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 AP [1/15/2026 3:59 PM, Konstantin Toropin and Michael Biesecker, 14862K] reports U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil. The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s “established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said. U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.” Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship. The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago. The Daily Wire [1/15/2026 6:50 AM, Leif Le Mahieu, 2494K] reports that "As another sanctioned ghost fleet tanker, Motor Tanker Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters, and was operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean," Noem posted on X, sharing footage of the operation. "As we’ve now demonstrated through multiple boardings, there is no outrunning or escaping American justice — period. Our resolve is unshakeable and our mission coordination has never been better. America’s Coast Guard remains Always Ready to apply the full force of its unique authorities and specialized capabilities against this threat anywhere, anytime," she added. U.S. Southern Command said that Marines and sailors assigned to Joint Task Force Southern Spear took part in the seizure after launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford. The task force is focused on disrupting drug trafficking and other illegal activities in the Western Hemisphere. The Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 11:00 AM, Brady Knox, 1394K] reports that the seizure was part of Operation Southern Spear, and occurred "without incident.” "The Veronica is the latest tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean, proving the effectiveness of Operation Southern Spear yet again," SOUTHCOM’s X account said in a statement. "The only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully. The @DeptofWar, in coordination with interagency partners, will defend our homeland by ending illicit activity and restoring security in the Western Hemisphere," it concluded.

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The Wall Street Journal [1/15/2026 5:56 PM, Michelle Hackman and Jack Morphet, 646K] reports Madison Sheahan, the No. 2 official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and close ally of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, is resigning to run for Congress in Ohio. Charles Wall, who has worked as an attorney for ICE for 14 years, will succeed her effective immediately, Noem said Thursday evening. Wall “is a forward leaning, strategic thinker who understands the importance of prioritizing the removal of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from our country,” she said. Sheahan, who ran much of the day-to-day operations inside ICE, was the agency’s main point of contact with Noem and was behind many of the agency’s splashier operations and ad campaigns. Noem called Sheahan a “work horse” whose leadership would translate to elected office. “I’ve known her for years, she loves her family, Ohio and her country. She will be a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress,” Noem said. The Washington Post [1/15/2026 6:56 PM, Brianna Tucker and Marianne LeVine, 24149K] reports that in a video announcing her candidacy Thursday, Sheahan described herself as a “Trump conservative” and touted her record recruiting thousands of new agents and deporting “over 2.5 million illegal aliens.” “In less than one year at ICE, I’ve stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington,” she said. The video features images of Sheahan in her role during various ICE operations, including her wearing tactical gear and speaking at a lectern. “When the call came to help President Trump clean up the dangerous immigration mess, as deputy director of ICE, I answered the call,” she narrates in the video. Her candidacy comes as some federal immigration officers have been documented using aggressive tactics, and amid an intensifying national debate over President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort. Recent polling has shown that many Americans say they disapprove of ICE’s actions. The New York Post [1/15/2026 1:23 PM, Staff, 42219K] reports that Ohio’s 9th District, which stretches across the northwestern corner of the Buckeye State and includes the city of Toledo, has re-elected Kaptur every two years since her first run for the House in 1982, even as the state has shifted right over the past decade. The race is currently listed as "lean Republican" in 2026 by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. A National Republican Congressional Committee rep confirmed Sheahan’s run to The Post. The announcement of her departure from ICE was made Thursday morning, sources first told Fox News. "In less than one year at ICE, I’ve stopped more illegal immigration than Marcy Kaptur has in her 43 years in Washington," Sheahan declared in her announcement video. "In Congress, hypocrisy, excuses and failure can earn you a lifetime job," she added. "But on my family farm, that would put us out of business.” In the 2024 election, Kaptur triumphed over GOP candidate Derek Merrin by just 2,382 votes — while the district went for Donald Trump in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections. Before serving in the Trump administration, Sheahan served as political director for four years under then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who was confirmed as Homeland Security secretary last year. FOX News [1/15/2026 11:40 AM, Greg Norman-Diamond and Bill Melugin, 40621K] reports "Former ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan is fighting to protect American jobs, American paychecks, and American values in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District." "For too long, Northwest Ohio has been represented by a career politician who has grown comfortable with the swamp and disconnected from the people back home," Sheahan said in a statement. "I am running because President Trump deserves a Congress that stands firmly behind his agenda, and Ohio deserves an elected Representative that will make America safer, more affordable, and more prosperous.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement Thursday, "I’ve known her for years, she loves her family, Ohio and her country. She will be a great defender of freedom when she goes to Congress."

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The Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 9:42 PM, Ross O’Keefe, 1394K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Thursday that Charles Wall will take over as the deputy director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE’s previous deputy director, Madison Sheahan, left the agency on Thursday to run for Congress. "Effective immediately, Charles Wall will serve as the Deputy Director of @ICEGov," Noem wrote on X. "For the last year, Mr. Wall served as ICE’s Principal Legal Advisor, playing a key role in helping us deliver historic results in arresting and removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from American neighborhoods," Noem added. The Hill [1/15/2026 9:33 PM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports “Mr. Wall has served as an ICE attorney for 14 years and is a forward leaning, strategic thinker who understands the importance of prioritizing the removal of murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members, and terrorists from our country,” Noem said in a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) statement. “I look forward to working with him in his new role to make America safe again.” In his previous role, Wall oversaw 3,500 attorneys and support personnel “who represent DHS in removal proceedings and provide accurate, timely, and complete legal advice and counsel to the agency’s senior officials and workforce,” DHS stated. He has worked with the agency since 2012, when he was assistant chief counsel to the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor in New Orleans. Wall’s selection comes after ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan announced she was leaving the agency to run for Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s (D-Ohio) seat in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. The Daily Caller [1/16/2026 12:00 AM, Jason Hopkins, 835K] reports Sheahan, a 28-year-old who previously served as the executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party and led the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, earlier on Thursday announced her candidacy for Ohio’s 9th congressional district. That seat has been held for 43 years by now-79-year-old Democrat Marcy Kaptur — the longest-serving woman in congressional history. As the principal legal advisor of ICE, Wall oversaw a staff of more than 2,000 attorneys and other personnel who represent the administration in deportation proceedings and conduct other legal matters related to immigration enforcement, according to his biography on the agency’s website. As the new deputy director, Wall will be overseeing the day-to-day operations of the entire agency, leading a workforce of more than 20,000 employees. The promotion follows a tumultuous moment for ICE, with Democrats increasingly calling for major reforms — and even threatening to defund the agency entirely — after a deadly ICE-related shooting in Minneapolis. DHS has surged federal immigration enforcement across Minnesota, prompting pushback from local Democrats and violent, left-wing protesters. "We cannot and we should not continue to fund agencies that operate with impunity, that escalate violence and that undermine the very freedoms this country claims to uphold," Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar told reporters Tuesday, alongside other Democratic lawmakers who vowed to defund the agency. "ICE has no place in terrorizing Minneapolis or any American community.” President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota leaders did not do more to protect the violence against ICE agents.

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The Washington Post [1/15/2026 7:46 PM, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Maegan Vazquez, et al., 24149K] reports President Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota on Thursday, raising the prospect of sending U.S. troops into Minneapolis, despite opposition from state and local leaders, to quell protests over a recent federal immigration enforcement surge. Trump, in a Truth Social post, put the onus on Minnesota politicians to stop protesters from “attacking” Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Trump wrote that if the state couldn’t calm the protesters, whom he referred to as “insurrectionists,” he would “institute the INSURRECTION ACT … and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State.” Federal agents have flooded the streets of Minneapolis in recent days, detaining people, pulling them from their vehicles, stopping U.S. citizens and — as of Wednesday evening — shooting two people, one of whom was killed. Residents have responded by protesting the agents’ use of force and the Trump administration’s campaign to round up people who are not in the country legally. Trump’s threat to invoke the law came after an immigration enforcement officer shot a man in the leg during a struggle outside a residence Wednesday evening, leading residents to flood the streets in protest and, in some cases, clash with federal authorities. Federal officials on Thursday identified the man who was shot by law enforcement as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan man who the Department of Homeland Security said was in the U.S. illegally after arriving in 2022. DHS has not identified the officer who shot Sosa-Celis. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem told reporters at the White House that she spoke with Trump on Thursday morning about invoking the Insurrection Act, calling the option his “constitutional right” but adding that she did not know whether he was likely to follow through on the threat. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would not say what it would take for Trump to invoke the act but claimed during Thursday’s press briefing that Democratic politicians “are holding their state and local law enforcement hostage” by declining to comply with federal immigration authorities sent to their cities and states by the Trump administration. NBC News [1/15/2026 12:28 PM, Rebecca Shabad, 34509K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that she had discussed the possibility of using the Insurrection Act with the president. "He certainly has the constitutional authority to utilize that," Noem told reporters outside the White House. When asked about Trump’s comments, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that "Minnesota is out of control." He added, "You have local and state leaders who seem to be encouraging violence and, and all of this madness, and the President’s frustrated about it and so are we.” Trump floated using the Insurrection Act several times last year, citing the need for "safe cities" across the country. The president also considered invoking it during his first term amid protests in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd in police custody but ultimately decided against it, a senior administration official told NBC News in October. On Wednesday evening, Walz, a Democrat, said that the presence of ICE officers was no longer "a matter of immigration enforcement.” "Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government," he said. "Let me say once again to Donald Trump and Kristi Noem — end this occupation. You’ve done enough.” The Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 9:01 AM, Emily Hallas, 1394K] reports that the president’s statement about possibly invoking the rarely used Insurrection Act of 1807 "to stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E." comes after protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers intensified over the past few hours. Tensions have heightened in Minneapolis, as state lawmakers continue to criticize federal operations in the state. The act, signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson, codifies the use of U.S. land and naval military forces in the event of an insurrection. The word "insurrection" isn’t defined in the act but is typically understood as an act of revolting against civil authority or government, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. It’s been used previously by presidents to quell labor disputes and rebellions in the early days of America. Protests in Minneapolis have been ongoing since an ICE officer fatally shot Renee Good, a Minnesota woman accused of trying to kill federal officers. On Wednesday evening and overnight, demonstrators responded to a second shooting in the city, in which the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said a federal officer shot an illegal immigrant in the leg after being attacked by multiple suspects with a snow shovel and broomstick. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said some protesters were throwing fireworks and rocks at federal agents. He characterized it as an "unlawful assembly," as law enforcement used tear gas and flash bangs on rioters launching fireworks and snowballs at officers. Officials said 600 Minneapolis Police Department officers are working to "keep our streets safe. Both sides continue to blame the other for escalating tensions.

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The AP [1/15/2026 12:29 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said President Donald Trump has the constitutional authority to invoke the Insurrection Act to quell protests against federal immigration officers in Minneapolis, but she didn’t say whether he would use it or not. [Editorial note: consult video at source link] CBS News [1/15/2026 10:52 AM, Jessica Levinson, 39474K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she discussed the possibility of President Trump invoking the Insurrection Act in Minnesota. This comes after an ICE officer shot a man during an arrest operation on Wednesday. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Times [1/15/2026 5:56 PM, Kerry Picket, 852K] reports Democrats insist their calls for supporters to protest ICE agents are not irresponsible, and the portrayal of out-of-control demonstrators resisting federal agents is a distortion by Homeland Security. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urged residents to always carry their phones to record federal immigration actions, and promised during a statewide address on Wednesday night that “accountability is coming at the voting booth and in court.” “Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity but to bank evidence for future prosecution,” Mr. Walz said, one week after Minneapolis anti-ICE protester Renee Good drove her SUV toward ICE agent Jonathan Ross as her partner recorded the incident, which ended with Mr. Ross fatally shooting Good. “I don’t think anyone is doing what they’re doing without understanding fully the risks that should not be risks to them, to film, to continue to make sure that they see what ICE is doing when they kidnap and detain people from the streets,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Washington Democrat, told the Washington Times. She said, “We have a right to protest in this country, to peacefully protest. We have the right to walk down our streets. We have the right to not be arrested without a warrant.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, said the anti-ICE protesters’ actions are “what America is about.” “What made it dangerous?” she said. “The fact that ICE people are out shooting into an open car? Shooting where there are private citizens around?” Anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis have continued to heed Mr. Walz’s call and have taken to the streets with their camera phones and their vehicles as they stalk ICE agents who are carrying out raids and arrest warrants. However, some have gone as far as hurling projectiles at officers and ramming their autos at agents and their vehicles. On Thursday, Mr. Walz attempted to tamp down the rhetoric after President Trump threatened he would invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in Minnesota if protesters continued to attack federal agents carrying out immigration raids.

Daily Wire [1/15/2026 4:51 PM, Zach Jewell, 2494K] reports President Donald Trump praised a "highly respected Minnesota judge" on Thursday after she declined to issue a restraining order against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Democrat-run state. On Wednesday, Kate Menendez, a Biden-appointed U.S. District Court judge, rejected Minnesota’s request to temporarily block ICE from continuing immigration enforcement operations in the state as Minnesota’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement moves forward. "A highly respected judge declined to block I.C.E. operations in the very politically corrupt State of Minnesota. I.C.E. will therefore be allowed to continue its highly successful operation of removing some of the most violent and vicious criminals anywhere in the World, many of them murderers, from the State," Trump said. "The great patriots of Law Enforcement will continue to make our Country safe. RECORD LOW CRIME NUMBERS!!!". Menendez said her decision did not indicate how she would ultimately rule on Minnesota’s lawsuit against the federal government, CBS News reported. "I think the issues are really important and I don’t want to suggest by not acting immediately one way or the other that I think they are unimportant," Menendez said. "To the contrary, I understand this is important to everybody.”

The Wall Street Journal [1/15/2026 9:47 AM, Alyssa Lukpat, 646K] reports a federal immigration agent shot and injured a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis on Wednesday, authorities said, a week after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot a woman in the city. The officer shot the man in the leg after he attempted to flee a traffic stop Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said. The shooting unfolded during a tense week for Minneapolis, where protesters are criticizing the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good last week. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement in the city and sent thousands of agents to make arrests this month. Minnesota sued the administration this week over what it said were aggressive enforcement tactics. DHS said the officer had pursued the man on foot and the pair got into a struggle before two people came out of a nearby apartment and joined in with a snow shovel or broom handle. According to the agency, the man got loose and struck the officer, who then shot him in the leg. He then ran into the apartment with the two people where they barricaded themselves inside, DHS said. Agents entered the property and took the man to a hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at a news briefing Wednesday night. DHS said the officer fired the shot in self-defense. The Daily Signal [1/15/2026 11:03 AM, Virginia Allen, 549K] reports protests erupted again in Minneapolis after a federal law enforcement officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg Wednesday night after being attacked by him and two others wielding a snow shovel and a broom. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the Venezuelan man was an illegal immigrant who fled a traffic stop by federal agents in his car. When he crashed his vehicle, he fled on foot and then violently resisted arrest, the agency said. At that point, the agent making the arrest was attacked by two more individuals, and "the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broom stick," the agency said. The agent, "fearing for his life," fired his gun in defense and wounded the Venezuelan man in the leg. The three alleged assailants then fled and barricaded themselves inside a nearby residence. Federal agents entered the apartment, arresting the men, according to the local ABC affiliate KSTP. The illegal alien who was shot in the leg was taken to the hospital and was reported in stable condition, according to Reuters. The agent who was attacked was badly beaten and is receiving treatment, News Nation’s Ali Bradley reports. "This attack on another brave member of law enforcement took place while Minnesota’s top leaders, Governor [Tim] Walz and Mayor [Jacob] Frey, are actively encouraging an organized resistance to ICE and federal law enforcement officers," DHS said in a statement on X. Walz and Frey have repeatedly asked President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to cease immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota. ABC News [1/15/2026 10:07 AM, Ahmad Hemingway and Jason Volack, 30493K] reports that "Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life," DHS said in a statement on social media. "The initial subject was hit in the leg.” Both the officer and the person who was shot were taken to the hospital, DHS said. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the person shot was an "adult male," and that his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. DHS said federal law enforcement officers were conducting a "targeted traffic stop" Wednesday evening at 6:50 p.m. local time. The DHS statement identified the person being stopped as "an illegal alien from Venezuela." Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the situation was "not sustainable" and urged residents to protest peacefully. "There’s still a lot that we don’t know at this time," Frey said. "But what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable. This is an impossible situation that our city is being put in.” ICE and Border Patrol officers are "creating chaos," in the city, Frey said, adding, "I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and is intolerable. If it were your city, it would be unacceptable there too." In a rare primetime address, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Wednesday called on President Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to "end this occupation" in Minnesota. "Donald Trump wants this chaos. He wants confusion, and yes, he wants more violence on our streets. We cannot give him what he wants," Walz said. "We can, we must protest loudly, urgently, but also peacefully. Indeed, as hard as we will fight in the courts and at the ballot box, we cannot and will not let violence prevail." Noem had said on Tuesday that the ICE officers were on the scene for an operation that was "rapidly removing the criminal illegal aliens who have found sanctuary in Tim Walz’s Minnesota." "The men and women of DHS law enforcement are working day and night to arrest and deport sickos, dirtbags, and fraudsters from across the state," she added.

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AP [1/15/2026 6:43 PM, Staff, 31753K] Video: HERE

FOX News [1/15/2026 5:19 PM, Greg Wehner, 40621K] reports a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fighting for his life in Minneapolis was allegedly ambushed with a shovel and broom handle by three illegal immigrants during a traffic stop that quickly spiraled into a foot chase, a violent struggle and gunfire, officials said. Federal authorities say the chaotic scene began Wednesday evening when agents conducted a targeted traffic stop for a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who was released into the U.S. under former President Joe Biden. What followed, they said, was an attempt to evade arrest that ended with one of the attackers shot and all three in custody. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) identified the illegal immigrants as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma, all Venezuelan nationals now in ICE custody. DHS said federal officers were attempting to arrest Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis when he fled the scene in his vehicle, crashed into a parked car and ran on foot. The pursuing officer caught up with Sosa-Celis and tried to take him into custody, at which point he began to resist and violently assault the officer. As the two struggled on the ground, two individuals emerged from a nearby apartment and began striking the officer with a snow shovel and a broom handle, DHS said. Sosa-Celis broke free and allegedly struck the officer as well before the agent, fearing for his life, fired a defensive shot that struck Sosa-Celis in the leg. Despite being wounded, Sosa-Celis and the other two men retreated into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside. ICE ultimately arrested all three suspects and took them into custody. The officer and Sosa-Celis were both hospitalized following the confrontation. "What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement," DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said. "Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot.” Noem blasted local leadership, saying Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Tim Walz must "get their city under control" and accusing them of encouraging resistance against law enforcement, which she said is "putting the people of Minnesota in harm’s way."

CBS News [1/15/2026 8:44 PM, Matt Gutman, 39474K] reports two versions have emerged of Wednesday night’s shooting in north Minneapolis in which a Venezuelan migrant was shot in the leg by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer while allegedly trying to flee. The migrant and two others were arrested. Cell phone footage shared on social media by Democratic state Sen. Erin Maye Quade appears to show the moments after Wednesday’s shooting took place, in which a woman calls 911 and can be heard pleading for help. The caller says her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family. But according to the Department of Homeland Security, the man who was shot, identified by the DHS as Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, fled from federal officers, crashed into a parked car and then resisted arrest. According to DHS, two other men then came out of a nearby apartment and allegedly attacked one of the officers with a snow shovel and broom handle. Fearing for his life, DHS says, the ICE officer fired a defensive shot, hitting Sosa-Celis in the leg. The ICE officer was injured during the incident, DHS said, and both the officer and Sosa-Celis remained hospitalized Thursday. It marks the second Minneapolis shooting in a week involving an ICE officer. The fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in a residential neighborhood in south Minneapolis on Jan. 7 has become a flashpoint in the ongoing unrest in the Twin Cities. Wednesday’s shooting has ignited some of the fiercest clashes since the federal government deployed nearly 3,000 ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents to the Twin Cities over the last few weeks. During one protest Thursday, federal agents deployed chemical agents on a crowd without warning. One video appeared to show vandals breaking into a federal official’s car, carting off a crate, and then spray painting it. The FBI on Thursday released a flyer offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of stolen government property from the vandalized vehicle. In follow-up social media posts Thursday evening, both FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said one person accused of stealing property out of the vandalized car had been taken into custody. They did not name the suspect, but alleged the person had a "known violent criminal history" and was a member of the Latin Kings, a street gang. Bondi said the suspect had stolen FBI "body armor and weaponry." It was unclear if the stolen items were recovered. The suspect was arrested in a raid carried out by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Patel and Bondi said, along with other Justice Department agencies. "There will be more arrests," Patel wrote.

Washington Times [1/15/2026 12:33 PM, Stephen Dinan, 852K] reports that three men who “ambushed” an ICE officer in Minneapolis, spurring him to fire his gun and wound one of them, all came to the U.S. during the Biden administration and are in the country illegally, the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was trying to arrest Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on Wednesday night when he fled in his vehicle, crashed it and ran toward a home, officials said. An ICE officer caught up with the man, who resisted, tumbling the agent and migrant to the ground. That’s when Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma, two other illegal immigrants from Venezuela, rushed from the home and began beating the ICE officer with a snow shovel and broom handle. Mr. Sosa-Celis struggled free and joined in the beating, DHS says. The officer then fired his gun, wounding Mr. Sosa-Celis in the leg. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled the attack on the officer “an attempted murder.” “Our officer was ambushed and attacked by three individuals who beat him with snow shovels and the handles of brooms. Fearing for his life, the officer fired a defensive shot,” she said. All three migrants have been taken into ICE custody.

New York Post [1/15/2026 6:16 AM, Nicholas McEntyre, 42219K] reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey claimed ICE agents in the city were "causing chaos" after an illegal immigrant armed with a shovel "ambushed" an officer and was shot on Wednesday. Frey blamed the nearly 3,000 federal officers deployed across Minneapolis as the reason for the disorder — which included the shooting death of 37-year-old anti-ICE agitator Renee Nicole Good — that has taken hold of the Minnesota area over the last week. "The 600 police officers that we have are charged on any given day with investigating crime, stopping homicides from taking place, preventing carjackings. That’s the work of a police officer in a city," the Democratic mayor said at a press conference after the shooting. "Meanwhile, we have ICE agents throughout our state who, along with border patrol, are creating chaos.” "This is not the path that we should be on right now in America," he said. The unidentified Venezuelan national was allegedly behind the wheel of a car and fled a traffic stop before he crashed into a parked car just before 7 p.m, the Department of Homeland Security said. The migrant ran out of the car to escape before he was brought to the ground by an agent. He began to resist arrest and violently assaulted the officer as the two wrestled on the ground, according to a post from the agency. During the altercation, two individuals came out of a nearby apartment and allegedly attacked the officer with a broomstick and shovel. The migrant broke free of the hold of the agent and allegedly struck him with a broom or shovel before the federal officer fired a "defensive shot," striking the first suspect in the leg. The agent and the Venezuelan migrant were hospitalized and the other two attackers were arrested, DHS officials said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 12:00 PM, Harold Hutchison, 835K] reports Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis interrupted a lengthy rant against United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Wednesday to accuse violent rioters of "taking the bait" from President Donald Trump’s administration. In a Wednesday post on X, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that an ICE agent who was ambushed by three people while conducting a "targeted traffic stop" shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela. Frey claimed that the federal law enforcement officers sent to carry out the crackdown on illegal immigration "do not share" the values of Minneapolis residents. "Let’s be very clear, I have seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and intolerable. If it was your city, it would be unacceptable there too, and for anybody taking the bait tonight, stop, that is not helpful," Frey said during his Wednesday night press conference. "Go home." "We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own chaos, and I have seen thousands of people throughout our city peacefully protesting," Frey continued. "For those that are peacefully protesting, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping and you’re not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city. You are not helping the people that call this place home."

