Transcript of Evening Wire: Student Visa Fraud Exposed & Medicaid Probe Freezes Billions | 5.13.26 New

ICE makes a major fraud discovery involving over 10,000 foreign students. President Trump lands in Beijing, and a Daily Wire investigation triggers a $1.4 billion spending freeze by J.D. Vance. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley. It's Wednesday, May 13th, and this is Evening Wire. A Daily Wire Medicaid investigation has triggered a $1.4 billion spending freeze The announcement comes days after Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak published a series of stories documenting how Ohio spent $1 billion on home health care in 2024. He testified this morning in a hearing on the matter that was closed to the press. Here's a breakdown of what occurred.

Hey, it's Luke Rosiak. It's been a busy day on Capitol Hill this morning. We got the administration— Dr. Oz and the Trump administration terminated $1.4 billion in payments All home healthcare payments now suspended because of The Daily Wire's reporting. And what we're seeing is people not just saying they're going to investigate waste and fraud, but talking about terminating the Home Health Personal Services Program entirely. Um, easiest way to get rid of all this fraud is just terminate the whole program. And so we're seeing congressmen build momentum from telling RFK and the HHS to just terminate those personal services Medicaid waivers with California, Ohio, Massachusetts, New York. This is all the result of The Daily Wire's investigative reporting, which is made possible by subscribers like you.

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General has launched an investigation into a program to convert old warehouses into immigration detention centers. Daily Wire contributor Tim Pearce has more.

Former Secretary Kristi Noem was the chief advocate for the $38 billion program. Noem and her top adviser, Corey Lewandowski, had argued that DHS should build its own detention facilities rather than lease space from private contractors or local governments. On Wednesday, the DHS watchdog announced an audit of the purchases made under the program so far. According to The Wall Street Journal, DHS has paid at least $1 billion of the $38 billion allotted by Congress for about a dozen facilities. The real estate analytics company CoStar said in March that DHS paid between 10% and 13% above market rate for those properties.

ICE has made a fraud discovery that involves thousands of foreign students. Daily Wire immigration reporter Jenny Ter has more.

Federal investigators have made yet another discovery of a sophisticated fraud scheme involving a work authorization program for foreign students. ICE revealed Tuesday that the Optional Practical Training program, a program that allows foreign students to work in their area of study for up to 1 year while attending school, has become a magnet for fraud. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said investigators found empty buildings with locked doors where hundreds of foreign students were said to be working. A recent sweep of 18 sites in North Texas turned up clusters of employers sharing nearly identical websites and job postings while denying any ties to one another. And in Houston, agents flagged a pay-to-stay scheme in which a company allegedly charged foreign students under the table to maintain their visa status. Lyons called the activity deliberate, coordinated, and criminal, warning that what's been uncovered may be only the tip of the iceberg.

President Trump landed in Beijing today with an entourage that includes Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, and Tim Cook. Daily Wire assistant editor Nathan Gay has more.

President Trump and an entourage of high-powered tech CEOs landed in Beijing this morning for a summit that could shape the next chapter of U.S.-Chinese relations. 16 of the US's top tech executives are in attendance, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and following a last-minute invitation by President Trump, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with several other top administration officials, are also in Beijing. The talks are expected to focus on trade and artificial intelligence, areas of high tension between the world's two largest economies.

The mystery of what happened to the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major has only deepened after a new report from CNN. Daily Wire homepage managing editor Jordan Schroeder has more.

The ship sank off the coast of Spain in late 2024 after it suffered a mysterious series of explosions. It appeared to be carrying two nuclear reactors like those used in submarines to North Korea, though neither the content nor destination appeared on its public manifest. And now, according to CNN, the mysterious series of explosions that sank the Ursa Major may have come from the use of a rare type of torpedo to breach the ship's hull. According to the report, the incident may mark a rare and high-stakes intervention by a Western military to prevent Russia from sending an upgrade in nuclear technology to a key ally, North Korea.

The Senate has unanimously passed a resolution that would withhold lawmakers' pay if the government shuts down. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell reports.

The Senate voted 99-0 today to advance a resolution from Louisiana Republican John Kennedy that would block senators from accessing their pay during a government shutdown. The measure applies only to the Senate, so it does not need House approval or President Trump's signature. Senators would not forfeit their salaries. The money would go into escrow until the shutdown ends. Kennedy said he wanted the rule to take effect immediately, but the 27th Amendment delays any congressional pay change until after the next House election, meaning it would start after the midterms.

