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 Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 3:43 PM, Shelby Holliday, Costas Paris, and Benoit Faucon, 646K] reports the U.S. Coast Guard seized a fifth oil tanker early Friday morning and continued to eye other vessels trying to evade the U.S. blockade on sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, according to U.S. officials. The tanker targeted Friday was the Olina, said the officials and Vanguard, a shipping security and tracking company. The ship, previously named the Minerva M, was sanctioned by the U.S. for its role in transporting Russian oil. The move is likely to inflame tensions between Washington and Moscow days after the U.S. seized a ship that claimed Russian protection and was being escorted by the Russian Navy. A U.S. official said the crew didn’t resist. “The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a social-media post announcing the action. The Coast Guard, supported by the Marines and other military personnel, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to board the ship, according to the U.S. military’s Southern Command. President Trump posted on social media that the seized tanker left Venezuela without U.S. approval. “This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold through the GREAT Energy Deal, which we have created for such sales.” The seizures are being used by the Trump administration to exert pressure on Venezuela’s interim government and take the so-called dark fleet of tankers out of operation. The dark fleet, also known as the shadow fleet, comprises more than 1,000 ships that engage in deceptive activities to conceal their role in transporting sanctioned and illicit oil. Earlier this week, Moscow sent Navy ships to escort the tanker known as Bella 1 as the U.S. military tracked it across the Atlantic Ocean. Two Russian aircraft also flew over the Coast Guard vessel that was part of that mission, according to Coast Guard Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday. In response, the Pentagon sent special forces and firepower to support the boarding and seizure of the Bella 1, including AC-130J military planes and P-8 Poseidon “submarine hunter” aircraft, according to U.S. officials. Politico [1/9/2026 1:08 PM, Gregory Svirnovskiy, 2100K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that the ship was suspected of carrying embargoed oil and that it had earlier “departed Venezuela attempting to evade U.S. forces.” “The world’s criminals are on notice,” she wrote. The tanker, formerly called the Minerva M, was sanctioned by federal officials in January 2025 for its role in the trading of Russian oil amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. “The ghost fleets will not outrun justice,” Noem said. “They will not hide under false claims of nationality. The Coast Guard will seize sanctioned oil tankers, enforce U.S. and international law, and eliminate these funding streams for illicit activity including narco-terrorism.” The AP [1/9/2026 12:43 PM, Konstantin Toropin and Aamer Madhani, 2416K] reports Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship. In her social media post, Noem said the ship was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and it had departed Venezuela “attempting to evade U.S. forces.” The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products following the U.S. ouster of President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid. Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade. The Olina was among that flotilla. U.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.

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CNN [1/9/2026 6:51 PM, Sean Lyngaas, 606K]
Daily Wire [1/9/2026 10:32 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K]
Daily Caller [1/9/2026 12:05 PM, Mark Tanos, 835K]

Breitbart [1/9/2026 11:22 AM, John Binder, 2416K] reports the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is arresting individuals whom officials call the "worst of the worst" in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where resources have been surged following a massive fraud scandal uncovered among the city’s Somali immigrant population. This week, as rioters have sought to impede ICE operations in Minneapolis, agents continued arresting illegal aliens with horrific criminal records, including child rapists, pedophiles, drunk drivers, drug traffickers, and domestic abusers, among others. "In the face of violent attacks, ICE law enforcement arrested pedophiles, rapists, and drug traffickers in Minneapolis yesterday," the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Tricia McLaughlin said: “Every single day our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line to arrest the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American communities. We will not let rioters slow us down from making Minnesota safe again — something Governor Walz and Mayor Frey refused to do.”

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Breitbart [1/9/2026 1:01 PM, Warner Todd Huston, 2416K]

FOX News [1/9/2026 5:27 PM, Louis Casiano, 40621K] reports instead of a quiet day of gratitude, Law Enforcement Appreciation Day came Friday amid escalating conflict over the actions of federal authorities, especially those involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents, and harsh rhetoric from Democratic elected officials. The Department of Homeland (DHS) noted that its officers face a 1,300% increase in assaults, a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks, and an 8,000% increase in death threats against them as they carry out immigration enforcement operations across the country. "On this Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, I want to take a moment to express how thankful I am every single day for the men and women who put on the badge and put their lives on the line to protect the American people," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. "With more than 80,000 officers and agents, our Department is the largest law enforcement agency in the federal government. We recognize the sacrifice you and your families make to protect and serve the American people and our great country." The praise came as federal authorities have increasingly come under attack and scrutiny over the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and the removal of migrants with criminal records.

NewsMax [1/9/2026 10:28 PM, Sam Barron, 4109K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs for the Department of Homeland Security, told Newsmax on Friday that people using vehicles as weapons against law enforcement is on the rise. "We’re seeing that tactic massively increase," McLaughlin said on "Greg Kelly Reports.” "We’ve seen 10 of these in the last 72 hours," she added. "We’ve seen hundreds in the last year.” "It’s up 3,200%," McLaughlin continued. "It’s got to stop. "And it doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican or a Democrat or independent. You don’t impede law enforcement, and you certainly don’t assault law enforcement.” McLaughlin was appearing after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis and two people were shot by Border Patrol agents in Portland, Oregon. McLaughlin said people need to remember that the United States is a country of law and order. "If you are not obeying law enforcement commands and you are interfering with federal law enforcement operations, and then you weaponize your vehicle to hit a law enforcement officer, then they’re dangerous," McLaughlin said. "And in this case, deadly consequences," McLaughlin added. "We do pray for everyone involved.” "No one should lose their humanity in this moment or ever, no matter what side of this you’re on," McLaughlin continued. "But I think we really need to put the facts first. "And I encourage every leader from Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey and beyond to use some real sense. Focus on the facts and not your feelings," she added, referring to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. "If you don’t like the rule of law on the book, go lobby Congress," McLaughlin concluded. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Post [1/9/2026 5:33 PM, Kyle Rempfer, 24149K] reports Minnesota’s top prosecutors will conduct their own review of Renee Nicole Good’s killing by an ICE agent after the state’s criminal investigative bureau said the FBI had cut it out of the investigation. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced the review Friday at a news conference. They said the effort would ensure state authorities have access to investigative materials, such as video and witness statements, if the case merits state-level charges. The decision came a day after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said that the FBI was revoking its access to the case file, scene evidence and witness interviews. State authorities pushed back Friday against arguments that the shooting was outside their jurisdiction.

New York Times [1/9/2026 9:50 PM, Mitch Smith, 153395K] reports with the Minneapolis area in a state of upheaval, Minnesota officials renewed their calls on Friday for state agents to be allowed to help investigate the fatal shooting of a woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer earlier this week. Two days after the federal officer shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on a residential street, immigration agents remained in Minneapolis, public schools were closed and the Minnesota National Guard was activated in what Gov. Tim Walz’s office described as a precautionary move. State and local officials have pressed for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to be allowed to investigate the shooting of Ms. Good alongside the F.B.I., as was initially announced in the hours after the shooting on Wednesday. But after the Trump administration and Minnesota’s Democratic leaders sparred over the circumstances of the killing, state officials said on Thursday that state investigators had been denied access to evidence and were withdrawing from the case. “Our ask is to embrace the truth,” Mayor Jacob Frey said on Friday, adding that he was worried that the federal government had already concluded that the shooting was justified. “Our ask is to include the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in this process, because we in Minneapolis want a fair investigation.” On Friday, the Hennepin County attorney, Mary Moriarty, and the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, announced that they would collect evidence submitted by civilians that would be publicly posted online and could be used in an independent investigation. “I have been on the phone and in meetings with law enforcement, justice leaders and elected officials, discussing ways to ensure a thorough and transparent investigation can occur and be shared with our office,” Ms. Moriarty said in a statement. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said on Thursday that state investigators were not cut out and that “they don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation.” State prosecutors would face significant legal and practical obstacles if they sought to file criminal charges against the ICE officer who opened fire.

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Breitbart [1/9/2026 11:21 AM, Staff, 2416K]

FOX News [1/9/2026 5:10 PM, Ashley Oliver, 40621K] reports the FBI has asserted authority over the investigation into a shooting by an ICE agent in Minnesota, effectively sidelining the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and spurring questions about who has jurisdiction in the case. Federal officials have said the FBI’s jurisdiction is clear when a federal officer’s actions are being reviewed, but state leaders in Minnesota insisted Friday that they will pursue their own parallel inquiry into the incident. The dispute arose after the Minnesota BCA revealed after the shooting that the FBI had shut the BCA out of the investigation. The incident involved an ICE agent appearing on video to shoot and kill 37-year-old Renee Good as she accelerated her vehicle in his direction. It is common for the FBI and state and local agencies to pool resources to investigate crimes that could fall under all their jurisdictions, but Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday the federal government did not view the shooting as one of those cases. Noem framed the incident as an attack on a federal agent, a point Democratic Gov. Tim Walz criticized as a predetermined outcome to an ongoing probe. Democrats have widely condemned the shooting as murder and an improper use of lethal force, but Noem and others in the Trump administration disagreed. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said during a press conference Friday that she felt Minnesota prosecutors did have authority over the ICE agent’s case. Moriarty did, however, acknowledge "complex legal issues" involved in cases involving a federal law enforcement officer.

The New York Times [1/9/2026 8:02 PM, Mitch Smith, Hamed Aleaziz and Julie Bosman, 135475K] reports a cellphone video made public on Friday appears to show the moments leading up to the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis from the perspective of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who killed her. The footage, published by Alpha News, a conservative news outlet, appears to come from a cellphone held by the agent who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good on a snowy residential street on Wednesday morning. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the video was taken by the agent and posted the clip from Alpha News on X. The 47-second video shows the agent getting out of a vehicle and approaching the S.U.V. that Ms. Good is driving, which is partly blocking the street. A black dog sits in the rear seat of Ms. Good’s Honda, its head sticking out of the window. The agent walks around the hood of Ms. Good’s vehicle, and the car begins to move slowly in reverse. Ms. Good, wearing a knit cap and a plaid jacket over a sweatshirt, is heard saying, “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad,” though it is not clear from the footage whom she is addressing or to what she might be responding. She continues talking, but her words become less clear as the agent moves toward the vehicle’s rear. The footage pauses when the agent reaches the back of the S.U.V., which is adorned with several travel bumper stickers and a Missouri license plate. The agent’s reflection can be seen briefly in the footage. He appears to be holding a cellphone, and his face is partly covered. A person standing near the car, believed to be Becca Good, Renee Good’s wife, begins talking when the agent reaches the rear of the vehicle and films the license plate. “That’s OK, we don’t change our plates every morning, just so you know,” that woman says. “It’ll be the same plate when you come talk to us later.” That woman, wearing sunglasses and an orange whistle around her neck, is then shown on camera holding up a phone, apparently filming the agent. “That’s fine,” the woman adds. “U.S. citizen. Former fucking veteran.” The agent then walks toward the front of the vehicle, as the woman stands between him and Renee Good’s S.U.V. “You want to come at us?” she asks. “I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.” At that point, additional federal agents can be heard approaching Renee Good’s car on the other side. “Get out of the car,” one of them says. “Get out of the fucking car.” The Honda moves in reverse, and Renee Good can then be seen turning the steering wheel to the right. By then, the agent who is filming is in front of the vehicle. Someone can be heard saying, “Drive.” As the Honda begins to move forward, the cellphone camera suddenly points toward the sky, and gunshots are heard. It is not immediately clear from the new video whether the Honda made contact with the officer or exactly where he is standing when he fires the shots. Other videos appear to show him just to the side of the vehicle when he fires. CNN [1/9/2026 3:05 PM, Holmes Lybrand, Justin Lear and Sarah Dewberry, 606K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the newly released video backs up what the agency has said – that the ICE agent acted in self-defense. "This footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along – that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement. The officer was in fear of his own life, the lives of his fellow officers and acted in self-defense. The American people can watch this video with their own eyes and ears and judge for themselves," McLaughlin said in a statement on Friday. The AP [1/10/2026 11:57 PM, Rebecca Santana, Tim Sullivan and Giovanna Dell’orto, 28013K] reports a Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer. The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents. The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required. Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] The Washington Examiner [1/9/2026 5:02 PM, Emily Hallas, 1394K] reports the Trump administration on Friday reacted to new video footage that shows the moment a Minnesota woman struck an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with her SUV before he fatally shot her through her windshield. The White House argues that the footage vindicates the officer, proving he acted in self-defense. Vice President JD Vance and others in the administration said newly released cellphone video footage from the ICE officer who killed Renee Good, 37, showed that his “life was endangered, and he fired in self-defense.” The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the same, alleging the footage proves the ICE agent “defended himself from being run over” by Good, who was driving an SUV. A federal investigation into Good’s death is playing out amid widespread debate as to the circumstances of the incident and whether the lethal force was warranted. Videos depicting the deadly incident from different angles have social media users issuing an array of perspectives as to whether the ICE officer and his colleagues unnecessarily escalated the situation and were too “trigger-happy,” or if they were genuinely in fear of their lives and of being “rammed” by Good’s vehicle, as the Trump administration has argued. That debate played out over the latest video released on Friday.

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AP [1/9/2026 7:33 PM, Staff, 31753K]
Chicago Tribune [1/9/2026 6:26 PM, Brian Niemietz, 4829K] r

Washington Post [1/9/2026 9:19 PM, Jonathan Baran, Aaron C. Davis and Jarrett Ley, 24149K] reports cellphone video recorded by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent as he fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis surfaced online Friday, revealing new details about the hotly disputed incident from a perspective rarely seen. The 47-second recording, published by the Minnesota website Alpha News, shows for the first time that Renee Nicole Good spoke to the ICE agent, Jonathan Ross, before he shot her. It reveals that, a split second before the gunfire, Good’s wife urged her to drive away from the scene. It does not show whether Good’s SUV came into contact with Ross, as the Trump administration contends. Vice President JD Vance said Friday that the video exonerated Ross. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense,” Vance wrote on X. Washington Post previously reported that Good’s SUV did move toward Ross as he stood in front of it, according to a frame-by-frame analysis of different video footage. But Ross was able to move out of the way and fire at least two of three shots from the side of the vehicle as it veered past him, according to The Post’s analysis. Neither Ross nor a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security returned messages seeking comment. Good’s wife also declined to comment. On Wednesday morning, less than a minute before the gunfire, Ross walks around Good’s vehicle. As he passes the driver’s side door, she speaks to him through her open window. “That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you,” Good, 37, says. It’s not clear what elicited her comment. In the footage, Ross does not speak before the shooting. Good’s wife, Rebecca Good, confronts Ross as he walks behind the SUV. “We don’t change our plates every morning,” she says, an apparent reference to criticism that ICE agents have swapped license plates on agency vehicles amid immigration sweeps. “Want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy,” she says. As additional agents arrive and instruct Renee Good to get out of her vehicle, Rebecca Good attempts to open the front passenger side door, the video shows. The door does not open. A dog is visible in the back seat. One of the additional agents attempts to open Renee Good’s door. She puts the vehicle in reverse and her wife appears to encourage her to flee. “Drive, baby, drive,” says Rebecca Good. Ross crosses in front of the vehicle as it moves in reverse. The camera briefly captures Renee Good, who had been talking with the agents at her side window, turning her gaze to look ahead through the windshield. She then looks down as she shifts the vehicle into drive. She looks up again as she turns the steering wheel to the right, away from Ross. As the vehicle moves forward, Ross is standing near the front driver’s side corner of the vehicle. Someone yells, “Whoa.” Ross’s camera pans skyward but does not fall to the ground. One shot can be heard, then two more can be heard in rapid succession. Ross appears to refocus his camera on the SUV almost immediately, before it crashes nearby. A male voice — it is not clear whose — can be heard uttering two expletives: “Fucking bitch.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX Business [1/9/2026 8:39 PM, Staff, 10085K] reports DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defends the I.C.E. agent’s actions in the Minneapolis shooting and highlights dangers from criminal illegal aliens with violent histories being released into U.S. cities on ‘The Evening Edit.’[Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [1/9/2026 7:19 PM, Curt Devine, Thomas Bordeaux, Allison Gordon, and Kyung Lah, 18595K] reports as he approached Renee Good’s vehicle on a Minneapolis street on Wednesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross held up his phone camera and recorded video. Less than a minute later, he was still recording when he drew his weapon and fatally shot Good as she accelerated. That extraordinary footage, along with video shot by bystanders and a 3D model created by CNN of the confrontation, shows Good and her wife challenging ICE officers – but also raises new questions about Ross’s tactics and decision to use deadly force. The video evidence also appears to undermine elements of the government’s narrative of what happened. CNN’s analysis found that while the Department of Homeland Security claims that Good was "blocking" ICE agents, multiple cars – including one driven by Ross – were able to drive around Good’s vehicle before the shooting. Some experts said Ross’s decision to use a cell phone to record the encounter, including as he fired the fatal shots, could have hampered his ability to respond effectively in the moment. "If you’re an agent … then you should not be encumbered by anything in your hands," said Jonathan Wackrow, a CNN law enforcement analyst. "That’s what body worn cameras are for. But they’re not wearing body-worn cameras." Trump administration officials have defended Ross and said he acted out of self-defense, arguing that the video he recorded makes it clear he had no choice but to shoot. In the wake of the shooting, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem described the incident as "an act of domestic terrorism." "This footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along — that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement. "The officer was in fear of his own life, the lives of his fellow officers and acted in self-defense."

