USA ESTA Travel Pass News

“This is the post office. Your package has been temporarily held. Please check the link for your zip code within 24 hours.” This message is a smishing scam text message impersonating the United States Postal Service (USPS) that a Korean resident received. As we approach the end of the year, scams impersonating the USPS through text messages have been on the rise recently, and residents are urged to be especially careful. Scammers are using a method of sending text messages containing links with content about problems related to mail or package delivery, targeting personal financial information.

As online shopping for gifts increases ahead of Christmas, smishing scams impersonating the USPS from unknown phone numbers are becoming more frequent. These scams induce people to enter personal or financial information. According to the US Postal Inspection Service, scammers typically impersonate government agencies, banks, or well-known companies, requesting sensitive personal information such as names, card information, Social Security Numbers (SSNs), and driver’s license numbers. The information gathered in this manner is often manipulated, sold, or used for further scams.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has strongly warned, “If you receive a text message from an unknown number or a suspicious message from an organization that you have not registered for text notifications, it is very likely a scam.” When a package is sent or an item ordered is delivered via USPS, a tracking number is included on the receipt. This tracking number can be used to check the delivery status on the USPS website or by text message, but USPS generally does not send text messages asking for a direct response from the user. USPS urges caution, stating, “Unless a customer has registered a USPS tracking request for a specific piece of mail, you will not receive a USPS-related text message.”

Korean American Cho Mo received this type of scam text message and almost fell victim to it. Cho shared, “I was waiting for the items I ordered to send gifts to my friends at the end of the year when I received a text message from the post office saying there was a delivery problem.” Cho added, “I immediately deleted the text message because it asked for personal information, but if I had not been more careful, I almost entered my personal information.”

The FBI emphasized that companies and organizations rarely ask users directly for their username and password. To avoid smishing scams, the FBI warns that if you receive a suspicious text message, do not click on any links, respond, or attempt to call. Do not reply at all, even if there is an option to reply with “STOP.” The FBI also recommends deleting suspicious text messages immediately and checking the receipt or the company/organization’s website for a customer service number or email to confirm that the message is genuinely from the company or organization.

Additionally, the FBI suggests using multi-factor authentication to access sensitive information such as bank accounts, health records, and social media accounts. This provides an extra layer of protection for personal data. If you have been a victim of a mail-related smishing scam, the FBI urges you to report it to spam@usps.gov. When reporting, please include a screenshot of the suspicious text message, the sender’s phone number, the date it was sent, and details such as whether you clicked on any links, responded to the message, or if any personal information was affected by the scam.

Recently, reports of unidentified drones have increased in New Jersey and New York City, and while the authorities have attempted to explain that most of the drones were mistaken for aircraft, residents’ anxiety shows no signs of abating.

Meanwhile, Andy Kim (Democrat, NJ), a Korean American who has just begun his career as a U.S. Senator representing New Jersey, is increasing his presence by responding nimbly to residents’ anxiety.

Kim, the first Korean American to be elected to the U.S. Senate in the elections held last month, officially began his activities as a U.S. Senator on the 8th, about four weeks before the original start date of his term, January 3rd of next year. Rep. Kim pointed out that the passive explanations of the relevant authorities in a situation where residents likely mistook general aircraft for drones increased residents’ anxiety and urged the federal government to respond responsibly.

On the 14th, Rep. Kim posted on social media, “After going out to investigate reports of drone sightings with the police, I was able to conduct a more in-depth analysis with the help of civilian pilots and others,” and “I concluded that most of the suspicious drone cases I witnessed were almost certainly (manned) aircraft.”

Rep. Kim explained that during the investigation, an aircraft that did not appear on the aircraft tracking app was seen in the night sky, but when he checked more detailed flight data, he discovered that a small aircraft had flown the same route a few days earlier. However, Rep. Kim pointed out that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has more resources and experience in aircraft identification but has not received this type of analysis result. It is interpreted that the recent reports of nighttime drone sightings that have made residents in the eastern regions, including New York and New Jersey, anxious are mostly believed to be mistaken for regular aircraft, and the authorities’ complacent response is allowing the anxiety to spread.

Rep. Kim criticized, “I think this situation reflects the current situation in the United States in some ways,” and “People have a lot of anxiety about the economy, healthcare, and security issues right now, but those in charge of dealing with it often do not treat the public with respect and depth. “He added, “I will continue to pressure the authorities to get answers about the suspected drone objects and help us understand what’s going on,” and “I will also pressure the government to do a better job of responding to the citizens’ demands. “

Since last month, unidentified drones have been appearing in the East Coast areas, including New Jersey and New York, and rumors have been spreading in those areas that hostile forces such as Iran are flying drones in the Atlantic Ocean. On the 13th, a drone flight was reported near Stewart International Airport, about 100km north of New York City, which caused an uproar that halted airport operations for about an hour.