NewsMax [1/15/2026 4:37 PM, Michael Katz, 4109K] reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey struck a more conciliatory tone regarding protests tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, calling for peace after a second shooting involving a federal officer in less than a week. "There’s still a lot that we don’t know at this time, but what I can tell you for certain is that this is not sustainable," Frey, a Democrat, said Wednesday night at a news conference, shortly after a federal officer shot an illegal immigrant in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while trying to make an arrest. "This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in, and at the same time, we are trying to find a way forward," Frey said. The mayor’s remarks marked a sharp contrast to a profanity-laced tirade he delivered last week after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, when Frey demanded that ICE "get the f*ck out of Minneapolis." Good was killed on Jan. 7 during an ICE operation after a confrontation in which federal officials said her vehicle moved toward an agent — a characterization disputed by local officials and witnesses. While urging calm, Frey continued to sharply criticize ICE operations in Minneapolis, calling them "disgusting" and "intolerable," and warned protesters not to "take the bait" amid what he described as "Donald Trump’s chaos." Frey also blamed limited local law enforcement resources, arguing that ICE agents and other federal law enforcement personnel outnumber Minneapolis police.

CNN [1/16/2026 4:07 AM, Eric Bradner and Jeremy Herb, 18595K] reports Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey delivered a stern message one week ago to federal agents following the deadly shooting of a Minnesota woman who was protesting their efforts to round up immigrants in the state. “Get the f**k out of Minneapolis,” Frey said. The remark immediately put Frey in the national spotlight and at the center of the fiercest battle yet over President Donald Trump’s federal crackdown in cities across the country. Tensions between local protesters and federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have only continued to boil over, after a federal agent shot and injured a man Wednesday night who had allegedly assaulted the agent. Seeking to deescalate the situation, Frey urged protesters to go home afterward. “We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos,” he said Wednesday night, after local police said protesters were shooting fireworks at officers. “For those that have peacefully protested, I applaud you. For those that are taking the bait, you are not helping, and you are not helping the undocumented immigrants of our city. You are not helping the people who call this place home.” The city’s efforts over the past week to respond to the ICE crackdown — and the Trump administration’s decision to double down on its Minneapolis surge — demonstrates the difficult situation Frey and other state and local Democrats face. Standing up to the Trump administration bought Frey respect in his overwhelmingly Democratic city — but it also made him a target of the White House and its Republican allies.

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 12:16 PM, Nicole Silverio, 835K] reports a Democratic Socialist city council member in Minnesota complained on Thursday that Democratic members in her state are calling on anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests to remain peaceful. Robin Wonsley, who represents Minneapolis’ second ward, accused Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O’Hara on “CNN News Central” of refusing to protect the residents of the city by calling for peaceful protests. Following a second ICE-related shooting on Wednesday, Frey and O’Hara called on protesters to either protest peacefully or “go home.” “I’m confused as to what bait is being taken. And I think what people on the ground hear when our mayor, Mayor Jacob Frey, say those type of things, or when our chief of police says we need you to stand down, what people are hearing is, ‘stand down, don’t take action,’” Wonsley said. “‘We’re not going to take action either because our local leaders have not taken any action to actually protect their residents. We need you to stand down and allow ICE to do their jobs and do their jobs of shooting residents and expecting immunity to profile residents during traffic stops or on their way to take the bus to get to work. We want to allow ICE agents to do that job.’” “Our residents are showing so much courage, and I’m glad that they’re out in our communities because they’re doing a lot more than elected officials like myself who were charged with delivering material changes in moments like this to truly get ICE out of Minnesota,” Wonsley continued. Frey and O’Hara held a press conference on Wednesday to address an ICE-related shooting in Minneapolis after an agent got attacked by three alleged assailants with a shovel. “This is not sustainable,” Frey said. “This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in, and at the same time we are trying to find a way forward, to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to maintain order.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said that an illegal Venezuelan national and two other individuals attacked an ICE agent with a snow shovel or broom stick while he attempted to escape a traffic stop, prompting the agent to fire a defense shot in the alleged assailant’s leg. The alleged assailant and the ICE officer are currently in the hospital, while the two other individuals are in custody, according to DHS. Wonsley announced on Monday that she was taking action to pass an eviction moratorium for ICE agents, claiming that the agents were attacking residents throughout Minnesota.

New York Post [1/15/2026 5:26 PM, Chris Nesi, 42219K] reports Minnesota Democrats are trying to make a hero out of an anti-ICE activist who was arrested after laughing off multiple warnings against tailing immigration agents in an effort to waste their time and resources. Patty O’Keefe has been making the rounds on TV in recent days, sharing the experience of her arrest and spending hours in ICE custody, while accusing agents of making "bigoted" and "homophobic" remarks in front of her and another activist friend. O’Keefe and her friend Brandon Sigüenza were driving around south Minneapolis chasing leads posted on anonymous neighborhood group chats about agents conducting enforcement activities when they came upon two ICE vehicles surrounding the vehicle of another pair of citizen "patrollers." After the agents drove away, O’Keefe and Sigüenza tailed the agents down a residential street until their vehicles stopped in the middle of the road. Agents emerged, giving the agitators a "final warning" to stop following them, which O’Keefe responded to by shouting at them through closed car windows that she wasn’t obstructing them. Sigüenza, meanwhile, kept repeating the name of Renee Good, who was shot by an ICE agent last week after she clipped him with her SUV while speeding away to evade arrest. Sigüenza claimed one of the agents "sprayed pepper spray into the car’s intake vent" as they walked back to their vehicles. But even a stern warning and an alleged dose of pepper spray wasn’t enough to deter the duo, who continued following the convoy, O’Keefe leaning on her horn until the agents again stopped their cars. "They shattered both front windows and dragged Sigüenza and O’Keefe from the car," the outlet writes, citing video of the incident captured by observers. Exactly as advertised, the pair was arrested and brought in separate cars by immigration agents to the Whipple Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis, where they said they spent eight hours in custody, mostly with other busted ICE protesters. On the ride over, O’Keefe made the incendiary claim that the agent driving the car said, "you guys gotta stop obstructing us," and, "that’s why that lesbian bitch is dead," allegedly referring to Good, who herself was affiliated with a similar group of "ICE Watch" volunteers. Sigüenza claimed agents offered him money or to "expedite immigration proceedings for his relatives" if he gave up names of protest organizers or illegal immigrants. McLaughlin slammed Sigüenza’s claims as lies. Sigüenza and O’Keefe were released from custody without charges.

Free Beacon [1/15/2026 6:05 PM, Jessica Costescu, 411K] reports the "ICE Watch" group at the center of the unruly demonstrations gripping Minneapolis urged supporters to "embrace militancy" and escalate their demands "by any means necessary." Hours later, Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D.) also encouraged residents to resist ICE, accusing the agency of carrying out a "campaign of organized brutality.” MN ICE Watch, which describes itself as an "autonomous collective documenting & resisting against ICE, police, & all colonial militarized regimes," shared an Instagram post on Wednesday teaching agitators how to relay "information on police and/or fascist" activity at demonstrations. "We within the belly of this imperial beast face a turning point," the post read. "After seven full months during which our protests have utterly failed to slow the gears of the war machine, there is nothing left to do but escalate" (emphasis theirs). "The time is ripe to embrace militancy on the ground, both to keep ourselves safer, and as a demonstration of our commitment to the words ‘by any means necessary.’". On Wednesday evening, Walz told residents to continue resisting ICE. Agents are "just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans, kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process," he said. "Let’s be very, very clear: This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it is a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.” Walz’s speech and MN ICE Watch’s guide come as protests have indeed escalated in Minneapolis amid a surge of ICE agents. Just hours later, agitators clashed with law enforcement over an ICE-involved shooting. As an ICE agent attempted to arrest an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, he was ambushed by two other individuals wielding a broomstick and a shovel, according to a statement from DHS. The immigrant grabbed an implement and began attacking him as well—the ICE agent shot him in the leg in self-defense, DHS stated. While MN ICE Watch does not appear to be organized professionally and does not list a fundraising page, Sunrise Twin Cities, Unidos MN, and Defend the 612 have collectively received millions of dollars from the Left’s premier foundations and dark money networks, including George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, Tides Foundation, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Washington Free Beacon reported. "There is a growing trend of agitators and rioters obstructing the arrest of illegal aliens and assaulting our brave law enforcement," DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Free Beacon. "Our officers are facing a 1,300 percent increase in assaults against them as they arrest the worst of the worst, including murderers, sexual predators, terrorists, and gang members. Secretary Noem has been clear: If you lay a hand on law enforcement, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

FOX News [1/15/2026 11:42 AM, Staff, 40621K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joins ‘America’s Newsroom’ to discuss her recent call with Gov. Tim Walz, protests and I.C.E. enforcement in Minnesota and President Donald Trump’s authority under the Insurrection Act. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/15/2026 5:05 PM, Madison Colombo, 40621K] reports Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz rejected her offer of help in Minneapolis as federal agents continue operating in the city amid protests. Tensions have remained high in Minneapolis after a fatal, officer-involved shooting Jan. 7 and a separate, non-fatal incident Wednesday. Noem argued the media is "helping" Democrats while misrepresenting the situation on the ground. Noem blamed rhetoric from Democratic leaders, including Walz, for escalating the violence. She called their anti-ICE messaging "extremely reckless" and noted she spoke with Walz several days ago and offered the support of the Department of Homeland Security. Noem said Walz responded by noting they have different views on the situation in Minnesota.

The Hill [1/15/2026 12:25 PM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem slammed Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) on Thursday amid unrest in the Twin Cities over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “Mayor Frey and Governor Walz have to get their city under control,” Noem wrote on the social platform X. “They are encouraging impeding and assault against our law enforcement which is a federal crime, a felony. This is putting the people of Minnesota in harm’s way.” Protests and unrest against federal immigration enforcement have escalated in Minneapolis since an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Renee Good there last week. On Wednesday, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said a federal officer shot a Venezuelan migrant amid a scuffle during a traffic stop in Minneapolis. “In an attempt to evade arrest, the subject fled the scene in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. The subject then fled on foot,” McLaughlin added. “The law enforcement officer caught up to the subject on foot and attempted to apprehend him when the subject began to resist and violently assault the officer.” The officer and migrant were hospitalized, while the other two people are in custody. Noem told Fox News Thursday morning that “this kind of violence is perpetuated” by rhetoric from Walz and Frey. Both leaders have heavily criticized the administration’s surge of ICE and Customs and Border Protection personnel to Minnesota.

Daily Wire [1/15/2026 5:14 AM, Hank Berrien, 2494K] reports in a bizarre, overheated primetime address that sounded less like a governor briefing his state and more like a dystopian audiobook audition, Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz told Minnesotans that they are living under something resembling a federal occupation. "What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief," Walz began ominously, insisting that "two to three thousand armed agents of the federal government" — whom he described as "masked, under-trained ICE agents" — are roaming the state committing acts more commonly associated with banana republics than immigration enforcement. According to Walz, these agents are "going door to door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live," pulling over Americans "indiscriminately" demanding "to see their papers," and abducting people into "unmarked vans" in what he explicitly labeled "kidnapping innocent people with no warning, and no due process." Walz claimed this was no longer about enforcing immigration law. "This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement," he declared. "Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government."

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 10:22 AM, Nicole Silverio, 835K] reports Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) livestream had to be deleted from YouTube on Wednesday over technical issues. Walz gave an address to his constituents where he accused President Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem of conducting an "occupation" and of wanting violence. The stream got deleted from YouTube as the sound was hardly audible and echoes could be heard of Walz’s voice. Walz accused ICE agents of raining terror among racial minorities in Minnesota, kidnapping people and of "dragging pregnant women." He called on Minnesotans to film ICE agents as they conduct operations, despite Noem previously warning that filming officers endangers their safety "If you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record. Help us create a database of the atrocities against Minnesotans, not just to establish a record for posterity, but to bank evidence for future prosecution," Walz said. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/15/2026 1:38 PM, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports that the highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is demanding that his state’s governor resign over continued unrest in Minneapolis as agitators clash with federal law enforcement. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., the No. 3 House GOP leader, issued a fresh demand for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to resign as demonstrations in their state’s largest city rage over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and tensions show no signs of easing. "The scenes of destruction and damage taking place in Minneapolis are abhorrent. This violence cannot be tolerated," Emmer said in a statement on Thursday. "Tim Walz should resign, effective immediately. The safety of Minnesotans depends on it." Protests have erupted in Minneapolis in the wake of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent earlier this month. Dueling narratives over who is at fault have been almost completely divided along partisan lines. Republicans argued that the ICE agent was acting in self-defense after Good hit him with her car following a day of attempting to obstruct ICE activity in the city. Democrats have largely accused the agent of acting recklessly when he shot at Good three times while she was in her car, arguing that video shows she was attempting to adhere to officers’ demands to leave the scene. Another ICE agent allegedly shot an illegal immigrant in the leg on Wednesday during an arrest attempt, further fueling tensions.

FOX News [1/15/2026 11:16 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports U.S. Border Patrol sector chief Greg Bovino discusses the ongoing mission in Minnesota following two I.C.E.-involved shootings on ‘Fox News @ Night.’ [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/15/2026 3:22 PM, Rachel Wolf, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) pushed back after several Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee held a press conference slamming the Trump administration’s handling of immigration. House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., led the news conference and was joined by several high-profile Democrats, including Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn, and Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. The lawmakers not only criticized DHS’s handling of immigration and federal law enforcement’s conduct in Minneapolis. They also called for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s impeachment. The press conference was held in the wake of the fatal ICE-involved shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota, which sparked unrest in the state and demonstrations across the country. A Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that lawmakers would continue to introduce legislation in an attempt "to rein in" ICE, but in the meantime, "will continue to do our job to investigate DHS – and Kristi Noem – when this administration breaks the law." DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the lawmakers and said in a statement emailed to Fox News Digital that the department was doing its job by enforcing the law.

FOX News [1/15/2026 9:42 PM, Staff, 40621K] reports Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin discusses how attacks on I.C.E. agents are on the rise on ‘Hannity.’[Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Breitbart [1/15/2026 8:01 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports as Minneapolis police failed to respond to violent unrest Wednesday night, rioters smashed into ICE vehicles, ripped out weapons lockers, and — according to video posted online — made off with a rifle and ammunition before fleeing the scene. The video shows the tattooed face of a man making off with what appears to be a rifle case removed from the vehicle. Rioters took to the streets with impunity Wednesday night after the second officer-involved shooting in Minneapolis in the past week. A federal law enforcement officer was forced to shoot an illegal alien from Venezuela after he allegedly violently assaulted an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer attempting to make an arrest. ICE officials say the officer was attacked by three people armed with a snow shovel and broom handle and fired "a defensive shot to defend his life," Breitbart’s Paul Bois reported. The incident spurred rioters to take to the streets in violent conflict with federal law enforcement agents and officers. Independent journalist Nick Sortor posted a video on X showing an incident where rioters broke into an ICE vehicle and forced open a weapons locker stored in the rear of the SUV. The video shows the tattooed face of a man who appears to be taking a rifle bag from the locker and making off with it. Sortor said he provided the images of the man’s face and getaway vehicle’s license plate to the FBI. In a second video posted by Sortor, rioters use a strap and a vehicle to rip another weapons locker out of the rear of an ICE vehicle. The video shows multiple people attempting to break into the locker to steal its contents. Sortor reported that, despite the attacks on fellow law enforcement agents and officers, and the threat of high-powered weapons being stolen, Minneapolis and Minnesota police refused to provide assistance. Multiple sources confirm that the Minneapolis Police Department has a standing policy not to assist ICE officers and other federal agents, even when they are in physical danger. In June, Fox 9 Minneapolis reported from a MPD memo reminding officers that they are restricted from aiding in immigration enforcement operations. City officials responded to the Fox 9 report, saying, "Any assistance for federal enforcement action must be routed through the chain of command for evaluation and authorization by the Chief of Police or Chief’s designer," the memo states. "Members of the MPD shall not self-deploy to any related immigration enforcement activity. We remain committed to supporting public safety and maintaining trust within our communities.”

FOX News [1/16/2026 2:28 AM, Michael Sinkewicz, 40621K] reports a member of the violent Latin Kings gang was arrested after allegedly stealing government property from an FBI vehicle vandalized during unrest in Minneapolis Wednesday night, federal authorities said. Fox News confirmed that Raul Gutierrez, 33, was arrested Thursday in a joint operation involving the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The FBI said multiple government vehicles were vandalized and broken into Wednesday night in Minneapolis while agents were responding to a reported assault on a federal officer, adding that federal property was stolen from inside the vehicles. "One individual who allegedly stole federal government property out of an FBI vehicle in Minneapolis last night has been arrested," FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X, adding that the suspect was a member of the Latin Kings gang with a violent criminal history. "FBI personnel are continuing to pursue other subjects involved. There will be more arrests.” Patel added that "any individual who attacks law enforcement or vandalizes federal property paid for by hardworking taxpayers will be found and arrested.” Attorney General Pam Bondi said the suspect allegedly stole FBI body armor and weaponry, and has a history of violent crimes. "This criminal is a perfect example of what our brave federal law enforcement agents are up against every day as Minnesota leadership ENCOURAGES lawbreaking," she wrote in a post on X. White House Border Czar Tom Homan said Thursday on the "The Ingraham Angle" that the individual who stole a firearm from the FBI "is now wearing a set of handcuffs in custody," adding that additional arrests may be on the way amid ongoing clashes between agitators and federal law enforcement in Minneapolis. "Others are coming," he said. "They’re gonna be held accountable.” The alleged theft came as protests erupted in Minneapolis Wednesday following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation, and after the Department of Homeland Security said an ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela in the leg after an alleged shovel attack during an ambush. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Department of Justice. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Post [1/15/2026 10:35 PM, Anna Young, 42219K] reports the FBI is offering a $100,000 reward for information after a destructive anti-ICE mob vandalized and spray-painted disturbing graffiti on several federal immigration enforcement vehicles in Minneapolis. Federal officials said government property was also lifted from the broken-into, wrecked and defaced cars Wednesday night, with the hefty sum going to anyone whose information leads to the recovery of the stolen items and the arrest of those behind the destruction, the FBI announced on X. . Dystopian photos showed one car with smashed-in windows and a long object lodged in the windshield, according to snaps shared by the feds. The vehicle was also littered with threatening messages scrawled in red spray paint, including "hang Kristi Noem," "f–k ICE" and "only good agent is a dead one.” Rowdy protesters thrashed the car as mayhem erupted in the streets of North Minneapolis after a federal agent who was allegedly ambushed by an illegal Venezuelan migrant opened fire, officials said. The illegal migrant was shot in the leg after he allegedly fled a traffic stop and then beat the "ambushed" officer with a snow shovel when he was chased down, the Department of Homeland Security said. Tensions boiled over on the smoke-choked streets after the shooting — the second in as many weeks to rock the Twin Cities — with angry demonstrators hurling fireworks and rocks at federal officers, who responded with tear gas to break up the unruly crowd, the Minnesota Reformer reported. The Jan. 7 shooting death of protester Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent clipped by her fleeing SUV triggered waves of raucous demonstrations and violent unrest that has since gripped the city. Following Wednesday’s mayhem, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to flood the city with military forces if lawmakers didn’t help stem the chaos. "If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of ICE, who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State," Trump raged in a Truth Social post Thursday. The rarely used law allows the president to deploy the military or federalize soldiers in a state’s National Guard to quell rebellion — despite the objections of governors.

Newsweek [1/15/2026 12:50 PM, Jenna Sundel and Gabe Whisnant, 52220K] reports Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem responded to reports of official documents being taken amid Anti-ICE protests on Wednesday night in Minneapolis. Reporting from the scene, News2Share editor Ford Fischer posted two videos with the captions, "Still on scene out here at tonight’s shooting by federal agents in Minneapolis. As the Feds depart, community members appear to find 9mm unspent rounds left behind." "Also left behind by the Feds appear to GW [be] a stack of papers including arrest warrants and intelligence now in the hands of Minneapolis community members opposing ICE." Responding to a question about the incident, Noem said Thursday, "I believe those vehicles were FBI vehicles, not our Department of Homeland Security vehicles, so I’m not certain what documents were in there that those criminals may have taken and seen."

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 9:18 PM, Anna Giaritelli, 1394K] reports President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, said he would consider pulling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers out of Minneapolis if Minnesota Democrats allow the agency access to its jails. Homan, the former acting director of ICE, said on Thursday evening that Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s demands that federal agents and officers leave their communities could be resolved "real quick" if the city agrees to let ICE into its jails so that it may take custody of illegal immigrants with criminal records in a safe setting. "Minnesota, the mayor and the governor, could fix this real quick," Homan said during a telephone town hall with Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX). "Let us in the jail. Stop being a sanctuary jurisdiction, sanctuary state, sanctuary city. Give us access to your jail so we can arrest these criminals in the safety and security of the jail. That way, we don’t have to go into the neighborhood and find them," Homan said. Since arriving in the city in large numbers, ICE has arrested 2,400 people to date, including murderers and child rapists, Homan said. "These are bad people who were taken off the streets of the city," Homan said. "So work with us. I’m begging people to work with us. ‘Cause I’d rather have a public safety threat arrested in the safety and security of a jail other than going into the neighborhoods." Sanctuary zones do not hand over illegal immigrants in police custody for criminal offenses to federal immigration officers, which means ICE must go into communities nationwide to find and arrest those individuals.

New York Times [1/16/2026 12:10 AM, Pooja Salhotra, 135475K] reports Renee Good was shot last week amid a thicket of cellphones that recorded her killing and afforded instant communication for witnesses. Records of police and emergency operators released late Thursday contain fragmentary, confused and profane reports from the scene in south Minneapolis and the efforts of the city police to contend with a crisis not of their making. The documents — about 60 pages of 911 call transcripts and police and fire department incident reports — sketch the visceral shock of bystanders, reduced to dry transcripts and terse entries in the shorthand of the police scanner. The calls to 911 began at 9:38 a.m. on Jan. 7, shortly after an Immigration and Customs and Enforcement officer fired a gun into Ms. Good’s maroon Honda Pilot as observers and protesters confronted federal agents. The frantic calls persisted for about an hour. “There’s 15 ICE agents, and they shot her, like, cause she wouldn’t open her car door,” one caller said. “I witnessed it,” a separate caller told an operator. Asked if anyone was hit, she replied, after catching her breath, “Yes, bleeding.” The caller later said, “She tried to drive away, but crashed into the nearest vehicle that was parked.” The caller said she saw blood all over the driver. The dispatcher responded that “lots of help” was on the way.

FOX News [1/15/2026 12:02 PM, Michael Dorgan, 40621K] reports Minneapolis agitators vandalized and spray-painted a threatening anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) message onto a vehicle believed to be used by federal officers during unrest on Wednesday, video footage from the scene shows. The incident came after the Department of Homeland Security said an ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela in the leg after an alleged shovel attack during an ambush. The video shows a vandal spraying "Only good agent is a dead one" in red paint across the side of the vehicle. It does not appear anyone was inside the vehicle at the time. A separate "f--- ICE" message was also spray-painted on the vehicle. Its driver’s window appeared smashed, with the vehicle’s exterior showing signs of heavy damage, including torn panels and loose materials hanging from the body. "This is what you get when you come to Minneapolis," one man can be heard saying as the vandal defaces the vehicle. At least two other vehicles were damaged. Scores of demonstrators gathered at the scene, shouting expletives at federal agents and demanding they leave the city, the Minnesota Reformer reported. As tensions escalated, federal agents deployed tear gas and flash bangs to disperse the crowd, while some protesters shot fireworks and other projectiles toward law enforcement during the chaos. According to the outlet, at least two people were detained after fireworks were thrown. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the crowd crossed the line into an unlawful assembly, prompting assistance from the Minnesota State Patrol and the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office. Mayor Jacob Frey renewed his call for residents to remain peaceful and not "take the bait."

