Prepared for the Office of Public Affairs (OPA)
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Editorial Note: The DHS Daily Briefing is a collection of news articles related to Department’s mission. The inclusion of particular stories is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse the political viewpoints or affiliations included in news coverage.

The New York Times [2/9/2026 6:26 PM, Laurel Rosenhall, 148038K] reports a federal judge on Monday said that California could not prohibit federal law enforcement agents from wearing face masks unless it amended the law to also apply to state agents. But the judge did allow the state to require federal agents to display identification. Judge Christina A. Snyder of the Federal District Court in Los Angeles issued a preliminary injunction against the mask ban, ruling that California’s new law was unconstitutional because it did not impose the same requirements on all federal, state and local law enforcement officers. However, the judge allowed the state to enforce a separate law that requires all law enforcement officers, including federal ones, to display visible identification. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation in September that made California the first state in the nation to prohibit law enforcement officers from covering their faces, starting on Jan. 1. Federal agents began wearing masks more regularly during immigration raids last year in large part to avoid being identified by activists. The Trump administration argued that the law was unconstitutional because states could not regulate federal agencies. It also said California’s law was discriminatory because it applied to local and federal officers, but not to those employed by the state. The federal government contended that its agents needed to be able to protect their identities from protesters who threatened to harass or harm them and their families. “Denying federal agencies and officers that choice would chill federal law enforcement and deter applicants for law enforcement positions,” the U.S. Department of Justice wrote in its lawsuit. The AP [2/9/2026 7:19 PM, Jaimie Ding, 35287K] reports California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings under a bill that was signed in September following the summer of high-profile raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in Los Angeles. The Trump administration filed a lawsuit in November challenging the laws, arguing that they would threaten the safety of officers who are facing harassment, doxing, and violence and that they violated the constitution because the state is directly regulating the federal government. Judge Christina Snyder said she issued the initial ruling because the mask ban as it was enacted did not also apply to state law enforcement authorities, discriminating against the federal government. The ruling could have national implications as states grapple with how to deal with federal agents enforcing the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. It left open the possibility to future legislation banning federal agents from wearing masks if it applied to all law enforcement agencies, with Snyder writing “the Court finds that federal officers can perform their federal functions without wearing masks.” The ruling will go into effect Feb. 19. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the bill in September banning some law enforcement officers from wearing masks, neck gaiters, and other facial coverings. It was slated to go into effect Jan. 1 but was put on hold due to the lawsuit. In addition to exempting state law enforcement officers, it made exceptions for undercover agents, protective equipment like N95 respirators or tactical gear, and other situations where not wearing a mask would jeopardize an operation. Snyder sided with the federal government, which argued this exemption was discriminatory against federal agents. The San Francisco Chronicle [2/9/2026 5:51 PM, Bob Egelko, 3833K] reports that the law “treats federal law enforcement differently than similarly situated state law enforcement officers,” wrote Snyder, who is based in Los Angeles. Snyder upheld another recently enacted state law requiring law enforcement officers to wear badges or other identification on their uniforms. That law applied to all officers, including state police. Violations of either law could be prosecuted as crimes, punishable by jail sentences and fines, or punished by financial penalties under civil law. Both laws had been scheduled to take effect Jan. 1 but were put on hold during the legal challenges. The judge’s ruling apparently would allow legislators to reenact the mask ban without exempting state police, and the bill’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said he was introducing a new measure that would apply to all law enforcement officers and would take effect immediately if passed and signed into law. It’s unclear, however, whether Gov. Gavin Newsom would sign such a measure. Wiener said he added the exemption for state police “based on conversations with the governor’s office.” The Daily Wire [2/9/2026 12:43 PM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports ICE agents currently face a more than 1,000% increase in assaults, a surge in doxxing efforts, and a roughly 8,000% jump in death threats, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Left-wing activist groups have set up online databases to reveal photos of federal agents and publicize their names and locations. In cities like Minneapolis, ICE Watch groups follow federal immigration agents to nearly every arrest site, snapping pictures of them and their license plates to alert the public to their whereabouts. After the California law passed, United States Attorney Bill Essayli said California "does not and cannot have jurisdiction" over the federal agents. Over the summer, Los Angeles became the center of aggressive immigration raids that drew violent rioters that blocked major highways, set cars ablaze, and hurled concrete blocks at law enforcement.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [2/9/2026 9:47 PM, Blake Brittain, 38315K]
CNN [2/9/2026 8:56 PM, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, 18595K]
FOX News [2/9/2026 5:46 PM, Bonny Chu, 37576K]
Washington Times [2/9/2026 7:46 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K]
Washington Examiner [2/9/2026 8:00 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1147K]

The Hill [2/9/2026 6:29 PM, Rebecca Beitsch, 18170K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has requested a list of all ongoing investigations by the agency’s watchdog, her top lawyer confirmed in a letter to Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), after the lawmaker expressed concern the department may seek to quash oversight of its practices. The letter from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) general counsel James Percival comes after Duckworth said DHS’s Office of Inspector General had received “repeated tacit threats” in the form of a reminder about a provision of the law that allows the secretary to kill ongoing inspector general investigations. Percival argued Monday that DHS was enforcing the law when it had requested a full accounting of investigations underway by Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, but said that neither he nor Noem sought to halt any investigations. “Rather, I requested on her behalf a list of all investigations to ensure she can evaluate whether it might ever be appropriate to exercise that power,” he wrote in a letter obtained by The Hill. Duckworth’s team cast the response as an admission that Noem’s office is seeking to “sabotage” the independence of the watchdog’s office. Inspector general offices are independent from the agencies they review, a setup that keeps them free from political pressure as they monitor for waste, fraud and abuse. The secretary may only seek to end a probe when an investigation would harm national security or significantly impair U.S. interests — a provision of the law known as Section 417 that has never been invoked. If a secretary does shut down an investigation, they must report it to Congress within 30 days. But Percival described the request as a matter of following the law, calling the list of active investigations an “implied requirement” and arguing Cuffari had interfered with their authority by “withholding this information from prior secretaries.” “The fact that previous secretaries have ignored this law only demonstrates the incomparable leadership of Sec. Noem. The law is the law, and that is how we treat it,” Percival wrote. Duckworth said the response makes clear Noem is “seeking to intimidate” the inspector general. “The only way Secretary Noem’s leadership of DHS is ‘incomparable’ is in the number of American citizens it has killed,” she said in a statement to The Hill.

FOX News [2/9/2026 6:32 PM, Peter Pinedo, 37576K] reports a spokesperson for the Trump Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital that despite ICE being "demonized" at the Super Bowl, agents continued to carry out operations, arresting pedophiles, murderers and rapists over the weekend. President Donald Trump and many conservatives took issue with the Super Bowl, especially the halftime show, which featured Latin trap artist Bad Bunny. The performer, whose real name is Benito Ocasio, has been highly critical of ICE and even cursed at agents in a video posted to social media. DHS said that "while ICE law enforcement officers were demonized at the Super Bowl, our officers were risking their lives to arrest public safety threats from American neighborhoods." Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital that "despite smears from Hollywood, ICE is making our country safer every single day." "While ICE law enforcement was being demonized at the Super Bowl, the heroic men and women of ICE continued risking their lives to arrest criminal illegal alien murderers, pedophiles and rapists from our communities," said McLaughlin. According to DHS, among those arrested over Super Bowl weekend was Mario Rosales-Figueroa, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was arrested a few hours from the stadium in Visalia, California. The agency said Rosales-Figueroa was convicted of sex with a minor.

The New York Times [2/9/2026 11:13 PM, Chris Cameron, 148038K] reports a federal appeals court allowed President Trump on Monday to move forward with ending deportation protections for more than 60,000 migrants from Nepal, Honduras and Nicaragua, a victory for his administration’s push to curtail a program for migrants fleeing crisis at home. Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, has moved to end the Temporary Protected Status program for hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing instability and war in their home countries. In lawsuits challenging those policies, many district court judges have ruled against the Trump administration, finding that the termination of the deportation protections was preordained and driven by an intent to end T.P.S. But in a similar case last year, the Supreme Court allowed deportation protections to expire for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants. Judge Trina L. Thompson of the Northern District of California, who had overseen the court case for Nepalese, Honduran and Nicaraguan migrants, wrote in a withering order last year that Ms. Noem had perpetuated xenophobic stereotypes and racist conspiracy theories in her drive to suspend their T.P.S. protections. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed Judge Thompson’s ruling at the request of the Trump administration, pointing to the Supreme Court’s rulings in the Venezuelan case. The Ninth Circuit panel wrote in an unsigned ruling that there was significant evidence supporting the Trump administration’s position — reasoning that Ms. Noem’s decision to terminate the programs may not be subject to judicial review, and that “the government can likely show that the administrative record adequately supports the secretary’s action.” “We are not writing on a blank slate,” the judges wrote. The Supreme Court orders, which were unsigned, “contained no reasoning, so they do not inform our analysis of the legal issues in this case,” the judges wrote, but “we have been admonished that the court’s stay orders must inform” the rulings in their own cases.Reuters [2/9/2026 6:49 PM, Blake Brittain, 38315K] reports a U.S. appeals court in California on Monday temporarily lifted a federal judge’s order that had blocked the Trump administration from ending deportation protections for nearly 89,000 migrants from Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua. The 9th U.S. Court of Appeals said, the government could likely prove there were "legitimate" reasons to end Temporary Protected Status for immigrants from those countries and paused a California federal judge’s ruling against the administration for the duration of the appeal. "TPS was never designed to be permanent, yet previous administrations have used it as a de facto amnesty program for decades," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X in response to the decision. "Given the improved situation in each of these countries, we are wisely concluding what was intended to be a temporary designation." Attorneys and spokespeople for the National TPS Alliance, which represents the migrants, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling. TPS provides deportation relief and work permits to people already in the U.S. if their home countries experience a natural disaster, armed conflict or other extraordinary event. Trump has sought to end most TPS enrollment as part of a broader effort to restrict immigration. FOX News [2/9/2026 8:55 PM, Bonny Chu, 37576K] reports "The government is likely to prevail in its argument that the Secretary’s decision-making process in terminating TPS for Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal was not arbitrary and capricious," court documents said. Noem’s chief spokeswoman, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, previously noted last August that TPS protections were always intended to be temporary. Attorney General Pam Bondi praised the decision, saying it would allow the Trump administration to continue its immigration policies and deport certain immigrants. "This is a crucial legal win from @TheJusticeDept attorneys that helps clear the way for President Trump’s continued deportations," she said. The San Francisco Chronicle [2/9/2026 9:45 PM, Bob Egelko, 3833K] reports Trump’s revocation of protections for the Hondurans, Nepalese and Nicaraguans was blocked last July by U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson of San Francisco, who said the president’s actions appeared to be racially motivated. “By stereotyping the TPS program and immigrants as invaders that are criminal,” Trump’s Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, has promoted “the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population,” wrote Thompson, an appointee of President Joe Biden. But a conservative panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday that federal law authorizes the administration to take such actions. Congress has restricted judicial review of the government’s TPS decisions, and Noem was not required to consider “intervening country conditions” before deciding that the original emergencies were no longer in effect, said the lead opinion by Judges Eric Miller, a Trump appointee, and Consuelo Callahan, appointed by President George W. Bush. They also cited the Supreme Court’s recent decisions allowing the Trump administration to revoke temporary protected status from more than 350,000 Venezuelans. Though the Supreme Court did not state reasons for those decisions, the appeals court judges said, the high court has “admonished” lower federal courts that “such orders must ‘inform’ our decisions.”

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Univision [2/9/2026 8:08 PM, Staff, 4937K]

NBC News [2/9/2026 5:11 PM, Daniella Silva and Gary Grumbach, 42967K] reports lawyers for the Venezuelan men who were sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador last year argued in court Monday that due process for their clients would mean giving them the immediate right to return to the U.S. for a court hearing, or have remote hearings about their cases. The men, who were detained by federal immigration authorities, were held for four months in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, a Salvadoran megaprison known for its harsh conditions. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the federal government to either facilitate the return of the men to the United States or otherwise follow due process and provide them with hearings. The men are now living in Venezuela or in nearby countries. Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who is representing the plaintiffs in this case, argued Monday that his clients who have made it out of Venezuela and to a third country should have the immediate right to either return to the U.S. for a hearing, have a remote hearing, or at the very least be able to file habeas claims on paper. Boasberg asked Department of Justice attorney Tiberius Davis why the 137 men shouldn’t be treated the same as Kilmar Abrego Garcia and returned to the U.S., especially because the Supreme Court previously ordered Abrego returned to the same condition he was in before he was mistakenly deported. Davis said the Trump administration would prefer if any of the 137 individuals arrived at a U.S. port of entry or had boarding letters, saying "that is the least problematic" pathway here. Boasberg said he would rule on how the government is to proceed within the next week or so.

Blaze [2/9/2026 9:20 AM, Joseph MacKinnon, 1556K] reports that the Department of Justice is apparently no longer willing to play ball with U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, the Washington, D.C.-based activist judge who has spent the past year frustrating the Trump administration’s efforts to keep suspected criminal noncitizens out of the homeland. This turning point, signaled in a court filing last week, all but guarantees a showdown between Boasberg and government attorneys in the case J.G.G. v. Trump on Monday — and a possible return to the U.S. Supreme Court. President Donald Trump issued a proclamation on March 15 invoking the Alien Enemies Act and declaring Tren de Aragua "a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization." The Trump administration subsequently deported hundreds of suspected Venezuelan gangsters — many of whom were credibly accused of murder, robbery, rape, and other crimes — to El Salvador, where they were placed in a Salvadoran prison for terrorists. In July, the administration had Venezuelan deportees who were imprisoned at the Terrorism Confinement Center repatriated to Venezuela, where they were welcomed home by Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, who has since been deposed. The deportees’ safe return home evidently wasn’t enough for Boasberg and other activists back in the U.S., including the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the suspected foreign gangsters.

Washington Times [2/9/2026 3:51 PM, Stephen Dinan, 1323K] reports taxpayers suddenly find themselves on the hook for bringing back illegal immigrants who judges say were wrongly deported. A federal judge in California last week ordered Homeland Security to pay to un-deport two migrant families who were convinced to accept deportation from the U.S. through “lies, deception and coercion.” And the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday asked another judge in Washington to force DHS to pay to un-deport as many as 137 migrants the Trump administration flew out under the president’s Alien Enemies Act powers. The issue is likely to gain steam as more judges order the Trump administration to reverse some of its deportations. Until now, most of the un-deportations have been one-offs. The Trump administration signaled its displeasure at the idea of paying to bring back people it already ousted. “We disagree with this judge’s ruling invalidating the President’s lawful authority to remove illegal aliens,” said Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “The facts and truth remain the same: these individuals were here illegally. DHS will continue to enforce the law of the land and address this matter with the court.”