After the incident, New York Governor Cathy Hokel added to the voices calling for the relevant authorities to investigate the truth, saying, “This has gone too far.” President-elect Donald Trump further stirred public anxiety on the 13th by posting on social media, “If the federal government can’t inform the public about the reality of drones, they should be shot down.” Meanwhile, US authorities are explaining that the recent surge in drone sightings is either legal drone flights or “misidentification of aircraft.”

The White House, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint statement the previous day, stating that there is no evidence to suggest a threat to national security or public safety, and that many of the recent surge in drone sightings appear to be mistaken for manned aircraft.

The agencies explain that even if they were actual drones and not aircraft, they were legal flights that did not violate restricted areas. In response to active calls for explanations from politicians including Rep. Kim, high-ranking federal government officials are also appearing in the media to directly convey the government’s position, thereby communicating.

On the 15th, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on ABC and said, “I want to assure the American people that the federal government has deployed additional resources, personnel, and technology to support New Jersey State Police in responding to drone sightings.”

Secretary Mayorkas said the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision last September to allow drones to fly at night is believed to be one of the reasons for the recent increase in nighttime drone sightings, explaining, “In the U.S., thousands of drones fly every day, including recreational and commercial drones. That’s the reality.”

President-elect Donald Trump is lobbying behind the scenes to ease or change his tariff plans, but his will is strong, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 15th.

According to the report, corporate executives are hiring lobbying firms and contacting Trump’s aides to find ways to avoid the tariffs that the president-elect has promised so far and are trying to influence the president-elect’s decisions. However, since the president-elect generally makes decisions alone, there is little room for aides to intervene, and the Trump team is telling the consultants hired by companies that there is no way to persuade the president-elect otherwise, the WSJ reported.

One lobbyist who served in Trump’s first term warns his clients to take Trump’s word on tariffs at face value, explaining that there are little his consultants can do to dissuade the president-elect, the WSJ reported. The president-elect tends to announce his tariff ideas late in the day, often on social media, without giving advance notice even to his closest advisers, the sources said.

On March 25, Trump took to his social media account, Truth Social, to threaten a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada if they did not do more to stop migrants and drugs from flowing into the United States. He also posted that he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on China if they did not stop the opioid fentanyl from flowing into the United States.

On March 30, he warned that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on the BRICS, a group of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, if they threatened the dollar’s hegemony. Although Trump discussed the tariff idea with his aides, including Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent, the Journal reported that they had little advance notice that Trump would share his plans on social media. Rubio knew about the BRICs tariffs before Trump posted about them on social media, but he did not have enough advance notice about the Mexico, Canada and China tariffs.

Some companies and Republican politicians expect that President-elect Trump will only use tariffs as a negotiating tactic to pressure other countries into making concessions and will not actually impose high tariffs.

Senator Tom Cotton, a Trump ally, recently observed at an event hosted by the WSJ that President-elect Trump may accept a deal that does not impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico. However, he explained that President-elect Trump will take a harder line on China because of the economic and security threats it poses to the United States.

The WSJ reported that companies are hiring well-connected lobbying firms to convey their positions to the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration, and that LG Electronics’ U.S. subsidiary recently signed a contract with the lobbying firm Capital Council to lobby on trade and supply chain issues.

Semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries also hired lobbying firm Cozen O’Connor, and Constellation Brands, a company that makes beer in Mexico and imports it to the U.S., signed a contract with a consulting firm close to the Republican Party after President-elect Trump announced his plan to impose tariffs on Mexico.

About a dozen police officers and FBI agents raided the home of two female students at George Mason University (GMU) in Northern Virginia in the early hours of November, conducting a search and seizure for hours.

According to The Intercept, more than a dozen officers raided the home of two Palestinian female students at George Mason University in Springfield, Virginia, in the early hours of November 7, searching the home for about six hours and confiscating electronic devices, including cell phones and computers. The students, however, were not arrested.

According to the report, the officers who responded that day did not show a search warrant, one of them was an agent of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the raid was reportedly due to the female students’ pro-Palestinian activities, particularly “graffiti” painted on the campus during protests the Gaza Strip.

Immediately after the graffiti was discovered, the university offered a $2,000 reward for information about the students who wrote the graffiti, and the female students were banned from the school.

One of the female students searched was an undergraduate student and the other was a graduate student, and all of them were current or former executives of the pro-Palestinian student group ‘SJP’.

As this fact became known, students and faculty members protested, saying that the federal agents’ intervention was excessive. It is reported that a group of about 80 pro-Palestinian students and faculty members from around the country sent a letter to the relevant authorities on the 3rd protesting the search and seizure and the ban on students’ access to the school.

