Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday.
Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday.
The protesters are accusing school officials of failing to keep students safe on campus, according to local media.
The demonstrators clashed with police on Friday near where Khaleghi was killed outside a university dormitory by two unknown robbers.
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Students in Iran continued to protest the fatal robbery of a 19-year-old student on campus last week on Saturday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
He later died in a hospital.
The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”
Amid the outcry, Iran’s vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, ordered an “immediate” investigation into Khaleghi’s death.
Hossein Sarraf, Iran’s Minister of Science, Research, and Technology also warned protesters that “university issues must not extend beyond campus. Those who enter unlawfully will face severe consequences, and there will be no leniency in this matter,” according to the state-run ISNA news agency.
The protest was not politically motivated, but demonstrations in the country can sometimes lead to political unrest under the harsh regime.
Amir Mohammad Khaleghi, 19, a business student at Tehran University, was killed in a robbery near a campus dormitory on Wednesday, sparking protests on Friday. (Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
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Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) wrote on X on Friday: “Salutes to the students of the University of Tehran who, in protest against the brutal murder of one of their peers, raised their voices with the powerful chant, ‘A student dies, but does not accept humiliation.’”
She added, “The perpetrators of this insecurity are either the Revolutionary Guards and suppressive forces themselves, or the result of the regime’s anti-people policies, which prioritize maintaining its power through the harshest oppression, with no regard for the safety or welfare of the people. I call on my fellow citizens to stand in solidarity with the students who today have declared that silence is no longer an option. Indeed, the university is the fortress of freedom and must fulfill its historic role.”
The protesters shouted things like “Shame on you!,” “University security is a tool of the IRGC [Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps], you are our murderers!”, and “The blood that has been spilled can never be erased!”(Simay Azadi/ Iranntv.com)
Protests ignited three years ago at universities across the country after a 22-year-old woman died in custody after she was detained for allegedly not wearing her headscarf correctly.
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The protests lasted for months, ending only after a security crackdown in which 500 people died and more than 22,000 were detained.
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s newly sworn-in top Cabinet members are asking Congress to provide more resources to continue the administration’s full court press to secure the border and facilitate large-scale deportations.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi penned a letter to top appropriators in the House and Senate, pleading with them to designate more funds to the cause of securing the U.S. southern border.
“The American people strongly support sealing our borders and returning to a lawful immigration system,” Noem, Hegseth and Bondi told the lawmakers in the letter obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital.
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Members of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet leading his border security efforts are asking Congress for more resources.(Reuters)
“Even if the price of some of these measures may seem high, they are nothing when compared to the costs our country is facing in the long term of continuing the status quo,” they explained.
According to the Trump Cabinet officials, their departments need a variety of resources to continue securing the border at the current level.
These include additional law enforcement officers; military personnel, including Active Duty and State and National Guard; aircraft and additional means of transportation to facilitate deportations; both materials and workers to finish construction of “a permanent barrier” at the border; additional immigration judges to quickly decide cases and clear the backlog; and more facilities to detain illegal immigrant waiting for deportation.
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Immigrants are seen boarding a U.S. military aircraft. The White House announced that “deportation flights have begun” in the U.S.(White House)
The correspondence to congressional leaders comes as a March 14 spending bill deadline approaches, and the chambers are expected to lay out a new spending deal to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Passing a spending bill next month with satisfactory border funding could prove difficult, however, because 60 votes will be needed in the Senate. That means the Republican conference cannot pass it single-handedly and will need the support of several Democrats to get it done.
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The U.S. Capitol.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
The letter from Noem, Hegseth and Bondi also coincides with congressional Republicans’ efforts to put together a budget deal with provisions for border security and pass it in an expeditious manner. However, the House and Senate GOP have begun to butt heads on how to go about the key budget reconciliation process and whether to pursue one big bill with all of Trump’s priorities or to use a two-bill approach, with another being passed later in the year to address Trump’s tax agenda.
By lowering the threshold for Senate passage from 60 votes to 51 out of 100, reconciliation allows the party in power to skirt its opposition to advance its agenda – provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters. The House of Representatives already has a simple majority threshold.
