America in Brief

Intelligence leaders face grilling over Signal chat leak; U.S. announces 25 percent auto tariffs; and top MS-13 gang member arrested.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard (C) speaks as (L-R) National Security Agency Director General Timothy Haugh, FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Jeffrey Kruse look on during an annual worldwide threats assessment hearing at Longworth House Office Building in Washington, on March 26, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Intelligence Leaders Face Tough Questions Over Signal Chat Leak

Intelligence leaders faced intense questioning this week over their handling of a leaked Signal chat describing U.S. military strikes.

The Atlantic magazine published an article on March 24 describing how the magazine’s editor-in-chief was added to a chat group involving high-level government officials discussing details of ongoing military operations as they were unfolding.

The chat included Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Vice President JD Vance, among others.

The incident has raised questions among Congress about the government’s handling of sensitive communications.

Workers assemble cars at Ford's Assembly Plant in Chicago on June 24, 2019. Jim Young/AFP via Getty Images

US Announces 25 Percent Tariffs on All Car Imports

The United States announced a 25 percent tariff on all foreign car imports, as part of a strategy to boost American car manufacturing.

The tariffs will apply to both cars and car parts and will come into effect along with a broader set of reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

Exceptions for goods with 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico will also expire.

President Donald Trump has dubbed the date America’s “liberation day.”

Prisoners watch behind bars as U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, accompanied by Minister of Justice and Public Security Gustavo Villatoro (R), tours the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Homeland Security Secretary Visits El Salvador Prison Amid Deportations

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited El Salvador this week to tour prisons holding Venezuelan illegal immigrants deported from the United States as part of a deal made between the United States and El Salvador.

The deportations, mostly made up of the violent gang Tren De Aragua are being held at the El Salvadorian Terrorist Confinement Centre.

On March 22, President Donald Trump invoked a wartime act known as the Alien Enemies Act of 1978, which allows citizens to be deported without any official immigration procedures.

A federal judge then tried to block the deportations, ordering a plane that was carrying the illegal immigrants to return, but the deportations went ahead anyway.

The Trump administration argued that the planes had already left U.S. territory and, therefore, the court had no authority.

Meanwhile, deportations are frozen, and the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks about a 24 year-old MS-13 gang leader during a news conference at the Manassas FBI Field Office in Manassas, Va., on March 27, 2025. Rod Lamkey/AP Photo

FBI Arrests Top Regional MS-13 Member

Federal officials arrested a senior leader of the international criminal gang MS-13 on March 27, after an early morning raid in Virginia.

El Salvadorian man, Henrry Josue Villatoro, 24, was identified as the gang’s East Coast leader and was in the country illegally.

MS-13, which means Mara Salvatrucha, is a transnational criminal gang with ties to the Mexican Mafia that is comprised mainly of El Salvadorian immigrants and their descendants.

It is the largest gang in the country, operating in 40 states, and Washington, D.C. and is notorious for violent crimes, with a moto “kill, rape, control.”