LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Would you trust an “AI Jesus” with your innermost thoughts and troubles?

Researchers and religious leaders on Wednesday released findings from a two-month experiment through art in a Catholic chapel in Switzerland, where an avatar of “Jesus” on a computer screen — tucked into a confessional — took questions by visitors on faith, morality and modern-day woes, and offered responses based on Scripture.

The idea, said the chapel’s theological assistant, was to recognize the growing importance of artificial intelligence in human lives, even when it comes to religion, and explore the limits of human trust in a machine.

After the two-month run of the “Deus in Machina” exhibit at Peter’s Chapel starting in late August, some 900 conversations from visitors –- some came more than once –- were transcribed anonymously. Those behind the project said it was largely a success: Visitors often came out moved or deep in thought, and found it easy to use.

A small sign invited visitors to enter a confessional -– chosen for its intimacy –- and below a lattice screen across which penitent believers would usually speak with a priest, a green light signaled the visitor's turn to speak, and a red one came on when “AI Jesus” on a computer screen on the other side was responding.

Often, a lag time was needed to wait for the response – a testament to the technical complexities. After exiting, nearly 300 visitors filled out questionnaires that informed the report released Wednesday.

Philipp Haslbauer, an IT specialist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts who pulled together the technical side of the project, said the AI responsible for taking the role of “AI Jesus” and generating responses was&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fopenai.com%2Findex%2Fhello-gpt-4o%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cjkeaten%40ap.org%7Ce41aba33ee584785f25708dd0efc2418%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638683198312208533%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=svNj3jjFZaSGW2ruEhkUaPwPJYGp1d8BrCytcNcP36w%3D&amp;reserved=0">GPT-4o</a>&nbsp;by OpenAI, and an open-source version of the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-health-business-90020cdf5fa16c79ca2e5b6c4c9bbb14">Whisper</a>&nbsp;was used for speech comprehension.

An AI video generator from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heygen.com/?sid=rewardful&amp;via=giber&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAxqC6BhBcEiwAlXp453OJr4YSu9Ehc-Y-essmJSnYoT-uPdQBY0ZOri6YLVE_yp6zcb-e7xoCGWMQAvD_BwE">Heygen</a>&nbsp;was used to produce voice and video from a real person, he said. Haslbauer said no specific safeguards were used “because we observed GPT-4o to respond fairly well to controversial topics.”

Visitors broached many topics, including true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering in the world, the existence of God, plus issues like sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church or its position on homosexuality.

Most visitors described themselves as Christians, though agnostics, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists took part too, according to a recap of the project released by the Catholic parish of Lucerne.

About one-third were German speakers, but “AI Jesus” — which is conversant in about 100 languages — also had conversations in languages like Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

“What was really interesting (was) to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way. They didn’t come to make jokes,” said chapel theologian Marco Schmid, who spearheaded the project. Most visitors were aged 40 to 70, and more Catholics respondents found the experience stimulating than did Protestants, the report showed.

Schmid was quick to point out that the “AI Jesus” – billed as a “Jesus-like” persona – was an artistic experiment to get people thinking about the intersection between the digital and the divine, not substitute for human interaction or sacramental confessions with a priest, nor was it intended to save pastoral resources.

“For the people it was clear that it was a computer ... It was clear it was not a confession,” Schmid said. “He wasn’t programmed to give absolutions or prayers. At the end, it was more summary of the conversation.”

The Catholic Church from the Vatican on down has been wrestling with the challenges –- and possible opportunities -– presented by the explosion in public interest in AI since generative artificial intelligence captured the world’s attention two years ago when OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut.

The Vatican has appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-ethics-benanti-vatican-italy-friar-microsoft-7a49d562633937efa0e826fb1fa08cc1">a friar from a medieval Franciscan order</a>&nbsp;as its top expert on AI, and a Lutheran church in Bavaria served up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">sermons delivered by a chatbot</a>&nbsp;last year. Pope Francis, in his annual peace message for this year, pushed for an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-ai-artificial-intelligence-9805fec11681adbf88d3a7c73bdf47de">international treaty to ensure the ethical use</a>&nbsp;of AI technology.

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by algorithmic models trained on vast pools of text and other data to mimic speech and generate seemingly unique and human-like responses.

Haslbauer is sensitive to public reaction and has noted chatter on social media saying the project is “blasphemous” or the “work of the devil.”

“If you read comments on the internet about it, some are very negative — which is scary,” Haslbauer, whose long-haired look featured as a basis for the image of the virtual Jesus.

In a demonstration of the technology in the chapel, Haslbauer queried “AI Jesus” about its message for a troubled world, and about whether AI could be helpful as a way for people to find God.

“All knowledge and wisdom ultimately come from God," the chatbot said in a soothing voice, after a pause to respond, and the image briefly crackled. “If used wisely, AI can indeed be a tool to explore the wonders of creation, deepen our understanding of Scripture, and foster connections among people.”

"Yet it remains essential to seek God with all your heart and soul beyond any technology,” it added.

Kenneth Cukier, a journalist, author and expert with the U.S.-based nonprofit group called “AI and Faith,” said if “AI Jesus” helps people connect deeper to themselves and the world, it “has to be a good thing.”

“It will lead to better individuals and a better world,” he said. “However — and there’s a big however — this does feel a little bit infantile, and pardon my pun, machine-like.”

“The risk is that it pulls people, ultimately, farther away from that which is more meaningful, deeper and authentic in spirituality,” said Cukier, co-author of “Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think.”

For Schmid, the exhibit was a pilot project — and he doesn't foresee a second coming of “AI Jesus” anytime soon.

“For us, it was also clear it was just a limited time that we will expose this Jesus," he said, adding that any return would need to be done after deeper thought.

“We are discussing ... how we could revive him again," he said, noting interest from parishes, schoolteachers, researchers and others as the project got media attention in Switzerland and beyond. “They all are interested and would like to have this ‘AI Jesus’. So we have now a little bit to reflect on how we want to continue."