Bloomberg Law [2/9/2026 4:40 PM, Megan Crepeau, 763K] reports the Department of Homeland Security failed to comply with a court order directing them to unfreeze migrant support funds to Chicago, Denver and Pima County, Ariz., a Chicago federal judge found Monday. The federal government must process reimbursement requests that had been submitted before the grants in question were formally terminated in April, said Judge Matthew Kennelly of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The government can deny the requests if it articulates a reason the requests are improper, as long as it doesn’t rely on the rationales that Kennelly rejected in his findings last year, he said. The department has until Feb. 23 to process the reimbursements or cite a valid reason they believe the requests were improper. At oral arguments, attorneys for the Trump administration said they didn’t have to abide by a statutory 30-day reimbursement deadline because the grants are in “closeout,” meaning they had until April to determine what payments they owe. But the regulation governing reimbursements “does not contemplate allowing a federal agency to escape its regulatory obligations simply because it later terminates a grant,” Kennelly said. Some $55 million is at stake, according to the municipalities who sued. They successfully sought an order unfreezing the money after the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year “de-obligated” the grants. FEMA’s move came after Elon Musk promised to “clawback” funds he said were going to shelter “illegals.”

Reuters [2/9/2026 6:55 PM, Nate Raymond, 38315K] reports an immigration judge has rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to deport Tufts University PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was arrested last year as part of its targeting of pro-Palestinian campus activists, her lawyers said on Monday. Lawyers for the Turkish student detailed the immigration judge’s decision in a filing, with the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to her release from immigration custody in May. An immigration judge on January 29 concluded the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving she was removable and terminated the proceedings against her, her lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union wrote. Her immigration lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai, said the decision was issued by Immigration Judge Roopal Patel in Boston. That ended, for now, proceedings that began with Ozturk’s arrest by immigration authorities in March on a street in Massachusetts after the U.S. Department of State revoked her student visa. The sole basis authorities provided for revoking her visa was an editorial she co-authored in Tufts’ student newspaper a year earlier criticizing her school’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza. "Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government," Ozturk said in a statement.

AP [2/9/2026 4:45 PM, Staff, 35287K] reports federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area. Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown. Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told The New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.” The government denied that. “These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal,” Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding “there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.” Molliver told the Times that an immigration judge, during a closed Friday hearing, gave her additional time to argue the family’s case. The family is sequestered pending their next hearing this Friday, according to Kristen Stuenkel, spokesperson for Liam’s district, the Columbia Heights Public Schools.

AP [2/9/2026 1:e1 PM, Sudhin Thanawala, 1257K] reports that Federal judges around the country are scrambling to address a deluge of lawsuits from immigrants locked up under the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Under past administrations, people with no criminal record could generally request a bond hearing before an immigration judge while their cases wound through immigration court unless they were stopped at the border. President Donald Trump ‘s White House reversed that policy in favor of mandatory detention. Immigrants by the thousands have been turning to federal courts by using another legal tool: habeas corpus petitions. While the administration scored a major legal victory Friday, here’s a look at how that’s affecting federal courts and what some judges have done in response: In one federal court district in Georgia, the enormous volume of habeas petitions has created “an administrative judicial emergency,” a judge wrote in a court order on Jan. 29. U.S. District Judge Clay Land in Columbus said the Trump administration was refusing to provide bond hearings to immigrants at Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center despite his “clear and definitive rulings” against mandatory detention. Instead, the court had to order the hearing in each individual case, wrote Land, a nominee of Republican President George W. Bush. In Minnesota, where the administration’s immigration enforcement surge continues, U.S. District Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz said in a Jan. 26 order Trump officials had made “no provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result.” The court had received more than 400 habeas petitions in January alone, according to a filing by the government in a separate case.

CNN [2/10/2026 5:04 AM, Devan Cole, 18595K] reports in some two dozen cases stemming from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota that CNN has reviewed, federal judges appointed to the bench by Democrats and Republicans have had to use terms like “contempt” and “noncompliance” to get the government’s attention to respond to court orders. To date, it doesn’t appear that any judge in the District of Minnesota has held an agency official or Justice Department attorney in civil contempt of court or imposed sanctions in cases related to Operation Metro Surge. But the sheer number of threats is significant. Many of the punishment threats have arisen in cases where judges concluded that an immigrant was unlawfully arrested and must immediately be released. Other compliance issues have bubbled up when Immigration and Customs Enforcement releases a noncitizen with certain conditions that they weren’t subject to prior to their arrest, enraging a judge who never gave permission to impose such constraints. “This is clearly not tenable,” Judge Laura Provinzino, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, told one top government attorney late last month. “I can’t continue to have (federal prosecutors) violating really important orders … If somebody should be released, that has to happen.” The potential punishments highlight the smoldering tension between the federal judiciary, which has had to handle scores of cases brought by immigrants claiming they were unlawfully detained in recent weeks, and the lawyers defending the Trump administration’s operation, who often have little insight into the actions of their agency clients or the ability to sufficiently keep up with the pace of litigation.

AP [2/9/2026 10:56 PM, Mary Clare Jalonick, et al., 35287K] reports Democrats have begun tentative talks with the White House on their demands for “dramatic” new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, discussing a possible agreement just days before funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to expire. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday that Democrats had sent the White House their list of demands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal law enforcement agencies. The White House said Monday evening it had responded with a counterproposal. Neither side released their specific proposals publicly, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said there is “forward progress.” “The Dems and the White House are trading papers, which is a good sign,” Thune said as he left the Capitol. “Hopefully they can find some common ground here, and both sides at this point I think are trying to do that.” Time is running short, with another partial government shutdown threatening to begin Saturday. Among the Democrats’ demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and a stop to racial profiling. They say such changes are necessary after two protesters were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month. “Republicans, the clock is ticking,” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “We have sent you our proposals and they are exceedingly reasonable.” Still, despite the bipartisan talks, it was unclear if the two sides could find agreement on the charged issue of immigration enforcement, especially as rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties were skeptical about finding common ground. Republicans have balked at the Democrats’ requests and some have demands of their own, including the addition of legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on cities that they say do not do enough to crack down on illegal immigration. And many Democrats who are furious about ICE’s aggressive crackdown have said they won’t vote for another penny of Homeland Security funding until enforcement is radically scaled back. “Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday. “Period. Full stop.”

AP [2/10/2026 12:02 AM, Mary Clare Jalonick, Kevin Freking and Seung Min Kim, 31753K] reports Democratic leaders say a proposal from the White House is “incomplete and insufficient” as they are demanding new restrictions on President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and threatening a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement late Monday that a White House counterproposal to the list of demands they transmitted over the weekend “included neither details nor legislative text” and does not address “the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct.” The White House proposal was not released publicly. The Democrats’ statement comes as time is running short, with another partial government shutdown threatening to begin Saturday. Among the Democrats’ demands are a requirement for judicial warrants, better identification of DHS officers, new use-of-force standards and a stop to racial profiling. They say such changes are necessary after two protesters were fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis last month. Earlier Monday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had expressed optimism about the rare negotiations between Democrats and the White House, saying there was “forward progress.” Thune said it was a good sign that the two sides were trading papers, and “hopefully they can find some common ground here.” But coming to an agreement on the charged issue of immigration enforcement will be difficult, especially as rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties were skeptical about finding common ground. Republicans have balked at the Democrats’ requests and some have demands of their own, including the addition of legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote and restrictions on cities that they say do not do enough to crack down on illegal immigration.

NPR [2/10/2026 4:43 AM, Barbara Sprunt and Steve Inskeep, 34837K] reports members of a House committee will question top immigration officials as lawmakers discuss possible changes to immigration enforcement operations. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

Politico [2/9/2026 6:30 PM, Myah Ward, Alex Gangitano, and Jordain Carney, 21784K] reports one of Democrats’ key demands to overhaul President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda is a red line for the White House. Democrats want to require federal law enforcement officials to obtain a judicial warrant before entering private property, but that’s dead on arrival, according to three people close to the administration and a GOP strategist, all of whom were granted anonymity to speak about private conversations. “The judicial warrants are the key operational thing that [deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller and the crew do not want to budge on,” said the GOP strategist who focuses on immigration. One of the people close to the administration described the judicial warrants proposal as a “complete nonstarter for the White House,” as well as for many congressional Republicans. Other Democratic asks, including prohibiting federal immigration agents from wearing masks, requiring officers to display identification and an expansive limit on places where agents can operate, would need major concessions from Democrats to make them palatable for the Trump administration, the people said. The apparent ultimatum sets up a clash between the Trump administration and Democrats ahead of a Friday night deadline that threatens to shut down a part of the federal government. The White House on Monday evening sent a counterproposal to Senate Democrats but declined to share details, according to a White House official, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and two congressional aides.

Roll Call [2/9/2026 10:39 PM, Savannah Behrmann and Chris Johnson, 673K] reports with days left to pass a Homeland Security spending bill, Democratic leaders in the House and Senate dismissed a White House counteroffer to their own, calling it "insufficient.” Hours after the White House shared a counterproposal to one offered this weekend by Senate Democrats, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer released a terse statement dismissing the proposal. "Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text," the two New York Democrats said. "The initial GOP response is both incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE’s lawless conduct. Democrats await additional detail and text.” The dismissal comes as lawmakers face a four-day deadline to reach an agreement on funding for the Department of Homeland Security amid harsh Democratic criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement and less than a month after federal immigration officials shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis within a span of weeks.

Washington Times [2/9/2026 7:46 PM, Lindsey McPherson, 1323K] reports the White House on Monday sent a counteroffer to Democrats’ 10-point list of immigration enforcement demands, as the two parties negotiate a Department of Homeland Security spending bill. Stopgap funding for DHS expires Friday. Republicans want to pass a short-term extension while negotiations continue. A White House official confirmed to The Washington Times that the counterproposal was sent to Democrats but declined to provide details. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, said Democrats’ reaction to the counteroffer will determine what comes next. Republicans’ proposals include “changes aimed at protecting law enforcement officers who are increasingly under threat from an organized and well-funded campaign to undermine immigration enforcement efforts” and ensuring local law enforcement cooperate with federal immigration authorities, he said. The White House offer also identifies areas of potential common ground, Mr. Thune said, suggesting there could be “a pathway to success.” Mr. Thune said he will introduce a bill, likely on Tuesday, to extend the DHS stopgap funding for “at least another couple of weeks” to provide enough time to reach a deal and pass it through both chambers. Current stopgap DHS funding runs out Friday, a date Democrats pushed for two weeks ago in hopes of a quick negotiation and resolution. Extending the deadline another couple of weeks would line up with the initial four- to six-week timeframe Republicans said would be needed. Most House Democrats are unwilling to support even a DHS stopgap without their demands being met. “Our position has been clear: Dramatic changes are needed at the Department of Homeland Security before a DHS funding bill moves forward,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, New York Democrat.

The Hill [2/9/2026 8:21 PM, Al Weaver, 18170K] reports Senate Democrats who voted to end the fall government shutdown are staring down a difficult decision over whether to back a stopgap measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) past the Friday deadline. Negotiators remain far apart on a long-term deal for funding DHS, but Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) indicated plans to move forward on a second continuing resolution (CR) to fund the department. DHS is the only department that hasn’t received its full-year funding for fiscal 2026 after Democrats demanded it include reforms to immigration enforcement practices in the midst of a firestorm over the crackdown in Minneapolis. Whether Democrats agree to a CR remains a major question, with members saying they need to see major steps toward a long-term deal before greenlighting a short-term fix. “My first reaction is not only ‘no,’ but ‘hell no,’” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) about another funding patch before deciding to keep the door open. “But I’m going to leave open the possibility that there’s some real, honest negotiations going to take place. We’ll see.”

Roll Call Online [2/9/2026 12:42 PM, Aidan Quigley and Aris Folley, 673K] reports that the ongoing fight over fiscal 2026 funding for immigration enforcement is threatening millions of dollars in home-state earmarks for disaster preparedness projects. The compromise full-year Homeland Security bill, which was dropped from the $1.2 trillion spending package enacted last week, includes $272.7 million across 203 home-state projects for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the only agency covered by the bill eligible for earmarks. However, the ongoing fight over the operations of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agencies after two fatal shootings by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has put these projects in limbo. Traditionally, any extension of funding that could be enacted if there is no agreement on a final bill would not include earmarks. Republicans are floating another full-year extension of Homeland Security funding as a backup plan, although Democrats are likely to oppose that move. Still, the fate of the projects remains uncertain as negotiations pick up ahead of the Feb. 13 deadline for the bill, the last of the 12 fiscal 2026 spending bills that has not been enacted into law. Key lawmakers have millions of dollars in projects in the bill, with Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Katie Britt, R-Ala., receiving by far the most, at just under $15 million across eight projects. The largest is $4 million for her state’s Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce, which will be used for repairs to the Washington Ferry Road in Montgomery. Other large Britt projects include $3.1 million for storm drainage improvements in Sumter County, which is in the western part of the state, and $2.6 million for Birmingham for restoration of the Village Creek floodplain.

CBS Miami [2/9/2026 5:52 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE reports with days left to strike a deal, lawmakers remain divided on immigration reforms, risking a Department of Homeland Security shutdown that could impact TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard. New data sparks debate over ICE arrests and enforcement priorities.

NBC News [2/9/2026 8:36 PM, Sahil Kapur and Julie Tsirkin, 42967K] reports Americans are souring on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, complicating an already messy dynamic on Capitol Hill as emboldened Democrats draw a hard line against another short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Just over four days until funding runs out, key members of the Senate Democratic Caucus say they won’t support another continuing resolution, or "CR," to prevent a shutdown of DHS beginning this weekend. "What ICE is doing is unconscionable, and it’s got to be reined in. I can’t, in good conscience, vote for it," Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, told NBC News. "I would feel complicit in what they are doing." King’s statement is significant. He was one of eight senators in the Democratic caucus who voted with Republicans to reopen the government after a historic shutdown over health care last fall. And he has been instrumental in getting the Senate over the key 60-vote hurdle for recent funding bills. Asked why he’s drawing a line now, he said the situation is different because "96% of the government is now funded." "So if DHS isn’t funded, you’re talking about ICE and TSA and the Coast Guard and FEMA" being shut down, he said Monday. "Which I regret. But it’s not the same as it was in the fall, where you were talking about food stamps, support for research and development, medical care, all of those things. So it’s a very different situation in terms of balancing what’s at stake."

