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.

Breitbart [2/7/2026 1:26 PM, Randy Clark, 2238K] reports a new bill proposed by Congressman Tony Gonzales (TX-23) will add stronger protections to elite Border Patrol Tactical Groups deployed to enhance security at public events or assist with law enforcement responses to mass shootings or other mass casualty terror events. The Homeland Threat Response Act Gonzales proposes comes as hundreds of U.S. Department of Homeland Security personnel deploy in advance of Sunday’s Super Bowl. The Homeland Threat Response Act proposes to add language to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In the act, language authorizes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the United States Secret Service to deploy personnel and resources during critical incidents involving mass shootings or other violent events across the country. The bill introduced by Gonzales will now include U.S. Customs and Border Protection into the existing language of the Homeland Security Act to end any bureaucratic or legal obstacles for Border Patrol tactical group such as the agency’s BORTAC and BORSTAR teams, that routinely assist state and local law enforcement in responses to critical threats and violent incidents, including mass shootings and acts of terrorism.

CBS News [2/7/2026 9:51 AM, Staff, 51110K] reports while drones give Super Bowl viewers some of the coolest shots of the game, they also impact security. "CBS Saturday Morning" explores how. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

The AP [2/7/2026 5:35 PM, Safiyah Riddle, 31753K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration can continue to detain immigrants without bond, marking a major legal victory for the federal immigration agenda and countering a slew of recent lower court decisions across the country that argued the practice is illegal. A panel of judges on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday evening that the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to deny bond hearings to immigrants arrested across the country is consistent with the constitution and federal immigration law. Specifically, circuit judge Edith H. Jones wrote in the 2-1 majority opinion that the government correctly interpreted the Immigration and Nationality Act by asserting that "unadmitted aliens apprehended anywhere in the United States are ineligible for release on bond, regardless of how long they have resided inside the United States." The Daily Wire [2/7/2026 11:43 AM, Amanda Prestigiacomo, 2314K] reports that the ruling comes in contrast with activist judges releasing illegals while their cases are being processed through a bond option. The administration says this undermines general immigration enforcement and limits its ability to detain and remove illegals who are a public safety or national security concern — a key promise of Trump’s 2024 presidential run. The Daily Caller [2/7/2026 11:02 AM, Mark Tanos, 803K] reports Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated the decision on social media, calling it "a significant blow against activist judges who have been undermining our efforts to make America safe again at every turn," according to a post on X. Bondi credited Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Ben Hayes, who argued the case, along with Brett Shumate and the DOJ Civil Division. "We will continue vindicating President Trump’s law and order agenda in courtrooms across the country," she wrote. The 2-1 ruling reversed two lower court orders and found that the administration acted within its authority when it changed how federal detention laws apply to illegal immigrants, according to the court opinion. Judge Edith Jones, a Ronald Reagan appointee, wrote the majority opinion joined by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, a Trump appointee.

New York Times [2/7/2026 3:19 PM, Ernesto Londoño and Hamed Aleaziz, 148038K] reports the top lawyer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minnesota left the agency in recent days, exiting as a crush of litigation stemming from the immigration crackdown in the state has overwhelmed the court system. The lawyer, Jim Stolley, the outgoing chief counsel for ICE in the state, has not publicly addressed the circumstances of his departure. Starting this week, emails sent to his government account generated an automated response noting that he had “retired from public service.” Mr. Stolley, a veteran of the agency, did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed on Saturday that Mr. Stolley had retired this week. He had worked for the immigration agency for 31 years, she said. The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, which began in December, has generated an enormous amount of litigation in both immigration courts and in the main federal court system. Hundreds of immigrants are fighting deportation orders as well as the circumstances of their detention. Government lawyers have failed to respond in a timely manner to the pile of lawsuits and court orders stemming from the mass roundup of immigrants. The top federal judge in Minnesota, Patrick J. Schiltz, recently criticized ICE for violating more than 100 judicial orders. Those orders include several rulings demanding that the government release people from custody. “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence,” Judge Schiltz wrote in a ruling late last month.

Reported similarly:
CNN [2/7/2026 8:08 PM, Kit Maher and Aleena Fayaz, 18595K]

The Hill [2/8/2026 6:00 AM, Al Weaver, 12595K] reports pessimism is increasing across the Capitol that lawmakers will reach a deal to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as they point fingers over the lack of talks and float canceling the upcoming recess. Senators return to Washington on Monday facing a sprint to strike a deal and avoid a shutdown that would affect agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard. Democrats, facing intense pressure from their base to rein in Trump’s deportation crackdown, have insisted GOP lawmakers acquiesce on including far-reaching immigration reforms in the funding bill. Republicans have little appetite to even put most of those demands on the table. And, with a Feb. 13 deadline looming, negotiations hadn’t even gotten off the ground by the end of last week. When asked of his level of optimism that a deal could come together by then, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) responded: “About a minus squillion.” Kennedy placed the blame squarely on Democrats. “It’s not enough time. … This is not about reforming DHS. This is about the Karen wing of the Democratic party that wants to defund ICE, just like they wanted to defund the police,” Kennedy said. “I think even if we agreed to every one of [Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s] suggestions, I don’t think most Democrats would vote for the bill because the Karen wing of the party would punish them.” Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) laid out the party’s 10-item wishlist in a letter to Republican leaders on Wednesday night — much of which was repurposed from their previous asks after Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis. Atop their demands is requiring immigration agents to obtain judicial warrants and for ICE and CBP agents to un-mask while engaged in immigration operations. Both have landed like a thud with the GOP, who insist there will not be action on either front.

The Hill [2/7/2026 11:11 AM, Steff Danielle Thomas, 18170K] reports Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) signaled Saturday that he could move to bring Democrats’ proposal for an overhaul of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics to the Senate floor, saying the plan “deserves a vote.” The message comes after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) sent a letter to Republican leaders on Wednesday laying out their demands for reform within the Department of Homeland Security IDHS) and its agencies. Senators in both parties have shown no signs of budging, however, which has held up negotiations. A lapse in funding for the department — which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — will lapse next week if a deal is not reached. This would affect not only ICE and CBP but also shutter the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, among other agencies. Graham in his post also called on his colleagues to vote for the Protect America Act, introduced by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), that would “strengthen our immigration laws.” He also invoked his own bill to end sanctuary city policies for illegal immigrants, which nearly held up the Senate vote on government funding.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [2/7/2026 12:49 PM, Staff, 3760K]

NewsMax [2/7/2026 11:32 AM, James Morley III, 3760K] reports senior FBI officials under Director Kash Patel ordered agents to halt a civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer, amid concerns the probe could undermine public statements made by President Donald Trump and senior administration officials, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. The New York Times reported on Saturday that federal prosecutors in Minnesota initially moved quickly to treat the killing as a standard use-of-force civil rights case, the typical process when a federal officer shoots a civilian. Joseph H. Thompson, a senior federal prosecutor, sought a search warrant to examine Good’s SUV for forensic evidence, including bullet trajectories and blood spatter, and planned for the FBI to work jointly with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. But as FBI agents prepared to execute the signed warrant, they were abruptly ordered to stop. Sources told the Times the directive came from senior officials, including Patel, who feared that a civil rights investigation, and the warrant obtained under that legal theory, could contradict Trump’s claim that Good had "violently, willfully, and viciously" struck the ICE agent with her vehicle. Instead, Justice Department leadership urged prosecutors to pursue alternative investigative approaches, including seeking a new warrant under the theory that Good’s vehicle may have been used to assault the ICE officer, or shifting focus toward investigating Good’s partner. Career prosecutors reportedly objected, viewing the strategy as legally questionable and politically inflammatory in a state already roiled by clashes involving federal immigration agents. The dispute triggered a dramatic wave of resignations in Minnesota’s U.S. attorney’s office.