FOX News [1/9/2026 4:52 PM, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, 40621K] reports Vice President JD Vance doubled down on his fierce criticism of the press after cellphone footage from the federal agent’s perspective of Wednesday’s fatal shooting in Minneapolis surfaced. Alpha News was the first to obtain the video showing a tense exchange between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and Renee Nicole Good, 37, who was shot and killed as she was behind the wheel of her car he was standing in front of, as well as her wife, who is seen taunting the agent from outside the vehicle. In a lengthy post on X, Vance said he agreed with those who say Good’s death was a tragedy, but that the "dishonesty" from the media about the ICE agent is an "all-time moment in shameless press propaganda." The shooting has divided the country virtually on partisan lines with the Trump administration accusing Good of attempting to ram her vehicle into the ICE agent while critics say she was trying to turn her vehicle away and that the ICE agent used excessive force.

FOX News [1/9/2026 8:57 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino describes the dangerous situations I.C.E. agents face daily on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 6:17 PM, Jack Morphet and Jaclyn Skurie, 646K] reports the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot a 37-year-old mother in Minnesota on Wednesday has more than 10 years of experience in his job. Jonathan Ross, 43, is a firearms instructor and part of an elite unit within ICE tasked with high-risk arrests. His shooting of Renee Nicole Good sparked protests demanding immigration-enforcement agents leave Minneapolis. Six months ago, Ross was dragged by a car during a failed attempt to arrest Roberto Carlos Muñoz, a Guatemalan national and convicted sex offender. Ross broke Muñoz’s car window to reach in and unlock the door when Muñoz hit the gas. Ross’s right arm was caught in the car as it drove off and he was dragged along the road, coming within a foot from another car, according to Ross’s testimony. “I was fearing for my life,” Ross said. Ross has more than 10 years of experience as an ICE deportation officer, according to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “He acted according to his training” in the shooting of Good earlier this week, she said. Ross was selected for ICE’s Special Response Team—a tactical unit for high-risk immigration operations similar to a SWAT team. He is an expert marksman continuously trained in specialized breaching, perimeter control and hostage-rescue skills, McLaughlin said. Ross described his job as “fugitive operations” targeting “higher-value targets” during the Muñoz trial. He also said he was a firearms instructor. Ross served in the Indiana National Guard and was deployed to active duty. After returning to the U.S., he worked for Border Patrol between 2007 and 2015 near El Paso, Texas, where his duties included line-watch operations, tracking, and field intelligence focused on cartels and drug smuggling. He joined ICE in 2015. Ross is a registered Republican. He was married in the United Methodist Church in 2012, according to invitations posted to Instagram. He couldn’t be reached for comment.

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CBS News [1/9/2026 9:16 AM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE

NBC News [1/9/2026 9:43 PM, Daniella Silva, Rebecca Cohen and Corky Siemaszko, 34509K] reports that, before Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross encountered Renee Nicole Good on a snowy Minneapolis street, fatally shooting her as she tried to drive away during a confrontation, he spent years working for the government and serving in the military. Now, as Minneapolis reels from yet another tragedy making national headlines, Ross is at the center of debate over whether his actions during Wednesday’s confrontation were justified. Trump administration figures, including President Donald Trump, have defended Ross and claimed that Good was an agitator who attempted to run him over with her SUV. Witnesses have told NBC News that it didn’t appear Ross was in the direct path of Good’s SUV as she tried to evade ICE officers. Videos contradict Trump’s claim that Good "viciously ran over" Ross, showing that Good’s car didn’t knock down Ross, whose legs were to the side of the SUV as it moved by him while he fired. On Friday, on a quiet, suburban cul-de-sac full of multi-level homes about 30 miles from the scene of the shooting in south Minneapolis, few neighbors were out bicycling and walking their dogs. Hockey sticks lay on porches and "let it snow" signs decorated doorways. Some onlookers from other neighborhoods had come to observe the scene outside Ross’ house, where he lives with his wife and children. Someone had ordered pizza to the home, and a delivery driver spent some time ringing the doorbell before returning to his car, taking the pies with him. Neighbors talked amongst themselves about getting away for the weekend. One female neighbor, who asked that she not be identified by name for fear of retribution, said she saw people packing boxes at Ross’ home Friday morning. "What I did see was three trucks and people moving boxes out of there. I texted one of my friends right away," she said. "I mean, they were really hustling when I was down there.” Asked who was moving the boxes, she said, "No idea.” Multiple neighbors told NBC News that during the presidential election, a pro-Trump and at least one "Don’t Tread On Me" Gadsden sign had been on display. There were no political signs outside the house Friday, and Ross’ political affiliation is unknown. A neighbor who also asked not to be identified by name said everyone in the neighborhood is "freaking out." She said the pro-Trump signage at Ross’ home was noticeable because "part of the neighborhood is not generally supportive of Trump, so the houses stick out if they are.” So far, Ross has not made any public statements about the shooting and NBC News has made numerous attempts to reach him with no response. None of the neighbors interviewed were aware that Ross worked for ICE, but one suspected he had some kind of involvement with the military because they saw him wearing fatigue pants. Ross was not part of the hiring surge that began in August under Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. While Ross’ name has been widely reported, the DHS has, so far, refused to "expose the name of this officer," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. But the agency has confirmed that Ross was seriously injured in June while trying to arrest an immigrant who had refused to get out of his car. Court records viewed by NBC News revealed that the sequence of events that left Ross bloodied and bruised bore some similarities to the scenario that ended with Good’s death. In both cases, Ross was confronting a driver at the wheel of a vehicle.

New York Times [1/10/2026 4:11 AM, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, 330K] reports the federal immigration agent who fatally shot a woman in her car this week was dragged about 100 yards by a different driver in Minnesota last year during an immigration operation, interviews and court records show. The agent, described by a spokeswoman as a 10-year veteran of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, was treated for a gash on his forearm that required 20 stitches after the dragging incident, for which the driver was convicted of assault last month. Now that same agent is at the center of a growing backlash over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, after he shot and killed Renee Good, 37, in the driver’s seat of her car on Wednesday. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the agent, whom she did not name, had feared for his life during the encounter, and noted that he had been dragged by a car in June. Two law enforcement officers with knowledge of the matter, who were not authorized to speak publicly, identified the ICE agent as Jonathan Ross. It is unclear when the agent, who is part of a division called Enforcement and Removal Operations, returned to work following the June incident, which took place in Bloomington, a Minneapolis suburb. Mr. Ross and other agents were trying to apprehend a Guatemalan man who had been convicted of sexual abuse in Minnesota, according to court records. The agents followed the man, Roberto Carlos Muñoz, as he drove away from his house, and later pulled him over. When Mr. Ross told the driver to lower his window and open his door, Mr. Muñoz refused, an F.B.I. agent wrote in an affidavit. Mr. Ross then pulled his Taser, shattered the rear driver’s side window of Mr. Muñoz’s car and reached in with one arm to try to unlock a door. At that point, Mr. Muñoz shifted into drive and pulled away, dragging the agent. “He just took off in a rapid speed,” Mr. Ross said during Mr. Muñoz’s December trial, according to a transcript. “At this point, I feared for my life.” While being dragged, Mr. Ross fired his Taser at Mr. Muñoz, shocking him twice, the affidavit said, but Mr. Muñoz continued to drive for about 100 yards, weaving back and forth in an apparent effort to shake the agent from the car, which he finally did. The agent landed on the street, bleeding from his right arm, and photographs taken later and included in court documents show a wound to his arm and blood on his pants and left hand. The cut to his arm required 20 stitches, according to court records. Mr. Muñoz, meanwhile, had called 911 to say that he was assaulted by an immigration agent — a phone call that ultimately helped officers find and arrest him about a mile away. His trial took place over several days in Minnesota last month. On Dec. 10, a jury deliberated for about two hours before convicting him of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon, resulting in injury.

Daily Caller [1/9/2026 8:51 PM, Hudson Crozier, 835K] reports top Trump administration officials inadvertently helped journalists identify the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official involved in the Minnesota shooting by revealing a detail about his background. Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters after the Wednesday incident that the agent, who opened fire on a driver, had previously been dragged by someone’s car during a pursuit in June. Though they meant to defend the agent, the comments gave journalists and internet sleuths what they needed to find the case in public court records and name him as 10-year deportation officer Jonathan Ross. Ross fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good at a protest in Minneapolis after she abruptly drove her car toward him during a confrontation with multiple agents. In the prior case described by Vance and Noem, Ross helped chase down a convicted child rapist from Mexico who accelerated his truck while Ross was partly inside, dragging him about 100 yards, according to multiple reports published after their remarks. The Guardian, one of the first outlets to report Ross’ name, referenced "court records that closely match the description of a June 2025 incident involving the agent in Bloomington, Minnesota, cited by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, and JD Vance." The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the record, but one White House official referred the DCNF to the DHS. "We are not going to expose the name of this officer. He acted according to his training," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said. "Doxxing our officers [puts] their lives and their families in serious danger," she said. "Our law enforcement officers are on the frontlines arresting terrorists, gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists. Now, thanks to the malicious rhetoric of sanctuary politicians, they are under constant threat from violent agitators.” McLaughlin took aim at the Minnesota Star-Tribune as one of the earliest to expose Ross’ identity. "Publicizing their identities puts their lives and the lives of their families at serious risk," she said. "The Star Tribune should be absolutely ashamed of themselves for their reckless behavior, and they should delete their story immediately."

Daily Caller [1/9/2026 6:23 PM, Anthony Iafrate, 835K] reports the woman legally married to Renee Good — shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis — released a statement Friday, her first public remarks since the Wednesday incident. Rebecca "Becca" Good was present at the scene when an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, 37. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Renee Good attempted to run over law enforcement with her vehicle. Rebecca Good said her spouse "literally sparkled" and "kindness radiated out of her," in her statement shared with Minnesota Public Radio News. On the same day Rebecca Good made her remarks, Minnesota-based Alpha News released video footage of the shooting from an ICE agent’s perspective in which Rebecca was seen repeatedly asking the agent "You want to come at us?" before appearing to shout "Drive, baby drive" to Renee. "On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns," Rebecca Good said in her statement. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an X post on the day of the shooting that the victim, who would be later identified as Renee Good, was a "violent rioter" who "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism.” Rebecca Good described Renee differently. "This kindness of strangers is the most fitting tribute because if you ever encountered my wife, Renee Nicole Macklin Good, you know that above all else, she was kind. In fact, kindness radiated out of her," Rebecca Good wrote. "Renee sparkled. She literally sparkled. I mean, she didn’t wear glitter, but I swear she had sparkles coming out of her pores.” McLaughlin said the ICE officer feared for his life. Using his training, he fired defensive shots and saved his life and a fellow officer’s life. The AP [1/9/2026 4:55 PM, Michael Biesecker] reports the wife of Renee Good, the woman shot and killed in her car by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis, says the couple had stopped to support their neighbors on the day of the shooting and described the mother of three as leaving a legacy of kindness. "We had whistles. They had guns," Rebecca Good said in a written statement Friday that was provided to Minnesota Public Radio. The statement was her first public comment about the death of Renee Good, 37, who was killed Wednesday after three Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surrounded her Honda Pilot SUV on a snowy street a few blocks from the couple’s home. Video taken by bystanders show an officer approaching the SUV stopped across the middle of the road, demanding the driver open the door and grabbing the handle. The vehicle begins to pull forward and a different ICE officer standing in front of it pulls his weapon and immediately fires at least two shots at close range, jumping back as the vehicle moves toward him. Trump administration officials have painted Renee Good as a domestic terrorist who tried to run over an officer with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis, as well as protesters, have rejected that characterization.

Reuters [1/10/2026 6:07 AM, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke, 36480K] reports U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown increasingly is sparking violent confrontations with both migrants and U.S. citizens, a development grimly underscored by an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman this week. Under Trump’s orders to ramp up deportations, masked immigration officers have surged into Democratic-led cities, sprayed tear gas in residential streets, tackled people in parking lots and pointed guns at bystanders trying to film them. A federal officer in Minneapolis dragged a woman through a snowy street in an incident last month that the city’s police chief called an “egregious disregard for human dignity.” These contentious encounters, which have come amid a push to quickly recruit and train thousands of new officers, have stemmed from a dramatic shift in the approach to immigration enforcement, according to current and former immigration officials. The White House demanded a steep increase in immigration arrests in late May, leading officers to change tactics, embracing showy sweeps over more targeted arrests of people with serious criminal records. Since then, officers have been met with more public backlash and resistance, at times creating tense standoffs. “It’s this high-visibility, high-footprint, high-contact form of operation that invites danger,” said former ICE official Scott Shuchart, who served in Joe Biden’s administration. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem have all defended the ICE officer who killed Renee Good, the 37-year-old mother of three, and portrayed her as an agitator trying to disrupt enforcement operations. Within hours of the incident, Noem alleged that Good tried to ram the officer with her vehicle in an act of “domestic terrorism.” In response to a Reuters request for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson accused Democrats and news outlets of demonizing ICE officers and encouraging backlash. "The Democrats’ lies have directly fueled their supporters to harass and impede law enforcement, which is the cause of any tensions and puts officers at risk," Jackson said. The ICE officer involved in the fatal shooting, Jonathan Ross, fired the first of three shots as Good’s vehicle moved past him, a Reuters analysis of the available visuals showed. Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin defended the Trump administration’s approach and said the officer in Minneapolis feared for his life. “ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations," she said. One former ICE official who spoke with Reuters blamed Democratic leaders for fueling the backlash by refusing to cooperate with ICE and publicly criticizing their work. Another said it was jarring to see protesters following officers with whistles, trying to disrupt their work. In Minnesota, they have been pelted with snowballs. The administration is preparing to spend tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to hire more immigration officers and intensify its operations, raising concerns such violence could grow in the coming year. Several current and former ICE officers, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak openly about sensitive matters, expressed concerns that ICE could bring on less-qualified candidates with its accelerated hiring push.

FOX News [1/9/2026 12:42 PM, Leo Briceno and Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports Republicans on Capitol Hill moved quickly to defend a federal ICE agent involved in a fatal shooting in Minnesota, saying the officer acted within his bounds after facing what authorities described as an immediate threat. "They were within their right to defend themselves. He was defending himself," Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said. "We have to show respect for the ICE agent. We have to show respect to our public safety officials," he added. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have split largely along party lines on whether the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good on Wednesday in a suburb outside of Minneapolis had reacted reasonably. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the agent fired at Good when she had first attempted to disrupt an ICE arrest, refused orders to exit her car, began driving away and placing an ICE agent in the path of her moving vehicle. "If you look at the tape, you’ll see that that person was using a car as a weapon against this ICE agent, actually hitting him with the car," Carter said. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., echoed Carter’s reasoning. "I mean, law enforcement says, ‘Hey, stop, open up your door, let me see your ID.’ And then not only do you take off, but you go right at somebody as they jump out of the way of the car — basically you’re trying to run them over," Meuser said. Democrats have challenged that narrative, arguing that the shooting was the result of a developing culture within law enforcement that prioritizes aggressiveness over safety. "ICE’s actions in Minnesota and across the country, including in Illinois, are not making us safer. Instead, they are bringing fear and violence to our streets under the direction of Secretary [Kristi] Noem," Schneider said, referring to the DHS secretary.

Breitbart [1/9/2026 10:17 AM, Lowell Cauffiel, 2416K] reports Republican lawmakers are urging President Donald Trump to invoke a federal insurrection law to arrest Gov. Tim Walz after the Democrat threatened to use Minnesota’s National Guard to thwart immigration enforcement in his state. "Invoke the Insurrection Act," Rep. Mary Miller, (R-IL) wrote in a post on X this week. "Arrest Tim Walz.” Requests for Trump to invoke the law, which gives a president power to arrest suspects obstructing federal law enforcement, come on the heels of Walz’s suggestion that he may use the national guard to prevent Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) from rounding up illegal aliens in Minnesota. Rep. Miller reposted Walz’s comments at a news conference Wednesday. "I have orders to prepare the Minnesota National Guard," Walz warned. "We have soldiers in training and prepared to be deployed if necessary. I remind you, a warning order is a heads up for folks. And these National Guard troops are our National Guard troops.” The governor’s threats follow the shooting Wednesday by a federal law enforcement officer of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good when she allegedly tried to run over the agent on a snow-covered street in metropolitan Minneapolis. "We do not need any further help from the federal government," Walz also old reporters. "To Donald Trump and Kristi Noem, you’ve done enough. I’ve issued a warning order to prepare the Minnesota National Guard.” Minnesota has a law that allows the governor to use the national guard for "defense or relief of the state, the enforcement of the law, the protection of persons" in the state, Fox News reported. Other Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Derrick Van Orden, (R-WI), said in the Fox report that Walz was essentially threatening a civil war.

Chicago Tribune [1/9/2026 5:39 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports calling a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling a “straightforward path” to a legal victory, lawyers for the state of Illinois said Friday they hope to quickly resolving ongoing litigation over President Donald Trump’s controversial efforts to deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area to bolster immigration enforcement. The status filing in U.S. District Court comes two weeks after the high court’s denial of a request from the Trump administration to allow the Republican president to deploy troops to Illinois streets while a court battle over a restraining order plays out. In the filing, lawyers for Attorney General Kwame Raoul said that although the Supreme Court’s ruling made no final determinations, it “effectively resolves as a matter of law” that the federalization and deployment orders by Trump were illegal. While Illinois’ attorneys said they are prepared to proceed with summary judgment proceedings before U.S. District Judge April Perry, such litigation could be costly and drawn out, and the state is open to discussing other possible resolutions, the filing stated. That posture is based partly on a dramatic change in circumstances. When the lawsuit was filed in October, National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas had already been “federalized” and were assembling at bases for imminent deployment. Now, those forces have been largely demobilized, though some 195 Illinois National Guard troops remained in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as of this week “completing the demobilization process,” which is expected to conclude next week.

