Student loans in default to be referred to debt collection, Education Department says

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday. Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans. Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds payments from the government, including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits, from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department will also begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

Gunman who killed 23 in a racist attack at a Walmart pleads guilty to capital murder

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — The gunman who killed 23 people in a racist attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, has pleaded guilty to capital murder. Patrick Crusius changed his plea Monday in a state district court and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The shooting in August 2019 was one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Judge Sam Medrano scolded Crusius for the overtly racist attack in which he hoped to kill Hispanic people in the border city. The change of plea comes after prosecutors took the death penalty off the table. Crusius has also been sentenced to 90 consecutive life terms by a federal court after pleading guilty in 2023 to hate crime and weapons charges.

More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia’s behalf

SAN SALVADOR (AP) — Four House Democrats have traveled to El Salvador to call attention to the plight of a man the Trump administration deported to a Salvadoran prison and has refused to help return — even after the Supreme Court ruled that it was the government’s duty to do so. Reps. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, Maxine Dexter of Oregon, Maxwell Frost of Florida and Robert Garcia of California arrived Sunday in the Central American nation to investigate the condition of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had lived in the United States for more than a decade. The Trump administration deported him, a move that administration officials have said in court filings was done in error.

Homeland Security Secretary Noem’s purse stolen at DC restaurant, officials say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse was stolen at a Washington, D.C. restaurant Sunday night, according to department officials. The department in an email said Noem had money in her purse to buy gifts for her children and grandchildren and to pay for Easter dinner and other activities. The department in an email didn’t specify what was stolen, but CNN — which was first to report the story — said the thief took about $3,000 in cash, as well as Noem’s keys, driver’s license, passport, checks, makeup bag, medication and Homeland Security badge.