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Navy veteran Rocky Rochford seeks to turn Tampa Bay red, unseat 20-year House incumbent
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Navy veteran Rocky Rochford served his country for 33 years, holding the title of commodore. Now, he’s on a mission to flip Tampa Bay from blue to red, in the midst of a spirited campaign to unseat 20-year incumbent Kathy Castor in Florida’s 14th congressional district.
Rochford recently sat down to discuss his campaign with Fox News Digital.
«So in 20 years, Kathy Castor has been the author of two bills that became law. And both of those were to rename post offices. So I would say that Kathy Castor has been ineffective. She hasn’t really helped Tampa Bay in the ways that matter the most. Affordability is probably the biggest thing on everyone’s kitchen table list of discussion points. Gasoline, groceries, electricity, insurance. I mean, the list goes on and on and on.»
Rochford emphasizes that his leadership experience has prepared him to be ready to represent the people of Tampa Bay from day one.
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«So it’s about leadership. I have spent my entire adult life…33 years in the Navy, four years at Massachusetts Maritime Academy. I got to go back to the age of 18 for the first time before I was actually part of the military. So, it’s been entrenched in my being, it is in my soul, I’m very strong in my faith.
And I believe that we need someone who is not only going to bring leadership to the process, but is going to bring their faith to the process up in D.C., and be part of the solution. People who are anti the other side, whether it doesn’t matter what side you’re sitting on, when they are against the other side to the point where they won’t even talk to them, that’s problematic. We’re not gonna get anything accomplished, we’re not going to get anything done. And that’s exactly what’s happening up in DC right now, we see a lot of that.»
Children’s rights is an issue at the forefront of Rochford’s campaign.
«I have three major bills that are the highlight of what I’ve been working on. And the first is my children’s bill of rights. I do believe that children are the future, and they need to be protected far better than they’re being protected now. So the laws that govern children are written amongst 11 different government agencies. Those agencies don’t overlap and they don’t talk to each other. This bill is designed to create a shield, an organization that oversees all of those laws.
«This covers everything from AI for kids, online predators, and it provides new penalties with teeth. This is we’re going to get after those folks. The predators have been exploiting four different avenues on children across state lines. I’m going to close every one of those doors. Parental rights, no boys in girls sports. I mean, this bill covers adoption. It covers foster care, egg donor, IVF. It is complete.»
Rochford argues that foreign influence plays a large role in shaping electoral outcomes, and particularly singles out China-based political donor and activist Neville Roy Singham.
Neville Roy Singham smiles at his wedding to Jodie Evans in February 2017 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. (Osbourne Chin / Chinphotographic)
«There’s a lot folks who have nothing to do with the United States…that are influencing our elections, they’re influencing the people…We know that Neville Singham, who’s a U.S. citizen living in Shanghai, is taking money from the CCP to disrupt America from the inside. China calls this the smokeless war, and it really is and and they’re not the only ones.
«Iran is doing the same thing, we know North Korea is involved, Russia so there’s a lot of influence happening in here that are that are causing wreaking havoc but we as a society need to see beyond that. We are one America, and I’m America first. I’m American first before politics, America first before party.»
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Florida’s 14th district is hardly politically monolithic, and Rochford emphasizes that he seeks to represent the entire district, not merely Republicans.
«I’m about listening. So I’m here to not only listen to the right, I’m here to listen to the center, and I’m here to listen the left. Because if we can’t come together and find the commonalities that will make us a better country, then we are doomed as a country. So we must support what we’re all after, which is a great America, a great society that takes care of its own and helps around the world.»
Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., takes her seat for the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party hearing in the Cannnon House Office Building on Tuesday, January 30, 2024.
He views energy policy and independence as the foundation of affordability for American workers and families.
«So I’ve been talking about affordability for some time. To me, the foundation of affordability for just about everything runs off of energy. The price of oil drives the price of gas, which is in our trucks, in our trains, in our airplanes, in ships. And so we need to get control. And so one of the bills that I have drafted will propose that…we first have to become energy independent. We’re the largest producer of energy in the world. So our people should be benefiting from it, not hurting from it.»
Among the most important policy issues for Rochford is the national debt, which he has spent a great deal of time researching. He has a plan that would retire America’s national debt by the 2060s:
«We don’t want to leave a legacy of debt to our children and grandchildren. So I had go back 40 years to try to figure out where this all started, and where we went off the tracks. And I now understand the entire policy. Balancing the budget is only treating a symptom. It does not treat the disease. So the disease is Congress, I’m sorry, but it’s true.