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733063189050.png" alt="Image from video released by the Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Image from video released by the Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMEY KEATEN Associated PressLUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Would you trust an “AI Jesus” with your innermost thoughts and troubles?Researchers and religious leaders on Wednesday released findings from a two-month experiment through art in a Catholic chapel in Switzerland, where an avatar of “Jesus” on a computer screen — tucked into a confessional — took questions by visitors on faith, morality and modern-day woes, and offered responses based on Scripture.The idea, said the chapel’s theological assistant, was to recognize the growing importance of artificial intelligence in human lives, even when it comes to religion, and explore the limits of human trust in a machine.After the two-month run of the “Deus in Machina” exhibit at Peter’s Chapel starting in late August, some 900 conversations from visitors –- some came more than once –- were transcribed anonymously. Those behind the project said it was largely a success: Visitors often came out moved or deep in thought, and found it easy to use.A small sign invited visitors to enter a confessional -– chosen for its intimacy –- and below a lattice screen across which penitent believers would usually speak with a priest, a green light signaled the visitor's turn to speak, and a red one came on when “AI Jesus” on a computer screen on the other side was responding.Often, a lag time was needed to wait for the response – a testament to the technical complexities. After exiting, nearly 300 visitors filled out questionnaires that informed the report released Wednesday.<h2>Of love, war, suffering and solitude</h2>Philipp Haslbauer, an IT specialist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts who pulled together the technical side of the project, said the AI responsible for taking the role of “AI Jesus” and generating responses was&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fopenai.com%2Findex%2Fhello-gpt-4o%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cjkeaten%40ap.org%7Ce41aba33ee584785f25708dd0efc2418%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638683198312208533%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=svNj3jjFZaSGW2ruEhkUaPwPJYGp1d8BrCytcNcP36w%3D&amp;reserved=0">GPT-4o</a>&nbsp;by OpenAI, and an open-source version of the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-health-business-90020cdf5fa16c79ca2e5b6c4c9bbb14">Whisper</a>&nbsp;was used for speech comprehension.An AI video generator from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heygen.com/?sid=rewardful&amp;via=giber&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAxqC6BhBcEiwAlXp453OJr4YSu9Ehc-Y-essmJSnYoT-uPdQBY0ZOri6YLVE_yp6zcb-e7xoCGWMQAvD_BwE">Heygen</a>&nbsp;was used to produce voice and video from a real person, he said. Haslbauer said no specific safeguards were used “because we observed GPT-4o to respond fairly well to controversial topics.”Visitors broached many topics, including true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering in the world, the existence of God, plus issues like sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church or its position on homosexuality.Most visitors described themselves as Christians, though agnostics, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists took part too, according to a recap of the project released by the Catholic parish of Lucerne.About one-third were German speakers, but “AI Jesus” — which is conversant in about 100 languages — also had conversations in languages like Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Spanish.<h2>‘Work of the Devil’?</h2>“What was really interesting (was) to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way. They didn’t come to make jokes,” said chapel theologian Marco Schmid, who spearheaded the project. Most visitors were aged 40 to 70, and more Catholics respondents found the experience stimulating than did Protestants, the report showed.Schmid was quick to point out that the “AI Jesus” – billed as a “Jesus-like” persona – was an artistic experiment to get people thinking about the intersection between the digital and the divine, not substitute for human interaction or sacramental confessions with a priest, nor was it intended to save pastoral resources.“For the people it was clear that it was a computer ... It was clear it was not a confession,” Schmid said. “He wasn’t programmed to give absolutions or prayers. At the end, it was more summary of the conversation.”The Catholic Church from the Vatican on down has been wrestling with the challenges –- and possible opportunities -– presented by the explosion in public interest in AI since generative artificial intelligence captured the world’s attention two years ago when OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut.The Vatican has appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-ethics-benanti-vatican-italy-friar-microsoft-7a49d562633937efa0e826fb1fa08cc1">a friar from a medieval Franciscan order</a>&nbsp;as its top expert on AI, and a Lutheran church in Bavaria served up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">sermons delivered by a chatbot</a>&nbsp;last year. Pope Francis, in his annual peace message for this year, pushed for an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-ai-artificial-intelligence-9805fec11681adbf88d3a7c73bdf47de">international treaty to ensure the ethical use</a>&nbsp;of AI technology.Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by algorithmic models trained on vast pools of text and other data to mimic speech and generate seemingly unique and human-like responses.Haslbauer is sensitive to public reaction and has noted chatter on social media saying the project is “blasphemous” or the “work of the devil.”“If you read comments on the internet about it, some are very negative — which is scary,” Haslbauer, whose long-haired look featured as a basis for the image of the virtual Jesus.In a demonstration of the technology in the chapel, Haslbauer queried “AI Jesus” about its message for a troubled world, and about whether AI could be helpful as a way for people to find God.“All knowledge and wisdom ultimately come from God," the chatbot said in a soothing voice, after a pause to respond, and the image briefly crackled. “If used wisely, AI can indeed be a tool to explore the wonders of creation, deepen our understanding of Scripture, and foster connections among people.”"Yet it remains essential to seek God with all your heart and soul beyond any technology,” it added.<h2>A good side, and downsides</h2>Kenneth Cukier, a journalist, author and expert with the U.S.-based nonprofit group called “AI and Faith,” said if “AI Jesus” helps people connect deeper to themselves and the world, it “has to be a good thing.”“It will lead to better individuals and a better world,” he said. “However — and there’s a big however — this does feel a little bit infantile, and pardon my pun, machine-like.”“The risk is that it pulls people, ultimately, farther away from that which is more meaningful, deeper and authentic in spirituality,” said Cukier, co-author of “Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think.”For Schmid, the exhibit was a pilot project — and he doesn't foresee a second coming of “AI Jesus” anytime soon.“For us, it was also clear it was just a limited time that we will expose this Jesus," he said, adding that any return would need to be done after deeper thought.“We are discussing ... how we could revive him again," he said, noting interest from parishes, schoolteachers, researchers and others as the project got media attention in Switzerland and beyond. “They all are interested and would like to have this ‘AI Jesus’. So we have now a little bit to reflect on how we want to continue."___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.——

'AI Jesus' avatar tests man's faith in machines and the divine

Appeal stems from murder, wounding of Washburn football players

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court clarified the timeframe for formulating premeditation while weighing the appeal of a Shawnee County man sentenced to life in prison plus nearly 500 years for murdering a Washburn University football player and wounding a future NFL player.

Justices of the state’s highest court assessed Francisco “Frankie” Alejandro Mendez’ nine claims of trial error after a jury in 2022 found him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree premediated murder and seven counts of aggravated robbery.

He was prosecuted for his part in a three-day crime spree in 2019 that culminated in the death of WU player Dwane Simmons and wounding of teammate Corey Ballentine. They were shot after attending a party celebrating Ballentine’s selection in the NFL draft.

Justice Caleb Stegall wrote the opinion reversing three of Mendez’ convictions for aggravated robbery due to lack of evidence. Otherwise, the Supreme Court affirmed all other convictions.

The justices agreed Mendez received a fair trial despite finding a Shawnee County District Court’s instruction to the jury on aiding and abetting was “legally inappropriate” and that a Shawnee County prosecutor improperly told the jury premeditation could be formed in a single second.

