On Sunday, the Senate took a significant step by advancing Senator Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) nomination to replace Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. This move aims to bring stability to a department that has faced upheaval following the tragic shooting of two protesters in Minneapolis earlier this year.

The procedural vote saw the Senate favor Mullin 54 to 37, paving the way for a final decision on his confirmation, expected to take place on Monday or Tuesday.

Notably, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), a centrist, provided crucial support for Mullin. Fetterman previously cast a pivotal vote in the Homeland Security Committee, despite Committee Chairman Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposing Mullin due to concerns about his temperament.

Fetterman expressed his support for Mullin, citing him as a preferable choice over Noem and someone with whom he has developed a “constructive working relationship.”

“Reopening DHS is essential. My support for Mullin stems from a strong, committed, and constructive working relationship with him, which is vital for our nation’s security,” stated Fetterman.

Democrats generally like Mullin, who’s known as a straight-talking negotiator among his colleagues, but they have serious concerns about the management of the Homeland Security Department, which they have refused to fund since Feb. 14 unless the White House agrees to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).   

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) praised Mullin as “competent” and “honest” and suggested that Mullin’s confirmation could open the way to more productive talks to reform the Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement operations.

“This is going to give us an opportunity to have real discussion about what’s going on with the Department of Homeland Security,” Welch said during a CNN interview earlier this month.

But some Senate Democrats have expressed concern that the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement will continue to be dictated by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, whom they view as a hard-liner on the issue.

Sen. Chris Coons (Dela.), a centrist Democrat who has traveled with Mullin on congressional delegation trips and worked with him on various issues, said he voted “no” because Mullin hasn’t committed to making major reforms at Homeland Security.

“DHS needs a foundational shift, and I am unsure if Senator Mullin — or any Trump-appointed nominee — is capable of carrying it out. I consider every cabinet nominee with the same criteria: qualifications, independence, and vision for the department. Unfortunately, Senator Mullin is not willing to commit to the kind of independence and reforms that DHS needs, and I will be voting no on this nomination,” Coons said in a statement explaining his vote.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he voted against Mullin because of his votes against certifying the 2020 election results when he served in the House.

“DHS is entrusted with many responsibilities. One important priority is working with state and local officials to protect the integrity of American elections. Senator Mullin’s votes against certifying 2020 election results when he served in the House of Representatives jeopardized American democracy by giving credence to baseless conspiracies about our elections. That makes him the wrong person to serve as the DHS Secretary,” Kaine said in a statement.

Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) stood up on the Senate floor Sunday to praise Mullin’s work as a senator and to urge his Democratic colleagues to vote for him.

“Every senator knows it. He’s smart, he’s thoughtful, he has good friends on both sides of the aisle,” he said.

He argued that Mullin may work more across the aisle, with both senators and House lawmakers, than perhaps any other senator, calling him “exactly the kind of leader we need at Homeland Security this moment.”

Paul confronted Mullin at this confirmation hearing last week over his comments to constituents in Tulsa in February calling Paul a “freaking snake” over attempting to amend an appropriations package to strip out money for refugee welfare programs.

Mullin said he understood why Paul’s neighbor tackled him during a dispute over yard maintenance.

Paul told Mullin he has “anger issues” and questioned whether he has the temperament to lead the Homeland Security Department.

President Trump began floating Mullin’s name to GOP senators as a possible replacement for Noem after her disastrous performance at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on March 3.

Republican senators familiar with the issue said that Trump was livid by Noem’s claim that the president signed off on a controversial $220 million national advertising campaign promoting her leadership of the Homeland Security Department.

Trump told Reuters in an interview that he “never knew anything about” the advertising campaign.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, have asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether she made false statements before both committees.

Trump’s announcement that he would tap Mullin to replace Noem came so suddenly that it caught Mullin by surprise.

“I am super excited about this opportunity. It came — not as a complete surprise — but it came at a little bit of a surprise for us,” Mullin told reporters on the Capitol steps shortly after Trump announced Noem’s ouster on March 5.

