued that Trump could still defy the party’s history on health care and insisted that the administration is committed to campaigning on the issue. Major parts of the president’s health agenda, such as cutting drug prices, are broadly popular, the official said, and can serve as tangible evidence that the administration is addressing affordability concerns.

“POTUS isn’t the traditional Republican, and many of the things we do don’t fit in the traditional Republican mode,” the official said. “He’s already built something here.”

But in recent briefings on midterm strategy, Trump’s political advisers offered a blunter motivation for leaning in on health care: They have no other choice.

James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, and top Trump pollster Tony Fabri