Washington Post [2/8/2026 6:00 AM, Kadia Goba, 24149K] reports on Tuesday, Rep. Andrew R. Garbarino (R-New York) plans to lead what is likely to be the most contentious and closely watched hearing of his short tenure as a House committee chairman. The focus is the Trump administration’s surge in immigration enforcement in Minnesota and elsewhere that has included the shooting deaths of two people in Minneapolis by federal authorities. The Homeland Security Committee hearing, which follows public blowback against the administration’s actions, is notable for a Republican-led House that has scaled back oversight hearings since President Donald Trump returned to office. It will be led by a chairman who also stands out — both for his rapid ascent into the ranks of House leaders and for his reputation as a moderate willing to break with his party on high-profile issues. Garbarino, 41, faces the challenge of leading the interrogation of top immigration officials at the peril of angering the White House over Trump’s marquee policy of immigration — at time when polls suggest a majority of voters disapprove of the president’s handling of it. Those scheduled to testify Tuesday include leaders at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and Citizenship and Immigration Services. Former congressman Peter T. King, a Republican who represented the same district as Garbarino for 28 years, said it will be a difficult balancing act for the third-term lawmaker, who ascended to chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in July. “He’s going to run the risk of Democrats saying he’s stonewalling, and he’s protecting ICE,” King said, while some Republicans on the committee are going to say “you can’t give an inch” in defending the administration. Garbarino’s temperament suits him well for what’s ahead, King said. “He has a good style,” King said, adding that Garbarino doesn’t get rattled easily. “He’s not going to be hitting somebody with the gavel.” Garbarino, in an interview, said he doesn’t see his job Tuesday as protecting the administration. “One of our roles is congressional oversight,” he said. “It’s not my job at this hearing to tout any accomplishments.” During the hearing, Garbarino, who practiced law before joining Congress, said he plans to ask questions about the training of immigration agents and their use of force, among other topics.

Breitbart [2/7/2026 11:00 AM, Ian Hanchett, 2238K] reports on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street,” Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) discussed the situation in Minneapolis and said that “Whenever there’s use of deadly force, what do you do? You put the member of law enforcement who had to use deadly force, tragically, on administrative leave with pay, and you have an independent third party investigate it and come to conclusions. The Democrats have wildly overreacted.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [2/7/2026 12:36 PM, Staff, 1323K] reports the 700-plus habeas corpus petitions mentioned in Friday’s 5th Circuit detention ruling represent only a portion of the legal challenges stemming from Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, where federal courts are dealing with an unprecedented volume of immigration detention cases. Since Dec. 1, more than 4,000 arrests in the Twin Cities area have generated hundreds of legal filings. The operation has also resulted in two civilian deaths during encounters with federal agents. “This flood of new litigation imposes an enormous burden on this U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Daniel Rosen, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, wrote in a recent court filing. His office has redirected resources from other civil enforcement work to handle immigration detention challenges. Minnesota’s chief federal judge Patrick Schiltz found that ICE violated at least 96 court orders in the state during January. The 427 habeas petitions filed in Minnesota in January compared to the typical 10 or fewer filed in previous months. By early February, the number had surpassed 700. One analysis found detainees prevailed in 134 of 236 cases examined between Jan. 22 and month’s end. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has asked judges from Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and North Dakota to help handle Minnesota’s caseload. Judge Daniel Traynor from North Dakota volunteered and has denied releases in all but one of his assigned cases. Federal agents shot and killed Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24, both U.S. citizens. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem initially defended the shootings and characterized both individuals as domestic terrorists. The administration later adjusted its messaging.

Breitbart [2/7/2026 3:26 PM, Nick Gilbertson, 2238K] reports White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Alex Marlow Show in an exclusive interview that Border Czar Tom Homan "is the perfect guy" to head up deportation operations in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Marlow said that he believes "Homan is the perfect guy to be in charge" in Minneapolis and asked Leavitt for an update on the situation there. "Tom Homan is the perfect guy to be in charge of Minneapolis, and that’s why President Trump sent him there," Leavitt agreed. "It was a great decision, and it’s proven true over the last two weeks.". Since Homan’s arrival, he has reached agreements with local authorities for illegal aliens in their custody to be turned over to federal authorities. In response, the federal government has reduced the number of federal agents on the ground. "What was happening before Tom showed up is that the local jails were refusing to hand over illegal aliens to ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] when they were being released," Leavitt said. "That’s obviously unacceptable because Governor Walz and Mayor Frey were just allowing these very violent criminals to walk freely out of the jails and back into the community.".

NBC News [2/7/2026 3:14 PM, Matt Lavietes and Austin Mullen, 42967K] reports a month after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer in Minneapolis, her partner spoke out on Saturday, condemning the federal government’s immigration crackdown that took Good’s life and urging the city to remember those whose names are never known. In a rare statement issued through her attorney, Becca Good thanked the city and said she was "so proud to call Minneapolis my home." She also criticized the federal government’s immigration enforcement operation in the Twin Cities, during which federal law enforcement killed her partner and ICU nurse Alex Pretti, 37. "Renee was not the first person killed, and she was not the last," she said. "You know my wife’s name and you know Alex’s name, but there are many others in this city being harmed that you don’t know — their families are hurting just like mine, even if they don’t look like mine.". "They are neighbors, friends, coworkers, classmates. And we must also know their names," she added. "Because this shouldn’t happen to anyone.".

Univision [2/7/2026 7:43 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports dozens of protesters were arrested Saturday outside a federal building in Minneapolis, breaking up a protest commemorating the one-month anniversary of the death of Renee Nicole Good, a Minnesota woman, at the hands of an immigration agent. Good died on January 7 while fleeing immigration agents in his car in a Minneapolis neighborhood. His death, and that of another Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, a few weeks later, have fueled nationwide outrage over President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration policies. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building around noon and threw bottles and sex toys at a line of police officers guarding the building. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office said the arrests began after the crowd started throwing chunks of ice and property damage occurred. An officer was hit on the head and the windshield of a police vehicle was broken, the sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page. Police declared the gathering illegal and ordered the protesters to leave. Many complied, according to the Star Tribune, but about 100 remained, engaging in a confrontation with officers and state police .

FOX News [2/7/2026 6:48 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports more than 40 anti-ICE agitators were arrested at a protest, Saturday, outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [2/7/2026 10:18 PM, Bernard Mokam148038K] reports local authorities declared an unlawful assembly after protests on Saturday escalated near a federal building just outside Minneapolis, leading to at least 50 arrests, the county sheriff’s office said. The incident occurred outside the B.H. Whipple Federal Building, a facility that has become both a staging ground for immigration agents and a hub for demonstrations against the crackdown in the Twin Cities. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office noted that while “many individuals” peacefully assembled, “some agitators” hurled chunks of ice at law enforcement, striking a sheriff’s deputy in the head and breaking the windshield of a squad car. “This is not the first time our vehicles have been damaged at this location,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Dispersal orders have been issued. Individuals must leave the area immediately. Failure to comply will result in enforcement action.” The agency requested support from the Minnesota State Patrol and the state’s Department of Natural Resources, who regularly offer conservation officers to assist law enforcement operations. Of those arrested, 25 people were detained by state troopers for failing to comply with dispersal orders, the Minnesota State Patrol said in a statement. No weapons were used during the arrests, and one officer suffered minor injuries, the agency said.