NewsMax [2/9/2026 8:03 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K] reports Democrats would rather hurt Americans who depend on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) than enforce immigration laws, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax on Monday. Biggs appeared on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America" with co-hosts Marc Lotter and Ed Hill as Congress faces a high-stakes funding showdown, with Democrats reportedly pushing demands tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and threatening disruption of key federal services if they don’t get their way. "Here’s the reality: the Democrats have made getting rid of ICE their number one priority, which tells you that they want an open border," Biggs said. He warned that Democrats appear willing to use everyday Americans as leverage, including travelers and disaster victims, by allowing funding to lapse for agencies such as TSA, the Coast Guard, and FEMA. "They’re going to punish people with TSA because TSA would not get funded," Biggs said. "They’re going to punish people with Coast Guard not getting funded. How about FEMA? ... They’ll be shutting all that down.” Biggs argued that the pressure campaign is aimed at forcing the federal government to weaken immigration enforcement at a time when border security remains one of the top concerns for voters. "Everybody in America knows you have to enforce the laws," he said. "If you don’t like the laws, that’s when you change the laws. But the laws are in place.”

Washington Post [2/10/2026 5:01 AM, Amber Phillips, 24149K] reports as President Donald Trump calls for sweeping changes to election law — including saying that Republicans should “take over the voting” — Republicans in Congress are planning to vote this week on the SAVE America Act, which would make massive changes to how Americans vote ahead of November’s midterms. They want to require all Americans to prove they are citizens when registering to vote, and to show an ID when voting in person or by mail, as well as make mail voting more difficult. Trump and Republicans say this would make voters feel more confident there’s no fraud in federal elections. “We need elections where people aren’t able to cheat,” Trump told NBC News. “And we’re gonna do that. I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna get it done.” But there’s no evidence of widespread election fraud. There is evidence, say some nonpartisan elections experts, that this bill could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters by requiring new voters to provide documents that tens of millions of U.S. citizens lack immediate access to. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center asserts the bill “is harmful to our democracy and a threat to the freedom to vote for all Americans. … Its extreme documentation requirements would actually amount to one of the harshest voter suppression laws nationwide.”

ABC News [2/9/2026 1:58 PM, Staff, 34146K] reports that Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice, joins ABC News Live to discuss President Donald Trump’s push for the SAVE Act. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [2/9/2026 1:00 PM, Ashley Brasfield, 803K] reports that Senate Republicans could force Democrats into a talking filibuster on voter identification, but it’s unclear if they will use the strategy to pass the bill. The SAVE America Act, a Republican-backed election integrity measure, would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote — including by mail — mandate photo ID for federal elections, direct states to verify citizenship and remove non-citizens from federal voter rolls. Without the 60-vote threshold or Democratic support, GOP Senate leadership would be faced with potentially using one of the Senate’s oldest tools — the talking, or standing, filibuster — to advance the legislation. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee has referred to the Senate procedure as the "zombie filibuster." He wrote in a post on X that it is "uncharted territory" and acknowledged that it can be "time-consuming and difficult.” The Talking Filibuster is uncharted territory for every living senator. So it’s understandable that some senators are reluctant. Lee argues that now is the time to address the legislation, adding that the talking filibuster differs from the legislative filibuster because it does not require eliminating the 60-vote threshold for legislation or nominations, and therefore does "not commit" to altering Senate rules.

FOX News [2/9/2026 7:22 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 37576K] Video: HERE reports the House of Representatives’ top Democrat claimed Republicans’ election security bill was tantamount to "voter suppression" on Monday. House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., criticized the House GOP-led SAVE America Act during his weekly press conference ahead of an expected vote on the bill coming as early as Wednesday. "Republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy. That’s what the so-called SAVE Act is all about," Jeffries said. He said the bill getting a vote this week is "worse than" a previous iteration simply called the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which passed the House in April 2025 with support from all Republicans and four Democrats. The main thrust of the SAVE Act was implementing a new proof of citizenship requirement in the voter registration process in all 50 states. The new bill, led by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, would also create a federal voter ID standard at the polls, requiring people to show a form of identification when casting a ballot in national elections. Jeffries also pointed to a provision that would require information-sharing between state election officials and federal authorities in verifying citizenship on current voter rolls, accusing Republicans of trying to give Americans’ data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "This version, as I understand it, will actually give [the Department of Homeland Security] the power to get voting records from states across the country. Why would these extremists think that’s a good idea?" Jeffries said. "Who’d want DHS and ICE, who have been brutally, viciously and violently targeting everyday Americans, to have more data about the American people? It’s outrageous. Something is really wrong with these folks. I think they’re trying to lose elections at this point." There is no validated evidence to date that non-citizen voting has swayed the results of any federal election. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

NewsMax [2/9/2026 9:26 PM, Staff, 3760K] reports Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Monday that Democrats are opposing the SAVE Act because they want illegal aliens to vote, arguing their objections to voter ID would otherwise be illogical. Speaking on "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," Donalds rejected Democrat arguments that requiring voter identification disenfranchises American voters. "What the Democrats are trying to say right now that you’re disenfranchising the American people by requiring a voter ID to go to the polls and cast your ballots is insane," Donalds said. "This is the logic only good enough from the left.” Donalds contrasted Democrats’ opposition to voter ID laws with their support for identification requirements in other areas, particularly gun purchases. "They got no problem with background checks for you to buy a gun, which means you got to supply an ID, which means you got to fill out an application and do all these things to basically enact your Second Amendment rights," he said. "That’s what the Democrats want.” "But something as simple as showing your driver’s license before you get a ballot to cast in an election here in America? That’s a bridge too far?" he said. According to Donalds, the reason for Democrat opposition is clear. "They have no problems with illegals showing up at the voting booth to cast ballots in American elections," he said. "They got no problem with it. That’s why they’re opposed to voter ID." The SAVE Act would require proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal elections, a measure Republicans say is necessary to protect election integrity.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 10:51 AM, Brian Freeman, 3760K] reports Rep. John Rose said on Newsmax, Monday, that he’s open to requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to carry identification while in the field, using the issue to underscore what he called Democratic inconsistency on voter identification as Congress appears to head toward a showdown over Homeland Security funding. Democrats want "ICE agents to have identification on them when they are in the field," Rose said. "Novel idea. I think it’s a pretty good one, actually. "I think that maybe it’s OK if ICE agents have identification — and maybe you should have an ID when you vote.” The Tennessee Republican told "Wake Up America" that the identification requirement — one of several Democratic demands connected to DHS funding — could be an area of agreement, even as he criticized Democrats for seeking broader limits on immigration enforcement. Democrats are threatening to block continued funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless the Trump administration agrees to changes aimed at curbing ICE operations. Republicans have warned that a shutdown would disrupt DHS, FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. Rose accused Democrats of using the funding deadline to push what he described as a "sanctuary country" agenda, arguing that their demands would weaken federal law enforcement and endanger public safety. "They’re willing to harm American citizens to protect illegal aliens that are committing crimes in our country," Rose said, warning that Democrats are prepared to shut down critical agencies to force concessions. He also rejected Democratic arguments that ICE enforcement should be scaled back, saying lawmakers should support officers carrying out federal law.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 9:43 PM, Staff, 3760K] reports Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told Newsmax on Monday that Democrat opposition to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE America Act, is rooted in politics, not public sentiment, as the legislation he introduced with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, moves toward a possible House floor vote this week. Roy told "Finnerty" guest host E.D. Hill the bill is expected to advance to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, with a potential vote on the House floor on Wednesday. "The answer is pretty simple," Roy said when asked why Democrats are fighting the bill. "They want to make sure they protect a constituency that is, they think, going to help them politically." The SAVE America Act would require individuals to demonstrate U.S. citizenship when registering to vote, direct states to verify voter rolls, and require voter ID at the polls.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 8:58 AM, Michael Dorstewitz, 3760K] reports that SAVE Act, which the House approved with only four Democratic votes, is now stalled in the Senate, where it’s described by Democrats as "Jim Crow 2.0." But that description insults not just today’s American voters, but also the memory of post-Civil War Southern Blacks, who were denied the vote because of actual Jim Crow laws. The SAVE Act, or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, would apply to all federal elections and require: Documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. In-person presentation of documents in most cases. States to maintain voter rolls, remove those who die or move out of the district. In addition, Republican lawmakers introduced the SAVE America Act that adds a photo ID requirement at the polls when voting in federal elections. These are common sense proposals designed to make it easy to vote, but difficult to cheat. A Gallup poll taken a few weeks before the 2024 presidential election revealed that 83% of U.S. adults favor laws that require proof of citizenship when registering to vote for the first time, and 84% favor photo identification requirements at the polls when voting. Despite the overwhelming approval, Congressional Democrats are fighting tooth and nail to block the bills, calling them "Jim Crow 2.0," a claim that even legacy media questions. On Sunday, ABC’s Jonathan Karl asked Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., if he would support a nationwide photo ID requirement, given that a recent Pew poll found that 83% of adults — including 71% of Democrats — favor such laws.

CNN [2/9/2026 12:00 PM, Fredreka Schouten, 612K] reports Sofia Minotti was surprised to receive a letter last October from her local elections office, saying she would be dropped from the voting rolls in 30 days unless she provided proof of her US citizenship. Minotti, who was born in Argentina and moved to the United States with her parents as a toddler, has been a US citizen for years. She said she quickly sent a scan of her US passport to the Denton County Elections Office, preserving her right to vote in next month’s Texas primary elections. Denton County, north of Dallas, confirmed she had shown proof of citizenship. "I felt offended," the 24-year-old graduate student said of the scrutiny. "I’ve voted in every election since I was 18, and now my vote was coming under question.” Minotti is among dozens of US citizens in Texas alone to have been ensnared in a massive drive by the Trump administration to search for immigrants and other ineligible voters on state voter rolls. The impact goes well beyond one state. Texas is among 27 states using a federal database overhauled last year to try to verify voters’ citizenship — and has flagged potential problems on just 0.0003% of queries nationwide. One Republican election official in another state told CNN that "the vast majority" of voters in their state flagged by the system turned out to be citizens after further investigation. "The federal databases are not up to date," said the person who asked not to be identified for fear of drawing the ire of the Trump administration and other Republicans. "They are not accurate. The last thing we want to do is disenfranchise eligible voters.” As President Donald Trump has vowed to nationalize elections, his administration has already launched several efforts to insert itself into functions traditionally left to the states. That’s sparked worries about whether the exercise of flagging noncitizen voters will ultimately provide the administration a tool with which to challenge midterm results. CNN spoke with state and local election officials to examine how voter rolls are being checked against a tool known as Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE. SAVE has long been used to verify the citizenship and immigration status of people seeking government benefits. For years, some election officials also had agreements with the federal government to use the tool, for a fee, to check the citizenship status of voters. Some Republican officials and conservative activists called for expanded access to federal data to help vet voters. The Trump administration dramatically expanded SAVE last year, linking it to Social Security and US passport data and allowing states to make bulk uploads of voter records for free. The administration has strongly encouraged states to use it.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 11:51 AM, Mark Swanson, 3760K] reports Border czar Tom Homan said that immigration enforcement should prioritize illegal aliens who commit extra crimes to maintain public confidence. Homan’s position was reported by NBC News, which cited interviews conducted with the border czar for a forthcoming book by the network’s Homeland Security correspondent, Julia Ainsley. Homan, a veteran Homeland Security official who served under Democrat and Republican administrations, told the outlet that while any immigrant in the country illegally is subject to arrest and deportation, those who commit additional crimes should be prioritized. "I think the vast majority of the American people think criminal illegal aliens need to leave. And if we stick to that prioritization, I think we keep the faith of the American people," Homan told NBC News last June during immigration raids in Los Angeles. "And I think the more we do that, the more the American people will support what President Trump’s doing. We’ve got to do it and we’ve got to do it in a humane manner," he added. NBC News reported that Homan’s comments for the book were "authorized for early release," though it’s unclear who gave the authorization. The report contrasts Homan’s approach with that of former Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino, whose broader enforcement operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis sparked protests and legal challenges. NBC attributes weeks of unrest and federal intervention to those tactics while the network offers limited scrutiny of the protests themselves or local officials who resisted enforcement. In a statement to NBC News, the Department of Homeland Security has rebutted claims of internal division, stating that enforcement remains targeted and aligned with President Donald Trump’s direction. "There is only one page: the President’s page. Everyone’s on the same page," a DHS spokesperson said.

NBC News [2/9/2026 12:32 PM, Julia Ainsley, 2524K] reports that long before border czar Tom Homan took over in Minneapolis, he warned that a targeted approach to immigration enforcement would be needed to “keep the faith of the American people.” Any immigrant in the U.S. illegally can be arrested and deported, but Homan, who has served as a Homeland Security official under the Obama and both Trump administrations, has long said immigrants who have committed additional crimes should be prioritized for arrest and deportation. In an exclusive interview in June for the forthcoming book “Undue Process: The Inside Story of Trump’s Mass Deportation Program,” Homan warned that a failure to prioritize those arrests could cost the Trump administration support with the public. “I think the vast majority of the American people think criminal illegal aliens need to leave. And if we stick to that prioritization, I think we keep the faith of the American people,” Homan said on June 16, as Border Patrol agents, under the direction of commander Greg Bovino, were conducting their first large-scale raids in Los Angeles. “And I think the more we do that, the more the American people will support what President Trump’s doing. We got to do it and we’ve got to do it in a humane manner.” At the time, Bovino had been brought up from relative obscurity as Border Patrol sector chief in El Centro, California, to run the agency’s Los Angeles operations. Unlike Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who set out to arrest a set of targets, Border Patrol began conducting sweeping arrests targeting immigrants based on where they lived and worked, according to court filings in a lawsuit.

Reported similarly:
The Hill [2/9/2026 4:54 PM, Max Rego, 18170K]

Daily Caller [2/9/2026 6:19 PM, Harold Hutchison, 803K] reports an Oregon real-estate agent who allegedly engaged in a Friday drive-by shooting targeting anti-illegal immigration live-streamers was reported to police on Monday. According to video posted by multiple X accounts, the realtor, a black woman reportedly identified as Isis Irving, was driving a white Lexus past a group of live-streamers in Portland, Oregon, including Thomas Allen, who goes by "Tommyboi4209," when she allegedly fired shots from a BB gun that hit him in the face. The BB gun incident took place about 30 to 45 minutes after Irving clashed with the streamers, who had been exchanging insults with anti-ICE rioters, the Post-Millennial reported. A livestream posted by Allen showed him confronting anti-ICE protesters, with at least one motorist making an obscene gesture. The initial incident took place about two hours and twenty-three minutes into the stream, where Irving drives by, engages in a verbal altercation with the pro-ICE streamers before throwing a water bottle at the right-leaning streamers. The water bottle is apparently thrown back, and further shouting ensued, with one person kicking Irving’s Lexus before she allegedly left the scene. A video posted later allegedly shows Irving pull the BB gun and fire multiple rounds at the pro-ICE streamers as she drove by. Irving later claimed in a post on Instagram and TikTok that she was attacked by the conservative streamers. On both her Instagram and TikTok profiles, she posted the phrase "F*ck Nazis" on her profile, while also touting "Black Pride.” "I did go back in a blind rage. I wasn’t thinking straight my face was burning and they were calling me the n word. I was incensed," Irving claimed in a post on Instagram, saying she suffered second-degree burns after she was sprayed with "bear mace.” Allen later posted that he had sent in clear footage to local law enforcement and reported her to authorities. ICE facilities in Portland, Oregon, have been repeatedly attacked by protesters who reportedly attacked conservative journalists covering anti-ICE riots. The anti-ICE rioters allegedly planned to use lasers against aircraft used by federal law enforcement agencies. Conservative journalists were also attacked in the Minneapolis area on multiple occasions while covering riots following deadly incidents between Department of Homeland Security officers and so-called "rapid-response" groups seeking to obstruct immigration enforcement operations.