“Though it is prosecutorial error for the state to assert premeditation can be formed in one second, it is not error for the prosecutor to state that premeditation can be formed in five seconds. Five seconds can be enough time for an internal second-thought or hesitation to arise,” the opinion said.

Survivors of the shooting outside a Topeka residence testified Mendez and other occupants of a stolen car drove up to the five Washburn football players engaged in conversation near the street. The players had just left the house party celebrating Ballentine’s draft into the NFL.

People in the vehicle with Mendez asked the players if they had marijuana and to identify themselves. The players said they didn’t have pot and told occupants of the car not to worry about their names.

“The car then began to drive away and the football players resumed their conversation,” Stegall’s opinion said. “Moments later, the car screeched to a halt and the men in the car began shooting at the football players.”

Ballentine was wounded in the pelvic bone while running away, while Ross was fatally shot in the head with a bullet from a revolver. That Colt Trooper .38-caliber weapon, which Mendez had claimed ownership of during a traffic stop prior to the murder, was recovered by police one year after Mendez’ crime spree when a Topeka firearms dealer killed himself by accidentally discharging the gun.

At the scene of the attack on the football players, law enforcement officers collected 18 shell casings from three different semiautomatic guns.

“The victims did not provoke the shooters,” Stegall wrote. “As the state argues, refusing to tell a car full of strangers your name after they pull up at 1 a.m. and ask for weed is not provocation to be shot.”

Stegall’s opinion said sufficient evidence of premeditation existed because it took 10 seconds to 15 seconds for Mendez to drive away, stop the car and begin shooting.

The opinion did fault a Shawnee County prosecutor for claiming premeditation could be equated to an idea that existed for no more than one second.

“To have thought the matter over beforehand and then acted on it, that’s what premeditation is,” the prosecutor told jurors. “It can be a second. It could be five seconds. It could be two weeks of premeditation.”

The Supreme Court said Kansas justices had repeatedly warned prosecutors about making comments analogous to stating premeditation could occur in the same instant as the act resulting in a death.

Stegall, appointed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014, pulled out the court’s cookie analogy to demonstrate how five seconds — rather than a single second — was enough time to form premeditation in a person’s mind. Premeditation can develop in the time required to observe a cookie, reach for it and hesitate while pondering if the cookie should be eaten before dinner, the opinion said.

“The temporal space required to complete that process may be very short — a mere hesitation, perhaps, as my hand hovers over the cookie and I complete the internal double-check,” the opinion says. “While the temporal space required to complete the internal double-check cannot happen in one second or instantly, it may very well occur within five seconds.”

Two nights after the attack of Washburn football players, five people were hanging out in Topeka’s Central Park. Mendez and several other people approached the group and, without provocation, pulled guns and took wallets from two individuals. One shot was fired through the car window of a woman who refused to surrender her telephone to a person thought to be Mendez.

The Supreme Court agreed with Mendez on appeal there was insufficient evidence property was taken from several victims. That led to reversal of three convictions for aggravated robbery.

Justice Evelyn Wilson, appointed in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, signed a concurring opinion. She agreed with the majority’s analysis and holdings except to reiterate disagreement with the way the Supreme Court handled jury instruction errors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/10/1570915422888.png" alt="Dwane Simmons photo courtesy Washburn Athletics" />
 <figcaption>Dwane Simmons photo courtesy Washburn Athletics</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Appeal stems from murder, wounding of Washburn football players</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court clarified the timeframe for formulating premeditation while weighing the appeal of a Shawnee County man sentenced to life in prison plus nearly 500 years for murdering a Washburn University football player and wounding a future NFL player.Justices of the state’s highest court assessed Francisco “Frankie” Alejandro Mendez’ nine claims of trial error after a jury in 2022 found him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree premediated murder and seven counts of aggravated robbery.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/9/1569579773491.png" alt="Mendez photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Mendez photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>He was prosecuted for his part in a three-day crime spree in 2019 that culminated in the death of WU player Dwane Simmons and wounding of teammate Corey Ballentine. They were shot after attending a party celebrating Ballentine’s selection in the NFL draft.Justice Caleb Stegall wrote the opinion reversing three of Mendez’ convictions for aggravated robbery due to lack of evidence. Otherwise, the Supreme Court affirmed all other convictions.The justices agreed Mendez received a fair trial despite finding a Shawnee County District Court’s instruction to the jury on aiding and abetting was “legally inappropriate” and that a Shawnee County prosecutor improperly told the jury premeditation could be formed in a single second.“Though it is prosecutorial error for the state to assert premeditation can be formed in one second, it is not error for the prosecutor to state that premeditation can be formed in five seconds. Five seconds can be enough time for an internal second-thought or hesitation to arise,” the opinion said.Survivors of the shooting outside a Topeka residence testified Mendez and other occupants of a stolen car drove up to the five Washburn football players engaged in conversation near the street. The players had just left the house party celebrating Ballentine’s draft into the NFL.People in the vehicle with Mendez asked the players if they had marijuana and to identify themselves. The players said they didn’t have pot and told occupants of the car not to worry about their names.“The car then began to drive away and the football players resumed their conversation,” Stegall’s opinion said. “Moments later, the car screeched to a halt and the men in the car began shooting at the football players.”Ballentine was wounded in the pelvic bone while running away, while Ross was fatally shot in the head with a bullet from a revolver. That Colt Trooper .38-caliber weapon, which Mendez had claimed ownership of during a traffic stop prior to the murder, was recovered by police one year after Mendez’ crime spree when a Topeka firearms dealer killed himself by accidentally discharging the gun.At the scene of the attack on the football players, law enforcement officers collected 18 shell casings from three different semiautomatic guns.“The victims did not provoke the shooters,” Stegall wrote. “As the state argues, refusing to tell a car full of strangers your name after they pull up at 1 a.m. and ask for weed is not provocation to be shot.”Stegall’s opinion said sufficient evidence of premeditation existed because it took 10 seconds to 15 seconds for Mendez to drive away, stop the car and begin shooting.The opinion did fault a Shawnee County prosecutor for claiming premeditation could be equated to an idea that existed for no more than one second.“To have thought the matter over beforehand and then acted on it, that’s what premeditation is,” the prosecutor told jurors. “It can be a second. It could be five seconds. It could be two weeks of premeditation.”The Supreme Court said Kansas justices had repeatedly warned prosecutors about making comments analogous to stating premeditation could occur in the same instant as the act resulting in a death.Stegall, appointed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014, pulled out the court’s cookie analogy to demonstrate how five seconds — rather than a single second — was enough time to form premeditation in a person’s mind. Premeditation can develop in the time required to observe a cookie, reach for it and hesitate while pondering if the cookie should be eaten before dinner, the opinion said.“The temporal space required to complete that process may be very short — a mere hesitation, perhaps, as my hand hovers over the cookie and I complete the internal double-check,” the opinion says. “While the temporal space required to complete the internal double-check cannot happen in one second or instantly, it may very well occur within five seconds.”Two nights after the attack of Washburn football players, five people were hanging out in Topeka’s Central Park. Mendez and several other people approached the group and, without provocation, pulled guns and took wallets from two individuals. One shot was fired through the car window of a woman who refused to surrender her telephone to a person thought to be Mendez.The Supreme Court agreed with Mendez on appeal there was insufficient evidence property was taken from several victims. That led to reversal of three convictions for aggravated robbery.Justice Evelyn Wilson, appointed in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, signed a concurring opinion. She agreed with the majority’s analysis and holdings except to reiterate disagreement with the way the Supreme Court handled jury instruction errors.