AP [2/7/2026 6:54 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports several dozen protesters were arrested Saturday outside a federal building in Minneapolis, breaking up a protest marking the one-month anniversary of a Minnesota woman’s death at the hands of an immigration officer. Renee Good was killed on Jan. 7 as she was driving away from immigration officers in a Minneapolis neighborhood. Her death and that of another Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, just weeks later have stoked outrage nationwide over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Scores of protesters gathered across the street from the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building around midday, throwing bottles and sex toys at a line of police guarding the property. The Hennepin County Sheriff’s office said that the arrests began after the crowd started throwing chunks of ice and some property was damaged. A deputy was hit in the head, and a squad vehicle’s windshield was smashed, the sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page. Police declared the gathering unlawful and ordered protesters to leave. Many complied, the Star Tribune reported, but about 100 remained in a standoff with deputies, state troopers and state conservation officers. The sheriff’s office later told television station KSTP that at least 42 arrests were made. No one from the sheriff’s office responded to email, voicemail and text messages from The Associated Press on Saturday afternoon.

Reported similarly:
FOX News [2/7/2026 8:18 PM, Alexandra Koch, 37576K] Video: HERE

New York Post [2/8/2026 12:28 AM, Ariel Zilber, 40934K] reports a Minneapolis anti-ICE protest one month after the death of Renee Good grew bizarre Saturday when the demonstrators started waving sex toys — and even hurled them at one of their own who helplessly shouted "I’m on your side" as he was pelted. The randy rioters were first seen hurling the objects over fencing at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, where officers later gathered discarded sex toys from the street while crowds chanted against ongoing immigration raids in the Minnesota city. At one point, the anti-ICE mob was caught on video slamming what appeared to be dildos onto the passerby’s pickup truck — even as he repeatedly insisted he supported their cause during a chaotic protest. The driver had anti-ICE signs displayed in the back of his truck, including one reading "NUREMBERG 2.0," and could be heard shouting at the crowd, "Do you see my f–king sign?" as protesters surrounded the vehicle. At one point, the man pulled out additional placards, including one that read "We all have eyes," but the effort did little to slow the confrontation as several demonstrators continued striking the hood with dildos.

New York Post [2/7/2026 7:54 PM, Josh Koehn, 40934K] reports a protester in downtown Los Angeles threw objects at federal agents early Saturday morning before turning toward offices and brandishing a gun as they sought to detain him, prompting agents to fire pepper balls as the suspect fled on foot, authorities said. The encounter unfolded in the Civic Center area along Alameda Street between Aliso and Temple streets, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The area has been a hotbed of political activity over the last year, as protests against President Trump’s policies and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement actions have frequently devolved into riots and violent clashes with police. Police said the suspect turned toward the agents during the encounter and displayed a gun. Agents responded by firing pepper-ball munitions, but the suspect escaped and remained at large as of Saturday afternoon. No injuries were reported, and police did not immediately release a description of the suspect or the firearm. Authorities said the investigation was ongoing and urged anyone with information to contact law enforcement.

New York Post [2/7/2026 8:47 PM, Anna Young, 40934K] reports an Ivy League-educated activist and a socialist union worker are plotting to take their California anti-ICE playbook coast-to-coast – assembling a network of protesters to block federal immigration operations. Caleb Soto, a Los Angeles lawyer for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and Thomas Malone, a San Fernando Valley Democratic Socialists of America leader, traveled east last week to school New York socialists on militant tactics to interfere with federal immigration enforcement at local businesses. Soto – who branded ICE and Border Patrol agents "armed thug kidnappers" during a radical huddle in the Big Apple – touts a Harvard University degree in social studies on his LinkedIn profile. The rabble-rouser, who has reportedly participated in a string of LA-based standoffs with federal authorities, graduated from the elite institution in 2009 before heading to Yale Law School, where he earned his law degree in 2014.

Chicago Tribune [2/7/2026 4:13 PM, Jason Meisner, 5209K] reports a federal judge in Indiana has ruled immigration officials are unlawfully detaining a Chicago man acquitted last month of charges he offered money for the killing of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino. Juan Espinoza Martinez, who has lived in Chicago for decades but is not a U.S. citizen, was taken into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and transferred to a jail in Clay County, Indiana, on Jan. 23, a day after a federal jury found him not guilty of murder-for-hire. On Friday, U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon in Terre Haute ruled that Espinoza Martinez was unlawfully denied a bond hearing, where a judge would assess factors such as risk of flight and danger to the community in deciding whether he should be released pending his immigration proceedings. Hanlon, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Donald Trump in 2018, ordered that a bond hearing be held for Espinoza Martinez by 5 p.m. Wednesday, court records show. If no hearing is afforded, authorities must “release him from custody, under reasonable conditions of supervision,” and provide proof of it to the court, Hanlon ordered.

Chicago Tribune [2/7/2026 9:18 AM, Michelle L. Quinn, 5209K] reports U.S. Representative Frank J. Mrvan has taken his opposition regarding a potential Merrillville immigrant processing center to its source. Mrvan, D-Highland, on Thursday sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem expressing that opposition. While he believes that people arrested should be prosecuted accordingly, he’s "deeply troubled by this Administration’s pattern of actions that undermine the constitutional civil liberties guaranteed to all people under the laws of the United States." Accordingly, he said he’s strongly opposed to "any plan to convert a commercial warehouse in Indiana’s First Congressional District into an ICE detention facility." Town officials maintain that they still haven’t been approached by anyone about putting a processing center in town.

NewsMax [2/7/2026 11:59 AM, Jim Thomas, 3760K] reports House Republicans plan a vote next week on the SAVE America Act, a voting requirements bill that would pair proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration with a nationwide voter ID mandate at the polls, as GOP leaders try to pressure the Senate while lawmakers race toward a mid-February deadline to keep the Department of Homeland Security funded. President Donald Trump has pushed Republicans to move the bill, writing on Truth Social that "America’s Elections are Rigged, Stolen, and a Laughingstock all over the World" and urging the party to fight for voter ID, proof of citizenship for registration, and limits on mail voting in federal elections. House conservatives are also urging Senate Republicans to force a so-called talking filibuster, requiring opponents to hold the floor in continuous debate rather than relying on the Senate’s current 60-vote threshold for ending debate on most legislation. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Lee introduced the updated SAVE America Act in late January. Roy’s office said the new bill adds a voter ID requirement for federal elections while keeping the proof-of-citizenship requirement for registration.

New York Post [2/7/2026 10:28 AM, Staff, 40934K] reports that overly aggressive ICE enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis, has taken a heavy toll on President Trump and his party, but they have a winning path ahead: Remain moderate on immigration enforcement and pivot to their strength — the economy. Absent excessive enforcement, Democrats’ message on immigration will be driven by the extremists who’ve dominated the party on this issue for a decade now: Ideologues who want to abolish ICE altogether and insist any immigration enforcement is illegitimate. On immigration as everything else, most Americans will take moderation over extremism any day. Dems are already overplaying their hand as they try to exploit public backlash over ICE-related chaos and the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good for as long as possible. Driven by the radicals, Democrats have even fallen back into "shut down the government!" mode. Sen. Chuck Schumer and other adults cut a deal to prevent the extremists from shutting down almost half the government for another prolonged standoff; now the only threat is to stop funds for (most of) the Department of Homeland Security starting Feb. 14. But Democratic leaders are reportedly wary of actual debate over this standoff, and rightly so: Their party’s demand now is for restrictions on ICE and the Border Patrol, including some that would all but halt enforcement. Worse, this shutdown won’t impact ICE; its funding was secured in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year. So Dems are looking only to force Transportation Security Administration agents at airports to work without pay and slow disaster relief from FEMA during national emergencies. Brilliant. Crucially, Trump has already eased up: He withdrew 700 federal agents from Minneapolis, sidelined DHS boss Kristi Noem and Customs and Border Protection chief Gregory Bovino and had border czar Tom Homan strike a deal with state and city officials in Minnesota to expand cooperation. Americans overwhelmingly support immigration enforcement — done with due regard for law and order, which is not what they were seeing in Minneapolis. Ideally, of course, the whole country would get to a broad agreement on immigration policy — solid borders, tough but unintrusive interior enforcement, perhaps a path to legal residency for some who entered illegally but have since been solid "citizens" — and with standards for legal immigration that genuinely serves the nation’s needs. But for now Team Trump should continue enforcing the law, while keeping the president’s promise to concentrate on "the worst of the worst" and reining in agents’ in-your-face approach.