Mullin said at the time that he would try to pick up Democratic support for his nomination by listening to the concerns about the management of the Homeland Security Department.

“We’re going to try to earn everybody’s vote. I want people to understand, when I go into this position, yes, I’m a Republican, yes, I’m conservative but the Department of Homeland Security is to keep everybody [safe,] regardless of if you support me or you don’t support me, regardless of what your thoughts are,” he said.

As Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) openly mourn their losses, emerging research reveals that many individuals previously counted as civilians were, in fact, affiliated with these terrorist organizations. This discovery challenges accusations that Israeli forces intentionally targeted civilians in Gaza.

Investigators scrutinizing the casualty reports from Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry, shared their findings with Fox News Digital. They noted an increasing number of individuals, initially portrayed as civilians, were later identified by their own organizations, such as Hamas, as members despite holding public roles as healthcare or media personnel.

Gabriel Epstein, a senior policy associate at the Israel Policy Forum, disclosed to Fox News Digital that he has identified multiple individuals, hailed as martyrs by Hamas and PIJ, who were supposedly engaged in healthcare professions, including those with non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Among those Epstein highlighted were several people recognized as medical staff who were also linked to terrorist factions. Perhaps the most significant finding was the case of Fadi al-Wadiyya, a physiotherapist employed by Médecins Sans Frontières, who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in June 2024. In response to his death, Médecins Sans Frontières expressed outrage and issued a strong condemnation against the killing of their colleague.

Smoke and fire were seen rising over buildings in Gaza City on October 9, 2023, during an Israeli airstrike, a stark visual reminder of the ongoing conflict. (Photo by Sameh Rahmi/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

When the IDF claimed that al-Wadiyya was a member of PIJ, MSF said they had “no prior knowledge” of his “alleged involvement in military activities” and said they had “not received any formal explanation” of “the circumstances of his killing.”

In a Telegram account claiming to be the media reserve for the Al-Quds Brigades, a post mourning al-Wadiyya’s martyrdom on Feb. 24 lists the physiotherapist as an assistant to the military manufacturing unit of PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades.

Fox News Digital asked MSF whether they were aware of al-Wadiyya’s PIJ connections prior to the martyr announcement. A spokesperson said, “We would not knowingly employ people engaging in military activity” as it “would pose a danger to our staff and patients by compromising our neutrality.”

Hamas terrorists marching in Gaza during a parade.  (Getty Images)

The spokesperson said that “MSF had no indication that Fadi Al Wadiya might have been involved in military activity of any kind prior to the Israeli authorities’ online posts in June 2024. In the immediate aftermath of Al-Wadiya’s killing, we asked for explanations from the Israeli authorities, but never received an official response. If the Israeli authorities were aware of Al-Wadiya’s links with militant activities, they never shared this info with us until after he was killed. To this day, the only information they shared and that we are aware of is what was shared through public social media posts.”

The IDF banned MSF operations in Gaza from the beginning of March because the organization refused to provide a list of its Palestinian employees. In response to Fox News Digital’s questions about whether they would consider providing this list to the IDF presently, MSF’s spokesperson said, “We did not share our staff lists with Israel because we did not receive concrete assurances to ensure the safety of our staff or the independent management of our operations. This is a place where humanitarian workers have frequently been detained, attacked, and killed. We have a responsibility to protect our colleagues from harm.”

Epstein shared several other cases of healthcare workers who played prominent roles in terror groups.

Ambulances carrying patients from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahya, Gaza City. Oct. 12, 2024.  (Hamza Z. H. Qraiqea/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Mohammed Akram Abdullah al-Kafarna was mourned by the Palestinian Nursing and Midwifery Association’s Facebook page as the nursing supervisor at Kamal Adwan Hospital and by the Institute for Palestine Studies as head of the Gaza nursing system. A Telegram account that lists members of Hamas’ best-outfitted Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, al-Kafarna is described as one of Beit Hanoun’s “Qassam Martyrs.”