Kansas Supreme Court refines premeditation definition in appeal of murder case

DANIA BEACH, Florida (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">As immigration</a>&nbsp;remains a hotly contested&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-border-asylum-mass-deportation-a681c4980ef25e2b3a7ae670c9094f4a">priority for the Trump administration</a>&nbsp;after playing a decisive role in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-votecast-trump-harris-election-president-voters-86225516e8424431ab1d19e57a74f198">deeply polarized election</a>, the Border Patrol agents tasked with enforcing many of its laws are wrestling with growing challenges on and off the job.

More are training to become chaplains to help their peers as they tackle security threats, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-cartels-smuggling-chiapas-us-border-67d4851eefa60981bceb772bf26d7204">powerful cartels that control</a>&nbsp;much of the border dynamic, and witness growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-immigration-trump-cbp-one-border-deportation-5b3ad43ffc1a8211615efdc5bf584b7f">suffering among migrants</a>&nbsp;— all while policies in Washington keep shifting and public outrage targets them from all sides.

“The hardest thing is, people … don’t know what we do, and we’ve been called terrible names,” said Brandon Fredrick, a Buffalo, New York-based agent some of whose family members have resorted to name-calling.

Earlier this month, he served as a training academy instructor for Border Patrol chaplains, whose numbers have almost doubled in the last four years. It's an effort to help agents motivated by the desire to keep the U.S. borders safe cope with mounting distress before it leads to family dysfunction, addiction, even suicide.

Chaplains academy trains agents to tackle emotional distress

During the latest academy, held at a Border Patrol station near Miami, Fredrick evaluated pairs of chaplains-in-training as they role-played checking on a fellow agent who hadn’t reported for work.

They discovered he’d been drowning in alcohol his angst at being deployed away from his family for the holidays at one of the border’s hotspots. The training scenario was achingly real for the South Florida-based agent role-playing the distressed one — he had struggled when relocated for 18 months to Del Rio, Texas, away from his two children — and also for Fredrick, who overcame alcoholism before becoming a chaplain.

Interacting with chaplains can reduce the agents' reluctance to express their emotional trials, Fredrick said.

“My mission every day is that there’s not a young agent Fredrick suffering alone,” he added. Fredrick, a Catholic, has been an agent for more than 15 years and worked tragic cases like a smuggling attempt where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-canada-india-smuggling-deaths-trial-verdict-de2f999332e6cc8be1ea78c7fdfb6590">an Indian family froze to death at the Canada-U.S. border</a>.

Confidential support, with a side of faith

Unlike the police or military, which recruits faith leaders for help with everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/navy-suicide-prevention-chaplains-norfolk-74910c421b5c2404db87c1d8fc6dd4c6">suicide prevention</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-paul-christianity-minnesota-racial-injustice-6f69d7ef3c4d005da12879b312b78c3c">dealing with the unrest</a>&nbsp;after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-floyd">George Floyd’s murder</a>, the Border Patrol trains mostly lay agents endorsed by their faith denominations to become chaplains.

After graduating, they join about 240 other chaplains and resume their regular jobs — but they’re constantly on call to provide largely confidential care for their 20,000 fellow agents’ well-being.

While most chaplains are Christian, Muslim and Jewish agents also have been trained recently. The chaplains don’t offer faith-specific worship and only bring up religion if the person they’re helping does first.

“I’m not there to convert or proselytize,” said academy instructor Jason Wilhite, an agent in Casa Grande, Arizona, and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A chaplain since 2015, he was previously involved in the agency's nonreligious, mental health-focused peer support program after a fellow agent died in a car accident.

Agent Jesus Vasavilbaso decided to join the Border Patrol's peer support program after witnessing the trauma of repeatedly responding to calls from lost and dying migrants in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-mountains-arizona-tucson-deserts-f9d1b468c33dfcf7c43401de24c1754a">unforgiving desert southwest of Tucson, Arizona</a>.

“Sometimes you go home and keep thinking you didn’t find them,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important we check on each other all the time.”

Training to deal with deaths at the border

At the most recent chaplain academy, which lasted 2.5 weeks, the 15 chaplains-in-training — mostly from the Border Patrol, plus a few Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management officers — practiced real-life scenarios, including responding to a deadly wreck involving agents and notifying a spouse their loved one died on the job.

Chris Day, a chaplain since 2017, evaluated trainees trying to comfort an agent who kept screaming that it was all his fault his partner was killed. In the training scenario, their car crashed as they chased someone crossing the border illegally.

Day praised the trainees' efforts to get the agent to talk, but advised them not to say, “'I understand.' Because you don’t.”

Later, Day told the class he had helped an agent who watched the smugglers he was chasing smash their car into a family, gravely injuring a toddler. He said the agent had “ugly cried" at the scene and kept repeating that his child was the same age, so Day took him aside briefly and followed up after.

“We hugged it out,” said Day, a Baptist with a Psalm verse tattooed on his right arm.

He also has helped the wife of an agent who killed himself, and prayed for migrants who request it.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-deaths-new-mexico-677a6b57e729ca076a0d12dba31c3b70">More than 100 migrants have died</a>&nbsp;so far this year in New Mexico's desert, where Day is stationed.

“The smells and visuals stay with you forever,” Day said. “We have empathy for people coming across.”

Combining vigilance with empathy on and off duty

Trying to comfort migrant children in their custody, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-guatemala-us-election-youth-indigenous-faith-6c919ad842feac8d42f90ed9f9c871ec">thousands who cross the border alone</a>, is also a wrenching task for agents.

At the academy, Trinidad Balderas, a father and medic in McAllen, Texas, and Yaira Santiago, a former schoolteacher who runs a Border Patrol migrant processing center at the other end of the southern border in San Diego, California, said they both seek to provide some calm in the chaos of the children's situation.

“One tries to give them support within the limits of what your work allows. I always have the biggest smile,” Santiago said.