FOX News [1/15/2026 5:11 PM, Preston Mizell, 40621K] reports the Department of Homeland Security says it arrested a man in Minneapolis Wednesday night who assaulted a federal immigration agent while carrying a gun and box of ammunition. The incident occurred several hours after DHS says a separate agent was attacked by an illegal migrant from Venezuela with a shovel. The illegal migrant was shot in the leg, prompting riots to escalate in the city shortly after. "Last night during a riot in Minneapolis, a U.S. citizen was arrested for assaulting officers while carrying a firearm," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital. "The individual showed up to the protest with a gun and a box of ammunition in a bag. The individual threatened violence against law enforcement officers while pointing at his bag. After law enforcement deployed crowd control measures to calm an increasingly volatile crowd, the individual kicked a metal smoke canister at officers. He then pushed an officer, and he was arrested for assault," McLaughlin explained. "While being arrested, he stated he had a firearm, which was located along with a box of ammunition. He was not carrying his concealed carry permit. This is not the peaceful protesting that the First Amendment protects." Tensions in Minneapolis have been high as days of riots ravage the city and federal law enforcement officers face off with agitators.

Washington Times [1/15/2026 6:26 PM, Susan Ferrechio, 852K] reports an anti-ICE activist group in Minnesota called on protesters a few weeks ago to aggressively step up efforts to obstruct immigration enforcement officers by physically attacking them. It was reposted on the anti-ICE account in December amid a surge in ICE activity and arrests in the Duluth area. The post called for activists to “break the illusion of civil society” by engaging in cursing and verbally berating officers whenever they show up. Slashing the tires of law enforcement vehicles also was recommended. The post is one of many social media messages denouncing ICE agents and endorsing violence. The social media account operated by Minnesota ICE Watch on Thursday celebrated a crowd in Minneapolis who raided and vandalized ICE vehicles Wednesday night after an angry mob forced agents to retreat. The clash began after an ICE agent shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who allegedly ambushed and beat him with a snow shovel while trying to flee. Minnesota Ice Watch is run by the anti-ICE activist group that reportedly trained Renee Good, who was fatally shot while using her car to interfere with an ICE raid on Jan. 7. The account posted an image of the ICE vehicle, spray-painted with the message, “Hang Kristi Noem,” referring to the homeland security secretary, who oversees ICE.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 1:11 PM, Staff, 2416K] reports that Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara held a press conference and noted that rioters gathering in response to Wednesday evening’s federal officer-involved shooting were "engaging in unlawful acts." The Hill observed, "Protests in Minneapolis escalated Wednesday night after a federal officer shot and injured a Venezuelan migrant after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle…" Breitbart News reported that, after the shooting, rioters smashed into ICE vehicles, ripped out weapons lockers, and — according to video posted online — made off with a rifle and ammunition before fleeing the scene. The New York Times quoted O’Hara saying, "They have thrown fireworks at police officers and at multiple times, gas has been deployed." The individual shot and wounded Wednesday by a federal officer "was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022," according to Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. She noted that the individual fled police when a traffic stop was initiated; when the officer caught up with him the suspect then allegedly "began to resist and violently assault the officer." The individual was joined by two other individuals who "also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle."

NBC News [1/15/2026 7:23 PM, Natasha Korecki, 34509K] reports the federal officers arrived weeks ago. But since the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good, their numbers have swelled — and people here say the weight of it all is inescapable. Federal officers are flooding the sidewalks of their neighborhoods, honks and whistles sound when they are near and, occasionally, the smell of chemical agents wafts by. The scale, the sustained intensity and the aggression demonstrated by law enforcement deployed here appears to be greater than immigration enforcement operations that took place in other blue cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, all of which are larger than Minneapolis in land mass and population. The officers are in unmarked cars idling on neighborhood streets. They are going door to door, residents said. They are seen inside of stores and in retail parking lots, including at the Target in Richfield, south of Minneapolis, the day after Good was killed. Residents’ videos of violent arrests are proliferating on social media, including one of a woman dragged from her car. Some videos provided to NBC News by activists show officers smashing car windows or spraying chemicals point blank into the faces of residents. “It feels like an invasion,” said a woman who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation. She was protesting at the Whipple federal detention facility at 7 a.m. on a frigid, 12-degree morning. The woman, a restaurant owner, said she closed her business temporarily because she was trying to protect her employees who were immigrants. “It feels very much like a Nazi Germany situation to me. It needs to stop, and people need to know what’s going on.” The focus of Operation Metro Surge, as the Trump administration has branded this latest immigration effort, appears to have broadened beyond mass deportations and has included confrontations with anti-ICE protesters. The shooting of Good and the scope of the deployment has heightened the tense mood in a nation already bitterly divided over immigration issues and the Trump administration’s tactics. Interviews with neighbors, community leaders and organized protesters reveal a sense of being under invasion. On Wednesday night, a man was shot in the leg after DHS said he attacked an agent with a snow shovel or broom handle. "Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life," the department said. Mayor Jacob Frey said at a news conference after Wednesday’s shooting that the city was being put in an "impossible situation.” "We are trying to find a way forward to keep people safe, to protect our neighbors, to protect order," Frey said, while also warning protesters against "taking the bait." He added that the city has 600 police officers compared to the 3,000 federal immigration agents present. Of that number, more than 2,000 are ICE officers and agents, hundreds are Border Patrol agents and others are from Justice Department agencies, federal law enforcement officials told NBC News.

Axios [1/15/2026 3:46 PM, Nick Halter, 12972K] report sPresident Trump’s threat to deploy federal troops to Minneapolis comes as the city is already in turmoil, with daily demonstrations, school disruptions, and fear running through immigrant communities and beyond amid the government’s immigration crackdown. The unprecedented ICE surge has the hallmarks of an occupation in some neighborhoods, as masked and heavily armed agents drive around in large SUVs, tussle with protesters and observers, and break into people’s cars and houses to make arrests. Tensions ratcheted up Wednesday after a confrontation in North Minneapolis, where U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials said a federal agent shot a man following an attack with a snow shovel and broom. That followed last week’s killing of Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother shot in her vehicle by an ICE officer, bringing global attention to the agency’s actions in the city. Minneapolis and St. Paul schools are offering remote learning for families who don’t feel safe sending their kids outside. A massive network of observers is trailing immigration agents around the Twin Cities, standing watch near immigrant businesses and alerting potential ICE targets with whistles and car horns. Homeland Security says it has arrested 2,500 people in Minnesota since Nov. 29, including 13 gang members. A Fox 9 analysis showed that 103 of those arrested are violent criminals. DHS has not said how many have been deported, charged or released.

NewsMax [1/15/2026 10:45 PM, Jim Thomas, 4109K] reports the American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration Thursday, seeking a court order to halt what it says are unconstitutional immigration enforcement tactics by federal agents in Minnesota, as stepped-up Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Twin Cities have drawn heightened scrutiny and public backlash. The class-action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, names Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other federal officials and asks a judge to block what the plaintiffs describe as unlawful stops and arrests that they say have swept up U.S. citizens and legal residents. The ACLU is representing Somali immigrants Mubashir Khalif Hussen, Mahamed Eydarus, and Javier Doe, a Hispanic American. The suit seeks a statewide injunction against what it calls "unlawful policies and practices," including allegations of racial profiling. The filing also alleges federal agents are arresting people for immigration reasons without warrants or probable cause, including U.S. citizens and those with valid status. It also claims that arrests are being made without evidence of flight risk. Such actions, plaintiffs’ claim, violate the Fourth Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and federal law, as police may not detain individuals solely on the basis of appearance. The ACLU said the case challenges "suspicionless stops," "warrantless arrests," and "racial profiling" tied to an expanded federal deployment in Minnesota. Under 8 U.S.C. Section 1357(a)(2), an immigration officer may make a warrantless immigration arrest only if the officer has reason to believe the person is in the United States in violation of immigration law and the person "is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained for his arrest.” The Associated Press reported federal immigration agents have used chemical irritants, pointed rifles at demonstrators, and forced people from vehicles during protest confrontations. The government has argued such actions are needed to protect officers from violent attacks. Tensions escalated after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, by an immigration agent last week, an incident federal officials have championed as self-defense.

New York Post [1/16/2026 1:21 AM, Zoe Hussain, 42219K] reports Renee Nicole Good was shot four times by ICE agent Jonathan Ross while behind the wheel of her SUV in Minneapolis last week, according to an incident report. The Minneapolis Fire Department’s incident report obtained by the Minnesota Star Tribune revealed that Good, 37, was shot in the chest, arm, and head on the morning of Jan. 7, following a standoff between protesters and federal agents on a residential block. Paramedics discovered the mother of three unresponsive in her car with blood on her face and torso around 9:42 a.m., according to the report. She was not breathing and had an "inconsistent" and "irregular pulse," officials wrote. First responders observed two gunshot wounds on the right side of Good’s chest, one on her left forearm, and one "with protruding tissue on the left side of the patient’s head," as blood was seen flowing out of her left ear, the report said. A 911 caller told dispatchers that "they shot her [because] she wouldn’t open her car door," transcripts obtained by the outlet showed. "Send an ambulance please, ambulance please," the caller said. Good was pulled out of her crashed SUV and brought to a snowbank and then the sidewalk to separate her from an "escalating scene involving law enforcement and bystanders," the report added. By the time she was brought to the snowbank, Good was still not breathing and had no pulse. Emergency medical personnel continued to try to save her life inside an ambulance and a local hospital, but CPR was eventually discontinued at 10:30 a.m, the report said. Graphic footage from the scene captured the moment Good appeared to turn her car’s steering wheel to the right, away from ICE agents, just seconds before Ross — who was standing in the path of her vehicle — fired multiple shots through her open window and windshield. The Department of Homeland Security accused Good of trying to mow down Ross with her SUV during an immigration operation in the residential neighborhood — prompting the officer to open fire in self-defense. DHS later announced Ross suffered internal bleeding. Good, who described herself as a "poet and writer," had recently moved to the Windy City with her wife, who was seen sobbing and covered in blood at the scene of the shooting. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleged Good had been part of a group of protesters who had been "stalking and impeding" ICE agents throughout the day. Her mom, Donna Granger, told the Minnesota Star Tribune her daughter was "one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.”

NewsMax [1/15/2026 8:52 PM, Mark Swanson, 4109K] reports the family of Renee Good plans an independent investigation into her shooting death last week by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, the family’s attorney said Thursday. Attorney Antonio Romanucci said the family believes it must proceed separately from local, state, and federal investigations in order to uncover the truth surrounding the incident. "The thought that there is only a one-sided investigation ... is really not palatable to the family, nor should it be to the government or the American people. We will gather our evidence as best we can and we will ... do this ourselves," Romanucci said. "We would hope to have cooperation, right? That’s something that we all hope to do," he said. "Let’s cooperate to find the truth, and then we accept the truth. But until we have that cooperation, we have to run independently.” The FBI is investigating the fatal shooting. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension said it was initially assigned to the case but withdrew last week after federal authorities blocked it from accessing key evidence. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said the state agency lacks authority to investigate the shooting. The Good family announced Wednesday it had hired the Chicago-based Romanucci & Blandin to seek answers after Good was shot and killed while allegedly interfering with a federal immigration operation on a residential Minneapolis street Jan. 7. As an ICE agent approached Good’s vehicle and ordered her to exit for blocking a federal vehicle, authorities say she turned and began to drive away, striking another agent who then fired, fatally striking the 37-year-old. Federal officials maintain Good’s SUV was used as a weapon in the chaotic encounter. ICE said the agent who was struck suffered internal injuries. The Trump administration has defended the ICE officer’s actions, saying he fired in self-defense while standing in front of Good’s vehicle as it began to move forward. Romanucci disputed these claims. "Looking at that video, the way ... the speed of the car, the direction it was turned, and what she said to those officers beforehand — the totality of the circumstances would indicate that she did not weaponize her car," he said. Further, Romanucci said he doesn’t believe Good broke a law. However, federal authorities said she was about to be arrested for obstruction before she drove off and was shot. "Let’s say in the worst-case scenario there was a ... traffic violation. Her car was improperly placed in the street," he said. "OK, what’s the response? A gun to your face with the trigger being pulled? Never.”

Reported similarly:
CBS News [1/15/2026 1:46 PM, Lana Zak and Kelsie Hoffman, 39474K]

New York Times [1/15/2026 6:01 PM, Matthew Cullen, 135475K] reports President Trump said this morning that he might use the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minneapolis. His comments came a day after a second person in the city was shot by a federal agent, fueling clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement. U.S. law generally forbids the use of the military as a domestic police force. But the Insurrection Act, which hasn’t been used since 1992, allows the president to deploy the military in extraordinary circumstances. A footnote in a recent Supreme Court opinion, my colleague Adam Liptak writes, may have emboldened Trump to float the idea. Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, pleaded with Trump to “turn the temperature down” and “stop this campaign of retribution.” He also called for protesters to demonstrate peacefully. “We cannot fan the flames of chaos,” Walz said. The White House accused Walz and other local leaders of encouraging violence.

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 5:35 PM, Adam Pack, 835K] reports Senate Republicans unveiled legislation Thursday to combat a surge of attacks against federal immigration officers. The lawmakers, led by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, are proposing to hike penalties for individuals who assault or resist law enforcement. The legislation would also enact minimum sentences for those who use vehicles to attack law enforcement, according to a copy of the bill obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Cornyn’s bill, the ICE Protection Act, comes after the Department of Homeland Security announced on Jan. 8 that vehicular attacks against ICE agents increased by 3200% between Jan. 21, 2025 and Jan. 7, 2026. The agency also reported a 1374% increase in assaults against ICE officers between roughly the same period. DHS released the data following an incident in Minneapolis last week during which an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good after she abruptly accelerated her vehicle during the confrontation.

Politico [1/15/2026 12:07 PM, Erica Orden, 13586K] reports a federal appeals court on Thursday handed the Trump administration a significant victory in its efforts to deport pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said Khalil must pursue his case through the immigration court system, and raised the possibility that he could be re-detained. “The scheme Congress enacted governing immigration proceedings provides Khalil a meaningful forum in which to raise his claims later on — in a petition for review of a final order of removal,” said the unsigned 41-page decision. Until this point, Khalil’s effort to fight deportation has proceeded on two tracks: one in immigration court, where he has fared poorly, and one in New Jersey federal court, where he has secured some wins, including his release from detention. In September, an immigration judge in Louisiana ordered him deported to Syria or Algeria based on a separate rationale the Trump administration tacked on after Khalil’s arrest in Manhattan: failing to disclose certain information on his green card application. Khalil, a legal permanent resident of the U.S., is appealing the deportation order through the Board of Immigration Appeals. Khalil’s lawyers have said that any appeal of the BIA decision, which would go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, is unlikely to be successful, since the appeals court “almost never” grants stays of removal to noncitizens. Separately, a federal district court last year ordered Khalil to be released from detention after he had been held for more than three months in Louisiana. It’s not clear what the 3rd Circuit’s ruling means for his release. Further complicating the situation is a separate decision expected Thursday from U.S. District Judge William Young. The Boston-based Reagan appointee ruled in September that the administration had violated the free speech rights of campus activists when Young targeted pro-Palestinian international students with arrest and deportation. Now, he’s slated to decide what the remedy for those violations should be. NewsMax [1/15/2026 11:20 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports Circuit Judges Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, both of whom were appointed by Republican presidents, who said that under the Immigration and Nationality Act, his claims needed to be instead heard through an appeal of a final order of removal from an immigration judge. "The scheme Congress enacted governing immigration proceedings provides Khalil a meaningful forum in ⁠which to raise his claims later on — in a petition for review of a final order of removal," they wrote in an unsigned opinion. Khalil walked out of a Louisiana immigrant detention center in June, after U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz of Newark, New Jersey, ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to release him from custody. The AP [1/15/2026 6:25 PM, Jake Offenhartz and Michael R. Sisak, 34509K] reports Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.” In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.” It was not immediately clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue. In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing.” “The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability,” he said. “I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.” Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers, with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts.” “Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said. The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won’t happen while he can still immediately appeal. Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel’s decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Wall Street Journal [1/15/2026 4:22 PM, Victoria Albert, 646K]
USA Today [1/15/2026 5:37 PM, Hannan Adely, 67103K]

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 12:23 PM, Jack Birle, 1394K] reports that a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday that a federal district court acted improperly in releasing Mahmoud Khalil from immigration detention, finding that the pro-Palestinian activist’s claims should have been handled by an immigration court. The three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled 2-1 that the Immigration and Nationality Act stripped federal district courts of jurisdiction over claims related to the removal proceedings of a noncitizen. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, ruled in June that Khalil should be released from immigration detention, but Thursday’s appeals court ruling tosses that order and tells the district judge to dismiss the case. "Our holdings vindicate essential principles of habeas and immigration law. The scheme Congress enacted governing immigration proceedings provides Khalil a meaningful forum in which to raise his claims later on—in a petition for review of a final order of removal," the appeals court ruling said. While the ruling only directly affects Khalil’s case, it could spell doom for other efforts by illegal immigrants and noncitizens who have tried to fight their deportations in district courts, rather than the separate system of immigration courts created by Congress for such cases. The process outlined in the appeals court ruling requires Khalil to bring his case through an immigration court until a final removal order has been entered, at which point he can take all his claims to a federal appeals court — not a district court.

Washington Post [1/15/2026 7:09 PM, Joanna Slater, 24149K] reports a federal judge Thursday decried what he said were “breathtaking” constitutional violations by senior Trump administration officials and called the president an “authoritarian” who expects everyone in the executive branch to “toe the line absolutely.” In remarks laced with outrage and disbelief, U.S. District Judge William Young said Donald Trump and top officials have a “fearful approach” to freedom of speech that would seek to “exclude from participation everyone who doesn’t agree with them.” Young, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, leveled the searing critique during a hearing in Boston to determine the appropriate remedies for the administration’s detentions of pro-Palestinian students last year. The judge had ruled in September that senior administration officials engaged in an illegal effort to arrest and deport noncitizen students based on their activism. On Thursday, he again denounced the administration’s conduct in unusually stark terms. “Talking straight here,” he said. “The big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio engaged in an “unconstitutional conspiracy” to deprive people of their rights, Young said. “The secretary of state,” he noted, his voice full of incredulity, “the senior cabinet officer in our history involved in this.” Spokespeople for Noem and Rubio did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, last year called Young a “craven” judge who was “smearing and demonizing federal law enforcement.” Thursday evening, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said via email that “it’s bizarre that this judge is broadcasting his intent to engage in left-wing activism against the democratically-elected President of the United States.”

Politico [1/15/2026 10:47 PM, Kyle Cheney, Hassan Ali Kanu and Josh Gerstein, 13586K] reports a federal judge handling a lawsuit over the deportation of pro-Palestinian activists excoriated top administration officials, including President Donald Trump, for trampling on the First Amendment and for what the judge described as a fearful approach to freedom. “There was no policy here,” said U.S. District Judge William Young, an 85-year-old Reagan appointee who has been on the federal bench in Boston for 40 years. “What happened here is an unconstitutional conspiracy to pick off certain people.” During a hearing on the suit Thursday, Young tore into Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for pursuing a targeted deportation campaign that Young said was at odds with the country’s core values. “I find it breathtaking that I have been compelled on the evidence to find the conduct of such high-level officers of our government — cabinet secretaries — conspired to infringe the First Amendment rights of people with such rights here in the United States,” Young said. “These cabinet secretaries have failed in their sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.” Young’s comments came as he prepares to issue what he described as a steep sanction against the Trump administration for seeking to “chill” the free speech of pro-Palestinian activists targeted for arrest and removal weeks after Trump took office — including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Madhawi, as well as Tufts University Ph.D. student Rumeysa Ozturk and Georgetown University academic Badar Khan Suri. Young ruled against the administration’s policy in September after a two-week trial, and held Thursday’s hearing to hash out a “remedy” for the violations. The judge said he plans to issue a ruling that will grant the plaintiffs a “conclusive presumption” that future changes to their immigration status amount to retaliation for their suit. The ruling will put the onus on the government to prove that officials have good cause before moving forward with any planned changes to group members’ immigration status, the judge said. Young used extraordinarily stark language during the hearing, describing Trump as an “authoritarian” while insisting that he was choosing the term carefully, rather than simply using a “pejorative.” The judge also compared the Trump administration’s broader mass-deportation campaign to historic efforts to return formerly enslaved people to their owners under the Fugitive Slave Act, noting an infamous episode in Boston history when a U.S. marshal was killed near Young’s courthouse as he guarded a man named Anthony Burns who escaped slavery in Virginia. The judge found the president and his aides targeted the members of the group for their First Amendment-protected views and speech, guided by an anonymously run private website targeting Palestinian students in the United States. “I’ve asked myself why — how did this happen? How could our own government, the highest officials in our government, seek to infringe the rights of people lawfully here in the United States? And I’ve come to believe that there’s a concept of freedom here that I don’t understand,” the judge continued. “The record in this case convinces me that these high officials, and I include the president of the United States, have a fearful view of freedom.”

Bloomberg Law [1/15/2026 5:42 PM, Brian Dowling, Patricia Hurtado, 803K] reports a Boston federal judge said he was struck by a “breathtaking” conspiracy involving Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to violate international students’ free speech rights as the court outlined a remedy. Concluding in his view “one of the most important cases” ever heard in the court, Judge William G. Young railed against the cabinet secretaries’ participation in the government’s efforts to target non-citizen students and scholars for their protected pro-Palestine or anti-Israel speech. Young declined to hit the government with a broad injunction, but he said he would issue an order that would give noncitizen members of the academic groups that sued the government a “conclusive presumption” that any change to their immigration status was in retaliation for being involved in the litigation. Young indicated he had no interest in an injunction that would have him indefinitely police the government’s conduct and is barred by the US Supreme Court’s limits on universal injunctions from applying the ruling beyond the parties here. He told Department of Justice lawyer Paul Stone that the proposed order largely aligned with the government’s request for “care and restraint” in ordering any remedy. But the court’s inventive solution didn’t prove sufficient. The judge said he expects to issue the remedies ruling on Jan. 22.

