The days preceding holidays are much like Friday News Dumps. For those unfamiliar with the term, a Friday News Dump is a public relations tactic employed by organizations, including government offices, to bury news during weekends when newsrooms are much slower, intentionally releasing information after 4 PM. In recent years, it has become less effective due to the advent of social media; however, it is still effective in many ways. Using the strategy during the winter holiday season is one of those.
Here’s how the White House used the holidays to bury some stories.
Honduras
Beginning on December 19th, the United States sanctioned an election official in Honduras for what it says was “interference” in the recent presidential election vote count. Electoral magistrate Mario Morazan, who spoke out against the Trump administration’s interference in the election after Trump pardoned drug smuggler Juan Orlando Hernández, is being denied a visa, according to a press release from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. The news came as the vote recount was underway, which was being overseen by Morazan and other election officials.
Hernández served two terms as president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022 and used his office to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States. His drug smuggling operation allegedly financed his political career and represented the far-right National Party (PN), the same party as Nasry Asfura, Trump’s chosen candidate in the election. Hernández’s pardon and subsequent arrival in Honduras were just one instance of the US’s meddling in the election.
“As President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world, and the people of Honduras and the United States bore the consequences,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2024.
The interference in Honduras’ election extended into the halls of Congress when a far-right hardliner and Florida Representative Maria Elvira Salazar held a subcommittee hearing that did more to sow doubt about the upcoming elections than anything else. These actions served their purpose in creating chaos and suspicion in Honduras. On December 24, Rubio congratulated Nasry Asfura for winning the election. Within minutes, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) took to social media, casting doubts about the validity of the result.
“The General Secretariat of the OAS is closely following developments in Honduras, in particular through its Electoral Observation Mission deployed in the country,” reads Ramdin’s social media post. ‘In this context, it takes note of the National Electoral Council’s declaration of results. The General Secretariat is aware of the difficulties experienced during the electoral process, recognizes the work carried out by Honduran institutions, and regrets that the full recount of the votes cast by citizens has not yet been completed,” continued the statement. “The Electoral Observation Mission remains deployed in Honduras, carrying out its work professionally and independently, and will issue a report in the coming days with its findings and recommendations.”
Each of the other two candidates, including the runner-up, right-wing Salvador Nasralla, has called the results into question. In Honduras, if a candidate can prove widespread fraud that altered the outcome of an election, they can petition to have the election annulled. It’s unclear where this may be headed as of this writing. Ramdin’s statement signals possible support for a full recount or annulment.
Immigration
On December 23, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) updated requirements for the H-1B work visa selection process. The new process prioritizes “higher-skilled” and “higher-paid aliens,” replacing the lottery process. This comes in addition to the $100,000 employers are required to pay per visa for eligibility. The H-1B visa is limited to 65,000 per year, with another 20,000 set aside for advanced degree holders.
The new process is designed to limit the acceptance of poorer, lower-paid workers without access to employers who can pay the $100,000 fee. While DHS’s statement says that the new rules will maintain “the opportunity for employers to secure H-1B workers at all wage levels,” it does so after making it very clear that the program is now designed to prioritize those who can afford it while pushing others aside.
“...the final rule will implement a weighted selection process that will increase the probability that H-1B visas are allocated to higher-skilled and higher-paid aliens…”
Meanwhile, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) updated its guidance related to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). The Act allows migrants to self-petition for classification as a victim of abuse. Not only does the update give USCIS the sole discretion to determine what evidence is credible and what weight to give that evidence, but it also adds various qualifiers that serve as restrictions, making seeking safety nearly impossible for many.
The new rules require that the migrant prove they resided with the abuser during the “qualifying relationship” and establish they entered a good-faith marriage by providing primary evidence of the marital relationship. It also ends step relationships when either the biological or legal parent or the child dies, requiring the victim to provide proof that their relationship with the surviving abusive parent or child continues.
Additionally, after USCIS was granted the same powers as ICE, the agency deployed its newly formed Homeland Defenders to “better support the agency’s mission.” Under these new powers, which are officially meant to bolster efforts to “combat fraud and other threats,” the agency has issued nearly 200,000 Notices to Appear to begin the removal of migrants.
“USCIS is exercising new law enforcement authorities delegated by Secretary Noem and is hiring a new team of special agents who will investigate and refer immigration law violators for prosecution. Under an updated policy confirming USCIS’s role as an immigration enforcement agency, the agency’s officers are once again empowered to enforce immigration law by issuing Notices to Appear. And, they have done so in historic numbers. Since Jan. 20, USCIS officers have issued approximately 196,600 Notices to Appear to place aliens in removal proceedings.”
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Conclusion
As the administration continues to flood the news cycle with outlandish claims that it refuses to prove – taking attention away from the Epstein files, the nonstop corruption, and constant blunders – it behooves writers, analysts, and journalists to ignore the nonsense, focus on what the administration is doing, and highlight what its motivations are. What we are witnessing is blatant white nationalism infesting every policy, both at home and abroad.
Expect this administration to continue using the Friday News Dump tactic. They all do. They’re doing it right now on New Year’s Eve.
I’m an independent journalist digging deeper into the stories you see or don’t see on the news. Find my work at Unicorn Riot, The Antagonist Magazine, Latino Rebels, Orinoco Tribune, and more. I’m also on TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, and Threads. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber or making a donation via Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App.
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