Ayman Suleiman Aliyan Abu Tayr was listed as martyred in Khan Younis in June 2025. The Institute for Palestine Studies labels him as a nurse and head of the clinical nutrition department at Nasser Hospital. According to a Telegram account linked to PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigades, Abu Tayr was a Commander in the Central Operations Unit of the Al-Quds Brigades.

Jaber Abdulhamid Diab Mohammedin was mourned on the Palestinian Ministry of Health General Directorate of Nursing’s Facebook page as an Intensive Care Unit nurse at the Al-Rantisi Specialized Children’s Hospital. A Telegram account linked to the Islamic Jihad Movement lists Mohammedin as a commander in the military manufacturing unit of the PIJ’s Al-Quds Brigade.

Nidal Jaber Abdulfattah al-Najjar is labeled as an administrator at the Palestinian Ministry of Health, according to the Institute for Palestine Studies, while a mourner on Facebook noted that he worked in the Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital. He is labeled on a Telegram account emblazoned with Hamas’ distinctive red triangle as a martyr commander of Hamas’ Al-Radwan Battalion.

IDF forces are seen operating in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip. (IDF Spokesman’s Unit)

Salo Aizenberg, director of media watchdog group HonestReporting, told Fox News Digital that he is tracking at least ten “virtually indisputable” examples of journalists who are actually combatants, working with Hamas and other terrorist groups.

David Adesnik, vice president of research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that he has also been tracking the disclosures. “With PIJ, the number of commanders who operated with civilian cover is striking,” Adesnik said. “We’re at a point where the evidence indicates that this duplicity was a routine part of a strategy to infiltrate civilian organization, especially humanitarian ones. This provides access and protection while ensuring outrage when these supposed humanitarians are killed.”

Adesnik said he believes it “likely that Hamas also employed this strategy in a systematic way, but right now we mainly have the PIJ disclosures. Given that Hamas is many times larger, if it were to disclose this kind of information, the effects could easily ripple across the humanitarian sector in Gaza.”

Among the cases Aizenberg is tracking are media workers. He said that his list is “based solely on admissions by those groups and other Gazan sources,” and “does not include the many additional examples identified through Israeli evidence.”

Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas terro leader who was killed by the IDF, waves to a crowd in Gaza. (Photo by Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Though the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) cites Yacoup Al-Borsch as a journalist and the executive director of Namaa Radio, Aizenberg has found “numerous social media posts and martyr notices identifying him as a fighter and ‘mujahid.’” This includes a Facebook post from an account affiliated with the Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia.

Ahmed Abu Sharia was a freelancer who worked for outlets like Iranian Tasnim News Agency, the CPJ says. According to the “official” Telegram site of the Mujahideen Brigades, the Palestinian Mujahideen movement’s military wing, he was also a member of the Mujahideen Brigades.

Rizq Abu Shakian was a “media worker and administrator for the pro-Hamas Palestine Now Agency,” according to CPJ. Shakian also appears in Hamas uniform on a Telegram site that shares images of Palestinian martyrs. According to Aizenberg’s research, he was a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades.

In response to questions about whether CPJ would update listings of journalists who have been claimed as terror affiliates, the group directed Fox News Digital to its policy for updating listings, which states, “CPJ has a long-standing policy of updating its data and the accompanying narrative accounts without issuing formal corrections as new information becomes available over time. In certain cases, a record may be removed from public view when new information leads CPJ to determine that a case falls outside its mandate or for security concerns, such as the safety of the journalist and their family.  CPJ will publicly record when it has removed a journalist from the database for a reason outside of security concerns. “

As the shaky ceasefire in Gaza continues, analysts say they continue to place value in closely examining the war’s casualties. Epstein said that “reviewing cases of militants who held dual civilian roles in key sectors like media, healthcare and education is important for the historical record and underscores the information limitations press, government, and analysts face in real time during conflict.” He said that “over time, militant identification can give a sense of just how deep Hamas, PIJ and other militant groups’ hold over key sectors in Gaza was.”

The towering concrete walls, reaching nine feet high, provide the first hint that something out of the ordinary awaits beyond the entrance.

