OCTOBER- NOV 2025 updates

The first form, which he signed in February, does not directly mention a paid speech he gave in Moscow, as well as other payments from companies linked to Russia. The second, an amended version, lists the names of the companies that made the payments under a section for any nongovernment compensation that exceeds $5,000 “in a year.”

Russia-linked payments were detailed in a letter released in March by congressional investigators, and included a $45,000 speaking fee from RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a Kremlin-backed news network, for a speech in 2015 in Moscow. During the same trip, Mr. Flynn attended the network’s lavish anniversary dinner and was photographed sitting at the elbow of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

and the disclosure forms showed income of nearly $1.5 million, a sizable amount for a man who left the military less than three years ago.

His form listed assets valued at $380,000 and $800,000, most of which is tied up in retirement funds.

Mr. Flynn reported an income of $1.37 million to $1.47 million. The bulk — $827,055 — came from the Flynn Intel Group, the consulting business he founded after being pushed out as the chief of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. The rest included speaking fees and income earned for doing consulting work and sitting on corporate boards, such as that of Adobe Systems, which paid him $125,250.

He shuttered the Flynn Intel Group at the end of 2016, and then was forced out of the White House in February for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of phone calls he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States in December.

The payments for lobbying work that Mr. Flynn did for the Turkish government — and did not disclose until March — were handled through the Flynn Intel Group, and are not listed separately on the disclosure forms. Mr. Flynn did not work directly for the Turkish government; the firm that hired him, Inovo, is owned by a Turkish-American businessman with links to leaders in Ankara

“I had to take our baby from my crying wife’s arms,” Mr. Paul, 33, said, recalling the moment that agents said they were arresting his wife, Katie. Ms. Paul was sent to an immigration detention center with hundreds of other people swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown. Her husband had to take a leave from his job at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to care for their child and try to secure her release. “It’s insane to have them rip our family apart,” Mr. Paul said. “Whoever is directing this has completely lost touch with their mission to the country.”

In recent weeks, immigration lawyers in several cities have seen a surge in arrests of foreign spouses of Americans during interviews at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices. In San Diego alone, immigration lawyers in the region estimate that several dozen foreign-born spouses have been detained since Nov. 12, when the new tactic first surfaced, according to Andrew Nietor,

“In 25 years of practice, I have never seen anything like this,” Johanna Keamy, the Pauls’ lawyer, said, echoing the view of other lawyers. “The proper procedure was exactly what they did,” she said. “What’s next? Revoking green cards from millions who followed these same steps?”

Green-card applicants’ temporary visas often lapse while their “adjustment-of-status” proceeds over several months or longer.

“There has been no new executive order, regulation or ICE policy update that would have given these U.S. citizens notice that their spouses are in jeopardy,” Mr. Rand said.

Rand, who was a senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration.

“Congress was unambiguous — these people are eligible for green cards,” said Doug

frustration has mounted inside his administration over the pace of detentions and deportations.

The recent spate of arrests comes amid a leadership shake-up at ICE, including the San Diego region, designed to accelerate and advance the president’s agenda.

But the last one, according to Ms. Hestmark, was whether her husband had ever overstayed his visa. He responded truthfully and cited their lawyer’s assurance that this was a nonissue. “Suddenly, we were ambushed by three masked men in bulletproof vests with guns who told Tom they had a warrant for his arrest, that he is here unlawfully,” Ms. Hestmark recalled.

“I’m a U.S. citizen,” Ms. Hestmark said. “Tom is the love of my life, who happens to be born in Germany. We feel like we were tricked.” “We followed everything we were supposed to do,” she added. “And now Tom is suffering. We are all suffering,” including Mr. Bilger’s parents, she said, who are worried sick for their only child.

Mr. Nietor, the immigration lawyer, said that the government’s strategy appeared to be to induce the couples “to give up and abandon their cases and accept the foreign spouse’s deportation.”

Jason Cordero, 26, whose wife, Ludmila, a Mexican national, was detained last week during their interview, said she had been suffering from severe anxiety and having panic attacks in the detention facility.

hen three ICE agents took Ms. Cordero into custody for overstaying her visa, she began to weep, as did the Citizenship and Immigration Services officer who had been interviewing her, according to Mr. Cordero.

Their interview last week was going smoothly, he said, until three ICE agents walked in and informed them that Ms. Paul, who was holding her infant, was under arrest.