New York Times [1/15/2026 6:11 PM, Zach Montague, 135475K] reports a federal judge on Thursday said he would restrict the Trump administration’s ability to deport noncitizen members of two major academic organizations, sharing his vision for how to proceed in a case testing the First Amendment rights of noncitizen student activists. During an extraordinary hearing in Federal District Court in Boston, Judge William G. Young, a Reagan appointee, called Mr. Trump an “authoritarian” ruler who was failing to live up to his responsibility to uphold the First Amendment. He described his proposal as a targeted restriction on the Trump administration for what he described as a sweeping and unconstitutional abuse of power. Under his proposed order, the Trump administration would be forced to answer in court if it tried to deport any of the members of the two organizations involved, outlining to a judge why reasons other than their speech would justify their removal. He added that any adverse immigration enforcement against a member of the group would be presumed to be retaliation, and that the government would need to demonstrate that it was not. In September, Judge Young issued a 161-page opinion that the First Amendment protects speech by noncitizens studying in the country, and that the government had violated those protections by trying to deport noncitizen student activists who were in the country legally. Thursday’s hearing was the judge’s attempt to find a remedy to force the Trump administration to change its deportation policies on student protesters. He said he would issue the order after lawyers representing the groups submitted a written draft that would formalize his proposal. Judge Young told lawyers from both sides that he viewed his solution as the most workable way to rein in the Trump administration. At the same time, he repeatedly explained how outraged he was by the Trump administration’s conduct. Judge Young, who is 85 and has sat on the bench for four decades, said Mr. Trump was failing to follow the Constitution. And he accused Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of “conspiring to infringe” on the rights of noncitizen students. “Talking straight here, the big problem in this case is that the cabinet secretaries and, ostensibly, the president of the United States are not honoring the First Amendment,” he said.

FOX News [1/15/2026 7:00 AM, Brian Flood and Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Joe Abraham wants answers from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker about the death of his daughter but doesn’t expect to hear from the Democrat anytime soon. Abraham’s 20-year-old daughter, Katie, was killed last year when the vehicle she was traveling in was rear-ended by an illegal immigrant drunk driver, according to police. Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national who was using a Mexican alias, had previously been deported but managed to make his way back to Illinois. Pritzker called the fatal shooting of Renée Nicole Good by a Minneapolis ICE agent last week a "tragedy" and called for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem to step down or be impeached over her response. Abraham said he was given the cold shoulder by Pritzker, who he said never reached out when his daughter was killed by Cucul-Bol. "He was in our communities, unchecked, unvetted, no health screens. And clearly didn’t know how to understand or behave in our communities. He also didn’t speak English. He didn’t read or write. He didn’t have one day of formal education," Abraham told Fox News Digital. "These are the sort of folks that Governor Pritzker really has passion for," Abraham continued. "[He] clearly didn’t have any passion or caring for Katie." Abraham said he was taken aback when Pritzker spoke publicly after the Minnesota shooting despite staying silent following Katie’s death. "I received no compassion from him. As a matter of fact, Katie was completely disrespected. She was ignored. There was total indifference toward her. You would think his policies, the damage that they create, he should be talking to everybody that is affected negatively with his policies. But there is just no consideration for us," Abraham said. Abraham, who has blamed his daughter’s death on Pritzker’s sanctuary policies, said he was in the same room as Pritzker during a congressional hearing in 2025, but the governor didn’t bother to acknowledge him. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security launched "Operation Midway Blitz," an increase in resources in Chicago, in honor of Katie Abraham. President Donald Trump has also honored Katie. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Chicago Tribune [1/15/2026 4:44 PM, Jason Meisner, 4829K] reports the federal judge who issued a landmark preliminary injunction in November limiting the use of force by immigration agents agreed Thursday to take over a new lawsuit filed by the state and city of Chicago alleging a much broader swath of illegal actions during the Trump administration’s Operation Midway Blitz. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis made the decision over the strenuous objection of Justice Department lawyers, who argued there were not only contrasting legal issues in the two cases but that they were at diametrically different stages of litigation. But Ellis sided with the plaintiffs in ruling that both cases arise out of the same law enforcement action in Operation Midway Blitz. She said the two complaints also involve many of the same incidents and evidence she reviewed in issuing her injunction, including body camera footage, use-of-force reports, and declarations, depositions and testimony from Department of Homeland Security leaders. While the merits of the latest suit have yet to be challenged, having Ellis, who was nominated to the bench by President Barack Obama, presiding over the case is surely unwelcome news for the Trump administration. The lawsuit filed Monday, meanwhile, alleged immigration agents acted more like an occupying military force than law enforcement during Operation Midway Blitz, terrorizing neighborhoods with “roving patrols,” illegally switching out license plates, randomly stopping people to question them about their citizenship, and making warrantless arrests. The 103-page suit, filed jointly by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and city attorneys, seeks a judicial order limiting these and other practices, including conducting immigration enforcement operations from “sensitive” areas such as schools, courthouses and hospitals, and limiting the use of “biometric” scanning of fingerprints and other personal information. Among those named as defendants in the suit was U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Director Todd Lyons, and Bovino, who has been the public face of Operation Midway Blitz and other similar operations around the country. Earlier this week, a DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called the latest lawsuit “baseless,” and said Illinois can not legally interfere with the federal government’s deportation efforts.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 10:15 AM, Bob Price, 2416K] reports a shocking video out of San Antonio shows an illegal alien using his car as a battering ram against ICE agents, smashing into two federal vehicles and injuring an officer before agents dragged him from the driver’s seat to end the assault. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials posted a Fox News video on social media showing an illegal alien weaponizing his vehicle and repeatedly smashing into two ICE vehicles in a Walmart parking lot in San Antonio. The incident sent one officer to the hospital, officials stated. Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) responded to the incident, saying, "Organized groups are obstructing immigration enforcement across the country, putting officers and law-abiding civilians at risk. These criminals must be arrested." ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News’ Sean Hannity, "When we hear elected officials calling upon individuals to impede or obstruct ICE law enforcement operations nationwide, you’re going to see incidents like this. You saw the officers and agents attempting to apprehend a criminally illegal alien, and there they are using their car as a weapon." Lyons said the ICE officer went to the hospital with a neck injury after their vehicle was struck by the criminal alien. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

FOX News [1/15/2026 8:38 PM, Peter Pinedo, 40621K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an illegal immigrant who the agency said "weaponized" his vehicle by ramming two ICE vehicles, nearly running over an agent. Cuban illegal Robyn Argote Brooks rammed two ICE cars in a San Antonio parking lot in an attempt to evade arrest during a targeted vehicle stop, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Video captured of the incident shows Brooks, who is driving a sedan and is boxed in by agents’ vehicles, defying law enforcement directions and suddenly reversing, narrowly missing an agent and hitting a federal SUV. After unsuccessfully accelerating into the larger vehicle, Brooks then speeds into another ICE vehicle in front of him, a sedan, and continues to accelerate as agents attempt to stop him. Eventually, an agent breaks through Brooks’ window and pulls him out of the car to make the arrest. The incident occurred Tuesday and comes amid heightened concern about illegals and anti-ICE agitators violently attempting to disrupt federal law enforcement operations. DHS said ICE officers are facing a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks. The agency said that, from Jan. 21, 2025, to Jan. 7, 2026, ICE officers experienced 66 "vehicular attacks," compared to only two during the same time period the previous year. Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said one of the ICE officers involved in the arrest was injured and said, "We are praying for him, his health and his family.” She placed the blame squarely on pro-sanctuary politicians she said "have encouraged illegal aliens to evade arrest.” "They have created an environment that incites violence against our law enforcement," said McLaughlin, adding that agents are also facing a "more than 1,300% increase in assaults against them.” "Secretary Noem has been clear: Anyone who assaults law enforcement will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," she warned. According to the agency, Brooks entered the U.S. using the Biden administration’s CBP One app in 2024, which it said "allowed over a million unvetted aliens into the country.” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons argued Tuesday that federal immigration agents are facing "constant impediments" and "constant attacks.” "When we hear elected officials calling upon individuals to impede or obstruct ICE law enforcement operations nationwide, you’re going to see incidents like this," said Lyons. "You saw the officers and agents attempting to apprehend a criminally illegal alien, and there they are using their car as a weapon.” Lyons said one of the agents involved later went to a hospital with neck injuries. "Every day, this is what the men and women of ICE are facing," he said. "It’s constant impediments, constant attacks like this. And it’s not safe for my folks, it’s not safe for the public. It really needs to stop.” [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [1/15/2026 10:33 AM, Ananya Palyekar and Heera Hari, 36480K] reports the United States is intensifying pressure on Mexico to allow U.S. military forces to conduct joint operations to dismantle fentanyl labs inside the country, the New York Times reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials. U.S. officials want American forces, either Special Operations troops or CIA officers, to accompany Mexican soldiers on raids on suspected fentanyl labs, the report said, citing multiple unnamed officials. "On the campaign trail, President Trump pledged to take on the cartels," a White House official told Reuters, adding that Trump has "left all options on the table" to stop drugs from entering the country. U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News last week that cartels were running Mexico and suggested the U.S. could strike land targets to combat them, in one of a series of threats to deploy U.S. military force against drug cartels. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said this week that she ruled out a U.S. military intervention to combat drug cartels following a "good conversation" with Trump on security and drug trafficking.

Houston Chronicle [1/15/2026 11:44 AM, Bayliss Wagner, 2983K] reports that, as Congress grapples with President Donald Trump’s war powers after his surprise military operation in Venezuela, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro has introduced legislation aimed at blocking any unauthorized invasion in Mexico. The San Antonio Democrat said the measure would safeguard U.S. taxpayers and protect diplomatic relations with a key trading partner and neighbor. “My constituents in San Antonio don’t want the U.S. to spend billions in another war that risks destabilizing the region, mass migration, and human rights abuses,” Castro, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Western Hemisphere subcommittee, said in a news release on Wednesday. The legislation would prohibit President Donald Trump from using federal funds to wage military action in Mexico without congressional authorization. U.S. Reps. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., and Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., are co-sponsors. It has little to no chance of passing in the Republican-dominated lower chamber. Castro introduced the bill on Wednesday, a week after Trump told Fox News on Jan. 8 that the U.S. would begin “hitting land” in its fight against cartels in Mexico. “The cartels are running Mexico, it’s very sad to watch and see what’s happened to that country,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. His comments drew rebuke from Mexican officials, including President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has firmly rejected the idea of U.S. military intervention. On Friday, Castro and 71 other House Democrats also penned a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning that any unauthorized incursion into Mexican territory would “destroy trust” and undermine cooperative security efforts. Rubio has urged Mexico for stronger cooperation to combat cartels and fentanyl trafficking, but he said in November that the U.S. would not take unilateral military action in the country. Since then, Trump seems to have backed down from the threat, with Sheinbaum saying Monday that she had “a very good conversation” with the Republican president. According to Sheinbaum, the countries will continue cooperating to fight the cartels without the involvement of American troops, the AP reported. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of U.S. military involvement inside Mexico, but his comments carry new weight after his administration removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power. Federal prosecutors have accused Maduro and his wife of narcoterrorism in an expansive and ongoing legal case. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday abandoned a vote on a bill that would have required Trump to get congressional approval before taking further military action in Venezuela, a win for the White House that signals it will continue to face little resistance from lawmakers.

Washington Post [1/15/2026 5:00 AM, Paul Schwartzman, 24149K] reports most of the historic buildings that the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to demolish in Southeast Washington were recently assessed as viable for renovation and reuse, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Homeland Security officials, citing emergency conditions, asserted last month that more than a dozen buildings on the landmark campus of St. Elizabeths should be torn down expeditiously to keep “malicious insiders” from using the sites to store weapons or stage attacks on agency leaders who are headquartered nearby. Homeland Security officials referenced the dilapidated condition of the structures, writing in a security assessment report that “the age and deteriorating state of these buildings increase the likelihood of catastrophic collapse, endangering personnel.” “Several vacant structures within the campus perimeter are in such deteriorated condition that they cannot be safely accessed or cleared by law enforcement or emergency responders,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem wrote in a Dec. 19 memo requesting the emergency demolition. The buildings, all at least a century old, are on St. Elizabeths’ highly fortified West Campus and have been vacant for years. A team of engineers, inspecting the 13 buildings in August for the U.S. General Services Administration, concluded that they “are generally in stable condition,” according to the documents reviewed by The Post. “What looks alarming in photos represents localized repairable conditions rather than systemic structural failure,” according to a report by AECOM, a global infrastructure company that GSA hired to assess the buildings. “The core buildings remain viable for stabilization and future adaptive reuse.” Marianne Copenhaver, a GSA spokesperson, said AECOM’s assessments “fail to capture the security-driven rationale for demolition” on the campus, which Homeland Security has been turning into its headquarters over the past 15 years.

FOX News [1/15/2026 11:52 AM, Alex Miller Fox, 40621K] reports the Senate advanced a three-bill spending package through its final procedural hurdle on Thursday, teeing up a final vote later in the day. Lawmakers are in a mad dash to avert a partial government shutdown after just exiting the longest closure in history a few short months ago, and they have a deadline on Jan. 30 to beat. Thursday’s first vote was a key test of whether the warring parties could come together or again fall victim to political divisions as they did in September. The overwhelmingly bipartisan vote proved, for now, that Senate Republicans and Democrats have a truce in the government funding battle. The roughly $174 billion package, which cruised through the House last week, includes funding bills for commerce, justice, science and related agencies; energy and water development and related agencies; and interior, environment and related agencies. If passed later on Thursday, it’ll mark six total spending bills that lawmakers have put on President Donald Trump’s desk. But it’s only halfway to the magic dozen that are needed to fund the government. Many lawmakers acknowledge that given the short amount of time left before the deadline, and lingering issues with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill, a short-term funding extension, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will be needed to prevent a shutdown.

AP [1/15/2026 9:56 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports a federal judge on Thursday dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against California that sought detailed voting records and personal data on its 23 million registered voters, concluding that the government’s request was "unprecedented and illegal.” The Trump administration’s lawsuit, filed last year, contended that California and other states were illegally blocking the federal government’s wide-ranging effort to scrutinize detailed voter data that states said was private and protected. The administration "may not unilaterally usurp the authority over elections" U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana said in his 33-page decision. Furthermore, the attempt to gather and centralize the personal information would have a chilling effect on voter registration and threaten "the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy," the judge ruled. "There cannot be unbridled consolidation of all elections power in the executive (branch) without action from Congress," Carter said. "This is antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections." It has accused states of failing to respond sufficiently to questions about the procedures they take to maintain voter rolls. The department has sued 23 states, most of them controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia for detailed voter data that includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. State election officials have questioned what the DOJ plans to do with that information. Last fall 10 Democratic secretaries of state wrote Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to express concern over reports that the DOJ was sharing state voter data with the Department of Homeland Security.

Reported similarly:
NPR [1/15/2026 6:59 PM, Miles Parks, 28013K]

New York Post [1/15/2026 10:41 PM, Brad Appleton, 42219K] reports Gavin Newsom appeared to backtrack on inflammatory rhetoric from his own press team during a tense interview with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Thursday. The California Governor was grilled by Sharpio on his own podcast "This is Gavin Newsom" in an exchange in which the two clashed over immigration enforcement, political rhetoric and gender identity. One of the biggest flashpoints came when the rumored presidential hopeful was confronted by Shapiro about the language his own office used about the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, which they called an act of "state-sponsored terrorism.” The incident has sparked national controversy and led to furious debate about law enforcement tactics and rhetoric surrounding federal immigration authorities. "Your press office tweeted out that it was state-sponsored terrorism," Shapiro said, before pushing back on the characterization of federal agents. "Our ICE officers obviously are not terrorists," Shapiro added. "Yeah, I think that’s fair," Newsom agreed. The governor also said he "disagreed" that ICE should be abolished. The moment quickly went viral, with critics seizing on the exchange as evidence the governor was at odds with messaging coming from his own communications team. The discussion later turned to education and gender identity, where Shapiro repeatedly pressed Newsom on whether he believes biological sex can be changed and whether children should be taught otherwise in public schools. "There are certainly cases in which kids are being socially transitioned at school without parents knowing about it," Shapiro said. "The fundamental question… is whether boys can become girls.” Newsom struggled to give a direct answer, "Yeah… well, I think… for the grace of God… yeah.” Shapiro then asked why the question was so difficult to answer. "We’re talking about so few people," Newsom said, adding that the issue was surrounded by "so much hate, and bigotry, so much condemnation.” Shapiro rejected that framing, arguing that his position was neither hateful nor discriminatory. "It is not an act of bigotry to say that a boy cannot become a girl, nor should my children be taught in K-12 public schools that a boy can become a girl," he said. "That’s not an act of bigotry; that’s an act of rationality and biological simplicity.” Despite repeated follow-ups, Newsom declined to give a clear yes-or-no answer, returning instead to vague language. Newsom also squirmed when Shapiro praised President Trump as the greatest foreign policy president in his lifetime and demanded to know why he wouldn’t "radically" reduce income tax for Californians. Shapiro described the rhetoric from Newsom that Trump would try to run again in 2028 as dangerous and claimed he didn’t really believe it. But Newsom maintained he did.

New York Post [1/16/2026 2:44 AM, Richard Pollina, 42219K] reports a grinning anti-ICE agitator was arrested after she allegedly punched a Florida state trooper during a confrontation with federal agents — drawing a blunt warning from Gov. Ron DeSantis that the Sunshine State "is not Minneapolis.” Jennifer Cruz was arrested outside Mi Pueblo, a Mexican grocery store and meat market in Jacksonville, Tuesday morning after she allegedly jumped out of her car and punched a state trooper in the face while officers were working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a post on X. "Jennifer disagrees with immigration enforcement and decided to commit a few felonies by getting out of her car and punching a trooper in the face," Uthmeier wrote. "But unlike Minnesota, we don’t put up with this nonsense. Not today, Jennifer.” Video taken by Mi Pueblo owner Juan Alvarez shows law enforcement officers swarming Cruz on the pavement and placing her in handcuffs. "ICE agents showed up with the state trooper. They detained a driver — the person was driving — and they had an operation going on," Alvarez told News 4 Jax. "After that, they detained another person, and it seems they got into an altercation with that person. "It turned violent, and that led to the presence of a lot more police and federal enforcement showing up," he added. Another shocking video shared on X appeared to show Cruz kicking and screaming as officers struggled to get her into a squad car, laughing and taunting police and calling one officer a "weak-ass motherf–ker.” Footage shows her lying in the back seat before suddenly popping up and kicking the officer who was trying to restrain her. "Don’t you dare start kicking me!" one officer is heard warning her. Cruz was then tased as officers finally got her fully inside the car and slammed the door shut. However, her rampage didn’t stop there — with the footage showing her kicking the cruiser’s roof and the camera that was pointing into the backseat. The 40-year-old was booked into the Duval County Jail on a slew of charges, including multiple counts of battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting officers with violence and threatening harm to officers, among others. She was released on bond following her arrest and is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 4.

NPR [1/15/2026 4:46 PM, Joel Rose, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports as unrest continues in Minnesota, President Trump is threatening to cut money for sanctuary cities. That’s a broad term that covers a battle between cities, states and the federal government.

Telemundo [1/15/2026 7:02 PM, Alejandro Isturiz, 182K] reports new technology is available to control airspace and prevent possible drone strikes during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and where there are large gatherings of audiences. The event will be a major safety test, when more than a million people are expected to visit the country to watch the matches. The threat of any drone strike worries since the war in Ukraine and some incidents that happened with drones at some airports. The development of technology to counteract the possible drone attack has long been worked with tracking software, laser and microwave. A battery deployed to protect the people and venues of the 2026 FIFA World Cup a massive all-event. The deployment of anti-dron technology is in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. From the air not always the search for antennas, towers and any manned aircraft, it leaves time to pay attention to drones. A task that is in a way done from the ground. Rodrigo Villarreal, a specialist in technology and computer security, said that the "drone is a physical device and can be detected with a radar. Drones are constantly communicating. That communication is carried out by infrared, GPS or wifi signals." "You can do what’s called GPS spoofing, that is, send an incorrect GPS information to a drone so that you force it to land at the cardinal point you want," experts explain.

AP [1/15/2026 5:29 PM, Kevin Freking, 31753K] reports Congress is halfway home in approving government funding for the current budget year that began Oct. 1 after the Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a three-bill package. Lawmakers still must negotiate a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security amid soaring tensions on Capitol Hill after the shooting of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Lawmakers are working to complete passage of all 12 annual spending bills before Jan. 30, the deadline set in a funding patch that ended a 43-day government shutdown in November. With the Senate’s action on Thursday, six of those bills have now passed through both chambers of Congress. The measure before the Senate passed by a broadly bipartisan vote of 82-15. It now goes to President Donald Trump to be signed into law. The biggest hurdle ahead is the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The plan was to bring that bill before the House this week, but Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the decision was made to pull the bill and "buy some time" as lawmakers respond to the Minneapolis shooting. Democrats are seeking what Rep. Rosa DeLauro called "guardrails" that would come with funding for ICE. Some 70 Democrats have signed onto an effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Others are seeking specific changes to how the agency operates, such as requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which includes nearly 100 Democratic members, formally announced opposition to any funding to immigration enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security "unless there are meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices."

FOX News [1/15/2026 4:16 PM, Alex Miller, Elizabeth Elkind, 40621K] reports after a brief series of delay tactics deployed by Democrats, the Senate passed a $174 billion spending package, sending a trio of funding bills to President Donald Trump’s desk. The move puts Congress one step closer to averting a partial government shutdown, but lawmakers are only halfway through completing and passing the legislation needed to keep the lights on in Washington, D.C. The three-bill package, known as a minibus, includes legislation to fund commerce, justice, science and related agencies; energy and water development and related agencies; and interior, environment and related agencies. Funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proved tricky, given congressional Democrats’ outrage over the agency’s actions in Minnesota. But there is an acknowledgment among several lawmakers that Congress will likely have to turn to a short-term funding extension, or continuing resolution (CR), for some remaining funding bills or directly targeted at DHS. Congressional Democrats are demanding restrictions on DHS funding, particularly money that flows to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent last week. Lawmakers are staying tight-lipped, for now, about what exactly the restrictions could be.

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 8:50 AM, Christopher Tremoglie, 1394K] reports Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D-IL) appetite for delusional, biased, and deceptive commentary about the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers is larger than his gargantuan waist size. He has regularly demonized and vilified government officials and law enforcement officers who are regularly risking their lives cleaning up the disastrous illegal immigration messes created by the policies that Democrats such as Pritzker favored. He has consistently prioritized the welfare of criminals over that of law enforcement employees. He allowed rampant illegal immigration to cause chaos in his state and has claimed that those trying to uphold the law were turning the United States into "Nazi Germany.” Earlier this week, Pritzker descended into madness again by calling for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached and for DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin to lose her job because she, according to Pritzker, is a "pathological liar." This is undoubtedly a huge "pot meet kettle" moment for Pritzker, as labeling anyone a liar, given the consistent and repetitive falsehoods regularly emanating from his mouth, is performative politics at its finest. Sadly, it’s indicative of the toxic reality of Democratic devotion to spewing misinformation, particularly regarding illegal immigration and the enforcement of federal laws. Pritzker’s grievance stemmed from the fact that McLaughlin regularly posts accounts of facts and controversies surrounding stories involving ICE officers — stories that are frequently given dishonest spins and interpretations in legacy media or by Democrats. In Pritzker’s mind, fairness is when Democrats and their accomplices in the legacy media can control narratives and messaging and demonize their political opponents or law enforcement officers doing their jobs. Consider his recent commentary about the fatal shooting of Renee Good and Pritzker’s claim about "doing nothing wrong.” Pritzker may be the governor of Illinois, but McLaughlin is doing more work to protect innocent people in Illinois from criminals than Pritzker is. McLaughlin believes in holding criminals accountable; Pritzker believes in protecting these bad guys.