FOX News [1/9/2026 9:24 PM, Joseph A. Wulfsohn, 40621K] reports Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey shrugged off the newly surfaced cellphone video Friday taken by a federal agent of the shooting that killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good. Alpha News was the first to obtain the video showing a tense exchange between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent and Good, who was shot and killed while behind the wheel of her car he was standing in front of it. The video also shows Good’s wife, who is seen taunting the agent from outside the vehicle. In a report that aired Friday on ABC’s "World News Tonight," Frey was shown the video by correspondent Whit Johnson but appeared not to be swayed by it. "He walked away with a hop in his step from the incident. There’s another person that’s dead. He held on his cell phone. I think that speaks for itself," Frey reacted. "Does that video, that angle change your perspective at all about what may have happened?" Johnson asked. "I think an investigation could change or affirm my perspective," Frey responded. "But we’ve [all got] two eyes, and I can see a person that is trying to leave. I can see an ICE agent that was not run over by a car. That didn’t happen.” Frey rushed to reject the Trump administration’s claim that the ICE agent acted in self-defense Wednesday, calling it "bulls---" and demanding ICE "get the f--- out of Minneapolis.” The shooting has divided the country along partisan lines, with the Trump administration accusing Good of attempting to ram her vehicle into the ICE agent and critics saying she was trying to turn her vehicle away and that the ICE agent used excessive force. The new footage shows the ICE agent approaching the vehicle with Good telling him, "That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad.” Her wife, seen approaching the agent, taunted him, "You want to come at us? I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.” Another agent is heard repeatedly telling Good to get out of the car. As her wife attempts to get into the passenger door, Good backs up her vehicle with her wife telling her, "Drive, baby. Drive.” As the car moves forward, the agent says "Whoa" as his cellphone shakes before shots ring out. Someone is heard saying, "F---ing b----" as the car veers away before crashing into a parked vehicle, which is only heard in the footage. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

ABC News [1/9/2026 10:47 AM, Staff, 30493K] Video: HERE reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other local officials commented on the shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent.

Daily Caller [1/9/2026 10:31 AM, Nicole Silverio, 835K] reports Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hinted on Thursday that tensions could get increasingly worse while vowing not to "take the bait" from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Protests have erupted in Minneapolis and in other cities nationwide in response to Wednesday’s fatal shooting by an ICE agent of 37-year-old Renee Good, a Minnesota resident who blocked a lane of ICE vehicles with her car before accelerating forward as agents surrounded her vehicle. Frey did not give a direct answer to "CBS Evening News" host Tony Dokoupil on how he plans to help calm the volatile situation, as ICE operations continue and protesters equate federal agents with "Nazis.” "You’ve now got protesters in the street saying things like, ‘Nazis go home.’ How are you helping the situation calm down?" Dokoupil asked. "What I appreciate about this situation right now is we in Minneapolis are all singing with one accord, which is one, we are going to stand up for our immigrant community, two, we’re going to keep people safe, and three, we’re not going to take the bait," Frey said. "If you’ve watched how a lot of these protests have carried out, this is not some repeat of what we saw in 2020. What we see is the people saying, hey, hang on a second, ICE wants us to take the bait. They want us to screw up, do something wrong, and then ultimately see even greater military presence in our city.” Following the shooting, an angered Frey called on ICE to "get the f*ck out" of Minneapolis. He countered President Donald Trump’s administration’s claim that she committed an act of domestic terrorism, telling Dokoupil that Good simply tried to leave. The administration, including Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, have said that Good attempted to ram the ICE agent with her car and that he acted in self-defense. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said on Wednesday that the agent is the victim of a vehicle attack that happened in June, when an anti-ICE rioter rammed and dragged him with a car.

Politico [1/9/2026 5:59 PM, Myah Ward, 2100K] reports the Trump administration’s rapid and aggressive response to the Minnesota shooting has prompted quiet concern among some administration allies, as well as former and current Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Particular anguish centers around how quickly Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in public remarks from Brownsville, Texas, on Wednesday insisted that Renee Good, the 37-year old woman killed by an ICE officer, had committed an act of “domestic terrorism” and tried to “ram them with her vehicle.” Even supporters of the president fear that the administration’s approach — within hours the White House deputy chief of staff had also deemed this a case of “domestic terrorism” — risks undermining public confidence in the ongoing investigation and expanding the credibility gap between the public and the immigration agency patrolling dozens of American cities. Within 48 hours, another shooting, this time in Portland, Oregon, by a Customs and Border Protection officer, further inflamed outrage as protesters, Democrats and top administration officials accused each other of fascism and terrorism. The shootings — and the eye witness videos circulating on the internet — come amid heightened tensions between Americans and the thousands of federal agents deployed in U.S. cities. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday lamented the threats and attacks ICE agents are under. On Friday, he shared a new video that he implied vindicated the officer in Minnesota by showing his “life was endangered and he fired in self defense.” Still, the administration’s aggressive tactics, aimed at ramping up arrests and deportations, have brought widespread condemnation and a growing number of confrontations between protesters and immigration officials, who are deployed for crowd control and other tasks the agencies historically don’t perform. When asked about concerns that the administration’s approach could undermine public confidence in its investigation, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin also pointed POLITICO to the new footage shared by Vance and other administration officials. She added: “If you weaponize a vehicle, a deadly weapon to kill or cause bodily harm to a federal law enforcement officer, that is an act of domestic terrorism and will be prosecuted as such.” Minnesota officials have accused federal law enforcement of stymying state investigators into the deadly ICE-related shooting, which came as more than 2,000 agents descended on Minnesota this week in the Trump administration’s largest immigration operation to date. As for Oregon, state officials have opened a separate investigation.

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 10:40 PM, John McCormick and Joe Barrett, 646K] reports the long-running battle between Minnesota and the federal government finally boiled over. Gov. Tim Walz dropped his re-election bid on Monday, facing attacks fanned by President Trump amid a growing fraud scandal. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out plans to surge more than 2,000 personnel to the state for arrests. Then on Wednesday, an ICE officer fatally shot a woman in this city, sparking a dispute between local and federal officials over what caused the deadly encounter. Now, in acts of defiance both large and small, Minnesotans are confronting their own federal government as they mourn the death of a 37-year-old mother of three and debate the circumstances of her killing at the hands of a federal officer. The tragedy delivered yet another chapter of Trump vs. Minnesota, a protracted saga that has become emblematic of the president’s targeting of Democratic strongholds. Several blue states—Illinois, California, New York, Oregon—have been the subject of his ire, but Minnesota has had a running battle over two administrations and this past week hit a peak of confrontation with him. Minnesotans are now at the center of a white-hot national debate over federal power, immigration and the training of agents—some of whom are more familiar with working along a border than in urban America. The battle shows no signs of abating: After Minneapolis announced that it closed schools for the rest of the week, ICE targeted schools in neighboring St. Paul. On Friday, they were spotted knocking on doors near where the shooting occurred. “It’s a very corrupt state,” Trump said Friday, falsely claiming he won the state three times. Exhaustion could be heard in Walz’s voice as he spoke to reporters the day after Good’s death. “Give us a pause, let us breathe, we’re exhausted,” he said. “This relentless assault on Minnesota, for whatever reason, is just cruel now.” The governor made clear to Trump that, at least in terms of his own political career, he had given in to the president’s stated quest for retribution. Trump had praised Walz for bringing in the National Guard during the 2020 riots, but during the 2024 campaign said Walz had moved too slowly. “If it’s me, you are already getting what you want,” Walz said. “But leave my people alone.”

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 9:00 PM, Aaron Zitner and Scott Calvert, 646K] reports Linda Anderson, a supporter of President Trump residing outside Sacramento, believes an ICE agent was acting in self-defense and was part of a necessary immigration crackdown when he shot a 37-year-old U.S. citizen this week in Minneapolis. To Lori Lutz, a Trump voter in Fort Wayne, Ind., the killing was the consequence of presidential overreach. The fatal shooting this week of Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, on a residential street has become the latest event to divide Americans—not only over Trump’s immigration policy but his style of governance. Even some Americans who voted for Trump say they have been set on edge by his maximalist approach at home and abroad since the start of the year. Good’s shooting “was like two days ago, and Venezuela was like two days before that,” said Anthonny Gutierrez, 23, a Trump voter near Sacramento, referring to the capture of Venezuela’s now-former leader by U.S. forces. “We don’t know what’s going to come tomorrow.” Lutz, 56, a former retail pharmacy manager, said she wanted Trump to remove undocumented immigrants who she said were taking factory jobs in her state. But when she saw the video of the Minneapolis shooting, she thought, “Here we are overreaching again. It was an abuse of power…This storm trooper house-by-house stuff—everyone is scared about it.” Anderson, a 65-year-old retired library assistant, said she was sorry for the loss of life. She remains broadly supportive of Trump’s muscular approach to immigration and his presidency. “I think they had every right to shoot to defend themselves,” she said of the ICE agent. Speaking of Trump’s governance style, she said, “I think strength, through power, through many different channels, is very important.” Polling has long shown that many voters support a range of Trump’s policy goals but have qualms about the execution. Just before he took office, for example, Wall Street Journal polling found that a slim majority supported the idea of mass deportations, but nearly three-quarters said Trump should remove only those who had a criminal history. Video of the shooting posted on social media shows agents approaching Good’s car as it is stopped in the middle of a road, and then an agent firing into the car as the vehicle advances. The Trump administration and local officials have offered sharply divergent accounts of the incident, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem describing Good’s actions as “an act of domestic terrorism,” while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying.”

Newsweek [1/9/2026 12:02 PM, Peter Aitken and Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified two people shot in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday as suspected associates of the transnational Tren de Aragua gang in a post on X. DHS then, on Friday morning, posted on X that the shooting occurred when a driver "weaponized their vehicle against Border Patrol in Portland," prompting the CBP agent to take "immediate action to defend himself and others, shooting them." The driver was identified as Luis David Nico Moncada, and the passenger as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, alleging that Moncada entered the U.S. in 2022, while Contreras entered in 2023. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, speaking on Fox News on Friday: "Our agent, he practiced and followed his training, as he should have." Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, in a statement: "While the details of the event remain limited, one thing is very clear. When a president endorses tearing families apart and attempts to govern through fear and hate rather than shared values, you foster an environment of lawlessness and recklessness. Trust is essential to maintaining public safety and the rule of law.

The Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 7:19 PM, Joseph Pisani, 646K] reports the two people shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents during a traffic stop in Portland, Ore., were illegal immigrants linked to a notorious Venezuelan gang, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The DHS said an agent fired his gun after a driver attempted to run over officers during a targeted stop in east Portland just after 2 p.m. local time Thursday. “When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law-enforcement agents,” DHS said. “Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot.” Local police called for calm pending a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said Thursday. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.” On Friday, Day said police were involved in a federal investigation into the incident but weren’t conducting a probe of their own. The city said the two people are suspected of involvement with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The two people, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras and David Nico Moncada, entered the U.S. illegally in 2023 and 2022, DHS said. Zambrano-Contreras is connected to a recent shooting in Portland, according to the agency. Police said the pair initially fled the scene Thursday and were transported to an area hospital where they were receiving treatment. Day said Friday they were in stable condition. The shooting happened a day after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during an operation in Minneapolis, an incident that sparked protests across the country and condemnation of the tactics used by federal immigration officials. Echoing the words of the Minneapolis mayor following the death of Renee Nicole Good, Portland’s Mayor Keith Wilson called for ICE to leave the city. “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts,” Wilson said. The New York Times [1/10/2026 4:11 AM, Anna Griffin and Jacey Fortin, 330K] reports that earlier on Friday, Department of Homeland Security officials said in a statement that the man and the woman, identified as Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, had both entered the United States illegally from Venezuela and that they were associated with Tren de Aragua, a gang with roots in a Venezuelan prison that has been a frequent target of President Trump. They said Mr. Nino-Moncada had been arrested for driving violations in the United States since entering the country in 2022 and had an order for removal. Ms. Zambrano-Contreras, they said, was tied to a prostitution ring run by the gang. In an emotional news conference Friday afternoon, Chief Bob Day of the Portland Police confirmed the connection and shared the criminal histories of the victims. “I hesitated to even share this information initially because I am very aware of the historic injustice of victim shaming,” Chief Day said, at one point choking up and appearing to wipe away tears as he told Latino Oregonians that he understood their fear amid the federal immigration crackdown. “This information in no way is meant to disparage or condone or agree with any of the actions that occurred yesterday,” he said. “But it is important that we stay committed to the rule of law, that we stay committed to the facts.” The two shooting victims are both in stable condition at local hospitals, Chief Day said, and in federal custody. The investigation into the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol agents is being led by federal authorities. The state’s attorney general, Dan Rayfield, said the Oregon Department of Justice, which he leads, will be conducting its own investigation of the shooting and the behavior of federal officers. His office fought federal attempts to use National Guard troops to quell demonstrations at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland last year, and in that case contended that the federal response to demonstrators was often disproportionate to the level of danger. “Over the last two days, we’ve had two shootings in two different states,” he said. “We’ve also had allegations in court of excessive force in Oregon. There’s a heightened sense of concern within this state. Our plan is to go in, look at the facts in an objective matter to see what transpired and if there is an applicable state law violation.” The Federalist [1/9/2026 12:21 PM, Shawn Fleetwood, 785K] reports that while Moncada is a suspected Tren de Aragua member who has a final order for removal and was "arrested for DUI and unauthorized use of a vehicle," Zambrano-Contreras "played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland," according to the agency. Both suspects have since been hospitalized and will be taken into federal custody upon release, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin confirmed on Friday.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [1/9/2026 6:52 PM, Anna Edgerton, 18207K]
CBS News [1/9/2026 10:23 AM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE
NBC News [1/9/2026 11:19 PM, Staff, 34509K]

FOX News [1/9/2026 6:30 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Fox News correspondent Christina Coleman reports live from Portland, Oregon where Border Patrol agents fired on two migrants outside an I.C.E .facility, sparking ongoing protests on ‘Special Report.’

Blaze [1/9/2026 4:45 PM, Carlos Garcia, 1442K] reports the Department of Homeland Security has gone after numerous news outlets for offering a sympathetic portrayal of two illegal aliens who were shot by federal agents in Portland on Thursday. One article was posted to social media by KPFQ on Friday and was immediately assailed by the official DHS account for referring to the illegal aliens as a "married couple." The man and woman were shot during an operation by federal officers who were later identified as agents of U.S. Border Patrol. The DHS released a statement indicating that the two illegal aliens were affiliated with the dangerous Tren de Aragua criminal gang and that the vehicle driver swerved to hit agents before they were shot. The pair were hospitalized. On Friday, the DHS lambasted CNN for continuing to describe the pair as a "married couple" and to downplay their alleged gang affiliation. DHS went on to say that the couple was better described as a gang member and "his prostitute" rather than an "innocent" married couple. The DHS identified the passenger as Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras and said she had been involved in a prior shooting. She was also affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang and had an active role in the prostitution ring. KIRO-TV reported that hundreds of activists protested the shooting at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland. Portland Police arrested six people at that protest.

CNN [1/10/2026 6:01 AM, Taylor Romine, 18595K] reports a Border Patrol agent shot two people in Portland, Oregon, during a traffic stop after authorities said they were associated with a Venezuelan gang, another incident in a string of confrontations with federal authorities that have left Americans frustrated with immigration enforcement during the Trump administration. The man and woman are in stable condition after the agent shot them Thursday in their car in what the Department of Homeland Security said was self-defense after the driver tried to weaponize the vehicle. The incident happened a day after a 37-year-old woman was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, which has spurred protests across the nation as concerns of agents using increasingly risky or violent tactics intensify. The FBI is leading the investigation into Thursday’s shooting, calling it “an assault on … federal officers” in a statement. Oregon’s attorney general has also opened an investigation into the shooting. It’s not clear, in the wake of the discord between Minneapolis and federal officials, whether federal authorities will allow Portland officials to participate. At 2:19 p.m. local time, Border Patrol agents conducted a targeted vehicle stop with two Venezuelan migrants connected to the Tren de Aragua gang, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday. When the agents identified themselves to the car’s occupants, “the driver weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents,” McLaughlin said. One agent, “fearing for his life and safety,” fired a defensive shot, and the driver drove off with the passenger, she said. Portland police officers responded just after 2:15 p.m. local time to the 10200 block of Southeast Main Street to a report of a shooting, according to Portland Police Chief Bob Day and a news release. Several minutes later, officers responded to a report of a man calling for help near Northeast 146th Avenue and East Burnside after being shot. The man and a woman who was also shot were transported to the hospital, the release said. The man in the car was shot in the arm, and the woman was shot in the chest, DHS said Friday. Both remained hospitalized Friday, and the FBI will assume custody upon their release, DHS said. No agents were injured in the shooting, DHS said in a statement Friday. DHS identified the driver and passenger Friday as Luis David Nino-Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, two Venezuelan migrants who authorities say entered the country illegally in the last several years. Nino-Moncada “is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member,” DHS posted Friday on X. “The passenger, Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras, is a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and is associated with Tren de Aragua,” DHS said. “Since illegally entering, Contreras played an active role in a Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and was involved with a prior shooting in Portland.” Nino-Moncada illegally entered the US in 2022, and Zambrano-Contreras illegally entered the US in 2023, DHS said in a post on X, adding they were “RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting the FBI in its investigation, the agency said. The FBI declined further comment when asked for additional details on its investigation. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced his office was launching its own investigation on Thursday night, saying it will “look into whether any federal officer acted outside the scope of their lawful authority.”