New York Post [2/7/2026 9:43 PM, Andy Ngo, 40934K] reports on Saturday, the Democratic Socialists of America celebrated hitting 100,000 members. Almost on cue, their footprint in organizing anti-ICE so-called "protests" continues to grow. But these are not protests. They are coordinated obstruction campaigns modeled on the playbook of revolutionary insurgency inspired by violent revolutions. That much is clear from the latest reporting in The California Post, documenting how militant far-left activists from the Golden State are advising radicals in New York on the latest tactics for sabotaging federal immigration operations. The objective isn’t dissent. It’s obstruction. These operations are designed physically to obstruct Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents while producing emotionally charged agitprop to be weaponized across social media and sympathetic newsrooms. They seek to manufacture outrage, delegitimize deportations and demoralize federal law enforcement. One familiar tactic is the strategic placement of women at the front of confrontations. When these activists block agents on foot or with vehicles, cameras start recording. Clips of screaming women being arrested are quickly circulated with false narratives claiming innocent women are being "snatched" off the streets arbitrarily. I witnessed this tactic in 2020 in Portland, when the "Wall of Moms" stood at the front of the mob seeking to burn down a federal courthouse in downtown during the George Floyd riots. Behind the "moms"? Masked Antifa militants in black bloc outfits, hurling rocks, frozen water bottles and explosive devices. The California Post reported that Caleb Soto, an attorney from Los Angeles working with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, a group partnered to the DSA, had advised a meeting in Midtown Manhattan hosted by the Chinese Communist Party-linked People’s Forum. Soto instructed his comrades to infiltrate local businesses that might employ illegal migrant workers, in anticipation of possible ICE raids. The plan was explicit: confront federal agents and ensure cameras are ready. These tactics have already fueled online threats and real-world violence against federal officials. They helped spark deadly unrest in Minneapolis and drove an international media frenzy built on lies.

FOX News [2/7/2026 7:04 AM, Mike Davis, 37576K] reports this is a tale of two federal judges — one Trump appointee and one Biden appointee—who separately sentenced two men for their attempted assassinations of a former (and future) president of the United States and a current Supreme Court justice. The Trump judge correctly followed the facts and the law, sentencing the would-be President Trump assassin to life; the Biden judge dangerously followed her political and ideological agenda, sentencing the would-be Justice Kavanaugh assassin — because he now pretends he’s a woman — to less than one-third of the recommended sentence.

Politico [2/7/2026 2:00 PM, Alfred Ng and Katherine Long, 13586K] reports a push to put body cameras on all ICE agents has Democrats running headlong into a new problem: fear that the technology will provide another avenue for mass surveillance of protesters. Congressional Democratic leaders have made universal use of body cameras one of their prime demands for imposing accountability on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, especially after federal agents fatally shot two American citizens in Minneapolis. But after an outcry from privacy advocates that surveillance tools will allow ICE agents to identify and track protesters, Democrats are also calling for restrictions on how the body cameras can be used. Lawmakers and legal observers have accused ICE of leveraging a variety of cameras to surveil protesters, feeding pictures into license plate readers and facial recognition systems. Democrats now worry that the body cameras they’re demanding could be used for similar purposes. Democrats have proposed legislation to limit ICE’s use of facial recognition, but the proposals are unlikely to advance without bipartisan support. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer say they want to tack on restrictions to how ICE can use body camera footage, according to a letter sent to Republican leadership on Wednesday night. “Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities,” the letter says. It’s unclear how the request for new limits on surveillance will affect ongoing negotiations with Republicans to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans already agreed to provide more funding for body cameras for ICE officers before Democrats began pushing for limits on how the images are used.

New York Times [2/8/2026 3:00 AM, Ana Ley, 148038K] reports one frigid January night, a crush of protesters filled a senior center just outside the village of Chester, N.Y. Some dabbed tears under white fluorescent lights as the sound of chanting wafted from the parking lot, where hundreds more sipped hot chocolate and pressed picket signs against the building’s windows. They had gathered to oppose a plan by the federal government to bring its deportation muscle to Chester, a hamlet of 4,000 residents in the heart of a Republican stronghold 60 miles northwest of Manhattan. The idea was to retrofit a former Pep Boys distribution center into a detention facility that could confine as many as 1,500 migrants. But in a moment that foreshadowed the nation’s souring view of President Trump’s enforcement tactics, the proposal ignited instant bipartisan dissent. Republican and Democratic elected officials and residents across the Hudson Valley region lambasted the plan, expressing fears that the immigration operation would overwhelm scarce local resources and unleash a torrent of fraught encounters with federal agents. On social media, there is support for the facility, but it has been muted. “Everywhere that this has happened has been kind of a real dumpster fire,” said Steven M. Neuhaus, a Republican who is the Orange County executive. “It’s been greeted with controversy, protests, violence, and it’s not something that we want in this sleepy county.” Chester isn’t alone. A year into the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, communities across the United States are opposing plans to convert warehouses into detention centers. The warehouses have become a potent symbol for critics who have painted them as inhumane places with grim accommodations. The backlash comes at a time of inflamed emotions over the killing of two protesters by federal agents in Minneapolis, which for weeks has been the epicenter of the nation’s rancorous immigration debate.

Daily Caller [2/7/2026 2:55 PM, Anthony Iafrate, 803K] reports two organizations dedicated to electing Democrats received between them hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from a company which extensively contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, POLITICO reported in its Saturday edition of "Playbook.". The Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and the Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association (DLGA) together received a six-figure haul from CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private prison company and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contractor, according to POLITICO’s review of campaign finance records. While both Democratic campaign arms confirmed to the outlet they received the contributions, they differed in their responses: the DGA opted to keep the funds; the DLGA said they were donating them to a pro-immigration group. POLITICO’s report comes as many elected Democrats across the country have adopted aggressive anti-ICE stances in recent weeks, especially in the aftermath of the fatal Minneapolis shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement officers in January

CBS New York [2/7/2026 1:04 PM, Mark Prussin, 51110K] reports Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued an executive order he says will protect New Yorkers from "abusive immigration enforcement" by the Trump administration and uphold sanctuary city laws. Mamdani signed the order, which he called "a sweeping reaffirmation of commitment to our immigrant neighbors," during Friday’s Interfaith Breakfast at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations have sparked controversy in the Tri-State Area, where across the river Jersey City’s mayor said recently he wanted agents to "get out and never come back." Mamdani also launched a "Know Your Rights" push, a campaign to distribute over 30,000 flyers in multiple languages detailing the rights people have during interactions with ICE, like remaining silent, requesting an attorney and requesting an interpreter. Mamdani’s latest executive order, his 13th since taking office, says city agencies cannot share information collected for city purposes with federal immigration authorities, except when they are required to by law. It gives each agency 14 days to appoint a privacy officer and take other actions to ensure compliance. His order states the NYPD, Department of Correction, Department of Probation, Administration for Children’s Services and Department of Social Services must audit their internal policies on interacting with federal immigration authorities and make public any changes needed to comply. It also says federal agents may not enter city property — like parking garages and lots, schools, shelters, hospitals, and public spaces — without a warrant. City agencies are also instructed to train employees on how to interact with federal immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to CBS News New York that Mamdani’s policy would make New York City less safe. The department said it was urging to mayor to turn over to ICE "7,113 criminal illegal aliens" who are in New York’s custody and have active detainers.