USA Today [1/16/2026 4:03 AM, Chris Brennan, 34837K] reports Donald Trump’s second term as president has often seemed like a prolonged series of slapdash decisions that rarely demonstrated any serious planning. But invoking the Insurrection Act to invade America’s cities with America’s military has long been Trump’s plan, even before he took office again. If you’re feeling worried and overwhelmed by the chaotic violence and constitutional abuses perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rampaging around Minneapolis and other cities, that also is part of Trump’s plan, as he again threatened on Jan. 15 to use the Insurrection Act. That’s why Trump’s administration this week mocked and misled about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz when the two-term Democrat tried to de-escalate the rage and fear after two ICE shootings, including one fatality, and a steady stream of social media videos showing masked federal agents smashing windows, shoving people into cars, firing chemical agents into crowds and randomly demanding proof of citizenship. Trump doesn’t want de-escalation. He needs ICE to provoke the fight. That’s the pretext for the president to trigger the Insurrection Act.

Bloomberg [1/15/2026 10:43 AM, Staff, 18207K] reports many ICE shootings, including Renee Nicole Good’s, are preventable tragedies. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Erika D. Smith explains how. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

USA Today [1/15/2026 2:05 PM, Rex Huppke, 67103K] reports that to all the federal agents who make up U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection – you know, the ones out there who are so humble they wear masks over their faces, lest they be publicly lauded for their good deeds – I want you to know something: You’re doing great, everybody loves you and you’re definitely going to wind up on the right side of history! I realize you’ve been getting some negative feedback on your recent visit to Minneapolis, due to things like shooting and killing a mother in her car, firing chemical agents directly into protesters’ faces and breaking down doors to arrest hardworking migrants with no criminal records. And you’ve lost a podcaster. But let’s not focus on the negatives! You’ve all been doing a great job looking super tough in your war clothes, yelling threats at civilians, and making America proud by descending on Target stores with large guns and overwhelming force to snatch up employees for no clear reason. And now, after a second Minneapolis shooting involving a federal agent on Jan. 14, President Donald Trump might reward you by invoking the Insurrection Act and sending the military in to help you with your efforts to calm a city that was just minding its own business before you came along and invaded it.

Daily Wire [1/16/2026 12:05 AM, Marsha Blackburn, 2494K] reports since Inauguration Day, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been working nonstop to make America safe again. Thanks to their operations, the Trump administration has deported more than 600,000 illegal aliens, including predators, gang members, drug traffickers, and violent criminals. Another 1.9 million have chosen to self-deport rather than face arrest. In Tennessee, we are seeing how these efforts are transforming communities for the better. ICE officers have played a vital role in President Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force, helping restore law and order in a city that last year recorded the highest crime rate in the country. Since the task force launched in September, overall crime has dropped 44%, including a 70% reduction in car thefts and a 44% decline in murders. In total, the task force has conducted more than 5,800 arrests, including hundreds of warrant arrests for domestic violence and aggravated assault and dozens more for narcotics, weapons, robbery, homicide, and sexual assault. Nearly 800 have been immigration arrests conducted by ICE officers, apprehending aliens charged with some of the worst crimes imaginable: child abuse, human trafficking, assaulting police officers, domestic violence, aggravated assault, drug dealing, and more. A big part of this success: local, state, and federal law enforcement are working closely together to identify and detain criminals, including illegal aliens. In November, the Shelby County Sheriff signed a 287(g) agreement that allows law enforcement to detain and transport illegal aliens wanted by ICE, serving as a model of what can be accomplished when authorities at all levels of government cooperate to enforce our immigration laws. Beyond Memphis, ICE has detained dangerous criminals across Tennessee. Just last weekend, agents arrested a criminal meth dealer in Monroe County. In Nashville, agents have rounded up violent criminal illegal aliens, including Tren de Aragua gang members who operated a transnational sex trafficking ring. Operations like these are making communities safer for Tennesseans and Americans nationwide. Yet for months, Democrats have smeared these officers for doing their job and enforcing the law.

CNN [1/15/2026 12:31 PM, Aaron Blake, 606K] reports President Donald Trump has been threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act for a very long time. Dating back to his first term, he has repeatedly floated the rarely used law, which gives a president extraordinary powers to dispatch the military to put down domestic unrest. And now he’s doing it again, this time in Minneapolis amid increasingly heated anti-ICE protests. It has often appeared as if Trump really just wants to deploy the military on US soil. He’s already done it in extraordinary ways without the Insurrection Act, by sending the National Guard to blue cities. But the Supreme Court late last month delivered a major blow to that effort. That left the Insurrection Act as a potentially more legally viable fallback. And, lo and behold, less than a month after the Supreme Court ruling, Trump has blitzed Minneapolis with thousands of ICE agents. We’ve seen shootings and one killing by those agents amid heated protests. (The administration contends they were acting in self-defense, with the latest firing after he was assaulted). And now, the president has again threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and send in the troops. There is a problem with the Insurrection Act, though, and it’s apparently the same one that has prevented Trump from using it before: It’s drastic. CNN’s Alayna Treene reports White House officials have been concerned about the politics of this idea. It’s the kind of thing you want to be very sure people are ready for and feel is legitimate. It seems unlikely Americans feel that way now. Indeed, if anything, they seem to think the unrest in Minneapolis is the government’s fault in the first place.

New York Post [1/15/2026 8:15 PM, Rich Lowry, 42219K] reports that, if Minnesota officials don’t like President Donald Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act, maybe they should do more to tamp down the insurrectionary activity in their state. After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer was violently attacked by two illegal immigrants while making an arrest Wednesday night and shot one assailant in the leg in self-defense, anti-ICE activists — predictably enough — rioted. In response to the unprovoked attack on the officer, Mayor Jacob Frey once again blasted ICE. Imagine, he implored, if your city "was suddenly invaded by thousands of federal agents that do not hold the values that you hold dear.” Minnesota’s elected officials might want to consider whether portraying federal law-enforcement officers as an alien, invading force is the best way to convince Trump that he shouldn’t resort to the Insurrection Act. They sound like Confederate leaders complaining about, say, the 20th Maine Infantry showing up within the city limits of Richmond, Va., in 1863. But they can’t help themselves — this is how they think. State Rep. Liish Kozlowski thought Wednesday’s shooting provided more evidence that ICE officers "are not here for public safety or for fraud or for the well-being of anybody, but to hunt and harm us.” Prior to the latest incident, Gov. Tim Walz implored Trump to "end this occupation.” This mindset is why Minnesota’s elected leaders have justified and encouraged a low-grade anti-ICE insurgency. It doesn’t involve guns or bombs, but other tools of coercion and intimidation meant to make it impossible for the federal government to enforce the nation’s immigration laws in the state. ICE officers are operating among a hostile population, significant elements of which consider them an occupying force — and are determined to expel them. This is "Free Palestine" for the anti-ICE crowd. Apologists for the agitators say, as Rep. Ilhan Omar has maintained, that they are only recording ICE officers and holding them accountable. This is nonsense: The activists almost always have cameras, true, but they are obstructing ICE vehicles, yelling at ICE officers, and, if the opportunity arises, trying to "de-arrest" people. The point of all of this is to create an atmosphere of violent intimidation and make every step ICE takes in the city as painful as possible. If this is the work of "legal observers," as the euphemism has it, the Proud Boys at the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville in 2017 were just "historic preservationists.”

The Hill [1/15/2026 11:04 PM, Ryan Mancini, 12595K] reports White House border czar Tom Homan said Thursday the Trump administration needs to be better about its “messaging” over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across the country. “I think we’re being egged on by the press,” Homan told Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” on Fox News. “I think there’s a lot of false media out there, and I think we need to be better at messaging what we’re doing out there.” “Look, bottom line is 70 percent of everybody arrested is a criminal,” he continued. “We need to start advertising that every single day and putting pictures all over social media. The bottom line is if people listen to most of the media, this network, they’re going to hear that ICE is separating families everyday, we’re deporting U.S. citizen children, we’re doing operations in elementary schools and churches and hospitals.” Homan said the administration needs to “push back the lies, because I think a lot of people don’t get the facts, and we’ve got to be better at getting the facts out there.”

The Hill [1/15/2026 11:55 AM, Max Rego, 12595K] reports Republicans are split on President Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey released days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and killed a woman in Minnesota. The poll, released Thursday, found 59 percent of Republican respondents said they prefer that federal immigration officers prioritize arrests even if people get hurt, while 39 percent said officers should limit harm to others even if they make fewer arrests as a result. More than 95 percent of Democratic respondents, on the other hand, said officers should focus on avoiding injuring people over arrests, with just 4 percent saying the opposite. Overall, 40 percent of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of immigration, down from 50 percent just more than a month after he returned to office. That mark ties a new low among Reuters/Ipsos polls for the president on immigration, dating back to his first term. Protests against the Trump administration’s immigration policies have spread throughout the country in the wake of an ICE officer fatally shooting 37-year-old Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis last week. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday that a federal officer shot a Venezuelan man in the leg during a scuffle that broke out amid a traffic stop in Minneapolis. The migrant and federal officer were hospitalized, with two others who McLaughlin said “attacked” the officer also in custody.

NewsMax [1/15/2026 10:45 AM, Staff, 4109K] reports political rhetoric and activist interference are escalating the danger federal immigration enforcement officials are facing, U.S. Customs and Border Protection senior adviser Ron Vitiello told Newsmax on Thursday. "It is inherently risky to go after people who are in the country illegally, who have also committed other crimes and don’t want to be found, arrested, or removed," Vitiello said on Newsmax’s "Wake Up America.” His comments came after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot an illegal migrant from Venezuela in the leg on Wednesday. Authorities said the suspect ran instead of complying with orders and then, along with two other people, used a shovel and a broom handle to attack the agent. Vitiello, a former acting ICE director, said agents and officers on the front lines will keep adjusting their tactics and relying on their training to protect themselves. Federal operations are also being complicated by elected officials who portray enforcement actions as kidnappings or people being "disappeared," and by activists who surround agents, damage equipment, and try to impede arrests, said Vitiello. He urged Minnesota leaders to take a more active role, saying local police should respond faster and state officials should help secure federal facilities and keep crowds away from agents in the field. "The local police need to engage much faster," he said. "They could have officers in the community that help keep the crowds at bay while the agents do their work.” Vitiello also pointed to a separate deadly shooting from the previous week involving an ICE agent, saying the agent suffered internal bleeding after being struck by a car driven by Renee Good, who was later shot and killed. He criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and other politicians for condemning the agent before investigators released the facts.

Bloomberg [1/15/2026 2:39 PM, Linda Poon, 18207K] reports that heavily armed federal immigration officers deployed to Minneapolis are using increasingly aggressive tactics. An officer shot a man in the leg on Wednesday, just a week after the fatal shooting of Renée Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent prompted angry protests nationwide and a lawsuit from the state of Minnesota. Under the Trump administration, ICE has undergone a rapid evolution, as reporter Alicia Caldwell tells Sarah Holder on the Big Take podcast. While its authority hasn’t changed under US law, ICE’s size and the scale of its operation have ballooned to unprecedented levels — made possible in large part by a massive infusion of funding from Congress. That’s left state officials scrambling to file lawsuits and pass legislation to limit the agency’s power on the ground. Listen to the full episode today on the Big Take: The Funding Surge Behind ICE’s Actions.

HS Today [1/15/2026 6:30 AM, Staff, 38K] reports the identities of thousands of federal employees working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol have been leaked online, raising safety concerns. According to a report from The Independent, the leak includes the identities of about 4,500 federal employees working with ICE, including 2,000 agents. They were shared with the website The ICE List, which calls itself a “journalistic project” meant to share information to “hold ICE members legally accountable.” The site, which accepts user-generated data, includes photos and descriptions, and is indexed by state. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who is included on the site, told NewsNation that the leak “would constitute 4,500 felonies.”

Breitbart [1/16/2026 12:18 AM, Pam Key, 2416K] reports that, Thursday on MS NOW’s "All In," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said he suspects Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is attempting to recruit white supremacists. Host Chris Hayes said, "Do you think the Department of Homeland Security is explicitly attempting to recruit extremists with far right ideologies, white supremacists, Nazis and the like into the DHS?". Raskin said, "Well, we don’t know for sure, but it certainly looks like it, Chris. Look, they’ve added a $50,000 sign on bonus for people going to work at ICE. They have dramatically cut the training requirements. They have promised ample overtime payments to people, and they seem to be making this very careful, deliberate, cultural recruitment appeal to people who, you know, share the most extreme ideological views in the country. Meantime, we know there are a lot of, former J6 was working at the Department of Justice. And there are others there at the Department of Justice, and they’re not trying to hide it. And yet, with ICE, what we’ve got is the only law enforcement or military institution in the country, not the Army, not the Navy, not the Marines, not the National Guard, not state police, local police, county police that go around masked. Why are they the only ones masked? What are they trying to hide from us? And, you know, we’ve had various people contact us to suggest that we check out what kind of hiring is taking place of January 6 insurrectionists. So we sent a letter. We’ve not gotten a direct reply, but the things that they’re saying in response certainly don’t deny that there are January 6th others who’ve been hired into ICE. And from the looks of some of the violence that’s taking place. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.”

FOX News [1/15/2026 9:23 AM, Anders Hagstrom, 40621K] reports Democratic legislators are proposing legislation to block federal authorities from carrying out immigration enforcement across the country. While some of the legislation is being pushed in red states where it is unlikely to find purchase, the wave of bills is also pushing blue states further to the left. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing for a bill to allow people to sue federal officers alleging violations of their constitutional rights. Other New York Democrats are pushing to require federal authorities to secure warrants to search schools, hospitals and houses of worship. Oregon Democrats plan to introduce a bill to allow residents to sue federal agents for violating their Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. New Jersey Democrats have sent a trio of bills to Gov. Phil Murphy’s desk that, if passed, would establish New Jersey as a "sanctuary state.” The three bills would ban local police from assisting in federal immigration raids, prohibit law enforcement from stopping someone based on their suspected immigration status, and prohibit government entities and healthcare facilities from sharing private data with ICE without a judicial warrant. President Donald Trump’s administration has said that non-cooperation policies in sanctuary jurisdictions only make immigration enforcement more dangerous and difficult.

New York Times [1/15/2026 10:07 AM, Jennifer Medina, 135475K] reports the fatal shooting of a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week outraged many Democratic officials, who have watched with increasing alarm and anger as federal officers have swooped into cities across the country. State and local officials in Minnesota and Illinois are suing the Trump administration to try to block the raids, which have sown chaos in their cities. Democratic members of Congress are demanding more oversight over ICE and its tactics, and some are trying to tie their demands to budget talks. A group of House Democrats have called for impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. And some Democrats running for Congress in blue districts around the country have revived a phrase from the first Trump administration: “Abolish ICE.” It is a slogan that many Democrats had hoped to retire. Immigration has arguably been the most vexing issue for Democrats in the Trump era. The Biden administration’s missteps on the issue — underestimating the scale of migration that their policies would allow and failing to anticipate the political backlash — helped pave the way for President Trump’s election to a second term. Now, as the crisis in Minneapolis grows and Democrats struggle to effectively rein in tactics that they see as overly aggressive and possibly illegal, some Democrats worry that calls to eliminate the agency are an unwelcome distraction from more pragmatic approaches. They fear that the “Abolish ICE” slogan will age as poorly as “Defund the Police” did. “Clearly ICE is an absolute problem — they’re out of control, moving way too fast,” said Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona. But Mr. Gallego, who has criticized other members of his party for kowtowing to the left, said that resuming “Abolish ICE” calls would hurt the cause. “The last thing we need to do, again, is to make the same mistake when it comes to ‘Defund the Police’ rhetoric. That ended up not actually helping communicate what people wanted. People want a slimmed-down ICE that is truly focused on security.”

New York Times [1/15/2026 10:56 AM, Hamed Aleaziz and Nicholas Nehamas, 135475K] reports the instructions to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents explain in clear terms how to defuse dangerous encounters: Use “minimal force” when trying to remove people from cars. Issue commands in “professional,” “firm,” “courteous” voices. “First step in arresting an occupant of a vehicle is NOT to reach in and grab him, unless there are specific circumstances requiring that action,” reads one internal ICE document providing legal guidance for uses of force during vehicle stops. It was reviewed by The New York Times, along with other training materials. ICE officials will thoroughly investigate any encounter, but “deadly force” is allowed only when agents believe lives are in danger. The fatal shooting of Renee Good last week by an ICE agent in Minneapolis — and the quick reaction by Trump administration officials to declare the agent a hero and Ms. Good a villain — has put a new focus on whether federal agents enforcing President Trump’s deportation drive have been properly prepared for confrontations on city streets. The response of Mr. Trump and his top lieutenants to the killing has also underscored how they have embraced what is supposed to be a last resort under the written standards: using lethal force in self-defense. Rather than encourage agents to de-escalate combustible encounters, as the agency guidelines emphasize, Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have provided tacit approval for more aggressive tactics. Several weeks before the shooting, a top ICE official told officers to take “decisive action” if threatened. Immediately after, Mr. Trump and other administration officials said Ms. Good had tried to run the agent over, although a Times video analysis found that she appeared to have turned her vehicle away from him. “That guy is protected by absolute immunity,” Vice President JD Vance said last week of the ICE agent who killed Ms. Good, 37. “He was doing his job.” On Tuesday, the Homeland Security Department reiterated that sentiment to its agents, posting a clip on social media of Stephen Miller, a White House deputy chief of staff, saying, “You have immunity to perform your duties, and no one — no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist — can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.” Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said ICE agents were using appropriate tactics. Tricia McLaughlin, a homeland security spokeswoman, said that “ICE law enforcement officers are trained to use the minimum amount of force necessary to resolve dangerous situations to prioritize the safety of the public and our officers” and are “highly trained in de-escalation tactics.” Moreover, the agency is rapidly expanding its ranks, already more than doubling its number of law enforcement personnel, after an infusion of $75 billion in new funding over four years. It has expedited its training programs to accommodate the new recruits, including reducing training on how to handle vehicle stops, according to a former official at the federal government’s law enforcement academy who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal homeland security policies. Ms. McLaughlin said there had been no reduction in training on vehicle stops.

CNN [1/15/2026 8:10 AM, Matthew Vann, 18595K] reports a recent ProPublica report uncovered 40 cases of banned chokehold use by ICE agents. ProPublica investigative reporter Nicole Foy says the Department of Homeland Security is standing by its ICE agents. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Washington Examiner [1/16/2026 5:00 AM, Mia Cathell, 1394K] reports liberal activists are deploying rapid response networks across Minneapolis to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, and tensions between protesters and ICE officers are rising a week after the ICE-involved shooting of activist Renee Good in Minnesota. Following the flow of cash between mutual aid allies, some of these guerrilla-like groups, operating in communities across the country, appear to receive generous funding from premier grantmaking foundations on the political Left with similar social justice-oriented aims. For instance, in Minneapolis, Defend the 612 is a well-funded organization that is part of a local coalition called “ICE Watch,” a decentralized cohort of anti-ICE activists dedicated to disrupting raids. ICE Watch is not exclusive to Minneapolis, as other loosely-affiliated networks bearing “ICE Watch” in their names have formed nationwide. Defend the 612, however, appears to collect donations under a different name. A fundraising campaign for Defend the 612 was organized by Cooperation Cannon River, a 501(c)(3) charity based in Minneapolis and operating out of a P.O. box. Various nonprofit organizations known for championing left-wing causes have contributed substantial sums to Cooperation Cannon River over the years.

FOX News [1/15/2026 11:07 AM, Paul Steinhauser Fox, 40621K] reports calls to abolish ICE by some progressive Democrats are sparking a new divide in the party, as center-left groups warn about a political backlash and instead urge messaging to reform the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. "We must reform ICE. But it looks at this stage, folks, ICE is beyond reform," Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar told reporters on Wednesday. "ICE is totally out of control, and this week I intend to introduce a bill to abolish ICE." Thanedar spoke one week after a fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by an ICE agent went viral, sparking protests and a national debate over the agency’s efforts to carry out President Donald Trump’s push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants. Trump on Thursday warned that if Minnesota’s political leaders don’t stop what he argued were "professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place."

Federalist [1/15/2026 7:39 AM, Mark Hemingway, 785K] reports a simple, but deeply unfair and manipulative, narrative about ICE’s enforcement of immigration law congealed as soon as Trump took office: ICE enforcement amounts to egregious military-style raids in otherwise peaceful communities, and as such, ICE is responsible for any unfortunate violence that accompanies their enforcement activities. Obviously, that narrative has gone into overdrive since the unfortunate killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week. Facts don’t really matter here; anti-ICE hysterics are impervious to the fact that Good and her partner were specifically engaged in illegal activity. One can argue law enforcement should have behaved differently, but you cannot say Renee Good was an innocent bystander — she put herself in harm’s way. You can’t impede federal officers enforcing the law, let alone suddenly lurch toward them in a two-ton vehicle. However, arguing about who should have done what in this scenario to avoid her killing is almost beside the point. That’s because the goal of anti-ICE activists is not to reduce violence. There’s a simple way to immediately reduce the threat of violence surrounding ICE enforcement — have local law enforcement cooperate with ICE.

AP [1/15/2026 5:44 PM, Safiyah Riddle, Rebecca Santana and Graham Lee Brewer, 31753K] reports the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has walked back claims he made in a memo and press release earlier this week that immigration enforcement arrested four tribal members and that the federal government tried to extract an "immigration agreement" out of the tribe in return for information about their members’ whereabouts. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it can’t verify claims that any of their officers arrested or "even encountered" members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe or found anyone in their detention centers claiming to be a tribal member. They denied asking the tribe for any kind of agreement. He said the tribe had been in "cooperative communications" with federal officials about the issue and that federal officials had said that "one option for the Tribe to have easier access to information is to enter into an immigration agreement" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS. He did not specify what type of agreement. He also said the tribe was "working with Tribal, State, and Federal officials to verify" reports that tribal members living in Minneapolis were arrested by ICE. Earlier in the week he said he had been "made aware that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained four Oglala Sioux tribal members in Minneapolis" and that the tribe had their first names. He called the arrests "a treaty violation." The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, saying that they "have not uncovered any claims by individuals in our detention centers that they are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe" and haven’t been able to verify that their officers arrested anyone from the tribe. They also denied asking for any type of agreement from the tribe in return for giving out information.

The Hill [1/15/2026 2:17 PM, Ashleigh Fields, 12595K] reports that Maine officials on Wednesday warned residents they were expecting federal immigration authorities to arrive in the state in the coming days. The potential action follows days of unrest in Minnesota and Oregon, including a fatal shooting in Minneapolis that prompted sometimes violent protests. “To the Federal government I say this: if your plan is to come here to be provocative and to undermine the civil rights of Maine residents, do not be confused — those tactics are not welcome here,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) said in a video statement. “To the people of Maine: I know you care deeply about protecting your neighbors, as do I. And I know that many of you are angry about the potential for any enhanced Federal law enforcement presence in Maine. I feel that too,” she added. The Democratic governor encouraged residents to meet hostility with “reserve and resolve,” reminding them of their right to protest peacefully with the support of local officials. “We oppose violence. We stand for peaceful protest. We stand for compassion, for integrity and justice,” she said of officials in Maine. Mills did not provide an exact date for when immigration operations are expected to take place in the state. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment on the matter. “It’s my understanding that there will be ICE enforcement in Official City of Lewiston, Maine soon. I urge residents and businesses to know their rights and have a plan of action if ICE stops them in the street, visits their home, or visits their business,” Democratic Mayor Carl Sheline wrote in a Facebook post. “As a reminder, Lewiston Police do not enforce federal law,” he added. The mayor of Portland, Maine, shared a similar message.