Daily Signal [2/9/2026 6:25 PM, Virginia Allen, 474K] reports after multiple recent deadly car crashes across the United States involving illegal aliens, Florida has changed its driver test policy to require all prospective drivers to take the test in English. "All driver license knowledge and skills testing will be conducted in English" for both non-commercial and commercial driver’s licenses, according to the new policy. The state "remains committed to ensuring safe roadways for all Floridians and visitors by promoting clear communication, understanding of traffic laws, and responsible driving behavior," according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy responded to Florida’s new policy Monday, calling it "common sense.” "Whether you’re driving a sedan or a big rig, you need to be able to read the rules of the road and communicate with law enforcement," Duffy wrote on X. Florida joins several other states, including Wyoming and Oklahoma, that only offer driver’s license tests in English. The move in Florida follows reports of multiple deadly car accidents involving individuals living in the U.S. illegally. Huang, a Chinese national, obtained a commercial driver’s license after illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico in 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security. In December, he rear-ended a tractor-trailer in Tennessee, "causing a chain reaction that led to the death of one American, Kerry Smith, injuring 2 others.” The office of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, contests the DHS claim that Beishekeev did not have legal status in the U.S. when he was issued the drivers license. "The individual in question had legal status in [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem’s database when the license was issued in July 2025 and still shows as eligible to receive a license as of today," Shapiro spokesperson Alex Peterson told Fox News. "In recent months, we’ve seen a disturbing pattern of criminal illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles on American roads, directly threatening public safety and resulting in senseless loss of life," according to DHS.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 9:45 AM, Brian Freeman, 3760K] reports Republican senators led by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are mounting a public defense of Stephen Miller as divisions widen within the GOP over the deputy White House chief of staff’s influence on immigration enforcement and foreign policy, The Hill reported Monday. The show of support comes as some Senate Republicans, increasingly anxious about the party’s midterm prospects, privately and publicly argue that Miller has become a political liability for President Donald Trump and vulnerable incumbents, particularly in battleground states. Graham dismissed those concerns in an interview with The Hill, insisting Miller retains Trump’s full confidence and remains central to the administration’s agenda. "People can disagree with Stephen on rhetoric and they can disagree with him on policy but the question is, Is Stephen Miller in jeopardy in Trump world? Absolutely not," Graham said. The senator argued that Miller’s aggressive immigration stance would ultimately be vindicated and that the administration’s hard line on Greenland has strengthened U.S. Arctic defenses. "To my Republican colleagues who wring their hands all the time about what somebody says in Trump world: We have an opportunity here to go on the offense. Sanctuary cities are about as popular as a toothache," he argued. "I would hope that Republicans focus on — the problem’s not with Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, me or Trump. "It’s with four years of Biden policy.” More than a dozen Republican senators submitted on-the-record comments to The Hill praising Miller and pushing back against public and anonymous criticisms from Senate GOP colleagues who want to diminish Miller’s clout at the White House. Among them was Sen. Dave McCormick, who represents Pennsylvania, a critical swing state, and credited Miller with helping deliver on campaign promises. "Because of him and other members of the president’s team, critical priorities like stopping deadly fentanyl, unleashing America’s energy, and bringing much-needed economic relief for working families are now a reality for Pennsylvania," McCormick said.

Breitbart [2/10/2026 3:36 AM, Neil Munro, 2238K] reports numerous Democratic leaders say their high-migration, low-wage sanctuary city economies are crashing because President Donald Trump is requiring them to comply with national labor laws. "We are now expected to absorb the fiscal consequences of [federal] enforcement activities," the treasurers of 16 states wrote to President Trump. "This is not acceptable." The treasurers of Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, Minnesota, and nine other states are asking the federal government to exempt them from national laws that protect Americans’ civil rights, labor, housing, and anti-fraud laws. "We urge your administration to immediately scale back enforcement activities causing this harm and to ensure the economic stability our communities require," the treasurers wrote.

Houston Chronicle [2/9/2026 5:21 PM, Julián Aguilar, 2493K] reports detention centers in Texas could see a surge of migrants following an appeals court decision Friday that allows unauthorized immigrants to be held without a bond, legal analysts and attorneys said. Late Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld the Trump administration’s practice of holding immigrants in mandatory detention until their removal proceedings conclude. The 2-1 decision landed as Texas already leads the country in the number of immigrants detained in the country. The ruling’s scope extends beyond people already in custody in Texas or immigrants who are arrested by immigration officials in the state. It also applies to immigrants who are arrested outside of Texas and transferred to one of the state’s detention facilities, said Ruby Powers, a Houston-based immigration attorney and the secretary of the Texas chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

Daily Wire [2/9/2026 8:53 AM, Hank Berrien, 2314K] reports Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stood before the Washington Monument on Monday to administer the oath of enlistment to more than 100 National Guard members, marking a significant milestone for the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The troops, representing nine states including Alabama, Florida, and Oklahoma, are part of a 2,600-strong contingent deployed to the capital following President Donald Trump’s August 2025 "crime emergency" declaration. Hegseth hailed the mission as a historic success, saying the Task Force transformed Washington from a city of "lawlessness and graffiti" into a "national symbol of order." The mission utilizes a dual-track approach: Aggressive Security: National Guard units, such as Task Force Yellow Hammer and Joint Task Force Magnolia, conduct joint patrols alongside local and federal law enforcement to secure transit hubs and neighborhoods, like Foggy Bottom. Urban Restoration: Beyond security operations, task force teams have removed more than 500 tons of debris and conducted major snow-clearing efforts to keep federal sites "pristine.” Hegseth noted that while recruitment numbers are at a one-year high, strong retention rates among these Guard members are the true indicator of the War Department’s success. "When you reenlist, it means we are doing things the right way," Hegseth remarked, emphasizing that the military has the backs of those performing these "tough missions.”

The Hill [2/9/2026 8:01 PM, Amie Parnes, 18170K] reports Voto Latino and more than 50 other organizations are demanding the “immediate impeachment” of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Hill has learned exclusively. In a letter sent to congressional leaders Monday, the national Hispanic engagement organization and a coalition of other organizations, including the Service Employees International Union, Human Rights Campaign, and United Farm Workers, said they support a formal House resolution introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) last month that called for Noem’s impeachment. The letter highlights a pattern of conduct including obstruction of congressional oversight, unlawful use of deadly force, targeting of minors — focusing on the recent detention of a 5-year-old — and unlawful raids on U.S. citizens. “Secretary Noem’s tenure has been defined by a dangerous violation of public trust, obstruction of Congress and oversight, a blatant disregard for constitutional protections, and state-sanctioned conduct that places U.S. citizens and lawful residents in immediate peril,” the letter says. “Secretary Noem has fundamentally failed to exercise the sound judgment and discretion required of her office,” the letter adds. The resolution currently has more than 187 co-sponsors.

AP [2/9/2026 1:31 PM, Trevor Mitchell, 35287K] reports that on a recent weekday morning as Ashley Fairbanks sat in a salon chair getting her hair done, she put out a call to her 49,000 followers on BlueSky: Twelve families needed their rent paid, urgently. There was no time for fundraisers or applications for emergency rental assistance; they needed the money now. If anyone had the means to help, she said, they could send money directly to families through Venmo. Two hours later, those families had their rent paid. Twelve hours later, 43 families had been helped. The trend caught on: Others on social media took up the challenge and launched their own successful campaigns. Despite talk of a drawdown, the ongoing presence of ICE and other federal law enforcement officers continues to compel thousands of immigrants to stay in their homes and out of work. Still, rent is due. Many, including the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils, have called on Gov. Tim Walz to implement an eviction moratorium, which would allow more time for residents to come up with the necessary cash. But even as people like Fairbanks raise thousands of dollars, local leaders and immigrant activists know the need is far greater. Some compare it to the need for rent relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, the federal government pitched in, providing Minnesota with $673 million for emergency rental assistance on top of $100 million provided through state funds. "This is not something that we will GoFundMe our way out of," said Minneapolis Council member Robin Wonsley (Ward 2).

Washington Examiner [2/9/2026 1:48 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1147K] reports that a federal judge said on Monday that the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia may inform what remedy is required for more than 100 Venezuelans deported under the Alien Enemies Act last spring. Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia raised the issue during a hearing in J.G.G. v. Trump, a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s use of the 18th-century wartime statute to deport Venezuelan nationals accused of ties to the Tren de Aragua gang. "Given what the Supreme Court said in Abrego, if these people were illegally removed… then the remedy has to be the same," Boasberg said, referring to the high court’s April order requiring the government to facilitate relief for Abrego Garcia, who was previously deported to El Salvador despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order barring deportation to his country of origin. The case before Boasberg involves 137 Venezuelan men deported in March under the Alien Enemies Act and flown to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center without advance notice or court hearings. Boasberg has already ruled that their removals were a violation of due process. Monday’s hearing focused on what relief, if any, the court can order after the men were later transferred out of U.S. custody and repatriated to Venezuela in a July prisoner exchange.

CNN [2/9/2026 10:05 PM, Danya Gainor, 18595K] reports an immigration judge terminated removal proceedings against Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, who was detained for over a month last year as part of the Trump administration’s effort to target and deport international students and activists involved in pro-Palestinian advocacy, her lawyers said Monday. The Department of Homeland Security hadn’t met its burden to prove Öztürk’s removability, prompting the immigration court to end removal proceedings against her, according to a letter from her attorneys submitted in court and a federal appeals court docket. The move comes after recently unsealed court documents showed the federal government didn’t have any evidence that Öztürk had been supporting terrorist activity when she was arrested, and that her visa revocation and arrest were because of an opinion article she wrote containing criticisms of Israel. "Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system’s flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the U.S. government," Öztürk wrote in a statement Monday. "Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all.” Her immigration attorney said the judge’s decision was "a powerful affirmation of fairness and the rule of law." Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told CNN at the time that DHS and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement investigations had found that Öztürk had "engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans." A DHS spokesperson called the immigration judge’s ruling "judicial activism" to "keep a terrorist sympathizer in this country." "We are under no obligation to admit them or let them stay here. Sec. Noem has made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and hide behind the First Amendment to advocate for anti-American and anti-Semitic violence and terrorism – think again," the spokesperson said.

Reported similarly:
Wall Street Journal [2/9/2026 8:44 PM, Alyssa Lukpat, 646K]
AP [2/09/2026 11:38 PM, Audrey McAvoy, 34146K]
NBC News [2/9/2026 9:32 PM, Chloe Atkins and Dennis Romero, 42967K]

The Hill [2/9/2026 11:00 AM, Austin Sarat, 18170K] reports that right from the start, the promise of rights in this country has been grounded in religious belief. As Thomas Jefferson put it in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Judges seldom invoke God or our founding principles as they explain their decisions. But on Jan. 31, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery did both when he ordered the release of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from an immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas. Ramos and his father had been sent there from their home in Minnesota, following an ICE raid on their home 11 days earlier. The father and son were released the next day. Biery’s brief opinion is both a tribute to the Declaration of Independence, at the start of its 250th anniversary year, and an indictment of the Trump administration, for treating undocumented immigrants in ways that violate their rights and the teachings of a Christian God. The judge also recognized that the American Constitution was designed to ensure that the government of the United States would recognize and protect the God-given, inalienable rights of all persons. Judge Biery was unsparing in his criticism of ICE and its treatment of the Ramos family. “The case,” he said, “has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children.”

Houston Chronicle [2/9/2026 6:03 AM, Anna K. Gorisch, 2493K] reports ion 2024 Donald J. Trump pulled off one of the biggest, most surprising political comebacks in American history. By assembling a broad coalition around core conservative principles like free speech, cutting waste and abuse, prioritizing merit over identity, and most notably, strict enforcement of federal immigration law, he won the day and brought in first-time Trump voters (including yours truly). In less than a year, the far right has destroyed that coalition, and Republicans seem to be catering to the basest of the base. Instead of maintaining focus on the tens of millions of people who are in our country illegally, the GOP is attacking legal immigration, most notably the H-1B visa. First, we saw Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis freeze use of the visa at universities and state institutions in his state, saying that jobs in Florida should go to Floridians. And now Gov. Greg Abbott has announced a one-year pause on new H-1B petitions at Texas universities to enable a state-level investigation into abuse of the program. Texas institutions are required to provide detailed information about the number of petitions filed, the nationality of the sponsored workers, the job duties they are assigned, and evidence that U.S. workers had a reasonable opportunity to apply for these roles (which is not a requirement under federal law). Abbott’s move is short-sighted and will end up hurting Texans. For example, University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, is the primary teaching hospital for Texas Tech University’s Health Sciences Center and the only Level I Trauma Center for hundreds of miles. University Medical Center relies on foreign physicians and nurses to staff the hospital, as well as its affiliated clinics in Odessa and Midland.

Los Angeles Times [2/9/2026 6:03 AM, Staff, 12718K] reports ChongLy (Scott) Thao, 56, was taking a Sunday afternoon nap recently at his home in St. Paul, Minn., when federal immigration agents broke down his front door. A group of masked, armed men burst in and took him outdoors in subfreezing temperatures wearing only Crocs, his underwear and a blanket. After being questioned by agents for nearly an hour, he was returned to his residence without any explanation or apology. Thao is a naturalized U.S. citizen with no criminal record. While searches like these used to require a judicial warrant, a recently leaked Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo from May instructs agents to forcibly enter homes with only an administrative warrant. This policy flies in the face of the Constitution, legal precedent and Homeland Security’s own guidelines. It should concern all Americans who value their privacy and civil liberties. The warrants that most of us think of — the "come back with a warrant" kind familiar from legal dramas — is a judicial warrant, different from administrative. Judicial warrants are issued by judges when they are presented with probable cause and allow law enforcement officers to enter and search a person’s residence. In contrast, administrative warrants are issued by staff in the executive branch and can be used to arrest someone, including someone suspected of being in the U.S. without legal status. But until May, they were understood to not allow law enforcement officers to enter a suspect’s home. ICE is now blurring the distinction between these two types of warrants, telling agents to barge into people’s residences based solely on agency authority. This violates the 4th Amendment, which protects "people" (including noncitizens) from unreasonable searches and seizures in their homes. It ignores rulings from the Supreme Court, which has consistently held that the 4th Amendment prohibits the government’s nonconsensual entry into a person’s home without a judicial warrant. As the high court articulated in 1980, "The physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.” Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for Homeland Security, has defended the use of administrative warrants to arrest undocumented immigrants. "The officers issuing these administrative warrants also have found probable cause," she said. "For decades, the Supreme Court and Congress have recognized the propriety of administrative warrants in cases of immigration enforcement." Yet her explanation is misleading, because it sidesteps the question of using an administrative warrant to invade someone’s home.