ABC News [1/9/2026 11:23 PM, Staff, 30493K] reports ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos spoke with U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks about the federal agent-involved shooting and the growing protests in Portland. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Axios [1/9/2026 3:50 PM, Herb Scribner, 12972K] reports two separate shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis and Portland this week have drawn widespread protests and concern from Americans — but the two agencies accused of the shootings have slightly different mandates. Despite many linking the two incidents together, the fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis was done by an ICE agent, whereas two people were shot by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Portland. ICE and CBP both fall under the Department of Homeland Security. But these two agencies are vastly different and cover separate aspects of federal law and immigration enforcement. Both agencies have expanded and been given cash infusions by President Trump and DHS to support the White House’s new immigration policy. ICE — short for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — conducts criminal investigations and enforces immigration law across the country’s interior. "Securing our nation’s borders and safeguarding the integrity of our immigration system is a primary focus of ICE officers and agents throughout the country," the ICE website reads.

FOX News [1/9/2026 3:33 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 40621K] reports Rep. Julie Johnson, D-Texas, accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of "terrorizing Texans" and said she thinks congressional Democrats should seek to rein in funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "Absolutely," she replied when asked if she thought Congress, specifically Democrats, should rein in DHS funding in light of the ICE-officer involved shooting in Minnesota. Johnson said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has shown "a lack of ability" to do a good job managing her budget. Despite Johnson’s support for the idea of targeting DHS funding, Democrats are politically powerless to make such a move without bipartisan backing because the GOP holds the majority in both chambers of Congress.

FOX News [1/9/2026 7:15 PM, Chad Pergram, 40621K] reports we will know in short order if a political fight is brewing. Such is the case in the past few days regarding congressional spending and war powers. Article I, Section 9 declares, "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law." The most important power granted to Congress is over the federal purse strings. In other words, what Congress deems the federal government should spend. There were calls from the left to hold up funding for the Pentagon or State Department after the U.S. strike in Venezuela. Now, there’s a debate about hamstringing the Department of Homeland Security and ICE after an agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Liberal Democrats are apoplectic. "A child has her lost her mom. And y’all want to pretend that it is OK," said Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, fighting back tears. "I am asking if there is anyone that will stand for the very people that elected us and sent us to Congress?" "A lot of people are talking about different reforms, and that’s their prerogative," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. "Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have written [Chairman Andrew] Garbarino, R-N.Y., saying, ‘We’d like to have an oversight hearing on what’s happening with ICE.’ That’s a reasonable request." I pressed Thompson on whether Congress should use appropriations to effect change at ICE. "That’s above my pay grade," answered Thompson. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. He’s more aggressive about Congress exerting its muscle over the federal treasury. "We should use every means at our disposal to do it," said Raskin. "Including the appropriations process." Sometimes that involves cutting off money. Sometimes that entails limiting spending. Sometimes lawmakers include language to forbid certain activities by federal departments or agencies. Or the legislative language might direct agencies to handle duties a particular way. But some progressives are so enraged that they want to slash money for ICE. And maybe even shut down the government. The next deadline is 11:59 p.m. EST Jan. 30, 2026. "I am concerned about that," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told colleague Kelly Phares. "I think that’s a terrible idea." When asked about a possible shutdown over ICE, the speaker believed lawmakers could avoid that.

Daily Caller [1/9/2026 6:15 PM, Harold Hutchison, 835K] reports former Metropolitan Police Department officer Mike Fanone said Thursday Americans should consider taking up arms against federal law enforcement agencies in the wake of a deadly shooting during an immigration enforcement operation. A United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday during what Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin described as a "targeted enforcement operation." Fanone, who was one of the officers who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol Building which he has repeatedly called an "insurrection," claimed ICE has become an "unaccountable and lawless agency" during an episode of the "Lincoln Square" podcast. "So these politicians and these local, state, and municipal law enforcement agencies need to wake the fuck up," Fanone told "Lincoln Square" co-host Mara May. "I appreciate the foul language coming out of the mouth of the mayor of Minneapolis, and I think that he, his sentiment in the moment was appropriate. That being said: what are, what are you doing? What are you directing your law enforcement agencies to do to protect your citizens? How are you going about doing that?". Resistance to ICE’s enforcement operations has been violent at times. In Illinois and California, shots were fired at ICE agents carrying out operations, while ICE agents have reportedly been attacked by multiple assailants who used cars to ram vehicles in the Chicago area. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said during a Wednesday press conference that three ramming attacks took place in Minneapolis that day and that agents had faced "over 100" such attacks in "recent weeks.” On Friday, cell phone footage taken by the ICE agent who shot Good which appears to show her moving her vehicle forward, even though the agent was in the way, was obtained and posted on X by Alpha News, a Minnesota-based online outlet. The agent appears to be struck by the vehicle before he fires the shots that fatally wounded Good, who was part of an "ICE Watch" network that had previously tried to interfere with immigration enforcement options. McLaughlin criticized Fanone for his "incendiary and immature" remarks in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation. "The latest footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along: This individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle against ICE officers," McLaughlin said. "The officer dutifully acted in self-defense. The American people can watch this video with their own eyes and judge for themselves.”

Daily Caller [1/9/2026 11:32 AM, Jason Cohen, 835K] reports Democratic strategist Julian Epstein rebuked his own party on "2WAY TONIGHT" on Thursday for rhetoric he said effectively sanctioned violence against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). An ICE agent fatally shot a 37-year-old woman during a Wednesday operation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, when she accelerated her car forward as agents surrounded her vehicle. Epstein said on the show that he believed inflammatory remarks from Democratic politicians about ICE contributed to the incident. "They have not only failed to condemn violence in a meaningful way on an ongoing basis, using the language of Gestapo and they’re an occupying force and all this other incendiary language is giving a permission structure to, I think, a lot of the people on the professional left that are being, in my opinion, funded and is giving a permission structure for these violent confrontations, which tragically ended yesterday in a death," Epstein said. "Democratic officials have totally failed to understand the distinction between free speech protest on the one hand and active obstruction and attacks of law enforcement on the other hand," he added. "And I think that is the environment in which we saw this tragedy occur yesterday. So again, I think reasonable people can disagree about what happened yesterday, but I think the environment that is being created, at least some of the responsibility has got to be laid on my side, the Democratic side.” There had been 99 vehicle attacks against federal law enforcement from Jan. 20 to Nov. 18, representing twice the amount during the identical time frame in 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said during a Wednesday press conference that the ICE agent who shot the woman was the victim of a vehicle attack in June when an anti-ICE rioter rammed him with his car and dragged him. She also alleged coordinated groups were instructing individuals to weaponize vehicles during law enforcement operations.

Breitbart [1/9/2026 7:13 PM, Pam Key, 2416K] reports Friday on CNN’s “The Arena,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is acting as President Donald Trump’s “paramilitary force on the streets of American cities.” Garcia said, “What ICE is doing, wearing masks, throwing people to the ground, having no respect for the community, throwing tear gas into cars, detaining American U.S. citizens for no reason, and then letting them go days after detainment and now firing into moving vehicles that are they’re moving away from an officer, that does nothing but not only harm the trust in agencies in the federal government, but the trust in local law enforcement. Local law enforcement right now, across this across this country are also terrified of what ICE is doing and the harm it’s causing their own departments. It’s shameful.” He added, “I think what Democrats need to do is absolutely reform it. First of all, ICE didn’t exist in its current form before 9/11. This is a new agency. And the ICE of Donald Trump, the ICE of today, which is larger than it’s ever been, is essentially Donald Trump’s own police force that he is using to carry out, in some cases, things that our own military have turned their back, that they won’t do on behalf of Donald Trump. He wants his own paramilitary force on the streets of American cities, and the actions that they’re taking are wrong. They’re causing damage to relationships within the community, between law enforcement and anyone with their own vision. And two eyes can see these videos, not just this one, but other incidents. That ICE right now is completely out of control under the direction of Kristi Noem.”

NBC News [1/9/2026 6:12 PM, Erik Ortiz, Julia Ainsley, Daniella Silva and Ryan J. Reilly, 34509K] reports all but two involved a vehicle stop in which officers accused the driver of attempting to ram them with a car. Some drivers have faced criminal charges. Scott Shuchart, who was ICE’s assistant director for regulatory affairs and policy during the Biden administration, said the increase in vehicle encounters represents a move away from more targeted and less risky tactics, "at great cost to collateral, property or people." The Trump administration has defended the DHS officers, arguing they are doing necessary and difficult work in dangerous circumstances. Homeland Security has said its immigration enforcement officers are facing increased threats and are suffering injuries during raids and operations nationwide. But some of those narratives are being challenged by eyewitnesses, and in at least two cases, criminal charges have been dropped. Trump said Renee Nicole Good "viciously ran over" the officer before he shot in Minneapolis this week. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem argued Good had "weaponized" her car and that the officer had been struck and required a trip to the hospital. Videos from the shooting show that Good did not knock down the officer, whose legs were to the side of the SUV as it moved by him while he fired. He walked away from the scene unassisted. A senior DHS official told NBC News that ICE is trained in best practices, including to never approach a vehicle from the front, to not shoot at a moving vehicle since firing at a vehicle would not make it stop traveling in the direction of an officer, and to only use force if there is an immediate risk of serious injury or death. But law enforcement officers are also taught to use their own discretion during what are often chaotic moments. An investigator looking into the use of force would take all the circumstances into account, including whether the officer was under threat and whether they wrongly escalated the situation. DHS has not said whether the use of force was under investigation. The FBI had said the Minneapolis shooting was being probed and it was working closely with law enforcement partners; it’s routine for local and federal officials to work together to gather evidence in such cases. But on Thursday, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said that federal officials had reversed course and said the probe would be led solely by the FBI. Noem said they hadn’t been cut out, "they don’t have any jurisdiction in this investigation."

NewsMax [1/9/2026 3:33 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed concerns Friday that demands by Democrats to limit funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an ICE agent fatally shot a 37-year-old female protester in Minneapolis would hinder larger government funding negotiations, Politico reports. Congress has passed only three of the 12 annual spending bills that fund federal agencies for the current fiscal year. Failure to pass the remainder before a Jan. 30 deadline risks another shutdown just weeks after the record-setting 43-day shutdown last fall. Some Democrats have threatened a government shutdown after an ICE agent killed Renee Nicole Good while she apparently tried to ram him with her vehicle during a federal operation. The incident sparked protests in Minneapolis and intensified political criticism of ICE operations. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he directed the state to prepare the National Guard while urging demonstrations to remain peaceful. Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, claimed the woman "weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them." Local leaders disputed that account, pointing to bystander video that they said conflicts with the federal description of the moments before the shooting. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., condemned the shooting and said he would propose sweeping reforms to DHS, including requiring a warrant for arrests, banning masks during enforcement operations, and requiring the Border Patrol to remain at the border. His proposal would also limit the use of guns by ICE when officers conduct civil matters.

Reuters [1/10/2026 3:53 AM, Renee Hickman, Steve Gorman and Nathan Layne, 36480K] reports civil liberties and migrant-rights groups called for nationwide rallies on Saturday to protest the fatal shooting of an activist in Minnesota by a U.S. immigration agent, as state authorities opened their own investigation of the killing. Protest organizers said more than 1,000 weekend events were planned across the country demanding an end to large-scale deployments of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents ordered by President Donald Trump, mostly to cities led by Democratic politicians. Minneapolis became a major flashpoint of the Republican president’s militarized deportation roundups on Wednesday, when an ICE officer shot and killed a 37-year-old mother of three, Renee Good, behind the wheel of her car on a residential street. The violence came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to Minneapolis in what ICE’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, called the "largest DHS operation ever." Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, condemned the deployment as a "reckless" example of "governance by reality TV." On Friday night, throngs of demonstrators staged a "noise protest" outside a Minneapolis hotel believed to be lodging a visiting contingent of ICE agents. Video posted by activists on social media showed protesters, some wearing brightly colored inflatable costumes, creating a din by beating on drums, banging pots and pans, yelling through bullhorns and blowing on brass instruments and whistles. Others directed high-power flashlight beams at the hotel’s windows. The crowd thinned after yellow-vested state police in riot gear marched into the area and declared an unlawful assembly, CNN reported. Police were responding to "information that demonstrators were no longer peaceful and reports of damage to property," the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said on X. "Dispersal orders were given prior to arrests." At the time she was killed, Good was participating in one of numerous "neighborhood patrols" that track, monitor and record ICE activities, according to family and local activists. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials said Good was "impeding" and "stalking" ICE agents all day, and that the officer opened fire in self-defense when she tried to ram her car into him in an "act of domestic terrorism." Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, pointed to bystander video he said directly contradicted the federal government’s "garbage narrative." Civil liberties advocates said the video showed federal agents lacked any justification for using deadly force.

New York Post [1/10/2026 1:22 AM, Anna Young, 42219K] reports hundreds of rowdy anti-ICE protesters shouting curses descended on a Minneapolis hotel Friday night, where they believed federal agents were staying after the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good. The frenzied crowd flooded the outside of the Hilton Canopy Hotel — and some parts of the interior — blowing whistles and banging on drums while chanting "f–k ICE" and waving various signs calling for the federal agency to "GET THE F–K OUT OF MN," according to social media videos and the Daily Mail. "They need to get the hell out of our city," a pink-haired demonstrator, 27, told the outlet. "I don’t know for sure they are here but we will do whatever it takes to keep Minneapolis safe.” It’s unclear if immigration enforcement officers were staying at the hotel, where horrified guests reportedly watched on as the chaos unfold. Federal officials were forced to arrange alternative housing after a Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lakeview canceled their reservations ahead of an immigration enforcement deployment. "Get out of Minneapolis," a 31-year-old software developer named Erik told the Daily Mail. "They are only fanning the flames. It sucks for the people inside but these corporations need to get the message. These hotels are hosting ICE and we want them out.” Another agitator said she was "sickened" by Good’s death, noting how liberating she felt as she screamed through the crowd and released her pent-up anger over the deadly incident. "It feels too good to yell and scream and finally let out all of my feelings," the 41-year-old woman said. "My neighborhood is very diverse. If you were to remove all the diversity, i wouldn’t want to live there. We celebrate difference and diversity here.” CNN reported that at one point, police tried to get the hotel demonstration under control by declaring and "unlawful assembly." Most of the large crowd eventually dispersed, but the station said that some continued to bang drums and "arrests were underway.” Good, a 37-year-old activist, was shot dead after she drove her SUV at an immigration officer who fired the fatal shots during a heated confrontation at a raucous protest in Minneapolis Wednesday afternoon. Federal officials said she "weaponized" her plum-colored Honda pilot when she sped toward ICE agent Jonathan Ross. New video captured on Ross’ cellphone shows Good’s wife, Rebecca, outside the vehicle taunting ICE while she remained int he driver’s seat of the car. As another agent ordered Good out of the car, Rebecca can be heard urging her wife to "drive, baby, drive" before she peeled off and clipped Ross, prompting him to open fire. A video taken in the aftermath of the shooting showed Rebecca sobbing as she wailed, "It’s my fault.” President Trump and Homeland Security officials have since labeled Good a "domestic terrorist.” Local officials have decried the deadly use of force, and claimed the shooting was a "murder.”

Washington Examiner [1/9/2026 3:34 PM, Sarah Bedford, 1394K] reports some of the efforts appear decentralized, coordinated on large neighborhood Signal chats that date back to the 2020 riots over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. But some of the massive protests against ICE operations in Minneapolis and beyond are organized by well-funded progressive groups that specialize in making demonstrations appear spontaneous and organic. Tensions in Minneapolis boiled over this week after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman who had driven her SUV in the path of ICE vehicles operating in the area. Top Department of Homeland Security officials said the officer had acted in self-defense as the woman drove her car toward him while refusing commands to exit her vehicle. Minnesota Democrats quickly accused the ICE officer of committing an unprovoked murder, and bystander videos of the confrontation did little to clear up which narrative is closest to the truth. After her death on Wednesday, Renee Good, 37, was widely described by Democrats and activist groups as a "legal observer," a term used by activists to describe people who follow and document what ICE officers are doing in the field. Immigration authorities have struggled with the spread of ICE Watch networks across the country, some of which used phone apps to track the movement of officers. Within hours of Good’s death, the Minneapolis arm of a sprawling progressive group called Indivisible was calling on supporters to mobilize for a protest against ICE at a federal government building where immigration officers have been staging operations. But Indivisible is far from the only group facilitating immigration protests in Minneapolis.