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«Every bit of money that comes in that’s extra from Congress goes into the general pool and they spend it. And all of the great ideas that have been used in the past, because I studied them all in the past on how to get after the national debt, balance the budget, the things that’ll help us get there. They were only policy, they were never law. So this suite of bills is law and it has teeth. And so the very first bill will design, it will create a trust and it is the American National Debt Trust. And when the money goes in there, it cannot come out and it cannot be spent by Congress in any other way. So if we enacted [my legislation] it would still take us to the 2060s to retire the national debt, but if we do nothing, and we’re on the path of doing nothing, in 10 years the national debt will be $61 trillion.»
Florida’s primary election is August 18.
politics, florida, house of representatives politics, midterm elections
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El Salvador recibe de la ONU equipo para detectar documentos fraudulentos en controles fronterizos
El Salvador incorporó un nuevo dispositivo de verificación documental entregado por la Oficina de las Naciones Unidas contra la Droga y el Delito (UNODC) para reforzar los mecanismos nacionales de identificación de documentos de viaje e identidad fraudulentos. La entrega se realizó en el marco de un proyecto de cooperación internacional, informó el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores este viernes.
La ceremonia oficial tuvo lugar en Viena, Austria, y fue organizada por el Laboratorio y Servicios Científicos (LSS) de la UNODC como parte del proyecto “Fortalecimiento de las capacidades para la investigación de la escena del crimen y el examen de documentos de seguridad en América Latina y el Caribe”, financiado por el Gobierno de Canadá. El evento reunió a especialistas en análisis documental y gestión fronteriza de 16 países de América Latina y el Caribe.
De entre los participantes hay otros países centroamericanos: Guatemala, Costa Ria, Honduras, Panamá y República Dominicana. Cada uno de los países participantes recibió un equipo de verificación documental para mejorar la detección y el reconocimiento de documentos fraudulentos en los puntos de control fronterizo y en otras instancias de verificación de identidad, según el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores.
“El objetivo del evento fue fortalecer las capacidades nacionales para la detección y el examen de documentos de viaje e identidad fraudulentos, mediante una capacitación especializada en técnicas avanzadas de verificación documental y el uso operativo de dispositivos de verificación de nivel intermedio”, expone la Cancillería salvadoreña.
Durante el evento, se ofreció una capacitación especializada en técnicas avanzadas de verificación documental, enfocada en el uso operativo de dispositivos de nivel intermedio. Representantes de la Policía Nacional Civil (PNC) de El Salvador participaron en el entrenamiento técnico impartido por la UNODC en Viena, donde completaron el proceso de formación y recibieron el equipo correspondiente.
En abril de 2026, La Dirección General de Migración y Extranjería (DGME) informó que en aras del fortalecimiento de la infraestructura limítrofe, El Salvador amplió sus opciones de control migratorio con la apertura de un nuevo punto fronterizo en el cantón El Coco, situado en el distrito de Chalchuapa, departamento de Santa Ana.
Desde el viernes 13 de marzo de 2026, quedó establecido este punto de control que conecta de manera directa con el municipio de Jerez, en el departamento de Jutiapa, Guatemala, lo que permite el tránsito debidamente regulado de personas entre ambas naciones hermanas.
Además, el país lleva dos años desde que la DGME, junto con el respaldo del gobierno de los Estados Unidos, inauguró el Centro Nacional de Análisis de Pasajeros (CENAP). Esta unidad especializada en inteligencia migratoria y perfilamiento de pasajeros facilitó el ingreso seguro al país en vuelos internacionales a través de una sede operativa conjunta.
El CENAP nació como una iniciativa conjunta entre la Dirección de Migración y la Oficina de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza de Estados Unidos (CBP) para agilizar el ingreso al territorio de forma segura mediante herramientas tecnológicas sofisticadas y equipos de alto nivel.
Esto permitió perfilar y rastrear información de ciudadanos nacionales y extranjeros con destino a El Salvador, examinar ciclos migratorios de perfiles sospechosos, detectar posibles amenazas a la seguridad nacional, identificar personas de riesgo, combatir redes criminales de tráfico de personas, gestionar alertas internacionales y recopilar estadísticas, entre otras acciones.
corresponsal:Desde San Salvador, El Salvador
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Trump’s White House ballroom foes face ‘very tough argument’ at Supreme Court, legal experts say
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President Donald Trump could win the legal fight over his planned White House ballroom, say two legal experts who believe the U.S. the Supreme Court could end the case without weighing in on the underlying constitutional issue.