USA Today [2/10/2026 5:05 AM, Dr. Thomas K. Lew, 67103K] reports as a doctor rounding in the hospital, I see a lot of sick patients. And when things go south, and people’s lives are hanging by a thread, the first staff to react are the nurses. Especially in the intensive care unit, at a moment’s notice, the nurses will be doing CPR, giving lifesaving medicines and comforting family members. These ICU nurses just want to help others, and that is exactly what Alex Pretti was doing when he was needlessly killed by federal agents. I did not know Alex Pretti, but having worked alongside countless nurses in and out of the ICU, I can say he must have been compassionate, selfless and warm. These are the characteristics that draw someone into such a difficult profession – one in which, when life-and-death situations arise every day, you need to face them with competence and sincerity. As a fellow health care professional, it makes me indescribably mad that he was killed while following his instincts to protect someone. And not only that, but that those in charge – those who should be the adults holding people accountable – instead called him a violent "assassin" (a statement that our vice president still hasn’t recanted or apologized for). That’s also why we cannot allow his death to become just another news event in the rearview mirror. This heinous tragedy needs to be a catalyst for change to ensure immigration enforcement is done with safety rails and, quite simply, with humanity.

USA Today [2/10/2026 5:08 AM, Drs. Andrew D. Racine, Sural Shah, and Kimberly Mukerjee, 67103K] reports the image of 5-year-old Liam Ramos in his bunny hat with floppy ears and oversized superhero backpack captured the innocence of a young child confronted by the traumatic reality of aggressive immigration enforcement tactics – a burden increasingly faced by children across the United States. After Liam and his father were detained, they were sent over 1,000 miles from their home in Minneapolis to the massive family detention center in Dilley, Texas, where they were held with more than 1,000 other detainees, including hundreds of young children, in substandard conditions. While Liam has returned home with his father, this traumatic detention experience will forever remain a part of his childhood memory – and his story is still ongoing. Pleas from his classmates for his safe return tell us what we as pediatricians already know: The trauma of Liam’s abrupt removal reverberates throughout the entire community. For the children who remain detained, ongoing, compounding trauma worsens by the day. Liam was one of several children confined to detention after immigration enforcement occurred at or around their schools. Increasingly, apprehensions are happening in areas previously designated as sensitive locations, including health care settings and schools. Witnessing enforcement activities, especially with heavily armed, masked agents, is deeply frightening to children.

The Hill [2/9/2026 7:30 AM, Cesar Conda and Thomas Trask, 18170K] reports that last month’s daring capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro demonstrated the lengths to which the White House will go to execute on its vision of ensuring American security and shaping the country’s role in the Western Hemisphere. Beyond putting Maduro’s reign to an end, the operation sent a message to the rest of the region: The days of cozying up to foreign adversaries and harming Americans through lax immigration and drug trafficking policies are over. The era of the “Donroe Doctrine” is here. Commitment to this vision requires a reevaluation of U.S. relationships with foreign powers in South America, the Caribbean, and throughout the world — allies and adversaries alike. And with the geopolitical instability resulting from the move against the former Venezuelan regime, ensuring U.S. national and economic security will be paramount to successfully implementing this new America-first status quo. Fortunately, there is a ready-made option available that would not require complex military action or diplomatic horse-trading — only will in Congress and in the White House. That is granting statehood to Puerto Rico. The history of the U.S. and Puerto Rico has roots in the Monroe Doctrine. The island was annexed under an extension of that foreign policy nearly 130 years ago. In the years since, Puerto Rico has proven to be an invaluable national security partner, from its role as a major hub for the U.S. Navy during World War II, to its people — American citizens — serving in our military at extraordinarily high rates.

AP [2/9/2026 2:01 PM, Lisa Mascaro, 35287K] reports beyond the car windows being smashed, people tackled on city streets — or even a little child with a floppy bunny ears snowcap detained — the images of masked federal officers has become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations. Not in recent U.S. memory has an American policing operation so consistently masked its thousands of officers from the public, a development that the Department of Homeland Security believes is important to safeguard employees from online harassment. But experts warn masking serves another purpose, inciting fear in communities, and risks shattering norms, accountability and trust between the police and its citizenry. Whether to ban the masks — or allow the masking to continue — has emerged as a central question in the debate in Congress over funding Homeland Security ahead of Friday’s midnight deadline, when it faces a partial agency shutdown. “Humans read each others’ faces — that’s how we communicate,” said Justin Smith, a former Colorado sheriff who is executive director and CEO of the National Sheriffs’ Association. “When you have a number of federal agents involved in these operations, and they can’t be identified, you can’t see their face, it just tends to make people uncomfortable,” he said. “That’s bringing up some questions.” Masks on federal agents have been one constant throughout the first year of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operation. What began as a jarring image last spring, when plain-clothed officers drawing up their masks surrounded and detained a Tufts University doctoral student near her Massachusetts home, has morphed into familiar scenes in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities. The shooting deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers during demonstrations against ICE raids in Minneapolis sparked widespread public protest and spurred lawmakers to respond. “Cameras on, masks off” has become a rallying cry among Democrats, who are also insisting the officers wear body cameras as a way to provide greater accountability and oversight of the operations.

New York Post [2/9/2026 6:44 PM, Lydia Moynihan, 40934K] reports Forbes pulled a profile of three female leaders at Palantir hours after publishing it — allegedly due to the company’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sources told The Post. The story, “Inside Palantir’s AI Braintrust: Meet The Women Transforming Retail, Government And Defense,” had been in the works for over a month before it was published online last Thursday, sources said. It profiled three executives at the company: Anita Beveridge, Lauren Penneys and Shannon Clark and focused on “women inside the company driving impact across retail, the public sector and defense.” However, it was taken down from Forbes’ website shortly after being posted, a highly unusual move for the publisher. When Palantir — which has provided data analytics tools to ICE since 2013 — asked why it had been removed they were told Forbes “needed to provide additional context,” sources said. Forbes then said it needed to include commentary about the company’s contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sources said. Sources said Palantir was finally told the story was “too positive” and wouldn’t be reposted. “Really? “What does it say when a story about women leading major organizations is deemed incomplete—unless it’s reframed around a political controversy they aren’t part of?,” One Palantir source noted. “Why is women’s leadership treated as contextual—something that needs justification or controversy—rather than a sufficient story on its own?” However, it resurfaced on Monday with added commentary on Palantir’s relationship with ICE. A paragraph at the top now states, “Palantir commands headlines both for its technology sector performance and for controversy over its high-profile contracts — such as its work with US immigration enforcement, including ICE, which drew calls for cessation from Amnesty International and involvement in hot-button issues of surveillance, privacy and human rights.” A Forbes spokesperson told The Post the story had been pulled back for re-editing, and to add sourcing and context.

Breitbart [2/9/2026 3:53 PM, Olivia Rondeau, 2238K] reports Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) called out "radical" Democrats for wanting to "defund and eliminate ICE" while Americans are being harmed by illegal alien crime in an exclusive interview on Breitbart News Saturday. Instances of illegal alien truck drivers causing catastrophic crashes have been occurring all over the U.S., including a devastating crash that claimed the lives of four members of the Amish community in Banks’s home state of Indiana last week. The Department of Homeland Security revealed the suspect to be a Kyrgyzstan native, Bekzhan Beishekeev, who allegedly "slammed" into the van carrying up to 15 passengers: The victims were named by FreightWires as Henry Eicher, 58; his sons Menno, 33, and Paul, 31; and Simon Schwartz, 22. In another recent incident, a 23-year-old member of the Indiana National Guard was killed in a crash also allegedly caused by an illegal alien truck driver. The Boone County Sheriff’s Department stated that the driver of the truck was taken into ICE custody.

Breitbart [2/9/2026 3:21 PM, Pam Key, 2238K] reports Monday on ABC’s “The View,” Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents should be withdrawn from every city because “there is a body count of American citizens.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CBS News [2/09/2026 12:17 PM, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, 51110K] reports less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News. The official statistics contained in the DHS document, which had not been previously reported publicly, provide the most detailed look yet into who ICE has arrested during the Trump administration’s far-reaching deportation operations across the U.S. The internal DHS figures undermine frequent assertions by the Trump administration that its crackdown on illegal immigration is primarily targeting dangerous and violent criminals living in the U.S. illegally, people Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have regularly called the "worst of the worst." The statistics show ICE has dramatically increased arrests since Mr. Trump’s return to office. Nearly 60% of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates. But among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes. For example, while Mr. Trump and his aides often talk about immigration officials targeting murderers, rapists and gangsters, the internal data indicate that less than 2% of those arrested by ICE over the past year had homicide or sexual assault charges or convictions. Another 2% of those taken into ICE custody were accused of being gang members. Nearly 40% of all of those arrested by ICE in Mr. Trump’s first year back in office did not have any criminal record at all, and were only accused of civil immigration offenses, such as living in the U.S. illegally or overstaying their permission to be in the country, the DHS document shows. Those alleged violations of U.S. immigration law are typically adjudicated by Justice Department immigration judges in civil — not criminal — proceedings. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
CBS News [2/9/2026 11:32 AM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE
CBS News [2/9/2026 6:02 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE

FOX News [2/9/2026 8:00 PM, Lindsay Kornick, 37576K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back against a CBS article claiming that most illegal immigrants arrested under the Trump administration have not committed any "violent criminal offenses.” CBS’ Camilo Montoya-Galvez reported on Monday that an internal DHS document showed less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were charged or convicted of violent crimes despite President Donald Trump’s vow to go after "the worst of the worst.” DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin insisted on X that this was an inaccurate reading of the numbers, pointing out that the article downplayed several serious crimes by categorizing them as "non-violent." "Drug trafficking, Distribution of child pornography, burglary, fraud, DUI, embezzlement, solicitation of a minor, human smuggling are all categorized as ‘non violent crimes.’ Like we said, ~70% of those illegal aliens arrested under @POTUS Trump and @Sec_Noem have pending criminal charges or prior convictions," McLaughlin wrote. In another post, she wrote, "By @cbs’s standard, Edward Hernandez, who @ICEgov arrested last week in Virginia is a ‘non criminal’ because he hasn’t been convicted in the United States. Never mind that he is an MS-13 member & confessed to murdering 5 people in El Salvador through shooting, torturing, stabbing, and dismemberment (including one victim who was alive.)" The official ICE X account also responded to the CBS report in a post criticizing the categorization of "non-violent" criminals.

Reported similarly:
Blaze [2/9/2026 7:20 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1556K]

Breitbart [2/9/2026 1:57 PM, Neil Munro, 2238K] reports that President Donald Trump’s officials have dramatically expanded the deportation of migrants who do not have criminal convictions, according to a critical report by CBS. The good news is buried in a skewed report from CBS News that suggests Trump should not have deported 153,000 migrants who have not been formally convicted of a crime by a jury or a judge. Those deportation numbers are good for Americans who have lost wealth and wages amid a vast inflow of foreign workers and renters into their communities. The February 9 report by CBS claims: Less than 14 percent of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses. The report, however, admits that 60 percent of the deported migrants had criminal records: Nearly 60 percent of ICE arrestees over the past year had criminal charges or convictions, the document indicates. But among that population, the majority of the criminal charges or convictions are not for violent crimes. CBS’s focus on the convicted and violent 14 percent instead of the criminal 60 percent spotlights the establishment media’s continued campaign to hide crime by illegal migrants. This campaign relies heavily on reporters who are more sympathetic to migrants than to Americans. In this case, the CBS reporter, Camilo Montoya-Galvez, is a legalized migrant from Colombia.

Los Angeles Times [2/9/2026 12:10 PM, Gisela Salomon, 12718K] reports that Felipe Hernandez Espinosa spent 45 days at "Alligator Alcatraz," an immigration holding center in Florida where detainees have reported worms in their food, toilets that don’t flush and overflowing sewage. Mosquitoes and other insects are everywhere. For the last five months, the 34-year-old asylum-seeker has been at an immigration detention camp at the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, where two migrants died in January and which has many of the same conditions, according to human rights groups. Hernandez said he asked to be returned to Nicaragua but was told he has to see a judge. After nearly seven months in detention, his hearing was scheduled for Feb. 26. Prolonged detention has become more common in President Trump’s second term, at least partly because a new policy generally prohibits immigration judges from releasing detainees while their deportation cases wind through backlogged courts. Many, like Hernandez, are prepared to give up any efforts to stay in the United States. "I came to this country thinking they would help me, and I’ve been detained for six months without having committed a crime," he said in a phone interview from Fort Bliss. "It is been too long. I am desperate.” The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement cannot hold immigrants indefinitely, finding that six months was a reasonable cap. With the number of people in ICE detention topping 70,000 for the first time, 7,252 people had been in custody at least six months in mid-January, including 79 held for more than two years, according to agency data. That’s more than double the 2,849 who were in ICE custody at least six months in December 2024, the last full month of Joe Biden’s presidency.

Breitbart [2/9/2026 11:20 AM, Lucas Nolan, 2238K] reports more than 900 Google workers have signed an open letter calling on the tech giant to sever its business relationships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection. CNBC reports that a group of over 900 Google employees has publicly condemned the company’s partnerships with federal immigration enforcement agencies, demanding full disclosure of contracts and complete divestment from these relationships. The open letter, circulated among staff, comes amid growing concern about the role technology companies play in supporting government immigration operations. The letter says Google workers are "appalled by the violence" and "horrified" by Google’s involvement in ICE operations. The employees assert that Google is actively enabling what they describe as a campaign of surveillance, violence, and repression through its technology platforms and services. According to the letter, Google Cloud is currently supporting CBP surveillance operations and powering Palantir’s ImmigrationOS system, which ICE uses for its operations. The employees also point out that Google’s generative AI technology is being utilized by CBP, while noting that the Google Play Store has blocked applications designed to track ICE activities. The letter invokes a statement from Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, who wrote on social media in early January that "We all bear a collective responsibility to speak up and not be silent when we see things like the events of the last week." The employees argue this responsibility extends to opposing the company’s partnerships with the Department of Homeland Security, CBP, and ICE. "We are vehemently opposed to Google’s partnerships with DHS, CBP, and ICE," the employees wrote in their letter. "We consider it our leadership’s ethical and policy-bound responsibility to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships.”