Federalist [1/9/2026 11:11 AM, M. D. Kittle, 785K] reports while the accomplice media go about making the next "Maryland Man" out of the Minneapolis woman fatally shot after allegedly trying to ram an ICE agent with her vehicle, more details are emerging about the radical life and times of Renee Nicole Good. As the New York Post reports, the 37-year-old woman was known as an anti-ICE "warrior" in a group called "ICE Watch." The Post describes the resistance movement as a "loose coalition of activists dedicated to disrupting ICE raids" in sanctuary city Minneapolis. In fact, ICE Watch and radical groups like it have popped up around the country, emerging during President Donald Trump’s first term and exploding in this first year of a second term laser-focused on cleaning up America’s illegal immigration mess. The Post reports that Good joined the Immigration & Customs Enforcement resistance activists last year through her 6-year-old son’s "woke charter school." Southside Family Charter School is a liberal indoctrination factory described by its co-founder as "unabashedly dedicated to social justice education," according to the Post. Good and her "wife" Rebecca, 40, moved to Minneapolis last year and began getting involved in the local ICE Watch campaign, according to the publication. "[Renee Good] was trained against these ICE agents — what to do, what not to do, it’s a very thorough training," a mother named Leesa, whose child attends Southside Family, told The Post during a vigil at the site of Wednesday’s fatal shooting. ICE officers were conducting a targeted operation at the time. Video shows officers instructing the woman to get out of her vehicle, which was moving closer to the agents. At that point, Good’s vehicle backed up before accelerating forward, and her vehicle nearly collides with an ICE agent standing at the front of the vehicle. He fired his gun at the driver. Good was pronounced dead at the scene. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called the near-miss "an act of domestic terrorism." She said Good had been "stalking and impeding" the officer’s "lawful operations" all day. Liberals and their partners in the propaganda press have painted Good as a martyr in Trump’s "aggressive" immigration enforcement campaign. They, of course, fail to note that the left’s constant attacks on ICE and Border Patrol agents for enforcing the nation’s immigration laws has spurred an explosion of violence against the federal law enforcement officers. "We are seeing the results of the Left’s constant demonization of the men and women of law enforcement. Dangerous criminals – whether they be illegal aliens or U.S. citizens – are turning their vehicles into weapons to attack ICE and CBP," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said last month.

AP [1/10/2026 12:40 AM, Staff, 31753K] reports protests against immigration enforcement are planned for cities and towns across the country on Saturday after one federal officer fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis and another shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon. The demonstrations come as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pushes forward in the Twin Cities with what it calls its biggest-ever immigration enforcement operation. President Donald Trump’s administration has said both shootings were acts of self-defense against drivers who "weaponized" their vehicles to attack officers. Indivisible, a social movement organization that formed to resist the Trump administration, said hundreds of protests were scheduled in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Florida and other states. Many were dubbed "ICE Out for Good" using the acronym for the agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Indivisible and its local chapters organized protests in all 50 states last year. In Minneapolis, a coalition of migrant rights groups called for a demonstration at Powderhorn Park, a large green space about half a mile from where 37-year-old Renee Good was shot in a residential neighborhood on Wednesday. They said the rally and march would celebrate Good’s life and call for an "end to deadly terror on our streets." Protests held in the neighborhood so far have been peaceful, in contrast to the violence that hit Minneapolis in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Near the airport, some confrontations erupted on Thursday and Friday between smaller groups of protesters and agents guarding the federal building used as a base for the Twin Cities crackdown.

Daily Wire [1/9/2026 10:23 AM, Hank Berrien, 2494K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) faced an unprecedented surge in violence and hostility over the past year, a trend that culminated in a volatile demonstration at Foley Square in Manhattan on Thursday night, where leftist activists chanted slogans such as "Save a life, kill an ICE," and "Kristi Noem will hang.” Following the shooting death of anti-ICE protester Renee Good in Minneapolis, leftists have protested against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in various cities. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has directly linked this environment of animosity to the rhetoric of "sanctuary politicians" and certain media narratives. According to DHS data, assaults against ICE agents skyrocketed by more than 1,300% during the first year of the second Trump administration. Between January 20 and December 31, 2025, physical assaults rose from 19 in the previous year to 275. The violence has taken many forms, including a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks, with 66 recorded incidents of suspects using cars as weapons. Death threats against agents saw a staggering 8,000% increase. Specific acts of violence reported by DHS include a sniper opening fire on a Dallas ICE facility — killing two detainees — and a gang member ramming a law enforcement vehicle into a tree. In other instances, agents were hammered in the face, bitten, or targeted with Molotov cocktails. "This unprecedented increase in violence against law enforcement is a direct result of sanctuary politicians and the media creating an environment that demonizes our law enforcement and encourages rampant assaults against them. Dangerous criminals – whether they be illegal aliens or U.S. citizens – are assaulting law enforcement and turning their vehicles into weapons to attack law enforcement," Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin stated. "Still, the brave men and women of DHS will not be deterred and will continue arresting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens. Anyone who attacks law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

FOX News [1/9/2026 4:46 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports anti-ICE agitators have erupted en masse in Minneapolis following the fatal shooting of a protester who the Trump administration says tried to run over an agent. Video of the chaotic scenes unfolding in Minneapolis shows agitators harassing federal agents, with some throwing snowballs at them and some shouting phrases such as "We’re going to f---ing kill you" and "I hope you suffer." One video shows several federal vehicles driving down a Minneapolis street surrounded by protesters on either side of them. Many of the protesters can be seen lobbing snowballs at the vehicles while the crowd chants, "ICE out now." In response, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLauglin told Fox News, "We are seeing a coordinated campaign of violence against our law enforcement, particularly in Minneapolis." McLaughlin said federal officials in the city have seen five instances of protesters ramming law enforcement vehicles with their cars and an "8000 percent increase in death threats." DHS wrote on X that "dangerous criminals – whether they be illegal aliens or U.S. citizens – are turning their vehicles into weapons to attack ICE."

FOX News [1/9/2026 2:22 PM, Madison Colombo, 40621K] reports that a tense exchange during anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis took an unexpected turn when a demonstrator said that she was being paid to be there. Fox News host Laura Ingraham was on the ground in Minneapolis as demonstrations erupted nationwide after a woman was killed during a confrontation with federal agents. "Do you have a job?" Ingraham asked a masked protester outside the Whipple Federal Building. "I’m [getting] paid right now," replied the woman, though it was unclear if she was serious. Before the exchange, the woman had been walking through the crowd shouting, "Shame" and profanity. When Ingraham asked why her face was covered, the woman said it was because her "nose is cold." Hundreds of protesters gathered in Minneapolis and in other cities after a woman was shot and killed during a confrontation with federal agents. The Department of Homeland Security said Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed after she attempted to "weaponize her vehicle" to hit law enforcement agents. Minnesota officials have disputed that account, claiming the woman did not pose a threat and calling for an investigation. Ingraham later said that while some demonstrators appeared peaceful, others became hostile toward the media trying to ask basic questions. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [1/9/2026 3:09 PM, AWR Hawkins, 2416K] reports an unidentified protester outside the Whipple Building Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was interviewed about Wednesday’s ICE-involved shooting and said, "We have to show up with guns and end this." The unidentified protester accused ICE of shooting people "with no cause" and said, "We have to show up with guns." On Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem made clear that anyone who "lays a finger on one of our officers" will be caught and prosecuted. She said, "We are warning anyone, if you think you can harm an individual — a citizen of the United States or a law enforcement officer — we will find you and bring you justice."

USA Today [1/9/2026 2:50 PM, Paris Barraza and Noe Padilla, 67103K] reports that protests are planned across California this weekend over the Trump administration’s actions toward Venezuela and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) days after an immigration agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. Some of the demonstrations are being referred to as "ICE Out For Good," with several events sharing the same description — Renee Nicole Good’s death is "part of a broader pattern of unchecked violence, impunity, and abuse carried out by federal immigration enforcement agencies against members of our communities." The demonstrations also come as a federal agent shot and injured two individuals in Portland, Oregon on Jan. 8. The Department of Homeland Security said one of the individuals is affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang, while the other is a "suspected" gang member. The shootings this week come amid ongoing tensions between federal immigration agents and communities across the nation. Other demonstrations are calling for both the removal of ICE agents from communities and demanding "an end to Venezuelan occupation." The U.S. seized Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on Jan. 3. President Donald Trump has previously said the U.S. would "run" the nation until a democratic transition could occur. Several of this weekend’s demonstrations appear to be focused specifically on oil companies growing their profits as the Trump administration eyes Venezuela’s oil industry.

NewsMax [1/9/2026 5:28 PM, Solange Reyner, 4109K] reports Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday said she ordered her country’s top diplomat to speak with Trump administration officials about strengthening relations with the U.S. after President Donald Trump suggested U.S. forces would start hitting drug cartels on "land.” "Yesterday, I asked Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente to make direct contact with the [U.S.] secretary of state and, if necessary, speak with President Trump to strengthen coordination," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference. Trump on Thursday told Fox News the U.S. has "knocked out 97% of the drugs coming in by water, and we are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels.” "The cartels are running Mexico — it’s very, very sad to watch and see what’s happened to that country," he added. His comments come less than a week after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, during a military operation in Caracas. When asked by CNBC about Trump’s comment on Fox News, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly in an email said, "The administration is reasserting and enforcing the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, control migration, and stop drug trafficking.” "The President has many options at his disposal to continue to protect our homeland from illicit narcotics that kill tens of thousands of Americans every year," she added. Sheinbaum earlier this week condemned the capture of Maduro. She has repeatedly warned that any unilateral military action by the U.S. in Mexico would constitute a grave violation of the nation’s sovereignty. "It is necessary to reaffirm that in Mexico the people rule, and that we are a free and sovereign country — cooperation, yes; subordination and intervention, no," Sheinbaum said.

Breitbart [1/9/2026 4:46 PM, Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby, 2416K] reports Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she ordered her country’s top diplomat to speak with the highest levels of the U.S. government to work on improving binational coordination in order to keep U.S. forces from carrying out direct attacks against cartels inside Mexico. This appears to be her latest effort to protect the violent drug trafficking cartels that exert political influence at every level of her country. The announcement came in response to a series of comments made by U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who claimed that while his forces had been highly effective in stopping the maritime flow of drugs, drug cartels continue to control Mexico. During her morning news conference, Sheimbaum revealed that she had instructed Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary, Juan Ramon de La Fuente, to speak with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio or Trump directly to discuss improving international law enforcement cooperation and reaffirm their working relationship.

Breitbart [1/9/2026 9:17 PM, Jasmyn Jordan, 2416K] reports a widening bloc of House Democrats is backing a formal impeachment effort against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) announced she is pursuing impeachment on three grounds, stating, "Secretary Kristi Noem is an incompetent leader, a disgrace to our democracy, and I am impeaching her for obstruction of justice, violation of public trust, and self-dealing." In her announcement, Kelly remarked, "From Chicago to Charlotte to Los Angeles to Minneapolis, Secretary Noem is violating the Constitution while ruining—and ending—lives, and separating families," adding that while incompetence and danger are serious, "it’s impeachable to break the rule of law." Kelly said she previously told her constituents she would oppose Noem’s policies and emphasized, "I told my constituents and Chicagoans that I would fight against Secretary Noem’s agenda. This is me fighting back." DHS Secretary Noem defended the agent’s actions, stating that Good used her vehicle as a weapon and posed a threat to federal officers. She described the incident as an act of "domestic terrorism" and maintained that the matter falls under federal jurisdiction, rejecting claims that state or local officials have investigative authority. A DHS spokesperson also revealed that ICE officers are facing a sharp rise in assaults, citing a 1,300 percent increase in attacks against them. Axios [1/9/2026 2:33 PM, Staff, 12972K] reports "The world has changed. A white woman, a mother of three, was shot in the face and killed," said Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), who had pushed for impeachment hearings into Noem before the shooting. Ramirez told Axios "you’re going to hear more and more people" calling for Noem’s impeachment and that she has "heard directly from a number of [swing-district members] who are saying ... ‘we’ve got to do something, she’s got to go.’" House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told Axios: "There’s a rising clamor for oversight and potentially impeachment of Secretary Noem after the nightmare in Minneapolis." Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), the chair of the center-left New Democrat Coalition, said in a statement on Friday that if Noem is not ousted over the ICE and Customs and Border Patrol shootings, he may throw his weight behind impeachment. "Secretary Noem must resign or be removed from office," he said. "If President Trump refuses to act ... I am prepared to support congressional action, up to and including impeachment, to ensure accountability." The Hill [1/9/2026 3:57 PM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that he has not ruled out impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem if Democrats take back the House after the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffries said Democratic lawmakers will discuss possible options early next week. Jeffries accused Noem of having “slandered” Renee Nicole Macklin Good, the 37-year-old woman who was killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Noem and other Trump administration officials accused Macklin Good of carrying out an act of “domestic terrorism” and claimed that she tried to run over an ICE officer with her car. Lawmakers on both sides criticized the shooting and Noem’s handling of it.

AP [1/9/2026 9:02 PM, Gene Johnson, 31753K] reports a federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing most of his executive order on elections against the vote-by-mail states Washington and Oregon, in the latest blow to Trump’s efforts to require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and to require that all ballots be received by Election Day. U.S. District Judge John H. Chun in Seattle found that those requirements exceeded the president’s authority, following similar rulings in a Massachusetts case brought by 19 states and in a Washington, D.C., case by Democratic and civil rights groups. "Today’s ruling is a huge victory for voters in Washington and Oregon, and for the rule of law," Washington Attorney General Nick Brown said. "The court enforced the long-standing constitutional rule that only States and Congress can regulate elections, not the Election Denier-in-Chief." The executive order, issued in March, included new requirements that people provide documentary proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a demand that all mail ballots be received by Election Day. It also put states’ federal funding at risk if election officials didn’t comply. The judge found that Trump’s efforts violated the separation of powers. The Constitution grants Congress and the states the authority to regulate federal elections, he noted.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg Law [1/9/2026 8:56 PM, Mallory Culhane and Maia Spoto, 803K]

New York Times [1/9/2026 2:05 AM, Zach Montague and Minho Kim, 135475K] reports a federal judge in New York temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing roughly $10 billion in federal funding for child care and social services destined for five Democratic-led states, keeping funds flowing until a lawsuit against the government can progress. In a brief order on Friday, Judge Arun Subramanian directed the Trump administration to release funds for three social services programs it had planned to withhold for the next two weeks while a legal challenge by the affected states continues. The decision came less than a day after the five states affected — New York, California, Minnesota, Illinois and Colorado — filed a lawsuit arguing that the freeze could create havoc among families with young children. According to the suit, on Jan. 5 and 6, officials in the five states received letters notifying them of an immediate pause in funding for three major programs that serve low-income families and individuals with disabilities. That included around $7.3 billion through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as nearly $2.4 billion from the Child Care and Development Fund, in addition to a number of smaller social service grants. The programs disproportionately benefit vulnerable and low-income families, and the cuts could cumulatively upend support systems for hundreds of thousands of households across the five states, the lawsuit argued. “The importance of these programs cannot be overstated — they provide cash assistance and fund services to help low-income and vulnerable families,” the lawsuit said. “Without these programs, there will be immediate and devastating impacts.” The Trump administration has suggested that the freeze was in reaction to allegations of fraud within Minnesota’s state social safety net programs, though it has yet to provide evidence that similar schemes took place at scale in the other four states it targeted. The president has pointed to the unfolding fraud investigations in Minnesota, which have involved the Somali-American community, to justify other punitive actions, including re-examining thousands of refugee cases and launching sprawling immigration raids. It was during those scaled-up immigration operations that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed an unarmed protester in Minneapolis on Wednesday, fueling growing protests against the administration. Throughout President Trump’s first year in office, his administration has repeatedly canceled funding for Democratic states, including a variety of grant programs impacting energy programs, disaster relief funds and other grants. Coalitions of Democratic state attorneys general have challenged those actions in court.

Reported similarly:
Washington Post [1/10/2026 3:54 AM, Andrew Jeong, 24149K]

FOX News [1/9/2026 3:18 PM, Breanne Deppisch, 40621K] reports the Trump administration cited the U.S. indictment of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a new court filing this week, in an effort to support its argument that it had the authority to deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a Salvadoran prison under a 1798 wartime immigration law. In the new filing, submitted earlier this week to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Justice Department argued that the U.S. indictment against Maduro "reinforces the Proclamation’s findings that the Maduro regime and TdA have formed a ‘hybrid criminal state’ directed by the regime," and which they argued justified the decision to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act law to quickly deport the class of migrants from the U.S. to El Salvador’s maximum-security confinement center, CECOT.

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 6:31 PM, Staff, 646K] reports the case of Chinese asylum-seeker Guan Heng is coming to a head on Monday, and it is a chance for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to exert some moral leadership and strategic sense. Guan Heng has an online asylum hearing on Monday, and immigration Judge Charles Ouslander has asked DHS to clarify whether it supports his asylum claim. Mr. Guan requested protection in the U.S. after he escaped from China in 2021 having gathered, at great personal risk, unprecedented footage of secret reeducation camps and detention centers in Xinjiang province. He made the perilous trip via Hong Kong, Ecuador and by boat from the Bahamas to Florida. Before setting sail he scheduled the release of his evidence of Chinese prisons and camps holding the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement encountered Mr. Guan by chance last August and arrested him for illegal entry. He has languished since in a New York jail. DHS last month dropped its efforts to send him to Uganda while his U.S. asylum case was pending. But a DHS spokesperson and DHS lawyer Niles Gerry declined to say Thursday whether they plan to support Mr. Guan’s asylum claim. The concern is that DHS will oppose Mr. Guan’s claim in a bloody-minded attempt to punish his illegal entry. Judge Ouslander will make the final decision, and it’s hard to imagine someone more deserving of asylum than Mr. Guan. In a Dec. 12 letter, the State Department told the immigration court that “in recent years, China has harassed and retaliated against those it deems disloyal . . . regardless of whether they live in China or abroad,” Reuters reports. If the U.S. returns Mr. Guan to China, he faces imprisonment, torture or death. If Mr. Guan is deported to a third country, Beijing could seek to extradite or abduct him, as it has other dissidents. This was the concern about sending Mr. Guan to Uganda. In a letter to Ms. Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month, 43 lawmakers from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said Mr. Guan “may also be pressured into making statements designed to raise doubts about the evidence his video footage provided, and the veracity and credibility of U.S. and Western reporting on China.” The U.S. would undermine its own interests by betraying Mr. Guan. If Ms. Noem lets her bureaucracy support his deportation, the Secretary will indelibly mar her legacy.