Reported similarly:
NewsMax [1/15/2026 12:37 PM, Nicole Weatherholtz, 4109K]

New York Times [1/15/2026 11:46 PM, Adam Sella, 135475K] reports in a federal court hearing on Tuesday in Massachusetts, the Trump administration acknowledged that it made a mistake when it deported a college student flying home for Thanksgiving. Any Lucia López Belloza, 19, a freshman at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., was detained at an airport and deported to Honduras in late November after trying to surprise her family with a visit for the holiday. Despite the administration’s rare admission of error, the government has not moved to drop the case, and it has generally sought maximum authority to detain and deport noncitizens. Some wrongfully deported migrants were returned to the United States to face further litigation with little fanfare. But in several high-profile cases, such as the expulsion of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, Trump officials have dug in on attempts to carry out deportations even when immigration officials make mistakes. Ms. López was detained by immigration authorities on Nov. 20 at Boston Logan International Airport. She was flown to Honduras two days later, despite a court order signed on Nov. 21 barring her deportation while her case was still pending. In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Ms. López said, “I accept their apologies.” She added: “I hope that based on this apology I am able to return back to my studies and also to be home with my parents.” Since being deported, Ms. López’s family has faced intimidation from immigration authorities. Early last month, agents in three unmarked vehicles appeared at her parents’ home in Austin, Texas. One agent rushed at her father, Francis López, but did not detain him after Mr. López fled into his house and locked the door. In the court hearing on Tuesday, Richard G. Stearns, a U.S. District Court judge appointed by President Bill Clinton, indicated that he hoped to find a solution so Ms. López could return to the United States and continue her studies.

FOX News [1/15/2026 7:28 PM, Bonny Chu, 40621K] reports a Massachusetts woman is suing the town of Hopkinton, alleging officials negligently approved a criminal immigrant with a history of workplace sexual violence to operate a business where he later assaulted the plaintiff when she was 16 years old. The lawsuit, transferred to federal court on Jan. 5, names Greek national Petros "Peter" Sismanis, who is currently in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. According to court documents, Sismanis was convicted in June 2025 for the 2023 sexual assault of the plaintiff while she worked at Hillers Pizza. The complaint also notes that Sismanis was previously accused in 1998 of rape, indecent assault and battery involving female minors, which resulted in his registration as a sex offender. NBC Boston reported that he assaulted two employees while operating a donut shop in Hopkinton. The plaintiff, now 19, claimed Hopkinton officials, the police chief and Hillers Pizza all played a role in fostering a sexually hostile work environment. She alleges that town officials knew, or should have known, about Sismanis’s criminal history when he renewed Hillers Pizza’s license in 2016 — a process that requires review by multiple town departments, including the police. The plaintiff is now seeking $1 million in damages, according to Boston.com. "There is no record of Hopkinton police or Chief Bennett ever raising questions about Sismanis’ ability to operate the pizza shop, even though he was a registered sex offender," court documents state. Despite Sismanis’s prior record, the town approved the license renewal, the lawsuit alleges, endangering the female minors Sismanis often hired. An attorney representing Hopkinton officials said the town acted appropriately at the time of the license renewal.

The Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 6:57 PM, David Sivak, 1394K] reports Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked President Donald Trump to withdraw immigration agents from major cities, calling a ramp-up in patrols and enforcement raids “dangerous” in a rare visit to the White House. Trump requested the meeting, according to a readout from Schumer’s office, to discuss billions in federal dollars the White House froze last fall for the Gateway tunnel project, but the conversation turned to other Washington flashpoints, including the raids and Obamacare negotiations currently underway in the Senate. “Leader Schumer told the president ICE raids are terrorizing communities,” said the readout. “Leader Schumer also told President Trump that their actions are dangerous and putting more people at risk, and he must pull back ICE from U.S. cities.” A senior White House official separately confirmed the meeting took place on Thursday afternoon. In Congress, a Democratic uproar over the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by immigration authorities has delayed passage of a Department of Homeland Security spending bill, with Democrats wanting additional guardrails on officer conduct. Political tensions rose further on Thursday as Trump threatened to send troops to Minnesota to tamp down days of protests. The Washington Times [1/15/2026 5:38 PM, Tom Howell Jr, 852K] reports Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said he met with President Trump at the White House on Thursday to discuss a vital transit program that allows commuters to cross the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, stressed the economic importance of the project to the president, a New Yorker-turned-Floridian. “In the meeting, Leader Schumer emphasized the urgent need to promptly release the already-secured funds for the Gateway Program — the most important infrastructure project in the nation employing thousands of workers and vital to New York and the entire Northeast economy,” Mr. Schumer’s office said. The linchpin of the Gateway project is the construction of miles of two-tube tunnel under the river to improve the flow of rail traffic into the city and reduce delays. For years, officials have said existing infrastructure is crumbling and in need of repair. Mr. Trump suggested in late 2025 that he would terminate the project, so Democrats in the region are stressing its importance.

Reuters [1/15/2026 5:26 PM, Richard Cowan, 36480K] reports U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday told President Donald Trump in a meeting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in cities were "terrorizing communities" and that ICE agents should be pulled out. A statement from his office said "Schumer told the president ICE raids are terrorizing communities. Leader Schumer also told President Trump that their actions are dangerous and putting more people at risk and he must pull back ICE from U.S. cities."

CBS News [1/16/2026 4:25 AM, Staff, 39474K] reports Mexican authorities sought details Thursday about what they say was the death of a Mexican citizen this week in an immigration detention facility in Georgia. The number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. has increased significantly in recent years, and 2025 was the deadliest year for ICE detainees in two decades, with at least 30 people dying in detention centers. At least four people have died in ICE detention so far this year, according to agency data. On Thursday, Mexico’s consulate in Atlanta said it was "closely monitoring" the death of a Mexican citizen on Wednesday at the Robert A. Deyton Detention Facility in Clayton, south of Atlanta, and was maintaining "permanent communication" with the ICE field office in Atlanta. Officials requested "that the circumstances of the incident be clarified," the consulate said, adding that it was "collaborating on the necessary procedures to ensure that the investigation is conducted promptly and transparently." The consulate didn’t release the person’s name but said it planned to return the person’s remains to Mexico as soon as possible. CBS News reached out to ICE and the consulate for comment. U.S. officials haven’t publicly commented on the incident.

Univision [1/15/2026 8:01 PM, Staff, 5004K] reports ever Josué Godoy, a now-deported Honduran immigrant, reported being assaulted by ICE officers at the Alcatraz de los Caimanes detention center in the Everglades. Godoy, arrested at the end of December for driving without a valid license, said he was beaten and electrocuted with a Taser after requesting to use the bathroom upon arrival at the detention center. "An officer came, I don’t know if it was Officer Diaz, he hit me in the face with his fists and I started bleeding," said the immigrant, who stressed that he is not a criminal. Following the complaint, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) responded by calling Godoy’s allegations false, saying it was a “31-year-old illegal alien from Honduras,” detained for illegally entering the United States in 2014. Godoy, however, maintains that he has evidence of what happened and demands justice for the treatment received. "I’m with my chest on the ground, I try to get up and I can’t, he shot me with the Taser and he electrocuted me," he said. The immigrant said the blows and electric shock occurred immediately after entering the immigration detention center. Ever Godoy expressed frustration at ICE’s response: “I’m not a criminal...”, he stressed, asking for his case to be investigated. ICE maintains its position of denying the alleged facts, while Godoy continues his claim from Honduras, a country to which he was deported after his arrest in Florida.

Axios [1/15/2026 11:56 AM, Maria Curi, 12972K] reports ICE raided a Meta data center in Louisiana, putting President Trump’s immigration crackdown at odds with his goal of American AI dominance. The administration, with the ultimate goal of beating China in the AI race, wants a friendly environment for tech companies looking to build AI infrastructure and fill labor shortages. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday targeted construction workers on their way to a Meta data center in Louisiana, per multiple reports. Two drivers from Guatemala and Honduras were arrested because of their immigration status, according to the reports. ICE agents reportedly did not enter the $27 billion Meta facility. Meta declined to comment. The White House and DHS did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

AP [1/15/2026 11:58 PM, Hallie Golden, 30493K] reports a federal judge in Minnesota on Thursday ordered the release of a Liberian man four days after heavily armed immigration agents broke into his home using a battering ram and arrested him. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan said in his ruling that the agents violated Garrison Gibson’s Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure. "To arrest him, Respondents forcibly entered Garrison G.’s home without his consent and without a judicial warrant," he said. The Department of Homeland Security has been ramping up immigration arrests in Minnesota in what the department has called its largest enforcement operation. DHS says its officers have arrested more than 2,500 people since Nov. 29. Marc Prokosch, Gibson’s attorney, said he was "thrilled" by the judge’s order. He had filed a habeas corpus petition, used by courts to determine if an imprisonment is legal, and called the arrest a "blatant constitutional violation" since the agents did not have a proper warrant. Gibson’s wife was inside their Minneapolis home with the couple’s 9-year-old child during the raid. Prokosch said she was deeply shaken by the arrest. Gibson, 37, was being held at an immigration detention center in Albert Lea after being held at a large camp on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas, according to ICE’s detainee locator. DHS did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press requesting comment on the order and has not responded to a prior email with follow-up questions about Gibson’s case. Gibson, who fled the Liberian civil war as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed by the courts. He had remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities. Only days before his arrest, Gibson had checked in with immigration authorities at regional immigration offices — the same building where agents have been staging enforcement raids in recent weeks. Bryan said in his Thursday order that he agrees with Gibson’s assertions that since he had already been released on an order of supervision, officials "violated applicable regulations" by not giving him enough notice that it had been revoked and the reasoning, as well as not providing him an interview right after he was detained. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Homeland Security Department, had said that Gibson has "a lengthy rap sheet (that) includes robbery, drug possession with intent to sell, possession of a deadly weapon, malicious destruction and theft." She did not indicate if those were arrests, charges or convictions.

AP [1/15/2026 5:58 PM, Claudia Lauer, 19051K] reports federal immigration agents deployed to Minneapolis have used aggressive crowd-control tactics that have become a dominant concern in the aftermath of the deadly shooting of a woman in her car last week. They have pointed rifles at demonstrators and deployed chemical irritants early in confrontations. They have broken vehicle windows and pulled occupants from cars. They have scuffled with protesters and shoved them to the ground. The government says the actions are necessary to protect officers from violent attacks. The encounters in turn have riled up protesters even more, especially as videos of the incidents are shared widely on social media. What is unfolding in Minneapolis reflects a broader shift in how the federal government is asserting its authority during protests, relying on immigration agents and investigators to perform crowd-management roles traditionally handled by local police who often have more training in public order tactics and de-escalating large crowds. Experts warn the approach runs counter to de-escalation standards and risks turning volatile demonstrations into deadly encounters. The confrontations come amid a major immigration enforcement surge ordered by the Trump administration in early December, which sent more than 2,000 officers from across the Department of Homeland Security into the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Many of the officers involved are typically tasked with arrests, deportations and criminal investigations, not managing volatile public demonstrations. Tensions escalated after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman killed by an immigration agent last week, an incident federal officials have defended as self-defense after they say Good weaponized her vehicle. The killing has intensified protests and scrutiny of the federal response. On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota asked a federal judge to intervene, filing a lawsuit on behalf of six residents seeking an emergency injunction to limit how federal agents operate during protests, including restrictions on the use of chemical agents, the pointing of firearms at non-threatening individuals and interference with lawful video recording. "There’s so much about what’s happening now that is not a traditional approach to immigration apprehensions," said former Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Sarah Saldaña. Ian Adams, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of South Carolina, said the majority of crowd-management or protest training in policing happens at the local level — usually at larger police departments that have public order units. DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a written statement that ICE officer candidates receive extensive training over eight weeks in courses that include conflict management and de-escalation. She said many of the candidates are military veterans and about 85% have previous law enforcement experience. "All ICE candidates are subject to months of rigorous training and selection at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where they are trained in everything from de-escalation tactics to firearms to driving training. Homeland Security Investigations candidates receive more than 100 days of specialized training," she said.

FOX News [1/15/2026 2:20 PM, David Rutz, 40621K] reports that Minnesota’s flagship newspaper demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) leave Minneapolis and the state in a new editorial out Thursday, saying the "occupation" cannot go on any longer. "Heavily armed and masked government agents are prone to confront any American they encounter in the street but especially people of certain colors, accents or styles of dress," the Minnesota Star Tribune editorial board wrote. "The encounters are often violent. The federal agents operating under the insignia of Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security, functioning largely anonymously, have disrupted the life of large swaths of a state." "The occupation of Minnesota by ICE cannot stand," the board added. The paper accused Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem of being misleading when she said accountability was coming for the perpetrators of the massive fraud scandal that’s put the state’s Somali community and Democratic leadership under scrutiny. "Fraud investigation and immigration enforcement in Minnesota have become a pretext for a sweeping federal show of force that bears little relationship to the problem it claims to address. It is indiscriminate. Noncitizen immigrants without legal status make up roughly 1.5% of Minnesota’s population — less than half the national average. Nothing about that figure justifies the scale, posture or tactics now widely deployed," the Star Tribune wrote.

AP [1/15/2026 9:44 PM, Safiyah Riddle, Sarah Brumfield and Hallie Golden, 2416K] reports a U.S. citizen on her way to a medical appointment in Minneapolis was dragged out of her car and detained by immigration officers, according to a statement released by the woman on Thursday, after a video of her arrest drew millions of views on social media. Aliya Rahman said she was brought to a detention center where she was denied medical care and lost consciousness. The Department of Homeland Security said she was an agitator who was obstructing ICE agents conducting arrests in the area. That video is the latest in a deluge of online content that documents an intensifying immigration crackdown across the midwestern city, as thousands of federal agents execute arrests amid protests in what local officials have likened to a “federal invasion.” Rahman said that she was on her way to a routine appointment at the Traumatic Brain Injury Center when she encountered federal immigration agents at an intersection. Video appears to show federal immigration agents shouting commands over a cacophony of whistles, car horns and screams from protesters. In the video, one masked agent smashes Rahman’s passenger side window while others cut her seatbelt and drag her out of the car through the driver’s side door. Numerous guards then carried her by her arms and legs towards an ICE vehicle. “I’m disabled trying to go to the doctor up there, that’s why I didn’t move,” Rahman said, gesturing down the street as officers pulled her arms behind her back. Rahman was caught in a “terrible and confusing position” and had “no where to go,” according to Alexa Van Brunt, Rahman’s attorney and director of the MacArthur Justice Center. “Her only options were to move her car forward in the direction of ICE officers and risk being accused of trying to harm them—which led to Renee Good’s death—or stay stationary, which in the end led to physical violence and abuse,” Van Brunt wrote in a statement. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed that account in an emailed statement on Thursday, saying that Rahman was an agitator who “ignored multiple commands by an officer to move her vehicle away from the scene.” She was arrested along with six other people the department called agitators, one of whom was accused of jumping on an officer’s back. The department did not specify if Rahman was charged or respond to questions about her assertion that she was denied medical treatment.

New York Times [1/15/2026 8:14 PM, Chris Hippensteel, 135475K] reports a Minneapolis couple said that ICE agents deployed tear gas and stun grenades around them and their six children — the youngest only 6 months old — as they tried to maneuver their car out of a tense protest on Wednesday night. Shawn Jackson and his wife, Destiny, both 26, said they were driving home from a son’s basketball game when the family found themselves caught in a clash between protesters and federal agents in North Minneapolis. The couple sensed the encounter could quickly spiral out of control, they said, but when they tried to turn their car around to exit the blocked-off street, they were surrounded by federal agents. “From the side, the front and from behind me, it was nothing but ICE,” Mr. Jackson said in an interview on Thursday. One agent told the couple that they needed to get out of the area. Ms. Jackson said she and her husband responded that they were trying to do exactly that, but their path was blocked by agents coming up the street. Then, agents let loose on the crowd, the couple said. The crowd-control grenades went off around them and one tear gas canister rolled beneath the car, Ms. Jackson said. The couple said they were able to get their children, ages 6 months through 11 years, out of the car only after Mr. Jackson kicked open a door. Ms. Jackson, blinded and unable to breathe, circled the vehicle pulling out as many of her children as she could, she said. Bystanders arrived to usher the family into a nearby house, she said, while others set about removing the 6-month-old, who was briefly trapped in his car seat.

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 5:00 AM, Kaelan Deese, 1394K] reports a federal judge in Minnesota is considering whether to significantly restrict the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during a large-scale federal enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, including by imposing limits that critics argue could compromise agents’ ability to defend themselves in potentially hazardous situations. The case, Tincher v. Noem, was filed in December by Minneapolis residents and later backed by Minnesota officials challenging the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge known as "Operation Metro Surge." Plaintiffs are seeking a court order that would restrict ICE’s use of force, including limits on chemical irritants and on when officers may draw their weapons. Similar lawsuits were filed this week in Illinois and Minnesota. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, declined this week to rule immediately on the request for a temporary injunction and instead gave the Justice Department until Monday to submit additional filings. She said the issues raised involve "grave and important matters" but fall into relatively uncharted areas of constitutional law. The lawsuit has gained renewed attention following the fatal shooting of Minneapolis resident Renee Good, 37, during a confrontation with a federal agent last week. While the shooting was not the subject matter of a Tuesday hearing, it has intensified scrutiny of ICE operations already underway. The Trump administration has defended the Minnesota surge as a response to sanctuary policies enforced by state and local officials. In a statement on Wednesday, DHS accused Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) of refusing to cooperate with ICE and releasing nearly 470 criminal illegal aliens from Minnesota jails since President Donald Trump took office. The DOJ cited the case of German Llangari Inga, an illegal immigrant charged with criminal vehicular homicide in the August 2024 drunk-driving death of Minnesota mother Victoria Eileen Harwell. According to DHS, local authorities declined twice to honor ICE detainers for Llangari Inga, releasing him without notifying federal agents before ICE later arrested him independently. "This is the exact reason we are in Minneapolis," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, accusing state and city leaders of putting both the public and federal officers at risk.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 12:18 PM, John Nolte, 2416K] reports assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin says that police officers in the Confederate State of Minnesota have been ordered not to stop rioters from attacking ICE agents. Democrats have ordered local and state law enforcement not to help ICE agents under attack. If a child rapist is attacked and a police officer stands by and allows it to happen, that police officer would be fired. But Democrats are unwilling to give an ICE agent the same protection they would give a child rapist. "When we talk about a sanctuary city what are we talking about? First and foremost, their state and local law enforcement are not allowed to engage with our law enforcement when our law enforcement is being assaulted, impeded, or obstructed," McLaughlin explained. "They are not allowed to answer calls for back up. That’s why we see those growing violent crowds around our law enforcement.” She went on to lay out why so many ICE agents are on the streets of Minnesota and Minneapolis, which comes down to a Democrat-run city and state that refuses to allow ICE to arrest criminal illegals while those illegals are in custody. "So we have murderers, we have rapists, we have… pedophiles," McLaughlin told Fox News on Wednesday. "Those are the individuals that have been in the jails in Minneapolis, 470 of them, and yet [Democrat Gov.] Tim Walz has released them back onto the streets of Minneapolis… That’s why we have to be out there in full force, to make sure we are finding these individuals and… apprehending them.” You see, because Democrats need illegal immigrants to vote for them… Because Democrats need the money created by the billion-dollar welfare fraud schemes run by illegal immigrants… Rather than hand over murderers, rapists, child molesters, and other violent illegal aliens already in custody to ICE, the Democrats release them into the streets, which forces ICE to take to the streets. That’s how evil and craven Democrats are — they choose to release them back onto the streets rather than see them deported. Further, Democrats know that releasing these criminal illegals forces ICE into the streets, which, in turn, allows Democrat-fueled and encouraged activists to attack, riot, and impede lawful ICE agents doing nothing more than enforcing the law.

CNN [1/15/2026 8:55 PM, Shimon Prokupecz, 18595K] reports CBP and other federal officers advance to push back protesters outside the Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

CNN [1/16/2026 12:37 AM, Cara Westra, 18595K] reports Alex Escoto recounts an incident in which his mother was approached by ICE while sitting in her car and asked for identification. He alleges she was targeted because of her race, saying it’s “convenient” that the person questioned was a person of color. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Wall Street Journal [1/15/2026 5:59 PM, Kris Maher, 646K] reports tensions are rising between the Department of Homeland Security and one of the largest indigenous tribes in the U.S., with tribal leaders saying they think federal agents have arrested several Native American men—all U.S. citizens—amid the immigration-enforcement surge in Minneapolis. In a memorandum to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and other officials, the Oglala Sioux Tribe president said he was informed that agents unlawfully picked up four homeless Native American men living under a bridge last week and are detaining three of them. “We are the first Americans,” Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out wrote. “We are not undocumented immigrants.” He also wrote that when the tribe requested more details on the matter, federal officials said one way for the tribe to have easier access to the information would be if it “entered an immigration agreement” with DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The tribe has said it won’t do so and won’t make it easier for ICE to arrest or detain its members on their tribal homeland. In a statement Wednesday evening, a Homeland Security spokesperson said, “We have not been able to verify any claims that DHS law enforcement arrested or even encountered members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.” The statement added that, “ICE did NOT ask the tribe for any kind of agreement, we have simply asked for basic information on the individuals, such as names and date of birth so that we can run a proper check to provide them with the facts.” State officials have weighed in. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of the Ojibwe Tribe, said her team and lawyers were trying to help the Oglala Sioux secure the men’s release. She called the incident, “clear racial profiling, plain and simple.”

Washington Post [1/15/2026 8:29 AM, Mariana Alfaro, 24149K] reports for hours, Raelyn Duffy searched for any information that could lead to the whereabouts of her son, Jose Roberto “Beto” Ramirez, who that morning had been forcibly removed from his aunt’s car and detained by masked federal immigration officers in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Ramirez, 20, is Native American — and a U.S. citizen. But video of his arrest last Thursday shows that the officers were unmoved by his aunt’s panicked screams informing them of his legal status. They yanked Ramirez from the passenger’s seat, slammed him on the hood of another car, handcuffed him and took him away. Friends identified Ramirez from a Facebook Live video of the arrest and alerted Duffy, who rushed home, grabbed her son’s birth certificate and called Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ramirez, a descendant of the Red Lake Nation, a federally recognized Ojibwe tribe in northern Minnesota, was held in custody for about 10 hours, his mother said in an interview. He is among several Native Americans who have allegedly been swept up in the Trump administration’s surge in immigration enforcement operations in the Minneapolis area that began late last month and has escalated since a U.S. citizen was fatally shot by an ICE agent last week. Despite widespread protests over the killing of Renée Good, Trump administration officials say they are surging hundreds more immigration officers into the city and surrounding areas. Tribal leaders and members who live in the greater Minneapolis area say Indigenous family members, friends and neighbors have been stopped, questioned, harassed and, in some cases, detained solely on the basis of their skin color or their names. Some immigration experts suggested ICE officers might have racially profiled them and mistaken them for being Hispanic. Like Ramirez, four members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe were detained by ICE officers soon after the Minneapolis operation began, according to tribal president Frank Star Comes Out. Tribal leaders for days unsuccessfully sought information about their status before learning that one man had been released, he said in a statement Tuesday. The other three remain in custody at the B.H. Whipple Federal Building in Fort Snelling, on the outskirts of Minneapolis, where ICE has detained people arrested in the enforcement operation, he said.