Reuters [2/9/2026 2:34 PM, Ross Kerber, 16072K] reports that a set of Catholic investors said on Monday private-prison operator GEO Group has rejected a shareholder vote designed to shed light on alleged human rights violations in its operation of ICE detention facilities as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. The government contractor has become one of the biggest benefactors in Trump’s expansion of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, including operating a fast-growing detention center in Southern California. Complaints of poor treatment, including dismal sleeping conditions and a lack of fresh air at facilities run by GEO and others, have sparked protests against the administration as it ramps up detentions and pushes for mass deportations. A group of social activist investors led by Jesuit priests said GEO rejected a proposed shareholder vote to review its human-rights conduct, ⁠ended talks on facility visits and reduced its reporting on human rights. "The fact that the company isn’t transparent with us, that raises red flags. Does it have something to hide?" asked Bryan Pham, a Jesuit priest who leads the investors’ talks with GEO. GEO said in an emailed statement that it "has had ongoing engagements with a broad group of shareholders for several decades. Our company’s disclosures are constantly evolving, informed by these long-standing broad shareholder engagements, and are developed in compliance with our legal obligations as a federal government contractor."

Bloomberg [2/9/2026 12:36 PM, Linda Poon and Micah Barkley, 18082K] reports that the aggressive behavior of federal immigration agents in the streets of Minneapolis, Los Angeles and beyond has prompted mass protest, as well as demands from Democratic lawmakers for reform. But many of their tactics are not new in immigration enforcement. They’ve migrated from the US border — where Border Patrol is granted extraordinary constitutional flexibility in the name of national security — to the middle of America’s densest neighborhoods. Under the second Trump administration, lines have blurred between BP and other federal agencies that operate outside of the border zone, namely Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. ICE historically characterized its operations as targeted, but has since adopted many of BP’s practices, which has led to tactics like roving patrols, warrantless arrests and using force for crowd control.

Bloomberg Law [2/9/2026 11:41 AM, Diane Uchimiya, Michael Kelly and Paul McGreal, 763K] reports my mother, Nancy Uchimiya, was a child interned with her mother and five siblings in 1942 at the Manzanar detention facility near Death Valley. My father’s family was interned at Poston, Ariz., while my father fought for the US in the 442nd Infantry, Company K, in France during World War II. The US government interned 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry along with my family because of who they were, not because of anything they did. Two-thirds of them were US citizens, uprooted from their Pacific-coast homes, stripped of their liberty and property, and herded into inland camps. Then, as now in Minneapolis, our government committed a grave constitutional crime cloaked in the language of necessity. The justification for moving them was "military necessity." The reality was racialized suspicion elevated into state policy. The camps where they ended up were as far away as Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. In 2026, under Operation Metro Surge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is rounding up detainees in Minnesota—reportedly more than 3,400 so far—disproportionately targeting communities of color, funneling them through a $50-million regional logistics hub, and similarly dispersing them hundreds of miles away to detention facilities in Western Nebraska, West Texas, and the Dakotas. Families wake up to empty beds. Lawyers arrive at jails to find their clients vanished. Communities learn, after the fact, their neighbors have been quietly disappeared into a carceral archipelago far from home. This isn’t ordinary immigration enforcement. It is mass relocation. The structural parallels to 1942 are unmistakable. Then, the government dispensed with individualized suspicion under Executive Order 9066, replacing it with geography, ancestry, and administrative convenience. Now, under Executive Order 14159, thousands of ICE agents surged into Minnesota, casting aside individualized due process as they rely on administrative detainers, inter-facility transfers, and broad enforcement. Then, the government claimed courts were ill-equipped to second-guess executive judgments about security. Now, ICE exploits jurisdictional distance and detention opacity to achieve the same result. In both cases, law is bent until it breaks. And in both cases, distance does the dirty work. The Japanese internment camps were deliberately located in remote locations far from the detainees’ homes, legal networks, and communities. Geographic isolation was strategic. It severed people from their attorneys, witnesses, political allies, and anyone who might raise uncomfortable questions. Distance transformed detention into disappearance.

Axios [2/9/2026 6:20 AM, Staff, 17364K] reports a shift in Trump-era immigration policy is reverberating through Pittsburgh, underscored by the stories of two local immigrants who were recently detained by ICE while awaiting asylum rulings. The cases of José Flores in Oakmont and Maklim Gomez Escalante in Brentwood — both asylum seekers with valid work permits and no criminal records — rattled the region and raised questions about what it means to immigrate "the right way" in Trump 2.0. Flores, a Nicaraguan immigrant, was released from ICE custody on Saturday, his attorney Peter Rogers told Axios — more than a week after his detention sparked public outcry. It drew the attention of Democratic U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, and his employers at Oakmont Bakery, who worked to reunite him with his family. Gomez Escalante, an asylum seeker from El Salvador, was detained in mid-January, TribLive reported. He is currently being held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, per federal records. People with pending asylum claims under humanitarian parole, like Flores, are permitted in the U.S. while they await a decision, Pittsburgh immigration attorney Joseph Murphy tells Axios. But authorities still have the power to detain them during that process — even though that’s not how such cases have typically played out in the U.S., he says. "Historically, we’ve let asylum seekers — especially those who entered legally at the border — wait free in the United States, let them get work permits, Social Security cards, and driver’s licenses just like (Flores) did," Murphy says.

CBS News [2/9/2026 6:56 PM, Mike Hellgren, 51110K] reports an undocumented Maryland mother whose teenage son died while she was in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has now asked to be deported to her native Mexico. Officials did not release Arlit Martinez-Carrada in time for her to see her son before he died of cancer. She was able to attend his funeral in late January. An official with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told WJZ that Martinez-Carrada entered the country illegally four separate times before her arrest on January 3 in Salisbury, Wicomico County. Three days into the new year, ICE agents pulled Martinez-Carrada over as she drove her husband’s car on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. She had no criminal record, but had been living in the U.S. illegally since 2004 after she entered from Mexico, according to court records. At the time of her arrest, Martinez-Carrada’s 15-year-old son, Kevin Martinez, a U.S. citizen, was fighting cancer. The day after Martinez-Carrada’s arrest, her son’s condition worsened significantly. Immigration attorney Sarah Takyi-Micah remembers getting an urgent call the day after Martinez-Carrada’s arrest. Takyi-Micah recalled how she told Martinez-Carrada about her son’s death with the help of her paralegal and Kevin’s oncologist on the phone. "It was traumatic, and unfortunately, I had to be the bearer of bad news in that moment. I had to inform Arlit in detention that her son had just died, and that was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do," Takyi-Micah said. "…I had to watch Arlit break down right in the interview room in the detention center. We were separated by glass. I couldn’t console her. I couldn’t…I mean, if I’m being honest, I was in tears." Getting Martinez-Carrada to her son’s funeral was no easy task. "They couldn’t tell me exactly where they had taken her," Martinez-Carrada’s lawyer said. "I was able to locate her in New Jersey a few days after that." ICE had transferred Martinez-Carrada to Delaney Hall in New Jersey, a controversial detention center that has been the target of protests. A Haitian immigrant died there in December. Takyi-Micah worked with Carolina Curbelo, an immigration lawyer in New Jersey, to free Martinez-Carrada in time to attend her son’s funeral on January 31 in Salisbury. She stressed that it took a team of people to navigate this single case and secure her client’s release. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen’s office also asked the federal government to release Martinez-Carrada so she could attend the funeral. "No thanks to ICE. That’s thanks to all the members of the community and everybody who pushed to make sure at least she could be present for the memorial service," Senator Van Hollen told Hellgren. Martinez-Carrada’s lawyer said her client now plans to self-deport back to Mexico. "If she feels that this journey would be better for her to go back to her home country so she can heal and start a new life, start fresh from this, I guess that is ultimately her decision as to what she wants to do," Takyi-Micah said. Martinez-Carrada’s surviving children are ages 16, 12 and 9. Her lawyer said they are all United States citizens.

CBS News [2/9/2026 6:38 PM, Staff, 51110K] Video: HERE reports Baltimore City council plans to advance bills limited immigration enforcement

NewsMax [2/9/2026 6:18 PM, Solange Reyner, 3760K] reports Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an arrest detainer against a Mexican national accused of attempting to kill his former girlfriend in Charlotte, North Carolina, urging local officials not to release him from custody without notifying federal authorities. ICE officials said the detainer was filed last week after Jamie Iram Gamez Cadena was arrested on suspicion of attempted first-degree murder in connection with a stabbing. According to ICE, Gamez Cadena repeatedly stabbed the woman that same day. An ICE detainer is a request asking local law enforcement agencies to hold a person for up to 48 hours beyond their scheduled release so federal immigration officers can take custody. ICE said the detainer was issued to prevent Gamez Cadena from being released in Charlotte. "Sanctuary politicians repeatedly place dangerous monsters like this above the safety of American citizens," said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement. "We are calling on North Carolina politicians to commit to not releasing this attempted murderer from jail back into American communities.” McLaughlin criticized what she described as a pattern of not cooperating with federal immigration enforcement in the state. "Unfortunately, the state of North Carolina has a history of refusing to cooperate with ICE and releasing criminals back onto our streets to create more victims," she said.

Breitbart [2/9/2026 5:56 PM, John Binder, 2238K] reports an illegal alien has been sentenced to a year in prison for assaulting a pair of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Florida, Breitbart News has learned. Fredy Aureliano Morales-Ramirez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, may spend a year in federal prison after pleading guilty to forcibly assaulting an ICE agent. In August of last year, ICE agents attempted to arrest Morales-Ramirez, who had a final deportation order from a federal immigration judge, in Lake Worth Beach, Florida. Morales-Ramirez violently resisted arrest by grabbing an agent’s genitals, attempting to grab an agent’s handcuffs, and trying to choke an agent. Local police ultimately helped ICE agents arrest Morales-Ramirez. The ICE agents sustained injuries as a result of the arrest. Morales-Ramirez will likely be deported from the United States after serving his sentence.

Bloomberg [2/9/2026 11:12 AM, Megan Crepeau, 763K] reports that attorneys were scheduled to inspect a Minnesota federal building Monday morning to gather information for their proposed class suit alleging that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees have systematically been denied access to counsel, records show. After emergency filings related to a dispute over ground rules for the visit, Judge Nancy Brasel ruled Sunday that attorneys on both sides could speak to detainees at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building "on topics relevant to the case" but couldn’t bring in cellphones or cameras. The Twin Cities area has been the recent focus of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, and plaintiffs in the suit filed in late January said the crackdown "has created an unprecedented and dangerous level of chaos in Minnesota." Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials over the weekend sent plaintiffs’ attorneys "ground rules" including a ban on cellphones and recording devices—and, ICE said, "the expectation is that counsel will not engage with detainees," according to a Sunday filing from the plaintiffs. "Critically, counsel for Plaintiffs note that the detainees are putative class members, and ICE’s attempt to bar Plaintiffs’ ability to access and learn facts from these putative clients is emblematic of the issues at the heart of this case," the filing states. Brasel ultimately said lawyers for both sides would be allowed to "interact" with detainees on relevant subjects.

New York Times [2/9/2026 12:51 PM, Brett Anderson, 148038K] reports that Students at Partnership Academy were expected back from Thanksgiving break on the same day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began “Operation Metro Surge” in the Twin Cities. As the weeks wore on, the number of empty desks at the school, where the student body is more than 90 percent Hispanic, shocked the staff. “Once we started to see ICE in our neighborhoods, there was a real blow to our attendance,” said MJ Johnson, Partnership’s executive director. Located in Richfield, an inner-ring suburb of Minneapolis, Partnership is proud of attendance rates that consistently exceed the statewide average. Much of that success is because of incentives designed to enable learning and keep its 533 elementary and middle school students coming to school every day, Ms. Johnson said. Free hot breakfasts and lunches are essential to that approach. But after Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agents on Jan. 7, more than 60 percent of students at Partnership started staying home, prompting the school to switch to fully remote learning. Beyond being deprived of in-person instruction, the students are also cut off from the meals they normally receive. Fear of ICE agents — compounded by reports of law-abiding Minnesotans, including children, being taken into custody — has left thousands of local residents scared to leave their homes. Attendance is markedly down at several schools in the area. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

Reuters [2/9/2026 5:07 PM, Kanishka Singh, 16072K] reports a Palestinian woman, who lost dozens of family members in the Gaza war, has been hospitalized following a seizure in U.S. immigration detention, the Department of Homeland Security said on Monday. On February 6, 2026, at about 8:45 p.m., "medical staff at the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, notified ICE that detainee Leqaa Kordia was admitted to Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Burleson, Texas, for further evaluation following ⁠a seizure," a DHS spokesperson said. Kordia, a 33-year-old Muslim Palestinian woman living in the U.S. and whose mother is an American citizen, was detained by U.S. immigration authorities early last year. She was detained during a meeting with immigration officials at the Newark Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office, where she was accompanied by her attorney. At the time of her detention last year, Kordia was in the process of securing legal residency. The Homeland Security Department says Kordia, who was raised in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was arrested for immigration violations related to overstaying her expired student visa. Kordia has said she was targeted for pro-Palestinian activism and cast the conditions in her detention facility as "filthy, overcrowded and inhumane."

Houston Chronicle [2/9/2026 4:33 PM, Claire Partain, Julián Aguilar, 2493K] reports this school year alone, the district’s immigrant student enrollment has plummeted by 22% — the first decline for that student group since COVID, according to records obtained by the Chronicle. Thousands of students are now staying home from school out of fear of being detained, cutting them off from their education and future careers, according to advocates, educators and immigration experts. Over time, they warn, the fallout could mean school funding cuts, population declines and a weaker economy for Houston.