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Sens. Susan Collins, right, and Patty Murray are the GOP and Democrat leaders of the Senate appropriations committee.(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
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Fox News Digital reached Senate Committee on Appropriations Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Senate Committee on the Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ranking Member Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; House Committee on Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., but did not immediately receive responses.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Rep. Jim Jordan, GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., sent employees from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office requests Thursday to hand over documents and interviews related to the Jan. 6 Committee as they continue investigating District Attorney Fani Willis.
“The committee previously wrote to District Attorney Willis requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee. Because District Attorney Willis has declined to cooperate, the committee must pursue other avenues to obtain this information,” a press release states.
Jordan and Loudermilk sent letters to Assistant Chief Investigator Michael Hill, Assistant Chief Investigator Trina Swanson-Lucas, Chief Senior District Attorney Donald Wakeford and Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten, requesting “all documents and communications” between the employees and “any member, staff member, agent, or representative of the January 6 Selection Committee.”
THE FANI WILLIS TRUMP FIASCO IS FAR FROM OVER. IN FACT, IT’S JUST GETTING STARTED
The letters also request the employees hand over “all documents and communications referring or relating to records in your possession obtained” from the Jan. 6 Committee.
GOP House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and Rep. Barry Loudermilk sent Fulton County District Attorney employees letters Thursday, requesting documents and interviews as part of their investigation into DA Fani Willis. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
All employees were asked to submit the requested documentation no later than Feb. 20.
The letters sent Thursday say the lawmakers had previously written to Willis “requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee.”
FANI WILLIS DECLINES TO SHARE JACK SMITH, JAN 6 RECORDS, IN A BLOW TO CONSERVATIVE WATCHDOGS
The lawmakers say they received a letter from Willis in December in which she confirmed the requested documents existed “but declined to produce such materials on the grounds that the materials were ‘protected from disclosure by attorney-client privilege, work product privilege, and other common law protections.’”
Willis was investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The DA’s office asserted the same claim in a court filing that same month when it declined to turn over any new communications between Willis and special counsel Jack Smith, who had also been investigating alleged efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The filing asserted that the documents either did not exist or were exempt from disclosure under Georgia law.
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Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney had previously ordered Willis to produce any records of communication with either Smith or the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 within five business days. In doing so, the judge sided with Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group that had filed suit against Willis, determining that Willis had violated the state’s open records act by failing to respond to the lawsuit.
The letters sent Thursday say the lawmakers had previously written to Willis “requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee.”(Alyssa Pointer/Pool/Getty Images)
The House Judiciary Committee launched its investigation into whether Willis coordinated with the House Jan. 6 Committee in December 2023. Jordan and Loudermilk took the lead on the probe after learning that Willis’ office “coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.”
The lawmakers said at the time that Willis asked the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to share evidence with her office.
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Willis charged Trump with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Fox News Digital reached out to Hill, Swanson-Lucas, Wakeford, Wooten and the DA’s Office but did not immediately hear back.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
Haley Chi-Sing is a Writer for Fox News Digital. You can reach her at @haleychising on X.
The State of California and its public school athletics association has indicated it will not fall in line with President Donald Trump’s latest executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) said it will continue to follow the state’s law that allows athletes to participate as whichever gender they identify as, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
California Family Council Outreach Director Sophia Lorey told Fox News Digital that her state’s intent to defy Trump’s executive order has made her feel “disgusted.”
“I am disgusted that CIF is disregarding yesterday’s executive order and instead doubling down on policies that are not only unfair, but dangerous for young women across California. By prioritizing their idol of transgender ideology over the safety and rights of female athletes, they are knowingly exposing high school girls to unsafe competition and stripping them of opportunities guaranteed for them under Title IX,” Lorey told Fox News Digital.
“One day, the CIF board will look back and realize they chose to be on the wrong side of history. They will have to answer for why they sacrificed the safety, fairness, and dignity of young girls to bow to an ideological agenda. But the rest of us will not stand by while female athletes are illegally prevented from competing fairly in their own sports.”
