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April 13, 2026

4 entries on this date.

JTF Southern Spear killed two aboard suspected narcotics vessel in eastern Pacific; 50th strike, ~169 campaign deaths

On April 13, 2026, U.S. Southern Command (Joint Task Force Southern Spear) carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel it described as operated by "Designated Terrorist Organizations" in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two men. USNI News identified it as the 50th strike since the administration's maritime lethal-force campaign began on September 1, 2025, putting the campaign's cumulative reported death toll at least 169. SOUTHCOM said the vessel was transiting known narco-trafficking routes but released no evidence that it carried drugs or posed an imminent threat.

ICE detains Iranian Ph.D. student Yousof Azizi and moves to deport him after BBC Persian commentary on U.S.–Iran war

Federal immigration agents detained Yousof Azizi, a 40-year-old Iranian Ph.D. candidate at Virginia Tech, outside his Germantown, Maryland home on April 13, 2026, and the Trump administration is moving to deport him. ICE has transferred him through facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and Arizona; his wife, his lawyers, and CAIR say the action is retaliation for his Persian-language media commentary on the U.S. war on Iran, while DHS says he misstated prior involvement with Iran's Student Basij Organization on his visa application and that his student visa was terminated after he failed to re-enroll at Virginia Tech for Fall 2025.

Tennessee enacted HB1665, barring healthcare providers from asking minor patients about gender identity

On April 13, 2026, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed HB1665 (companion SB1664), enacted as Public Chapter 748, which prohibits healthcare providers from knowingly or willfully asking a minor gender-identity-related questions and bars health insurers, managed-care organizations, and reimbursement entities from requiring or requesting that providers ask such questions. The House passed the bill 72-21 on March 16, 2026, and the Senate 27-6 on March 19; the law takes effect October 1, 2026. Advocates and public-health groups have described it as an "anti-trans medical censorship" measure that discourages clinicians from discussing gender identity with minor patients.

Texas Gov. Abbott threatened to strip $200 million from Houston, Dallas, and Austin over ICE-cooperation policies

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office threatened on April 13 and April 16, 2026, to withdraw roughly $200 million in state public-safety grants from Houston, Dallas, and Austin unless the cities repealed police policies limiting how far officers go in cooperating with ICE detention requests. Attorney General Ken Paxton separately sued Houston the same week over the same policy, while city officials and the ACLU of Texas said the policies complied with state law and the Fourth Amendment.