In a lengthy social media post Friday, Trump vowed to take the fight over his White House ballroom to the Supreme Court after the D.C. Circuit upheld a lower court order blocking above-ground construction. In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court ruled that the project cannot move forward without Congressional approval.
Trump pointed to the dissent written by Judge Neomi Rao, appointed by Trump in his first term, as grounds for appealing the decision to Supreme Court. Rao argued that the plantiffs, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, lack legal standing in the case.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation built its case for legal standing around Alison Hoagland, a member who lives near the White House and regularly visits President’s Park. Hoagland said she visits the area about once a month and argued that the proposed ballroom’s size and design would diminish her enjoyment of the area by overshadowing the White House and weakening its aesthetic.
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President Donald Trump has overseen ongoing construction of the underground military fortress that is going to be below the $400 million privately funded East Wing ballroom. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
But according to Rao, the National Trust did not establish the kind of injury necessary to invoke the courts’ authority to block the project.
«The district court elevated the aesthetic displeasure of a single passerby over the government’s security interests in the ballroom and the security risks of leaving an open construction site at the President’s home and office,» Rao wrote.
Former Justice Department attorney Abhishek Kambli agreed, telling Fox News Digital the National Trust could face a particularly difficult hurdle on standing at the Supreme Court. He noted that, while Congress created the National Trust, the group still must show that its lawsuit is germaine to its interests.
«While they do have ownership of some properties, the President’s Park, where the White House East Ballroom is, is not one of them,» Kambli said. «And I think that’s going to be a very tough argument to sustain, especially with the Supreme Court, that’s more likely to agree with Rao than they are the [circuit court] majority, given the makeup of the Supreme Court, and the fact that the Supreme Court is very strict on standing.»
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President Donald Trump displays a rendering of his proposed $250 million White House ballroom as he meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22, 2025. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Kambli also suggested that the National Trust faces a strong hurdle in proving it has standing based on aesthetic injury because it would have to prove it actually uses the space where the ballroom is being built
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«Normally, aesthetic standing requires that you intend to use it,» Kambli said. «So, for instance, if you’re planning to be visiting the East Ballroom — and even this is kind of a stretch — that’s one thing, but if you’re someone on the outside that just passes it by, that’s a little tougher.»
A similar standing issue surfaced earlier in July when U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an Obama-appointed judge, rejected a lawsuit seeking to block the America 250 UFC event at the White House. He ruled that the plaintiffs had not met the standard of aesthetic harm to establish standing.
Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, said he expects Trump to prevail on appeal as well, based on the standing issue.
«Under Supreme Court precedent, you cannot bring a claim, you cannot bring a lawsuit, until and unless you can demonstrate a concrete, actual injury,» Spakovsky told Fox News Digital. «The idea that a passerby, who claims she will be aesthetically injured because of what she sees at the White House, has an actual injury is absurd, and obviously, and clearly defies that precedent.»
If the Supreme Court takes the case, it could resolve it without deciding whether the administration had the legal authority to build the ballroom in the first place.
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President Donald Trump holds design for a proposed White House ballroom while speaking to reporters. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg)
«The Supreme Court won’t rule on the substantive issue if it can dismiss the case based on a lack of standing by the plaintiffs,» von Spakovsky said. «I also don’t know of anyone else who could establish standing to bring a lawsuit. Perhaps Congress could collectively, but the chances of that happening are very slim given the partisan divides in both the House and Senate.»
The National Trust argued in its lawsuit that federal law requires Congress to approve new construction on federal property in Washington, D.C., while the administration says existing law already gives the president authority to make alterations and improvements to federal property, including the White House.
Abhishek agreed with Rao’s reasoning that the terms «alteration» and «improvement» should be understood in their ordinary real-property sense.
«For instance, if I have an extension to my house, it doesn’t become a new house,» Abhishek said. «It’s the same house, but that’s an improvement done on the house. Or if I tear down some walls and then just create an open living space in my like between my living room and my kitchen, that’s also not a new house at that point.
«It’s the same house, but there was an alteration or an improvement done, so if you’re using real property terms, then it’s pretty clear how how the statutory authority would make sense,» Abhishek continued.
white house, judiciary, supreme court, donald trump, federal courts, law, politics
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