New York State will implement paid prenatal leave starting next January.

Governor Kathy Hochul announced on the 2nd that “20 hours of ‘Paid Prenatal Leave’ will be implemented starting January 1st of next year.”

This is a new 20-hour paid prenatal leave added to the existing New York State Paid Family Leave (PFL) program. The implementation of paid prenatal leave is the first of its kind in the U.S. It is estimated that 130,000 pregnant women in the state will benefit each year.

The state Labor Department estimates that about 65,800 of them will be hourly workers.

“No pregnant woman in the state should have to choose between work and health care,” said Governor Hochul. “This policy, which was signed into law last April, will be of real help to all pregnant women in the state, especially those facing economic hardship, when it goes into effect next January.”

However, the 20 hours of paid prenatal leave is half the 40 hours of paid prenatal leave that the governor announced in his New Year’s address earlier this year.

Pregnant women who receive paid prenatal leave can receive medical services such as physical examinations, prenatal examinations, infertility treatment, and abortion. Meanwhile, it is expected to contribute to reducing maternal and infant mortality rates, as statistics show that pregnant women who receive prenatal care are less likely to die during childbirth.

New Jersey is facing a growing shortage of nurses, with a 25% shortage compared to the number needed in 2036.

According to a report by the Record on the 29th, citing the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of nurses needed in New Jersey in 2036 is estimated at 98,850, but the number of nurses working in medical facilities is expected to be only around 74,400.

It is estimated that there will be a shortage of about 25% (24,450 people) of nursing staff compared to the required number. The explanation is that although nursing staff is needed more due to the expansion of the elderly population, the number of nurses leaving medical facilities is increasing.

This concern is based on the analysis that the elderly population that must rely on medical facilities is expected to increase significantly, such as the population of people over 60 years old in New Jersey increasing to 3 million in the next 10 years, but many nurses are leaving the field and there is a shortage of new staff.

According to a 2022 survey conducted by New Jersey’s largest nurses’ union, nearly a third of nurses left their hospital beds during the three years since the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, according to the survey results, about 70% of the remaining nursing staff expressed their intention to retire due to poor working conditions and stress.

Frontline universities are planning to increase the number of nursing graduates, but they are expressing the problem that it is not realistically easy to admit more students due to the lack of faculty to teach students and clinical facilities for practical training. Also, the nursing shortage problem is bigger in nursing homes than in general hospitals.

Certified nursing assistants working in nursing homes are increasingly avoiding the job due to their low wages and excessive workload.

From now on, stolen cell phones in New York State will be banned from opening service.

Governor Kathy Hokule signed a bill into law on the 26th.The bill, sponsored by State Senator Andrew Palumbo, would require mobile carriers operating in New York State to ban the opening of cell phone service based on reports of theft from the original owner.

The law nicknamed the “Brian Simonsen Criminal Defense Act,” was enacted in honor of the detective who was shot and killed by the suspect in a 2019-armed robbery at a T-Mobile store in Richmond Hill, Queens. “We expect this to help prevent cell phone theft by preventing cell phone thieves from stealing and reusing or selling other people’s phones,” said Governor Hochul.

Meanwhile, the bill will go into effect in March of next year.

The federal government has given final approval for the implementation of the Manhattan congestion charge starting January 5th. With the approval process from the New York State government and the federal government, the road to implementing the congestion charge is wide open, but the ongoing legal battle, such as the hearing of the lawsuit opposing the implementation of the congestion charge on the 20th of next month, remains as the final variable.

On the 21st, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) gave final approval for the Manhattan congestion charge plan, which imposes a base toll of $9 for passenger cars. The FHA announced its approval decision, saying, “The environmental impact assessment for the implementation of the congestion tax has already been conducted, so further review is not necessary.”

With this, all approval procedures from New York City, New York State, and the federal government required to implement the congestion tax on January 5th of next year have been completed.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to hold eight webinars from the 4th to the 19th of next month to promote the newly confirmed congestion tax tolling plan. According to the MTA, the base toll for passenger vehicles entering the south end of 60th Street in Manhattan during daytime hours will be $9 based on EZ-Pass payments from 2025 to 2027 but will increase to $12 starting in 2028 and then to $15 in 2031.

The Manhattan congestion tax was originally scheduled to be implemented on June 30th but was suspended in early June when New York Governor Kathy Houle abruptly suspended implementation, citing the burden on low-income families. After that, Governor Houle announced on the 14th of this month, shortly after the election on November 5th, that he would revive the congestion tax implementation plan and lower the basic toll from the original $15 to $9, and that collection would begin on January 5th of next year.

Governor Houle’s congestion tax implementation plan was quickly confirmed when the MTA approved it on the 18th and the federal government finally signed it on the 21st.However, at least 9 lawsuits opposing the congestion tax implementation are still in progress. Depending on the results of these lawsuits, the path to implementing the congestion tax could be blocked again.

