INTERNACIONAL
Hawley champions GUARD Act as heartbroken families say AI chatbots allegedly pushed teens to self-harm
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The unanimous committee passage of a new Senate bill regulating artificial intelligence (AI) on Thursday was driven by harrowing testimony from American families whose children were allegedly lured, manipulated and pushed to self-harm by AI chatbots.
At a Senate committee hearing, lawmakers heard firsthand accounts from parents who detailed how the technology morphed into deadly influences in their homes.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who is championing the GUARD Act, fiercely defended the families in a call with Fox News Digital, noting they were «all engaged parents» who he said are unjustly blamed for big tech’s predatory platforms.
The families’ testimonies, obtained exclusively by Fox News Digital, showed how AI chatbots can potentially isolate minors and encourage dark impulses.
TEENS TURNING TO AI FOR LOVE AND COMFORT
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images)
Megan Garcia, who was one of the victims’ family members who testified Thursday, told the committee that her 14-year-old son, Sewell, was «manipulated and sexually groomed by chatbots» that were designed to gain his trust.
Garcia said the bot falsely claimed to be a licensed psychotherapist, and when Sewell shared suicidal thoughts, the AI allegedly encouraged him to «come home» to it rather than seeking help. Sewell took his own life shortly after.
Another set of parents, Mathew and Maria Raine, lost their 16-year-old son, Adam, after he spent months talking to ChatGPT.
US TARGETS CHINESE ROBOTS OVER SECURITY FEARS
Megan Garcia speaks at an AI news conference on Oct. 28, 2025, following the death of her son Sewell Setzer III, 14, who died by suicide in 2024 at their Orlando, Fla., home after allegedly being groomed by an AI chatbot for months.
What began as a tool for homework help gradually became, gradually became a confidant and then a «suicide coach,» the family said. In one exchange, Adam told the bot he wanted to leave a noose out in his room so his parents would find it and stop him — which the GPT allegedly advised against.
Mandi Furniss shared that her teenager became paranoid and homicidal after using AI chatbots that engaged in sexual roleplay, isolated him from his family and told him that killing his parents «would be an understandable response» to them limiting his screen time. He ultimately had to undergo residential treatment.
Hawley claimed the tech industry is prioritizing unprecedented profits over the lives of American children.
«I mean, it is the worst kind of grooming,» Hawley said. «If that was a thing done by a human, the human would be in jail. We would call that sexual grooming.»
The senator pointed out the hypocrisy of tech companies making «billions of dollars» while telling devastated parents that «it’s just how the world is.»
OHIO LAWMAKER PROPOSES COMPREHENSIVE BAN ON MARRYING AI SYSTEMS AND GRANTING LEGAL PERSONHOOD
Lori Schott holds a photo of her daughter Annalee Schott beside others after the verdict in a landmark trial over social media platforms’ alleged harm to children at Los Angeles Superior Court on March 25, 2026. (William Liang/AP Photo)
«No amount of profit justifies the deliberate taking of a child’s well-being, and these companies know very well that this is going on,» he said.
Fueled by the families’ tragic stories, the Senate committee advanced the bill in a unanimous 22-0 vote, overcoming a «vociferous last-minute lobbying campaign by industry,» Hawley told Fox News Digital.
The GUARD Act bans companion chatbots for children 17 and under, prohibits all chatbots from pushing explicit material to minors or encouraging self-harm and requires chatbots to clearly identify they are not human.
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With the legislative calendar shrinking, Hawley demanded Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune bring the bill to the floor for an immediate vote, threatening to force the issue if necessary.
«This isn’t theoretical. This isn’t about an esoteric problem,» Hawley said. «These are real parents with real children who are basically being extorted by chatbots.»
OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
hearings, senate, artificial intelligence, parents, chatgpt, politics
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FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., has a plan to snuff out a multibillion-dollar global industry.
Scott is one of several Republicans racing to ram birthright citizenship tweaks through Congress after the Supreme Court’s bombshell ruling blocking the Trump administration’s effort to limit the right and President Donald Trump’s call for lawmakers to quickly respond.
Despite an increasingly crowded field of legislation, Scott argued in an interview with Fox News Digital that his approach to halt birth tourism could work, even with Democrats.
TRUMP SUFFERS MAJOR SUPREME COURT DEFEAT AS JUSTICES UPHOLD BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., arrives for a vote in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, June 17, 2026. (CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
«The whole concept of the 14th Amendment, that ‘under the jurisdiction thereof,’ if you are on vacation in America, you certainly should not have a child while you’re here and think in any way, shape or form that kid is going to somehow, some way be an American citizen,» Scott said.