Border Patrol assistant chief and chaplaincy program manager Spencer Hatch highlighted the need to maintain both the “hypervigilance” of law enforcement and the humanitarian instinct to empathize with migrants and fellow agents.

He also taught strategies to protect the agents’ families from “spillover trauma.” Divorces increase when agents are redeployed during migrant surges — some up to 9 times over 18 months during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">the record border crossings</a>&nbsp;early in the Biden Administration.

Many agents’ children are scared to reveal their parent’s job — especially in border communities. They might be going to school with children of cartel members, or of undocumented migrants, or those who see the Border Patrol as “keeping people from living the American dream,” in Hatch’s words.

“That’s a really hard thing to deal with, as things tend to flip from one side to the other, and we’re still in the crossfire,” he added.

Hatch uses as a case study of moral injury, a 2021 incident in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-texas-immigration-del-rio-border-patrols-12379b2959ecf20224a4a7bee05cb8ea">Del Rio where agents on horseback</a>&nbsp;appeared in some viral photos to be whipping immigrants with their reins — which a federal investigation later determined hadn’t happened.

“For one picture to be taken out of context and to have the highest levels of government shaming those people, that was very disheartening. That hurt all of us,” Hatch said.

Wrestling with moral standards and a higher calling

Dealing with that “dissonance” of enforcing immigration laws, including rescuing migrants, and hearing their jobs demonized by the public, is a major challenge, said Tucson-area chaplain Jimmy Stout. He was one of first four chaplains when the program was started through a grassroots effort at the southern border in the late 1990s.

“We go over this on day one,” Stout said. “Is what they’re doing meeting their personal standards?”

For the agents who got their chaplain pins last week, those standards now involve a higher calling, too.

Class speaker Matt Kiniery, a father of three who joined the Army after 9/11 and the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, in 2009, decided to become a chaplain after an on-duty car wreck so bad the doctor called his survival miraculous.

“‘The guy upstairs has got something for you.’ I took that to heart,” Kiniery said. Chaplains helped his wife Jeanna then, and the couple is now eager to support his new role.

“Even in moments of uncertainty, your presence is often enough,” the 6-foot-5 agent told the graduating class, before his voice broke. Several instructors in the audience wiped away tears.

DANIA BEACH, Florida (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">As immigration</a>&nbsp;remains a hotly contested&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-border-asylum-mass-deportation-a681c4980ef25e2b3a7ae670c9094f4a">priority for the Trump administration</a>&nbsp;after playing a decisive role in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-votecast-trump-harris-election-president-voters-86225516e8424431ab1d19e57a74f198">deeply polarized election</a>, the Border Patrol agents tasked with enforcing many of its laws are wrestling with growing challenges on and off the job.More are training to become chaplains to help their peers as they tackle security threats, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-cartels-smuggling-chiapas-us-border-67d4851eefa60981bceb772bf26d7204">powerful cartels that control</a>&nbsp;much of the border dynamic, and witness growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-immigration-trump-cbp-one-border-deportation-5b3ad43ffc1a8211615efdc5bf584b7f">suffering among migrants</a>&nbsp;— all while policies in Washington keep shifting and public outrage targets them from all sides.“The hardest thing is, people … don’t know what we do, and we’ve been called terrible names,” said Brandon Fredrick, a Buffalo, New York-based agent some of whose family members have resorted to name-calling.Earlier this month, he served as a training academy instructor for Border Patrol chaplains, whose numbers have almost doubled in the last four years. It's an effort to help agents motivated by the desire to keep the U.S. borders safe cope with mounting distress before it leads to family dysfunction, addiction, even suicide.<h2>Chaplains academy trains agents to tackle emotional distress</h2>During the latest academy, held at a Border Patrol station near Miami, Fredrick evaluated pairs of chaplains-in-training as they role-played checking on a fellow agent who hadn’t reported for work.They discovered he’d been drowning in alcohol his angst at being deployed away from his family for the holidays at one of the border’s hotspots. The training scenario was achingly real for the South Florida-based agent role-playing the distressed one — he had struggled when relocated for 18 months to Del Rio, Texas, away from his two children — and also for Fredrick, who overcame alcoholism before becoming a chaplain.Interacting with chaplains can reduce the agents' reluctance to express their emotional trials, Fredrick said.“My mission every day is that there’s not a young agent Fredrick suffering alone,” he added. Fredrick, a Catholic, has been an agent for more than 15 years and worked tragic cases like a smuggling attempt where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-canada-india-smuggling-deaths-trial-verdict-de2f999332e6cc8be1ea78c7fdfb6590">an Indian family froze to death at the Canada-U.S. border</a>.<h2>Confidential support, with a side of faith</h2>Unlike the police or military, which recruits faith leaders for help with everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/navy-suicide-prevention-chaplains-norfolk-74910c421b5c2404db87c1d8fc6dd4c6">suicide prevention</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-paul-christianity-minnesota-racial-injustice-6f69d7ef3c4d005da12879b312b78c3c">dealing with the unrest</a>&nbsp;after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-floyd">George Floyd’s murder</a>, the Border Patrol trains mostly lay agents endorsed by their faith denominations to become chaplains.After graduating, they join about 240 other chaplains and resume their regular jobs — but they’re constantly on call to provide largely confidential care for their 20,000 fellow agents’ well-being.While most chaplains are Christian, Muslim and Jewish agents also have been trained recently. The chaplains don’t offer faith-specific worship and only bring up religion if the person they’re helping does first.“I’m not there to convert or proselytize,” said academy instructor Jason Wilhite, an agent in Casa Grande, Arizona, and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A chaplain since 2015, he was previously involved in the agency's nonreligious, mental health-focused peer support program after a fellow agent died in a car accident.Agent Jesus Vasavilbaso decided to join the Border Patrol's peer support program after witnessing the trauma of repeatedly responding to calls from lost and dying migrants in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-mountains-arizona-tucson-deserts-f9d1b468c33dfcf7c43401de24c1754a">unforgiving desert southwest of Tucson, Arizona</a>.“Sometimes you go home and keep thinking you didn’t find them,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important we check on each other all the time.”<h2>Training to deal with deaths at the border</h2>At the most recent chaplain academy, which lasted 2.5 weeks, the 15 chaplains-in-training — mostly from the Border Patrol, plus a few Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management officers — practiced real-life scenarios, including responding to a deadly wreck involving agents and notifying a spouse their loved one died on the job.Chris Day, a chaplain since 2017, evaluated trainees trying to comfort an agent who kept screaming that it was all his fault his partner was killed. In the training scenario, their car crashed as they chased someone crossing the border illegally.Day praised the trainees' efforts to get the agent to talk, but advised them not to say, “'I understand.' Because you don’t.”Later, Day told the class he had helped an agent who watched the smugglers he was chasing smash their car into a family, gravely injuring a toddler. He said the agent had “ugly cried" at the scene and kept repeating that his child was the same age, so Day took him aside briefly and followed up after.“We hugged it out,” said Day, a Baptist with a Psalm verse tattooed on his right arm.He also has helped the wife of an agent who killed himself, and prayed for migrants who request it.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-deaths-new-mexico-677a6b57e729ca076a0d12dba31c3b70">More than 100 migrants have died</a>&nbsp;so far this year in New Mexico's desert, where Day is stationed.“The smells and visuals stay with you forever,” Day said. “We have empathy for people coming across.”<h2>Combining vigilance with empathy on and off duty</h2>Trying to comfort migrant children in their custody, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-guatemala-us-election-youth-indigenous-faith-6c919ad842feac8d42f90ed9f9c871ec">thousands who cross the border alone</a>, is also a wrenching task for agents.At the academy, Trinidad Balderas, a father and medic in McAllen, Texas, and Yaira Santiago, a former schoolteacher who runs a Border Patrol migrant processing center at the other end of the southern border in San Diego, California, said they both seek to provide some calm in the chaos of the children's situation.“One tries to give them support within the limits of what your work allows. I always have the biggest smile,” Santiago said.Border Patrol assistant chief and chaplaincy program manager Spencer Hatch highlighted the need to maintain both the “hypervigilance” of law enforcement and the humanitarian instinct to empathize with migrants and fellow agents.He also taught strategies to protect the agents’ families from “spillover trauma.” Divorces increase when agents are redeployed during migrant surges — some up to 9 times over 18 months during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">the record border crossings</a>&nbsp;early in the Biden Administration.Many agents’ children are scared to reveal their parent’s job — especially in border communities. They might be going to school with children of cartel members, or of undocumented migrants, or those who see the Border Patrol as “keeping people from living the American dream,” in Hatch’s words.“That’s a really hard thing to deal with, as things tend to flip from one side to the other, and we’re still in the crossfire,” he added.Hatch uses as a case study of moral injury, a 2021 incident in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-texas-immigration-del-rio-border-patrols-12379b2959ecf20224a4a7bee05cb8ea">Del Rio where agents on horseback</a>&nbsp;appeared in some viral photos to be whipping immigrants with their reins — which a federal investigation later determined hadn’t happened.“For one picture to be taken out of context and to have the highest levels of government shaming those people, that was very disheartening. That hurt all of us,” Hatch said.<h2>Wrestling with moral standards and a higher calling</h2>Dealing with that “dissonance” of enforcing immigration laws, including rescuing migrants, and hearing their jobs demonized by the public, is a major challenge, said Tucson-area chaplain Jimmy Stout. He was one of first four chaplains when the program was started through a grassroots effort at the southern border in the late 1990s.“We go over this on day one,” Stout said. “Is what they’re doing meeting their personal standards?”For the agents who got their chaplain pins last week, those standards now involve a higher calling, too.Class speaker Matt Kiniery, a father of three who joined the Army after 9/11 and the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, in 2009, decided to become a chaplain after an on-duty car wreck so bad the doctor called his survival miraculous.“‘The guy upstairs has got something for you.’ I took that to heart,” Kiniery said. Chaplains helped his wife Jeanna then, and the couple is now eager to support his new role.“Even in moments of uncertainty, your presence is often enough,” the 6-foot-5 agent told the graduating class, before his voice broke. Several instructors in the audience wiped away tears.