New York Times [2/9/2026 5:37 AM, Anna Griffin and Loren Elliott, 148038K] reports that People in Wilder, Idaho, didn’t give much thought to the dusty horse track west of town known as La Catedral Arena, where, on Sundays in the summer and early fall, vendors sold horchata and tacos, announcers called race results in Spanish and immigrant families gathered for reasonably priced fun. But when federal agents swarmed the track on Oct. 19 — weapons drawn, a helicopter overhead, unmarked S.U.V.s screeching in on dirt roads — they did more than crack an alleged gambling ring and increase deportation numbers. They shattered Wilder’s innocent belief that its out-of-the-way location and deep-red politics could isolate the town from the raids overtaking other parts of the country. “We rely on Hispanic labor,” said Chris Gross, a second-generation farmer who grows sweet corn seed and mint in Wilder. She added, “Nobody thought something like this could happen here.” The raid on La Catedral may not have made the national headlines that immigration sweeps in Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles did, but it illustrated the depth and breadth of President Trump’s effort to find and rid the country of undocumented immigrants; 75 people rounded up that day have since been deported, according to local immigration lawyers. Beyond the economic impact, there is the social one — the profound sense of uncertainty and suspicion that has filtered down, even to a town like Wilder, Idaho. The raid “nearly destroyed” the community, said David Lincoln, a longtime Wilder resident and executive director of a nonprofit economic development agency serving rural towns in western Idaho. Wilder won’t really know the impact until planting season begins this spring.

FOX News [2/9/2026 12:39 PM, Rachel del Guidice, 37576K] reports that an Arizona restaurant is making waves online for saying that it is giving free meals to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal law enforcement personnel. In a recent video shared on social media by the outlet Pulso, Sammy’s Mexican Grill is highlighted as a restaurant that respects federal immigration enforcement agents, and even offers them free meals. In the video of a Spanish interview translated to English, Jorge Rivas, who owns the restaurant, says, "Everyone who works for ICE, all federal agents can come to Sammy’s Mexican Grill. Here, they will be treated with respect and as they deserve." In a recent podcast interview published on The Ray Stevens Show on Feb. 4, Rivas further explained that the restaurant has long displayed a sign welcoming law enforcement and offering them free meals. "We here at Sammy, which is the name of our restaurant, Sammy’s Mexican Grill. We have a sign if you come into the door into the restaurant, it just says, ‘Welcome to Sammy’s, where law enforcement always eats free,’" Rivas said. "And we have this sign for about five, probably five years or more," Rivas added. "And that’s because we personally feel that it is important to recognize the sacrifice that law enforcement does every day protecting every single citizen, putting their life on the line, even though they don’t know personally who are they protecting. But, you know, you and I know that once we’re in trouble, we call 911, and we expect someone to show up as soon as possible." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Francisco Chronicle [2/9/2026 7:00 AM, Laura Waxmann, 3833K] reports that the Trump administration has given the San Francisco Housing Authority 30 days to verify the citizenship status of an unspecified list of tenants who are receiving rental assistance from the agency. The housing authority has reached out to residents in at least one building, the Chronicle has learned. A nonprofit housing provider confirmed that some of the organization’s tenants were contacted last week and told they had to turn over certain documents within 15 days. The request comes as part of a new directive from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, San Francisco officials confirmed. The Mayor’s Office on Housing and Economic Development, which acts as a partner to the housing authority, said the agency and others across the country received similar letters from HUD last month. The order comes nearly a year after HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced an effort to ensure that federal housing assistance would no longer be granted to ineligible residents or sanctuary cities by “eliminating any ambiguity in policy.” “This list reflects a small percentage of total Section 8 households in San Francisco,” MOHCD spokesperson Anne Stanley said, without providing an exact number of tenants targeted. Many details about the directive remain unclear: HUD did not immediately provide a response to a series of questions, including what happens if the city’s Housing Authority does not meet the tight deadline, or what would happen to tenants on the list. Several San Francisco nonprofit landlords contacted by the Chronicle said they had not seen the list and, as of Friday, were unclear on how to assist targeted households meet the time-sensitive order.

USA Today [2/9/2026 1:17 PM, Jennifer Cortez, 70643K] reports that students at several Coachella Valley high schools plan to walk out of class Monday afternoon, Feb. 9, to protest federal immigration enforcement and how it’s affecting student safety, learning and well-being. The student-led demonstration, scheduled for 2 p.m., is intended as a continuation of earlier protests — not a "one-and-done" effort, said Shayan Habibipour, a junior at Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage. "That’s not how change works." Monday’s rallies are expected to mainly include students from several schools in Palm Springs Unified School District. They come about two weeks after a nationwide protest Jan. 30 that drew students as young as middle schoolers into marches across the Coachella Valley over growing discontent over the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. The Jan. 30 walkouts and marches coincided with a national day of action. On Monday, students from Rancho Mirage, Cathedral City and Mt. San Jacinto high schools, along with Palm Valley School, plan to walk out and gather at Patriot Park in Cathedral City. Palm Springs High School participants are expected at Sunrise Park, while Desert Hot Springs High School students plan to assemble outside Desert Hot Springs City Hall. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

San Diego Union Tribune [2/9/2026 11:24 AM, Karen Billing, 1257K] reports Torrey Pines High School students planned a walkout on Feb. 6, taking a stand against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and standing in solidarity with immigrant communities. During their fourth period on Friday, around 12:40 p.m., hundreds of students walked from the high school down Del Mar Heights Road to Del Mar Highlands Town Center, holding signs that read messages like “Families belong together” and “I’m missing my lesson to teach you one”. Similar student-led walkouts were planned across the city that day, including at High Tech High Mesa, Clairemont High and Madison High. San Dieguito Academy students had a walkout last month. Trey Riddle, a junior at Torrey Pines, worked with friend Leah Archdale to organize the walkout, in response to ICE and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) actions that are becoming increasingly violent. Two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal officers during enforcement actions in Minnesota last month. “We felt it was very important to protest because everyone seems to have a mentality of ‘oh someone should really do something about this’ but we never really seem to hold the politicians accountable who actually can do something about this,” Trey said. “We understand that our school’s protest wasn’t going to lead to the nationwide abolition of ICE as a whole, but we felt we could ignite local change.” Among the students’ calls for action were for San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria to better protect citizens and for Escondido Mayor Dane White to cancel a $67,500 contract with DHS allowing the use of a city-owned shooting range to train ICE agents. Students were also calling on San Dieguito Union High School District not to allow immigration officers on campus without warrants.

NPR [2/9/2026 12:41 PM, Ximena Bustillo, 28764K] reports that dozens of asylum cases filed by Somali migrants in immigration courts were suddenly rescheduled and recategorized over the weekend, according to four lawyers interviewed by NPR. NPR has learned that lawyers across at least three states, Minnesota, Illinois and Nebraska, received notices starting Friday night that moved up hearings for their clients to later this month and next month. Some of these hearings were previously scheduled to take place by 2028; others hadn’t yet been scheduled. More than 100 cases have been affected, based on interviews conducted by NPR, but attorneys NPR spoke with said the count is likely higher. NPR spoke with the four attorneys on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals for their clients. They argue that this appears to be a coordinated effort between the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Department of Homeland Security to reject Somali asylum applications without court hearings. Such a move would fast-track their deportation and limit due process. (The Executive Office for Immigration Review is an agency inside DOJ that houses immigration courts.). President Trump’s rhetoric toward Somali immigrants, as well as his administration’s emphasis on deportations, raises concern that the notices represent the first step toward the removal without due process of Somali asylum applicants in the country. There are about 3,254 pending cases from Somali immigrants in immigration court, according to the latest data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, and nearly half are out of Minnesota, home to the largest Somali community in the country. Lawyers who spoke with NPR said in all of their rescheduled cases, the clients were Somali citizens who entered the U.S. between 2018 and 2024.

San Diego Union Tribune [2/9/2026 2:26 PM, Lisa Deaderick, 1257K] reports that Following last week’s last-minute court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from ending protections for Haitian immigrants, a sense of relief has spread among immigrant rights advocates and the Haitian community. It’s a momentary relief, however, as the fight for those protections continues. “We know the fight isn’t over, so I haven’t had the heart to celebrate because I have to be very attentive to the government’s response, while also looking for other ways to protect the community. That’s where we are right now,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, during a phone call from Springfield, Ohio, last week. The San Diego-based Haitian Bridge Alliance is a community organization that advocates for just immigration policies and addresses the specific issues of Black migrant communities, providing services and resources and collaborating with other organizations doing similar work. For Jozef, the daughter of Haitian parents who were community activists and who immigrated to the United States with her family when she was a child, the organization began with a phone call in 2014. At that time, some Haitians were stranded at the U.S.-Mexico border, and someone called her to see if she could help them. She thought it would be a one-time thing, but in 2016, the arrival of Haitian and other Black migrants at the border increased, and according to her, their needs were not being met.

USA Today [2/10/2026 4:03 AM, Kathleen Wong, 67103K] reports the demand for golden visas has gained steam in 2026, with Greece recently expanding its program with a new way for investors to gain citizenship. At the start of the year, the European country added another pathway to its golden visa program by investing about $259,000 in startups listed on its national registry, Elevate Greece. The new option breaks away from the previous model of purchasing real estate alone, broadening the program beyond those just interested in buying property. The country is one of the most popular among Americans looking to establish residency overseas, with no signs of slowing down in 2026. In Dec. 2025, the number of Americans granted Greek golden visas increased by 49% compared to the same month in 2024, according to Enness Global, a mortgage brokerage firm helping high-net-worth individuals purchase a second citizenship. "For many Americans, Greece offers a compelling combination: relatively low entry thresholds for a developed European market, improving economic fundamentals, and lifestyle access within the E.U., all of which are increasingly hard to find elsewhere," said Islay Robinson, CEO of Enness Global. At the same time, Greece can channel foreign investment into its economy instead of the housing market. Though golden visas have been around for decades, they’ve skyrocketed in recent years as a way for high-net-worth individuals to "buy" residency in other countries. In an Oct. 2025 La Vida American Investor Survey of over 10,000 U.S.-based clients, 76.4% said they’re seeking a second residency or citizenship as a Plan B, mainly due to political reasons and rising healthcare costs, followed by the consideration of a potential future relocation.

Bloomberg Law [2/9/2026 2:18 PM, Patrick Dorrian, 763K] reports the Department of Homeland Security defeated a bid by four Customs and Border Patrol officers to revive their union-backed sex discrimination lawsuit over the agency’s use of female-only shifts. Evidence supported a jury’s finding the department had a bona fide reason for its gender-based occupational qualification for night shifts at the Port of Tampa, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled Feb. 6. A CBP handbook provides that officers conducting searches must be the same gender as those being searched and the suing officers didn’t show there was a "way to rearrange job responsibilities.

NBC News [2/9/2026 7:35 AM, Staff, 42967K] Video: HERE reports a federal judge has ordered the release of a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent’s text messages sent to family and colleagues after shooting at a Chicago woman five times. Marimar Martinez, a U.S. citizen, allegedly rammed her car into agents’ vehicles at a protest, which she denies. WMAQ’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.

Daily Wire [2/9/2026 7:15 AM, Jennie Taer, 2314K] reports that a lone child emerged from the brush along the banks of the Rio Grande River in Hidalgo, Texas, last month, availing herself to Border Patrol agents. The girl told the agents she was heading to Chugaik, Alaska, to live with her sponsor, Douglas Price, who was later determined to be a 44-year-old registered sex offender, according to the Department of Justice. Price allegedly funneled $5,000 from his business to pay migrant smugglers to bring the child and his mother across the border. The child, who was separated from her mother before crossing, was rescued before she ended up in the hands of a criminal, thanks to the Trump administration’s crackdown on sponsors of unaccompanied alien children. "This man allegedly paid smugglers to bring an illegal alien child and mother to this country, and in doing so, the child ended up alone during the dangerous journey," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said. "Under POTUS, vetting of sponsors for unaccompanied alien children is as strong as ever, and federal partners found this ‘sponsor’ to be unfit. It is a crime to smuggle illegal aliens into this country, and particularly horrendous to expose a child to untold dangers. Working with our federal partners, we will continue to uphold the law and in doing so, keep children from potential harm," Blanche added.

Houston Chronicle [2/9/2026 12:34 PM, Jarrod Wardwell and Caroline Wilburn, 2493K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security has for more than two weeks withheld the identities of the federal border agents, reportedly from Texas, who shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minnesota. In a statement to the Chronicle, a DHS spokesperson likened a ProPublica report identifying the two agents to doxing and said releasing their identities would place their lives and families at "serious risk." ProPublica named the shooters as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez, 35, both from South Texas. "Thanks to the malicious rhetoric of sanctuary politicians, they are under constant threat from violent agitators," an unnamed DHS spokesperson said, referring to federal officers. DHS’s decision not to name the agents differs from the norm at the Houston Police Department, which declined to comment for this story but volunteers the first initial and last name of officers involved in a fatal shooting, along with their patrol division and years of experience, while an investigation is underway. Other local law enforcement agencies, such as the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and Pearland Police Department, do not broadcast that information. The sheriff’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment, has avoided naming deputies in news conferences and news releases about shootings involving their personnel.

Los Angeles Times [2/9/2026 2:44 PM, James Queally, 12718K] reports a former LAPD officer was able to fly in and out of the country several times and live freely in Southern California for more than a year despite an active warrant for his arrest in the 2015 killing of a homeless man, according to his defense attorney and L.A. County prosecutors leading his pending murder case. A grand jury indicted Clifford Proctor, 60, in September 2024, after the district attorney’s office reopened an investigation into the shooting death of Brendon Glenn. Proctor shot Glenn, 29, twice in the back during an attempted arrest in 2015 in Venice Beach. Glenn was unarmed. Proctor, who resigned from the LAPD in 2017, was not arrested until last October, when he was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Los Angeles International Airport. Law enforcement sources previously told The Times that Proctor was returning to the country from an international flight when CBP arrested him on the murder warrant. But in a November court filing, Proctor’s defense attorney, Tom Yu, provided exhibits and sworn statements showing his client had been in the U.S. and was planning to depart the country on the day he was arrested. Travel documents included as an exhibit in a court filing show Proctor was scheduled to fly from Los Angeles to Panama City on Oct. 16, 2025. A sworn declaration from Proctor’s wife submitted to the court by his lawyer shows he has flown internationally to the Caribbean island Trinidad four times since September 2024, when the indictment was handed down. During the time he wasn’t traveling, Proctor was living in L.A. County, according to Yu, who said the district attorney’s office never made an attempt to arrest the ex-cop. A CBP spokesman said agents encountered Proctor several times "at airports outside the state of California" after the indictment was handed down. However, the terms of the warrant prevented them from making an arrest. "The warrant was restricted to ‘in-state pick-up only’ and did not permit extradition to California," said the spokesman. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office said the warrant was filed that way by special prosecutor Lawrence Middleton, who was hired by then-Dist. Atty. George Gascón to reexamine Glenn’s death. Both Gascón and Middleton declined to be interviewed for this article.