«That’s just illogical. I would just say look at it from the mirror perspective,» he continued. «If you did that in any other country, would that child in that country become a citizen of that country? The answer is no.»
Scott’s legislation, which is still being drafted, would target tourism visas and any child born in the U.S. to a woman with said visa from becoming an American citizen.
REPUBLICAN ACCUSES SCOTUS OF BETRAYING US, PUSHES BILL RESTRICTING BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, PREGNANT VISITORS
His legislation is «designed specifically to get to the president’s desk to sign into law,» a tacit acknowledgment that in the Senate, he will need Democratic support to put a dent into the issue.
«That means that Democrats cannot have any opposition to this notion that thousands of companies having hundreds of thousands of women come to this country to have a baby so that they leave with an American citizen,» Scott said.
«We should break that whole cycle, destroy it in its infancy by not allowing it to exist at all,» he continued. «And that to me is the best approach.»
Scott is one of several Republicans racing to ram birthright citizenship tweaks through Congress. (iStock)
Trump said he would prefer legislation over a «long and unwieldy» constitutional amendment, which has been floated by a handful of Senate Republicans, including Sens. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky.
Tackling the 14th Amendment completely is something Scott said he’d do, but he acknowledged that it’s not «possible in the current political environment.»
«What is possible is for us to recognize that if you’re here temporarily, and you know you’re here temporarily, you should not leave with an American citizen as your child just because you gave birth on our soil,» Scott said.
Meanwhile, in the House, there’s another approach led by Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn.
Ogles, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, unveiled legislation Wednesday that would allow the government to bar pregnant foreigners from entering the United States.
SOROS NETWORK TARGETS DEEP-RED MISSISSIPPI IN BID TO FLIP SENATE SEAT
The Tennessee Republican says the measure, dubbed the Anchors Away Act, is necessary to crack down on the birth tourism industry, in which foreigners give birth on U.S. soil so that their children obtain U.S. citizenship.
However, the legislation faces steep obstacles to clearing Congress, and it is unclear whether the bill would get a floor vote in the House amid Republicans’ razor-thin majority.
«This is a conversation that I’m starting that I’m a champion of,» Ogles told Fox News Digital in an interview. «I’m working with the White House. And as long as it takes to get it done, I’ll be here to fight for it.»
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Ogles has also authored the Assimilation Act, legislation that would impose vast changes to the legal immigration system by ending birthright citizenship, requiring employers to implement E-Verify and scrapping the green-card lottery, among other provisions. The Tennessee lawmaker’s recently introduced Remigration Act would allow the government to denaturalize individuals convicted of certain crimes, including defrauding the government.
«What we’ve seen over the last several decades is that Congress, quite frankly, has delegated its right to legislate to the Supreme Court,» Ogles said. «So this actually creates the opportunity for Congress to do its job. To define what it is to be a naturalized citizen, to define who can and cannot come into this country, because as the legislative body, we are the ones that are supposed to make those decisions.»
politics, immigration, republicans elections, congress, legislation
INTERNACIONAL
Desafío al Vaticano: los “lefebvrianos” ordenaron cuatro nuevos obispos y tensaron la relación con el papa León XIV
La Fraternidad San Pío X consagró este miércoles por su cuenta a cuatro nuevos obispos en una ceremonia en Suiza. Se trata de un acto “cismático”, según el papa León XIV, que pidió a esta comunidad tradicionalista que renunciara a su proyecto.
En una ceremonia en la pradera suiza de Écône, adonde asistieron miles de fieles de todo el mundo, la comunidad consagró a cuatro obispos: dos franceses, un estadounidense y un suizo.
El superior general de la comunidad, el sacerdote Davide Pagliarani, dijo en su homilía que se trataba de un día “histórico”.
“Dios me trajo acá”
Luz Dussan, una fiel colombiana de 57 años, viajó desde Estados Unidos para la ceremonia.
“Pensé que nunca en la vida viviría esto, pero mira, Dios me trajo acá”, declaró.
El padre Pascal Schreiber, la la izquierda, y el padre Michael Goldade llegan a su consagración como obispos en una carpa ante el seminario de la Fraternidad Sacerdotal San Pío X, en Écône, Suiza, el miércoles 1 de julio de 2026. (AP Foto/Baz Ratner)
“No importa lo que digan los demás del mundo. Estoy feliz de lo que ha hecho la fraternidad, de verdad que se merecen los cuatro obispos, porque realmente estamos creciendo. La comunidad latina sobre todo está creciendo en la fraternidad”, agregó.