From the outside, the expansive estate in the rural area of St Mary, Jamaica, bears a stronger resemblance to a penitentiary than a typical boarding school.

Massive gray barriers overshadow the palm trees and tin roofs, enclosing a private campus that its administrators claim offers a transformative journey towards redemption for troubled teens.

Inside, as described by the team managing the Youth of Vision Academy (YOVA), adolescents experience a regimen of strict discipline, academic instruction, and spiritual mentoring, all within a framework associated with the Seventh-day Adventist church.

However, a contrasting narrative is being shared by former enrollees.

Teens who once lived behind those towering walls describe a regime of isolation, humiliation, food deprivation and painful punishments. Some say they were forced into exhausting exercises until they collapsed or vomited.

Now, a sweeping lawsuit – soon to be filed in federal court in California – seeks to shut the facility down for good, accusing its operators of a range of abuses.

The Daily Mail has obtained exclusive access to the lawsuit, reviewed other documents, and spoken to a former student who said her time there felt like a nightmare she could not escape.

A testy exchange between lawyer Dawn Post (left) and Noel Reid, president of the Youth of Vision Academy (YOVA)

Inside its walls, teens complain about everything from isolation to restraints and conversion therapy (stock image)

Campaigners who monitor America’s controversial ‘troubled teen’ industry say YOVA represents a disturbing new frontier: a place where adopted children from the US are quietly sent overseas when family relationships break down.

The facility opened in 2018 and is run by Noel Reid, who registered the organization as an incorporated nonprofit at his five-bedroom home in Chula Vista, California, valued at around $1 million.

YOVA is based in St Mary, Jamaica 

It makes $6.5 million a year and has $13 million in assets, tax filings show. Parents pay $4,500 a month in fees, though some of this comes from US taxpayers.

Reid and other YOVA officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Some 180 teenagers are currently housed at the Jamaican campus, according to those familiar with the program. Most are American children, often adoptees, sent thousands of miles from home, beyond the reach of US regulators.

Critics say the arrangement effectively creates a loophole: parents frustrated with difficult adoptions can send children abroad to institutions that face far less oversight than facilities operating on US soil.

Human rights lawyer Dawn Post, who is preparing the legal action, said the pattern has become increasingly common.

She describes what she calls a largely invisible pipeline in which adopted children, particularly those adopted across racial or national lines, are placed into private residential programs once families struggle to cope.

‘What they have done is conveniently export all of their abusive techniques that they were not allowed to do in the US to outside the country,’ Post said.

The nine-foot concrete walls are the first clue that something unusual lies beyond the gates of YOVA

Paris Hilton who has fought against the troubled teen industry since she experienced it herself, flew to Jamaica to support the boys and spoke out against the school

According to Post and others, Jamaica has emerged as a hub for these programs, where facilities operate without the same licensing requirements or scrutiny that would apply in the US.

One former resident who spoke to the Daily Mail said she was just 15 when she was sent there.

Jessica, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, grew up in a strict Christian household in Michigan.

Nancy Thomas spearheaded the strict approach to troubled teens

After she came out as gay, her relationship with her family deteriorated. In March 2019, she was sent to the academy.

Jessica, now 22 and living in Connecticut with her girlfriend, describes the institution as a place of relentless psychological control disguised as religious discipline.

‘There was a lot of ‘You’re a disgusting individual. You’re gonna go to hell. Your parents are never going to love you again’,’ she said.

Staff controlled nearly every aspect of daily life – even access to water, she added. If teenagers stepped out of line, punishment quickly followed.

‘They wake you up in the middle of the night, they take you outside and force you into painful stress positions,’ Jessica said.

‘I was crying and begging them to stop because I hurt and was bleeding really bad. And they were just laughing at me.’

Post provided the accounts of three more former YOVA students who also described threats, intimidation, and violence at the hands of staff.

Others who were once locked up at the facility have taken to Reddit with horror stories.

Young people at the Atlantic Leadership Academy, another faith-based school in Jamaica that was closed down for abusing those in its care

‘All of the accusations of abuse (emotional, mental, physical, and yes, sexual) is true,’ posted one teen from Georgia.