New York Times [1/15/2026 3:48 PM, Sarah Mervosh, 135475K] reports several of Minnesota’s largest school districts, including those of Minneapolis and St. Paul, are offering students the option to learn remotely amid a federal immigration crackdown that has left many families on edge. In Minneapolis, where 37-year-old Renee Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent last week, students will have the option to learn online until Feb. 12. The school district in St. Paul said it would offer an online option starting next week. St. Paul’s school district, the state’s second largest, is home to a significant immigrant population. Many students speak Spanish, Hmong, Somali or another foreign language at home. About half of Spanish-speaking students in St. Paul and a quarter of Somali-speaking students were absent from school last Friday, as tensions escalated in the aftermath of Ms. Good’s death, according to district data.

Axios [1/15/2026 7:32 AM, Kyle Stokes, 12972K] reports several Twin Cities schools have seen an uptick in absenteeism as some students and parents fear immigration officers might detain them on their way to or from school, advocates and district officials say. Districts like Minneapolis are adjusting by dusting off pandemic-era distance learning plans that were far from ideal for student learning — but may be a better alternative now for students who otherwise wouldn’t be in class at all. "No one wants to be doing virtual learning," said Amanda Otero, an MPS parent and co-executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, "but at this time, it is really critical to have that option for families who do not feel safe going out of their homes." In Crystal yesterday, ICE detained a parent while waiting for the school bus with their child, KSTP reported. St. Paul Public Schools will cancel two days of classes next week so each campus can set up its own temporary virtual academy, officials announced yesterday. In St. Paul, at least one-quarter of students from Spanish-speaking households have been absent every school day since Dec. 12, according to preliminary district data shared with Axios. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 6, the total number of absences increased 13% among Spanish-speakers, 8% among Karen-speakers, and 6% among Hmong-speakers compared to the same period last school year. District-wide, absenteeism is up only slightly from last year. The number of absent English-speakers increased by just 2%.

FOX News [1/15/2026 1:07 PM, Ashley Carnahan, 40621K] reports the second-largest school district in Minnesota said it will offer a temporary virtual learning option for students, citing safety concerns tied to an increased presence of federal immigration agents in the Twin Cities. Saint Paul Public Schools said the option is intended for students who do not feel comfortable attending school in person and will begin on Jan. 22. Families will receive a registration link by email on Thursday. To prepare for the temporary virtual learning option, the district said it will not have classes on Jan. 20–21, in addition to the previously scheduled closure on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In the lead-up to the district’s decision to offer a temporary virtual learning option, student attendance plummeted, particularly among students who speak Spanish at home, according to data shared with MinnPost. On Jan. 9, two days after 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a federal enforcement operation in Minneapolis, 51% of students whose home language is Spanish did not show up to school, the outlet reported. Superintendent Dr. Stacie Stanley said in a YouTube video posted Wednesday on the Saint Paul Public Schools website that over the past several days, she received hundreds of messages about offering a temporary virtual learning option amid ICE operations in the state. "Our goal is to ensure that all students can stay connected to the school whether that is in-person or virtually," she told parents.

Federalist [1/15/2026 7:38 AM, M. D. Kittle, 785K] reports the "love is love" crowd is turning increasingly hateful — and violent. On Wednesday, an Immigration & Customs Enforcement agent was ambushed in Minneapolis by two suspects while the officer was trying to apprehend a violent illegal immigrant, the Department of Homeland Security said. In a statement posted on X, DHS said that at about 6:50 p.m. Minneapolis time federal law enforcement officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop of "an illegal alien from Venezuela who was released into the country by Joe Biden in 2022" when the subject fled in his vehicle and crashed into a parked car. After a foot chase, an ICE agent caught the man, who began violently assaulting the officer, the DHS report states. "While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle," the agency said. The bad Samaritans, according to DHS, allowed the Venezuelan to get loose to beat the agent with a shovel or a broom stick. "Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life," hitting the suspected illegal immigrant in the leg, according to DHS. The three amigos then ran back into the apartment and barricaded themselves inside, DHS said. They were subsequently taken into custody. As of late Wednesday night, both the Venezuelan national and the ICE agent were being treated at the hospital. Their conditions were not released.

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 9:53 AM, Harold Hutchison, 835K] reports "CNN NewsNight" host Abby Phillip allowed a former Biden administration official to claim riots in Minneapolis were a "peaceful protest" Wednesday night. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed in a Wednesday night post on X that an agent from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela after being ambushed. Former Biden White House aide Daniel Koh claimed that the response in the streets of Minneapolis was "peaceful," despite Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara saying crowds were engaged in "unlawful acts." "It looks like an insurrection?" Kmele Foster asked Seattle-area radio talk show host Jason Rantz, who responded, "I’m answering the question here. You don’t think they’re showing up because they want to do damage?" "They’re peacefully protesting in a response to a woman who was shot in the face," Koh claimed. Phillip did not correct Koh, even though, earlier in the program, CNN reporter Whitney Wild said during an on-air report from Minneapolis she was having trouble breathing due to the tear gas and flash-bangs being used.

Daily Caller [1/15/2026 12:10 PM, Jason Cohen, 835K] reports progressive media outlet Status Coup News reportedly doxxed FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a Wednesday YouTube livestream in Minneapolis, Minnesota, according to multiple X users. Status Coup’s livestream, which fellow progressive outlet Meidas Touch also posted to YouTube, took place after an ICE agent allegedly shot an illegal immigrant from Venezuela after being ambushed in the city. Multiple X users posted what they reported were recordings from the stream, which consisted of a woman displaying documents that she claimed contained personal information that she stole from an ICE vehicle. As of Thursday morning, neither of the YouTube livestreams appeared to show the documents included in the clips. Status Coup and Meidas Touch did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. In a clip posted by popular X user Collin Rugg, in which he blurred the documents, the woman described them. "In the original shooting that happened here tonight, the ICE agent vehicles that were parked on the street in the shooting, they had to leave their cars behind because they got surrounded by protesters," she said. "One of the ICE agent vehicles got broken into, and I found this paperwork. It has a list with FBI operation info. It’s got full names of FBI agents, phone numbers, emails." "There’s maps on where they’re staying, where they’re holding immigrants," she added. "There’s hotel names in there, there’s judge names. This paperwork has people’s full names and their emails." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

New York Times [1/15/2026 8:32 PM, Shaila Dewan, 135475K] reports moments before Renee Good was shot to death on a Minneapolis street last week, a federal agent ordered her to get out of her Honda Pilot. Was she legally obligated to comply? The answer is contingent on many factors, experts said, including the complex interplay of power and jurisdiction among law enforcement agencies. While Ms. Good was compelled to follow a lawful order, it is not clear whether the immigration agents on the scene were acting within their authority. “What were the ICE officers even attempting to do?” asked Rachel Moran, an expert on police accountability at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis. “There’s a couple of key questions, I think. One is, were they involved in a legitimate enforcement operation at that point? And the second is, was she actually blocking their vehicles?” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said that agents had been trying to free a vehicle that was stuck in the snow when “a mob of agitators that were harassing them all day began blocking them in, shouting at them and impeding law enforcement operations.” Agents would be within their powers to take action against anyone obstructing a legitimate operation, experts said. But whether Ms. Good’s actions qualified is open to interpretation.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 4:48 PM, John Binder, 2416K] reports an illegal alien in San Antonio, Texas, was arrested this week after nearly running over an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent with his car before injuring another ICE agent by ramming his car into the agent’s vehicle. On January 13, ICE agents were attempting to arrest illegal alien Argote Brooks of Cuba, who had been released into the United States in 2024 thanks to the Biden administration’s CBP One mobile app which allowed migrants to schedule appointments at the southern border in the hopes of being resettled in the United States. According to ICE agents, Brooks refused to comply when he was asked to exit his vehicle. Instead, Brooks allegedly drove his vehicle in reverse, nearly running over an ICE agent and slamming into an ICE vehicle. Brooks then allegedly put his vehicle in drive and slammed into a second ICE vehicle, injuring an agent who was sitting in the vehicle’s front seat. This is when ICE agents were able to successfully arrest Brooks. While Brooks remains in ICE custody, agency officials said there have been 66 vehicular attacks against agents from January 21, 2025, to January 7 of this year. Compare this to just two such attacks during the same period the year prior.

Houston Chronicle [1/15/2026 1:39 PM, Abby Church, 2983K] reports that Mayor John Whitmire is defending his response to federal immigration officials in multiple interviews. Whitmire spoke to a reporter last week about Houston’s current immigration strategy as he faces increased scrutiny from the public regarding the police department’s response and policy. Since Trump took office, more than 100 Houstonians have had federal immigration agents called on them by city police officers, mostly as a result of traffic stops. Current HPD policies dictate officers call agencies that have warrants out on those they encounter – including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Whitmire first said that HPD would not cooperate with ICE, before later acknowledging that local police were cooperating. In a Jan. 7 interview with FOX26 reporter Greg Groogan – the same day 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis – Whitmire kept pace with statements he’s made about the city needing to keep its head down to avoid federal involvement. “We’ve been very smart by keeping the rhetoric very low,” Whitmire told Groogan. “We’re not in turmoil like L.A. and Chicago and New Orleans and other jurisdictions. We’re following the law. The only thing HPD does is enforce city ordinance and state laws.”

AP [1/15/2026 5:44 PM, Safiyah Riddle, Rebecca Santana and Graham Lee Brewer, 19051K] reports the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe has walked back claims he made in a memo and press release earlier this week that immigration enforcement arrested four tribal members and that the federal government tried to extract an "immigration agreement" out of the tribe in return for information about their members’ whereabouts. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it can’t verify claims that any of their officers arrested or "even encountered" members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe or found anyone in their detention centers claiming to be a tribal member. They denied asking the tribe for any kind of agreement. Tribal President Frank Star Comes Out has not responded to repeated requests for comment, including after his updated memo was released on Thursday. The accusations of arrests came at a time when many Native Americans are already concerned over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement agenda and racial profiling by federal agents ensnaring them as well, and as some tribes have grappled with whether to engage in agreements with DHS tied to the crackdown. Star Comes Out said Tuesday in a message on Facebook that the men were arrested in Minneapolis, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement has launched its biggest operation ever and is increasingly clashing with protesters and residents angry at the agency’s tactics. Star Comes Out also said that when the tribe reached out about the arrests, "federal officials told us that the Tribe could access that information if we entered an immigration agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.” But in the memo Thursday, Star Comes Out said his earlier statement had been "misinterpreted" and that there was no such demand from federal officials. He said the tribe had been in "cooperative communications" with federal officials about the issue and that federal officials had said that "one option for the Tribe to have easier access to information is to enter into an immigration agreement" with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DHS. He did not specify what type of agreement. He also said the tribe was "working with Tribal, State, and Federal officials to verify" reports that tribal members living in Minneapolis were arrested by ICE. Earlier in the week he said he had been "made aware that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained four Oglala Sioux tribal members in Minneapolis" and that the tribe had their first names. He called the arrests "a treaty violation.” The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, saying that they "have not uncovered any claims by individuals in our detention centers that they are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe" and haven’t been able to verify that their officers arrested anyone from the tribe. They also denied asking for any type of agreement from the tribe in return for giving out information. "ICE did NOT ask the tribe for any kind of agreement, we have simply asked for basic information on the individuals, such as names and date of birth so that we can run a proper check to provide them with the facts," Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.

Axios [1/15/2026 5:21 PM, Travis Meier, 12972K] reports federal immigration officials are eyeing a site in south Kansas City for what local leaders fear could become one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country. Cities across the U.S. are wrestling with the presence of federal officials, including ICE, and tensions are high between local and federal authorities. Sightings of ICE vehicles and unannounced enforcement actions have fueled concern in Kansas City. An ICE spokesperson tells Axios the agency is "actively working to expand detention space," adding that "these will not be warehouses — they will be very well structured detention facilities." "We have no new detention centers to announce at this time," the spokesperson added. Federal officials haven’t provided a timeline or confirmed plans for a Kansas City site. But ICE’s broader push to expand detention space, backed by new funding, is coming to multiple cities, including KC, the Washington Post reports. Kansas City Council passed an ordinance after ICE’s warehouse visit barring the facility from receiving the local permits, licenses or approvals needed to operate, the Kansas City Star reported.

Axios [1/15/2026 4:48 PM, Kim Bojórquez, 12972K] reports a Utah Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would ban federal law enforcement, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, from wearing masks during local operations. While the measure, sponsored by state Sen. Nate Blouin (D-Salt Lake City), is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled state Legislature, it reflects growing scrutiny over federal law enforcement’s escalating tactics and transparency in local communities. His bill would also bar state and local law enforcement from collaborating with ICE around "sensitive areas," like churches, hospitals, libraries and courthouses, and from entering health care centers and shelters. Similar measures to rein in ICE have also been introduced in other states.

Newsweek [1/15/2026 3:10 PM, Micah McCartney, 52220K] reports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has arrested Cui Lijie, a Chinese national and key figure behind a lavish casino on Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. unincorporated territory in the West Pacific. Cui was the majority shareholder of Hong Kong-based Imperial Pacific International LLC, a now-bankrupt Chinese investment holding company that possessed the island’s only casino license. The arrest comes as the Trump administration has dramatically ramped up efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants, while citing sweeping discretionary powers that a number of legal experts have said in some cases may violate due process and other rights. Cui is being held at the Department of Corrections in the village of Susupe, the newspaper said. As of publishing, ICE had not released and details regarding Cui’s arrest, or announced a date for her hearing with an immigration judge.

FOX News [1/16/2026 12:51 AM, Landon Mion, 40621K] reports the Trump administration has revealed various "major sporting events" in addition to the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games in which athletes and coaches will be exempt from a broad visa ban on nearly 40 countries, allowing them to travel to the U.S. to compete. In a cable sent Wednesday to all U.S. embassies and consulates, the State Department said athletes, coaches and support staff for the World Cup, the Olympics and events endorsed or run by a lengthy list of collegiate and professional sporting leagues and associations would be excluded from the full and partial travel bans subject to citizens of 39 countries and the Palestinian Authority. But foreign spectators, media and corporate sponsors who wish to attend the events would still be impacted by the ban unless they qualify for another exemption. "Only a small subset of travelers for the World Cup, Olympics and Paralympics, and other major sporting events will qualify for the exception," the message said. The federal government has issued several immigration and travel bans as well as other visa restrictions as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb immigration, although the administration still wants athletes, coaches and fans to be able to attend major sporting events in the U.S. Trump’s proclamation last month banning the issuance of visas to the 39 countries and the Palestinian Authority had included an exception for athletes and staff competing in some sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympics, and a decision on the other sporting events that would be covered would be made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The events covered, according to the cable, include all competitions and qualifying events for the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Pan American Games and Parapan American Games; events hosted, sanctioned or recognized by a U.S. National Governing Body; all competitions and qualifying events for the Special Olympics; and official events and competitions hosted or endorsed by FIFA or its confederations. Official events and competitions hosted by the International Military Sports Council, the International University Sports Federation and the National Collegiate Athletic Association as well as those hosted or endorsed by U.S. professional sports leagues such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Women’s National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and Little League, National Hockey League, Professional Women’s Hockey League, NASCAR, Formula 1, the Professional Golf Association, Ladies Professional Golf Association, LIV Golf, Major League Rugby, Major League Soccer, World Wrestling Entertainment, Ultimate Fighting Championship and All Elite Wrestling are also covered under the exemption. Other events and leagues could be added to the list in the future, the cable said.

NPR [1/15/2026 4:45 PM, Daniel Ofman, Ahmad Damen, Juana Summers, 28013K] Audio: HERE reports the Trump administration is pausing immigrant visa processing for nationals of 75 countries. Julia Gelatt of the Migration Policy Institute breaks down what the changes to immigration policy means.

Bloomberg [1/15/2026 4:37 PM, Ken Parks, 18207K] reports the US immigrant visa crackdown has ensnared friends and foes alike in Latin America, where a large share of blacklisted countries are run by left-wing presidents such as US ally Uruguay. The latest restriction on would-be US migrants pursued by President Donald Trump aims to further prevent the entry of citizens from a list of 75 nations seen as more likely to tap government services. The pause on visa immigrant processing starts on Jan. 21. But citizens from countries led by more conservative presidents who have allied with Trump — Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador — were spared the same fate. The Trump policy will only apply to those seeking to live and work permanently in the US, not tourists or temporary workers.

Daily Wire [1/15/2026 9:00 AM, Mary Margaret Olohan, 2494K] reports the State Department is shutting down a Biden-era program that allowed Afghan allies to enter the United States, citing serious concerns about President Joe Biden’s failure to follow security procedures in vetting Afghans. The Biden administration set up the refugee program at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar, to support Afghan allies who fled their country during the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Around 1,300 Afghans have been waiting at the former American military base for years, in cramped living conditions, to enter the United States. Many of them have feared that they will be returned to Afghanistan, where they will be tortured and killed for working with the United States. As of Wednesday, The Daily Wire can first report, the State Department says that the Biden administration’s failure to properly vet these Afghans, throwing standard security procedures out the window during the withdrawal, will prevent them from ultimately entering the United States. They will be sent to "a third country" — though what country this is, the State Department has not yet confirmed. A State Department spokesperson shared that the Afghan nationals who are currently at Camp As Sayliyah "do not have a viable pathway" to the United States and that hundreds of these nationals have "derogatory information" that presents serious security concerns. But President Donald Trump does not want these vulnerable groups of people to be forced to go back to Afghanistan "under the brutal Taliban regime," particularly the women and girls, so the United States has presented the Afghan nationals at the camp with a "safe, third-country option for resettlement.” The State Department says that it’s neither appropriate nor humane to keep the Camp As Sayliyah group as is, saying that a large minority of the population are women and children who are living in a confined space without much freedom to move around. According to the Wall Street Journal, residents at the program spend most of their time inside due to the blazing desert temperatures, typically walking around the hangars or scrolling on their phones. State believes that moving the group to "a third country" is a "positive resolution" that will offer the Afghan nationals safety and the opportunity to start new lives — and at the same time, protect the American people.

The Hill [1/15/2026 6:05 PM, Sophie Brams, 12595K] reports a man who was injured in a shooting during an immigration stop with U.S. Border Patrol agents last week in Portland, Ore., pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that allege he assaulted law enforcement and damaged federal property, according to federal court records. Luis Nino-Moncada was arrested Monday and charged with aggravated assault on a federal employee with a deadly or dangerous weapon and depredation of federal property, days after the confrontation that left him and another person hospitalized. An initial statement from the Portland Police Bureau indicated that officers responded to the Hazelwood neighborhood around 2:30 p.m. local time on Jan. 8 for reports of a shooting involving federal agents. Officers found a man and woman suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Border Patrol alleged in a separate statement that the incident occurred when agents stopped a car carrying a passenger who was a “Venezuelan illegal alien affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring and involved in a recent shooting in Portland.” The driver, later identified as Nino-Moncada, was also said to be a member of the “vicious Venezuelan gang.” FBI Special Agent Daniel Jeffreys noted in an affidavit that there was “no body worn camera footage from the involved six Border Patrol Agents” capturing what happened and attempts to locate surveillance footage from nearby businesses have so far been unsuccessful. Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed last week that the pair had “some nexus” to the Tren de Aragua gang and were known to police. The woman, Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, had previously been arrested for prostitution in Washington County, Ore., and Nino-Moncada was present when the warrant was served, he said.

AP [1/15/2026 1:29 PM, Staff, 31753K] reports that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will roll out the new modernized TSA ConfirmID starting Feb. 1, 2026, giving travelers without a REAL ID or other acceptable forms of identification a new option to fly. For a $45 fee, travelers can use this optional alternative identity verification system that provides access to air travel for those who need it. "TSA ConfirmID will be an option for travelers that do not bring a REAL ID or other acceptable form of ID to the TSA checkpoint and still want to fly," said Senior Official Performing the Duties of Deputy Administrator for TSA Adam Stahl. "Impacted travelers will have the option to pay $45 and use the TSA ConfirmID process. This fee ensures that non-compliant travelers, not taxpayers, cover the cost of processing travelers without acceptable IDs. To avoid delays or missed flights, all travelers should obtain a REAL ID or another acceptable form of identification before heading to the airport." TSA urges all airline travelers to complete the following three steps in advance of any air travel on or after Feb 1. Step 1: Check your ID. Step 2: Use TSA ConfirmID. Step 3: Bring your receipt.

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FOXBusiness [1/15/2026 4:13 PM, Sophia Compton, 10085K]
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NPR [1/16/2026 5:00 AM, Rebecca Hersher, 34837K] reports thousands of workers across the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will lose their jobs this year, according to multiple people who attended personnel meetings that supervisors held in the last week. FEMA supervisors warned that workers with multiyear contracts that are set to expire this year will not see those contracts extended, even if they are actively working on rebuilding efforts in places that recently suffered disasters. Some divisions within the agency stand to lose half their workers if current policies stay in place for the rest of the year, those with direct knowledge said. They all requested that NPR not use their names because they were told they would be fired for speaking to the press. FEMA and the White House did not respond to questions about why employees are being let go or how the cuts will affect the agency’s ability to respond to disasters. President Trump has repeatedly stated that he believes FEMA is ineffective and should be eliminated as it currently exists, although the administration has not released a long-awaited report on specific reforms. "I think it’s irresponsible," says Michael Coen, who served as FEMA chief of staff under the Biden and Obama administrations. "I think it’s going to adversely affect FEMA’s ability to respond and help communities recover." The Washington Post originally reported on plans to cut about 50% of the agency’s workforce. The FEMA employees who are set to lose their jobs fill a wide variety of positions. Unlike other federal agencies, FEMA relies on a large number of workers on two-to-four-year contracts. That’s because Congress wanted the agency to be able to dial up the number of workers to meet demand after major events and reduce it during quieter periods. "It’s a pretty significant part of the workforce," says Coen, who estimates that about 40% of FEMA workers are part of what’s known as the CORE division, which is short for the Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees. That amounted to nearly 9,000 workers as of 2022, the most recent year for which data was available from the Government Accountability Office. [Editorial note: consult audio at source link]

AP [1/15/2026 9:10 AM, Julie Carr Smyth, 31753K] reports a grand jury indicted the individual accused of vandalizing the Ohio home of Vice President JD Vance and causing other property damage on federal charges Wednesday. The three-count indictment charges William D. DeFoor, 26, of Cincinnati, with damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against any person or property in a restricted building or grounds, and assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers. DeFoor faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the first two charges and up to 20 years on the third. Defense attorney Paul Laufman, listed as representing DeFoor, declined to comment on the indictment. Laufman has previously said that the situation represents "purely a mental health issue" and that his client was not motivated by politics. Federal prosecutors allege that the Secret Service saw someone run along the front fence of Vance’s residence in Cincinnati’s upscale East Walnut Hills neighborhood just after midnight on Jan. 5 and then breach the property line. The person later identified as DeFoor was armed with a hammer and tried to break out the window of an unmarked Secret Service vehicle on the way up the driveway before moving toward the front of the home and breaking 14 historic window panes, according to a federal affidavit.

CBS News [1/15/2026 8:13 AM, Stephen Smith, 39474K] reports the Colombian Navy seized over two tons of cocaine after chasing down a speedboat packed with drugs and fuel in the South Pacific Ocean, authorities said Wednesday, as the world’s largest cocaine-producing country faces pressure from the U.S. to tackle drug trafficking. The operation took place about 140 nautical miles from Tumaco, which is located on the southwestern corner of the country in the Pacific coast’s Nariño region, the navy said in a post on social media. Authorities said they found 2,000 kilograms of cocaine (4,400 pounds) and 270 gallons of fuel on the so-called "go-fast boat." Three Colombian nationals on board were arrested. The navy posted video of the interception, showing armed officers board the vessel as three suspects were ordered to lie down face first in the front. Authorities also released images showing stacks of the alleged drugs laid out in rows on shore after the operation. The navy said the seizure of drugs, estimated to be worth more than $95 million, prevented "the distribution of approximately 4.9 million doses on the streets of the world.” The seizure comes as the Trump administration has continued its military campaign against alleged drug-ferrying boats off South America in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Those strikes, which started in September, have killed more than 100 people.