FOX News [2/7/2026 2:04 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani faces backlash after failing to honor ICE detainers and doubling down on sanctuary policies. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [2/7/2026 5:39 PM, Madeline Buckley and Alice Yin, 5209K] reports in a memo sent to employees on Friday, the policy chief for Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said the city’s “ICE on notice” executive order compromises potential prosecutions of federal agents by politicizing the investigations. The executive order announced by Mayor Brandon Johnson last Saturday has resulted in ongoing strife between the mayor and the county’s top prosecutor, who would be responsible for bringing any charges against immigration agents whose conduct in the Chicago area has drawn scrutiny and condemnation. In an email to staff sharing the memo, Burke called the executive order “wholly inappropriate” and said it “jeopardizes our ability to effectively prosecute and secure convictions when federal law enforcement agents have committed a crime.” The document, signed by policy chief Yvette Loizon, sheds more light on the conflicts surrounding the executive order that led to unusually public quarrels between Burke and Johnson, who oversees the Chicago Police Department, which would largely be responsible for investigating possible offenses in the city of Chicago and referring them to Burke’s office.

Univision [2/7/2026 2:19 PM, Staff, 4937K] reports Cristóbal Montiel and his three children were reunited with a brotherly embrace after spending nearly four months in ICE custody. Cristóbal, a single father with a pending asylum case, says that as the days and nights passed in a detention center in Michigan, the only thing that kept him from signing the voluntary release were his three children. “An emotion, a tremendous happiness because, well , I truly love my children very much ,” the immigrant father said, on the verge of tears. “We were already waiting for him outside and we were very happy . I was the first to give him a welcome hug and I am very happy that he has returned,” said Ronald Iván Montiel , one of his sons.

AP [2/8/2026 12:08 AM, Jake Offenhartz, 31753K] reports for days, Luis Ramirez had an uneasy feeling about the men dressed as utility workers he’d seen outside his family’s Mexican restaurant in suburban Minneapolis. They wore high-visibility vests and spotless white hard hats, he noticed, even while parked in their vehicle. His search for the Wisconsin-based electrician advertised on the car’s doors returned no results. On Tuesday, when their Nissan returned to the lot outside his restaurant, Ramirez, 31, filmed his confrontation with the two men, who hide their faces as he approaches and appear to be wearing heavy tactical gear beneath their yellow vests. "This is what our taxpayer money goes to: renting these vehicles with fake tags to come sit here and watch my business," Ramirez shouts in the video. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to inquiries about whether the men were federal immigration officers. But encounters like Ramirez’s have become increasingly common. As the sweeping immigration crackdown in Minnesota continues, legal observers and officials say they have received a growing number of reports of federal agents impersonating construction workers, delivery drivers and in some cases anti-ICE activists. Not all of those incidents have been verified, but they have heightened fears in a state already on edge, adding to legal groups’ concerns about the Trump administration’s dramatic reshaping of immigration enforcement tactics nationwide.

AP [2/7/2026 8:37 AM, Jack Brook, Michael Biesecker, Jim Mustian and Cedar Attanasio] reports Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says his memory was so jumbled after a beating by immigration officers that he initially could not remember he had a daughter and still struggles to recall treasured moments like the night he taught her to dance. But the violence he endured last month in Minnesota while being detained is seared into his battered brain. He remembers Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulling him from a friend’s car on Jan. 8 outside a St. Paul shopping center and throwing him to the ground, handcuffing him, then punching him and striking his head with a steel baton. He remembers being dragged into an SUV and taken to a detention facility, where he said he was beaten again. He also remembers the emergency room and the intense pain from eight skull fractures and five life-threatening brain hemorrhages. Castañeda Mondragón, 31, is one of an unknown number of immigration detainees who, despite avoiding deportation during the Trump administration’s enforcement crackdown, have been left with lasting injuries following violent encounters with ICE officers. His case is one of the excessive-force claims the federal government has thus far declined to investigate. He was hurt so badly he was disoriented for days at Hennepin County Medical Center, where ICE officers constantly watched over him. The officers told nurses Castañeda Mondragón “purposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,” an account his caregivers immediately doubted. A CT scan showed fractures to the front, back and both sides of his skull — injuries a doctor told AP were inconsistent with a fall. Once he was taken to an ICE holding facility at Ft. Snelling in suburban Minneapolis, Castañeda Mondragón said officers resumed beating him. Recognizing that he was seriously hurt, he said, he pleaded with them to stop but they just “laughed at me and hit me again.” It is unclear whether his arrest was captured on body-camera footage or if there might be additional recordings from security cameras at the detention center.

Reported similarly:
Univision [2/7/2026 1:03 PM, Staff, 4937K]

NBC News [2/7/2026 5:09 PM, Mike Hixenbaugh, 42967K] reports an 18-month-old baby held with her parents at a South Texas immigration detention center became so ill last month that she was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening respiratory failure — then sent back to detention days later, where she was denied daily medication doctors prescribed, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday. The toddler, Amalia, remained in detention for another nine days and was released only after lawyers filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court challenging her continued confinement. She was freed Friday after the filing. Amalia had been healthy before immigration officers arrested her family in El Paso in December and transferred them to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, a remote, prisonlike facility where hundreds of immigrant children are held with their parents. Advocates and pediatric experts have warned that conditions at the center are unsafe for young children. Amalia’s health quickly deteriorated, the lawsuit says. On Jan. 18, she was rushed to a children’s hospital in San Antonio, where doctors treated her for pneumonia, Covid-19, RSV and severe respiratory distress. The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. It has defended its use of family detention, saying in statements and legal filings that detainees are provided basic necessities and that officials work to ensure children and adults are safe. CoreCivic, the company that runs Dilley under a federal contract, deferred questions about the facility to DHS and said in a statement that "the health and safety of those entrusted to our care" is the company’s top priority.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [2/7/2026 9:30 PM, Jack Queen, 38315K]

USA Today [2/7/2026 8:09 AM, Michael Collins, 70643K] reports for years, Maher Tarabishi kept his disabled son alive. A chronic muscular disease diagnosed when he was a child had confined Wael Tarabishi to his bed and forced him to depend on a feeding tube for survival. His father became his primary caregiver, doing whatever he needed, whenever he needed it. But when the end finally came, Maher was not at his son’s side. He was in a detention center more than three hours from the family’s home in Arlington, Texas, the same facility where he has been held since he was arrested during a routine check-in with federal immigration officials last October. His family had pleaded for the government to release him on humanitarian grounds so he could continue his son’s care, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied the request. When Wael died on Jan. 23, federal officials barred Tarabishi from performing a final paternal act for his son: They refused to let him go to the funeral. Tarabishi, 62, who is originally from Jordan, is "a criminal alien and self-admitted member of the Palestine Liberation Organization – a murderous foreign terrorist organization that has carried out countless terrorist attacks and plane hijackings," Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. She provided no evidence to back up the claim that Tarabishi was a member of the PLO.