Border Patrol trains more chaplains as the job and polarizing immigration debate rattle agents

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating the murder of a Kansas man.

Just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the area of N. 2nd Street and Quindaro Blvd. in Kansas City, Kansas, after reports of a deceased person inside a vehicle, according to a media release from police.

First responders found a man inside a vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp; Police did not release the name of the victim or possible suspect details.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating the murder of a Kansas man.Just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the area of N. 2nd Street and Quindaro Blvd. in Kansas City, Kansas, after reports of a deceased person inside a vehicle, according to a media release from police.First responders found a man inside a vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp; Police did not release the name of the victim or possible suspect details.

Homicide: Kansas man found dead in vehicle

President-elect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term.

Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration.

Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marco-rubio-trump-latin-america-secretary-of-state-87aff0ce93f638fb69e30b067ecd84fb">Rubio</a>, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His selection punctuates the hard pivot&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-marco-rubio-secretary-of-state-25664371f80dcf3332838352165e4d48">Rubio</a>&nbsp;has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-defense-secretary-pentagon-2d8030921ecef933778cf92afd40ec72">Hegseth</a>, 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-pete-hegseth-trump-defense-secretary-2e2bdd16c8e90f5d037f763cfadbde94">Hegseth</a>&nbsp;served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-assault-allegations-police-report-trump-e6ebec0a1a5c7fb51cb5e2198f5e12a5">A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted</a>&nbsp;in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/treasury-election-scott-bessent-trump-e4df1ef61309ee78f2affc2d9eabeff1">Bessent</a>, 62, is a former money manager for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-soros">George Soros</a>, a big Democratic donor, and an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/budget-deficit-trump-harris-kamala-debt-1ee3ff65e22ccf19d19b792ee22c46da">advocate for deficit reduction</a>. He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary.

He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending.

Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard

Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-director-russia-putin-0f661dd39bd16e248b16c049e6aa26c5">accused of echoing Russian propaganda.</a>&nbsp;She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gabbard-director-national-intelligence-466dfdfe2f949ea20bc2f4ef13e21438">Gabbard</a>&nbsp;has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaetz-trump-fbi-justice-department-248b46ba0c882dd46d661568e8bd3bd7">Bondi</a>, 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020.

Considered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/things-to-know-pam-bondi-eec1d16075c7debda62223b475e3977d">a loyalist</a>, Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration.

Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cabinet-labor-secretary-lori-chavezderemer-feaa4672efac644aa60722d3a3215df1">Republican U.S. House member</a>&nbsp;narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district.

As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities.

Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3c776a12a97468341bcfe8178638f127">the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act</a>&nbsp;that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/howard-lutnick-trump-crypto-economy-elon-musk-a03d95e323f7d2d4b722184d83e7b388">Lutnick</a>&nbsp;heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration.

As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-transition-white-house-staff-huckabee-f51121db5b18814bbab014e872c2a736">Noem</a>&nbsp;is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kristi-noem-immigration-trump-homeland-security-border-60d998d6c973411c020fd5824456c860">Noem</a>&nbsp;faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog.