Military.com [1/15/2026 12:04 PM, Nick Mordowanec, 2700K] reports Adm. Kevin Lunday is officially the 28th commandant of the United States Coast Guard. Lunday, previously the acting commandant, assumed his position on Thursday morning during an Assumption of Command Ceremony presided over by the Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. He previously served as the Coast Guard’s 34th vice commandant from June 2024 to January 2025. Prior, he served as commander, Atlantic Area, where he directed operations from the Navigable Inland Waterways east of the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes, Gulf Coast and East Coast of the U.S. throughout the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf. He also possesses extensive experience in the Indo­-Pacific, where he served as commander of the Fourteenth Coast Guard District, directing operations throughout Oceania including Hawai’i, American Samoa, Guam and the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, as well as activities in Japan and Singapore. Lunday thanked President Donald Trump, Noem, his wife, and family and friends who traveled from across the United States and Canada to be present with him during Thursday’s ceremony.

CyberScoop [1/15/2026 4:25 PM, Tim Starks, 122K] reports a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tool dedicated to helping government agencies buy secure software turned out to have a cybersecurity vulnerability of its own. Jeff Williams, the former leader of the Open Worldwide Application Security Project (OWASP), told CyberScoop that he discovered a cross-site scripting vulnerability in CISA’s “Software Acquisition Guide: Supplier Response Web Tool” and reported it to CISA in September, before it was eventually fixed in December. The vulnerability involves attackers injecting JavaScript into a web page, then getting that JavaScript to attack other users of that same page, he said. It also could have been used to deface the website, he said. Williams, co-founder and chief technology officer of the application security firm Contrast Security, said it should have been easy for someone to spot the vulnerability at CISA, since it was the first attack he tried. “I thought it was a little hypocritical to be promoting secure software development and not do the most basic test you could possibly do,” he said. When Williams first reported the flaw through a bug bounty program, they rejected it as not critical enough, but he later got attention to the flaw from CISA’s Vulnerability Information and Coordination Environment program. The government shutdown contributed to the delay in fixing it, but Williams said it should’ve been just five minutes of work.

DefenseScoop [1/15/2026 3:25 PM, Drew F. Lawrence, 150K] reports in a confirmation hearing with lawmakers on Thursday, President Donald Trump’s nominee for top uniformed cyber chief said he would evaluate the efficiency of the dual-hat leadership role between U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency if he’s confirmed to the job, touching on one of the community’s most heated policy debates. Army Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd, who is currently the deputy commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific, was asked by multiple Senate Armed Services Committee members about the two organizations he may inherit, and what he thought about their current leadership structure. Rudd said that throughout his career — which is largely based in special operations — he’s seen a “demonstration of effectiveness, as well as efficiency” under the dual-hat role held by the Cybercom commander and NSA director. He added that “the ability for that individual to continue to harness and integrate the incredible capabilities of both those organizations I think is a component that enables” both agencies “to provide great support to our warfighters.” However, he left the door open for change. “If I’m confirmed for this, I think my role is to be objective about that as that comes up, or if it continues to come up as a topic,” Rudd said. In another response, he said that he would “assess continuously if that is the most effective way to lead those two organizations.”

ABC News [1/15/2026 1:56 PM, Peter Charalambous and Jim Scholz, 30493K] reports that jurors on the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales listened to a firsthand account of the emergency response from a police sergeant who tried to enter Robb Elementary School with Gonzales. Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage. Former Uvalde Police Sgt. Daniel Coronado was called as a state witness, but he appeared to defend some of Gonzales’ actions during the May 24, 2022, mass shooting. "He was yelling at them to be careful, because the shooter was on that side of the building from the information that we had, and I think he was concerned with officers approaching," Coronado testified on Thursday about first seeing Gonzales. "He was trying to get around to see what was going on." Arredondo -- the on-site commander on the day of the shooting -- is also charged with multiple counts of endangerment and abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 12:10 PM, Lucas Nolan, 2416K] reports a 35-year-old man who set fire to a Tesla Cybertruck and attempted to burn down a Tesla dealership in Mesa, Arizona, has been sentenced to five years in prison followed by three years of probation. Arizona’s Family reports that Ian William Moses received his sentence in federal court for an arson attack that occurred at a Tesla dealership in Mesa during the early morning hours of April 28. The incident took place at the facility located near Southern Avenue and Sossaman Road. Moses will serve five years in federal prison, after which he will be subject to three years of supervised probation. Breitbart News reported on the attack at the time, including the fact that the perpetrator, later identified as Moses, couldn’t spell the word "thief:" U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine emphasized the severity of the crime in his statement following the sentencing. He noted that arson cannot be considered an acceptable form of political expression in the United States. Courchaine stated that Moses’ actions put both the general public and emergency responders at risk and could have resulted in fatalities. The prosecutor stressed that the five-year sentence reflects the seriousness of the offenses and demonstrates that politically motivated attacks on Arizona businesses and communities will face full legal consequences.

FOX News [1/15/2026 8:34 AM, Taylor Penley Fox, 40621K] Video: HERE reports Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department has authorized the seizure of a Washington Post reporter’s devices in a classified leak probe, reopening a long-running debate over press protections and national security. In a "Hannity" appearance Wednesday, Bondi said she rescinded prior Justice Department guidance shielding journalists from subpoenas and searches, arguing that classified material connected to U.S. military operations could put service members’ lives at risk. "The First Amendment is a bedrock principle, but this isn’t about that. This is about classified material that could jeopardize lives," Bondi said. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at home in Virginia at the time of the search, according to Washington Post. Agents seized her Garmin watch, a work laptop, a personal laptop and her phone, the outlet reported. The Post reported that it also received a subpoena seeking information about communications between the contractor and other Post employees, prompting concern from the outlet’s executive editor, Matt Murray. In an email to the newsroom, Murray called the Justice Department’s actions "extraordinary, aggressive action," adding that it is "deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work." Washington Post previously told Fox News Digital that it is "reviewing and monitoring the situation." [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Blaze [1/15/2026 11:55 AM, Candace Hathaway, 1442K] reports the Trump administration revealed that a government contractor leaked information about the military operation in Venezuela earlier this month. The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the FBI searched the home of one of its reporters, claiming the raid was part of an investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones. Perez-Lugones is a Maryland resident who was working as a systems engineer and information technology specialist for a government contracting company when federal authorities arrested him. He has maintained Top Secret security clearance since at least 2000, according to a January 9 affidavit Federal prosecutors accused Perez-Lugones of printing screenshots of a Top Secret report, as well as writing classified information on a notepad and taking the sheets of paper home. When authorities searched his home last week, they allegedly found multiple documents that were marked as Secret, including a document found in his lunch box. The criminal complaint claimed the documents were related to "national defense." However it did not specify any details, such as whether the information pertained to the United States’ recent operation in Venezuela. FBI Director Kash Patel shared a statement on Wednesday about the recent arrest of the leaker and that individual’s ties to the Washington Post.

Reuters [1/15/2026 6:47 PM, Staff, 36480K] report the U.S. Commerce Department’s 25% national security tariff on certain high-end semiconductors announced on Wednesday is a "phase one" action to protect the sector and could be followed by other announcements pending negotiations with other countries and companies, a White House official said on Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Donald Trump has previously threatened a 100% tariff on chips not made in the U.S. as he seeks to build up semiconductor manufacturing.

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 2:01 PM, Lauren Green, 1394K] reports that the House Committee on Homeland Security GOP leaders are seeking answers from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a multimillion-dollar device that could be linked to "Havana syndrome." A letter sent to Noem requested further information on a device purchased by DHS during the Biden administration that could be linked to anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana syndrome. AHIs are unexplained, sudden health problems that have primarily affected U.S. government personnel, with symptoms such as vertigo, headaches, nausea, cognitive fog, and hearing problems. House Homeland Security Chairman Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) was joined by Subcommittee Chairmen Michael Guest (R-MI), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), August Pfluger (R-TX), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Andy Ogles (R-TN), and Dale Strong (R-AL) in sending the letter. "According to recent reporting, at the end of the Biden Administration, [Homeland Security Investigations] acquired a device in an undercover operation involving the expenditure of millions of dollars, some or all of which was allegedly sourced from funding provided by the Department of War (DoW)," the chairmen wrote. "The exact amount of money expended to acquire the device, as well as the source and location from which HSI obtained the device, is unclear, but the total amount paid is alleged to be in the range of ‘eight figures’—which would indicate a price in excess of ten million dollars," the letter continued.

CNN [1/15/2026 1:42 PM, Brian Stelter, 18595K] reports early on in her tenure as President Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi scrapped a Biden-era policy that banned the Justice Department from pursuing reporters’ phone records and notes while investigating leakers. The message was unmistakable: Trump-era investigators would welcome a confrontation. And now they have one. This week, the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of obtaining a search warrant for Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home. FBI agents arrived early on Wednesday and seized Natanson’s phone, two computers and her Garmin watch. Inside the Washington Post newsroom, the impact was immediate. Reporters called the search "incredibly disturbing" and unprecedented. Natanson met with Post lawyers and security experts, scrambled to line up her own outside legal counsel, and urged her colleagues to keep reporting. Until now, Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said, the Justice Department had "never executed a search warrant at the home of a reporter in a national security leak case.” But now that the line has been crossed, some journalists and media lawyers expect it will happen again.

Reuters [1/15/2026 2:20 PM, Blake Brittain and Nichola Groom, 36480K] reports a federal judge on Thursday cleared Norwegian offshore wind developer Equinor (EQNR.OL to resume work on its New York Empire Wind project, which President Donald Trump’s administration halted along with four other projects last month. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols is the second legal setback for Trump’s offshore wind policy this week, after a judge in the same court on Monday ruled Danish energy company Orsted could restart work on a project off the coast of Rhode Island. Trump has spent the last year seeking to block expansion of offshore wind in federal waters. He has repeatedly said he considers the technology expensive, unreliable and ugly. Government attorneys had argued the December 22 halt by the Interior Department was justified by new, classified information regarding offshore wind’s impact on national security. But Nichols said the government’s national security concerns did not outweigh the "irreparable harm" Empire Wind would suffer if the Trump order is not paused. The order "threatens Empire Wind’s entire existence," Nichols said, by limiting its access to rare vessels it needs to finish the project.

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Bloomberg [1/15/2026 11:38 AM, Sabrina Willmer, Mark Chediak, and Kari Lundgren, 803K]

Breitbart [1/15/2026 12:21 PM, Christian K. Caruzo, 2416K] reports Venezuelan Interior Minister — and long-suspected drug lord — Diosdado Cabello claimed Wednesday the nation’s socialist regime does not have political prisoners, but instead lucky criminals who are being given "another opportunity" by the regime. Cabello, widely considered to be the Venezuelan regime’s most dangerous strongman and a man actively wanted by U.S. authorities on narco-terrorism charges, with a $25 million bounty — issued his claims on the latest episode of Con el Mazo Dando ("Hitting with the Mallet"), his infamous socialist propaganda show. Much like last week’s somber episode, where he called for "unity" among Venezuelan socialists, Wednesday’s episode did not feature a live audience unlike past broadcasts. In the broadcast, Cabello claimed that "everyone wants to make a fuss" and "take credit for things that are not attributable to any of them." Last week, President Donald Trump announced on a Truth Social post that he cancelled a second wave of attacks in Venezuela after the ruling socialists had agreed to release a "large number" of political prisoners. At press time, no large scale release of political prisoners has taken place in Venezuela; only a minimal number of releases have been confirmed in the days following President Trump’s announcement. Cabello, who denied that the Venezuelan regime has political prisoners, claimed that the ongoing releases are allegedly part of a purported order issued by now-deposed dictator Nicolás Maduro in December to "review of cases of people who were detained for acts of violence, for attacking the Venezuelan people themselves" and that the men and women released this week are instead part of said process. "What sectors of the opposition have called political prisoners are not really political prisoners. They are irresponsible people who do not care at all about harming people, institutions, or destroying the infrastructure of the state for political purposes. That is something else. But they are not political prisoners. Political prisoners have other characteristics," Cabello said. According to Cabello, "nearly 200" people were released between December 24 and December 31 as "ordered" by Maduro through the alleged efforts of the Venezuelan Justice Ministry, Supreme Court, and other institutions — all under the fierce control of the Venezuelan socialist regime, now led by "acting President" Delcy Rodríguez following the January 3, 2026 U.S. law enforcement action that saw the arrest of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. In total, according to Cabello, "more than 400" individuals have been released. He did not offer any documentation that could substantiate his claim.

New York Times [1/15/2026 11:40 AM, Genevieve Glatsky, 135475K] reports from a television studio, Venezuela’s feared interior minister would brandish a plastic club and call out the names of government critics — who knew what that usually meant. They could expect government agents to show up and take them away. That’s exactly what happened last year to Juan Pablo Guanipa, a prominent opposition politician, after the interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, ripped into him on his weekly show. Mr. Guanipa was arrested, charged with terrorism and treason and sent to prison, where he remains. For over a decade, Mr. Cabello’s show, “Con el Mazo Dando” (With the Club Striking), is one way, experts say, he has overseen Venezuela’s machinery of repression. When the United States raided Venezuela this month and seized its president, Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration called it a law enforcement operation, pointing to a new indictment accusing Mr. Maduro of narco-terrorism. Another name prominently featured in the indictment? Mr. Cabello. And like Mr. Maduro, the U.S. government has placed a bounty for his capture. Yet Mr. Cabello remains firmly in power, part of interim leader Delcy Rodríguez’s core circle, seen by her side in televised events. But with Ms. Rodríguez needing to placate Mr. Trump, one of her biggest challenges could be Mr. Cabello, arguably the second most powerful figure in her government whose fate is now intertwined with the fate of the political movement that has ruled Venezuela for more than two decades.

ABC News [1/15/2026 11:42 AM, Jon Haworth, 30493K] Video: HERE reports President Donald Trump is set to hold a lunch meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado at 12:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the White House said. The meeting, which is currently scheduled to be closed to press, will take place in the White House private dining room. "She’s a very nice woman," Trump said of Machado on Wednesday, according to Reuters. "I’ve seen her on television. I think we’re just going to talk basics." Trump also said Wednesday he had a "great conversation" with Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, their first since authoritarian Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was seized by the U.S. on Jan. 3. "We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things," Trump said during a bill signing in the Oval Office. "And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela." The president said last week on his social media platform that he had "cancelled the previously expected second Wave of Attacks" on Venezuela after the government released several political prisoners, but he added that "all ships will stay in place for safety and security purposes." Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her work "promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela" and her push to move the country from dictatorship to democracy. "Machado is receiving the Nobel Peace Prize first and foremost for her efforts to advance democracy in Venezuela," the Nobel Committee said at the time. "But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy -- understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, to cast one’s vote and to be represented in elective government -- is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.” Machado said last week that she would like to give or share the prize with Trump, who oversaw the successful U.S. operation to capture Maduro. Maduro is now facing drug trafficking charges in New York, to which he has pleaded not guilty. [Editorial note: consult video at source link]

Reuters [1/15/2026 9:02 AM, Lili Bayer and Andrew Gray, 19051K] reports the NATO security alliance that has protected Europe for decades finds itself with limited power ​to determine its own fate due to President Donald Trump’s desire for U.S. ownership of Greenland. Since Trump revived his ambition to claim the semi-autonomous Danish territory after the U.S. military operation to capture the Venezuelan president, NATO members have been scrambling for ideas to counter U.S. criticism that Greenland is under-protected as Russia and China take a greater interest in the Arctic and its mineral riches. Any forcible U.S. takeover of Greenland would be an unprecedented seizure of one NATO ally’s territory by another - the nuclear-armed superpower that is meant to provide the ultimate security guarantee for all members. Many politicians, diplomats and analysts on both sides of the Atlantic say that would mean the end of the alliance, or at least severely weaken it. That, in turn, could have devastating consequences for European security, leaving the continent much more vulnerable to a Russian attack. "I cannot think of other cases ⁠where NATO has been really on the line, and especially not where the culprit has been the United States," said Sten Rynning, a professor at the University of Southern Denmark and author of several books on NATO. Discussions on what NATO could do about Greenland are at an early stage, diplomats say, but could include additional air surveillance, maritime patrols and greater use of technology to monitor the region. To act quickly rather than wait for a collective NATO decision, Denmark and some allies including Germany, France, Sweden and Norway on Wednesday announced small but symbolic troop deployments to Greenland for exercises to show commitment to Arctic security.

Breitbart [1/15/2026 4:20 AM, Kurt Zindulka, 2416K] reports French President Emmanuel Macron announced Wednesday evening that Paris will deploy troops to Greenland in an apparent show of solidarity with Copenhagen as the Trump administration pushes for American control of the Arctic island. Although Greenland is not actually a member of the European Union, EU leaders have rallied around the Kingdom of Denmark, which still exerts colonial control over the North American territory. Over the past week, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden have all said that they will be sending troops to Greenland. Following a White House meeting on Wednesday of Greenlandic and Danish officials with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, France joined the cohort of NATO countries sending soldiers to Greenland for military exercises. Writing on X, President Macron said: "At the request of Denmark, I have decided that France will participate in the joint exercises organised by Denmark in Greenland, Operation Arctic Endurance. The first French military elements have already arrived. Others will follow." In addition to supporting Denmark’s claim to Greenland, the move by European NATO nations to deploy troops to the island is also intended to demonstrate to Washington that Europe is capable of defending the island against threats such as Communist China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

ABC News [1/15/2026 1:51 PM, Mariam Khan and Meredith Deliso, 30493K]
The Trump administration said Wednesday the Gaza peace plan is moving into the next phase, which it said "begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza." "Today, on behalf of President Trump, we are announcing the launch of Phase Two of the President’s 20-Point Plan to End the Gaza Conflict, moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction," U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said in a statement on X. The announcement comes as officials and observers question the stability of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, which has largely held despite isolated violations. According to Witkoff, phase two "establishes a transitional technocratic Palestinian administration in Gaza, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG), and begins the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel." Witkoff said the U.S. expects Hamas to "comply fully," including by immediately returning the final deceased hostage, identified by Israeli officials as Ran Gvili. "Failure to do so will bring serious consequences," Witkoff said. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Wednesday that the return of Gvili "is a top priority." "Hamas is required to meet the terms of the agreement to exert 100% effort for the return of the fallen hostages, down to the very last one, Ran Gvili, a hero of Israel," the office said in a statement on X. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem called the announcement on the second phase an "important positive development" and said they are "fully prepared to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip" to the NCAG. Qassem said they demand that the U.S. "compel" Israel to "fulfill the requirements of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement and move towards the second phase." The NCAG is a body of an expected 15 Palestinian leaders tasked with the monumental challenge of governing Gaza. The committee would be responsible for Gaza’s day-to-day management, including sanitation, infrastructure and education.

Washington Examiner [1/15/2026 10:34 AM, Christian Datoc, 1394K] reports President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday announced sanctions against more than 20 Iranian individuals and entities responsible for the Islamic Republic’s deadly crackdown on protesters and skirting of international sanctions on the country’s oil output. Trump previously promised to "help" protesters after the Iranian government responded to nationwide demonstrations by killing thousands of its own citizens. For days, the president’s national security team had prepared military options for Trump to choose from, with American officials signaling that U.S. airstrikes could hit Iran in the near future. However, on Wednesday, Trump told reporters at the White House that Iranian government officials had promised to stop killing protesters, signaling that he was moving away from imminent military action against the regime. Thursday morning, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against five Iranian security officials the United States determined were overseeing "elements of the [Iranian] security forces that are violently repressing the Iranian people." That group includes: Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security. Mohammad Reza Hashemifar, commander of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Lorestan Province). Nematollah Bagheri, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Lorestan Province). Azizollah Maleki, commander of the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Fars Province). Yadollah Buali, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Fars Province). Furthermore, Treasury sanctioned 18 individuals and entities "who play critical roles in laundering the proceeds of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales to foreign markets as part of the clandestine ‘shadow banking’ networks.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Thursday’s announcement is a continuation of Trump’s "maximum pressure campaign" against the Iranian government, which "continues to egregiously mismanage its economic resources.”

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FOX News [1/15/2026 12:33 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE
FOX News [1/15/2026 6:45 PM, Staff, 40621K] Video: HERE

Breitbart [1/15/2026 8:14 AM, Staff, 2416K] reports Iran vowed on Thursday to defend itself against any foreign threat, after US President Donald Trump said he would "watch it and see" about military action over the crackdown on protesters. Iran’s judiciary said a protester who the United States and rights groups feared faced imminent execution would not be sentenced to death, after Trump had warned of strikes should people arrested for demonstrating be killed. The protests were sparked by economic grievances but evolved rapidly into a nationwide movement that has constituted the greatest threat to the Islamic republic since its inception in 1979. Rights groups say the crackdown by authorities, who exercise zero tolerance for dissent, has left at least 3,428 people dead. They also accuse the country’s theocratic leaders of using an internet blackout to cover up the brutality of their crackdown. In telephone talks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan of the importance of "global condemnation of foreign interference in the internal affairs of regional countries" The developments came hours ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Iran later on Thursday, which was requested by the US.

New York Times [1/16/2026 12:00 AM, Steven Lee Myers, Tiffany Hsu and Stuart A. Thompson, 135475K] reports the internet blackout in Iran has stanched the flow of reliable information about the political unrest roiling the country. Filling the void has been a deluge of propaganda, disinformation and influence campaigns from countries or parties trying to shape the outcome of the conflict. Inauthentic accounts online — also known as bots — have spread false and conflicting narratives on X, Instagram and other social media platforms in recent days, according to several experts in disinformation flow and the Iranian information ecosystem. The bots have shared misleading or artificially generated photographs and videos, further muddling what is actually happening on the ground. Much of the content disseminated by inauthentic accounts has sought to bolster Iran’s opposition, including by championing Reza Pahlavi, the son of the shah of Iran toppled by the Islamic revolution in 1979. Others have echoed Iran’s claims that the unrest was orchestrated by its enemies, especially the United States and Israel — a view that allies like Russia have amplified in their own state media. Researchers have identified multiple coordinated information campaigns online, though they cannot always identify those behind them with certainty. Much of the content of the campaigns seems intended to sway the global court of public opinion, though it also reflects divisions among Iranians at home. The impact, though, has been more disorientation in an already murky situation.

Washington Times [1/15/2026 8:23 AM, Bill Gertz, 852K] reports the presence of thousands of Chinese nationals at Energy Department laboratories and facilities increases the risk of theft of critical national security information on the U.S. high-priority artificial intelligence development program, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton and 10 other Republican senators warned Energy Secretary Chris Wright this week. The Arkansas Republican organized a letter sent Tuesday urging the expulsion of thousands of Chinese nationals or resident aliens who work in or visit energy facilities, noting their links to the Beijing government will undermine the Trump administration’s “Genesis Mission” — a Manhattan Project-like effort to achieve American dominance in artificial intelligence. “We are concerned … that the thousands of Chinese foreign nationals who are granted access to, or work at, our labs could compromise Genesis Mission, and we urge you to take the necessary steps to protect it,” the senators said. “China is our main competitor in the race for AI dominance, a position it occupies only because it has stolen American intellectual property and technologies and co-opted them over the years.”

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