Breitbart [2/7/2026 10:57 PM, Staff, 2238K] reports a detention center in rural Texas has become a harsh symbol of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, with disease breaking out among the throng of people held, including some families who entered the United States legally. The Dilley Immigration Processing Center sits in a small town of just 3,200 people, just about 85 miles (135 kilometers) from the Mexico border, but has become a grim global melting pot. Many detainees were picked up as their asylum claims were being processed or as they were checking in with authorities on their cases, lawyers told AFP, as Trump massively expands the scope of who can be targeted for detention and deportation. "I cry all the time. My son tries to wipe the tear from my eyes," said W, a Haitian woman who along with her son crossed the border legally to seek asylum, under a program run by Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden. Historically, asylum seekers have generally been allowed to live and work in the United States while their claims work their way through the court system. But W and her son were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and sent to Dilley in October, where W says authorities have tried to force her to sign a deportation order. Her testimony, like that of others in this report, was taken by the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a legal advocacy group, and shown to AFP. Many names have been fully or partially withheld. Protests have erupted over bugs being found in the detention center’s food, W said, while lights are kept on 24 hours a day, making it difficult to sleep. On Monday, Texas health authorities warned of two measles cases at the facility, prompting ICE to quarantine some people held there. "These families have become a political pawn," Javier Hidalgo, legal director at RAICES, told AFP.

Houston Chronicle [2/7/2026 3:46 PM, Nancy M. Preyor-Johnson, 2493K] reports a viral series of videos posted on social media this week shows armed immigration agents entering a San Antonio home as residents inside question their authority and ask why the agents are there. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro is calling for an investigation after the footage surfaced, questioning whether agents violated constitutional protections by entering a private residence without presenting a judicial warrant. Saturday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement about the Thursday incident. It said immigration officers were carrying out an arrest warrant for a 34-year-old man. They said they attempted to stop the man, identified as Gonzalo Mejia Ortega, but he resisted arrest and “ran inside his home.” Officers followed him inside the house but, they said, the man fled through a window and is still at large. The incident has intensified scrutiny of immigration enforcement activity in San Antonio and raised broader questions about how federal agents identify themselves and carry out home enforcement actions. Maggie Guillen, who identified herself in social media posts as the homeowner, published videos and images of the incident on Thursday and Friday. She said agents entered her home without presenting a warrant and that there were women and children present. She said those inside the home have legal status and that agents later acknowledged they were searching for the wrong person. She said no arrests were made.

San Francisco Chronicle [2/7/2026 1:21 PM, Zack Ruskin, 3833K] reports Green Day wasted no time in again taking aim at the Trump administration and its policies during an invite-only Super Bowl week concert at San Francisco’s Pier 29. Midway through its set on Friday, Feb. 6, frontman Billie Joe urged any U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to rethink their career choices. “I have a message for ICE agents, wherever you are,” Armstrong declared, addressing the officers responsible for raiding Minneapolis and other cities in recent months. “Quit that sh—y job you have because when this is over — and it will be over at some point in time — Kristi Noem, Stephen Miller, J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, they’re going to drop you like a bad f—g habit.” The remarks about President Trump, his vice president and homeland security team fit squarely within the Oakland act’s tradition of mixing its anthems with political provocation, and landed before a VIP audience that included longtime Trump adversary California Gov. Gavin Newsom. It also offered a potential preview of what many hope the outspoken musician will say when Green Day opens Super Bowl LX on Sunday, Feb. 8, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.

FOX News [2/8/2026 3:54 AM, Ryan Morik Fox, 37576K] reports Jake Paul is in Italy to take in some Olympic action and cheer on his fiancée, speedskater Jutta Leerdam. During his trip, he attended an Olympic hockey game with Vice President JD Vance, but afterward, ICE agents were on his mind, leading him to defend the officers on Saturday – Sunday morning in Italy. "If you don’t like ICE then you can’t call 911 when you’re in trouble. If you don’t respect law enforcement agents then you shouldn’t depend on them," Paul posted on X. Paul then took a shot at Billie Eilish, who defended illegal immigrants in her Grammys acceptance speech. Earlier in the day, Paul criticized American Olympic skier Hunter Hess for saying he had "mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now." "Wow pls shut the f--k up. From all true Americans. If you don’t want to represent this country go live somewhere else," he wrote.

CNN [2/7/2026 9:30 AM, Alisha Ebrahimji, Meridith Edwards, Emma Tucker, 19874K] reports five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his family will have more time to make their case for asylum. At a Friday court hearing for the family’s asylum case, a judge granted a continuance, which postpones the case to a later date, family attorney Danielle Molliver told CNN. There is no indication when the next hearing is expected, said Molliver, who added, "We’re grateful for the outpouring from the community and we remain committed to the family and this community." Attorneys for the family had asked the court for more time to respond to the motion by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the family is not slated for expedited removal and the motion is standard procedure. "There is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws," she said in a statement to CNN. Zena Stenvik, superintendent of Liam’s school district, Columbia Heights Public Schools, said Friday’s ruling "provides additional time, and with that, continued uncertainty for a child and his family," as she stressed the family is asking for privacy.

Telemundo [2/7/2026 12:00 PM, Staff, 2524K] reports the Trump administration said Friday that it is “unfeasible” to grant a visa to college student Any Lucía López Belloza to return to the United States, as recommended by a judge, after a “mistake” that resulted in the young woman’s deportation to Honduras in violation of an emergency court order that prevented it. López Belloza was detained while trying to fly to Texas to surprise her family for Thanksgiving. In mid-January, the Trump Administration apologized in court for a “mistake” that led to the deportation of the Babson College student. The 19-year-old was detained at Boston airport on November 20 and transferred to Honduras two days later. An emergency court order issued on November 21 directed the government to keep her in the United States for at least 72 hours. Federal District Judge Richard Stearns in Massachusetts gave the government until Friday to decide how to rectify its "error," to which a Justice Department lawyer responded in writing that granting her a student visa was "unfeasible" because she "does not appear to meet the requirements" to obtain it. Furthermore, he refused to bring her back because, despite the fact that the Administration committed what he calls an "unintentional violation" of the court order, the student was "subject to a final order of removal and would still be subject to detention and removal if she returned to the United States."

Breitbart [2/7/2026 11:49 AM, Warner Todd Huston, 2238K] reports the federal government has busted a marriage fraud ring that had been working to skirt U.S. immigration laws to get automatic U.S. citizenship for Chinese migrants by marrying American citizens in sham marriages. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida announced the indictment of eleven Chinese migrants on Wednesday. Prosecutors said that the suspects allegedly engaged in a "conspiracy to recruit United States citizens, preferably members of the armed forces, to enter into sham marriages to Chinese nationals for the purpose of evading immigration laws and illicitly obtaining lawful permanent resident status for the Chinese nationals." Prosecutors said the sham marriages took place across the country in states including Florida, New York, Connecticut, and Nevada, among others.

FOX News [2/7/2026 9:54 AM, Alec Schemmel, 37576K] Video: HERE reports one of the nine current leaders of Haiti’s transitional government admitted to Fox News Digital his country is "helpless" to handle the return of its citizens, noting that Haiti relies on billions of dollars generated by U.S., Canadian and French-based migrants to keep its economy going. Leslie Voltaire, a member of the nine-member transitional council leading Haiti ahead of scheduled elections later this year, described a state of total dependency on temporary protected status (TPS) that has now spanned more than 15 years and which President Donald Trump is trying to end. Voltaire warned that a sudden termination of TPS would trigger an immediate crisis because the nation lacks the economic infrastructure to reabsorb as many as 400,000 repatriated citizens from the United States. In November, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a notice indicating that Haiti’s temporary status would not be renewed this month, but in a subsequent 11th-hour ruling earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from ending Haiti’s TPS status. Reyes argued the move was likely motivated by "hostility to non-white immigrants" as opposed to an objective view of the ongoing situation in Haiti. When asked for specific metrics on when Haiti might be stable enough to no longer require its TPS status, Voltaire did not point to anything concrete, like a certain number of police officers, territory controlled or national GDP. Rather, Voltaire said Haiti needs more time, more investment and greater security before the country can be considered stable enough to take back hundreds of thousands of its people.