New York Times [2/9/2026 9:42 PM, Chris Cameron and Vjosa Isai, 148038K] reports President Trump threatened on Monday to block the opening of a new bridge between the United States and Canada if Canadian officials did not address a long and growing list of grievances, escalating diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Amid a trade war and a deepening rift between the United States and its northern neighbor, Mr. Trump said that he would “not allow” the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, scheduled to open early this year for traffic between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, “until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.” The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobbying group, denounced the president’s threat in a statement, writing that “whether this proves real or simply threatened to keep uncertainty high — blocking or barricading bridges is a self-defeating move.” It was not immediately clear how Mr. Trump would block the opening of the bridge. Its construction was paid for by Canada, and a public-private arrangement , under which Canada and Michigan would jointly operate the crossing, gives Michigan part ownership.

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [2/10/2026 2:36 AM, Staff, 2238K]

Chicago Tribune [2/9/2026 9:36 PM, Tess Kenny, 5209K] reports the Trump administration has denied the state of Illinois’ appeal for a disaster declaration that would have unlocked federal assistance to thousands of residents affected by heavy rains and flooding last summer, a decision that Gov. JB Pritzker denounced as politically driven. After a bout of severe storms through July and August, the state — alongside the city of Chicago and Cook County — had requested federal aid for survivors and public repairs. However, President Donald Trump in October denied Illinois’ application while approving other states’ requests for aid, a divide that primarily bowed to party lines. The state appealed the denial on Nov. 21. But on Saturday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which dispenses disaster aid, reaffirmed its initial decision, stating that supplemental federal assistance wasn’t warranted in this case, the state’s Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security announced in a news release Monday. The second denial specifically applies to federal aid requested for residents across Cook, Will, Kane, McHenry and Boone counties who were affected by storms that swept the region from Aug. 16-19. Heavy summer rains displaced residents, left thousands without electricity, led to collapsed ceilings from water damage, flooded basements and roadways, overflowed rivers, broken boilers and other large appliances, and triggered ground stops at Midway and O’Hare International airports. Pritzker in a statement lambasted the second denial as a “politically motivated decision that punishes thousands of Illinois families in a critical moment of need.” “Playing politics with disaster relief funding is a new low,” he said, “even for the Trump Administration.”

FOX News [2/9/2026 3:05 PM, Brooke Singman, 37576K] reports Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Sen. Amy Klobuchar introduced a bipartisan measure to crack down on money laundering by increasing penalties and ensuring laws apply to systems used by drug traffickers and terrorists. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced the "Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Finance and Counterfeiting Act" Friday to enhance criminal money laundering statutes. The bill would update counterfeiting laws to prohibit state-of-the-art counterfeiting methods and increase penalties for bulk cash smuggling. The bill would also ensure money laundering laws apply to informal value transfer systems that are often used by drug traffickers and terrorists. Grassley and Klobuchar also said the bill would prohibit the cross-border shipment of blank checks for the purpose of evading reporting requirements. The bill also would establish a new money laundering violation that would prohibit the transfer of funds into or out of the United States — funds specifically being transferred with the intent to violate U.S. income tax laws. The bill would also prohibit conspiracies to create illegal money services businesses; grant wiretapping authority to investigate currency reporting, bulk cash smuggling, illegal money services businesses and counterfeiting offenses; and grant the U.S. Secret Service the explicit authority to investigate ransomware crimes and other uses of unlicensed money transmitting; and would ensure compliance with financial institutions.

CBS News [2/9/2026 9:26 PM, Joe Walsh, 51110K] reports the U.S. military struck its 39th alleged drug-carrying boat on Monday, killing two people and leaving one survivor who is now the focus of a search-and-rescue effort. The military’s Southern Command said in a post on X it struck a vessel that was "operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations" and "engaged in narco-trafficking operations." It did not name the group that allegedly operated the boat, but the Trump administration has listed several Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist groups. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson told CBS News that Southern Command notified it on Monday about a "person in distress," and the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Ecuador is organizing a search-and-rescue effort for the person. FOX News [2/9/2026 8:24 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] reports that following the strike, the unit said it immediately notified the US Coast Guard to activate a search-and-rescue system for the lone survivor who escaped the lethal attack. Aerial footage released by the agency shows a vessel halting shortly after getting struck by the weapon. "Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations," the unit said. Monday’s strike marks the third US attack this year since the campaign began last September. CNN [2/9/2026 8:29 PM, Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, 18595K] reports that "On Feb. 9, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations," SOUTHCOM said on X, noting the US Coast Guard had been notified to activate a search and rescue mission for the survivor. A Coast Guard spokesperson told CNN in a statement that "Maritime Rescue Coordination Center Ecuador has assumed coordination of search and rescue operations," and that USCG would provide technical support. The New York Times [2/9/2026 9:42 PM, Eric Schmitt, 148038K] reports that the strike was the second authorized by Gen. Francis L. Donovan, a Marine who became Southcom’s new leader last week, overseeing U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was the 38th strike announced by the Trump administration in a campaign against drug trafficking from Latin America, particularly Venezuela and Colombia, which began in early September. The campaign began with strikes in the Caribbean but has most often targeted vessels in the eastern Pacific, according to a tracker maintained by The New York Times. The strikes have now claimed 130 lives. Since the campaign started, only two other people are known to have survived a U.S. military airstrike; they were eventually rescued. A third person survived a strike on Jan. 23, but was never found and is presumed dead.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [2/9/2026 7:58 PM, Costas Pitas, Idress Ali, and Jasper Ward, 38315K]
NBC News [2/9/2026 9:28 PM, Mosheh Gains, 42967K] r

FOX News [2/9/2026 11:18 AM, Ashley Carnahan, 37576K] reports that the Providence Police Department on Monday released body camera footage showing officers’ response to the Dec. 13 mass shooting at Brown University, along with audio recordings from emergency calls and radio traffic from the incident. Police said portions of the materials were redacted following public records requests to protect the privacy and dignity of victims and witnesses, remove graphic or highly sensitive content, and comply with exemptions under the Access to Public Records Act. Audio recordings included in the release show that Brown University Police began communicating with Providence emergency dispatch shortly after 4 p.m., as reports of the shooting first emerged. At approximately 4:11 p.m., a caller said that officers had a suspect description of an individual wearing all black and a ski mask, with an unknown direction of travel. Body camera footage later captures the officer in charge formally advising dispatch at 4:16 p.m., "Be advised, it’s an active shooter situation." Police then conducted a methodical, floor-by-floor search of the Barus & Holley building in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, directing responding units to look for the suspect and any additional victims. Two students, Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, 18, and Ella Cook, 19, were shot and killed by Claudio Manuel Neves-Valente inside the building’s Tanner Auditorium, also known as Room 166, during an economics exam review session, according to the newly released Providence police incident report. Nine other victims were ultimately transported to Rhode Island Hospital with gunshot wounds. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reported similarly:
CBS Miami [2/9/2026 9:58 AM, Staff, 51110K]

New York Times [2/9/2026 3:41 PM, Miriam Jordan and Kevin Williams, 148038K] reports that bomb threats on Monday forced the temporary closure of schools and municipal buildings in Springfield, Ohio, where the sizable population of Haitians has made the small city a focus of the debate over immigration and President Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Governor Mike DeWine told reporters that “bomb threats” began around 7:45 a.m. “These are threats that referenced Haitians,” he said. “The essence was, Get rid of Haitians.” Mr. DeWine noted that unlike previous threats, which were purely electronic, the threats on Monday involved suspicious packages found at two locations in the city. He said that F.B.I. agents were in the city, and called the threats “despicable.” It is not the first time that Springfield has faced bomb threats, and the city was back in the news last week after a federal court ruling staved off the possibility of deportations of hundreds of thousands of Haitians nationwide. The court case has been closely watched in Springfield. The city had been mobilizing to support the more than 10,000 Haitians living there as the federal government moved to revoke temporary protections and make many of the immigrants deportable. On Monday morning, the local school district said that all buildings were being evacuated, and the district instructed families to pick up their children.

NewsMax [2/9/2026 8:39 AM, Charlie McCarthy, 3760K] reports U.S. military forces overnight interdicted an oil tanker after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, the Department of War said early Monday. In a post on X, the Pentagon described what it called a decisive enforcement action against the tanker Aquila II, which officials said was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s quarantine of sanctioned vessels originating in the Caribbean. The operation, conducted in the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility, reportedly concluded without incident. "When the Department of War says quarantine, we mean it," the post declared, using language that underscored the administration’s hard-line posture. "Nothing will stop DoW from defending our Homeland — even in oceans halfway around the world.” According to the statement, U.S. forces carried out a "right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding" after tracking the tanker across multiple regions. War Department officials said the Aquila II attempted to evade enforcement by traveling thousands of miles, but was ultimately intercepted in the Indian Ocean. The Pentagon emphasized the operation as proof of unmatched American reach and capability. "No other nation on planet Earth has the capability to enforce its will through any domain," the post said. "By land, air, or sea, our Armed Forces will find you and deliver justice.” While full operational details remain classified, defense analysts cited by multiple media outlets noted that such long-range maritime tracking typically involves a combination of satellite surveillance, naval patrols, and allied intelligence sharing. The interdiction highlights the expanding role of the U.S. Navy in enforcing sanctions and maritime security far beyond traditional theaters. The Trump administration has repeatedly argued that strict enforcement is necessary to counter illicit oil trading, sanctions evasion, and the funding of hostile regimes and proxy groups.

Reported similarly:
Daily Wire [2/9/2026 8:27 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2314K]

Politico [2/9/2026 4:00 PM, John Sakellariadis, 21784K] reports President Donald Trump has directed top U.S. spy agencies to share sensitive intelligence about the 2020 election with his former campaign lawyer, known for pushing debunked theories of electoral fraud, according to four people with knowledge of the effort. The intelligence that top U.S. spy agencies are furnishing to Kurt Olsen — now a temporary government employee in the White House — is meant to support a probe he is leading into whether Joe Biden’s 2020 election win was the result of fraud or other electoral irregularities, said the people, who, like others in this article, were granted anonymity for fear of retribution. It’s unclear whether there are any limits to the types of sensitive materials Olsen has access to. Two of the people familiar with Olsen’s work specified that he has at least reviewed some sensitive compartmented intelligence programs, which are among the most highly classified material stored by U.S. spy agencies. One of the people said he leans on Trump when he needs something — including access to highly classified intelligence reporting — from different spy agencies. “Every time he hits a roadblock, he just calls POTUS,” said the first person familiar with Olsen’s work. The decision to provide some of the government’s most sensitive spy material to Olsen is unusual, given that he has no known experience working with the U.S. spy community and only joined the Trump administration as a short-term special government employee in October 2025. Special government employees are supposed to work no more than 130 days during any period of 365 days, suggesting his time at the White House could end soon.

AP [2/9/2026 7:27 PM, Andrea Rodríguez, 35287K] reports that Cuban aviation officials have warned airlines that there isn’t enough fuel for airplanes to refuel on the island, the latest step in its moves to ration energy as the Trump administration cuts the Caribbean nation off from its fuel resources. The government of Cuba published the notices to airlines and pilots on Sunday night, warning that jet fuel won’t be available at nine airports across the island, including José Martí International Airport in Havana, starting Tuesday and continuing until March 11. Political pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on Latin America has effectively severed Cuba’s access to its primary petroleum sources in Venezuela and Mexico. In late January, Trump signed an executive order that would impose a tariff on any goods from countries that sell or provide oil to Cuba, a move that could further cripple an island plagued by a deepening energy crisis. While the rationing may not disrupt shorter regional flights, it presents a significant challenge for long-haul routes from countries like Russia and Canada — a critical pillar of Cuba’s tourism economy. On Monday, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to the island, while other airlines announced delays and layovers in the Dominican Republic before flights continued to Havana.

New York Times [2/10/2026 12:02 AM, James Wagner, 148038K] reports the Nicaraguan government blocked Cuban migrants from entering the country without a visa, cutting off what was once a popular and profitable route to the United States that had drawn the ire of the Trump administration. The Nicaraguan migration agency announced on Sunday that it was ending an exemption that allowed Cubans to enter the Central American country without a visa. The Nicaraguan government did not provide a reason for the change in its announcement, which was signed on Sunday by Juan Emilio Rivas Benítez, the director of the migration agency. But the move was seen by experts as an attempt by Nicaragua’s co-presidents — Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario Murillo — to ease pressure from the Trump administration. Ms. Murillo, who acts as the government’s spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

AP [2/9/2026 2:04 PM, Regina Garcia Cano, 35287K] reports Venezuela’s top prosecutor said on Monday that his office had requested the arrest of one of the closest allies of opposition leader María Corina Machado, less than 12 hours after his release from a detention facility as part of a government move to free those facing politically motivated accusations. The attorney general’s statement did not say whether Juan Pablo Guanipa was rearrested, or give indication of his whereabouts. The government had released him along with several other prominent opposition members on Sunday following lengthy politically motivated detentions. Attorney General Tarek William Saab’s office posted on social media that it had “requested the competent court to revoke the precautionary measure granted to Juan Pablo Guanipa, due to his non-compliance with the conditions imposed by the aforementioned court.” It did not elaborate on what conditions Guanipa, a former governor for the opposition, violated during the hours he was free, but said authorities were seeking house arrest. Guanipa’s son, Ramón, told reporters Monday that a group of men in three vehicles intercepted his father and others traveling around 11:45 p.m. Sunday in a neighborhood in the capital, Caracas. They were armed with long guns and wore civilian clothes and bulletproof vests. Ramón Guanipa said authorities have not yet notified him of his father’s whereabouts and their decision to place him on house arrest. He said his father did not violate the two conditions of his release — monthly check-ins with a court and no travel outside Venezuela — and showed reporters the court document listing them.

FOX News [2/9/2026 10:24 AM, Staff, 37576K] reports that President Donald Trump comments on the state of U.S.-Iran peace talks from Air Force One. Fox News senior strategic analyst Ret. Gen. Jack Keane gives analysis on ‘America’s Newsroom.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [2/9/2026 9:06 AM, Jamie McIntyre, 1147K] reports that when President Donald Trump announced last October that he was ordering the Pentagon to “immediately” start testing nuclear weapons on an equal basis,” with “other countries” no one was sure exactly what he was referring to. A few days later Trump told CBS’s 60 Minutes, “ Russia’s testing nuclear weapons, and China’s testing ‘em too. You just don’t know about it.” “They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration,” Trump told CBS’s Norah O’Donnell. “We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I don’t wanna be the only country that doesn’t test.” On Friday, in remarks before the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the administration’s top nuclear arms official formally accused China of conducting a secret underground tests — including detonating a nuclear explosive in 2020 — while employing sophisticated methods to avoid detection by seismic sensors. "Today, I can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons," said Thomas DiNanno, the undersecretary of state for arms control. "The PLA [Peoples Liberation Army] sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognized these tests violate test ban commitments. China has used decoupling — a method to decrease the effectiveness of seismic monitoring — to hide their activities from the world. China conducted one such yield producing nuclear test on June 22 of 2020."

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