Judge Louis Lehman of the Southern District of New York, who is handling the lawsuit opposing the congestion tax filed by the New York City Teachers’ Union and the Trucking Association of New York (TANY), decided on the 21st to hear oral arguments on December 20th, about 2 weeks before the congestion tax implementation on January 5th of next year. If the court accepts the plaintiff’s request and issues a temporary injunction to temporarily suspend implementation, the path to implementing the congestion tax will be blocked.

Another obstacle could be the result of a lawsuit filed by the New Jersey state government and others. The oral argument for this lawsuit was already held in April, and the court was originally scheduled to make a ruling in early June, but the court decision was postponed when New York Governor Hokule suddenly suspended implementation. After New York Governor Hokule announced the reinstatement of the congestion tax on the 14th, the New Jersey state government submitted a request to the court for a quick ruling.

In a statement released on the 22nd, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said, “We will make every legal effort to block the implementation of the unfair congestion tax.” In addition, what measures President-elect Donald Trump will take on the congestion tax after taking office on January 20th of next year is considered a variable.

During the presidential campaign, President-elect Trump declared, “I will abolish the congestion tax within the first week of my presidency.”

The New York Times reported on the 24th that President-elect Donald Trump is running his transition team with “secret funds” and is raising unlimited funds without disclosing the donors.

According to the report, President-elect Trump has yet to sign a memorandum of understanding with the General Services Administration (GSA), which allows him to collect unlimited funds from anonymous donors to pay for staffing, travel, and office space related to preparing for the transition.

Trump is the first president-elect to avoid signing an agreement with the GSA. If he signs the agreement, his transition team will receive up to $7.2 million in federal funds, but donations from individuals will be limited to $5,000 per person and donors must be disclosed. The Trump transition team has not disclosed its fundraising goal, donors, or where the money will be used.

Officially known as Trump Vance 2025 Acquisition Inc. (INC.), the transition team is designated as a “dark money nonprofit” and is not required to disclose its donors to the IRS. The Times pointed out that this move by the Trump camp has raised concerns among ethics experts. Those who want to look good in the second Trump administration can donate directly to the president-elect without disclosing their names or potential conflicts with the government, and unlike campaign contributions, foreigners can also donate.

In theory, the IRS could audit the Trump transition team and request information on donors, but even then, the IRS is unlikely to release the names of donors. “Given the political sensitivity of the transition team, I would say the odds of being audited are zero,” said Brian Galle, a Georgetown University professor.

In addition, President-elect Trump has not signed a separate contract with the Department of Justice, as well as an MOU with the GSA, so the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is under the Department of Justice, is unable to conduct the background checks necessary for the security clearance of those nominated by President-elect Trump for key positions in the next administration.

The Trump transition team is known to vet candidates through private companies, and the New York Times pointed out that this may prevent federal authorities from properly vetting candidates nominated by Trump for key positions. In addition, the Trump transition team has not signed an MOU with the Biden administration White House that would allow the candidates and other staff to access federal agencies and classified information before the inauguration on January 20th of next year.

To sign this, President-elect Trump must submit and disclose an ethics plan that includes how he will resolve conflicts of interest, but he has not done so yet.

Following New York Governor Cathy Hokule’s surprise announcement that she would begin collecting a congestion tax in Manhattan starting in January of next year, it has been reported that the federal Congress has begun reviewing a plan to repeal the congestion tax through legislation.

Congressman Mike Lawler (R-NY, 17th District) of Hurst Valley and a coalition of Republican lawmakers recently sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump demanding that he withdraw the federal government’s approval of the congestion tax.

Lawler stated in the letter that “if President Trump fails to repeal the congestion tax by executive order after taking office, the federal Congress will take action to repeal the congestion tax.” Lawler believes that since the Republican Party secured a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the last election, there is no reason for the Republican Party not to legislate to repeal the Manhattan congestion tax.“ Republicans will use every tool at their disposal, including executive orders from the president and legislation in Congress, to repeal the Manhattan congestion charge,” Lawler added.

President-elect Trump, who pledged to abolish the congestion tax during the presidential election, once again expressed his opposition in an interview with the New York Post on the 14th, saying, “The Manhattan congestion tax is the most regressive tax.”

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) plans to process the congestion tax amendment proposed by Governor Hokule at the board meeting on the 18th and then request federal approval. Since President-elect Trump, who has pledged to abolish the congestion tax, has not yet taken office, federal approval is expected to be easy.

However, after taking office on January 20, President Trump, and the Republican Party, which has secured majority power, are expected to begin a full-scale movement to abolish the congestion tax, which is expected to lead to an immediate suspension of federal funding.