FOX News [2/7/2026 8:58 AM, Staff, 37576K] reports Fox News Digital sits down exclusively with Leslie Voltaire, one of the nine council members from Haiti’s temporary transitional council that will soon be dissolved ahead of expected elections in the Caribbean country. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [2/7/2026 5:36 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been a lightning rod for criticism amid anti-ICE riots that have rocked the country, sparked a government shutdown and left many wondering whether the nation’s eighth DHS secretary would keep her job. Despite the mounting pressure, Noem appeared calm, collected and confident during a trip this week that included a stop in Mississippi to assess winter storm damage recovery efforts, visits to the southern border in Texas and Arizona as well as the northern border in North Dakota and a barbecue dinner hosted and served by Noem to Border Patrol agents in Arizona. During the first half of the four-day stint, Congress was still dealing with a partial government shutdown largely over how to fund DHS. The House ultimately reached an agreement, funding the agency through Feb. 13, but Noem’s focus remained the same before and after the bill passed, and her schedule was left unchanged. During an exclusive interview along the border wall in Nogales, Arizona, Noem told Fox News Digital the national security functions of the agency are too vital to be sidelined by a spending fight. "Every day [DHS is] finding terrorists and removing them from our country, protecting our cybersecurity systems, our critical infrastructure," Noem told Fox. "Only 11% of the DHS budget is ICE. The rest of it is FEMA, TSA, that runs our security checkpoints at our airports. "It is also the Coast Guard, which is absolutely critical to our maritime protection and also partnering with the Department of War," Noem added. "We have weapons of mass destruction, science and technology, our national labs. "We have a lot of responsibilities that we absolutely need to fund in order to do them properly. So, I’m hopeful that Congress will recognize that and pass this bill quickly."

FOX News [2/7/2026 10:33 AM, Preston Mizell, 37576K] reports the Department of Homeland Security fired a senior Customs and Border Protection official on Thursday after it was revealed that the officer had been allegedly leaking sensitive, personal information about CBP personnel, as well as negotiations regarding the border wall to the press, sources within the department told Fox News Digital. The official, who was unnamed, was marched out of his CBP office in Washington D.C., after DHS discovered the leak, sources said. "As DHS law enforcement face an 8,000% increase in death threats, leaking law enforcement sensitive information is abhorrently dangerous," a DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "DHS is agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant — we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law." It is unclear whether the officer who was fired on Thursday had any involvement in Signal group activities, as sources at DHS could only confirm leaks to the press.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [2/7/2026 3.:24 PM, Jim Thomas, 3760K]

FOX News [2/7/2026 5:25 PM, Staff, 37576K] reports
National Border Patrol Council vice president Art Del Cueto discusses developments in the search for Nancy Guthrie on ‘Fox Report.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [2/8/2026 1:00 AM, Andrew Powell, 803K] reports President Donald Trump has granted major disaster declarations for both Tennessee and Mississippi after the historic and deadly Winter Storm Fern that struck 40 states to close out January. These declarations authorize FEMA Public Assistance to support recovery efforts in the affected counties of each state. "This approval ensures federal resources are available to support Tennesseans, and we are grateful for the Trump Administration’s unwavering support," said Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves stated that due to Trump’s approval of the declarations, "Mississippi will be able to continue our response efforts and better help Mississippians recover," per FOX Weather. The death toll from the catastrophic winter storm has continued to climb in the two weeks since it hit, killing at least 111 people in over 12 states.

The AP [2/7/2026 1:27 PM, Josh Funk] reports an Ohio man has been charged with threatening to kill Vice President JD Vance while he was visiting his home state last month. But the man’s lawyer said his health makes it unlikely he would have been able to carry out the threat. In addition to the charge for threatening Vance, prosecutors also charged Shannon Mathre with possessing digital files depicting child sexual abuse that were discovered during the investigation. That second charge carries a much stiffer potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The charge related to the threats could lead to a maximum five-year sentence. The indictment filed in court doesn’t offer many details about the threat or the images he allegedly possessed, but the Secret Service said the investigation went beyond the online threat to also examine Mathre’s actions and behavior. The 33-year-old Toledo man’s Samsung phone was seized on Jan. 21 as part of the investigation. Mathre is doing back in court on Wednesday for a hearing to determine whether he will remain in custody as the case moves forward. FOX News [2/7/2026 12:35 PM, Rachel Wolf, 37576K] reports the U.S. Secret Service arrested Mathre on Feb. 6. A federal grand jury has since returned an indictment charging Mathre with making the threat against Vance. While investigating the threats, federal agents found "multiple digital files of child sexual abuse materials (CSAM)" in Mathre’s possession, according to prosecutors. Subsequently, the grand jury also charged that "from about Dec. 31, 2025, to Jan. 21, 2026," Mathre engaged in the receipt and distribution of CSAM. Mathre made his initial court appearance on Feb. 6, before a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, the DOJ said, adding that he remains in custody until his detention hearing, which is set to take place on Feb. 11. Breitbart [2/8/2026 12:13 AM, Staff, 2238K] reports Mathre, 33, is a resident of Toledo, Ohio, and allegedly told others in an online post that he is going to learn where Vance is going to be and use an M14 service rifle to kill the vice president. Vance visited northwestern Ohio in January. "Our attorneys are vigorously prosecuting this disgusting threat against Vice President Vance," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said. "You can hide behind a screen, but you cannot hide from this Department of Justice." Secret Service agents arrested Mathre on Friday after the U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio grand jury indicted him earlier in the week. While participating in Mathre’s arrest, federal investigators discovered child sex-abuse materials in his possession. A grand jury indictment says he received and distributed child sex abuse materials from Dec. 31 to Jan. 21 and had several such digital files. He was arraigned on Friday and has a detention hearing scheduled on Wednesday. CNN [2/7/2026 6:58 PM, Kit Maher, 18595K] reports "While arresting this man for allegedly threatening to murder the Vice President of the United States, a serious crime in and of itself, federal law enforcement discovered that he was also in possession of child sexual abuse materials," Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche posted to X on Saturday. Attorney General Pam Bondi also said in a statement, "Our attorneys are vigorously prosecuting this disgusting threat against Vice President Vance." Neil S. McElroy, an attorney representing Mathre, called the count threatening Vance’s life "a farce." "While the charge against Mr. Mathre may buttress the administration’s narrative regarding threats of violence aimed at members of the administration, this particular charge — as it relates to Mr. Mathre and his conduct — is a farce," he said in a statement to CNN. Mathre said he cannot comment on the second count of the indictment regarding child sexual abuse materials, "as the government has not provided any" documents associated with the charge.

Reported similarly:
USA Today [2/7/2026 2:02 PM, Eduardo Cuevas, 70643K]
Daily Caller [2/7/2026 1:27 PM, Mark Tanos, 803K]

NewsNation [2/7/2026 4:30 PM, Meg Hilling, 4464K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 200,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, since launching Operation Pacific Viper in August. The Coast Guard announced the milestone in drug seizures in a press release on Feb 4., calling attention to two recent interdictions, both of which seized over 13,000 pounds of cocaine. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem applauded the success of the operation, adding that it sends a message to foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America. “The more than 75 million lethal doses seized during this operation will never reach our schools and neighborhoods to poison our children or tear apart American families,” Noem said. According to the Coast Guard, 80% of all U.S.-bound narcotic seizures happen at sea. The seizures mark the latest chapter in the Trump administration’s war on drugs, which has included strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

SFGate [2/7/2026 5:33 AM, Staff, 10094K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search Saturday morning for two surfers who went missing in waters off Santa Cruz Friday evening. The two were reported in distress at about 6:30 p.m., about 200 yards offshore from Lighthouse Point. A Coast Guard crew aboard a 47-foot lifeboat from Monterey was dispatched to search the area, along with a Coast Guard helicopter crew from San Francisco. After hours of unsuccessful searching, those two units were relieved at about 1 a.m. by another Coast Guard ship, a 225-foot cutter known as the Alder. The Santa Cruz Fire Department and Civil Air Patrol also participated in the unsuccessful search, which was stopped at about 8 a.m. Sunday after no sign of the surfers was found. About 90 miles was searched for over 10 hours.

