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Tag: veteran

Packers’ Josh Jacobs teams up with USAA to surprise 34-year Marine veteran with Super Bowl LIX tickets

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NEW ORLEANS – Each year, the Super Bowl creates memories that last a lifetime for so many, whether they are heading to the “Big Game,” or at home watching with friends and family.

This year, Green Bay Packers star running back Josh Jacobs is doing something special for someone he puts in the category as “the real heroes.”

Retired Sgt. Maj. Kevin Bennett is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who served 34 years from 1971-2004. He had a career filled with combat missions and assignments that took him to places like Saudi Arabia/Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, Panama, Norway, Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

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Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs, #8, celebrates a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Bennett now lives in Stafford, Virginia, but he will be down in the Big Easy on Sunday as Jacobs will be surprising him and his wife of 33 years, Ivette, with Super Bowl LIX tickets to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Jacobs stopped by Radio Row with Fox News Digital to explain the honor it is to be surprising Bennett with the two tickets after teaming up with USAA, the official “Salute to Service” partner of the NFL and the Marine Corps Association to honor this deserving military veteran.

HOW TO WATCH SUPER BOWL LIX BETWEEN CHIEFS, EAGLES STREAMED ON TUBI

“Man, I’m excited because obviously, to me, they’re the real heroes,” Jacobs said. “My grandpa served in the Air Force and my uncle actually served in the Marines. So, for me, it’s definitely closer to home. To be able sit down, talk to him, pick his brain a little bit, tell him I appreciate his service and things like that is definitely huge for me.

“I think that it’s great that we highlight him and what he’s done and let him celebrate this with us.”

Josh Jacobs, #8 of the Green Bay Packers, participates in drills during the Green Bay Packers Minicamp at Ray Nitschke Field on June 11, 2024 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

Jacobs will meet Bennett and many other military guests at the USAA’s Salute to Service Lounge during the Super Bowl Experience, as one of several NFL stars partnered with the veteran service organizations down in New Orleans.

Being the league’s “Salute to Service” partner, USAA honors military communities all over the country during the NFL season, which includes hosting military members, veterans, their families and more at events like the Super Bowl.

NFL Boot Camps have also been a fun way for those in the military community to get involved and interact with players like Jacobs, while also experiencing some of the best the league has to offer at the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl, the NFL Draft and more.

Super Bowl LIX will be streamed on Tubi. (Tubi)

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The impact of honoring our military is why Jacobs loves moments like he will have with Bennett on Friday ahead of the Big Game.

“With USAA and the Marine Corps, it’s been real big for me. It’s closer to home for me. But not only that, to be able to give back, even if it’s the slightest, or to shine light on the real heroes, I try to do that as much as I can. It’s a blessing and an honor to be able to work with these guys.”

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February 6, 2025
Dems rail against ‘egregious’ ICE raid after military veteran questioned

A New Jersey mayor and other leading Democrats have blasted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a worksite which they say resulted in undocumented residents as well as a U.S. citizen being “detained.”

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka slammed the operation as an “egregious act” and a violation of the Fourth Amendment after agents reportedly swooped in to raid a business establishment “without producing a warrant.”

Baraka said that one of those detained is a U.S. military veteran who “suffered the indignity of having the legitimacy of his military documentation questioned.”

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on Thursday, March 7, 2024. (Tanya Breen/USA TODAY NETWORK)

TRUMP BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN REVEALS ICE TEAMS ARE ALREADY ARRESTING ‘PUBLIC SAFETY THREATS’

“This egregious act is in plain violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees ‘the right of the people be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures….’” Baraka wrote in a statement.

“Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorized,” Barak said, adding that he is “ready and willing to defend and protect civil and human rights.”

It is not clear if the U.S. citizen in the Newark case was taken into custody, with an ICE spokesperson telling Fox News that the U.S. citizen was asked to produce identification.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement may encounter U.S. citizens while conducting field work and may request identification to establish an individual’s identity as was the case during a targeted enforcement operation at a worksite today in Newark, New Jersey,” an ICE spokesperson told Fox News in relation to Thursday’s Newark operation. “This is an active investigation, and, per ICE policy, we cannot discuss ongoing investigations.”

An exterior view of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency headquarters. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

ICE raids have ramped up across the country this week as President Donald Trump looks to clamp down on illegal immigration, a key campaign promise. Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan has said ICE agents will focus on the “worst first, public safety threats first, but no one is off the table. If they’re in the country illegally, they got a problem.”

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New Jersey senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim joined Baraka in condemning the raid.

“We are deeply concerned about the news of an ICE raid in Newark today. Our offices have reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to demand answers,” the senators said in a joint statement.

“Actions like this one sow fear in all of our communities — and our broken immigration system requires solutions, not fear tactics. We will continue to work with Mayor Baraka and other local officials to gather more information to ensure all New Jerseyans are safe and their dignity and rights are protected.”