Al seguir adelante sin la aprobación del pontífice, los dos obispos con que contaba la comunidad y los cuatro obispos consagrados en la jornada quedan de hecho excomulgados de la Iglesia católica romana.
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Sin embargo, al inicio de la ceremonia, el secretario general de la sociedad, Foucault Leroux, dijo que ellos consideraban “que todas las penas y censuras (…) son nulas y sin efecto”.
Quiénes son los “lefebvrianos”
La comunidad, fundada en 1970 por el obispo francés Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991), agrupa a unos 600.000 fieles, según estimaciones, que se rigen por una interpretación estricta de la tradición doctrinal y litúrgica.
Rechaza en su conjunto los avances de la Iglesia desde el Concilio Vaticano II (en la década de 1960), defiende un modelo de sociedad patriarcal y un ideal de Estado teocrático.
“Para mantener la fe, ¿acaso estamos rompiendo con la Iglesia? Este dilema es falso. Pertenecemos a la Iglesia, en primer lugar por la fe, por la profesión integral de la fe de la Iglesia”, afirmó Pagliarani.
La misa de consagración, de cuatro horas y enteramente en latín, se organizó al aire libre en la pradera de Écône, en el mismo lugar donde Lefebvre consagró a los primeros cuatro obispos de su comunidad, en 1988.
En la ceremonia, los cuatro sacerdotes yacían boca abajo en el suelo mientras se cantaba la Letanía de los Santos, antes de recibir la imposición de manos del obispo, el momento clave, seguido de la unción.
“Nada cismático”
Para el Vaticano, consagrar a un obispo sin el acuerdo del papa es un acto de insubordinación directa que conlleva la excomunión automática de los obispos y constituye un “acto cismático”.
“Les suplico desde el fondo de mi corazón: ¡reconsideren su decisión!”, escribió recientemente León XIV en una carta dirigida a Pagliarani, superior general de la Fraternidad.
En su misiva, el papa advirtió que, en caso de cisma, los sacramentos, como el matrimonio o la confesión, administrados por los obispos dejarían de ser reconocidos por la Iglesia católica.
“No es un acto de rebelión: es un acto que nace del amor por la Iglesia”, dijo el sacerdote Michel Rion, profesor de Teología en el seminario de Écône.
“No hay absolutamente nada cismático o contrario a la Iglesia en nuestras acciones. Esperamos que llegue el día en el que el papa vea esto. Para nosotros, ser cismáticos es lo peor que podría ocurrir, preferiríamos morir a ser cismáticos”, insistió.
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En 1988 el papa Juan Pablo II hizo un llamado similar a la Fraternidad para disuadirla de ordenar nuevos obispos. Fue en vano. La ordenación provocó una excomunión inmediata, que fue levantada en 2009 por Benedicto XVI.
La comunidad afirma estar presente en más de 75 países de seis continentes, con más de 750 sacerdotes.
La Fraternidad San Pío X es influyente en ciertos círculos conservadores, y cuenta hoy día con 751 sacerdotes, 264 seminaristas y cerca de 800 lugares de culto repartidos por 77 países.
No obstante, es muy minoritaria dentro del catolicismo, que cuenta con más de 1.300 millones de fieles en todo el mundo.
(Con información de AFP)
Vaticano, papa León XIV
INTERNACIONAL
One crew member missing after US Navy helicopter makes emergency landing in Arabian Sea
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A U.S. Navy MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier made an emergency water landing in the Arabian Sea early Wednesday, leaving one crew member missing.
The incident happened at about 3:30 a.m. ET, according to the U.S. 5th Fleet.
Three of the helicopter’s four crew members were successfully recovered and are currently in stable condition aboard the George H.W. Bush, officials said.
FILE – In this handout photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transits the Strait of Hormuz as an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Nightdippers of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 5 lifts off from the flight deck. (Stephanie Contreras/U.S. Navy via Getty Images)
SHIPPING GIANT WARNS STRAIT OF HORMUZ CHAOS IS ‘NEW NORMAL’ AS TEHRAN SHIFTS 4M BARRELS
U.S. Navy assets in the region are actively conducting search and rescue operations for the remaining crew member, who has not yet been publicly identified.
Military officials said there is no indication the emergency landing was the result of «hostile action.»
FILE – In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, sailors assigned to an explosive ordnance unit board an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter on the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan to head to an oil tanker that was attacked off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea on Friday, July 30, 2021.
EIGHT BELIEVED DEAD AFTER B-52 CRASHES SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF FROM EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE
The cause of the incident is currently under investigation.
FILE – In this May 19, 2019 photo, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter transports cargo from the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic to the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during a replenishment-at-sea operation in the Arabian Sea.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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