USA Today [1/10/2026 4:02 AM, Dace Potas, 67103K] reports that, in the days since the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, America has gotten a clearer picture of what happened between her and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. You’d think such a tragedy is a sobering moment for America’s politicians, some of whom, from all sides, contributed to the environment that resulted in the killing of this woman. If you ask any given elected official or a hyper partisan on one side, they are bound to characterize the officer as a member of the Gestapo and Good as a martyr. On the other side, they will characterize the officer as a hero and Good as a domestic terrorist. That’s the state of American politics. But there are no heroes and no martyrs in the Minneapolis shooting, and it seems that precisely zero of our elected officials can be trusted to responsibly discuss the matter. Such tragedies demand responsibility that we evidently lack. In order to actually discuss the different reactions to the incident, first, we need a common understanding of what happened. Difficult as it is to get a sense of what actually happened in this situation, you are better off watching the videos of the incident rather than getting your summary from politicians or commentators. However, I will do my best here to provide a fair accounting. USA TODAY has a full breakdown you can also reference. The incident begins with Good’s SUV blocking half the street. While leaving enough room for cars to pass around her, Good begins waving traffic through. One car passes her vehicle, a silver pickup carrying ICE agents stops, and agents exit. The agents approach her car, and one orders her to "get out of the f------ car," while reaching for the door handle. Good reverses slightly and comes to a very brief stop while another agent walks around the front of her vehicle. She then accelerates as the front side agent draws his gun, firing a shot through the front of the vehicle while sidestepping, and firing two additional shots through the driver’s side window as the car continues past him. The situation is an absolute mess to me as an outside observer, so anyone involved in this situation is going to get a whole lot of benefit of the doubt. Here is where I’m at on this situation: Good should have complied with lawful orders to exit her vehicle; she was probably just trying to drive away from the scene, not run over officers, and there is no possible way the officer in front of the vehicle could have known that was her intent. Fleeing a law enforcement officer is not a death sentence, but there is no way the officer could know that her intention was to flee. There is good reason for officers to never approach a vehicle from the front, as per their training, but in my view, a simple mistake in approach does not mean an officer must therefore accept whatever happens to them in a circumstance. The situation is a tragedy, and I think that reasonable people can have disagreements with my reading of the situation. Some might think that the officer even drawing his weapon was completely unnecessary, or that after a certain point, his gunfire became unnecessary.

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 2:45 PM, Alexander B. Gray, 646K] reports Your editorial “Invade Greenland? Why?” (Jan. 7) castigates President Trump and adviser Stephen Miller for committing the ultimate of Washington sins: saying what you mean and meaning what you say. Mr. Trump has never wavered in his belief—shared by presidents as diverse as Andrew Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman—that Greenland is essential to our security and should eventually be part of us. As these pages have reported, Chinese maritime activity is increasing in the Arctic and giving credence to Beijing’s insistence that it is a “near Arctic power.” The People’s Liberation Army is conducting war games simulating combat in the Western Hemisphere, and Russia continues to expand its Arctic bases and icebreaker fleet despite its quagmire in Ukraine. The National Security Strategy established a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine that identifies “extra-hemispheric powers” from meddling in the West. The president acted under that precept to remove Nicolás Maduro from power in Venezuela. It is under the concept of “hemispheric defense” that he is reiterating what he has stated in various forms since 2018: Greenland can’t be allowed to fall under the sway of adversaries. That Washington and Western Europe continue to be flummoxed by that historically grounded commitment is more an indictment of the foreign-policy establishment than of the Trump administration. While Mr. Miller’s comment that the world is “governed by power” may offend the sensibilities of Wilsonian idealists, it reflects the reality of contemporary great-power rivalries. Mr. Trump’s bold action in Venezuela, and his commitment to the defense of the Western Hemisphere, will have a salutary global effect by restoring the U.S. deterrent. An assertive America confident in its power and role on the world stage is the surest guarantee of peace.

ABC News [1/9/2026 10:11 AM, Bill Hutchinson, 30493K] reports as the FBI probes the deadly shooting of a woman accused of trying to run over a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, law enforcement experts said the background and training of the officer involved, as well as the Department of Homeland Security’s policy on the use of deadly force, will be pivotal to the investigation. Renee Good, 37, a mother of three, was fatally shot Wednesday morning in Minneapolis in her vehicle during an encounter with ICE officers, according to federal officials. According to the DHS policy, officers "may use deadly force only when the LEO [law enforcement officer] has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the LEO or to another person.” In addition, DHS guidelines for fleeing subjects says, "Deadly force shall not be used solely to prevent the escape of a fleeing subject. However, deadly force is authorized to prevent the escape of the fleeing subject where the LEO has a reasonable belief that the subject poses a significant threat of death or serious physical harm to the LEO or others and such force is necessary to prevent escape.” The policy goes on to state that "the reasonableness" of an officer’s use of force must be judged "from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight.” The policy also states that "respect for human life and the communities we serve shall continue to guide DHS [officers] in the performance of their duties.” During a news conference in New York City on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem continued to defend the actions of the federal immigration agent who fatally shot Good. Noem alleged that Good was part of a group stalking ICE agents and targeting them with her vehicle. Just hours after the shooting on Wednesday, Noem alleged that Good was killed while committing an act of "domestic terrorism.” "Our officer followed his training, did exactly what he has been taught to do in that situation and took actions to defend himself and defend his fellow law enforcement officers," Noem said.

The Hill [1/9/2026 6:53 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Friday questioned the “type of people” being recruited by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after two shootings involving immigration authorities. “I also worry about the type of people that are being recruited now for ICE. The recruitment rhetoric is ‘Defend your culture.’ What does that mean? I think that’s a dog whistle, basically, for ‘Let’s go after the great replacement,’” Johnson, who served in the Obama administration, said during an appearance on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” “If you’re Mexican American, for example, in south Texas, interested in enforcing the law, ‘Defend your culture’ is not a message for you. If you’re a Muslim American in Michigan or Minneapolis interested in enforcing the law, going into law enforcement, ‘Defend your culture’ is not a message for such person. Basically, you need not apply,” he added. His comments come after a woman was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis Wednesday while attempting to flee in her vehicle. One day later, two people were shot by a Border Patrol agent in Portland, Ore. The Department of Homeland Security has said in both instances, shots were fired in self defense. Vice President Vance also said the officer involved in the Minneapolis shooting will be offered “absolute immunity.”

Breitbart [1/9/2026 12:32 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports Philadelphia, Pennsylvania District Attorney Larry Krasner (D), linked to billionaire George and Alex Soros’s left-wing donor network, is threatening Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with arrest and conviction if they "come to Philly to commit crimes.” "If any law enforcement agent, any ICE agent, is going to come to Philly to commit crimes, they need to get the eff out of here," Krasner said during a press conference. "Because if you do that here, I will charge you with those crimes, you will be arrested, you will stand trial, you will be convicted, whether it’s in state or federal court.” And you will do your time because Donald Trump cannot pardon you for a state court conviction. Do you hear me, ICE agents? Do you hear me, National Guard? Do you hear me, military? You’re going to jail if you commit crimes in the city of Philadelphia. You will be accountable. The law applies to all of you. And I know that there are honest, decent, moral law enforcement out there by the bushel, including at ICE. This is not for you. This is for any one of your colleagues who thinks they are above the law. [Emphasis added]. Krasner’s remarks come after an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, shot and killed a woman who was caught on video attempting to impede operations and then turning her SUV toward the agent before driving towards him. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said the ICE agent feared for his life as he was in front of the woman’s vehicle when she turned her car toward him and gassed the engine. The ICE agent, DHS officials revealed, had been dragged 50 yards by an illegal alien driver last year — landing the agent in the hospital with serious injuries. Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal made remarks similar to Krasner’s, threatening ICE agents and calling them "made-up, fake, wannabe law enforcement.” "Those that come into our communities wearing a mask to commit [a] crime, thank God for our District Attorney Larry Krasner, who said he’s going to lock them up, and I’m saying now, we’re not going to whisk you away to hide your identity," Bilal said. "You don’t want this smoke, because we will bring it … to you," she continued.

FOX News [1/9/2026 1:47 PM, Alex Nitzberg, 40621K] reports that Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal slammed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as "madeup, fake, wannabe law enforcement," asserting that ICE’s actions violate both "legal law" and "moral law." Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner warned that law enforcement officials who commit crimes in Philadelphia will be arrested and charged. "So I’m with the DA," Bilal declared. "You don’t want this smoke. Cuz we will bring it to you," Bilal said. In a dig at President Donald Trump, she warned that "the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep" ICE agents from heading to jail. Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on Friday. Bilal has previously been slammed with allegations of wild offenses ranging from spending department money on promotional items like trading cards with her likeness to having bogus news stories about her being generated by AI. DHS indicated that the shooting was in self-defense but some have decried the officer’s action. "Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism," DHS noted in a Wednesday post on X. "An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots," DHS asserted. "The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [1/9/2026 5:33 PM, Heather Hunter, 1394K] reports a Democratic lawmaker in Maryland plans to introduce legislation that would block certain U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers from seeking jobs with state law enforcement agencies. State Delegate Adrian Boafo, who represents Prince George’s County, is sponsoring the "ICE Breaker Act of 2026," which would apply to sworn ICE officers who joined the agency on or after President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2025. Officers hired before that date, as well as ICE employees who served in administrative roles, would not be affected. Boafo said the bill is aimed at what he described as aggressive enforcement tactics carried out by federal immigration officers. The proposal comes as ICE hiring has surged nationwide. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it has hired more than 12,000 ICE officers and agents in under a year. The debate over immigration enforcement in Maryland is also tied to the controversial 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. As Maryland lawmakers prepare for the 2026 session on Wednesday, Jan. 14, both the proposed ICE hiring restrictions and the future of 287(g) agreements are expected to be major points of debate.

FOX News [1/9/2026 7:00 PM, Joshua Q. Nelson, 40621K] reports a Memphis lawmaker wants to limit Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) presence in schools in Tennessee. House Bill 1482, proposed by Democratic Tennessee State Rep. Gabby Salinas, would prohibit ICE from entering school campuses and require the state to notify staff, students, and security about their rights when addressed by federal agents, unless agents provide prior notice or respect specific limitations. The bill aims to prohibit the use of certain public properties, schools, and religious institutions for certain civil immigration enforcement activities. The Trump administration rescinded a longstanding policy that prevented ICE officials from conducting arrests of undocumented individuals at schools, houses of worship, hospitals, or other so-called "sensitive locations.” "Here in Tennessee we are asking teachers to teach under almost war-like conditions. What’s happening in other cities potentially can happen here in Memphis and I don’t want us to lose a life or have these adverse events in schools where kids are supposed to be learning. The bill aims to keep all students safe and provide an environment that is conducive to learning," Salinas told Fox News Digital. Salinas referred to Renee Nicole Good being shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday. The Trump administration said she used her car to try to run over federal officers during an immigration law enforcement operation. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has characterized the fatal shooting of Good as a response to an "act of domestic terrorism," alleging the driver had been "stalking, impeding, and blocking" ICE officers for hours leading up to the incident. Salinas, a Democrat, faces an uphill battle getting the bill passed as the General Assembly is controlled by a Republican supermajority. The legislature reportedly plans to reconvene next week and will introduce a slate of bills to cooperate with civil immigration enforcement.

Telemundo [1/9/2026 6:19 PM, Arly Alfaro, 182K] reports more than 10,000 people with irregular immigration status have been detained in Florida as a result of the 287-G agreement, a federal program that authorizes collaboration between state and local law enforcement agencies with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One of the cities that adopted this agreement is Miami, where the new municipal administrator, James Reyes, indicated that he will evaluate the initiative. Reyes’ remarks came shortly after his appointment during a meeting of the City of Miami Commission. The official noted that, "in reference to the agreement, we will obviously follow the law, but we will also ensure that our law enforcement focuses on protecting the community and enforcing the laws." Experts believe the review would not be unusual. Telemundo 51 political analyst and former Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas explained that when Reyes “was in the county he prepared a similar agreement with Miami-Dade County but if there is a difference and there could be some space for Mr. Reyes to review the agreement with the city of Miami since in Miami-Dade County how he manages a corrections department the requirements are different.” The 287-G agreement allows local agencies to collaborate with ICE on specific immigration functions. In June 2025, the city of Miami agreed to the agreement amid protests, following warnings of possible consequences if it did not.

NBC 4 Columbus [1/9/2026 11:53 AM, Katie Millard, 43603K] reports federal immigration officers arrested more than 280 immigrants in Ohio between Dec. 16 and 21, officials announced Thursday. The arrests were the result of “Operation Buckeye,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s targeted enforcement operation conducted in Columbus and around Ohio. The announcement comes one day after Columbus residents protested local ICE operations with a march from the Statehouse to City Hall. Columbus advocates organized the protest and subsequent candlelight vigil Wednesday night in honor of Renee Good, a 37-year-old shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minnesota hours earlier. Columbus activists on Wednesday told NBC4’s Samantha Bender they were angry, scared and saddened by the shooting. The shooting, captured on video, has sparked two different interpretations among officials and members of the public. ICE and the White House said it was an act of self defense after they allege Good drove a vehicle toward the officer. The mayor of Minneapolis and governor of Minnesota said Good did not appear to be trying to hurt the officer, who they allege fired his weapon unlawfully. Central Ohio protesters gathered again Thursday night to rally against ICE, which had a strong presence in Columbus in mid-December. Also on Thursday, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security and Ohioan Tricia McLaughlin offered further context on ICE in Ohio. McLaughlin said federal agents were in Ohio from Dec. 16 through 21 for Operation Buckeye. Columbus residents were aware when ICE began its targeted immigration operation in the city, but it had not been previously announced when or if Operation Buckeye ended. “Operation Buckeye resulted in the arrest of more than 280 illegal aliens, including criminals convicted of assaulting a police officer, criminal firearm possession, and drug trafficking,” McLaughlin said. “Thanks to our law enforcement, Ohio neighborhoods are safer with these criminals behind bars where they belong.”

AP [1/9/2026 1:31 PM, Rebecca Santana, Steve Karnowski, and Bianca Vazquez Toness, 31753K] reports that the Minneapolis school system will offer families the option of remote learning for a month amid federal immigration enforcement in the city, the district said. Under the temporary plan, teachers will simultaneously deliver lessons from their classrooms to students in the classroom and at home. The district provided the update late Thursday in an email to teachers that was obtained by The Associated Press. The move comes as the Trump administration sends 2,000 immigration agents to the area and the community responds to the fatal shooting of a local woman earlier this week by a federal agent. Immigration enforcement in cities across the U.S. has led to dips in school attendance, according to parents and educators. Advocates in other cities facing federal interventions have sought remote learning options, particularly for immigrant families that might feel vulnerable, but Minneapolis appears to be one of the few districts to reintroduce the option of pandemic-style virtual learning. "This meets a really important need for our students who are not able to come to school right now," a Minneapolis school administrator wrote in the email to staff. The virtual learning option will be available through Feb. 12.

FOX News [1/9/2026 11:24 AM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports the Marriott confirms they have fired an employee who leaked the names and emails of ICE agents staying at a Residence Inn in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Newsweek [1/9/2026 7:55 PM, Gabe Whisnant, 52220K] reports the Oglala Sioux Tribe is seeking answers after four enrolled members were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minneapolis. Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement on Facebook that the men, who were homeless and living near the Little Earth housing complex in Minneapolis, home to nearly 1,500 people, many of whom are Native American. The men were taken into custody without their names being recorded, the tribe said. Attorneys for the tribe have contacted Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan to determine the men’s location and confirm their identities. The tribe, based in South Dakota, said it is prepared to provide enrollment records to federal authorities and has issued guidance for members on what to do if detained. Tribe members are informed to say, “I am a citizen of the OGLALA LAKOTA NATION, a federally recognized Tribal Nation. Under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, all Native people born within the territorial limits of the United States are recognized as U.S. citizens by birthright. Because I am both a Tribal citizen and a U.S. citizen, ICE has no lawful authority to detain me.”

FOX News [1/9/2026 11:32 AM, Stephanie Giang-Paunon, 40621K] reports comedian John Mulaney announced he is postponing his Minneapolis shows following a fatal shooting during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that has sparked demonstrations across the city. Mulaney shared the decision on Instagram, citing safety concerns after Wednesday’s shooting. "What’s happening in your city is heartbreaking," Mulaney wrote in a message directed at his fans in Minneapolis. "I hate to postpone shows in a town going through such awful challenges and such grief, because it feels unfair to the audience.” Mulaney said he could not move forward with the performances given current safety conditions. "Still, I don’t feel comfortable asking thousands of people each night to leave their homes, gather at the venue, and then make their way home when the situation is so unsafe.” He added details for fans who have tickets to his Minneapolis shows.