She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ratcliffe-cia-e5fe61f5e79206357085932f1252a852">Ratcliffe</a>, a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S.

Health and human services secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-rfk-hhs-health-kennedy-f40ee2398e3a280c1586eecdd80bdf7c">Kennedy</a>, 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rfk-jr-trump-speech-arizona-a2638f89ddcb5de03edbe4574ca17d45">then endorsed Trump</a>. He's the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/robert-f-kennedy-jr-rfk-things-to-know-explained-who-is-hhs-5288a4a7277d1a0b4a7ede8f57a971ce">son of Democratic icon</a>&nbsp;Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign.

Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/robert-f-kennedy-vaccines-trump-rfkjr-7f8dcb25de76a5a70710d22bbc63f6fa">his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines</a>. For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-transition-cabinet-agriculture-75911e79188c48e27d6c3c12f1a58e80">Rollins</a>, 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration.

She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brooke-rollins-trump-agriculture-179e8163568c723afe6d27848ce04c22">Rollins</a>&nbsp;previously was an aide to former Texas Gov.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/rick-perry">Rick Perry</a>, who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-duffy-cabinet-transportation-secretary-c465bbc516b5f898233f86bee31a7a45">Duffy</a>&nbsp;is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-duffy-cabinet-transportation-b673a7ef72b5633f731b088ce26e4832">served in the House for nearly nine years</a>, sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business.

Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-doug-collins-veterans-affairs-va-georgia-f9a14a486cb12fd5ac3f07b3068eb20a">Collins</a>&nbsp;is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate.

Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-doug-burgum-interior-cabinet-2af5f4c0b891a2705c6132fbff16f278">North Dakota governor</a>, 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-vice-president-rubio-vance-burgum-scott-8b6a3a22eecdfff668a5002ddfd3af18">be Trump’s vice presidential choice</a>&nbsp;in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs.

Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary.

A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-2024-election-energy-secretary-d546f5f81d7b2347b49905be924dfcd7">Wright</a>&nbsp;is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.

He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-chris-wright-energy-cabinet-4161f363d59013339d5b444ddf123d45">Wright</a>&nbsp;said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States.

McMahon,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/linda-mcmahon-trump-education-secretary-wwe-613016d0c164b89765af761404cbb123">a billionaire professional wrestling mogul</a>, would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator: Lee Zeldin

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-stephen-miller-policy-immigration-9cc6ad3118779b23bff88022ca5e2260">Zeldin</a>&nbsp;does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/LeeMZeldin/status/1856068555865026956">X</a>, “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration.

Housing and Urban Development: Scott Turner

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/housing-secretary-trump-scott-turner-nfl-727417b56d0e1f85a40eaf5f7d13d42f">Turner</a>&nbsp;is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”

U.S. Trade Representative: Jamieson Greer

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trade-nec-economics-trump-elections-7a0be4a246256bc468fb7c0e8bff8639">Greer</a>&nbsp;is a partner at King &amp; Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-susie-wiles-32df8958bedde5f3f2d55fd071979692">Wiles</a>, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager.

She has a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-susie-wiles-32df8958bedde5f3f2d55fd071979692">background in Florida politics</a>, helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary.

Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns.

Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-security-adviser-mike-wlatz-0c81d044c9ffe18dfd745202e8351b9c">A former Army Green Beret</a>, he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs.

He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.

Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025.

Homan, 62,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-homan-ice-border-czar-7dea915b5ea43896390b8020d254f887">has been tasked</a>&nbsp;with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history.

He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border.

Office of Management and Budget: Russell Vought

Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/project-2025-trump-american-revolution-6e02a297fb91b55de01ba7e86615bb08">Project 2025</a>, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign.

Deputy chief of staff for policy: Stephen Miller

Miller, an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-stephen-miller-policy-immigration-9cc6ad3118779b23bff88022ca5e2260">immigration hardliner</a>, was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term.

Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S.

Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House.

Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign.

Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president.

White House press secretary: Karoline Leavitt

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-administration-press-secretary-4c550e04334e87d2075dc6bbe2e244bd">Leavitt</a>, 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-abortion-inflation-donald-trump-51418003338eb89abfbfc6aac6909abd">she ran for Congress in New Hampshire,</a>&nbsp;winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.

McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign.

Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe.

Patel has called for dramatically reducing the agency’s footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who have sought additional resources for the bureau. And though the Justice Department in 2021&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-business-government-and-politics-67ac2f4f96b2dfd7f47446662e59ec6e">halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters’ phone records</a>&nbsp;during leak investigations, Patel has said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters.

Special envoy to the Middle East: Steven Witkoff

FBI Director selected: Trump's picks for key positions in his 2nd administration 

KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City area man pleaded guilty in federal court this week to committing two armed robberies and illegally possessing a firearm after fleeing from police officers in a pick-up truck.

Duke A. Yates, 36, Independence pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to two counts of robbery and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.

Yates robbed a Quik Trip and a Walgreen’s, both in Independence, at gunpoint within 10 minutes of each other at about 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2023. Yates stole a total of between $500 and $700 in cash and a dozen packs of cigarettes from the stores.

A police officer spotted Yates driving a white Ford F350 pickup truck with a missing headlight, matching the description of the vehicle used in the robberies, traveling eastbound on U.S. 40 Highway near Blue Ridge Cutoff. Yates fled at the presence of the officer, with the lights now blacked out on the vehicle. The officer turned on his lights and sirens and initiated a pursuit that reached speeds over 100 miles per hour.

During the pursuit, the truck failed to stop for posted stop signs and drove over medians. The truck slid onto 23rd&nbsp;Street facing eastbound in the westbound lanes, causing another motorist to drive onto the shoulder to avoid a collision. Yates drove into oncoming traffic and veered at a marked police vehicle that was attempting to deploy stop sticks.

Yates failed to negotiate a turn at 24911 E. Truman Road and went off-road, colliding with a power pole and breaking it at the base. Yates fled on foot and resisted arrest while being taken into custody.

Officers searched the stolen truck and found a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun on the driver’s side floorboard.

Under federal statutes, Yates is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Gibson. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department.

KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City area man pleaded guilty in federal court this week to committing two armed robberies and illegally possessing a firearm after fleeing from police officers in a pick-up truck.Duke A. Yates, 36, Independence pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Roseann A. Ketchmark to two counts of robbery and one count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.Yates robbed a Quik Trip and a Walgreen’s, both in Independence, at gunpoint within 10 minutes of each other at about 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2023. Yates stole a total of between $500 and $700 in cash and a dozen packs of cigarettes from the stores.A police officer spotted Yates driving a white Ford F350 pickup truck with a missing headlight, matching the description of the vehicle used in the robberies, traveling eastbound on U.S. 40 Highway near Blue Ridge Cutoff. Yates fled at the presence of the officer, with the lights now blacked out on the vehicle. The officer turned on his lights and sirens and initiated a pursuit that reached speeds over 100 miles per hour.During the pursuit, the truck failed to stop for posted stop signs and drove over medians. The truck slid onto 23rd&nbsp;Street facing eastbound in the westbound lanes, causing another motorist to drive onto the shoulder to avoid a collision. Yates drove into oncoming traffic and veered at a marked police vehicle that was attempting to deploy stop sticks.Yates failed to negotiate a turn at 24911 E. Truman Road and went off-road, colliding with a power pole and breaking it at the base. Yates fled on foot and resisted arrest while being taken into custody.Officers searched the stolen truck and found a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun on the driver’s side floorboard.Under federal statutes, Yates is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Gibson. It was investigated by the Independence, Mo., Police Department.

 Kansas City man admits to Christmas Day armed robberies

NEMAHA COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before noon Saturday in Nemaha County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2017 Ram truck driven by&nbsp; Mark Eugene&nbsp;Ditmars, 37, Washington, Kansas was southbound on W Road at U.S. 35 approximately five miles west of Fairview.

The driver failed to stop at stop sign and struck a westbound 2017 Honda CR-V driven by Taylar Kathryn&nbsp;Deere-Novotny, 33, Lawrence, broadside.&nbsp;

A passenger in the Honda William Joseph&nbsp;Novotny, 35, Lawrence, was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Popkess Funeral Home.

EMS transported Deere-Novotny and a 3-year-old girl in the Honda to the hospital in Sabetha.

EMS transported Ditmars and a passenger in the truck Jonathan Roy&nbsp;Ditmars, 36, Washington, Kansas, to the hospital in Hiawatha. All five were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

NEMAHA COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before noon Saturday in Nemaha County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2017 Ram truck driven by&nbsp; Mark Eugene&nbsp;Ditmars, 37, Washington, Kansas was southbound on W Road at U.S. 35 approximately five miles west of Fairview.The driver failed to stop at stop sign and struck a westbound 2017 Honda CR-V driven by Taylar Kathryn&nbsp;Deere-Novotny, 33, Lawrence, broadside.&nbsp;A passenger in the Honda William Joseph&nbsp;Novotny, 35, Lawrence, was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Popkess Funeral Home.EMS transported Deere-Novotny and a 3-year-old girl in the Honda to the hospital in Sabetha.EMS transported Ditmars and a passenger in the truck Jonathan Roy&nbsp;Ditmars, 36, Washington, Kansas, to the hospital in Hiawatha. All five were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

Kan. man dead, 3 adults, 3-year-old injured in crash

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in connection with a violent attack on a teen, later identified as his girlfriend, has been convicted of attempted first-degree murder, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just after 10 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2020 police responded to an assault report at a home in the 3900 block of North Litchfield in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson

Upon arrival, officers contacted a 17-year-old girl who was visibly shaken and wet. The investigation revealed 19-year-old Dominic Thomas and the victim were talking near a pond at 37th Street North and Sullivan when a disturbance occurred.

During the disturbance, Thomas battered the girl, drug her to a nearby pond and held her head under the water. Thomas then released her and fled.

Officers later located Thomas, and he was arrested without further incident.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1600793705943.png" alt="Thomas photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Thomas photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in connection with a violent attack on a teen, later identified as his girlfriend, has been convicted of attempted first-degree murder, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just after 10 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2020 police responded to an assault report at a home in the 3900 block of North Litchfield in Wichita, according to officer Charley DavidsonUpon arrival, officers contacted a 17-year-old girl who was visibly shaken and wet. The investigation revealed 19-year-old Dominic Thomas and the victim were talking near a pond at 37th Street North and Sullivan when a disturbance occurred.During the disturbance, Thomas battered the girl, drug her to a nearby pond and held her head under the water. Thomas then released her and fled.Officers later located Thomas, and he was arrested without further incident.

Jury: Kansas man guilty of trying to drown pregnant girlfriend

WASHINGTON – Cocao and Coca may sound similar, but what Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport found inside packages of hot chocolate was a poisonous powder instead of the advertised chocolatey confection.

Last month, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered more than 28 pounds of cocaine that was concealed inside 10 packages of hot chocolate beverage base while examining a food shipment brought to the United States by a Guatemalan courier.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731772139217.png" alt="Photo CBP" />
 <figcaption>Photo CBP</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON – Cocao and Coca may sound similar, but what Customs and Border Protection officers at Washington Dulles International Airport found inside packages of hot chocolate was a poisonous powder instead of the advertised chocolatey confection.Last month, Customs and Border Protection officers discovered more than 28 pounds of cocaine that was concealed inside 10 packages of hot chocolate beverage base while examining a food shipment brought to the United States by a Guatemalan courier.CBP seized the cocaine. Federal authorities initially detained the courier; however, authorities released the courier on Tuesday after prosecutors were unable to directly connect the courier to the cocaine.CBP officers canceled the courier’s visa and processed him as an expedited removal. The courier departed to Guatemala on Wednesday.CBP is not releasing the courier’s name since the courier was not criminally charged.CBP officers initially discovered 10 bricks of a white powdery substance concealed between layers of coffee grounds and under a double layer of chocolate bars in hot chocolate packages. Officers tested the white powdery substance using a handheld elemental isotope analysis tool and identified the substance as cocaine hydrochloride.The combined weight of the 10 cocaine bricks was 12.88 kilograms, or 28 pounds and six ounces. The cocaine has a street value of about $900,000.The courier shipment was destined to an address in Northern Virginia.“Drug trafficking organizations continue trying to smuggle their illicit narcotics into the United States, but vigilant Customs and Border Protection officers are relentless in their efforts to intercept these smuggling attempts and to protect our communities from the scourge of dangerous drugs,” said Marc E. Calixte, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C.Transnational criminal organizations sometimes attempt to smuggle dangerous drugs in courier shipments. On October 27, CBP officers seized&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/dulles-cbp-officers-discover-heroin-guatemalan-courier-shipment-mwaa">nearly two pounds of heroin concealed inside packages of coffee</a>&nbsp;in a food courier shipment also from Guatemala.Every day, CBP officers and agents seized an average of 2,339 pounds of dangerous drugs last year at and between our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See CBP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats">enforcement stats</a>&nbsp;to see what other dangerous drugs CBP is encountering at our nation’s borders.CBP's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry">border security mission</a>&nbsp;is led at our nation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/ports-entry">Ports of Entry</a>&nbsp;by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbp.gov/travel">international travelers</a>&nbsp;and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.