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The Trump administration is revisiting the TV rating system after parent complaints about inappropriate themes appearing in children's programming. The media bureau is asking parents to submit their concerns by May 22nd to have their voices heard. Morning Wire spoke to Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, about the initiative.

Not too long ago, Elon Musk did a tweet that highlighted all the LGBTQ themes, characters, things that were going on on Netflix shows. So our team audited the programming for Netflix and discovered, shockingly, that about 40% of the shows that were targeted for children contain LGBTQ characters, themes, and storylines. It was even as shocking that 20% of the ones for preschoolers, these are kids 5 and under, also had those same kind of things. Thankfully, the FCC recognizes what is happening. Because of the outcry from the report that CWA put forward, they have made an opening for proposed rulemaking to change the system and require there to be an outside entity to actually do the rating so that Hollywood can no longer rate themselves and con parents that this content is family-friendly. The deadline for parents to respond is May 22nd. This is an opportunity that FCC has given parents to have a voice. You just come to concernedwomen.org. In a couple of clicks, we've made it super easy for you to respond and just tell your story.

Christian colleges and seminaries are warning that a new federal rule could devastate religious higher education. The rule could cut off student loans to degree programs whose graduates don't out-earn peers without those degrees. Under the proposed Education Department policy, many theology and ministry programs would be labeled failing based on earning metrics alone, a standard school leaders call, quote, an existential threat. They argue it unfairly penalizes careers like ministry, music, the arts, and other service-focused fields where financial return isn't necessarily the primary goal. Morning Wire spoke to Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel of the Center for Academic Freedom with Alliance Defending Freedom. Here's what he said.

The Department of Education is right to be concerned about the many problems facing higher education, and I'm glad that they're recognizing that the student loan program, you know, may have contributed to the rise in cost and that they should evaluate it to determine whether the program is helping students or is it harming students. At the same time, I think that the department should make sure that it's not reducing the value of education to simply a calculation of how much a degree would earn somebody. This is especially true when it comes to religious education because we know that, that religion contributes much more to society than, than simply can be determined by the value of a pastor's salary.

After spiking during the pandemic, drug overdoses are decreasing rapidly. Daily Wire assistant editor Andy Valdez has the details.

2025 marked the third year in a row of steady decreases, with overdose deaths now dropping to pre-pandemic levels. Preliminary CDC data show an estimated 70,000 deaths by drug overdose in 2025, a nearly 14% drop from the prior year, driven primarily by fewer fentanyl and other opioid fatalities. At its peak, the crisis reached 108,000 confirmed drug deaths in 2022. Experts point to a variety of factors, including reduced potency of drugs on the street.

The South Carolina Supreme Court has unanimously overturned Alec Murdaugh's murder convictions. Daily Wire reporter and host of That's So Criminal, Lyndon Blake, has the story.

The wealthy lawyer was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for the 2021 shooting deaths of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The justices ruled that the county court clerk Becky Hill had improperly influenced jurors in hopes of boosting sales for a book she was writing about the case. The state court also found that the trial judge erred by allowing extensive evidence of Murdaugh's unrelated financial crimes which made the jury have prejudice against him. Murdaugh has admitted to stealing $12 million from clients, but he has always denied the murders. The 57-year-old will continue serving a 40-year federal sentence for theft, but prosecutors have already indicated that they plan to retry him for the murders. They believe the core evidence of his guilt remains strong despite the court errors.

Two transgender pedophiles housed in a women's prison in New Jersey are seeking to get married to each other as part of a settlement negotiation in a witchcraft discrimination lawsuit. Daily Wire investigative reporter Meg Brock has the story.

A male transgender pedophile being held in a women's prison is suing for religious discrimination. Marina Voles, born Michael Voles, is currently serving a 25-year sentence in New Jersey for sexually abusing his 7-year-old daughter. Now, Voles is suing the New Jersey Department of Corrections for discriminating against his Wiccan religious beliefs. Bulls case asserts that he has been denied access to religious items as well as the freedom to perform Wiccan religious ceremonies in the nude in public areas of the women's prison. Bulls is also suing for the right to marry his transgender partner, Ashley Romero, who is himself serving prison time for his role in Bulls' crimes. Reports show that the state has entered into settlement negotiations with Bulls.

All right, those are your drive home updates today. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it earlier today, we covered some major stories, including President Trump heading to Beijing, a California mayor facing prison after admitting she was a Chinese agent, and Trump's approval falling among voters amid the Iran conflict. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.