‘They did nothing to better my life… If you want to fix your child, YOVA is not the way to do it. this place needs to be shut down.’

The federal civil complaint expected to be filed in the Southern District of California outlines a broad array of accusations against YOVA, Reid and others.

The crowdfunded lawsuit centers on Joie, a young woman born in Haiti in 2004 with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who was adopted by a Texas couple in 2008 and later sent to YOVA around age 14.

The lawsuit describes a familiar alleged pattern of restraints, isolation rooms, and mass punishment exercises from Joie’s time there.

Campaigners say YOVA is not an isolated case but part of a wider network of controversial residential programs.

Each year, roughly 80,000 adoptions occur in the US, excluding stepparent adoptions. Some 1,200 are international adoptions.

Experts estimate that up to 10 percent of adoptions ultimately disrupt or dissolve.

Post said those failed placements sometimes lead families to seek help from programs marketed directly to adoptive Christian parents.

Estimates suggest adoptees may account for around 30 percent of youths placed in such programs, though comprehensive national data remains limited.

The lawsuit alleges YOVA is the latest offshoot of a troubled teen network that has repeatedly faced allegations of abuse.

According to the complaint, Reid previously worked at Miracle Meadows, a West Virginia facility that closed in 2014 following abuse allegations. An article in The Daily Herald confirms that Reid worked there.

Staff and ideology from that program later migrated through successor institutions, including Ebenezer Home for Girls, which operated in Maryland before relocating to St Lucia and eventually merging with YOVA, according to Post.

The tough approach seen across the troubled teen industry is often attributed to Nancy Thomas, a pioneer in Evangelical and Christian adoption communities.

Thomas promoted a theory known as Reactive Attachment Disorder therapy, arguing that adopted children with behavioral issues can be ‘master manipulators’ who require strict control and absolute submission.

In her writings, children are expected to ask permission for basic needs such as drinking water or using the bathroom.

Mental health professionals have strongly criticized the approach as pseudoscientific and potentially abusive.

The philosophy has been linked to past tragedies, including the 2000 death of Candace Newmaker, a 10-year-old who suffocated during an extreme ‘rebirthing’ therapy session intended to repair attachment to her adoptive mother.

Thomas and others named in the YOVA lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment.

YOVA promotes itself online as offering ‘educational, therapeutic and behavioral services’ in a ‘safe and nurturing environment.’

YOVA grew out of Miracle Meadows, a West Virginia facility that closed in 2014 following abuse allegations

Reid has previously rejected allegations that children are abused or imprisoned.

Houston attorney Ashlee Martin, who has represented the facility, has described the campus as ‘very impressive’ and said children there are ‘being well cared for.’

Despite growing criticism of the troubled teen industry, the Jamaican academy has so far attracted little attention.

In 2024, however, a Youth Protection Court in the Canadian province of Quebec ruled that children sent there by an adoptive family had endured physical abuse, psychological mistreatment and educational neglect.

The court ordered the children returned to Canada and placed them under provincial protection.

Attorney Dawn Post traveled to Jamaica to help trapped youths

That same year, YOVA was probed by officials in Iowa over a 17-year-old student who was allegedly held there against her will, the Des Moines Register reported.

Iowa representative Ashley Hinson, a Republican, pushed for a probe into ‘disturbing allegations of child abuse’ there, her spokeswoman said at the time.

Post has urged the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and several US states to investigate YOVA. So far, she said, there has been little response.

DHS did not respond to questions from the Daily Mail. The US embassy in Kingston said it was aware of YOVA and other similar facilities operating in Jamaica and was monitoring the situation alongside Jamaican child protection authorities.

‘The US Department of State and our embassies and consulates overseas have no higher priority than the safety and welfare of minor US citizens abroad and provides all consular services as needed,’ the embassy said in a statement.

Officials declined to comment further.

Pressure on the troubled teen industry has intensified in recent years.