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President Donald Trump signs the No Men in Women’s Sports Executive Order into law in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2025.(ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)
The NCAA announced Thursday that it has amended its policy on gender eligibility so that biological males are no longer allowed to compete in the women’s category in response to Trump’s order.
However, at the youth and high school level, girls may still be at the mercy of state law.
In California, a law called AB 1266 has been in effect since 2014, giving California students at scholastic and collegiate levels the right to “participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records.”
California Code of Regulations section 4910(k) defines gender as, “A person’s actual sex or perceived sex and includes a person’s perceived identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that identity, appearance, or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with a person’s sex at birth.”
CIF Bylaw 300.D. mirrors the Education Code, stating, “All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records.”
These laws and the subsequent enabling of trans athletes to compete with girls and women in the state has resulted in multiple controversies over the issue over the last year alone.
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Martin Luther King High School in Riverside, California, is currently embroiled in one of the most contentious local controversies on the issue.
A recent school board meeting by the Riverside Unified School District on Dec. 19 featured a parade of parents berating the board for allowing a trans athlete on the Martin Luther King girls’ cross-country team. A lawsuit filed by two girls on the team alleges that their T-shirts in protest of that player were compared to swastikas simply because they said “Save Girls Sports.”
The father of a girl who lost her varsity spot to the trans athlete previously told Fox News Digital that his daughter and other girls at the school were told “transgenders have more rights than cisgender[s]” by school administrators when they protested the athlete’s participation.
Stone Ridge Christian High School’s girls’ volleyball team was scheduled to face San Francisco Waldorf in the Northern California Division 6 tournament but forfeited in an announcement just before the match over the presence of a trans athlete on the team.
A transgender volleyball player was booed and harassed at an Oct. 12 match between Notre Dame Belmont in Belmont, California, against Half Moon Bay High School, according to ABC 7. Half Moon Bay rostered the transgender athlete.
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California State Assembly member Kate Sanchez announced on Jan. 7 that she is introducing a bill to ban trans athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports.
Sanchez will propose the Protect Girls’ Sports Act to the state legislature. Currently, 25 states have similar laws in effect.
“Young women who have spent years training and sacrificing to compete at the highest level are now forced to compete against individuals with undeniable biological advantages. It’s not just unfair – it’s disheartening and dangerous,” Sanchez said in a statement announcing the bill.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital. He previously worked for ESPN and Business Insider. Jackson has covered the Super Bowl and NBA Finals, and has interviewed iconic figures Usain Bolt, Rob Gronkowski, Jerry Rice, Troy Aikman, Mike Trout, David Ortiz and Roger Clemens.
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President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration continues with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials making several criminal arrests over the last week in left-leaning “sanctuary” cities, including Philadelphia, Boston, Denver and Washington, D.C.
Philadelphia
ICE agents conducted a worksite enforcement operation at a car wash in Philadelphia that led to the arrest of seven illegal immigrants, six from Mexico and one from the Dominican Republic.
The operation took place at a Complete Autowash in North Philadelphia Jan. 28. It was prompted by reports that employees at the car wash were being subjected to labor exploitation.
After the arrests, Brian McShane, acting field office director for Philadelphia ICE Enforcement & Removal Operations, said “the successful execution of this worksite enforcement operation underscores our determined commitment to national security and public safety.
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ICE Philadelphia arrests seven in worksite enforcement operation(U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
“We were able to apprehend individuals who are unlawfully present in the United States. These operations highlight the dedication and diligence of our officers and agents in protecting our communities from potential threats by enforcing immigration laws in accordance with U.S. laws and Department of Homeland Security policies.”
ICE Philadelphia also recently arrested Luis Gualdron-Gualdron, a suspected member of the Venezuelan migrant gang Tren de Aragua who has a criminal record that includes indecent assault of a person under 16 and harassment. ICE arrested Gualdron-Gualdron without incident despite the agency’s detainer against him being ignored by the Northampton County Prison.
