Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
GAINESVILLE, PENSACOLA, & TALLAHASSEE – United States Attorney John P. Heekin announced today that thirty-four illegal aliens were recently convicted of federal crimes, including thirty-one previously deported aliens convicted for illegal reentry into the United States. One of those previously deported illegal aliens was also convicted of false document crimes.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Keyonte Johnson, 16, of Washington, D.C., was arrested yesterday and charged as an adult with premeditated first-degree murder while armed for shooting and killing 20-year-old D.C. resident Roy Bennett, Jr., on the evening of December 5, 2025, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Airforce
Airmen assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron conducted a hot-pit refueling operation using an R-20 expeditionary refueling system to support a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
CHARLESTON, S.C. — A Lowcountry firefighter accused of the sexual exploitation of a child has been arraigned in federal court. A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment against John Lewis Cottrell III, 46, of Johns Island, for sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child sexual abuse material.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (USAO-SDFL) closes 2025 having delivered decisive results across the full spectrum of federal enforcement — disrupting transnational drug trafficking organizations, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars through fraud prosecutions and civil resolutions, dismantling corruption schemes, and protecting the public from violent crime, exploitation, and national security threats.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Federal, state, and local leaders gathered on December 12, 2025, at the Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami to mark the formal investiture of Jason A. Reding Quiñones as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. The ceremony marked his ceremonial assumption of office as the chief federal law enforcement officer for one of the nation’s busiest, most complex, and most diverse judicial districts.
Source: United States Navy
Navy Medicine conducted its first pilot test of the Operational Medicine Care Delivery Platform (OpMed CDP) aboard the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Carney (DDG 64) to bring modern, seamless patient care to service members aboard ships, Dec. 1-12.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has entered a stipulated order resolving a case against Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC, (collectively, Disney). Under the order, Disney will pay $10 million in civil penalties as part of a settlement to resolve allegations that Disney violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and its implementing regulations (COPPA) in connection with Disney’s popular YouTube video content.
COPPA prohibits website operators from knowingly collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children under the age of 13 (hereinafter, children), unless they provide notice to and obtain consent from those children’s parents. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the government alleged that Disney improperly failed to designate YouTube video content as directed toward children. As a result, Disney, and others acting on Disney’s behalf, targeted advertising toward children on YouTube and unlawfully collected children’s information without parental notice and consent, in violation of COPPA. Disney’s YouTube video content is extremely popular, with billions of views in the United States alone.
“The Justice Department is firmly devoted to ensuring parents have a say in how their children’s information is collected and used,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department will take swift action to root out any unlawful infringement on parents’ rights to protect their children’s privacy.”
In addition to imposing a $10 million civil penalty on Disney, the stipulated order bars Disney from operating on YouTube in a manner that violates COPPA and requires Disney to create a program that will ensure it properly complies with COPPA on YouTube going forward.
The United States is represented in this action by Assistant Director Zachary A. Dietert, and Trial Attorneys Zachary L. Cowan and Francisco L. Unger, from the Enforcement Section of the Civil Division’s Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Branch. Jacqueline Ford represents the FTC.
For more information about the Enforcement Section of the Civil Division’s Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Branch visit www.justice.gov/civil/enforcement-affirmative-litigation-branch.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A Columbia man accused of a hate crime was arraigned in federal court this morning. The Government moved for the defendant to be detained pending trial. The defendant waived his right to a detention hearing and will remain in custody.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Today, the United States announced that it is challenging Virginia laws providing in-state tuition and financial assistance for illegal aliens. These laws unconstitutionally discriminate against U.S. citizens who are not afforded the same reduced tuition rates, scholarships, or subsidies, create incentives for illegal immigration, and reward illegal immigrants with benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for, all in direct conflict with federal law.
“This is a simple matter of federal law: in Virginia and nationwide, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”
The Department of Justice’s complaint is filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division against the Commonwealth of Virginia seeking to enjoin the State from enforcing the Virginia laws and bring them into compliance with federal requirements.
In the complaint, the United States seeks to enjoin enforcement of Virginia laws that requires colleges and universities to provide in-state tuition rates for all aliens who maintain Virginia residency, regardless of whether those aliens are lawfully present in the United States. Additionally, the complaint seeks to enjoin Virginia from enforcing state laws which afford financial assistance to illegal aliens.
This lawsuit follows two executive orders signed by President Trump that seek to ensure illegal aliens are not obtaining taxpayer benefits or preferential treatment: “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders” and “Protecting American Communities From Criminal Aliens.” This lawsuit also follows similar tuition lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and California.