CBS News [1/9/2026 6:47 PM, Staff, 39474K] Video: HERE reports a man in Galveston has been arrested after allegedly posing as an ICE agent and conducting a fraudulent traffic stop. Video from November 9 shows him refusing to provide a name or badge number as community members confronted him. Police say he searched a driver’s car with a flashlight despite having no authority. Witnesses told officers they grew suspicious because he had no police vehicle and his uniform didn’t look legitimate.

Washington Examiner [1/9/2026 3:53 PM, Staff, 1394K] reports Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson and other city leaders are condemning the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good during an ICE operation in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday. Wilson urged residents to sign up for the "Washington All ICE Mobilization Alerts," a system organized by the Washington Indivisible Network, a progressive organization formed in 2016 in opposition to Trump-era policies. The broader indivisible organization and its affiliates have received funding from the Open Society Foundations, founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, whose political giving has drawn criticism from some conservative groups. An ICE agent shot and killed Good during an ICE enforcement operation and has sparked national controversy due to conflicting accounts of the event and the federal government’s handling of the investigation. The ICE agent involved in the shooting has been identified as Jonathan Ross. "We already have laws in place that forbid the local police from aiding ICE in most instances. The police will enforce these laws," Wilson said in a statement. "I urge you to sign up for the Washington for All ICE Mobilization Alerts. And don’t stop there. I encourage you to raise your voices and demand that every elected official does what they can to actually protect the people who make our neighborhoods home.” Federal officials, including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly defended Ross. Noem described the incident as "an act of domestic terrorism," while McLaughlin said Good attempted to run over law enforcement officers.

New York Post [1/9/2026 9:01 PM, Zain Khan, 42219K] reports an illegal migrant accused of murder has been extradited from Mexico after years on the run. Humberto Rodriguez Martinez, 39, is accused of stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend to death in Anaheim nearly a decade ago and has been a fugitive since escaping custody in 2017. Martinez allegedly visited his ex-girlfriend’s apartment to help watch their children back in October of 2017. Later that night, her new boyfriend, Reyes, was chased and stabbed to death nearby, according to authorities. Martinez’s accomplice later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 15 years to life. Martinez, a Mexican national, pleaded not guilty and will remain held without bail in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement while his case proceeds. "This arrest does not undo the pain the victim’s family has endured, but it reinforces our commitment and promise to our community: we will never stop working until justice is served," said Anaheim Police Chief Manuel Cid. "The pursuit of justice will never be derailed by time or distance," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "The long arm of Orange County law enforcement reaches to every corner of the earth to ensure the full weight of the law is felt by those who commit the most heinous acts of violence against other human beings.” Martinez was located and arrested by Mexican officials during a joint operation with the U.S. Marshals Service and was extradited in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2024. Anaheim police took him into custody when he landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

AP [1/9/2026 5:15 PM, Michael Casey, 2218K] reports a federal judge said Friday that she expects to temporarily block efforts by the Trump administration to end a program that offered temporary legal protections for more than 10,000 family members of citizens and green card holders. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said at a hearing that she planned to issue a temporary restraining order but did not say when it would be issued. This case is part of a broader effort by the administration to end temporary legal protection for numerous groups and comes just over a week since another judge ruled that hundreds of people from South Sudan may live and work in the United States legally. “The government, having invited people to apply, is now laying traps between those people and getting the green card,” Justin Cox, an attorney who works with Justice Action Center and who argued the case for the plaintiffs, said. “That is incredibly inequitable.” This case involved a program called Family Reunification Parole, or FRP, and impacts people from Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras. Most of them are set to lose their legal protections, which were put in place during the Biden administration, by Jan. 14. The Department of Homeland Security terminated protections late last year. The case involves five plaintiffs but lawyers are seeking to have any ruling cover everyone that is part of the program. “Although in a temporary status, these parolees did not come temporarily; they came to get a jump-start on their new lives in the United States, typically bringing immediate family members with them,” plaintiffs wrote in their motion. “Since they arrived, FRP parolees have gotten employment authorization documents, jobs, and enrolled their kids in school.” The government, in its brief and in court, argued Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has the authority to terminate any parole program and gave adequate notice by publishing the termination in the federal registry. It also argued that the program’s termination was necessary on national security grounds because the people had not been property vetted. It also said resources to maintain this program would be better used in other immigration programs.

Reported similarly:
Reuters [1/9/2026 3:33 PM, Nate Raymond, 36480K]

Newsweek [1/9/2026 5:36 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports a federal judge in Boston said Friday that she would issue a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plans to end a legal immigration program allowing relatives of American citizens and green card holders to come to the U.S. while their immigration applications were pending. The Family Reunification Program or Parole currently applies to around 10,000 family members. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in December it was ending the FRP over fraud and abuse concerns. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani said she understood the Trump administration had the right to end the program, but she had concerns around its methods. “Today it was clear that the judge understood the urgency of the situation at hand and the imminent risks facing families throughout the country," Laura Flores-Perilla, staff attorney at Justice Action Center, told Newsweek in a statement. "The judge indicated that she may grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) today, which would mean that 10,000 people won’t have to risk separation from their families next week. Again, these are people who have done everything the U.S. government has asked of them, and this administration is cruelly and needlessly trying to yank the rug out from under them.” Government attorneys argued that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had the right to end temporary immigration programs like the FRP, and that resources dedicated to administering it would be better used elsewhere. Talwani said she understood this, but added that she sympathized with the plaintiffs in the case, who had made plans to be in the U.S. for a long time.

FOX News [1/9/2026 1:38 PM, Ashley J. DiMella, 40621K] reports that "Golden" visas have been popular among America’s wealthiest over the past year or so. While Americans are increasingly seeking second citizenship residencies as an "insurance" against global uncertainty, U.S. officials are taking actions against countries with such programs amid security risks. U.S. officials say citizenship-by-investment programs can allow individuals from restricted countries to obtain new passports and bypass U.S. travel, financial or banking restrictions. In a proclamation posted on Dec. 16, President Donald Trump reinstated an executive order, as well as a proclamation related to restricting and limiting the entry of foreign nationals to protect U.S. security. A slew of travel bans were named, specifically noting that Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda have citizenship by investment (CPI) programs with relaxed residency and screening requirements. "A foreign national from a country that is subject to travel restrictions could purchase CBI from a second country that is not subject to travel restrictions, obtain a passport in the citizenship of that second country, and subsequently apply for a United States visa for travel to the United States, thus evading the travel restrictions on his or her first country," the proclamation says. "United States law enforcement and the Department of State have found that, historically, CBI programs have been susceptible to several risks," it added. "These risks include allowing an individual to conceal his or her identity and assets to circumvent travel restrictions or financial or banking restrictions."

Newsweek [1/9/2026 3:01 PM, Dan Gooding, 52220K] reports the Trump administration has announced updated fees for fast-track processing of several visa applications, including the H-1B and student visas. In an announcement Friday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said it was increasing the costs for applications because of inflation—a reasoning given for other recent fee increases. Among the I-129 work-based visa forms seeing increased fees were those for H-1B visas, as well as the L visa category for internal company transfers of executives and managers. O-1 visas, for applicants viewed as having exceptional abilities, and P visas, for athletes and performers, will also see premium processing fees rise, as will form I-539 for student visas and form I-765 for STEM-OPT training visas for those international students. Overall, fees will rise between roughly $50 and $100, USCIS figures showed. Premium processing also has to be requested and is not the default when applying for the visas. USCIS says its agents will seek to review cases within 15 to 45 business days–far faster than many wait times regular applicants experience. The program, which has slowly expanded to cover the above categories, has been criticized at times for allowing wealthier applicants to skip the line, with some feeling this only adds to the agency’s backlog that can see applications sitting with officers for months, even years, because of the sheer number of cases to adjudicate. The additional revenue from the 2026 increase will be used to make improvements to the adjudication process, aid in efforts to address the agency’s large backlog of cases, and fund naturalization and adjudication services.

USA Today [1/10/2026 6:01 AM, Lauren Villagran and Eduardo Cuevas, 67103K] reports that, as Venezuelans in the United States celebrated the ouster of their country’s tyrannical leader, Gustavo Garagorry went live on Instagram in a red MAGA cap, his native country’s red-blue-and-yellow flag draped around his neck. He cheered President Donald Trump. But days after U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro, sobering realities are setting in. Across the United States, Venezuelan émigrés have watched helplessly as the Trump administration has revoked or cancelled nearly every legal pathway once open to them for staying here. And inside Venezuela, Maduro may be gone, but the regime’s repression was swift and iron-fisted. Many Venezuelan immigrants aren’t allowed to stay, but they can’t safely go home, said Garagorry, president of the Venezuelan American Republican Club in Doral, Florida. "The situation has put the Venezuelan community in a very vulnerable position," he said. Since Trump took office, more than half a million Venezuelan immigrants have lost or are at risk of losing their legal status to remain in the United States. The Trump administration canceled the Temporary Protected Status of more than 600,000 Venezuelans and revoked a humanitarian parole program that allowed roughly 120,000 Venezuelans to come legally for two years, with sponsorship. At the same time, the administration is short-circuiting applications for asylum by asking judges to dismiss or pre-emptively cancel cases. The administration has argued that Biden’s protections were unlawful or unnecessary and that the asylum system, designed to protect certain groups of persecuted people, is rife with false claims. "It’s devastating and tragic that you have people who risked everything only to find a completely dysfunctional system" in the United States, said Lisa Koop, director of legal services at the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center, which represents asylum-seekers. Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary, told FOX News on Jan. 4 that Maduro’s capture meant Venezuelans can "go home.” "The great news for those who are here from Venezuela on Temporary Protected Status is that now they can go home with hope for their country – a country that they love – that there is going to be peace, prosperity and stability," she said.

Bloomberg [1/9/2026 12:46 PM, Andrew Kreighbaum, 91K] reports that the Department of Homeland Security and US Citizenship and Immigration Services are scrutinizing thousands of Minnesota refugee cases in a large review of suspected fraud in the state, the agency announced Friday. The announcement comes days after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman during a larger migrant crackdown that sent thousands of officers into the state. The shooting of Renee Nicole Good sparked protests across the country and led to calls by local officials and community groups for ICE to leave the area. An ICE officer later in the week shot and wounded two people in Portland, Ore. USCIS, which processes green cards and work benefits, has increasingly focused on immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. The fraud investigation dubbed Operation PARRIS began in mid-December and focused on 5,600 refugees in Minnesota who have yet to be approved for permanent residency. Investigators have begun referring findings of fraud and other criminal violations to ICE, the announcement said. The USCIS operation is part of efforts to carry out two White House executive orders on responding to public safety threats and restricted entry of foreign nationals who pose security concerns. An agency spokesman called the state "ground zero" for a war on fraud.

New York Times [1/10/2026 4:11 AM, Madeleine Ngo, 330K] reports the Homeland Security Department announced on Friday that it was reviewing thousands of refugee cases in Minnesota, subjecting immigrants who had already been approved for status to new interviews and background checks amid an intense federal crackdown in the state. Homeland security officials said the initial focus of the effort would be on the roughly 5,600 refugees in the state who do not yet have green cards. It comes as the federal government has escalated its immigration enforcement operation in the state, deploying about 2,000 officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. “Minnesota is ground zero for the war on fraud,” the department said in a statement. “This operation in Minnesota demonstrates that the Trump administration will not stand idly by as the U.S. immigration system is weaponized by those seeking to defraud the American people.” The effort to re-examine claims began in mid-December, and any cases of fraud and other crimes are passed along to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the statement. Tensions between federal and local officials in Minnesota have risen after the killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman who was shot by a federal immigration officer on Wednesday. Although state and local officials have urged federal agents to leave Minneapolis, Trump administration officials have pledged to continue their operations. Documents obtained by New York Times on Thursday suggested that more than 100 federal agents and officers were being deployed to Minnesota from other cities. Some organizations that provide assistance to refugees said the federal effort was an unusual attempt to scrutinize immigrants who had already completed an extensive vetting process. Eskinder Negash, the president and chief executive of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, said he was “deeply concerned” about the effort and that he was not aware of the federal government having targeting a group of refugees in this manner before. “Subjecting refugees to duplicative re-interviews undermines the integrity of that process and places an unnecessary burden on individuals who have already been granted lawful admission after years of scrutiny,” Mr. Negash said in a statement. “This approach risks casting undue suspicion on refugees and their families simply because they entered through a lawful humanitarian pathway under a different administration.” Other groups said the effort would fuel more fear and anxiety in Minnesota. “It doesn’t really have a clear rationale, other than to take away people’s status and make it easier to remove those people,” said Julia Decker, the policy director at the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota.” In a lot of ways, this is a redundancy for processes that already exist.”

Reported similarly:
Breitbart [1/9/2026 11:30 AM, John Binder, 2416K]
Washington Examiner [1/9/2026 5:49 PM, Kaelan Deese, 1394K]

Washington Times [1/9/2026 5:18 PM, Kerry Picket, 852K] reports National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez said Friday that the resources provided to border officials through the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act have uncuffed border patrol agents to do their jobs. It is a measure of success that Republicans are counting on voters to reward them for in the November midterm elections. That’s why Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, led a group of fellow GOP lawmakers and candidates to the Texas-Mexico border Friday to highlight the peace and quiet that now dominates the boundary. “A year ago, at this time, President Trump hadn’t even been sworn in yet. We were still suffering. The American people were under the Biden open border policies,” Mr. Thune said. However, he said it would take vigilant Republican leadership to keep the border closed. “One of the things that we think is really important to maintaining the progress that’s been made here at the southern border is for us to protect and preserve and preserve our majority in the United States Senate, hopefully even to expand upon it, but also to make sure that we maintain that majority in the House of Representatives,” Mr. Thune said. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said his state was reimbursed roughly $11 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for border enforcement, compared to nothing under President Biden. The Border Patrol Council’s Mr. Perez said that under Mr. Trump and a Republican-run Congress, border agents have the funding they need to protect the U.S. “like it’s never been protected before.” “From day one, President Trump took the handcuffs off the Border Patrol agents and allowed them to do their jobs,” Mr. Perez said.

FOX News [1/9/2026 6:23 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE reports U.S. Border Patrol chief Mike Banks gives an update on the CBP-related shooting in Portland, Ore., and criticizes what is ‘encouraging’ people to violate the law on ‘The Will Cain Show.’

FOX News [1/9/2026 6:23 PM, Alexandra Koch, 40621K] reports a hug shared between a Border Patrol agent and a protester showed a heartwarming moment of humanity in Minnesota as clashes over immigration enforcement rattle the U.S. A conversation between a Border Patrol agent in full gear and an anti-immigration enforcement protester was caught on video Thursday, giving insight into federal agents’ demeanor as they provide security amid rising tensions nationwide. Speaking to the female protester, who was carrying a bullhorn and gas mask, the agent sought common ground over their shared experience of U.S. military service. "You signed [up] to become a soldier, right," the agent asked the woman. "The purpose of the soldier is to go to war. This mission is different [with Border Patrol]. I understand, because I was in the Air Force, and I was an airman.” "Not the Air Force. They’re fly boys," she quipped. "If you’d been a Marine, I would have brought you some crayons. No, listen…". "I love you," he interjected as the pair laughed about her military jest. "I want to hug you.” "You can’t do that," the woman said, looking over to the other agents. "Oh, I could," the agent said, adding he would not mind. "I would let you," she responded. "You can hug me. I would embrace it if you would hug me.” "I will," he said. "Come over.” The agent walked out of his line of formation toward the woman and hugged her as she smiled.

NPR [1/10/2026 3:54 PM, Lucio Vasquez, 28013K] reports Joe Herrera still remembers how quickly the water rose. It was just after midnight on July 4. Herrera, who has Parkinson’s disease, was awake watching television. At first, the rain sounded normal. Then it grew heavier — and didn’t stop for hours. "It started coming down hard," Herrera said. Herrera and his wife, Lilia, live in a home in Ingram’s Bumble Bee Hills subdivision, near the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. As the rain intensified, the river began to rise. Using his phone as a flashlight and steadying himself with his walker, Herrera moved down the hallway to wake his wife. Around the same time, the power went out. "The water was already in the garage, pretty deep already, within minutes," Herrera said. "The water came rushing in and threw my furniture to the other side of the house." Herrera said he and his wife tried to reach the attic, but the water was already knee-deep. Suddenly, banging rang through the house. A neighbor from across the street was at the garage door, checking on the couple. Unable to move through the rising water on his own, Herrera said the neighbor tied a rope around him and helped pull him to safety, up the hill and out of the floodwaters. They survived, but their home was badly damaged. They also lost their car. Still, Herrera says he’s happy to be alive. He was back in his home two months later, while hundreds of other people weren’t so lucky. "Every day I pray to God, thankful for what I have," Herrera said. It’s been six months since catastrophic flooding tore through the Texas Hill Country, killing more than 130 people. And while recovery across the region remains far from complete, daily life has largely resumed. Shops are open. Restaurants are busy. Traffic moves steadily along bridges that were once underwater. The Guadalupe River is quiet now. But closer to the riverbank, reminders of the disaster are harder to ignore: empty lots where homes once stood and fresh dirt where foundations were washed away. "The beauty and the calmness of that river, to see the damage that it’s done, it’s really hard for people to understand," said Louis Amestoy, editor and founder of the Kerr County Lead, a local news source. "That’s going to take years to get over." Amestoy has spent countless hours covering memorials, local meetings, and court hearings since the flood, documenting the disaster in the same community he calls home. He says the physical damage tells only part of the story in a close-knit community still grappling with loss. "These are people who’ve lived here their entire lives," he said. "It was very challenging."