ICE Philadelphia also removed a Mexican illegal immigrant, Raymundo Rojas Bacilio, who is wanted for rape in his home country. The office also removed Dominican national Yermanny Suarez Laureano, who is wanted in his home country for homicide.
Boston
Arrests have also continued in the Boston area, which has strong sanctuary policies in place limiting local law enforcement cooperation with ICE.
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ICE Boston arrests a Salvadoran national Jan. 30, 2025, charged with sexually assaulting a Massachusetts resident. (ICE Boston)
In the last week, ICE announced the arrests of several illegal immigrants, including criminals charged with rape of a Massachusetts resident, sex crimes, murder and gang involvement.
One of the migrants, Salvadoran national Jose Garcia-Salmeron, 34, is charged with raping a Massachusetts resident. Despite being arraigned on rape charges by the Chelsea District Court, the court ignored an ICE detainer against Garcia-Salmeron and released him from custody in July 2024.
Another migrant, 37-year-old Haitian national Jean Yves Ovilme, is charged with assault and battery and indecent assault of a person 14 years or older. Another, Cesar Augusto Polanco, 59, has been convicted in a Massachusetts court of murder. He was serving a life sentence and is now in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Finally, another illegal immigrant, reputed Guatemalan MS-13 gang member Luis Adolfo Guerra-Perez, 19, was arrested by ICE Jan. 22. Guerra-Perez illegally entered the country and was released into the interior in 2021 and is charged with drug and weapons crimes.
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended an illegally present Salvadoran national convicted of sexually assaulting a Virginia resident when officers with ICE Washington, D.C., arrested Nicolas Alberto Hernandez-Lopez, 46, Jan. 15, in Fairfax County, Va.(ICE Washington D.C.)
Washington, D.C.
ICE officials in Washington, D.C., arrested a Salvadoran illegal alien named Nicolas Alberto Hernandez-Lopez, 46, who is charged with sexually assaulting a Virginia resident.
Hernandez-Lopez was previously removed from the country in 2023, but he unlawfully reentered the country at an unknown date and location, according to an ICE statement. He is currently in ICE custody.
Patrick Divver, acting field office director for Washington, D.C., ICE enforcement and removal operations, said Hernandez-Lopez “illegally reentered the United States, and then victimized a resident of our Virginia community. This is not something that the officers of ICE Washington, D.C. will tolerate.
“We will continue our mission of arresting public safety threats and removing egregious alien offenders from our Washington, D.C., and Virginia neighborhoods.”
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Luis Fernando Melendez-Rivera, 27, an illegally present Mexican national wanted for aggravated homicide in Mexico, in Denver, Colo., Jan. 31.(ICE Denver)
Denver
ICE has also made several criminal arrests in Denver, whose Democratic mayor, Mike Johnston, has been among the most vocal opponents of Trump’s immigration crackdown in the country.
One of the illegal migrants arrested, Luz Maria Ramirez-Monreal, a Mexican national, is charged with child abuse, burglary, strangulation and kidnapping. Another Mexican national arrested includes 48-year-old Juan Benitez-Ortega, who is charged with felony assault and kidnapping.
A third illegal alien recently arrested by Denver ICE officials is Mexican national Luis Fernando Melendez-Rivera, 27, who is wanted for aggravated homicide in his home country. According to ICE, Melendez entered the country through the Denver International Airport in 2022.
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ICE and DEA migrant raids NYC(Drug Enforcement Administration New York)
Seattle
ICE officials in Seattle also arrested four criminal illegal aliens who have been either convicted or charged with crimes related to sexual assault.
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Pedro Garcia-Lopez, 47, a Mexican citizen, has been charged with theft, lewd acts with a child under 14 and sexual battery. Rubi Jeronimo Cruz, 22, a citizen of Guatemala, was convicted of DUI with reckless driving and charged with rape of a child. Manuel De Jesus Zavala-Martinez, 40, a citizen of El Salvador, has several criminal convictions, including assault with sexual motivation and assault with a deadly weapon. Lastly, Jaspal Singh, 29, a citizen of India, was charged with assault with sexual motivation.