Washington Post [2/8/2026 6:00 AM, Peter Whoriskey, 24149K] reports amid a wave of high-profile killings and political violence in the United States, investigators have been confounded regularly by the absence of a recognizable agenda. The assailants in several cases — shootings, a bombing, a planned drone attack — resisted familiar labels and categories. They were not Democrat or Republican, or Islamist militant, or antifa or white supremacist. They were something new. In their manifestos, these attackers declared their contempt for humanity and a desire to see the collapse of civilization. Law enforcement officers and federal prosecutors have begun to describe these attacks as a contemporary strain of nihilism, an online revival of the philosophical stance that arose in the 19th century to deny the existence of moral truths and meaning in the universe. Recent assailants who have been tagged as nihilists include the following: A 15-year-old shooter in Madison, Wisconsin, who left behind a manifesto titled “War Against Humanity” in which she described the human race as “filth.” A 24-year-old man who plotted a drone attack to blow up the Nashville power grid was seeking to precipitate “the start of the end … for the interconnected or otherwise globalized world.” A self-described “anti-natalist,” 25-year-old Guy Edward Bartkus, blew himself up outside an in vitro fertilization clinic in May, having argued that humans should not be brought into existence without their consent. “Basically it comes down to: I’m angry that I exist and that nobody got my consent to bring me here,” the clinic bomber said in a recording posted online. “There’s no way you can get consent to bring someone here, so don’t f---ing do it.” By March, federal prosecutors had adopted the rubric, too, coining a new official term for a variety of this destruction: nihilistic violent extremism, which they defined as “criminal conduct … in furtherance of political, social, religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability.” The first known use of the term came in the prosecution of a Wisconsin teenager who murdered his parents in February 2025 as part of a plot to foment a civil war and assassinate public figures. While the hatred of these attackers sometimes veered into racist views, what stood out to investigators was the broader desire to attack all of society. “We were seeing a set of cases in which the existing definitions did not apply,” said Cody Zoschak, a researcher with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and former New York Police Department counterterrorism analyst who also worked on counterterrorism policy at the State Department.

New York Times [2/7/2026 7:17 PM, Hannah Ziegler, Hannah 148038K] reports a Tennessee man with ties to white supremacist groups pleaded guilty to arson in federal court on Friday for a 2019 attack that destroyed the offices of a social justice center connected to Rosa Parks and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., according to court records. The man, Regan Prater, set fire to the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tenn., near Knoxville, on March 29, 2019, according to court records. He carried out the attack on the center, which was an incubator for the civil rights movement, because of his white supremacist beliefs, according to court records. Mr. Prater, of Tullahoma, Tenn., broke into the center’s administrative building and “intentionally and maliciously” lit a sparkler bomb, which uses a common sparkler firework as a fuse. The early-morning blaze destroyed the center’s main offices and caused roughly $1.2 million in damage, according to court records.

Houston Chronicle [2/7/2026 12:23 PM, Ashley Soebroto, 2493K] reports Texas Attorney General Ken Pax­ton is investigating a Houston-based anti-fascist group, claiming it has encouraged terrorism. In a Friday news release, Paxton said he was taking legal action to acquire documents from the Screwston Anti-Fascist Committee, accusing it of "illegally" identifying Texans and aiding in the commission of terrorism. He said the organization was self-admittedly affliated with Antifa, which President Donald Trump designated as a terrorist group in September. Paxton provided no evidence for the accusations in the news release, and his office did not immediately respond to a request for further information. In addition, Paxton said, merchandise sold by the group "promotes the death of ICE agents and encourages violence by mentally ill “transgender” individuals." Paxton also accused members of Screwston of participating in a recent armed assault on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas.

FOX News [2/7/2026 11:30 AM, Efrat Lachter Fox, 37576K] reports Ambassador Mike Waltz, the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, outlined the Trump administration’s "America First"-centered policies that he is adopting in a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, as the former national security advisor asserts himself in the role. Waltz rejected claims that the present U.N. cash crisis was primarily a result of unpaid U.S. dues. "The United States pays to the U.N. system, more than 180 countries combined," noting, "We have historically been the largest supporter of the U.N., but under President Trump, we’re demanding reform.". Waltz argued the organization has drifted from its founding mission. "There are times where the U.N. has been incredibly helpful to U.S. foreign policy and objectives, but there are also times where it’s working against us," he said. "It has become bloated, it has become duplicative, it has lost its way from its original founding.". Waltz framed the approach as part of an "America First" doctrine focused on accountability for taxpayer dollars and burden-sharing among member states, saying that Washington’s financial leverage is intended to force change. "When we give the U.N. some tough love … these are the American taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars," he said. "At the end of the day, we will get the American taxpayers’ money’s worth, so to speak, out of this organization.".

Breitbart [2/7/2026 10:29 PM, Joshua Klein, 2238K] reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday as U.S.–Iran negotiations advance under mounting tension, with Tehran resisting demands to curb its ballistic missiles, proxy forces, and nuclear program following talks in Oman that Trump said were "very good.". The Prime Minister’s Office announced the meeting Saturday night, saying Netanyahu believes any negotiations with Iran "must include limitations on ballistic missiles and a halting of the support for the Iranian axis.". The visit was moved up at Netanyahu’s request and comes a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump adviser Jared Kushner held indirect negotiations with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Muscat — the first such talks since last summer’s Israel-Iran war. Speaking aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump said Iran appeared eager to reach an agreement and acknowledged another round of talks could come soon.

FOX News [2/7/2026 5:02 PM, Brie Stimson, 37576K] Video: HERE reports U.S. special envoy for peace missions Steve Witkoff along with Jared Kushner and Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), visited the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea on a scheduled deployment Saturday. The visit comes amid tensions with Iran, and Witkoff said the service members were "keeping us safe and upholding President Trump’s message of peace through strength," a day after the U.S. and Iran held talks in Oman to discuss Iran’s nuclear program. "We thanked the sailors and Marines, observed live flight operations, and spoke with the pilot who downed an Iranian drone that approached the carrier without clear intent," Witkoff wrote on X. "Proud to stand with the men and women who defend our interests, deter our adversaries, and show the world what American readiness and resolve look like, on watch every day." The aircraft carrier left San Diego in November for the Indo-Pacific region and moved to the Middle East in January. "I join the American people in expressing our incredible pride in the sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group," Cooper told the service members. "Their dedication to the mission and professionalism are on full display here in the Middle East as they demonstrate U.S. military readiness and strength.". This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he would meet with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to discuss Iran. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [2/7/2026 4:38 PM, David Spector, 40934K] reports the US and Iran will meet again "early next week" after President Trump said the two sides held "very good talks" in Oman, even though the risk of armed conflict remains high as both country’s continue to trade warnings. "We likewise had very good talks on Iran, Iran looks like it wants to make a deal very badly … we’re going to meet again early next week," Trump painted a rosy picture to reporters aboard Air Force One Friday. The US has called on Iran to curb its ballistic missile stockpile and halt its support for terrorist proxies in the region. But Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi slapped down talk of progress, telling state media Saturday that Tehran would not negotiate on any other issue aside from its nuclear program. "Our talks are focused solely on the nuclear issue, and we are not engaging with the Americans on any other subject," he said in an interview with Iran’s Press TV. Araghchi also vowed to continue the country’s nuclear enrichment program, calling it an "inalieable right" in an interview with Al Jazeera.

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