NewsMax [1/9/2026 7:30 PM, Mark Swanson, 4109K] reports the White House alerted the Secret Service that former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene may have tipped off protesters ahead of President Donald Trump’s unannounced appearance at a Washington, D.C., restaurant last fall, Axios reported Friday. Trump was confronted by Code Pink protesters inside Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab in September, a restaurant Greene recommended, according to the report. The protesters got within a few feet of Trump’s table, raising security concerns and prompting questions about how they knew the president would be there. The incident marked a "point of no return" in Trump’s relationship with Greene, a one-time Republican ally who had become a staunch critic, the report said. Greene denied the claim, telling Axios that any suggestion she revealed Trump’s dinner plans was "an absolute lie — a dangerous lie. I would never do that.” It’s unclear if Greene, whose last day in Congress was Jan. 5, is being investigated by the Secret Service. Trump’s Sept. 9 visit to Joe’s, alongside Vice President JD Vance and several Cabinet members, was intended to showcase improved safety on Washington streets after his decision to deploy the National Guard. Code Pink protesters managed to get within feet of Trump’s table, chanting slogans including "Free D.C.," "Free Palestine," and "Trump is the Hitler of our time.” In the weeks that followed, Trump aides worked to determine how the group learned of the president’s unannounced dinner plans, which had been shared with only a small circle. The media was not notified in advance of the outing, Axios said. Adding to the suspicion, officials said that after recommending the president dine at Joe’s, Greene repeatedly called White House staffers on the day of the dinner to confirm he was going, Axios reported. After Trump was told about Greene’s calls, he personally called her shortly before leaving the White House to confirm his plans, the report said. Greene — a regular at the restaurant — did not appear at Joe’s while Trump and other officials were there, a detail some Trump aides said they found unusual, according to the report. Further, Greene is friends with Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin. In fact, Benjamin and other Code Pink members later met with Greene after she announced in November that she would resign from Congress midway through her third term. "I have enjoyed a friendship with Medea for a few years now even though politics says that’s not allowed," Greene said in a December post to X. .

CBS News [1/9/2026 1:31 PM, Dan Raby, 39474K] reports that former Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is accusing the White House of spreading an "absurd dangerous lie" after reports that the Trump administration contacted the Secret Service about her. On Friday, Axios released a report with sources from the White House that said some officials believed Greene may have let protesters with the anti-war group Code Pink know about a reservation the president had at a D.C. restaurant in September 2025. Mr. Trump’s visit to Joe’s Seafood on 15th Street on Sept. 9 was interrupted by a small group of protesters, who waved small Gaza flags and chanted: "Free D.C.! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!" Secret service agents removed the protesters from the restaurant. Axios reports that the president’s aides saw the moment as a "point of no return" in his relationship with Greene, who had been a strong supporter of Mr. Trump’s agenda. Greene had recommended the restaurant, but told the news outlet that she did not know when he would be eating there. White House officials also pointed to Greene’s friendship with Code Pink’s co-founder, Medea Benjamin. Writing on X, Greene called the allegations that she was in contact with Code Pink about the dinner a "dangerous false accusation against me," saying that it was in retaliation for her efforts to release the files about Jeffrey Epstein.

FedScoop [1/9/2026 11:55 AM, Staff, 56K] reports the Trump administration is withdrawing the United States from a handful of international organizations that work to strengthen cybersecurity. As part of a broader pullback from 66 international organizations, the administration is leaving the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, the Online Freedom Coalition and the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Trump’s decision is in line with a president who has expressed hostility toward the existing international order, an approach critics fear creates a leadership power vacuum for U.S. adversaries to fill. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Thursday: “The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity.” Rubio criticized the international organizations over “DEI mandates,” “‘gender equity’ campaigns” and activities that “constrain American sovereignty.” [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

CBS Baltimore [1/9/2026 1:33 PM, J.T. Moodee Lockman, 39474K] reports that two more alleged members of a faction of the MS-13 criminal gang in Baltimore were indicted in connection with four murders and two attempted murders, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, was formed by Salvadoran nationals who came to the U.S. to escape a civil war in their country, according to the Justice Department. Four other members of the Centrales Locos Salvatruchas (CLS) "clique" were indicted in July 2025 in connection with three murders and one attempt, according to court officials. The latest indictment adds a fourth murder charge and a second attempted murder charge. According to the indictment, the two defendants engaged in a racketeering conspiracy, committed multiple murders, engaged in drug distribution and extorted victims. The indictment identifies 25-year-old Manuel Alexander Lara Morales, also known as "23" and "Snappy," of El Salvador, as the leader of the CLS clique since 2023. According to the court document, 23-year-old Eliseo Alexander Lopez Alvarez, also known as "10," "Zorro," and "Terrible," of El Salvador, acted as second in command of CLS. Lopez Alvarez and Lara Morales allegedly authorized the murder of another CLS member on Sept. 4, 2023, after a dispute over drug sales, court documents allege.

Reuters [1/10/2026 3:37 AM, Tim Cocks, 36480K] reports China, Russia and Iran began a week of joint naval exercises in South Africa’s waters on Saturday in what the host country described as a BRICS Plus operation to "ensure the safety of shipping and maritime economic activities". BRICS Plus is an expansion of a geopolitical bloc originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and seen by members as a counterweight to U.S. and Western economic dominance - to include six other countries. Though South Africa routinely carries out naval exercises with China and Russia, it comes at a time of heightened tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and several BRICS Plus countries, including China, Iran, South Africa and Brazil. The expanded BRICS group also includes Egypt, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Chinese military officials leading the opening ceremony said Brazil, Egypt and Ethiopia participated as observers. "Exercise WILL FOR PEACE 2026 brings together navies from BRICS Plus countries for ... joint maritime safety operations (and) interoperability drills," South Africa’s military said in a statement. Lieutenant Colonel Mpho Mathebula, acting spokesperson for joint operations, told Reuters all members had been invited. Trump has accused the BRICS nations of pursuing "anti-American" polities, and last January threatened all members with a 10% trade tariff on top of duties he was already imposing on countries across the world. The pro-Western Democratic Alliance, the second largest party in South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s coalition, said the exercises "contradict our stated neutrality" and that BRICS had "rendered South Africa a pawn in the power games being waged by rogue states on the international stage". Mathebula rejected that criticism. "This is not a political arrangement ... there is no hostility (towards the U.S.)," Mathebula told Reuters, pointing out that South Africa has also periodically carried out exercises with the U.S. Navy. "It’s a naval exercise. The intention is for us to improve our capabilities and share information," she said.

Wall Street Journal [1/9/2026 5:32 PM, Collin Eaton, Annie Linskey, and Benoît Morenne, 646K] reports President Trump pressed executives from nearly two dozen oil companies Friday to plant flags in Venezuela and drill into one of the world’s largest oil bounties. Most of those executives stopped short of making public pledges to quickly invest. Gathering at the White House less than a week after the U.S. incursion in Venezuela, executives from Chevron —the only U.S. oil company active there—Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and other companies signaled a willingness to examine new prospects in the Latin American country. However, they indicated they need security guarantees and an overhaul of Venezuela’s legal and commercial framework to consider diving in. Trump said the U.S. government would provide the companies with security guarantees, but it was clear he wanted companies to push into the country. At the start of the meeting, Trump said he intends American oil companies to spend at least $100 billion in Venezuela boosting oil production. “If you don’t want to go in, just let me know because I’ve got 25 people that aren’t here today who are willing to take your place,” Trump told the executives. He also said the U.S. and Venezuela are “working well together” to rebuild the country’s oil-and-gas infrastructure.

Reported similarly:
Bloomberg [1/9/2026 6:19 PM, David Rovella, 18207K]

New York Times [1/9/2026 7:49 PM, Rebecca F. Elliott, Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, Eric Schmitt and Michael Levenson, 135475K] reports President Trump prodded American energy executives to quickly tap Venezuela’s vast oil reserves on Friday, hours after the United States military intercepted another tanker carrying Venezuelan oil. The tanker, which American forces boarded in the Caribbean Sea early Friday, was the fifth that they have boarded or seized in the past month, as the Trump administration seeks to control Venezuela’s oil exports. Mr. Trump said Friday afternoon in a meeting with oil executives at the White House that he did not expect more U.S. attacks on Venezuela after American commandos captured its president, Nicolás Maduro, in a raid on the capital, Caracas, last weekend. Mr. Trump praised the country’s interim leaders but said that American warships — which he called an armada — would stay in place off the Venezuelan coast. Trump administration officials have outlined a sweeping but bare-bones plan to take over Venezuela’s lucrative oil industry and have said they expect the country’s new leaders to follow orders from Washington. Mr. Trump has said that U.S. oversight of the country could last years. In the meeting with American oil executives, Mr. Trump said their companies would “rapidly rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated oil industry and bring millions of barrels of oil production to benefit the United States, the people of Venezuela and the entire world.” He said that U.S. oil companies would invest at least $100 billion in Venezuela. But it is not clear that oil executives are prepared to commit to that investment. Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, emphasized the opportunities that Venezuela presents — and the big hurdles it would need to clear to return to the country. “We’ve had our assets seized there twice, and so you can imagine to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes,” Mr. Woods said at the White House meeting. “Today it’s uninvestable.” He said that Exxon Mobil was prepared to send an exploratory team to Venezuela within the next few weeks if it received security guarantees. Other executives were similarly cautious. When pressed by the president, Harold Hamm, one of his closest oil-industry allies, also stopped short of committing to work in Venezuela. “It excites me as an explorationist,” he said. “Everybody has that in their blood.” But, he added, Venezuela has “got its challenges.” Some oil executives have privately discussed the possibility of seeking some form of financial guarantee from the federal government before agreeing to establish or expand production in Venezuela, according to people familiar with their thinking. Oil executives are concerned about political instability in Venezuela, since oil investments are often measured in decades, and companies would need to be confident that any deal would last long enough for them to turn a worthwhile profit.

Breitbart [1/9/2026 12:37 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports that Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado will meet with President Donald Trump next week and said he would accept her Nobel Peace Prize. Machado — the most recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize — told Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this week that she wanted to give her prize to the president. Trump said he would be honored to accept it from her. "I’ve stopped eight wars," The Hill reported Trump said. "I think it’s been a major embarrassment to Norway. Now, I don’t know what Norway has to do with it but that’s where the committee is located, a lot of Norwegian people." "Well, I understand she’s coming in next week sometime, and I look forward to saying hello to her," he said in the interview with Hannity. No date for the meeting has been released. Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez assumed office Monday after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro in an operation by U.S. forces. Maduro and his wife Cilia were taken to the United States, where they pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking and other gun charges.

US News & World Report [1/10/2026 5:05 AM, Gram Slattery, Humeyra Pamuk and Jonathan Landay, 19051K] reports U.S. intelligence has painted a grim picture of Cuba’s economic and political situation, but its assessments offer no clear support for President Donald Trump’s prediction that last weekend’s military action in nearby Venezuela leaves the island nation “ready to fall,” said three people familiar with the confidential assessments. The CIA’s view is that key sectors of the Cuban economy, such as agriculture and tourism, are severely strained by frequent blackouts, trade sanctions and other problems. The potential loss of oil imports and other support from Venezuela, for decades a key ally, could make governing more difficult for the administration that has ruled Cuba since Fidel Castro led a revolution in 1959. But the most recent CIA assessments were inconclusive on whether the worsening economy would destabilize the government, said the people familiar with the intelligence, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive information. These assessments are notable because Trump and other U.S. officials have suggested that shutting off Venezuelan oil to the island after the Caracas operation could topple the government in Havana, a longtime dream of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and some other high-ranking officials in the Trump administration. "Cuba looks like it is ready to fall," Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. "I don’t know if they’re going to hold out, but Cuba now has no income. They got all their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil." The White House, the CIA and the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to requests for comment. Reuters could not determine if the CIA had produced an updated assessment since U.S. forces arrested Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro last Saturday. Venezuela is Cuba’s top oil supplier. Since Maduro’s capture, the U.S. has successfully pressed Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez to send essentially all of Venezuela’s oil to the U.S. Given the dire assessments of Cuba’s energy situation even when Venezuelan oil was flowing to the island, the impacts of Caracas’ shifting oil flows on Cuba’s economy will be severe, independent analysts say. Cuba’s Communist economy has performed poorly for decades amid rigid state planning and a U.S. embargo. But a confluence of factors in recent years - including Venezuela’s declining economy and a drop-off in tourism following the COVID-19 outbreak - has compounded Cuba’s pain. The people who were familiar with the intelligence and spoke to Reuters said the CIA had described Cuba’s economy in very poor terms - although their descriptions differed in degree. One official said the situation described in the assessments was not quite as bad as the "Special Period" of the 1990s, a time of prolonged economic pain following the withdrawal of the Soviet Union’s support in the late 1980s and early 1990s. One of the officials, however, said blackouts were lasting on average 20 hours a day outside of Havana, which had not occurred previously. Whether or not economic suffering actually leads to government change is unclear - a reality acknowledged in the CIA assessments.

NBC News [1/9/2026 6:59 PM, Gabe Gutierrez, Erika Angulo and F. Brinley Bruton, 34509K] reports Colombian officials began frantically calling Republicans in Congress seeking help to prevent a feared U.S. attack after President Donald Trump issued searing comments about their country’s leader in the wake of the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a senior Colombian official tells NBC News. Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump called his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, “a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” adding: “And he’s not going to be doing it very long.” Petro, a former Marxist revolutionary and one of the few Latin American leaders willing to vocally criticize Trump, on Tuesday said the American president had a “senile brain.” The Colombians asked members of Congress to help set up a phone call between Petro and Trump, which the Colombian government had wanted for some time. The official said the mediation paid off, with the two leaders speaking by phone on Wednesday, shortly before Petro was set to lead nationwide demonstrations in support of the country’s sovereignty. The Trump-Petro call resulted in a dramatic de-escalation in tensions between the two men, with both leaders praising each other and announcing plans for a meeting in Washington next month. Colombia’s Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez told NBC News on Thursday that he planned to travel to Washington along with Petro to meet with American officials — and that he no longer had concerns the U.S. would launch a military attack on his country. “I trust in the word of the president of the United States,” he said, adding that the conversation had been a crucial “icebreaker” for the two leaders and countries.

ABC News [1/9/2026 6:28 PM, Alexandra Hutzler, 30493K] reports President Donald Trump on Friday continued to press for U.S. control of Greenland, telling reporters: "We are going to do something on Greenland whether they like it or not.” "Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor," Trump said as he hosted oil executives at the White House to discuss investments in Venezuela. The president has repeatedly said he wants to take over Greenland either by buying the autonomous island territory or by using military force, calling it a matter of national security despite fierce pushback from Greenland, Denmark and European allies. "Greenland is not for sale. I think our Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and our Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt has made it very, very clear. Our country belongs to the Greenlandic people," Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland’s head of representation to the United States, said to journalists on Thursday after a closed-door meeting with members of Congress. When asked on Friday for how much money he believed it would take to get Greenland on board with his proposal, Trump said, "I’m not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that.” "I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way," Trump said.

New York Times [1/9/2026 7:57 PM, Farnaz Fassihi, 135475K] reports tens of thousands of Iranians poured into the streets on Friday night in a second night of mass, nationwide antigovernment protests despite a total internet blackout and threats of a severe crackdown from the senior Iranian leadership. Videos posted on BBC Persian Television showed thousands of people on the march in the capital, Tehran, drawing supporters from what residents said in interviews was a demographically diverse cross-section of working-class, middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods. A resident of Saada’t Abad, an upscale neighborhood in northern Tehran, described crowds setting ablaze a mosque and parading the traditional, royalist flag flown by the government of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, which was toppled in the 1979 Islamic revolution. The resident, Ladan, 60, who asked to be identified only by her first name for fear of official reprisals, said she was protesting for the second night in a row. As in the previous night, the protests were widespread, erupting in the cities of Mashhad, Tabriz, Urumiyeh, Isfahan, Karaj and Yazd, among others, according to witness interviews and videos either verified by The New York Times or appearing on BBC Persian. In each instance the videos showed large groups defiantly chanting for an end to the nearly 50 years of the Islamic Republic’s rule, with the scenes lit by bonfires and blazing trash cans. People chanted, “Death to the dictator” and “Long live the shah” in the videos. In a reference to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, they said, “This is the year of blood, Seyed Ali will be toppled.” In a speech earlier Friday, Ayatollah Khamenei had condemned the protesters as “rioters” doing the bidding of the United States and Israel. On state television, an anchor warned that protesters could be risking their lives by taking to the streets. “Tonight is the night for parents to stop their children from going out,” he said. “If something happens, if someone is injured, if a bullet is fired and something happens to them, do not complain.” Amir Reza, 42, an engineer, said in an interview from Tehran that he could hear gunfire and the boom of so-called sound bombs, which make loud noises but are otherwise harmless. He said he decided to go home after swarms of riot police officers and militias in plainclothes began firing in the air and chasing the crowds to disperse them.

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