“Protecting our communities and preventing further victimization is of paramount importance to ICE throughout the Pacific Northwest,” said Drew Bostock, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Seattle field office director. “These arrests reinforce the message that the presence of illegal criminal threats will not be tolerated.”
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Matthew Memoli sought to clarify the extent of the Trump administration’s freeze on communications and other functions within the Health and Human Services Department, which has raised concern among agency officials and lawmakers.
Memoli’s memo, sent Monday to leaders across the NIH’s more than two dozen centers and institutions, said the freeze had been issued to “allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization,” but noted that due to “confusion on the scope of the pause” he wanted to provide additional guidance.
The internal memo was first reported by STAT News .The NIH did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
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Last week, the new Trump administration abruptly paused external communications at HHS through the first of next month. In addition to halting announcements, press releases, website and social media posts, new guidance, and new regulations, the freeze also halted public appearances and travel by agency officials, and prohibited new purchases or service requests related to agency work.
A scientist demonstrates pipetting viscous genomic DNA at the NIH Intramural Sequencing Center in Rockville, MD on April 13, 2023.
The move caused anger and confusion among both HHS officials and those in the broader medical community. Following the directive, scientific meetings and grant reviews were canceled, raising significant concerns about the impact on research.
“We write to express our grave concerns about actions that have taken place in recent days that potentially disrupt lifesaving research being conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health,” a trio of Democratic lawmakers from Maryland said in a Monday letter to HHS’s Acting Secretary Dr. Dorothy Fink. “Without quick corrective action, the consequences of further disruption could be disastrous.”
According to Memoli’s memo, while agency officials are not permitted to begin new research while the pause is in effect, any research or clinical trials initiated before Jan. 20 can keep going “so that this work can continue, and we do not lose our investment in these studies.” Officials working on these studies may also purchase any “necessary supplies” and conduct meetings related to such work. Although new research projects are still prohibited, NIH staff can continue submitting papers to medical journals and can communicate with those journals about submitted work.
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A seal that reads “U.S. Public Health Service” adorns a building on the campus of the National Institutes of Health, March 9, 2001, in Bethesda, Maryland. (Mark Wilson/Newsmakers)
The freeze on purchases was further clarified by Memoli’s memo, which indicated that while the pause remains, purchases “directly related to human safety, human or animal healthcare, security, biosafety, biosecurity, or IT security,” can continue. Travel and hiring for such work can continue as well, Memoli indicated, but his office must grant specific exemptions for new hires as President Donald Trump also initiated a freeze on the hiring of new federal civilian employees across all agencies during his first week in office.
Routine travel planned for after Feb. 1 “does not need to be canceled at this time,” Memoli added. Patients receiving treatment at NIH facilities can also continue to do so.
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Meanwhile, external communications will continue to be prohibited except for “announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical.” On Monday, amid the freeze, Fink announced that HHS would begin evaluating its current practices to ensure they meet federal requirements under the Hyde Amendment, a law prohibiting the use of federal funds for non-medically necessary, elective abortions.
One subject area that was notably absent from Memoli’s memo to federal health leaders was clarifications around grant review meetings. However, the acting director’s memo concluded by indicating that further guidance is expected to be made available later this week.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building, also known as the Hubert H. Humphrey Building, is located at the foot of Capitol Hill in the nation’s capital. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
While the pause at HHS has caused a firestorm of concern and criticism, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who is now the dean of the University of Nebraska’s school of public health, Dr. Ali Khan, told the Associated Press that such pauses are not unusual. Khan said concern is only warranted if the pause was aimed at “silencing the agencies around a political narrative.”
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“I think the intention of such a chaotic freezing of communications was to scare us, to demoralize us, and to set science back a bit in an effort to make us look bad,” said a long-time NIH staffer who spoke to Forbes on the condition of anonymity. “We are by no means perfect, but, ffs, our job is literally to enable research to save lives, what the heck?”