Organizers have claimed that the $1.5 billion was spent on the purpose-built facility 

Among the most prominent critics is Paris Hilton, who has spoken publicly about her own experience in a residential behavioral program as a teenager.

‘A lot of these places are getting shut down here and moving over to places in Jamaica where they feel they can get away with anything and there is no regulation,’ Hilton posted in 2025. She urged ‘survivors’ of YOVA to contact her and share their stories.

For former residents like Jessica, the memories remain vivid.

Behind the gates, she said, teenagers were told they were broken and needed to be fixed.

Years later, she is still trying to rebuild a life far from the compound where she once felt trapped.

And as the lawsuit moves forward, campaigners hope the allegations will bring daylight to a system they say has operated for far too long in the shadows.

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton was recently hospitalized following an unexplained health incident.

The 47-year-old media figure took to Instagram on Saturday, posting a series of videos and photos that depicted him in a Las Vegas hospital bed at Southern Hills Hospital, wearing an oxygen mask.

“March madness indeed! I’ve got quite a story to share!” he wrote in the caption accompanying the alarming post.

One image captured Hilton lying down, holding hands with a companion, while another photo displayed several lesions on his abdomen.

The well-known gossip columnist was also shown with a damp cloth on his forehead and tubes extending from his nose.

He received love and support from visitors, sharing an additional photo of a monkey-shaped balloon that read, “Hang in there … Get well soon.”

Several celebrities and fans sent their well-wishes to Perez, with actress Francia Raísa writing, “Wishing you a speedy recovery.”

“Hope you’re okay honey! 🙏,” Meghan McCain added.

“Oh my God, take care of yourself. I’ll pray for you,” commented “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum Brandi Glanville.

Hilton wasn’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

The journalist also shared a montage of clips from his hospital stay on Saturday, telling his followers that he would “soon” tell viewers about the saga.

However, he ensured to shout out Southern Hills staff, saying he “received the best care.”

“Everybody was amazing,” Hilton said, before individually thanking his healthcare team.

“I would not be home already if it weren’t for you,” he added.

Hilton captioned the post, “You are angels, all of you at @southernhillshospitallv! 🙏.”

In Houston, NASA has verified that what was initially perceived as a meteor weighed approximately one ton before disintegrating over the area.

Residents, particularly viewers of ABC Houston affiliate KTRK, captured and shared footage of the bright streak across the sky, which they witnessed on Saturday afternoon.

According to NASA’s overnight report, the meteor first became visible at an altitude of 49 miles above Stagecoach, located in southwest Montgomery County.

Experts revealed that the meteor eventually fragmented near Cypress Station.

In a remarkable twist, a local woman recounted to KTRK her experience of encountering a fragment of the meteor up close.

“‘What was that? What is that!’ Because it was so loud! It was like a boom!,” Sherrie James recounted.

The loud bang spooked the James family at their home on Saturday afternoon. They told KTRK that when they went to check where the noise was coming from, they were stunned to find that a strange rock had come through their roof.

“So, I come out here and look, there’s a hole in the ceiling, big dent in the floor, another little piece in the ceiling, and a big rock on the floor, and it just scared me to death,” James said. “I said, ‘Everybody, back out, get out of the room.’ I said, ‘I don’t know what this is, but this might be a meteor.’ I said, ‘I don’t know?’ First thing I did was call the fire department.”

James told KTRK she wondered if it was a meteorite and called the fire department. James says when firefighters arrived, they said it might have fallen from a plane.

She said she was not convinced.

“The weight of it is very, very heavy, and when the fireman looked, he said, ‘This is not a normal rock,’” James said. “He said the look of it and weight alone was just different.”

James said to her surprise, the firemen came back to her home 20 minutes later to take photos of the item and told her there were reports of a meteor exploding above north west Houston, and the rock in her home may be a fragment of it.

James plans to call NASA to see if someone can authenticate the piece that came flying through her roof, and yes, she plans to keep it.

She also told KTRK that since it’s a once-in-a-lifetime situation, she’s also getting herself a lottery ticket.

James said she recently had a new roof installed, so her next step will be to call to have it repaired.