Baraka, a progressive Democrat, has been mayor of Newark since 2014 and is running for New Jersey governor this year. He has called for a “progressive overhaul” of the blue state and his campaign agenda includes reparations, sanctuary state laws, baby bonds, and a universal basic income.”

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also slammed the raid. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., also slammed the raid in a statement.

“Already, Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities are hitting home and we will not back down,” she said. “We will always fight for the dignity and rights of everyone in our district and across the country.”

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In the first days of the Trump administration, ICE has made more than 460 arrests of illegal immigrants, including those with criminal histories that include sexual assault, domestic violence and drugs and weapons crimes. Arrests took place across the U.S., including Illinois, Utah, California, Minnesota, New York, Florida and Maryland.

Agents arrested nationals from a slew of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Senegal and Venezuela.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Stephen Sorace and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

January 24, 2025
Mother of missing Marine veteran calls Trump admin a ‘breath of fresh air’ as she continues 12-year search

Debra Tice has spent more than 12 years searching for her son, Austin Tice, a Marine veteran and journalist who was kidnapped in Syria in August 2012.

Through four presidential administrations, she has not lost hope that her son will come home alive. In fact, she calls the new Trump administration a “breath of fresh air.”

“They are thinking about what they need to do, making suggestions, standing ready, having ideas. The burden isn’t on me the way it has been in the past,” Tice told Fox News Digital, referring to the Trump administration.

The Marine veteran’s mother’s first trip back to Damascus, Syria, in over 10 years comes on the heels of a revolution within the war-torn country. Debra Tice has been in Syria for only a few days, but she has already managed to meet with the country’s de facto leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the group that overthrew Bashar al-Assad.

“It was really quite a surprise that we were able to get a meeting with al-Sharaa. It was a very good meeting,” Tice said.

SYRIA RESCUE-MISSION OPERATOR BELIEVES AUSTIN TICE IS ALIVE AND WILL BE FOUND SOON

Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Debra Tice, the mother of American journalist Austin Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012, and Nizar Zakka, head of non-profit Hostage Aid Worldwide, center, in Damascus, Syria, on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Hostage Aid Worldwide, a non-profit organization coordinating Tice’s visit to Syria, was able to take her inside some of the prisons that have been abandoned since the fall of Assad. She said that seeing the conditions in these prisons was “really challenging,” but that she appreciated getting a sense of “what Austin was up against.”

Tice also issued a challenge to those in the U.S. government who “feel like Austin can wait” to go see the prisons for themselves.

“I think if they had to come over here – and I wouldn’t even ask them to spend the night in one of those prisons – but I think if they had gone to see what he may have gone through, maybe they would’ve been more motivated to get Austin out of there.”

TREY YINGST ENTERS ABANDONED SYRIAN DETENTION SITE IN SEARCH FOR MISSING AMERICAN JOURNALIST AUSTIN TICE

Debra Tice, mother of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice who disappeared while reporting in Syria in August 2012, attends a press conference as she urged President Donald Trump to help reveal her son’s fate in Damascus, Syria, on Jan. 20, 2025. (Bekir Kasim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

During a press conference on Monday, Tice offered praise for the incoming Trump administration and confirmed that they have “already reached out” regarding Austin’s case.

“I haven’t experienced that in the past four years, but I am optimistic about their help and involvement. I believe they will act quickly,” Tice said.

Tice also used the press conference to send an emotional message to her missing son. “Austin, if you can hear this somehow, I love you. I know you won’t give up, and I won’t give up either,” Tice said.

Tice added she has “never had any doubt about the fact that Austin is going to walk free. It’s a matter of time, and in my faith it’s God’s timing.”

When speaking about her hope and optimism about finding her son, Tice credited her faith as “100 percent.” She added that, “if I didn’t have my faith, I just think I would crumble into a bunch of really small pieces.”

COLLAPSE OF SYRIA’S ASSAD REGIME RENEWS US PUSH TO FIND AUSTIN TICE

The State Department’s Reward for Justice program is offering $10 million for information relating to locating Austin Tice. (The State Department’s Reward for Justice)

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “intensive efforts are still underway to find Austin Tice.” Additionally, the spokesperson said that the department is “working to get U.S. officials into Damascus” to aid in the search but is waiting for confirmation that the”conditions are safe and local authorities can accommodate the visit.”

“We have used relevant information, as well as declassified intelligence, to inform the search efforts of Syrian and international partners on the ground in Damascus who are searching for Austin every day,” the spokesperson added.

“They have visited and searched numerous now-uncovered secret prisons, but to date they have not found Austin or any additional information that would help us locate him.”

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Last month, after receiving a letter from Debra Tice, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to ask Assad for help finding Austin. However, as of now, there are no signs that this has happened.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

January 22, 2025